Amber had written a song. It sounded okay, but since she only had a guitar, she couldn't give it any flare. She wished for a small studio space of her own, or at least a decent computer to put some more sounds together, but the audition was coming up and she didn't have time. One of the largest music-related companies in South Korea was doing an open audition for new singers, songwriters, producers, actors, models, anything that could be thought of. Other companies were always open, but she'd heard horror stories of money and music being stolen. Not to mention time. She didn't want to risk it. She didn't have it to risk. And if she were going to do this, shouldn't she shoot for the moon? And even if she didn't get chosen today, perhaps she'd at least sell a song. 

Well, she only had one, but that was better than none. 

She hoped they wouldn't ask her if she had anything else. Although that would be a good thing...if they wanted to hear more from her. 

She shook her head, strapped her guitar on her back, clutched her notebook tight in her fist, and headed out the door, a good luck kiss from her mother fresh on her cheek.

 "Oh, you aren't going to the bookstore today?" Sulli asked, linking arms with Krystal as she headed out of class in a different direction than usual. 

Krystal scrunched her brows. "Yeah. It's not like I go every day." 

The look on Sulli's face said otherwise. "There's only been two days this entire semester you haven't gone there." 

"So?" 

"What do you do there?" 

"Study," Krystal stated laconically. 

"Yeah, right."

The younger girl sighed and elbowed Sulli in the side. "Want to come over to my house? The cook is making some new deserts she wants me to try out before our family gathering this weekend." 

"Hmm, I would, but I have a date tonight and need to start getting dressed." 

Krystal's brows shot up. "Oh? You have a boyfriend?" 

The older girl shrugged and shook her head. "No. College is the best time to date around. No one is expecting you to settle for marriage while you're studying, though a few try to get pretty serious," she grimaced at that. "You get to figure out what sort of man you really want to be with and make connections along the way for the future. Make sure not to sleep with any of the old-fashioned ones though, or you'll be labeled a if you're seen even breathing the same air as another guy. Clarissa made that mistake and I doubt she'll be able to find an eligible bachelor inside of Korea anytime soon. She'll probably end up moving to Australia when she graduates." 

Krystal's cheeks were bright red when she asked, "So...you've had before?" 

Sulli's eyes widened. "You haven't?" 

"No?..." 

She put a hand over in surprise, then gripped Krystal's elbow, "Are you waiting for marriage?" 

"Urm," she hadn't ever really thought about why she was waiting. She didn't even know if she was waiting for if she just hadn't found anyone she wanted to have with yet. She tried to think of anyone she'd been attracted to over the years and was drawing a blank. She'd been so busy flying around the world, going to family functions, and trying to figure out how not to end up like her sister before she was ready that she hadn't even had time for even a crush. Her stacks of romance novels were pretty much the closest she'd gotten (not that she ready many of those, of course), and she was worried they'd given her a skewed view of what to expect out of a relationship, love, , and everything in between. 

"Have you at least-" Sulli looked her up and down and waggled her eyebrows. 

"What?" 

"You know!" 

"What?!" 

Sulli leaned in and whispered, "ed." 

Krystal gaped and stepped back. "You're really straight-forward, you know that?" 

"It's the only way to get what you want," Sulli shrugged. "So have you?" 

Krystal's cheeks were flaming as she glanced around for eavesdroppers and nodded. 

Sulli sighed with relief. "Thank God! You don't want to have with absolutely zero experience. It'll end up being a bad experience for both of you if that's the case, especially for you. Guys can be pretty single-minded in the bedroom. At least you have some small idea what you like. And be vocal about it," she pointed out, "Guy's feel like a star if you give them a little direction in the right way, plus you get what you want. Harder, softer, oohh, right there. Just a little, ah, yeah, like that-"

Krystal slammed her hand over Sulli's mouth when she saw Embo rounding the corner. He'd told her he wouldn't be at the bookstore today because he had something to do. She had to admit he looked y with that guitar strapped to his back and couldn't help but be curious where he'd been. 

"H-hey," she said stupidly. She wished she could take it back and not have gotten his attention. She didn't even have anything in mind to say. 

"Hey," he responded quietly, his mind seemingly elsewhere. 

"You seemed so excited yesterday, now you're kinda..." she shrugged. 

Embo blinked at her for a moment then gestured to the guitar on his back. "I went for an audition. It didn't go well." 

"Ah, sorry." 

Embo shrugged like he was used to things not going his way and just nodded. "Yeah, well..." 

Sulli looked between the two then said, "How about you both go for drinks on me?" She pulled out her wallet and handed Krystal the card before she could say anything. She winked and wiggled her eyebrows, trying to project that this was the perfect person to practice on. Krystal didn't seem to be getting it though. "You're probably pretty down after the audition and should relax a little. You don't want to go right back to work when you feel crappy, right?" 

Amber rubbed a hand through her hair. "Not really." Plus she kind of wanted some time to put a positive spin on it for her mom when she got back. She'd planned to just walk around in circles for a while, but going out to eat and drink on someone else's dime was an opportunity she didn't want to pass up. 

"And Krystal just got an A on one of her statistics spreadsheets," Sulli gushed proudly. 

Krystal looked down at the ground then flicked her eyes up to see Embo smiling at her. "Wow, good job," he said, smacking Krystal on the shoulder. "Good to see my headaches with you finally paid off!" 

Krystal laughed, taking the money from Sulli. Though she had plenty of her own, it was nice being treated by a friend. Plus she didn't want her dad to see a bar listed on her credit card bill. 

"My car's here," Sulli said, waving down a red Mercedes. "I'll see you tomorrow, Krys," she said, kissing the younger girl on top of the head. 

"Wow, I wonder what it's like to be that gorgeous," Krystal heard Embo say under his breath as he watched Sulli elegantly fold herself into the luxury car, miles of pale leg exposed by her denim mini. 

Krystal rolled her eyes. "So...where do you wanna go?"