It had been weeks (well, it has been seventeen days to be more exact, not that she was counting or whatever..shhh) since the “incident” - the “Kiss Cam Incident”. They had not talked about it at all and its aftermath. They continued on being what they are, same ol’ roommates - who kissed, which was a friendly kiss, a friendly peck...on the lips. That was it. Friendly. On the lips. In front of a lot of people and people were cheering and thought they were a couple. But they were just roommates, and remained to be, not a freaking couple. (Couple of idiots? Yes. A romantic couple? No.) 
 
It was not even a date. Henry just invited her, his roommate, to a basketball game. Her favorite team was playing. They went there to have fun, to bond, to enjoy the game. (Not to enjoy each other’s lips.) She should stop thinking about the kiss. (Stopping. Now. Yup. Okay. What kiss? See, it is working.) 
 
Amber didn’t notice she was staring out the window near her office cubicle; her fingertips gently brushing over her lips. Victoria was calling her. “Amber.” The older woman snapped her fingers in front of the daydreamer. “Amber!”
 
Amber snapped out of it, “Sorry. Yeah, what’s up?”  
 
“Still thinking about the kiss, huh?” Victoria smirked. She knew Amber the longest among their group of friends. She would easily know if something big is bothering her. 
 
“Shh. Please lower your voice. Krystal could hear you. You know her. She teases me non-stop about Henry especially the kiss.”
 
Victoria put down the document she was reviewing, sat on a swivel chair and rolled it near Amber. They were cubicle buddies. Lowering her voice, checking their surroundings if Krystal was earshot of their conversation. The coast was clear of the youngest. “Clearly you are affected by that kiss. It has been weeks, Amber. Weeks.”
 
“I can’t stop thinking about it. Why is my brain being such a ?”
 
“Well…” Implying Amber is already a . This was Victoria making a joke.
 
Amber just stared at her, trying her best to get the message through to her friend. (Hint: it was a curse word.)
 
“Kidding aside, we saw it on TV. It was a chaste kiss.” 
 
“Well, it did not feel like it, Vic…. wait, hold on. You saw it on TV?”
 
“Yeah. Duh. How can Krystal tease you non-stop?”
 
“She told me Sulli told her. I just assumed she just told you guys.” 
 
“No. We saw it. They were texting. Sulli told her. Krystal told us to check the Sports Channel. I was the one who was changing the channels. And there you two are being shown on the Kiss Cam.” 
 
“Is the world really out to get me?” Amber rested her forehead on her desk, with slumped shoulders, feeling defeated. 
 
“This is the world telling you to wake up and finally admit to yourself you like Henry.”
 
“I can’t like him like that. We are roommates. There is some unwritten and unspoken code there, right? That roommates are off-limits.” 
 
“You two could be from being roommates who are not ing to being roommates who each other.” 
 
Amber stared at her again, silently telling her what she told her awhile ago. 
 
“Lemme rephrase that. From being two random strangers turned friends who live together, to a couple of, what’s the word, idiots who are clearly head over heels in love with each other who live together. I cannot be more clearer than that. I noticed the way he looked at you during the game, and at the apartment when we were there.” 
 
“I am serious, Victoria. This is a big problem.” 
 
“I am being serious with you. Talk. For crying out loud, talk. You are bothered by it. Why not finally talk to him about this?”
 
“Vic--” 
 
“I see your smile when you see that he was one calling you before excusing yourself to answer the call. I see your smile when you exchange text messages while at work, when you talk about a silly thing he did the other night, his silly mannerism you claim to hate but also adore about him.”
 
“What if he does not like me.” Finally blurted out why she did not want to talk to Henry about this.
 
“What if he does.” 
 
“What if, he doesn’t, Victoria. What if, he doesn’t.” Victoria could see the worry, the fear of losing a great person in her friend’s life, in Amber’s eyes. 
 
“Then…” Victoria wanted to pick the right words to tell Amber, to lessen her worry. “Then you will finally know. It will hurt a lot if things get ugly. But at least, you know what you are to him as clearly as it could possibly get. And we will all be here for you to cry your eyes and heart out until you feel okay again,” giving her friend a hug, “Okay?” 
 
“You are such a great friend I could ever asked for.” 
 
“I know.” Victoria smiled sincerely and lovingly at her friend. “Talk to him, okay.”
 
Amber nods and smiled back at Victoria. “I will try. Tonight.”
 
“You will talk to him.” 
 
“I will. Tonight.” 
 
//
 
Ailee heard a knock and looked through the door’s peep hole. “Henry?” Her voice was heard behind the door. “Henry!” She was glad to see her friend. It had been a while. She proceeded on opening the door. “What is your reason of going to the Lee-Nam household? Did you just miss Eric?” She kid. “Is Amber on her way here as well?”
 
Henry momentarily froze at the mention of Amber. “No.” He hurriedly spoke. “No. I just want to ask some advice.” He tried to calm himself down. 
 
“Okay. Sure.” Their friend needed them. “Eric, Babe, Henry’s here.” 
 
Eric immediately turned off the game they were watching, well, what Ailee was watching, and he was trying to figure out the rules. “Bro, what’s up? Did something happened? You look like .” 
 
“Did you do something wrong to Amber? Or did she do something wrong to you?” Ailee sat beside her boyfriend, expected the worst already so it would not shock her that much. 
 
“Something did happen.” 
 
“Is this about the kiss?” It just clicked to Ailee, the real purpose of his visit. She went straight to the point. 
 
“You guys saw it on TV, huh?” 
 
“We were randomly browsing some channels to watch when we saw familiar faces on TV.” 
 
“Very familiar faces. About to kiss.” Ailee continued what Eric was talking about.
 
“I like her. I like Amber. A lot.” Henry was rambling again.
 
“We are glad we choose the right roommate for you.” Eric was the one talking here, feeling a bit proud that his choice turned out great. 
 
“No. I like like her. So much. I can’t stop thinking about her. About the kiss. God, why is she so perfect?”
 
“Oh. OH.” This was one of the points that was raised by Ailee when he was picking possible tenants for the already occupant of his old rented apartment. 
 
“We have not talked about it actually. And I want to. Badly, want to. I do not know if she wants to though.”
 
“‘Cause it has been weeks since.” Ailee tried to recall the exact date. 
 
“Yeah. I tried to. Poorly. When I was about to say something about it, I couldn’t get a word out and changed the topic, or worst, give a silly excuse to leave the house or to my room.” 
 
“We can’t help you out here, dude. Even if we want to.” Eric clearly wanted to help Henry. He did not like seeing his good friend like this.
 
“Keep trying, Henry. Even if you struggle to do so, even if you stutter, you will eventually find the courage to continue on talking because you really want to talk about this with her. She will listen. She will hear you out. And maybe she also want to talk to you about it.” Ailee was also a friend of Amber. They had met through Eric. They had hanged out and had a few serious talks over drinks. (By drinks she meant boba teas, milk teas. Amber is not of a hard drinker and a beer kind of gal).
 
//
 
Amber immediately turned her head up at the door. Henry was finally home. 
 
“You’re up late?” Henry looking at the time at his phone, pausing the music player, pocketing his earphones. 
 
Amber sighed deeply, internally panicking since her talk with Victoria, upon seeing Henry. It was time to talk. Finally. “Yeah. We need--”
 
“To talk.” He sat beside Amber, sighing as well, glancing at Amber. It trailed to her lips. “About what happened at the game.”  
 
Amber adjusted herself at the coach, chose to face him, still nervous; her eyes never left Henry. “Yeah.”
 
Full of doubt if it was the right thing to do at that moment, a hand reaching for her cheek, closing the gap between them, Henry kissed her again. And was surprised that Amber was kissing him back. (One of the best decision he ever did.) His thumb gently her cheek after the kiss. Both of them just stared at each other’s eyes. It was beautiful moment to treasure. (He wondered what he did in his life to deserve a girl like Amber. But he was glad he did it, whatever that was.) 
 
“Sorry. I just really want to kiss you again.” 
 
Biting her lower lip, looking down, shyly smiling “Glad you did.” 
 
“I did not mean to like you as much as I do. I just really really like you, Amber.” 
 
“And I really really like you, Henry.” Now it was Amber leaning closer to her roommate.
 
“Really?” Giving Amber chaste kisses. 
 
“Really.” Amber finally kissing him again.
 
//
 
 
Amber was all smiles looking at her phone. She and Henry were texting since she arrived at the office. It was already the middle of the day.

“I know Henry misses you, you miss him but we are at work, Amber. So please, focus. The news on the website won’t write itself.” Luna threw a balled up paper at Amber, trying to distract her. 
 
“Ha! I caught it. How are you so sure that this is Henry?” Throwing it back to Luna. “And I am on my third article today FYI. And you are like on your what, first?”
 
“I don’t need to ask you, my dear. It’s so obvious like from a mile away obvious. And I’m just a meter away from you. The new photocopier dude knows Henry’s the one texting you. He is like at a floor above us. Love is in the air. It’s coming from your area. That smile of yours, is reserved for your man, the love of your life.” She threw the balled up paper far away from Amber, landed on the floor of her friend’s cubicle. 
 
One of the rules clearly states, throwing of the said object should only be within the vicinity of the other competitor. “One point for the prettiest person here at the office.” 
 
Another rule is that the opponent should catch the said thrown object. 
 
They had their little ways of making their work a bit fun beside chit-chat. You ever loses will treat the winner anything she wants.
 
“He is my man, yes, but he is not the love of my life, Luna.” Amber then groaned because she needed to reached for the paper they were throwing around. Letting her swivel chair wheeled with her on it towards the paper. 
 
And she was down with one point. And they are just getting started. If ever she wins this, (and she will. She could already see the sweet victory. Amber is known for her confidence but Krystal calls it cockiness, that Amber is just all talk.), she plans to let Luna clean her apartment. She likes (More like “loves”. Am I right? Or am I right? I only speak the truth here, you know.) Henry but there are moments she cannot take it anymore with his uncleanliness. 
 
(And what always makes her wonder up to this day that he does not smell and looks clean. Like how? Is she immune to his smell. Does she not notice how dirty he looks? She likes / loves him that much to actually tolerate that, to be blinded by her fondness / love for him. Is the statement love is blind true all along?)
 
“You sure about that?” Luna placed her chin on their cubicles’ shared wall, wiggling her eyebrows. 
 
“Whoa, you almost could not reach the top of the wall.” Amber teased. “Are you on your tippy-toes? Anyways, it is too early to determine that. We just started dating.” 
 
“But he is up there on the list with... no one else. Depends if you know who is still has not been written off the list.”
 
“Henry is the only solid contender for the title...for now. We’ll never know.”
 
“Please, just give the title to him. It is his to take anyways. There is no need for him to fight for it with you know who.” 
 
“You know too much about me. You are so sure about this, huh?” Amber threw it quickly to Luna, surprising her friend. One - One.
 
“Aw! Hey!” Picking it up quickly. 
 
“Wow, so dramatic. Luna, zip it please. You are being too noisy. I can’t finish my article. You are such a distraction.” And stuck her tongue out because she caught the paper Luna threw at her again. “I am so gonna win this.” 
 
“Oh please. Your feelings for Henry is the one distracting you more.” 

And Amber’s phone lit up and chimed. 
 
“I dare you to pick that up, Amber. To prove my point even more.” 
 
“I won’t.” 
 
It lit up and chimed again. “This is going to be a long day.” 
 
“I hope he calls you.” 
 
Amber threw the paper again by dropping it gently near their shared cubicle wall. 
 
This wasn’t cheating. It was still in Luna’s vicinity. Luna was claiming it was. “So not fair.” 
 
Amber was about to cheer that she has two points when Luna threw it again passed her. 
 
Victoria caught it as she approached her seat, threw it to the bin, looking at them without saying a word, just clearing before sitting down.
 
Amber slided her seat further away from Victoria. She was already slowly grabbing a paper, balling it up, avoiding to make a sound (which was close to a miracle for that to happen). 
 
Victoria just looked at her again. 
 
//