Amber was just finishing putting mint and rose talcum against her shoulder and back, and putting on her t-shirt after she showered at the gym’s ladies washroom when she heard a guy calling out her name in a whisper.

As she walked out of to the hallway, she saw him. Her heart skipped. His doe-eyed face was smiling at her nervously, and he ran his fingers through his thick lengthy hair.

“Emba-ah. I..um.. I was wondering if you want to grab coffee with me.” His Korean was thick, so he couldn’t even get her name right. In their first few encounters, she had tried to make him pronounce her name correctly. But he refused to. So she let him be. Especially since SMTown NY, she completely excused him for calling her that.

“Sure,” she smiled brightly at him, and his face lit up. “When? Now? Let’s go. Bills on you!” Laughing, the guy playfully put his arm around her shoulder and they exited the building to the coffee shop with laughter between them.

At the coffee shop Amber ordered Hot Chocolate for herself and Milk Tea for him. Both of them are not fans of caffeine, unless its soda. Haha. The guy insisted on having their beverages there so Amber gave in.

“Emba-ah..” the guy cleared his throat. “Me and fellow SHINees were wondering if you..”

“If I what?” Amber asked nonchalantly, taking few greedy sips from her hot choco.

“Ifyoueverkissedaguybefore?” Amber choked on her hot choco, making the guy hurriedly ran to her side of the table and patted her back intensely. It made Amber cringed with pain.

“Yaaa get off me!” He shrank like a turtle, but his doe eyes were laughing. “Why’d you ask!?” Amber could feel her face turning red from embarrassment.

“Because..” The guy said, turning serious. He looked at her intently.

“If you never..” He leaned closer towards her. Amber couldn’t take her eyes away from him. His brown eyes were on her like a deer to grass!

“I’d like to-” Amber became aware of how close his lips were to her face. Heck! To her lips! Her eyes grew bigger as he planted a kiss on her cheeks “-be your first kiss.” She was still tailing his mouth, and before she knew it, gummy lips were latched on hers long, and lingering. Stilled. As if waiting for her to reciprocate him. His eyes closed, he pulled Amber deeper into his body with an arm, the space between them intimate.

Amber’s face warmed - cheeks and lips, and the touch of his hand sent tingles to her spine. Her eyes fluttered, and she gave in to the kiss. He moved his lips deeper into hers, tasting the bubblegum of her kiss. His kiss tasted of milk tea, her second favorite drink.

When they finally pulled away, he broke into a lopsided smile. Amber’s heart fluttered like crazy. He rested his forehead against hers. “I’ve always wanted to kiss you Emba. I’m crazy about you. I don’t know when this started, but I’m taking a risk with you.” He looked into her eyes, and gave her his most earnest smile that girls around the world go crazy for. “Say, Amber Josephine Liu, would you like us to kiss again like this in the future, for a long time?”

Amber was too stunned for words. She grabbed her cup of hot choco and fiddled with it, unable to think. The guy laughed lightheartedly and pulled her face to him gently, and plant short, sweet kisses all over her face. Amber flushed. Bewildered, she warded his arms away from her face, got up, gathered her bag, took her cup and sprinted for the door.

She ran and ran until she got to her dorm, where she shared with 4 other members of girl idol group- f(x). Clutching to the chest of her T-shirt, she willed her heart to not jump so much. She grinned like an idiot. My first real kiss! With him! The person she always had a crush on! Even before she went back to America for her ankle treatment! Life is unexpected. And Amber felt like she was on the top of the world. She plopped flat against her back on her bed, the ceiling as if swirling in rainbow color, making her smile with happiness.

**********

It all started with a fan service in during their concert in New York. Even before that he noticed a change in her. He noticed her brown hair made her brown eyes shined more than usual. She noticed her girly laughter and gestures she usually made when she was embarrassed. He noticed her tomboyish attitude, but when she sat silent in her chair, her boyishness faded into silent femininity. He never saw that in anyone else.

Perhaps because her fellow bandmates were always girly, he never really took his time to access them. But the moment he saw Amber, he did not understand her. He knew a lot of females, but this one female he couldn’t figure out, so he accessed her, despite himself. The more he looked at her, the more he noticed her. He noticed her quirks. He noticed how nice she was with all the sunbaes, calling them hyungs and unnies. A few people she would call Oppas, which made his chest hurt. He realized he was jealous.

Then came the New York tour. He was lucky not many of them were joining the sightseeing. He felt even luckier when only Amber joined them. He took it as a chance to let her know his feelings for her. He saved her a seat. He held his arm out to support her from falling on the bus. He cracked a few lame jokes, and his heart soared when she laughed at them. He tried skinship. He tried talking to her by whispering in her ears even though it was perfectly unnecessary. He just couldn’t resist her.

But being Amber, she got none of his signals. None of them at all. Meanwhile he couldn’t take his eyes of her hazel eyes, her soft cheeks and her perfect lips. He suffered the worst when she still called him “Hyung.” But during the tour he heard one particular word chanted by their fans. He heard “Kryber”. He scoffed. He heard “Keyber”. That word made him frowned and stood from his seat, asking Amber to sit next to him right that second. Amber even said, “It’s okay Hyung, if Key hyung wants to sit next to you, I don’t mind.” To which he answered, “No, Key can sit in front of us.” That signaled Key to take the seat in front of them, much to Key's displeasure. Then he heard fangirls screaming the abbreviation of his and her name. And soon they began to chant the word for a few while, and he knew that it was real.

Back here in Korea, he promised himself to make Amber his. He even told his SHINee brothers about her. Despite the menacing look he received from Key, all of them were excited that he was going to pursue her. “Assa!”

**********

Amber was still grinning even after dinner. Her f(x) sisters prodded her with questions, but she was too smitten to answer them seriously. Giving up, the girls left her alone in her delirious state. They knew something made her happy, but she was probably on sugar rush from the all the chocolate she had before dinner.

Amber thought about her first kiss. She never thought a guy, much less a guy with such flaming charisma like him to fall for her. She wondered if that was how her first kiss should be. She couldn’t describe them. Besides, she never knew she would have feelings for boys this soon. Sure, she had always had a crush on him, but she never fantasized about him falling in love with her.

She imagined her kiss to be with Victoria. Ick, it sure is not gonna be fun kissing Umma.

She imagined kissing Sulli. Sheesh, Sulli’s aegyo would probably be too much for her to handle. She’s scared of Sulli’s aegyo. She would be attracted to Sulli, but wouldn’t fall for the maknae if she were a guy.

She imagined kissing Luna. Nah, she didn’t even have feelings for her roommate, she can’t kiss her. It would be awkward then.

Amber imagined kissing Krystal. “Amber unpa, kiss me” Krystal would say. Amber then pulled her own lips into a pout and leaned in to kiss the Korean American girl. Heh!?, she thought. It’s like kissing your sister. Nothing’s happening to my heart. So she dared herself to replay her real first kiss. It tasted sweet; it even made her ate so little at dinner cuz she didn’t want his taste to go. She even considered not brushing her teeth tonight.

**********

The doorbell rang. “Yahh Taminnie! Somebody’s at the door. Go see!”

“No! I can’t leave my score or I’m gonna have to restart!” Evil maknae. He thought. Realizing nobody else would go see to the door, he lazily picked himself up from his fantasizing session and opened the door. His eyes grew big when he realized who was at his door.

“Emba!” He exclaimed. He almost hugged her, being so happy to see her.

Amber pulled him outside, and closed the door behind him.

“What are you doing here, Emba?”

“To see you..” Amber fidgeted with her small hands. “I was wondering if..” she looked up at the tall guy. “We could.. talk about.. what we left off at the coffee shop.” Her eyes was all earnest it sent electricity to his heart.

Smiling, he took her small hands in his, intertwining their fingers together. Slowly he pushed her against the wall behind her, and raised both her hands against it. He pulled his face closer to her, whispering softly. “I don’t have anything to say. Just wanna  prove every word I said this evening is true.” He kissed her face, her lips, her lips, her cheeks, pecked her nose, and back to her lips. For a long time. When they pulled away Amber was breathless. Her eyes closed, and her cheeks flushed like the color of lotus. He never knew anyone so beautiful, and more attractive than her, or if he did, he forgot about them.

“You smell pretty. Is it mint? Something from a plant?” He always knew she smelled nice. But now he was able to compliment it.

Amber chuckled shyly. “MinHo Hyung, I..” He bit her upper lip with his teeth, softly but naughtily.

“I’m your Oppa now. Your first kiss means I’m your first boyfriend.” He smiled cheekily at her. She blushed beautifully. Amber rested her head against his chest, feeling the crazy beating that his heart was doing to him.

“Araso, MinHo Oppa. Ummmm...... Let’s kiss more next time! He he he”

And their moments became real when they heard monkeyish hoots from behind the door.

“Assa! MinBer is official!” ! They knew about our first kiss now!