Amber's rest period came in the middle of the day. She used the time to head to the cafeteria and have a meal, then to train more in one of the spare dance rooms. She knew she still moved awkwardly, but she was so shy with the y dance moves that she couldn't help it. 

"Can't believe that is actually in the running," she heard someone behind her say. 

She turned around to find a group of five girls in the hallway behind her as she was leaving the practice studio. She was surprised when she saw Irene there with them. 

"Come on, stop it," the pretty girl said softly. 

"It doesn't even look like a girl. What are people supposed to think when they see her?" The tall girl in the group laughed harshly. 

Irene wrapped her arms around herself and glanced at Amber apologetically. "Suri Unni..." 

"You used to be her roommate, right?" The girl asked, turning her attention to Irene. She made a lewd gesture with her fingers. "Bet it was nice." 

"Leave her alone!" Amber said. 

"Oooh, defending your girlfriend?" 

Amber strolled forward and got in the girl's face. "Leave. Her. Alone." 

Irene reached forward and took Amber's arm. "She's not worth it," she pleaded. Suri was the daughter of one of the company heads. Doing anything against her could get Amber kicked out of the lineup. She tried to convey all of this to amber with just her eyes. "I'm fine, I promise." 

Amber glanced down at her, wondering how sweet Irene could've ended up in a group with a turd like this tall girl. She took Irene's hand and pulled her away from her potential group.

"How did this happen?" 

Irene looked close to tears, so Amber pulled her into a hug. 

"They're all really good performers, but their personalities..." 

Amber her hair. 

"One of them is really quiet and she's okay, but she goes along with the other girls most of the time. 

"Unni..." Amber said softly. "Do they bother you when you're back in the dorms?" 

"Only small pranks." 

"Why won't you tell anyone? You don't deserve this. I wish you were with us," she said, talking about her potential members. 

She felt a hard shove to her back knocking her against Irene. "Well take her then. She's doing nothing for our group. All she does is mope in her room. Probably missing her pillow friend," she said with a smirk. 

How was Irene going to get to debut if she was trying to work with people like this? Amber pulled her close to her side and watched the girls carefully. She received another hard push to her shoulder, banging it against the wall behind her. 

"What's going on here?" A man in a suit rounded a corner and Suri pulled Irene out of Amber's arms, holding her close. 

"This person was bothering Irene!" Suri said loudly, causing Amber to gape. "She was kissing her against her will before we could stop her." She pressed Irene's face into her shirt so she couldn't protest and petted her head comfortingly. "Who knows what she would've done if we hadn't been close by!" 

"That's not-" 

"They used to be roommates. She was probably used to getting what she wants out of her, but Irene's been crying in our dorm every day talking about how glad she is to be away from her." 

Amber heard Irene sob. She was close to frustrated tears herself. "That's not true!" 

"Why is a person like that here anyway?!" Suri demanded, giving Amber a disgusted look. "Shouldn't we be safe with only women here?"

"Come with me, Miss Liu." 

She was surprised the man knew her name. She glanced back at the group of girls as she followed the man down the hallway. They walked until they reached the offices at the end of one of the wings and he gestured her into one to the left. She sat down across from him nervously. 

He stared hard at her and she said quickly, "I never touched her. Not that way anyway. We're friends. I promise. I would never-" 

He cut her off. "I know, Miss Liu. We were trying to figure out what sort of person Suri is. Her father is important to this company and really wants his daughter to debut, but he agreed he'd say nothing if she really couldn't make it on her own. And like this...she really can't. We just needed some proof of her true character. We've seen how some of the other girls are around her, though all have been too scared to come forward. We can't debut a girl whose character could reflect back so badly on the company." 

"But what about Irene? If her team is short of one person..." 

The man smiled. He liked that this girl could still think of someone else, even if they were her competition. He would continue to support her along the way as he had since she was first cast. "She'll be fine. I promise you." 

"Yeah?" 

He nodded. "Here," he pushed a bowl of candy toward her. "Take a lollipop and some for your members. I know how strict we are about candy." 

Amber lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She felt her bed give, then Krystal's head on her shoulder. 

She passed her one of the lollipops she had beside her.

"Oooh, where did you get these?!" 

"One of those suits. I really can't tell any of them apart," she sighed. 

"Oh? Why did he give you candy?" Krystal asked Amber, a bit of worry in her voice. She'd been in the company a long time, she'd heard about some of the employees taking advantage of some of the girls who wanted so badly to debut. She hoped the same wasn't happening to her friend. 

"He was just being nice, I guess," Amber said nonchalantly. She didn't feel like going into the whole bullying incident. She didn't want Krystal to worry. 

Krystal chucked the lollipop onto the bedside table and pulled Amber into her arms. The older girl laughed. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm tired and I don't want any candy from some stinky old man." 

"Go sleep in your room then." 

"I want to sleep next to you," she said, holding the older girl close. She glanced over Amber's side profile in the dim light. The girl might be older than her, but she was too sweet and a little naive. What if someone were to take advantage of her someday? She Amber's hair off her forehead. "We've got Performance class tomorrow, so just shut up and go to sleep, okay?" 

"Okay." 

"And don't follow any more old guys just because they give you candy." 

Amber chuckled at being scolded by the younger girl, but just agreed. "Okay."