Chapter 25

Author’s POV

Amber sighed and shook her head. “These people are more messed up than I thought.”

“Well, like I said, they’re making this into a game.” Hyoyeon stood up and shuffled some papers around. “Besides, you know they’ll kill off the girls as soon as they extract what they need from them.”

“Yeah, I suspect they would too. That’s why I asked the President if we could just send people after them and attack first - wipe them all out and stop this nonsense.”

“He has.”

“I meant agents who went through special training. People who will get the job done for sure.”

“When you say people you really mean you, right?”

“Yes, I mean me. I will happily kick all their asses.”

Hyoyeon laughed and patted Amber’s back. “Don’t worry Lover Liu, I’m sure you’ll protect your girl and make sure no one touches her.”

“You’re darn right I wil— wait, what?” Amber snapped her head to the side to look at a grinning Hyoyeon. “What did you just say?”

Hyoyeon winked at the tomboy and proceeded to push her towards the door. “Better hurry back, Yoona must be getting sleepy waiting for you.”

“Wait, wait a sec—ya-yah!” Before Amber could say anything else, she was forcefully shoved out of the room with the door slamming in her face immediately after.

“Yah! Kim Hyoyeon! Open this door right now! Why did you say that? What do you mean by it?” Amber pounded her fist against the door for a few minutes before finally pulling back and frowning when it didn’t open. Really, she just wanted to know how in the world Hyoyeon would know she likes Krystal. After all, she herself only figured it out earlier today.

“I’m sure you’ll protect your girl...” Hyoyeon’s words echoed inside Amber’s head.

Your girl...

My girl...

Amber immediately blushed at the thought of Krystal being her girl.

“No, stop it.” Amber shook her head to get rid of the excited feelings suddenly rising inside her. “Focus.”

“Yeah, focus!” Hyoyeon’s voice echoed from behind the closed door before her laughter slowly faded away.

Amber frowned and lightly kicked the door before turning on her heels back to her room.

“Stupid Hyoyeon, this must be Yoona’s doing,” Amber grumbled to herself as she skillfully maneuvered her way through the hallways and up the emergency exit stairs.

--- --- ---

 “That girl,” Hyoyeon chuckled to herself as she sat back down in front of her laptop to resume her work.

Not even a few minutes after she sat down, the door on the other side of the room opened and a head popped out from behind.

“Unnie, we managed to track her.”

As soon as the words left the girl’s mouth, Hyoyeon immediately tore her eyes away from her laptop. “Great. Where?”

“She just entered the hotel lobby.”

“And our men?”

“I just notified them. The ones stationed in the lobby are heading in her direction as we speak.”

“Good. Keep her there.”

“Yes, Unnie.”

--- --- ---

“Im Yoon-Ah,” Amber hissed as she entered her hotel room and closed the door silently behind her.

Her side of the room was dark and quiet, just like how it was when she left. The only light source keeping Amber from having to navigate in complete darkness was the dimmed light emitting through the door from Yoona and Seohyun’s side of the room.

“Im Yoon—” Amber was about to call out again as she made her way towards the connecting door when her eyes caught sight of something.

Or rather, her eyes caught sight of nothing.

Nothing.

As in, not just one, but two empty beds.

The small lump that was originally underneath the cover when she had left was no longer there.

Even though the room was barely lit, it was clear that the bed was void of any human presence. Only the slightly wrinkled bed sheet indicated someone had slept on it earlier.

Amber’s mind immediately became alert.

It didn’t help that the necklace implanted with the tracking device Amber had given Krystal was lying on top of the pillow, rendering itself useless.

Spinning her head towards the bathroom to double check for any signs of the younger girl, the pit of Amber’s stomach churned in worry when only darkness and silence greeted her.

“Krystal!” Amber called out and bolted into the other room.

Her eyes immediately scanned the room for the younger girl but only Yoona’s phone lying on the nightstand and Seohyun’s sleeping figure greeted her.

Amber suppressed the urge to curse out loud fearing it would wake the slumbering girl.

The room didn’t look like it was invaded and if it was, wouldn’t they have taken Seohyun as well?

Even if they were only after Krystal this time, the commotion would’ve surely woken the taller girl up.

But then on the other hand, Yoona wouldn’t possibly leave Seohyun here by herself.

Amber ran a hand through her hair frustratingly and took out her phone with the other. She was beyond worried about Krystal’s safety but it wouldn’t be good to just rush out of the room to look for her with Seohyun still here and Yoona gone.

Tapping a familiar name on her contacts list, Amber was about to press the call button when her ears picked up what sounded like a groan.

Amber turned her head towards the sound and furrowed her brows when she saw the closed bathroom door with no lights emitting from underneath the cracks.

Is someone in there?

In her haste earlier, Amber had accidentally overlooked the bathroom in this room, thinking it was unoccupied because that was how Yoona had left it before she left.

Without wasting another second, Amber rushed to the closed door but found it to be locked.

“Krystal!” Amber whispered, knocking as quietly as she could on the door but with urgency. “Krystal! You in there?”

Pressing her ear against the wooden door, Amber heard the fan inside being turned off and Yoona’s pained voice.

“Amber?”

“Yoona! Yoona, are you okay? Where’s Krystal?!” Amber tried to keep her voice down for Seohyun’s sake. The sleeping girl was quite perceptive so it would be better if she slept through this whole ordeal. Otherwise, there’s no doubt she would pick up on the urgent and panicked look in Amber’s eyes if she was awake and question her about it.

A soft groan echoed from inside the bathroom causing Amber to think Yoona was hurt and she became even more urgent. “Yoona! Yoona, are you hurt?! Open the door.”

“I can’t~” Yoona groaned again, her voice muffled inside the bathroom.

“Yoona, I can’t break the door down because Seohyun is sleeping. You have to open the door for me. Is Krystal in there with you?” Amber tried to reply as calmly as she could.

“Huh?” Yoona sounded confused. “Why would she be? I’m on...I have a...really bad stomachache...”

“What?!” Amber said a little too loudly and quickly lowered her voice after making sure she didn’t wake Seohyun. “Then where’s Krystal?”

“What...do you...mean?”

“She’s not in the room!” Amber was seriously on the brink of breaking the bathroom door down and giving Yoona a piece of her mind.

“What?! What do you mean?! She should be sleeping in her bed!” Yoona’s voice sounded shocked.

“She’s not! Aish, why didn’t you call me?! You should’ve called me!”

A few seconds later, rummaging could be heard inside the bathroom followed by the sound of the toilet flushing. “I’m coming out. Hang on.”

“No, I’m going to go look for Krystal. You stay here with Seohyun. Don’t wake her up.” Amber didn’t even wait for Yoona’s response before she hurried out of the room.

“Aish, what is it with people not having their phones with them tonight?” Amber huffed to herself as she rushed down the hallway towards the stairs. The girl could only assume both Yoona and Krystal secretly wanted her to have a panic attack.

“I don’t even know where you would be at this hour!” Amber groaned as she took out her phone to dial a familiar number. Hopefully Hyoyeon could help track the younger girl down.

As soon as the line connected, Amber half-shouted into the phone. “Hyoyeon!”

“Amber! Great timing!” Hyoyeon answered back in the same manner. “Guess what? We tracked Hyuna down! She’s in the lobby of the hotel and I’m going there right now to personally bring her in!”

“What?!” the tomboy screamed into the phone not because she was happy they knew where Hyuna was, but because the lobby of the hotel could possibly be where Krystal was at.

“Oh woah!” Hyoyeon pulled the phone away from her ear. “I think you just blew out my right ear drum. I knew you’d be happy. Told ya we would get her.”

“Well get her and keep her away from Krystal!” Amber then ended the call before Hyoyeon could respond. She was now literally flying down the stairs to get to the lobby as fast as she could.

--- --- ---

Krystal sat down on the edge of the small fountain located at the center of the hotel lobby and stared down at her feet. For the past thirty minutes, she has been wandering around the hotel aimlessly, going from floor to floor until she ended up in the lobby.

After falling asleep following her shower, she had woken up to a dark and empty room with no signs of Amber or Yoona anywhere, only Seohyun sleeping soundly in her bed. She assumed Amber and Yoona went for a walk together and tried to go back to sleep only to find that she couldn’t. After tossing and turning for a few minutes, the younger girl decided to go for a walk herself to help relieve her stressful mind.

“Krystal!” A shout echoed from afar.

The younger girl didn't move, still deep in thought and just wanted to be left alone. After all, having depressing mind battles with yourself is really tiring.

“Krystal Jung!” Another shout.

This time, Krystal lifted her head up to look, her eyes searching the crowd before her. It was amazing how the hotel is still buzzing with people even at this hour late into the night.

“Krystal!” This time, it was clear the shout came from somewhere behind her.

Krystal turned her head around and scanned the area.

When she spotted someone waving at her from afar, she squinted her eyes to try to make out who it was.

As soon as Krystal recognized the figure, a frown immediately settled on her face. “...Hy—”

“There you are!” A hand came to rest on her shoulder, causing the younger girl’s head to jerk back forward to the person who was slightly bent over panting in front of her.

“What are you doing sitting down here by yourself?” asked Amber as she straightened up and removed her hand from Krystal’s shoulder.

Krystal was surprised to see Amber in front of her but quickly recovered. “What are you doing down here? And why are you sweating?”

“I asked you first.” Amber brought a hand up over her chest to calm her racing heart – a wave of relief washing over her at the sight of an unharmed Krystal.

Krystal looked up and noticed the relieved look on the older girl’s face. She couldn’t help but feel like she had worried Amber somehow by leaving the room by herself.

“I couldn’t sleep so I took a stroll around the hotel lobby, why? What’s wrong?”

Amber shook her head and sat down next to the girl. “Nothing.”

Krystal frowned. “I answered your question so you have to answer mine. Nothing is not an answer.”

Amber chuckled, finding Krystal’s reply cute. “Fine. I ran here, that’s why I’m sweating right now.”

“Why did you run here?”

“I was looking for you.”

The straightforward reply took Krystal by surprise. “You were looking for me? Why?”

Using the back of her hand to wipe away the sweat, Amber quickly eyed their surrounding before answering. “You left without telling me. I was really worried.”

Krystal was yet again surprised by Amber’s straightforward response. Usually, Amber is never this quick to answer nor is she this frank. Krystal would always have to interpret the older girl’s words and actions on her own.

“Hey, you okay?” Amber turned her full attention to Krystal after noticing the silence.

Krystal couldn’t really put into words how she was feeling at the moment  so she just nodded, letting her heart quietly race inside her chest. Just when she finally convinced herself that Amber was only caring for her like a friend would and that she shouldn’t confess her own feelings, the uncertainty returned.

For a second time in a span of a few hours, Krystal found herself wanting to tell Amber that she likes her. As more than a friend. As more than a roommate.

What was supposed to be annoyance and dislike turned into friendship and as each day passes, grew into something more. Something that happened but was unexplainable. A muddy feeling that suddenly became clear as day.

It was crazy, this feeling. All of it felt spontaneous but at the same time, there was no denying the strong feeling stirring inside her. It was even more obvious when Krystal found herself getting jealous every time Amber gets associated with Hyuna. From school to those pictures Amber had of Hyuna – all of it irritated her.   

“Are you tired? Want to head back to the room?” Amber’s tender voice drew Krystal away from her thoughts.

“W-what?”

“It’s getting pretty late. We should head back and get some rest. Otherwise, we won’t have any energy left for tomorrow.”

“O-oh, okay.” Krystal nodded and tensed a little when Amber reached over to help her up.

Amber quickly released her hands around Krystal when she felt the uneasiness. “Ah, sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” Krystal quickly shook her head. She didn’t want Amber to get the wrong idea. She just wasn’t used to an overly touchy Amber.

As the two made their way towards the elevators, Krystal’s last thought suddenly occupied her mind.

“Amber, wait.” Krystal stopped walking and turned around, seemingly looking for someone.

“What’s wrong?” asked Amber, also looking around the area.

Krystal frowned when she didn’t find who she was looking for. Where did she go?

DING.

“Hey, the elevator’s here. Come on.” Amber gently pushed Krystal towards the open elevator.

Even though the lobby was, at the moment, safe, it still made her uneasy with Krystal out in the open here, especially after what Hyoyeon told her over the phone.

“Krys?”

After another quick scan of the area, Krystal finally relented to Amber’s push and the two boarded the empty elevator.

“Were you looking for something?” Amber decided to break the silence as the elevator slowly ascended.

“Sort of...”

Amber took note of the uncertain look in Krystal’s eyes and had a bad feeling. Surely she didn’t...

“...rather than something, it was more of someone...” Krystal continued quietly.

“...Who?” Amber hesitantly asked and held her breath. Please don’t tell me she...

“I thought I saw...” Krystal looked up and stared Amber straight in the eyes. “Hyuna.”

-----

End of Chapter 25.

Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I'm speeding up the pace for all my ongoings because it's simply being dragged out way too much. I really need to stop focusing on so many small and minor details in the story lol.

Until then, see you guys mid-Jan! <3