Part 2

“Haha, really?”

“Yeah. He really did that.”

“That’s crazy!”

“I know right?”

Krystal watched through the reflection of the giant mirror in front of her as Amber and one of her stylist laughed together. She narrowed her eyes at Amber in particular, astounded at how the girl can chat with everyone so easily even though she just met them for the first time today. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought Amber has been friends with everyone in the room for a long time.

“So what happened afterwards?” The stylist asks curiously.

Amber was about to reply when she caught a glimpse of Krystal looking at her through the mirror. She looked back at the stylist and smiled. “I’ll tell you about it next time.”

“What? Why?” The stylist pouted cutely.

“To keep it suspenseful of course,” Amber laughed and stood up. “Next time, Unnie. Next time.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Krystal saw Amber hook her pinky with her stylist before walking in her direction. She quickly shifted her eyes away and grabbed a magazine lying on the counter in front of her. She pretended to be busy scrutinizing a page when she felt Amber’s presence next to her.

“Nervous?” She heard Amber’s voice and looked up, acting like she was surprised to see her dance partner standing there.

“Not really,” Krystal replied casually.

“Really?” Amber had an amused smile plastered on her face.

“Yes, really. Does it look like I’m lying?” Krystal bit back way harsher than she intended to.

“No. I was just asking.” Amber still looked amused for some reason. “Anyway, just came by to tell you I think you’ll do great.” She then turned around to leave, but not before making a remark about the magazine in Krystal’s lap. “By the way, that outfit doesn’t really suit you.”

Krystal looked down at the magazine as Amber walked away and mentally facepalmed when she realized it was upside down. She looked back up to see if Amber was secretly laughing at her but found the tomboy chatting with one of her managers by the door.

Pushing herself off the chair, she closed the magazine and coolly tossed it back on the counter, acting like nothing was wrong. She then went to her stylist to ask her to adjust the back of her outfit.

“Five minutes!” Someone yelled by the entrance before disappearing down the hallway.

When Krystal was done fixing her outfit and doing one final makeup check, she headed for the door. She noticed Amber was not in the room and assumed the girl had gone ahead to the stage for the prerecording.

“Ready?”

The voice startled Krystal as soon as she stepped out of the room and she turned her head to the side to see Amber leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

“I thought you left already.”

“Nope. Was waiting for you.”

“Oh...” Krystal didn’t know how to respond to that. She found it weird that Amber would be waiting for her but decided not to ask her why. Instead, she nodded and walked off down the hall.

“Unniieeeee!”

“Ohhhhhhh!”

Fans who came for the prerecording cheered as soon as Krystal walked onto the stage.

The amount of people who came to support one person shocked Amber, especially seeing more than half were females. It was crazy.

Amber has been to her fair share of music shows before to cheer for her friends who were idols but this was her first time seeing a female solo artist who started out as an actress having this many fans for just a prerecording alone. The amount of fans here definitely did not lose to that of a male idol prerecording their comeback song.

“Man, I think I’m the nervous one now...” Amber muttered to herself as she made her way up to the stage. She stood off to the side and watched as Krystal interacted with her fans, chatting with them casually.

Krystal noticed Amber standing by herself and thought it was kind of cute how fidgety she seemed.

“Okay, places everyone.” The producer yelled after a while.

Krystal backed up from the edge of the stage and took her place. She motioned for Amber to come over.

“Look who’s the nervous one,” Krystal said when Amber came to stand in front of her.

“That’s because I don’t want your fans bashing my head in for dancing with you like this,” Amber joked, “Especially your hormone raging fanboys.”

“Ha, you should be worrying about my female fans instead. They can get very protective of me.” Krystal replied back playfully, hoping to help lessen some of Amber’s anxiety. It’s always nerve-wrecking to perform in front of a close-up audience no matter how many times you’ve done it before.

“Great. So there’s no hope for me to charm them with my iness?” Amber pretended to flip her imaginary hair back.

“Oh my god,” Krystal’s jaw dropped, “You did not just say that.”

Amber chuckled. “I guess that’s a no? Then what about my cuteness? Think they’ll fall for that?”

“...Yah...” Krystal brought her hand up and acted like she was going to hit Amber.

The fans who were staring intently at the two on stage started screaming, thinking Krystal was being intimate with her male dance partner. Krystal and Amber immediately put some distance between themselves.

“Who’s that?” Murmurs and whispers could be heard throughout the set area.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before.”

“Where’s Yunho Oppa? Wasn’t he supposed to be the dance partner?”

“I heard he went on vacation with his girlfriend.”

“No, I heard he had to visit family for personal reasons.”

“Do you think she’s close with him? They look close?”

“Is he going to be dancing with Krystal for this whole promotion cycle?”

Amber scratched the back of her neck and adjusted her cap awkwardly. She could hear the whispers going around as curious eyes bore a hole through her. On the bright side, at least Krystal doesn’t have to worry about people finding out that she’s actually a girl. But then again, it’d be nice if less people mistook her for a guy.

As the lights dimmed to signal that recording was about to start, Amber took a step forward right as Krystal placed her hands on her shoulder.

“Cue music!” The producer yelled.

Taking a deep breath, Amber and Krystal’s eyes met as the first note of the song echoed loudly across the stage.

~~~

Loud clapping and cheering resonated inside the small dance studio.

“Woo! Congratulations on a successful promotion!” Yunho held up a glass of champagne.

“You weren’t even here, Oppa,” Krystal pointed out as everyone else in the room held their glasses up in the air for a toast.

“Hey, I flew all the way back on the last day of your promotion just to celebrate with you. Show some appreciation will you?” Yunho took a sip of his drink and placed the glass back down on the table next to him. “I even bought you meat.”

“But you’re leaving again tomorrow morning. Who knows when I’ll see you again...”

“Will you stop whining for one second and just enjoy the moment? I’m here aren’t I? Here, drink up.” Yunho reached out and pushed the glass in Krystal’s hand towards her lips. “Besides, you’re in good hands. I’ve talked with the company and they’re letting Amber join you for your repackaged album. You have nothing to worry about.”

“What?” Krystal looked over at Amber in surprise. “You’re going to be my backup dancer for my repackaged album?”

“It seems like it,” Amber replied, “But only if you’re fine with it, of course.”

“I... guess...” Krystal wasn’t sure what to say. It’s not like she had anything against Amber being a dancer for her repackaged album since the tomboy did extraordinarily well for this latest promotion that wrapped up, especially when she only had a day to learn the choreography. Her hesitation was more due to the fact that she assumed they wouldn’t be seeing anymore of each other. Guess not.

“Are you sure? I’m cool if you’d like to go with someone else. You won’t hurt my feelings.” Amber caught the slight pause of uncertainty and felt a bit disappointed although she didn’t show it.

“No... I’m okay with it. You helped me through this promotion at the last second so I trust you will do well for this coming one,” Krystal offered a small smile to ensure Amber she meant what she said.

“Well that settles it then! Great! Let’s get back to drinking!” Yunho smiled and held up his glass for another toast.

By the time nightfall came, more than half the people in the studio were drunk. Driving home was definitely out of the question.

“Fun night, huh?”

“More like loud and exhausting,” Krystal replied as she put her coat on, “We should’ve never let Yunho Oppa drink that much alcohol. He always gets annoyingly crazy when he’s drunk. I bet you he’ll be puking all over the airplane when he flies back tomorrow morning.”

Amber chuckled and shoved her hands into her pants pocket as they walked out onto the street. The cold blast of wind was refreshing yet made her shiver slightly.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you during practice in a few days,” Krystal turned to bid Amber goodnight.

“What, you’re walking home alone?” Amber asked. She was planning on walking Krystal home since it was pretty late and her managers were too drunk and irresponsible to drive. It would be dangerous for someone like Krystal to be out on the streets by herself. Or at least that was what Amber told herself.

“Yeah, why?” Krystal adjusted her jacket. “I don’t live that far away from here.”

“But it’s still dangerous, especially during nighttime. I’ll walk you home.”

“That’s okay. This is a pretty safe neighborhood and I’ve walked home by myself plenty of times. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“That doesn’t make it any less dangerous. Besides, I’m not asking you for permission,” Amber replied and started walking down the street.

Krystal stared at the girl from behind with brows furrowed. She then huffed and followed. “Fine, whatever. Suit yourself.”

After a few minutes of walking, Krystal could no longer contain her curiosity of why Amber is always lagging behind her by a few feet, even when she stops to wait for the girl to catch up. “Yah, if you’re going to walk me home, why are you walking so far behind me?” Krystal finally stopped and turned around to confront the girl.

Amber also stopped where she was. “So you don’t get caught up in dating rumors or scandals,” she replied honestly. “I don’t exactly look very feminine and if we get photographed together, at least the company can make the argument that I’m just a nameless pedestrian that you don’t know.”

Krystal was surprised by the consideration and her initial annoyance dissipated, no matter how weird Amber’s logic was.

“Does this make you like me a little more?” Amber couldn’t help but tease when she noticed the expression.

“Wha—You wish!” Krystal became flustered by the unexpected question and immediately stormed off in the opposite direction, mumbling incoherent words to herself.

Amber chuckled in amusement as she quietly strolled after the girl. She was finding Krystal more and more interesting.

-----

End of Part 2.

Let's see if I can get another update in before my business travel next week.