The three of them, except for queen Vic who had an overlapping schedule, were seated next to each other in a round table at an event in Macau when Amber felt hot breath whispered against her left ear.

“Hey Am they put my filming in China on hold for the upcoming week.”

Of course it was Krystal, the one-and-only princess of f(x). There has been hardly any time the group’s youngest member would be sitting at a corner and not surrounded by her members, knowing how much the whole group adores her, hence the endearment of the term ‘princess’. That left Luna on the other side, who was now focusing on the performances onstage after the little chat with the younger girl.

Amber paused for a good half second and when the words finally sank into her llama brain, surprise was evident upon the look on her face.

“Really?”

“Yeah... The crew said…” Amber registered none of whatever was being said for she was staring at how Krystal’s hands moving animatedly as the younger girl explained the whole ordeal, thinking of how oddly comfortable she is tonight during the event. She brushed off the thought quickly as Krystal glanced at her after she was done talking.

“Hey stupid, were you listening?”

Nodding her head absentmindedly, she pointed towards the stage, reminding the younger girl they were still in the middle of an event and that they should be focusing (or perhaps, just pretending to be) on the performances.

A couple of seconds later, she tugged on Krystal’s elbow and flashed a rather stupid (Krystal would very much like to think of it that way) grin while leaning closer so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice.

“I’m actually happy for you.”

If Amber took nearly a second to react to her words earlier, Krystal spent twice the time to respond, her face contorted into an unexplainable expression and groaned.

“WHAT??!”

Grabbing her servant’s chin with her right hand, she made Amber face her, still keeping the conversation in English.

“Yah stupid!! You’re just enjoying the fact I’d be unemployed huh?”

Amber, being the ever loyal servant, was not mad at all at her princess’ violence despite having other celebrities around. She simply chuckled as the girl released her chin. Still facing her, she kept the smile on her face, yet it never really reached her eyes. Nodding twice, she confirmed.

“I am.”

Krystal was confused. Of course she was. None of the other members would have said they were happy if their schedule was to be put on hold for God knows how long, for whatever reason. She was still in a daze and was about to question the older girl but Amber beat her to it.

“You need some rest, Soojung. You’ve been working nonstop since our concert tours ended and with all these flying back and forth between Seoul and China, you know yourself you need proper sleep and nourishment. Seeing you exhausted while still trying to perform onstage kills me you know?”

Amber’s words slowly seeped into her skin and spread warmth all over. The fact that the older girl was whispering her concern made her feel all jittery inside. Instead of giving Amber an answer, she shyly nodded and turned to the stage, hoping her hair would help hide the blush that was slowly creeping onto her face, knowing that they were not alone in Amber’s apartment or her bedroom. Another thing she knew for sure though, Luna was keeping an eye on them the whole time with the usual cheeky grin on her face, ready to bombard either of them tons of questions as soon as the event finished.

Amber playfully shoved Luna back into her room after their random vocal training session the younger girl insisted them having even after the performance that night. As they were half bickering, half bidding each other good night, the door next to them opened, revealing an exhausted looking Krystal with her luggage trailing behind, their manager followed suit. The two of them promptly stopped upon seeing the unusual scene. By reflex, Amber reached out to grab Krystal’s arm while Luna was walking over the manager’s direction.

“What’s going on oppa? Where are you taking Soojung to?”

Their manager looked at both of the older members briefly before turning away, his head shaking lightly.

“Something came up and Soojung is demanded at the head quarter by tomorrow morning. I’m coming with her.”

Amber stayed frozen, her eyes never left the princess. It was still Luna who questioned further.

“But why? Can’t they wait just for half a day? We’re flying back tomorrow morning anyway.”

Still shaking his head, their manager answered vaguely.

“I don’t even know. She’s wanted at 8AM tomorrow sharp. They wouldn’t tell us anything else.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry… Soojung ah let’s go, we have to be at the airport in 45 minutes.”

With that, he dragged Krystal’s suitcase down the hall, pressing the button and waiting for the elevator to come.

Amber tugged on Krystal’s arm, slightly forcing her to say something, her voice rasp and low.

“Are you okay Soojung?”

Krystal slowly lifted her head up to meet the two’s gaze. With her makeup all removed, she looked dead exhausted. Using her other hand, she gave Amber’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s only a short flight. I won’t pass out Am…’

Not letting the younger girl finish her sentence, Amber pulled her into a hug, Luna standing on the side, patting her back lovingly.

“Text us when you get home kay? Whatever happens, we’ve got your back Soojung-ah.”

Luna cooed into her ear right when they broke the group hug. Glancing to the manager’s direction, Krystal nodded, her fingers reluctantly left Amber’s before walking off.

The two older members stood still watching their group’s princess’ back until the elevator’s door promptly closed. Letting out a deep sigh both of them were not even aware they were holding all this time, Luna ushered the older girl into her room, paying extra attention to her choice of words that moment.

“She’ll be okay unnie. Manager oppa’s with her so don’t worry too much.”

“I know… It’s just…it’s the first time they ask for her alone, all of a sudden… We’ve just finished the performance too. She’s supposed to rest and not flying right back like this.”

Amber’s eyes shone with deep worry and the fact that she almost choked on her words hurt Luna. While Amber most of the time is super playful and shows great affection towards all members, she and Krystal share a special bond since their debut days that no one could ever really comprehend, which Luna absolutely adores, yet in situations like that, she knew being all worked up was definitely not their best option. She rubbed Amber’s back soothingly and swiftly moved behind Amber to push the older girl into her room’s direction, curved into a grin.

To Gongju-nim:

“Has the princess arrived safely?”

To Amber:

“You haven’t slept yet? I’ve just got home and getting ready for bed.”

To Gongju-nim:

“How can the servant sleep before the princess huh? That’s super disrespectful and I absolutely refuse to do so.”

To Amber:

“Aww thanks Am. But you should stop being cheesy. Sleep, kay?”

To Gongju-nim:

“Yes ma’am! *salutes* sweet dreams princess. Anddddddddddddddddddd don’t drool :p”

To Amber:

“Stupid… >”< “

Despite all the bickering, she knew Amber purposely stayed up to wait for her text, which she was too occupied to shot out one to the older member. Feeling rather grateful that the older girl was always there for her, Krystal slowly drifted off to dreamland, recharging her energy for whatever was coming up the day after.

Slender fingers pushed open a conference room door, a petite figure peeked inside the gap and immediately spotted the management team. Bowing her head, she quickly exchanged greetings to each individual and got seated not too far away from the management board, cautiously keeping a distance.

Looking rather relaxed, their head of PR spoke up before she could ask anything.

“We told Dispatch you and Kai are dating.”

Obviously perplexed, Krystal froze in her seat, dry. For a second, she thought she heard him wrong, but the look on his face just confirmed she indeed got the correct idea of what was happening.

Taking a glance at his wrist watch, he slightly smirked before turning his gaze back to her.

“It should be on the news about now. Since we confirmed it, no one could say it’s merely an April’s Fool joke anymore.”

“But…why? With all due respect, Sir, why did you do that?” Her voice trembled, fists clenched tightly under the table and out of anyone’s sight.

“You haven’t been following the news lately, have you? We just merely confirmed a rumor that’s been spreading out the past few days.”

“Pardon me? You lost me there…”

“Maybe you should have been more careful when your manager’s out of paparazzi’s camera shot, Soojung-ssi. I need to be thanking you for that friendly dinner though, Dispatch’s currently holding a grudge against our entire company and your scandal unexpectedly comes very handy as a bargain.” The middle-aged man leisurely explained, still looking very relaxed.

“Friendly dinner..?”