[A/N Here's the promised update! It's longer then the last, but not as long as I had wanted. I'm not 100% happy with it, but when I tried to scratch it and restart, I couldn't shake this version, so yea.. lol ~ BTW, I blame youtube and half a bottle of wine for distracting me in finishing this sooner... lol.. I mean, it's Friday night, had to have some fun, right? Enjoy all... and I will update more this weekend, k? <3]

Once I was far enough away from everyone, I ran to the dressing room I had used. I closed the door, leaned against it and finally exhaled- I was alone and felt a sense of relief. The need to leave the studio was so intense, I was shaking.

I grabbed my handphone to call manager-oppa but remembered he had taken unnie to the airport and then would be picking up the girls from their drama shoots… I sighed and worried about who to call. Maybe a taxi? Take the subway? I shook my head at facing people looking the way I was. I looked through my phonebook and called the last non-f(x) member I had talked to.

As the phone was ringing, I tore off my mask and wore my skinny jeans under the dress. I was about to strip the dress off to wear my tee-shirt, when the call was answered.

“Amber-ah! Annyeong!” I heard Hyoyeon say, in her cheerful tone.

I breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing her voice. “Unnie… are you at your dorm? Is it possible for you to pick me up? I’m in Ilsan… and need to leave, like right now.”

“Omo,” I heard her gasp. “Are you ok? I just finished a schedule and just got back to the dorm. I can come right now; where in Ilsan are you?”

“I’m at the studio that SM Entertainment always uses, unnie. I’ll explain more once you get here, please hurry,” I pleaded. “If you can, can you come alone?”

“Araso, Amber. Calm down… there should be a little café about a block away from there. We used to go there for coffee when we filmed so if you need to leave the studio, go and wait for me there. I should be there in half an hour. Are you going to be ok? Are the f(x) members there? Are they ok?” she asked, her voice filled with worry.

“No, unnie. All the f(x) girls are at other schedules, so I’m alone,” I answered as I finished putting on my shoes and started looking for wipes to remove my makeup.

“Araso… araso. You can explain everything to me when I get there. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said and hung up.

I stripped off the dress, pulled my tee-shirt and then my hoody over my head; I grabbed the wipes and cleaned my face bare of all the makeup.  There was nothing I could do about the hair so I just pulled up the hoody, grabbed my bag and left the studio hoping I wouldn’t be recognized.

o-o

I left the studio and headed for the nearby café. It was fairly late, so luckily there were hardly any people around. I entered the café and ordered a milk tea and sat in the darkest corner I could find. I sent a SMS message letting manager-oppa know I was on my way back from filming, but other than that, I spent the forty minutes waiting for Hyoyeon thinking back to everything that happened today. It all still felt too unreal- only the hair that kept falling in my face reminded me that everything had indeed happen. When I received a call from Hyoyeon letting me know she was parked nearby, I finished my milk tea and stood up to leave.

I exited the café and looked her white sedan. Once I saw it, I started running- I couldn’t wait to leave the area. My emotions had yet to stabilize and I hated that feeling the most.

I knocked on the window of unnie’s car and attempted to open the door. However, the door remained locked. I tried to peek through the tinted windows, but couldn’t see anything or anyone. I took out my handphone and called her.

“Unnie? Are you in your car?” I asked.

“Ne, Amber-ah. Where are you? Pali,” she answered.

Did she not recognize me? “Unnie, I’m standing by the passenger side door, unlock it for me.”

“Amber?” she asked, as the window was cracked open. Once she glimpsed at my face, she unlocked the door and leaned over to open the door. “Wh-what’s going on? Why are you dressed like that? I mean…”

I knew what she meant. I looked like me… but not. “I know what you mean, unnie. It’s a long story. Please take me home, and I’ll tell you everything,” I answered tiredly; I leaned back and closed my eyes.

As she drove, I told her everything that happened- from breaking the promise, to having to agree to be in the MV, to how I had been expected to look like… even to the kiss. I was grateful for the darkness for it hid my blushing cheeks.

Unnie had just listened to everything I told her. “So…” she started out, “Minho… came up with the idea to kiss you so you wouldn’t have to unveil your mask?”

“I guess so,” I said shrugging. I subconsciously touched my lips.

She quickly glanced at me and asked, “So after that… you just left? He didn’t say anything?”

“I was still too shocked to know what to say, unnie. I couldn’t even look at him… I just ran off and called you.”

She nodded and made an “Mm-hmm” noise. I stayed silent. After telling her everything, I still didn’t know what to think or say or do.

She cleared . “Amber-ah? Will you answer me honestly if I ask you something?”

“Ne unnie, of course.”

“Do you like Minho?”

I gasped at the question. What? “Of course, unnie. He’s one of my best friends,” I replied.

She shook her head. “Not like a friend, or a best friend, Amber. Do you have any feelings for him? I mean, do you see him how a woman sees a man?” she clarified.

Do I what? Omo… Did I? I mean, Minho was handsome, charismatic, and talented… he was funny, sweet, caring… we had a lot of fun times together- I enjoyed spending time with him- whether it was going out to eat, or the gym… or playing basketball or catching a game on the television... and even if it was true that the first few times when I first met him, I’d get silent and feel awkward around him- once we spent more time together that feeling went away. Had I liked him… like that all along and not known?

[A/N Ta-da! The intro of Hyoyeon, my second most favorite female K-pop idol. She's close with SHINee and is always a good sunbae to her hoobae's so I thought she'd fit perfectly for this role. I also plan to use her to help Amber out... so yay for Hyober! (lol) :)]

@TwistedIllusions ~ glad you're liking it. I sincerely appreciate your comments... it makes me want to write more, faster. ^^

@ch1k3r ~ lol, indeed it's killing me too hon.. I want to hurry up and finish writing this story so I know what happens. but i don't want to give it up yet either... lol, I'm so contrary :)

@CassidyIsHere ~ Like I've mentioned before, Amber is too awesome to not suit, like everyone lol... but my ultimate choice would be Minber.. forever and always! (gosh, such a fangirl over those two lol)

@blindstar ~ they ARE too cute.. we can all fangirl over this couple together lol

@YuuYuu ~ I never intend to leave my chapters at cliffhangers... not always anyways.. that's just how its written. I hope you still enjoy the story though :)

@Am8eRL1U ~ I've joked that we need a Minber's Anonymous, where we Minber shippers can go and just fangirl all the time about them.. what do you think? lol... I hope you're liking the story! ^^

@ErrICCA_sjh ~ Imagine how I felt writing it.. lol.. I had no intention in the beginning to actually make them kiss... I blame Cassidy, she kept asking for them to kiss during the MV. It was supposed to just be a "stage-kiss" where (if it really was on film) the angles would make it look like they kissed.. but it ended up that they DID kiss.. much to (I think) everyone's happiness? :) Thank you for the compliment/comments, and I will try to make the chapters longer. However, no matter the length, I try to make up for it by updating as fast as I can. :)