It was only ten am when I found myself lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. I wouldn’t have called it sleeping- I may have caught a total of two or three hours of sleep total. I had been restless to the point that sometime in the night, Luna had thrown a pillow at me and threatened to come smother me. I couldn’t help but run everything that happened the day before through my mind. It’s not every day you come to the conclusion that you loved your best friend.

I shot out of bed… “Omo!” I whispered. I’m in… love? I shook my head… over and over. No, no, no… you pabo!I sighed, feeling my heart quake at the thought of the unrequited, one-sided love for my best friend. I felt teary-eyed and shaky… Ottoke!

I grabbed my phone and started to write a text.

10:12am SMS Message To: Hyo Unnie ~ Unnie, are you awake? Are you available for lunch?

I laid down and stared at the clock…. Reply, unnie… reply, reply, reply…

10:16am SMS Message From Hyo Unnie ~ Ne, Amber. I’ll pick you up at noon?

I sighed in relief. Maybe unnie could calm me down or tell me what to do.

I replied with a, “I’ll see you at noon,” and woke up to change and check on Krystal and Luna who would need to start their day soon. The next hour passed slower than ever for me. But I succeeded in getting Krystal and Luna up, dressed, and fed with toast and juice to wait for manager-oppa’s ride, which helped distract me from my emotions.

While we were waiting for manager-oppa’s arrival, I decided I needed to tell the girls a little about the day before. I didn’t want them to unintentionally tell the SHINee members it had been me who ended up in their MV and start a whole different set of drama.

“Krystal and Luna… I need to tell you something, and I need your promises that you’ll keep it a secret,” I said.

They both quieted from the ongoing teasing about Lee Jong Suk, and turned their attention to me. “Ne unnie,” they both said.

“So…” I tried forming the words in my head. “So yesterday I filmed with SHINee for their video…” They both nodded and I continued to tell them the whole story of what happened.

“Omo! Omo! I knew he liked you!” Krystal gushed, while Luna nodded in agreement- I literally just face-palmed myself.

Luna burst out in a fit of giggles at my reaction. “Unnie,” she started, but manager-oppa knocked on the front door and opened it (as we had left it unlocked for him.) She grabbed Krystal’s hand and pulled her closer as she whispered, “We are so having confession tea tonight!” Krystal nodded and I just sighed at the idea of what was now an f(x) tradition of having tea and “confessing” everything going on in whatever drama any of the members were facing. I slowly nodded, knowing I wouldn’t be able to keep this to myself forever.

I looked up as manager-oppa asked me, “Amber, how was filming yesterday? Did it go well?”

“Uh… ne, it did,” I stuttered out. I looked up at him and waited to see what else he’d say. I knew I would have to tell him about having kept my identity a secret, but didn’t know how to tell him.

“Good,” he said, and waved Krystal and Luna out the door, but before leaving he came up to me. “By the way, Amber… Victoria told me about what she did yesterday, so I’ve talked to SHINee’s manager this morning and he was surprised but assured me no one knew. No one will know it was you, unless you say it yourself. Deal?”

I sighed and nodded in relief. “Gamsahabnida, oppa.” He patted my head and turned to leave.

o-o

Hyoyeon parked the car close to a popular Chinese restaurant and we walked out. We loved coming here- not only because it was close to the SM company, but they never hesitated to seat us in more discrete areas so we could eat freely with no worries about fans or reporters- as well, as they just had some of the best foods to choose from.

After we ordered our meals and started drinking tea, Hyoyeon looked at me and asked, “So, what’s up Amber? You normally don’t ask to see me… especially since I just saw you a few hours ago.”

I blushed at her statement. “Aniyo, unnie. You know I love spending time with you,” I countered. She just laughed at me.

“Amber-ah…. I’m only teasing you. But something must be wrong; you usually just joke right back. I’m right, huh?” she asked, while sipping out of her cup.

I sighed. “Unnie, can I ask you a question?” She nodded. “What did you mean last night when you said that others had thought M-Minho and I was secretly dating?” I blushed at even the thought.

She smiled at me. “I expected today’s lunch would be about my handsome dongsaeng. What’s there to wonder? It’s just as I said… the way you two interact. There was always a level more than friendliness and it was always suspicious to us.”

“Us?” I asked. “You mean the SNSD unnies?”

“M-hmm… and some of the SUJU oppas. I mean, everyone in the company- we’re all very close to one another- but it’s inevitable that some will be closer to others. You seem to be especially close to Donghae and Jonghyun for example… Key and Henry… Minho… the list could go on.” She smiled.

She continued, “We started to take notice when we were all at the SMTOWN dinner last year in Tokyo. At first, since it was Key and Minho both following you around, we didn’t think anything of it. But even after Key sat with the SUJU oppas at dinner, Minho was by your side. Tiffany saw how he kept taking your cap and would hold it high so you couldn’t reach it- she thought it was funny and pointed it out to us. But then she noticed how when it looked like you really got upset, he handed it to you and did aegyo until you laughed.”

“I remember that incident… he had taken my cap because I would not let him borrow my cap since he said he hadn’t done his hair, and I refused because I had not done my own hair. I don’t see that out of the ordinary, unnie- just our usual teasing.”

“Then during the concert, while you were backstage waiting, while the other f(x) members were singing Mr. Boogie, he was by your side instead of with anyone else.” She continued.

“Unnie, everyone was busy and I was alone- he just didn’t want me alone,” I countered. “And I was listening to Linkin Park, and he wanted to hear as well, so we were sharing headphones- again, nothing out of the ordinary, unnie.”

“M-hmm, and leaving together in the middle of the night? How do you explain that?”

My eyes widened. “How do you know about that? We didn’t get caught!”

She smiled triumphantly, and said, “Explain.”

“Unnie, it was almost my birthday… and after the concert, I was really tired but craving ice cream- I had been all day. I jokingly told him that we should sneak out and get some once everyone fell asleep, but I hadn’t expected him to really stop by. Vic-unnie knew where we going- she was still up!” I eyed her suspiciously. “How did you even know about that?”

“Seobaby and I were returning Hyukkie his handphone he had left in our hotel room. I saw you two sneak off as we were about to go back into our room,” she said shaking her hand at the explanation. “We believed that instance proved you two were secretly dating,” she laughed.

I shook my head, “Nope… just ice cream.”

All she did was smirk and say, “M-hmm.”

Luckily our food came and interrupted the conversation. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked unnie these questions- it just confused me more.

We ate in comfortable silence for a bit when she asked, “So… after thinking about what we’ve talked about… do you like him more than as a friend?”

I groaned. Hyoyeon was very persistent- I should have expected her to not drop the subject easily. However, I couldn’t very well tell her that I came to the conclusion that I had a one-sided love for him… but I hated lying, so I did what I always did- shrugged and said, “I don’t know, unnie… but I think I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

She laughed and replied, “I’ll let you off today, but don’t think I’m going to the next time.”

I could only sigh and take a bite of my sweet and sour pork, which only made her laugh harder.

[A/N Well.. I'm not entirely displeased with this chapter, but I did find it difficult to write. I want to stay as true to the timeline as possible and possible interactions, but think I did alright. Hope you all sorta liked it ^^... more to come, I assure you... if things work the way I want, another update tonight, otherwise, tomorrow :) Oh... Please let me know of any discrepencies, k? Thanks!]

@ErrICCA_sjh ~ She's admitted it... to herself anyways.. now if she'll own up to it. ^^

@rubyroo ~ Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

@TwistedIllusions ~ If I had a guy worry about me this much (and if he was as cute as Minho) I'd hold onto him and never let go... *sighs* some day, perhaps lol

@blindstar ~ I'm in the same situation... I wanna hurry and make this a happily ever after... but I don't wanna let go of this story yet... lol. just stay "tuned" in ^^

@Yuuyuu ~ Minber ftw! lol I feel bad for Minho... for he has come to terms with his feelings...sorta.. now what to about it? oOooooh.. can't wait to see what will pop out of my head lol <3