Chapter 23

Amber’s POV

“Hey!” I called out loudly to get the younger girl’s attention.

Krystal looked up.

“When did you get out?” I asked as I half climbed onto her bed to snatch the pictures out of her hands.

“A few minutes ago,” Krystal replied, watching me retreat off the bed with the pictures in hand.

“Oh,” was all I could think of to say.

I then turned and walked towards the desk on the other side of my bed where the pictures of Hyuna I had shown Yoona earlier was last placed before the fiasco between her and I started but somehow ended up in Krystal’s hands.

“Is that Hyuna?” Krystal’s voice sounded near me.

I could feel Krystal walking up behind me and tried to desperately think of an excuse. Sadly, none came.

What am I supposed to say? The pictures Hyoyeon gave me were high definition and it was impossible to not be able to tell that the girl was Hyuna unless one has never seen or talked to her before.

Not only has Krystal seen the girl many times, the two also shared quite a showdown outside of class once. I can’t lie and say it’s not Hyuna even if I wanted to.

“Uh…yeah…” I hastily placed the pictures on top of the laptop keyboard and closed the lid on it. At least the laptop went into sleep mode and therefore the system was protected by password authentication so I didn’t have to worry about Krystal seeing anything I left open on there.

I silently cursed Yoona for teasing me and getting me all worked up. However, I was madder at myself for leaving the pictures out in the open – a mistake that shouldn’t have been made. Good thing they were just pictures and that was it.

“…Why…” Krystal watched as I stuffed the laptop into my bag, “…do you have pictures of Hyuna?”

“Ah, well…” I zipped the bag up and took a deep breath before turning around to face Krystal. “Um…” I scratched my head trying to think of something plausible to say.

Krystal waited quietly for my explanation. For some reason, the look she was giving me made me extremely nervous.

“Uhm…well...its…they’re…”

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t come up with a good excuse.

What could I possibly say so it doesn’t sound like I was stalking Hyuna or that I’m a creeper?

Tell her you have a passion for photography.

More like a passion for taking pictures of Hyuna.

Tell her it’s for class.

What class? You take all the same classes as her. None of them include taking pictures of Hyuna from different angles and time of day.

Tell her you found it online.

Why were you searching online for them, you creep.

Tell her they’re not mine.

That might’ve worked if you didn’t snatch the pictures away from her and placed them into your bag like a guilty criminal. Only a fool would believe they’re not yours.

Tell her those are Yoona’s. She gave them to me.

Did you not hear what I just said? You.grabbed.the.pictures.away.from.her.and.placed.them.into.YOUR.bag. You.are.guilty.as.charged. Yah Liu, when did you turn this inexperienced? Didn’t you used to be good at coming up with excuses?

No brain, that wasn’t me. That was Yoona and Yuri. Please get your facts straight.

Hey, I only remember stuff you tell me to remember.

Well, you obviously haven’t been doing a good job then.

You do know I am a part of you and me speaking to you is a figment of your imagination so really you’re dissing yourself, don’t you?

Shut up.

The way I see it, the only option you have right now is to tell her you like Hyuna.

What? Why would I do that?

Because it’s the only way to make you seem somewhat less creepy.

But I don’t like her and I never will!

Again, it’s the most logical thing to say at the moment.

No.

Why not?

I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.

You don’t have a choice. She’s waiting for an answer.

No. I would rather die than tell her I like Hyuna.

Wow, I knew you like her and all but I didn’t know you like her to this extreme.

What? What are you talking about? I don’t like her like that. She’s just a friend. I’m just here to protect her.

Don’t worry. You’re just a little slow on these kinds of things. You’ll come around soon enough.

The heck? Yah, are you taking sides with Yoona now?

No, of course not, I’m your brain. I would never take other people’s side. Oh, by the way, as much as I would love to keep chatting with you and help you realize your own feelings, for now, you should really focus back on Krystal because her stare is about to bore a hole through your head. Just sayin’.

I looked up at the girl who was still waiting for an answer.

“Uhm…” I swallowed nervously. “…those pictures…those pictures…”

Dude, just say it. Quit sounding like a broken record.

Shut up.

“Is it,” Krystal suddenly spoke up, “is it because…you like her?” The last part came out softer and a bit hesitant.

My eyes grew wide in surprise. “Wha—no! No!” I quickly waved my hands in front of me. The last thing I wanted to do was to make Krystal think I like Hyuna. “It’s not like that!” I tried to say but Krystal didn’t look like she believed me.

Before I could try to convince the younger girl any further, the door to our room opened and in piled Sooyoung, Sunny, Sulli, and Luna followed by everyone else.

Seeing everyone coming into our room, Krystal turned without another word and walked back over to her bed, ending the conversation between us.

I silently cursed Sooyoung’s timing.

This was one of those times I hate how we all have key cards to each other’s rooms. Not only did I not get the chance to convince Krystal that it wasn’t because I like Hyuna, I’m worried now, more than ever, that she’s going to start ignoring me. I don’t know why she would, but for some reason, I get the feeling she will.

“Why good morning Ladies and…Ladies!” Sooyoung threw her arms into the air as she strolled in. “Yes, it is I, the one and only, Choi Sooyoung. I have arrived! Please, hold your applause until the end. There is enough of—AH!” the tall girl yelped in pain as her hand instinctively went up to hold the sore spot on the back of her head.

“Yah! Who threw that?!” Sooyoung angrily turned around in search of the culprit. However, it was evident to the tall girl who had committed the crime when a green round plush toy lay quietly on the ground near her foot.

Taeyeon who was inaudibly whistling at the very back of the group stopped when everyone parted ways to let Sooyoung through.

“What?” asked Taeyeon as the taller girl towered unhappily before her.

“Did you just,” Sooyoung held up the green toy in her hand, “throw this at my head?”

Taeyeon eyed the lonely plush toy in Sooyoung’s hand for a few seconds before nonchalantly looking up. “Ani,” the girl shook her head, “I didn’t throw anything.”

“I’m—” Sooyoung started but was interrupted by a loud voice.

“Hey guys!” Yoona, who finally decided it was time to make an appearance in my room, shouted, pulling Seohyun behind her. “Hyunnie wants to go visit some of the famous Gothic architectures today like the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle. I just checked the time for the tour bus to those places and one leaves near this hotel in fifteen minutes. We need go now or we’ll miss it.”

Sooyoung who was still eyeing Taeyeon turned around. “Ah, but I’m hungry. I want to eat first,” said the girl, immediately forgetting about the green pea incident a few seconds ago.

Before Yoona could reply, other people started objecting to the idea as well. It seems Sooyoung wasn’t the only one against it.

Aside from Sooyoung who wanted to eat, some of the girls stated they weren’t interested in visiting old historic buildings even though giant stained glass windows were pretty and all while others preferred to go shopping.

In the end, however, we all still ended up visiting several of the famous historic buildings around Paris. It wasn’t because Yoona kept on insisting the importance of visiting these significant places when touring Paris. It was rather because the girl was so desperate to fulfill Seohyun’s wishes that she ultimately aegyo-ed her way into us agreeing.

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“This is pretty, don’t you think?” I asked looking over at Krystal.

The younger girl nodded but didn’t say anything.

My shoulders slumped even further than they already were.

Ever since we left the hotel, Krystal hasn’t spoken more than five words to me. It seems what I feared would happen happened. Though technically, the girl wasn’t really ignoring me because she still acknowledges me whenever I talk to her. She’s just not verbally replying back to me most of the time.

What’s worse is every time I stand too close to her, she distances herself from me by taking a step or two away.

Even though I know her actions are not supposed to affect me this much, the truth is, it does. Every time I catch her discreetly doing so, I feel more and more depressed and sad.

At one point, Taeyeon even noticed my gloomy face and came over to ask me what was wrong.

As much as I appreciated her caring gesture, I wasn’t exactly keen on telling her that while I was off getting my revenge on Yoona, Krystal came out of the bathroom and found the stack of Hyuna pictures I had carelessly left out on the desk so now she thinks that I secretly like Hyuna, and while I was trying to convince her that I don’t, everybody just had to barge into our room preventing me from doing so. Not to mention this weird depression-like state I’m falling into just because Krystal doesn’t want to talk to me. The worst part of it all is I can’t figure out why I feel this way.

“Hey, want me to take a picture for you?” I asked, turning to Krystal with a hopeful smile as the two of us stood in front of the famous Arc de Triomphe.

Krystal who was holding her phone up to take a picture of herself in front of the arc turned to Yoona on her other side. “Yoona unnie,” the girl called out, “can you take a picture for me?”

“Oh, sure!” Yoona took the phone and moved a few steps back.

I sighed sadly to myself and walked off to the side to get out of the shot.

“It’s not like I did anything bad. It’s just a bunch of pictures…” I muttered to myself. “…I don’t see why you have to ignore me. So what if I did like Hyuna…”

“Very pretty!” Yoona complimented as she walked up to show Krystal the picture she took.

I crossed my arms and pouted. “This isn’t fair, why—Ah.”

Someone bumped into me from behind causing me to stumble forwards a bit.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the person wearing a cap turned around and apologized.

I looked up and was about to reply when I saw a familiar face looking back at me.

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End of Chapter 23.

Uh-oh, who do you think it is? Lol.

I don't know if I should tell you guys this or not, but let's just say that in the next chapter, there will be a big moment. Dun dun dun~~ 

What kind of moment you ask? Well, you're just going to have to wait  ;)