"Are you free this Saturday?" Henry cleared his throat and had spent fifteen minutes before to gather up his courage and call her. Now he hoped that his voice didn't give away his feelings for the girl too much. He had thought about it, and he couldn't go a day without confessing to her anymore.

He liked her. And he would like to go out with her.

"I don't know.. Why'd you ask?" the girl from the other line asked, her voice sounded tired and bored, but he couldn't help notice that she was curious.

"Well, you know.." he needed to make up an excuse so it wouldn't be too obvious. Henry needed to know if she felt the same way about him. "I was thinking maybe we could hang out." Just them two. "There's a skating competition at the Han-gang Park this weekend. So you know," he stammered. "Maybe you want to check it out?"

"Sounds fun!" she answered excitedly. "Are you entering the competition?" Should he? Henry wondered for a second.

"I could... If you want me to," Henry instantly kicked himself against his study desk. Why did he have to say that? It was obvious now that he would join the competition to impress her. And he was supposed to be subtle about it!

"Well, if you want to, you should join it! Julian and I will be your cheerleaders!" the girl said chirpily, and Henry could just imagine right now how she talked, her hands would animatedly move about, to match her excitement.

Julian. Henry's heart fell. Somehow tonight, the last thing he wanted to hear was his best friend's name, from the girl he likes.

"Uhh-no," he said hastily. "I didn't invite Julian with though. I would, but Julian doesn't like skating. So yeah, just us two." Plus, he wanted that Saturday to be some sort of a date for them.

"Oh, okay. Cool." Amber answered simply. She didn't sound upset though, so maybe Henry was wrong about her feelings for Julian after all.

"Great! See you Saturday!"

It was almost dark that Thursday evening when Amber stepped outside of SM building. She was freshly showered after her long hours of dance practice with Kim Hyoyeon, SM's best dancing student.

Amber was ecstatic at first when Kim Hyoyeon called her out at SM's cafe, causing the whole cafe to burst in excited murmurs, "Why does Queenka Hyoyeon call that American girl for?" Some younger trainees where gushing over Hyoyeon too, and shot Amber envious looks and rolled their eyes at her, which was really understandable. Kim Hyoyeon was very popular even before her debut with Girl's Generation. She was easily SM's best female dance student, and her reputation went far beyond her school, her district, and was acknowledged by trainees from other companies too. Kim Hyoyeon's reputation is huge, and SM mostly always favors her, even though some people said she can't sing nor does she have good looks. Her talent and extra ordinary dancing skills practically brought her to Girl's Generation, and Hyoyeon wasn't timid or bashful about her skills. If one thing she can count on for herself, it's her dancing skills. She was not nicknamed the Boss Lady Dance Machine for nothing.

"Amber!" Hyoyeon called enthusiastically, her arms waving around her wildly.

Amber grinned and waved back, and quickly went up to her, bowing profusely. One thing she had learned well in Korea, is to adapt to the 90 degree Korean bow. It saved her numerous times, especially when she herself was not a good Korean speaker, the Korean bow somehow break the language barrier she had over her Korean comrades.

"So you're Amber?" the Korean girl asked. Amber nodded. Hyoyeon looked even more interesting up close. She was rather dark for a Korean person, and her face, while not beautiful, was simply unique, and her smile turned her usually fierce look to a soft one. Amber felt Hyoyeon should smile more. Amber couldn't deny that Hyoyeon's thick eyebrows were distracting, but she wouldn't call them ugly, because they were the most distinctive about her looks.

"I heard you can dance," Hyoyeon said carefully, making sure the American girl understood her Korean well.

"Yes, sunbaenim," Amber's answer caused the older girl to explode in laughter, even her laughter was clear and oozing with confidence that she actually snorted. Amber frowned a little, not quite understanding what funny she did make.

"You can call me unnie," Hyoyeon said, rubbing her jaws and massaging her cheeks, as Koreans always do after they laugh, in attempts to keep their face small and wrinkle-free. Amber wasn't sure if those practices work though.

"Woah, you have such a small face," Hyoyeon observed, she was always secretly jealous at girls with small faces. "And you're actually quite pretty too. Taeyeon unnie told me that she thinks you're handsome, and wanted me to make sure that you're not a guy disguised as a girl," Hyoyeon chuckled at her own joke. Amber smiled simply, not knowing what to do with that remark.

"Listen," Hyoyeon grabbed her by the shoulder, the older girl's eyes sparked. "I need your help. Can you or can you do this for me?"

Hyoyeon's gaze kind of challenged her, and Amber gulped, and nodded automatically.

The Korean girl smiled and relaxed a little. "Great! It's a secret. Meet me at common dance room tomorrow after your class ends. Make sure nobody else comes with you, got it?"

Amber nodded, her eyes widened at the gravity of Hyoyeon's message. The older girl patted her head, and sauntered off, winking at the male trainees who stood nearby, waiting for their chances to talk to one of Girl's Generation member.

By the time Amber got into SM's common dance room, Hyoyeon was already there, drenched in sweat, practicing a sultry dance, but her moves were powerful. Hyoyeon didn't seem to notice Amber's presence. Common dance room was situated farther than other practice rooms, and trainees don't usually use that dance room anymore. Hyoyeon makes it her own hang out place, and nobody who was not close to the dancing queen would dare go near the room, because Hyoyeon has a reputation for being quite the bully.

As soon as the music stopped Hyoyeon turned around and greeted Amber cheerfully. She started the music again, it seemed to Amber that Hyoyeon wasn't at all tired. Turns out Hyoyeon wanted her to be her dance partner for this competition at a local - wait, it was supposed to be a secret. Amber bit her lips, feeling guilty for even thinking about it. Hyoyeon wanted someone to play as her love interest for her dance performance, and she taught Amber some moves that Amber soon learned were a bit too masculine for Hyoyeon herself, and it soon hit the tomboy that Hyoyeon wanted her to be the guy companion for her dance. Amber was flustered at the new information that she found out herself, but decided to just go with it, she didn't want to get on Hyoyeon's bad side.

They practiced for five long hours, until Amber finally got the hang of it. Hyoyeon let Amber go as soon as Kwon Yuri, Hyoyeon's best friend and also a fellow Girl's Generation member tiptoed into the common dance room and squealed at them in a whisper, and Hyoyeon rushed over to her in the same excited manner and the two girls exchanged whispers among them, Amber could only make out these words - "Amber's a perfect choice." As amber closed the door she heard Yuri called out at her, "See you tomorrow night, Amber!"

A sudden haul from her behind caused Amber to yelp in horror. "Josie!" Julian's face soon entered her frame of vision and Amber let out a relieved sigh and screamed at him, annoyed.

But the older guy just laughed. "I knew you were a scaredy cat, so I just had to do it!" Amber brushed his arm off of her shoulder in mock irritation but a grin soon adorned her face.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked him, curious. There were the only two of them at the bus stop, and Amber had no idea when Julian got there.

"I stalked you, of course," he kidded, but Amber's heart suddenly skipped.

"What?"

"Haha, your face," Julian laughed. "You should have seen your face! Josie, it's me, Julian, not some axe murderer!" He waved his hand in front of her, she remembered how wide his palm was. "I just wanted to see what you're up to. I saw Sulli earlier and she asked if I have seen you around, because you haven't gone back to the dorm since morning. So I thought I look for you here, and voila! Here you are." Amber's head slightly dizzied at Julian's smile.

She couldn't quite exactly explain his smile, but his smile was the kind of smile that she would like to see on her boyfriend's face. Wait, Amber thought. Boyfriend? Nonono she didn't mean that. She didn't mean that Julian should be her boyfriend or anything like that, it's just -

"So wanna grab something to eat? My treat." Julian took Amber's silence as a yes, and together they embarked on their food hunt to their usual Thursday night small cafe, where she and Julian and Henry would sometimes eat at, but only on Thursday nights.

It was unexpectedly dark that evening, but what can he expect, it was autumn anyway. Henry followed his seniors quietly, he knew he couldn't turn them down, especially after they heartily invited him to join them for dinner after their basketball practice. Henry had refused twice upon being asked, but when they asked for the third time, Henry knew it would be rude in Korea to turn down dinner invitation. Especially when they let him decide where to eat.

Since it was Thursday, Henry absentmindedly suggested that they have dinner at Twosome Place, out of habit. Siwon and Donghae cheered and Hangeng, the Chinese guy, put his arm around him and dragged him to the cafe.

"It feels weird without Henry here," Amber piped up, after a moment of silence the two young people shared, which was uncomfortably awkward, in Amber's opinion.

"I didn't see him all day," Julian said, taking a casual sip of water from his mineral bottle. Amber only wished she didn't blush again when she found herself staring at his bobbing adam's apple. "He's probably playing basketball with Super Junior sunbaes." He chuckled, was it Amber, or did Julian sound a little wistful at the word basketball and Super Junior?

"Julian?" Amber said quietly. "Are you okay?" He smiled at her again, and Amber felt her heart tugged. It was that moment she found herself wanting to know more of the guy. It really wasn't her nature to care that much about somebody, but seeing him made her feel like she should at least help cheer him up. If only there was a way she could make him talk to her like a normal person, like she's one of his guy friends. This thought startled the girl for a while, realizing how much she wanted him to confide in her, she wished he could see her as a true friend, and share some secrets that only the two of them shared, not even.. not even Henry Lau can amount to the trust Julian would have for her.

Amber realized that she was probably asking for too much, and without knowing it, she hung her head low and sighed silently.

"I feel completely foreign here." Amber looked up, and looked at him with a meaning, her eyes fill