Part 3

“Again.”

“Ugh, I told you, my body can’t move like that. Can’t you just take out this dance move or switch it out with something easier?” Krystal put her hands on her knees to rest. Her body was drenched in sweat and she was panting heavily.

It’s been a few months now since they’ve known each other and Amber has been officially hired into the company as the lead choreographer behind Yunho and a main backup dancer for more than half the artist under the company. A big part of her joining the team was attributed to Yunho speaking with the CEO personally and asking him to sign her on. He was reluctant at first but after seeing what Amber can do, he invited her to join.

“You can do it. You’re just not trying hard enough,” Amber replied.

“Are you kidding me?” Krystal scoffed. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last hour? Why are you so stubborn?”

Amber chuckled as she walked over. “I can say the same about you. Now come on, let’s try this again. I’ll help you.” She held out a hand.

After staring at the outstretched hand in annoyance for a while, Krystal eventually took it.

Amber smiled to herself as she led Krystal to the center of the studio. She has noticed that although Krystal is extremely stubborn most of the time, she actually succumbs quite easily to you if you’re insistent enough.

“Alright, so, it’s not as hard as you think. You just have to relax your body more.” Amber stood in front of Krystal and turned her cap backwards.

Krystal shifted her eyes to the side, not wanting to be caught staring at Amber’s face. One thing she has noticed over these past few months is that Amber is almost always wearing a cap. Not that she minded because she actually thinks Amber looks cool with them on, especially whenever they’re practicing and she turns them backwards. For some reason, she finds it cool and attractive. But of course Amber’s stupid teasing and annoying self still beats out everything else. Never has Krystal met someone who could annoy her so much in a span of one day. Calling her cute, teasing her about her Princess like behavior, asking if she likes her and a whole bunch more that cannot be listed because it would take forever to get everything down. What’s even crazier is the fact that although Amber annoys the heck out of Krystal, whenever she’s actually not around, it feels like there’s an empty space next to her. It’s so strange.

“Got it?”

Amber’s voice pulled Krystal out of her thoughts and she blinked. “Huh?”

“I said, just let your body flow with the beat. Don’t think too much about it and you won’t be as stiff.”

“That’s easier said than done though.”

“Right, so I’m going to help you this time.” Amber moved around to stand behind the girl. “I’m going to wrap my arms around your waist so don’t freak out, okay?”

“W-what?” Krystal didn’t even have time to process what Amber had just said when she felt arms encircling her waist. Her body immediately tensed by reflex as her eyes grew wider by the second.

“Relax.” She heard Amber’s voice next to her ear, sending shivers down her back.

How the hell am I supposed to relax like this? Krystal thought to herself. Her heart was racing out of control and she didn’t know why.

“Relax, Krystal.” She heard Amber say again as music started to play. Next thing she knew, Amber was gliding her body along with hers as they moved to the beat of the music.

By the time the music stopped, Krystal had no idea what had happened because she was still stuck on the fact that Amber had been so close to her and could feel her skin underneath her clothes tingling from the contact.

“That was easy, right? See, I knew you could do it.”

Krystal slowly came back to her senses and looked up to see Amber smiling at her. There was a moment of silence before she bolted for the door, shouting “I need to use the restroom,” before exiting the studio.

“O...kay...” Amber didn’t even have time to react before she was the only one left in the room. She smiled to herself. “Cute.”

~~~

“Morning.”

Krystal groggily looked to her left to see Amber smiling at her. She frowned and turned away.

“Not a morning person, I see.” Amber pulled out the chair next to Krystal and sat down. “I would’ve thought you’d be one since you have so many morning schedules to attend.”

“Because of those schedules, that’s why I’m not one...” Krystal replied with her eyes closed. She was exhausted from filming her new drama that ended late last night and wished she could just crawl into bed and sleep all day. But unfortunately, her company scheduled her for an open concert performance down at Jeju Island so she had to catch a flight down and is now getting some breakfast before rehearsals. If she could, she would switch out breakfast for an hour worth of sleep in a heartbeat. However, her manager would not allow it, saying she has to eat something so she would have enough energy later on. He was only looking out for her well-being so Krystal couldn’t complain.

“Here.”

Krystal heard something being placed down in front of her and lazily cracked open an eye to see what it was. She was surprised when a plate of her favorite food greeted her. She immediately turned to see Amber eating while playing a game on her phone. She must’ve been more tired than she thought to not have heard Amber getting up to get some food.

Turning back to her own plate, Krystal slowly picked up the fork to eat. From the corner of her eye, she could see Amber greeting the other staff members who were joining them at the table. Because of Amber’s kind gesture, suddenly she didn’t feel as tired anymore.

Once breakfast was over, everyone headed out towards the outdoor stage to prepare. Everyone was walking in their own little group except for Krystal who was trailing quietly behind, not really in the mood to interact. In fact, she was more focused on avoiding the burning light rays from the sun and finding someone’s shadow to hide underneath. But since they were walking through an open field, it was kind of hard to do.

“Here.”

Krystal looked up and squinted when she felt something soft around her shoulders. She then peered down to see Amber’s thin cardigan gently draped over her.

“You can wear this for rehearsal,” Amber said and smiled.

Krystal turned to look at the girl and found herself mesmerized by the kind smile for a moment. Eventually, she blinked and looked away, muttering a soft “thank you” as she pulled the cardigan closer to her.

“So how did your filming go last night? I heard you filmed outside all day in the hot sun.” Amber attempted to start a conversation, though mostly to satisfy her own curiosity about what she had overheard this morning.

“It went okay.” Krystal played with the sleeves of Amber’s cardigan as she replied. “But there’s one scene we might have to re-do when I get back to set tomorrow.”

“Oh? How come?”

“Not sure. Heard there was something wrong with the lighting in that scene? It was the last scene of the night with Jihoon oppa and it was slightly rushed towards the end because of my flight.”

“I see...” Amber nodded. “So you’re already on ‘Oppa’ terms with him now?”

“What do you mean?” Krystal asked, slightly confused by the strange question.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just wondering how close you two have gotten.”

“Ah, well, it’s hard not to get acquainted in our profession.”

“Right,” Amber nodded, “So what scene will you have to re-do tomorrow? Do you know?”

“Um...” Krystal had to think for a little bit to remember. “I think it’s the scene where Jihoon oppa’s character finally confesses to me and we share a kiss together.”

“Ah... I see. So it is true.”

“What is true?” Krystal turned to look at Amber.

“Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself.” Amber gave the girl a smile before turning her focus to the front.

Krystal tilted her head, not sure what she sensed just now. She was attempting to find out when they reached the bottom of the stairs up to the backstage area. Without saying anything, Amber turned around and held her hand out for Krystal to take.

The kind gesture made Krystal blush as she lightly placed her hand in Amber’s. She could never get used to this no matter how many times Amber has helped her up and down the stairs. It always warms her heart and makes her happy for some reason.

“Thanks,” Krystal muttered when they reached the top and quickly released the older girl’s hand.

“No problem.” Amber smiled brightly before making her way over to one of the staff members calling her.

Krystal didn’t realize she had been staring at Amber until her manager’s frustrated voice reached her ears. She blinked and turned to her manager. “Yes, Oppa?”

“I’ve been calling you for the last few minutes now. What are you doing just standing there? Come on, you have to get ready.” Her manager gestured for the girl to hurry over.

Embarrassed, Krystal ducked her head down and quickly ran to her manager, hoping no one saw what just happened. However, a pair of smiling eyes several feet away witnessed the event and the person couldn’t help but mutter, “Cute,” to herself.

~~~

“Oh, you almost got it. You missed a few steps.”

“Where?”

“I’ll show you.” Amber proceeded to dance that portion of the choreography.

“Ah~ that’s right. I can’t believe I missed this part. I practiced it so many times before too.”

Amber chuckled and patted the girl’s back encouragingly. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually.”

“Says the dancing master.”

“Hey, look who’s talking, Miss Dancing with the Stars season 3 winner, Wang FeiFei.”

“Ha, well,” Fei flips her hair to the side in self praise, “what can I say? I’m just naturally talented, I guess.”

“Yeah, naturally talented in praising yourself,” teased Amber, which earned her a fake punch to the stomach. Amber pretended to double over in pain for a few seconds before she resumed teasing her idol friend.

Krystal watched the two bicker back and forth jokingly with each other with an unamused frown on her face. She’s been finding herself increasingly annoyed by Amber’s friendly personality with just about everyone she comes across. But more so than that, she’s been annoyed at herself for even caring in the first place. Since when did she care about what Amber does and who she talks to or smiles at? Such trivial things yet it bothers her so much. Why?

Krystal was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t even realize Amber had ended her conversation with her friend and was now heading her way until the girl was right in front of her.

“Hi!” Amber greeted with a smile.

Krystal jerked back in surprise but quickly recovered. “What.” She tried to sound uninterested, pretending to hide the fact that she was actually watching Amber earlier.

“Nothing. Just came over to say hi.” Amber replied, unaffected by the tone. “Bored?”

“A little,” Krystal answered honestly. She was secretly happy that Amber had voluntarily come over to talk to her, even if it was just to say hi. Of course she would never show it or tell her that though.

“Me too, actually. Want to play a game on the phone together?”

“Sure.”

Krystal and Amber ended up seated next to each other on the couch with Amber’s phone held in between them. Both were thoroughly engrossed in the game until someone interrupted them.

“Hey Amber, want to go grab some food before the performance starts?”

Krystal looks up to see it was that Fei girl again. She half expected Amber to take the offer since they seemed to be close with each other, but when Amber declined, Krystal couldn’t help but turn and stare at the girl. She was surprised Amber would turn down hanging out with her friend and eating. It’s not like they were doing anything important anyway.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go with her?” Krystal couldn’t help but ask after Fei left the room.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Why?” Amber turned her head to the side to look at Krystal.

The sudden close proximity made Krystal blush. “N-no reason. Just thought you might be hungry...”

Amber smiled and shook her head. “I’m not hungry right now. But if I do get hungry later, then we can go get something to eat together. Sound good?”

“Y-yeah, sounds good...” Krystal couldn’t help but continue to stare at Amber even after the girl had gone back to playing the game.

She sat there and quietly traced Amber’s face, from those sparkling eyes down to her lips and jawline. For some reason, she was captivated by her.

What is this feeling?

-----

End of Part 3.