“Hey, you've reached the llama, Amber! Sorry I can't answer the phone right now. I'm probably asleep or working, so just leave a message & I'll call back if I feel like it. The llama has spoken. Peace.”

 

Amber's phone had gone straight to her voicemail when she got a call from an old friend.

 

“Hey. Uh... It's me, Jenissi. H-How have you been? Um... You're probably wondering how I got your number right?”

 

Jenissi chuckled nervously over the phone.

 

“I uh, I ran into one of our mutual friends today & um... I-I asked about you. I really... really miss you. Call me when you get a chance. Ok? Bye.”

 

Once Jenissi hung up the phone, he had slid a piece of paper into his coat pocket that had Amber's phone number written on it. Five years ago when Jenissi & Amber decided to break off their on & off, toxic relationship, Amber had since then moved on with her life.

 

She was focusing on nothing around her other than her music, friends, & family. As much as she wanted to focus on her dating life, she couldn't. One part of her yearned to be in love once again with someone who wanted similar things that she wanted out of life, & another part of her wanted nothing to do romantic relationships or dating of any kind.

 

Jenissi on the other hand was focusing on his music as well. He was also an employee at a popular music store that's been in good business for about five years now. He had finally gotten his own place (even though it took some time) in a decent neighborhood that was close to his job. Everything was going good for him until Amber was no longer apart of his life.

 

“Ok, so are you two dating yet or...?” Amber asked to her friend Luna who was on the phone with her.

 

“We're not officially dating like we're an actual couple. We're doing the dating where we go out & maybe have a few drinks or something every now & then, & go home separately. Does that make sense?”

 

Amber shook her head no as she chuckled to herself at Luna's explanation.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I think so. Um... How long have you this guy have been doing this dating thing again?” Amber asked as she finished up writing down some lyrics into her song notebook.

 

“About six months. We're just gonna take things really slow. Besides, from what he's told me, he was in a really challenging relationship before he met me. I asked him what did that mean exactly, but he told me that it's nothing I should be worried about now.”

 

“Wow, sounds like he's been through some things to say that his last relationship was challenging. I don't think I've heard someone say that before actually. Anyways, it sounds like you two are doing good, so that's good.”

 

“Yeah.” Luna commented. “I just hope that he's the right one for me, you know?”

 

Amber nodded as she closed her notebook & began packing up her things. “I think I know. Well look, um... It's getting a bit late, so I'll call you tomorrow & let you know how things went with the song ok?”

 

“Ok, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye!”

 

After hanging up on each other, Amber grabbed her things & locked up her studio. On the short walk home, Amber browsed around on her cell phone, noticing that she had one missed call from a number that she didn't recognize, & a new voicemail message.

 

“Hm.” stopping in front of the door to her apartment building, she listened intently to the voicemail message.

 

“Hey. Uh... It's me, Jenissi. H-How have you been? Um... You're probably wondering how I got your number right?  uh, I ran into one of our mutual friends today & um... I-I asked about you. I really... really miss you. Call me when you get a chance. Ok? Bye.”

 

Shaking her head, no, Amber entered her neat & cozy apartment & tossed her things on the couch. Sighing to herself, she opened the dial pad on her phone & was hesitant to call him after remembering some of the things they've been through.

 

“...I wonder who he saw.”  Amber thought to herself as she called the number Jenissi had called her from.

 

After the second ring, the phone was answered. “Hello?” a quavering voice asked.

 

“Did someone call me from this number today?” Amber asked the person on the other end.

 

A male voice responded, “Um, yeah. I-Is this Amber?”

 

Amber nodded once as if the person on the other line could see her. “Yeah. Who's asking?”

 

“It's me, Jenissi.”

 

After an awkward silence settled in between the two for a bit, Jenissi spoke up. “I miss you.”

 

Amber took her shoes off & sat them by the front door on her way to the kitchen. “Ok.”

 

“Our... our song came on today while I was at work. Do you remember our song?” he asked.

 

Looking in the fridge for something to eat, Amber responded, “...No.” she lied.

 

“Oh, ok.” Jenissi replied as he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

 

“Who gave you my number?” Amber asked curiously as she grabbed some leftover lasagna from the fridge & put it inside of the microwave to cook.

 

“...Hyoyeon. She gave it to me when I asked about you.”

 

Before the microwave beeped, Amber took out her lasagna & grabbed a fork from a drawer. On the way to her bedroom, she grabbed her bag from the couch & kicked it into her room.

 

“You should lose it.” Amber replied.

 

Jenissi sat up in his bed, running his hands through his brown hair. “I won't.”

 

Amber laid in her bed eating leftover lasagna while watching the news. “Jenissi, why did you call me?”

 

“My friends keep telling me that I should fix things with you. I want to fix what happened between us. You were the best thing that had ever happened to me.” Jenissi had gotten out of bed as he sat on his balcony looking at them view.

 

Amber sat the rest of her uneaten leftovers in the trash bin, forgetting to take out the fork. “There's nothing to fix. What's done is done.”

 

“...How have you been?” Jenissi played with some of the rocks on his balcony.

 

Flipping through her notebook of songs, Amber wrote something down. “Fine. How about yourself?”

 

“Alright. Things would be better if you were here by my side.” he said.

 

“I never wanted things to end, but I had to do what was best for me. I can't be with someone who's not on the same page as me Jenissi. You weren't right there on that page with me.”

 

“No, no. I was right there with you. You wanted us to take couple counseling, I participated. You wanted us to work on communicating with each other, I tried. You wanted us to work on some personal issues that we both were struggling with, & I did it. Everything you wanted to do, I was there for it.”

 

Amber raised a brow as she put away her bag.

 

“You only did those things because you felt like you were being forced to. I wanted us to do those things because we needed to.”

 

Jenissi headed back to bed, closing the balcony doors behind him.

 

“Ok.” he replied nonchalantly.

 

Amber felt herself getting frustrated with Jenissi over the phone, so she decided to hang up on him even if it was a rude thing to do. She felt like he deserved that anyway after everything she's been through with him.

 

Immediately after hanging up the phone on Jenissi, Amber's phone vibrated once. Picking up the phone again, it was a text from Jenissi that read, “I'm sorry.”

 

“You should be. I was good to you.” Amber thought out loud. Texting him back, Amber responded with, “I'm going to sleep.” & plugged up her phone to charge.

 

A few days after receiving that unexpected phone call from Jenissi, Amber hadn't heard from him & she was definitely trying her best to make sure that he hadn't heard from her.

 

Around three in the evening, Amber was on her lunch break with her friend & coworker Ailee who helped Amber manage a talent agency along with some of her & Ailee's mutual friends.

 

“So, guess who called me yesterday.” Amber & Ailee were eating outside at a table at Amber's favorite restaurant.

 

“Who?” Ailee asked after taking a bite out of her food.

 

“Jenissi.” Amber replied.

 

Ailee's eyes grew big when she heard the name "Jenissi" come out of Amber's mouth.

 

“...I thought we didn't speak of him anymore.” Ailee mumbled as she looked down at her food, tossing it slowly with her fork.

 

Amber waved her hand in a "shoo" motion responding, “I know, I know. But look, he called me yesterday from an unknown number. He even left a voicemail message. I don't even check those! Especially from unknown numbers.”

 

Ailee looked up to Amber, watching her toss around her food. “Did you call him back?”

 

“I only called back to see who called. I listened to his voicemail message & then I called to see if it was his number, & it is.

 

“What did he say?” Ailee asked.

 

“On the voicemail, he asked me how have I been & that he missed me.”

 

“Well...” Ailee took a sip of her drink as she eyed Amber up & down.

 

“Well what?” Amber protested.

 

“All I'm saying is that, you two were really something. I know you have to miss him too. I mean come on,” Ailee leaned forward, whispering, “You almost married the poor guy.”

 

“I don't remember that.” Amber coldly responded as she turned her attention to her cell phone.

 

Ailee stopped whispering & pointed at Amber with her fork as she continued to talk. “That's a god damn lie. Amber, you know that Jenissi loves you & me & tons of other people know how much you loved him too. I know what he did was obviously unacceptable, but have you ever thought that maybe you could give him at least another chance?”

 

Amber wrapped her food up & left a tip on the table as Ailee did the same.

 

“Whatever, & no. He doesn't deserve another chance.”

 

“So after five whole years of you & him being together, you're telling me that you basically never loved him & that you wouldn't give him another chance?” Ailee eyed Amber up & down again as she crossed her legs & browsed around on her phone.

 

“What I said was that he doesn't deserve another chance. Keyword, "deserve". & I don't know what love is.” Amber muttered under her breath.

 

Shaking her head in disappointment, Ailee spoke up. “You know he's not gonna stop attempting to get you back & fix things right?”

 

Standing up from her seat along with Ailee, Amber responded, “Please don't remind me. Please.” she begged.

 

“When you go home after work, at least talk to him. I've been seeing you ignore his calls & stuff at work today. Just try & talk to him.”

 

On the short walk back to work, Amber was quiet & thought about everything Ailee said & tried her best not to think too much about anything Jenissi related so that she wouldn't break down on the job.

 

After another long day at work, Amber had received a text message from Jenissi for the third time today. The first text he sent her was a “Good morning.” text around 7:30 that morning, & the second text he sent her was around 1:00 that afternoon that read, “I'm out of place without you.”.

 

“Can I buy you coffee? For old time's sake.”

 

Amber read the message as many times as her eyes would let her & responded, “I don't want to see you & you can't buy me coffee.”

 

“I already bought the coffee. Can you come & get it please? There's no refunds & it's your favorite kind of coffee.” he texted back.

 

Sighing to herself, Amber stopped on the sidewalk she was walking on & texted Jenissi back. “Throw it away. I'm busy.”

 

“That'll be a waste of money & a drink. Do you know that some people in other countries can't even afford to buy good coffee, let alone waste it? Just saying.”

 

Amber texted back, “Alright. I'll get the damn coffee. Where are you?”

 

“The place we had our first date at. Pixels. Remember?”

 

Amber placed her hand over her heart as she pouted & got a flashback of how her very first date with Jenissi went.

 

.

 

“You really do like coffee huh?” Amber giggled as she felt Jenissi's arm go around her tiny little waist.

 

“Yeah, I like to drink it almost a bit too much.” he commented as him & Amber looked over the menu above the register.

 

“Wow, they have a lot of stuff here...” Amber said in awe as she looked at some of the food that was on the counter in front of her.

 

Jenissi held Amber close as he placed a kiss on her forehead. “See anything you want?”

 

Amber nodded happily as she pointed at two items on the menu that she wanted. After ordering the food Amber wanted, Jenissi got himself something too & led Amber to a closed off river nearby the restaurant so that they could be alone.

 

Sitting on a bench together, Jenissi shared his food with Amber & vice versa. “So how's the date going so far?”

 

Amber smiled as she nudged Jenissi's arm & fed him a piece of her muffin. “You're not supposed to ask me that. I'm supposed to tell you what I thought of the date when we have to go our separate ways after the date.”

 

Falling over while pretending to be in pain, Jenissi laid his head in Amber's lap as she blushed at how he was looking at her.

 

“I guess I could wait until the date's over.” he commented as his smile revealed his dimples.

 

Poking his nose twice & eating what Jenissi was feeding her, Amber spoke up after swallowing her food. “How about you tell me what you think of the date so far?”

 

“Well,” Jenissi thought out loud. “I like it so far. I'm with a beautiful girl, I'm falling harder for you,” Jenissi covered his cheeks with his hands to hide his blushing. “I feel like our whole date so far has shown me a different side of you that I really, really like. & I hope that I'll be able to see more sides to you.”

 

Smiling from cheek to cheek, Amber was at a loss of words as Jenissi leaned in to give Amber her very first kiss. As Jenissi's lips touched Amber's, they both laughed at each other's first attempt at a kiss. Jenissi's lips were slightly closed while Amber's mouth was slightly open.

 

“Um...” Jenissi's face turned completely red as he wiped a bit of Amber's wetness from his lips.

 

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Amber's entire face was red as well. She covered her face completely feeling a bit sad that she didn't know how to kiss a guy or anyone properly.

 

“S-sorry...” Amber laughed nervously as she felt Jenissi's hands pulling her hands away from her face.

 

“It's fine.” he chuckled as he pulled Amber in for a hug to assure her that everything was fine. “Wanna try again?”

 

Amber nodded as Jenissi sat up & cupped one side of her face.

 

“Relax your lips, & I guess when you're ready & comfortable, just follow the rhythm of the kiss. Ok?”

 

Amber felt herself getting hot, so she decided to take off her jacket even though it was still a little cold outside. After what just happened between her & Jenissi, she needed to be cooled down.

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