Chapter 9: Nothing Is As It Seems

"God, I can't believe I was called for- ah!" Amber groaned and pulled a twig with a leaf out of , finding herself face-first in the dirt behind a bush next to the very ice cream shoppe they had just left. “YAH!” She glared at the dark-headed culprit, who just glared at her in return.

“Shh! Be qui-” Krystal suddenly found herself on top of Amber, shocked by the sudden physical contact as Amber's arms wrapped around her instinctively. With their faces maybe a centimeter apart, both girls blushed and quickly scrambled to get untangled. Sunny just watched, bemused by the sudden shift in atmosphere. She simply shoved Krystal so they would all get out of the open sooner. Krystal, now untangled and sitting a good foot away from Amber, glared at the short-haired minx. “You didn't need to push me, Unnie.” She grumbled and looked off to the side, making sure to avoid eye contact with either girl.

“Oh? I can't push you, but you can push Amber? I thought you wanted to be in the bush,” Sunny snickered as she got on her knees next to the two behind the bush and peered into the shoppe. The two girls inside didn't seem like they suspected anything, but Sunny knew Taeyeon. She wasn't brain dead. She probably figured out they were up to something, but she wouldn't be able to do anyhing about it without upsetting Jessica. Sunny smirked. Of course, she wasn't gonna upset someone who was just released from the hospital when stress is most likely what sent her there to begin with.

“Sunny, you really don't know?” Krystal's voice was just above a whisper. Sunny just glanced at her from the corner of her eye. The young girl was staring at the couple still in the booth with an almost heartbreaking expression. Almost. It seemed to change from curiosity to sadness to anger to curiosity again. “I mean, you live with them.” The blonde shifted her gaze to Amber. She seemed less interested in the whole ordeal. She wasn't even looking at the couple inside. She was sitting with her legs crossed, next to the younger Jung, slightly leaning back. Her gaze seemed to be focused on Krystal's profile. Sunny raised an eyebrow when Amber noticed her looking. The tomboy simply shrugged and glanced inside the shoppe.

“Sorry, I don't really know the whole story. Besides, you live with Jessica as often as I do. It's just during most of the Japanese tour that I would see anything.” Krystal sighed at Sunny's response and rested her nose against the brick wall, her eyes just high enough to peek through the tinted window. Sunny shifted, moving to cross her legs following Amber's example. Who knew how long they'd be here. Jessica had actually been staying at the dorms a bit more often. The manager probably had something to do with that. She was normally locked in her room. With Jessica being at her house, she had been showing up late to schedules and seemed even more exausted than normal.

“Oh, they're leaving!” Krytal whispered and started pulling the other girls deeper in the bushes to be sure they were unseen as the couple made their way out of the ice cream parlor. The three all held their breath instinctively, their focus remaining on the two now casually making their way down the sidewalk. “That... that's not the way to the dorm, right?”

“No, they're definitely going somewhere else.” Sunny shook her head and motioned for the others to get up. The three slowly made their way out of the bush and followed the oblivious couple at a, seemingly, safe distance. Ducking into an alley, the three peeked their heads around the corner to see the two girls head into a restaurant.

“How are we gonna get in there without them seeing us?” Krystal practically hissed, her eyes glued to the entrance of the restaurant. Amber just turned back into the alley and leaned against the wall while Sunny scoped the area. Some people were giving them strange looks and suddenly a small girl ran up to Krystal, tugging on her shorts.

“Unnie?”

Kyrstal's attention moved to the child before her. She couldn't have been older than 7 or so.

“Why are you hiding behind the building? Are you scared? Would you like my sunglasses?” Krystal's heart melted as the girl lifted up her sunglasses for Krystal to have. “Maybe it'll be harder for people to recognize you with these on.” She just smiled at the child and knelt down, taking the glasses and putting them on.

“Why thank you so much! These are quite pretty. Do you know where I could get some matching ones for my friends here?” Krystal motioned toward Sunny and Amber, who simply smiled at the adorable girl.

“My mommy got them from that store over there. They have lots of stuff.”

“Oh thank you. And what's your name?”

“Goo Hye.” The girl smiled as Krystal took out her phone and pulled the girl close to take a selca, Sunny and Amber squishing close together to join in.

“Smile for the camera, Hye! You're our best friend for today. Alright girls, let's go shopping!” Krystal grabbed Amber's hand and made her way to the store. Sunny raised an eyebrow and followed closely behind.

~*~

“Seriously?” Sunny just rolled her eyes at their ridiculous outifts. “I feel like people will think we're gonna rob a bank.” She was wearing a beanie, large-framed dark sunglasses, and a patterned scarf to hide her face as much as possible. It's not like it's cold out or anything. People are going to think that they're really crazy. Or, that they're famous. Which they are. And they don't need any more attention drawn to them than necessary. The restaurant Taeyeon and Jessica had gone to was right across the street and they were sitting at a table near the window. Heck, they could just stay in this store and spy on them perfectly fine. Why did they have to get these dumb disguises anyway?

“Hey, is that them?” Amber whispered, moving to stand next to the short blonde. “Are they taking a photo with someone?”

“Yea, some lady with a baby. We could totally just watch them from here if we wanted.” Sunny rolled her eyes.

“Unnie, the shop owner wouldn't want us loitering. Plus, I'm really hungry. Let's just go get a table a bit away from them. They won't see us. I mean look at them. They look kind of into each other if you ask me.” Krystal's head appeared in between the two, her eyes glued across the street at the couple, once more. “Come on, let's go. She pulled both the girls' arms, forcing them toward the restuarant.

“We'd like a table for 3, preferably toward the back, with dim lighting. As you can see we have sensitive eyes.” Sunny pointed at her and the other's sunglasses.

“Uh, yes ma'am. Right this way.”

Sunny smirked as the host escorted them to their table. She couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Sica playing with her straw wrapper and Taeyeon deeply absorbed in her motions. The couple wasn't paying any attention to their surroundings at all. “Can we have this table?” Krystal asked the host, pointing to one that wasn't too close to the couple. They didn't want to stand out too much, so Amber sat with her back to the couple while Sunny and Krystal sat opposite of her. It was in perfect view of the still seemingly oblivious couple. They weren't directly horizontal, but they could still see both of their faces, more so Jessica's than Taeyeon's. They had just gotten their food. It didn't seem like they were talking much, but Taeyeon kept looking up at Jessica.

“They were talking when we walked in right?” Krystal leaned into Sunny and whispered. “What do you think they were talking about?”
 

Sunny rolled her eyes. “It looked more like Taeyeon being hypnotized by Jessica playing with her straw wrapper to me.”

“Oh my god. Why is my sister such a dork? I swear.” Krystal facepalmed and glanced back at the couple.

“Your sister is as much of a dork as that kid leader over there, you know. This is so weird though.” Sunny's gaze never left the other table. They really did look like a couple. They very rarely acted this close anymore in public. She assumed it was simply because they were too afraid of what the media might make it out to be. Of course, there were a couple other reasons too.

“How's Tiffany-unnie? She used to come over a lot more, too. I really only see a couple of you now.” Krystal set her menu down and grabbed a piece of sushi. She was about to stuff it in without a thought when suddenly, a pair of chopsticks stole it from her grip. “ Yah! Wait a second. When did this even get here?”

Amber put the piece of sushi on her own plate and pushed an empty plate in front of Krystal and another in front of Sunny. “I ordered it as soon as we sat down, because I figured you two would be busy.”

“Oh, I see. Anyway, how is everyone, Unnie?” Krystal's attention went back to the blonde beside her, who had found a new interest at her own table. Amber was now placing sushi on Krystal's plate for her.

“Uh, everyone is doing alright. You know with the Japanese comeback and everything everyone's been pretty worked up. I'm sure you've noticed due to Jessica's condition.”

“I'm sorry that my sister got all of you worrying. She really needs to take better care of herself.” Krystal absentmindedly grabbed another piece of sushi and succeeded in shoving it in .

“Image, Krystal.” Sunny smirked at Amber. The girl didn't even look up from her phone and managed to comment while still eating from her own plate. This girl was something.

“Oh, Amber. No one even knows its us.” Krystal mumbled her eyes never leaving the other couple's table. “Look at how Taeyeon-unnie keeps looking at my sister. Isn't that weird? I think it's weird.”

“You think a lot of things are weird,” Amber mumbled still staring at her phone.

“You know what I think is weird?” Leaning forward, Sunny gave Amber a somewhat knowing smile. The latter shifted uncomfortably in her seat and cleared .

“What's that, Unnie?” Krystal was still not really paying attention to the others at her table.

“How are you enjoying your sushi, Krystal?” Sunny grinned when Amber's eyes finally looked up to meet her own.

“It's really good. My favorite kind actually. I really love avocado.”

“Oh, is it? That's fascinating.”

“Um, I guess. Oh my god. My sister can't even catch a candy in .”

“Yea, she's not very coordinated. Hey, Amber, what was wrong with that first piece of sushi Krystal was gonna eat.” Amber's eyes flickered for a split second before she went back to looking at her phone.

“What're you talking about, Unnie?” Krystal's attention finally shifted to the two girls at her own table. “Why are you leaning so far over the table?”

“Don't you remember, Krystal?” Sunny sat back and crossed her arms, still staring at the girl in front of her. “You were gonna eat a piece earlier, but Amber took it out of your hand and put it on her own plate.”

Krystal tapped her chin, her eyes widening when realization hit. “Oh, yea. I do.” She glanced at Amber and then turned to Sunny. “Maybe she wanted to make sure I didn't get poisoned.”

“Right. So, Amber, what was wrong with it.”

Amber sighed and put down her phone. Leaning forward, she took a sip of her water and met Sunny's eyes. “It had cucumber. So, I switched it for the other kind instead.”

“The other kind that just happens to be her favorite?”

“We've been living in the same dorm for a while now. I'm sure you know your members' likes and dislikes by now.”

Damn. She got her there. Sunny just scoffed and leaned back as Amber gave her a smirk and leaned back as well.

“Are you guys, like, having some secret conversation right now?” Krystal asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because, I'm totally lost.” She glanced between the two a couple more times before allowing her gaze to go back to the other couple's table. “Oh my god! Where'd they go?!” Krystal bolted up and practically ran out of the restaurant, leaving Amber and Sunny to follow behind her after paying and bowing in apology.

“Gee, Krystal. You still have to respect the other people in the restaraunt. I thought you were gonna run over someone,” Amber complained, putting her wallet back in her pocket.

“Did you see which way they went? Damn it all! Why was I even trying to pay attention to you two and your weird code conversations.” The frustrated girl ruffled her hair as she looked back and forth, trying to spot the unknowing couple. “God, which way do you think they went?”

“As much fun as this is, Krystal, really, it is, I actually do have to see about my schedule tomorrow. They screwed up a couple interviews.” Sunny sighed. “I'll see you two later. I'll be looking forward to it, too.” She gave a wave and a slight grin toward Amber before turning and heading on her way.

“Ah, it's okay, Unnie. I understand.” The young Jung called after her. Her shoulders then slumped in defeat.

“You know, we have schedules of our own, Krystal. What exactly do you expect to see by following them anyway? They seem pretty reserved and they're not dumb. They know they have fans and that they'll probably be followed.” Krystal simply shrugged as they began making their way back to the dorm.

“I don't know. I feel like they have some huge secret that no one knows and I'm gonna stumble upon it someday.” Krystal let out another sigh. “God, I just want to like catch them kissing or something. That way I can at least feel like I know something! Anything is better than what I'm feeling now.”

“Oh? What are you feeling now?” Amber mumbled as she stuffed her hands in her pockets.

“To be honest, I'm not really sure.” Krystal slowed until she came to a complete stop. “What is this?”

Amber took a step in front of her dormmate. Krystal looked so fragile all of a sudden as she gripped the hem of her shirt. Amber slowly motioned to take the sunglasses off the girl's face and frowned. Reaching up, she wiped a tear from Krystal's eye before it could drop. “Soojung?”

Krystal let out a small chuckle. “This is really weird, isn't it?”

“I'm not gonna know unless you explain it to me.”

“Amber, it feels like my heart is breaking.”