2010 . 03 . 20 – 11:41PM

A loud groan erupted in the quiet room, making whoever else was in the room jump slightly at the sound.  The girl who gave out the groan got up from the bed and ran her hands through her hair.  She cursed silently to herself, making it inaudible to those around her who were just as confused.

Victoria swallowed.  “Are you…”

“I’m fine,” Amber interrupted the leader.  She shook her head.  “I’m going back to my room.  I need to be alone.”

“Am—” Luna started.

“Stop.”  It came out colder than it needed to be.  Amber clenched her teeth, shutting her eyes in the process.  She slowly put a hand up in the air—half apologetic and in half defense.  “Sorry, I just—just leave me alone, guys.  Okay?”

“You’ve been acting weird lately,” Sulli said with a slightly down face.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Luna asked.

Amber breathed slowly and made unwanted eye contact with the only one who didn’t speak up in the room.  Krystal shifted her eyes to the side after a millisecond and bit her lip.  “Nothing,” came out the response.  “I just—I just need sleep; time alone for a little bit.  Please?”

After a few seconds of silence and hesitation sensed throughout the rest of the girls, Victoria looked to each of them and back to the tomboy.  She nodded.  “Alright.  If you need anything, just let us know.”  She turned to Luna.  “You can stay in here tonight if you want.

“No,” Amber said.  “Luna can go back to our room—it’s just, I need it to myself for a little while.”

Luna shook her head.  “Yeah, no, it’s fine.  I understand.  I’ll text you before I get there.”

Krystal saw Amber nod and quickly leave the room.  She leaned back into the headrest on Sulli’s bed.  She looked down to her hands fiddling with her phone—clicking the lock button of her iPhone—illuminating her wallpaper photo on and off; a picture of her and Amber.  There wasn’t anything romantic about the picture, but it was enough for foreigners to question if they were a couple seeing how close they were.  Her and Amber weren’t ones to take pictures, but whenever they did, they never uploaded it unless they were generic—and Krystal used that term very loosely.

“What’s going on with her?” Victoria asked to the rest of the group.  “She’s been acting so weird for the passed few weeks.”

Luna and Sulli shrugged.  “She was fine today and yesterday when we got here to Thailand,” Sulli said.

“Yeah,” Luna agreed.  “But we were in front of a bunch of reporters and photographers—not to mention the rest of our fans.”

Victoria released a small sigh.  She quickly noticed Krystal not giving in her two cents and found it odd.  She’s always the first one to jump on Amber—now she’s quiet?

“Hey,” the leader called out to the girl.  Luna and Sulli turned around to Krystal, the other girl not noticing.  Sulli nudged her best friend in the side.  Krystal shook her head, breaking out of her trance and looked around.  She made eye contact with Victoria.  “Huh?  What?” she asked obliviously.

“Do you have an idea what Amber’s going through?” Victoria asked.

Krystal thought fast.  She gave out an apathetic shrug.  “She’s been weird with me, too, guys.  I don’t know.”

Sulli scrunched her eyebrows together lightly.  “Well, we just thought—”

“Thought what?” Krystal interrupted as she flailed her arms in the air.  She could feel her bottled up frustration get to the better of her.  She made eye contact with Luna; breaking it almost immediately once it happened.  Krystal was aware that Luna knew Amber’s uality.  And she very well knew that Luna wasn’t oblivious to how she had reacted when she found out about Vanessa.  Krystal strongly had a theory that Luna assumed—Luna assumed that there was something going on with her and Amber.  But she couldn’t even blame the girl; Luna was one of the most observant people she’s ever met.  She shook her head.  “Why is it that whenever something is wrong, you guys turn to me?” she asked.

“Because it’s the truth,” Sulli said.

“What?”

“You’re her best friend—Amber is the most comfortable with you because of the language issue.”

Krystal stayed silent.  “You know it’s true,” Sulli continued.

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Hey,” Victoria cut in.  “It was just a question.  No big deal.  Sorry, Soojung.”

The latter sighed deeply.  “No—I’m sorry.”  She shut her eyes and swallowed a lump that formed in .  “If you want, I can go check up on her.”

Victoria nodded and by the looks of Luna and Sulli, they agreed.  Luna reached into her pocket and fished out her hotel room card key.  She handed it over to Krystal.  “Here.  Just spend the night in there.  I’ll take your place here with Sulli.”

“Okay,” Krystal replied.  She began to get off the bed and gathered her scattered belongings, followed by Victoria doing the same.  “I’ll start heading out to my room, too.”

As the two of them headed out, they quickly exchanged their goodnights with one another and the leader gestured about tomorrow.  “Get some rest guys,” she said encouragingly.  “We have a big few upcoming days.” 

Luna and Sulli gave their approvals on the note as Krystal and Victoria exited the room.  Victoria gently grabbed Krystal by the arm.  “Do you want me to go in there with you?” she asked.

Krystal shook her head.  “No, it’ll be alright.”  She added a half laugh.  “It’s not like she’s gonna bite me.”

Victoria chuckled and started heading towards her room down the hall.  “I don’t know,” she lightly called out.  “By the looks of it—she just might.”

2010 . 03 . 21 – 12:02AM

As Krystal entered the room, she placed her bag lightly on the ground as she heard the television faintly in the room.  It illuminated most of the space in the room, which was basically the queen-sized bed, along with the additional lighting from the bathroom door peeking through on the side.

“Luna,” Krystal heard her call.  “I was just about to te—”

Amber stopped immediately seeing Krystal appear from the side after walking forward from the hotel room door.  The tomboy sat up and swallowed.  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“What,” Krystal began with a tiny joking tone, trying to lighten up the mood.  “You don’t want me here?”

Unfortunately, her horrible joke just darkened the older girl’s face.  She lied back down, her head on two pillows against the headrest of the bed.  Krystal exhaled softly through her nose.  “Luna let me stay here tonight,” she stated.

“Why?” Amber questioned bluntly.

Krystal’s mouth dropped slightly.  She could feel Pandora’s box pry open inside her—all of her emotions slowly pouring out.  “Amber,” she breathed.

The tomboy looked to her girlfriend as a response and saw the girl’s face.  She was hurt.  Amber could tell.  Well that makes two of us, she thought with pity.  Amber saw Krystal take a seat next to her on the bed.

“We need to talk,” Krystal stated.

Amber lightly nodded as she raised her eyebrows.  “I know.”  She turned her head to face the girl and sat up fully, her back against the headrest of the bed.  She reached for Krystal’s hand.  “I’m sorry,” she said.

“I’m sorry, too,” the latter replied.  She put her free hand on top of Amber’s to emphasize her feelings.  She looked at her girlfriend.  “I’m trying, you know?  I really am.”

Amber nodded sullenly.  “I know.  It just .”  She added a sigh.  “It’s annoying that we have to pretend that things are okay—that things aren’t “real” and that there’s really nothing between us.”  A pause.  “I see other couples and they hold hands with a kiss or two in public and it’s like—we can’t even do that without fans getting too crazy to the point where people start getting too suspicious.”  She scoffed.  “All it takes is one crazy anti-fan and boom—there it is.”

Krystal stayed quiet.  Amber read her mind just in the way Krystal thought.  The situation was easy—if they worked their way around more, it would be a breeze.  But they thought about it—they were a new couple and have been fighting this—fighting to not do it in the first place and now that it’s official, the excitement and adrenaline continuously rushes through them.  It was an excitement.  But it was difficult; simply because no one knew.  They didn’t know whom to trust; they’ve considered telling the rest of the group countless times, especially Luna.  But what were the chances of approval?

Throughout the train process of thoughts, Amber got off the bed in a quick manner, awakening the girl back into her senses.  She saw Amber go over to her Nike book bag and rummage through it.  After a few seconds, Amber returned back to the bed and sat next to her girlfriend.  Whatever Amber was looking for, Krystal saw it in her hand—it was a small white box, maybe 2 inches in both height and width.

Krystal blinked at it, anticipating what was in it.  Amber looked down in embarrassment before handing it over shyly.  “I was going to wait,” Amber started.  She added a light shrug.  “But I couldn’t.”

“Wait until what?” Krystal asked.

“Six months.”

Amber gave a gentle smile to Krystal.  Krystal only stared back, causing the latter to chuckle.  She nodded her head towards the box.

“Open it.”

“What is it?”

Amber half laughed.  “Well it wouldn’t be a secret if I told you, huh?  Figure out for yourself.”

Krystal hesitated as she could feel her face turn a tint of pink.  She took off the cover of the box only to be fumbled by a black leather box.  She blinked twice at it, falling slightly agape.  She looked to her girlfriend and Amber only smiled back and gestured with her eyes to keep moving forward.  She took the small leather box out of the white one and let it rest in her hand.  Krystal blushed harshly.

Amber chuckled.  “I’m not asking you to marry me, but—”

Krystal opened the box slowly, lifting the one side that was available to open.  She stared at what was displayed, shocked with her heart beating in .  “They’re promise rings,” Amber said.  “Gold bands.  Hopefully it fits you.”

Krystal looked up and could feel tears start to form at the corners of her eyes.  “They’re beautiful,” she breathed with a small laugh.  She picked one and put it on her left ring finger, having it fit snuggly.  She threw herself to Amber for a hug, the tomboy laughing at the tightness around her neck.  After some time of holding the hug, Krystal let go and kissed Amber passionately, gently holding her face.

Krystal pulled away, catching up to her breath, both her and Amber’s faces flushed with pink.  Krystal continued to hold Amber’s face, capturing her mesmerizing eyes.

“I-I love you,” Krystal breathed.

Amber’s mouth dropped slightly agape, seeing the tears slowly holding themselves together at the corner of Krystal’s eyes.  She, too, began to feel tears form.  Fortunately, they weren’t the upsetting one—for once in a really long time—they were happy tears.

“I love you, too.”

Krystal breathed a laugh and wiped a tear that fell.  She grabbed the other ring and put it on Amber’s left ring finger.  “When we go out in public, I’ll wear it on different fingers but when I go to sleep at night—it goes back where it belongs.”

Amber nodded and hummed an approval with the idea, agreeing to do it, as well.  She gently caressed Krystal’s face.  Her face turned serious.  “I promise, Krystal,” she began.  “I promise to fight for you.”  Amber breathed through .  “Granted, we haven’t been together that long, but I’ve known you for the longest—and I know all of you inside and out.  No one has gone what we go through everyday and I think because of it, we’ve grown to love each other more and more each day because of it.”

Krystal nodded with a smile.  “I promise, too.  I’m trying, Amber.  I really am.  But each time we came across something—I never wanted to stop.”

Amber kissed Krystal.  Once she broke away, she placed her forehead against her girlfriend’s.

“You and me against the world, right?” she repeated, recalling a moment with a smile.

Krystal smiled back.

“It’s you and me against the world.”