Krystal awoke to the feeling of the unfamiliar. The planes of her body pressed firmly against something much harder than her mattress, sweat and clothing sticking to her as if she were next to a furnace, the air filled with a scent sweet and warm. She couldn't help keeping her eyes closed and searching her nose closer to the source of that scent. 

"Ummm," she murmured softly. 

Her nose had found it. Soft and warm and sweet. 

"Ummm." 

"Could you stop that?" An irritated voice said from somewhere extremely close to her. 

Krystal's eyes worked to open, lazy and lost. 

"Hm?" 

"Krystal..." 

Oh yeah. I'm at Embo's house. The storm!

Her eyes snapped open to find herself so close to Embo's face that she could count each of Embo's extremely long, dark eyelashes. She was embarrassed, but she still didn't want to move. Why does he have to smell so good? 

"What?" he asked. 

Krystal shook her head and pulled away from Embo, realizing she'd somehow tangled their legs together that night as well. She scooched to the other side of the room but her body felt oddly liquid and limbless. She couldn't remember ever feeling like that before. What was it? What did it mean? 

"Are you okay?" 

Krystal realized she was breathing a little harder than she should. She fanned herself. They'd walked in the rain last night to get to Embo's house, maybe she had a fever. She touched her forehead. Embo moved across the room and did the same. 

"The rain still hasn't let up, so the streets are probably flooded at the bottom of the hill. I might have some medicine, but I don't think I can get you to a doctor." Embo moved closer. "You don't feel too warm..." He cupped her face between his palms to tilt her head up and check Krystal's eyes. She swallowed hard. 

"Ummm, I think I'm fine," she said weakly. 

"What?" 

"I said I think I'm fine." She pushed away from Embo. "Just discombobulated from sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, that's all." She hurried around the tiny room, not sure what she was doing or what she was looking for. 

"You're being weird." 

"I'm always weird!" Krystal snapped. She hurried off to the bathroom, just to get away from Embo's searching gaze. 

Amber watched Krystal scuttle off to the bathroom and rolled her eyes. How could someone exhaust her ten seconds into the day?

She her phone to check the weather forecast and grimaced to find only a few major businesses were running while everyone else was advised to stay inside. Money would be short this month because of this. 

She sighed and slipped her phone into the pocket of her track pants and went out to check on her mother who was still sleeping peacefully. She tended to sleep long hours due to some of her medication. She laid a gentle hand on her mother's cheek before heading to one of the cabinets to see what she could make to eat. There was some rice tucked away in one corner and she knew there were a few vegetables left in the fridge. She hoped they still had seasoning left, but her friend SunYoung was the one who usually kept up with that, so she couldn't be sure. A wave of relief hit her when she found some spices in a drawer by the stove. They wouldn't have to eat a tasteless rice and vegetable mix. 

She was nearly done chopping the vegetables when Krystal emerged from the bathroom and shuffled uncertainly to her side. 

"They're still not letting people on the roads, apparently a few trees and lampposts went down," Krystal said. 

"I know. I checked." 

"You really want to get rid of me that bad?" 

Amber was about to answer sarcastically that she did, but she looked over and saw the Krystal looked hurt. She continued chopping the carrots and said, "No. I just figured you want to be back home by now, eating a real breakfast at a real table and not on the floor." 

Krystal leaned against the counter and grabbed up a chunk of chopped carrot to munch on. "Breakfast at home isn't really that great. Sure, it would taste better than some carrots and rice, but my dad always has his face in the paper and my mom is always talking to me about the newest anti-aging thing." She fluttered her hand in the air. "Breakfast was actually nice when my sister lived with us." Krystal smiled. "Her name's Jessica. She's the best." 

Amber wished she could say the same about her own sister, but she hadn't seen Jackie in so long she wasn't even sure what she felt about her anymore. "You sound like you miss her. Did she move far away?" 

Krystal shook her head. "Just a few streets, but it's really hard to get to see her. She's always doing social things with all the other big business guy's wives and going to the spa or playing with my little nephew." 

Her face got a thoughtful worried look. 

"What is it?" Amber asked. 

"She's been so unhappy." 

"Being rich and having free time?" Amber asked in disbelief. She wouldn't even know what to do if she had free time or money to give her mom a spa day. Resting seemed like a waste of time and energy. Maybe go to a concert. She really wanted to go to a concert. 

"There are things to be sad about even when you're rich," Krystal told her, mouth set in a firm line. "I barely know anyone who's really happy." 

Amber shrugged with a little half smile. "Me too. I guess that's one thing we have in common." 

Krystal smiled back at her and stole another bit of carrot. 

"Why don't you just wait until I'm finished to eat?" 

Krystal pouted at her. "I hate when they're all mushy and mixed with the other vegetables. They taste sweetest like this." 

Amber tapped the bottom of Krystal's chin and laughed. "You're always sticking out your bottom lip. One day something's gonna get it." 

Krystal it back in and gave her an odd look and squirmed around for a second. 

"Seriously, why are you being so weird this morning?" Amber put the chopped vegetables into a boiling pot of water and checked on the rice she'd started a short time before. "You're making me nervous." 

"Embo?" 

They both turned to her mom who was struggling to sit up. Amber quickly knelt by her side and put an assisting hand behind her back. 

"Ugh, I feel older and older every day." 

"You still look young and beautiful, mom." 

Her mother patted her cheek. "You're a good liar, but not that good." It caused Amber to laughed. "It's raining so much. The walls might be weak, but at least the ceiling's strong."

"Yeah, no leaks," Amber said proudly. 

"You did a good job."

"Thanks, mom." She hadn't been able to afford a repairman, so she'd gotten as much information as she could, borrowed some tools from some neighbors, and went up and did it herself. Now she did small roof repairs around the neighborhood for a little extra cash when she had time. 

"Your vegetables are burning." 

Amber shot to her feet and hurried to the stove. "You could've taken them off the eye!" 

Krystal shrugged. "I just now noticed." 

Amber made a face at her and checked to see how much damage had been done. Some of the carrots and onions on the bottom were scorched, but everything else was fine, just a little soft. 

"All these years and I'm still bad at cooking." 

"Just like your mom," Mrs. Liu said proudly behind her. 

Amber laughed and shook her head. "If only I'd gotten your good looks instead." 

]The food was awful, Krystal texted to Sulli. ]He's so bad at cooking. 

]All you do is talk about Embo, now you spend the night at his place. I'm warning you, sleep with him and get it out of your system. You sound dangerously like you're falling in love with him. 

]It's just a silly crush, Krystal assured her. ]He smells good. If you smelled him, you'd want to just stay in his room and hold onto his pillow all day too.

]Oh my god, don't text me again until you come to your senses.

Krystal scrunched her nose at her phone and tossed it to the side. What did Sulli know? She understood lust and power in relationships, not crushes. Krystal had had a few crushes over the years. They always went away after a day or two. She couldn't really imagine herself with a guy. She'd find them attractive, fantasize about maybe marrying or dating them, then the shine would wear off. 

So she tried that with Embo. She thought about going on a date with him and imagined him taking her hand across the table. His fingertips were slightly rough from playing the guitar and manual labor. A pleasant shiver went across her skin. She thought about him leaning in to kiss her. This is where most of her romantic fantasies usually fell apart. But for some reason, she was eager to understand the texture and flavor of Embo's lips. 

She burst out of her fantasy with a racing heart to find the object of her thoughts walking into the room looking like a daydream in a frumpy shirt and mussed hair. Long, pretty lashes. Juicy-looking pink lips. 

Krystal squeezed the pillow in her arms tight, Embo's scent flooding her nostrils. 

Woah, she thought.