Slow - Rumer

Jongin isn't the type to be bothered with others' business because minding his own is burdensome enough. So that night, he couldn't get why he was on his bed, thinking about Amber whilst going to sleep. It was strange how the image of Soojung on the day she turned seventeen temporarily flew to the back of his mind, replaced by Kris and the unsettledness in his eyes, by Amber embracing herself in his jacket,  her crying was the only sound in that dark house.

Somehow, it didn't come to him as a surprise that she didn't show up on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, either at Yu's or any other places that she could randomly appear. She was nowhere to be found, neither under the cherry blossom tree, at the bus stop, nor the entrance of Hwadam's office; waiting for someone to come fetch her after work. Jongin pondered the whole week for a certain question. That someone living on the other side of the world, did he have a clue about Amber's decision of letting him go?

When Luhan told him Amber went to work very ealier than usual, Jongin swore he wasn't worrying about last Friday incident. He just might be in the mood to ask her how she was doing.

On Thursday, even going to work thirty minutes earlier didn't help. She had arrived for a while.

"Is there anything you need to tell her?" Luhan raised his eyebrows in questioning while packing his takeaway.

"Not actually... But uhm... Kind of. I'm just wondering. It's been a while since I've seen her here."

Jongin paid for his coffee. His eyes wandered everywhere but the waiter in case Luhan would know he was saying half-hearted.

"Ah... So there's nothing urgent. I am about to ask Minseok huyng to give her number for you. You know, Amber usually orders delivery for her team..." He blinked his doe eyes innocently and shrugged.

" Well... uhm... actually there is a business I need to ask her." Jongin just wanted to swallow his tongue. 

On the other end of the counter, Minseok who was pouring boiling water into a pot of coffee smirked secretly. Despite of the number of times he has tried, Jongin is far from a fluent pretender.

Minseok is indeed one ethical shop owner. It costed Jongin a lot of persuasion, some promises and a little help from Luhan for Minseok to give out his client's number. Men-wise, it can be called fellowship.

But finally when holding the memo with her number written on, Jongin didn't know why he even tried that much for something he wasn't sure how to use. They were barely knew each other enough, neither being friends nor colleagues to have each other's phone numbers. It was nothing more than a twist of fate that arranged Jongin to help Amber in that summer night. With only that, Jongin din't sure he had the right to ask something more about her love life. The piece of paper ended up crumpling in his pocket throughout Thursday and Friday.

The last working day of the week  was wrapped up in a party that all of his teammates had gone out to. Jongin had a deadline to acomplish, so he stayed longer in his dim working station to put some last touch on a sixty three second animation video of an aerospace explosion. The film which was to use in the ending tape of the game had to be processed to his superior before weekend. That was a adequate reason, but even though he had time to join the party, Jongin wouldn't do either. He simply wasn't in the mood to. 

At the end of the day, he sat motionless in front of three monitor screens while the system was playing with his work silently. Quickly wiping a single tear streaming down his face he wished to have someone to show it off, the work of art he had created. He missed Soojung and the old times to the tiniest bit of his heart. Back to the days, she was used to stand behind him in his room and be impressed by inspirational game cuts he insisted to show her with. She would always listen to all of his foolish, childish imagination without any sign of boredom despite Jongin knew another fact very clear. These stories he made up weren't that thrilling, or funny, or everything Jongin thought they to be all the times. It was just Soojung is Soojung and Jongin is Jongin. Everything about them just automatically would be fun for each other.  

The screen went black as the video finished playing but Jongin was still trying to figure out what pushed everything inside of him to spill out. He was exhausted and empty without a definite reason. 

His cell phone rang when he was uploading the work into the studio's system. A familiar number blinked on his iPhone's screen, the number had been kept in his pocket for a couple of days.

"Luhan oppa told me you asked for my number, but you didn't call me. So I ask him your number... Long story short, have you had dinner? I owe you something expensive."

She said and shortly giggled. Jongin delayed replying for a second. Her breaths at the other end of the line amplified to the pounding of his heart. Blame it on his delusion or it was truth all the energy in her voice had gone.

Amber was still at her office where Jongin promised to see her at. For an indefinite intent, he converted the video to a lower quality version and copied to his iPad before heading out.

Sitting at the seat across the girl in a steak restaurant, Jongin studied her expression while she was reading the menu. Yellow light casted a faint shadow of her thick eyelashes. It sharpened the outline of her face.  She flashed the waiter a smile and he couldn't see the light at the corners of her eyes anymore.

"Aren't you gong to order, Jongin-shi?"

It had really vanished, Jongin thought to himself. That light did, even when she smiled at him.

"Give me the same order with this young lady please."

The waiter nodded as he retreated, leaving the two of them with the sudden shyness.

"You seemed to be busy... going to work very early all this week."

Jongin leaned forward on his chair, assuming that Amber didn't know how eager he was to meet her again after some time.

"Ahh, yes. Lucky that I am. They assigned me with an independent task. This is my first though. Our team leader is calling for romantic spirit which he said to be the drainage of my male team members. That's why he gives me the chance, designing a romantic Ferris wheel for out amusement park. It should be well done. He is one scary boss."

Amber wrinkled her nose, which earned small laughter from Jongin. It seems to be good news at first that she found a shelter in working. But at the same time, it seems not to. An intuition dawned on him that this way she might be exhausted and empty at last, just like him.

"I bet you'd never wish for that scary man to yell at you."

"If that, it will  be the end of me. How is your future universal soldier, anyways?"

"Boss is checking on him. This week I draw an explosion in outer space, possibly will be used for the teaser or ending."

It's really nice talking to Amber all the time, particularly about work. He feels safe in analogies between the natures of their jobs. In any circumstances, she would never laugh at his Sci-fi imagination. Deep down, he holds a belief that even if Amber were not an architect to begin with, she wouldn't have made fun of him either. This belongs to the nature of herself, not the job.

"Would you... like to see it, the explosion? I have a copy here."

She sat straightly on her chair obviously was amused by the idea. Jongin expectantly drew invisible circles on the table as Amber watched the video. The dishes had delivered but none of them seemed to care less.

"This is so splendid and... Jongin-shi, I don't know how to say. Whether this is your intention or not but isn' it too sad and lonely to be a game cut? I watched Kris play games pretty much before but haven't seen anything near this."

Her wor