(Listening to LOONATIC by Odd Eye Circle LOONA) 

"Oughh..." Amber whined as she felt her head ached so badly once she's up from the comfy bed. Grabbing the cellphone at the small drawer by the bed's side- she stared at the screen for a while. The time showed it has passed eleven already. 
 

After she took a quick shower and put a new clothes to her body, Amber walked out and headed straight to the kitchen, only to find the space was full with happy laughs and cackles. The youngest of them, Sinbi- with her bright face waved at the boyish cheerfully. 

"Good morning, Amber unnie!" Yebin, who's sitting at the sofa in the living room greeted her, also with a happy face. 

"Herm... morning? Why everyone is looking so bright today?? Do we have another occasion???" asked Amber with her confuse look. 

Yuri, while holding spatula answered Amber casually, 

"Probably we all had such a great time last night? And... your wife and Jessica went out to buy groceries since your entire favourite girls are here to celebrate your brave confession in front of their mother?" 

"What?" Amber questioned, being clueless as she entered the kitchen and stared back at the older woman. 

Yuri put both her hands on the waist, eyeing the boyish suspiciously, 

"Don't say... you could not even remember any single moment that happened last night???" 

Yebin, Minkyung, Sinbi, Dahyun, Kyulkyung, Seulgi and Wendy all together shifted their attentions at Amber while Irene still siting peacefully at the dining table- munching to seaweed crackers, then scrolling through the Instagram app. 

On the other side, Key- the only guy in the house released a sigh and hissed frustratedly in front of his cousin. 

"Jesus, what happened between you and Krystal's mom is precious! How could you easily forget that?!" 

Amber argued, 

"The heck? What precious moment??? And Krystal's mother.... was here? Too???" 

The group made a mental face-palm in sync, except the calm Irene- who just let out a small chuckle. She put down her phone and tapped the tomboy's back. 

"Will you let me tell you exactly what went on between you and Krystal's mother?" Irene offered herself in the situation as she made eye contact with Amber. 

"Please? Enlighten me, Irene-sshi," replied Amber, placing herself to the empty seat beside the tall girl Minkyung. 

Seulgi giggled when she exchanged stares with Irene before she changed her seat closer to Amber too. "Oh this going to be the best part of everything! Come on Baechuuu unnieee," 

"Best part?" Amber glanced at Seulgi's excited face as she turned back to Irene. 

"Are you sure you don't remember anything from last night's event, Ber?" Key asked, flipping over the beef patty on the hot pan.

The tomboy shook her head, "No, I swear my mind is as white as a white paper right now, Kibum," 

"Great," commented Irene as she furthered,

"Mrs. Soo Hye, who is the mother of Krystal and Jessica unnie stopped by to say hi to you, urm... well not in friendly way at first and you were totally drunk,"

"Oh my god," finally Amber able to recall a bit of scene where she saw Mrs. Soo Hye came in to the house. 

"Yes our god, Amber and thanks to your bluntness at that time, you have shutted that woman with being sincere and honest," added Irene, smiling widely. "Guess what? Krystal said your drunk version was the bravest Amber she has ever seen so far," 

This time, Amber was the one who slapped her own forehead, and hissed indistinctly. She laid her back to chair and sighed deeply. 

"Oh my goodness.... It went that bad?" she muttered weakly. 

Yebin butted in,

"Not bad, unnie. It wasn't not a bad thing that happened... but actually more to... like, a satisfying ending? You had clearly voiced out things you should've said to that mother and it is a good sign for me anyway," 

Minkyung raised her thumb at the small Yebin and grinned. 

Key served the plate to Amber, gripping gently to her right shoulder. "You did well, my llama. Maybe it's nice since you don't really remember what you have said to her, however, let's think of the bright side now. The mother probably seems to have been able to accept your presence as a new member of their family. She even ordered to see you once again for a grand proper dinner," 

"And here, eat all of these, because your wife told me and Yuri that Mrs. Soo Hye gave a motherly order for you to have a heavy breakfast as well. So that your dizzy head will be back to its natural state," 

Another sigh came out, Amber thanked Key afterwards. 

"And I have to prepare for another nerve-wrecking dinner with her," she expressed. 

Sinbi, the new member of Life Literature Club intervened in the conversation, "Don't worry about that, Amber unnie. Mrs. Soo Hye is kind. She's been taking care of my late mom's business for quite a while and her home-made spicy rice noodles is the best," 

"Hehe, so... don't think much about her fierce face. It runs from generation to generation, and Krystal unnie also a fierce-looking woman but has a warm heart, right?" 

Amber nodded with a smile. 

"Girls, we should be ready for lunch right now," Yuri told as she looked at the clock. "Sorry Amber, but those two fierce-looking siblings will be back in no time. Please finish your breakfast faster since I need to prepare the kitchen before they arrive," 

The boyish took a bite of the hamburger and nodded to Yuri. With mouth-full, she said, "By the way I'm not scared of my fierce-looking wife. She's the cutest when she has serious face on," 

Key puckered his lips, "Yeah you big nostrils, everyone's in love will just see beautiful moon and stars, not the dark and scary side of the universe," 

"Let's wait until you face that old woman once again and I pray you will be sober enough to be brave for some more precious moment," 

Amber scoffed annoyingly, before taking another big bite of Yuri's home-made hamburger. 

*** 

"I'm going to start working next week," told Amber as she placed her on the mattress. "Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?" 

Krystal combed her long hair and turned around. 

"Of course, Amber. I have no reason to not feel okay, okay?" 

Smiling, Amber nodded at her wife's reply. However, suddenly her mind clicked on something. Something big that has been the source of her stress lately. Either the upcoming dinner with Krystal's mother, or her plan flying back to LA, both are mind-messer. 

"Krys, I want to say I'm sorry for what happened last night," Amber began. "If I know your mother would show up, I would not prefer to drink or even join the girls at the party," 

Krystal sniggered first, "Do you think it was horrible, Amber?" 

"Yeah?" 

She rose from the vanity table and approached the bed. Sitting herself next to Amber, Krystal said in her gentle tone, "No, for me it's not a horrible experience, Amber. You were so brave, to say those things to my mother. I dont care if you're sober or not, but at least, I'm sure she learned something from it," 

"What kind of learning, Krys? Clearly she knew that I'm not sane and just blabbered things. I... am so sorry that I screwed up my first meeting with her. Say goodbye to first good impression," 

The long haired woman let out a small laugh afterwards,

"Whatever it is, you... are half-way then. We both, kind of," replied Krystal. 

"Half way to where, you mean?" asked Amber. 

Sighing, Krystal took Amber's hand and intertwined their fingers together. She gazed right into Amber's orbs and stated, "We're done with my side. Mother eventually has been informed about us. And another half will be yours. Your parents specifically," 

Amber sanked in silence momentarily since she ran out words to say.

She actually has been thinking to ask Krystal's opinion about her major plan of the week, which is flying back to LA and meet both her parents. Key and Jessica advised her not to, because they preferred her to settle first with Mrs. Soo Hye. The core to Amber's headache is how to pick the best words on asking her wife what she really need to do at that time. 

"Amber, you just zoned out," said Krystal out of blue.  "What is it? Irene did mention to me about you back in the party by the way," 

"What did she say?" 

"Your restless face? You were looking like some dead poet in the middle of rock and roll party. Your body was there, but Irene said she could sense your mind and soul were away," 

"That's how she explained it to you... or you're spicing things just to make sure that I'm interested to listen?" 

"Both," Krystal casually answered and made Amber laughed at the spot. 

She put a calm smile and gripped Krystal's fingers as tight as she could then. 
"I think because I'm a normal human being, I can't run from it, Krys. I must be honest with you... I kinda... feel restless as what Irene described about me. She's right, I can't think straight now. My mind is like some circuit that has these messy wires inside of it. Once they're conjoint together, I see flashes everywhere," 

"No hard feelings, Amber but... I can't agree you want to keep it for yourself. All of those... fibrous wires inside your head could be cleared, if, you don't mind sharing it with me," Krystal suggested. "Come on, we promised not to keep secrets from each other, right? That's what Key oppa has included in our vow too, if I'm not mistaken," 

A staring moment happened before the boyish exhaled an amount of air and muttered, "Alright, tell me if you're ready now, Krystal," 

Her wife just nodded with a smile, "Always ready here, Amber," 

She hummed for quite long before she started her confession, 

"I was planning to return to my parents' place this weekend, until your mother decided we should join her for dinner. So, I postponed that plan and hoping, I could focus first on your mother. I'm so afraid Krys, what if she couldn't tolerate when I'm sober enough? I heard a lot about her, from Jessica. She's not going to be that easy on me, I guess," 

"You heard a lot about her from my sister. What about me? Have you ever ask me directly about my own mother, Amber?" 

Amber went wordless as she heard her wife's question. 

"I'm sorry... I should ask you first," she apologized. 

Krystal sighed. "Nevermind," 

"If you would like to know what kind of person my mother is, I just can say she's a strong woman. Born and raised in noble family didn't make her tough, but her life experiences did. I may not be the one who favours her much about decision making, but... I understand her sometimes. She... inspires me to be an independent woman," 

"Sound like she's amazing to me," Amber interrupted with her satisfying smile. 

Krystal nodded as response. "Some people say she's... heartless, yeah not very adequate to define my mother's character but, I am confident she's learning to be another version of herself after she found out about us," 

".... Another version, Krys?" 

"Yeah... she's now gentler than before," replied Krystal immediately. "I know the biggest conspiracy of my family, and I accept it. Its hard, can't lie to you, but I'm trying to cope with the truths and lies that my mother hid from me. So, what it could be worse, Amber, if it comes from your own family?" 

Another question from her wife that made Amber went speechless. 

"Now, you tell me, what is it, the thing that you fear the most about your parents? Is it about their reaction? Or their acceptance of us?" 

"Both, Krys. I'm terrified of both matters. My father, a hot tempered guy, with zero tolerate on homoual thing and also perhaps, my mother, who is never go against my father, although she knows he is sometimes wrong. How could I think they will be happy, or accept me if I can't live with their rules?" 

"You know, things like these, only could be expected through positive and negative sides. Your parents, probably will like me, if you know how to introduce me to them beautifully. And don't worry, even if they, couldn't be cool enough to accept you, I swear I'm here for the rest of life, Amber. As been said, why you think it could be so worse when it comes from your own family?" 

Amber eyed every inch of Krystal's face and finally able to put a sincere smile. 

"I'm proud I have you in my life, Krys," 

Krystal muttered back, 

"Oh you should, Amber Josephine. That was a long preach okay? Absolutely not free," 

Then, they laughed in sync. 

___________

Thanks for your faithful waiting readers! 

I have to return to my workplace soon, so probably will be out to reach for a while. 

I'll write for everyone once I get the chance, okay?

The story is a bit slower than I expected but I will try to complete it soon! Thanks again for stopping by! 

Please, stay safe and stay at home :) WE ALL CAN GET THROUGH THIS PANDEMIC TOGETHER! 

Love love, 

YOUR RYAI.