Amber was halfway through her shift at work and things still had not improved from her morning as she dropped her second tray in the past hour.  The dishes of steaming, fresh food splashed all over the floor, cracking and shattering most of the glassware, but fortunately none of the items actually landed on customers this time.  She gasped and felt her face grow hot as the commotion drew attention from all over the restaurant from peers and patrons alike.

                “I’m sorry,” she murmured profusely, ducking her head at the nearest guests and methodically picking up the worst of the large pieces of glass and piling them on the tray as quickly as possible.  She was aware of their scrutiny upon her and she just wanted to melt into the floor…

                Just a few seconds after the mortifying accident, her best friend Luna came rushing over with a broom and trash pale in hand to offer her assistance, looking far more composed than herself.  “It’s alright, Amber,” she soothed, patting the slightly older and taller woman on the shoulder with her free hand and giving her a warm smile.  “Here.  I’ll get the rest of the big stuff.  Why don’t you let them know we’ll need a repeat order and clean up?” she suggested helpfully, earning a grateful but restrained nod from her friend.

                Frustrated and with her head held low, the serving tray covered in broken glass pressed close, Amber rushed to the back, struggling to keep her composure.  She flinched away as the manager on duty brushed past her quickly to offer his apologies and probably the meal on the house.  As suggested, she paused by the line cook station and apologized, “I’m sorry but we’ll need a repeat of table C5’s order.”  She cringed automatically when Jongwoon just sighed, muttering under his breath as he reached to remedy her mistake.

                “I’ll take that,” Donghae gave her an encouraging smile, the warm expression of the busser enough to raise her just a notch out of her misery as he took the tray from her hands.  “It happens to the best of us,” he winked, balancing the tray on one hand and clapping her on the arm reassuringly before he nodded and ducked into the kitchen to dispose of the broken dishes.

                She started in surprise when the manager on duty, the usually cheerful and patient Jungsu, approached her from behind.  “Amber.  Are you alright today?  You seem a bit off,” he suggested with concern, resting his hand lightly on her shoulder.  He waited for her to look up and met her gaze evenly, waiting for a response.

                “I’m so sorry sir,” she bowed fretfully, unable to meet his kind eyes for long as she nervously threaded her short hair behind her ears with both hands.  “It won’t happen again,” she managed to assure him, standing up with her hands clasped in front of her.

                “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked for clarification, looking over the top of his black rimmed glasses at her, frayed bangs teasing his eyes with the chestnut colored tips.

                “Neh,” she took a breath, pulling her shoulders back and trying to show a good front.

                “Alright, but you should take a few minutes to get yourself sorted out in the break room,” he directed, guiding her along with gentle pressure to her shoulder as he pointed her towards the back.

                “Yes sir,” she sighed in response, feeling chastised even though he’d gone easy on her.  Ultimately, she was glad it was Jungsu on duty and not Heechul this time, whose tongue was considerably sharper, but it still bothered her that she couldn’t focus today.

                She didn’t even have a good reason for it either, which would have made her feel marginally better if that had been the case.  Heavily, she threw herself down in one of the seats in the break room, a cushioned arm chair with a soft pleather cover, and leaned back, scrubbing her face with her hands tiredly.  It was a blessing the room was empty for the moment as the staff finished up the latter part of the lunch rush.

                Maybe if her day hadn’t started off fairly rotten, it might not have been so bad here…  She’d woken up late to begin with, sleeping through the first of her alarms and had then managed to spill coffee on her uniform top.  There was absolutely no hiding that on a white button up shirt so her only recourse had been to change and be glad she hadn’t spilled it on her black slacks too.

               Unfortunately, during her rush to get ready, she forgot about breakfast on the stove and it had burned, setting off the fire alarm in the apartment she shared with Sulli who had fortunately already been gone for her much bemoaned early Saturday morning softball practice.  So she’d resigned herself to going hungry but on her way out she almost forgot to take her apron which she’d brought inside to wash last night instead of leaving it in her car like usual which had necessitated a trip back to retrieve it after she’d made it to the end of their street…

                Worse, because of traffic and her managing to ersely hit every light on the way here, she’d been notably late, earning her a warning; her first one in fact.  Of course that had freaked her out because Luna had only just managed to help her get this job not more than two weeks ago and she was still on probation.

                She couldn’t remember the specials today and kept getting the prices mixed up.  She’d delivered food to the wrong table twice and also managed to drop her serving tray twice, though the first time had been dirty dishes she’d removed from her customer’s table to give them more room.  Honestly…what else could she mess up today?

                Somebody somewhere hated her…  That had to be it.  “Ugh!” she groaned, leaning over her knees, staring at her black flats as her hands dangled alongside her legs, the fabric slightly wrinkled because she’d forgotten to iron them.  The thought had her stifling another groan with her thighs as she hid her face, pretending she didn’t exist.

                “We all have off days,” Luna’s voice interrupted her misery as the tiny, bubbly waitress made her way into the break room quickly, a small cup of water in her hand.  “You already know I dropped a plate of pasta completely on one of our regulars when I first started,” she chuckled to lighten the mood, drawing a reluctant snort from Amber.  “Here,” she offered, perching on the arm of the chair as she held the cup out for the other woman.

                “Thanks, Luna,” she murmured a subdued response, taking a deep breath to steady herself.  She flinched when Luna placed the back of her hand against her forehead, expression thoughtful.

                “Well, you don’t feel like you’ve got a fever,” she smiled, smoothing down a couple stray strands of Amber’s dark hair automatically.

                Amber downed the glass in one large gulp and shook her head, “No.  I’m not sick.  I guess it’s just one of those days,” she grumbled, standing up and brushing herself off as she mentally prepared to get back on the floor.

                Luna laughed and rested her hand against the other woman’s back as she stood up beside her.  “At least it’s almost over.  Come on.”

                “I’m coming,” Amber managed to smile, unable to remain gloomy around the shorter woman.  Maybe things would turn around now after all.

                After her shift, Amber waved a weary farewell to Luna who walked out with her as they ended their shift together.  “Like I said.  You made it through the day and you’ve got tomorrow off after all.  Be glad about that,” she winked, tapping her on the nose playfully and making her target laugh despite herself.

                “Yeah, and it’s going to be filled with homework and errands,” she groaned with a hand to her forehead.  Just into her sophomore year of college and her school work load was already insane.  The only reason she could hold a part time job at all was because they were flexible with her school schedule and quite used to the weird course loads of students.

                “You sure about that?” Luna asked with a sidelong glance, becoming utterly distracted when a white Nissan Altima pulled up, derailing Amber from asking her about her statement.  “Oh!  There’s my ride!” she chirped happily, giving Amber a quick hug and shuffling over to the car daintily, back in her much preferred heels instead of the work appropriate flats Amber favored.

                “Hi Amber,” the driver called, waving at her warmly as he leaned back up from opening the passenger door from the inside.  He had a cheerful grin that matched his shorter companion’s and it was nearly impossible not to smile back at him too.

                “Hey Jinki,” she waved back, an answering smile coming easy in their presence.  “See you Monday, Luna,” she called, waiting until they were out of sight before she trudged over to her car, a dark blue Toyota Corolla, sport’s edition.  She couldn’t stand the look of the compact…

                She was mildly envious of Luna since she lived with her boyfriend here in town.  When he was free, he always came by to pick her up from work, a luxury Amber didn’t have.  Her boyfriend lived in the next town over, having moved out to work for his uncle in a music shop when he’d graduated from high school.  It wasn’t a huge distance, but it was more than far enough for her on any given day of the week.

                With a weary sigh, she folded into her car and breathed a sigh of relief when it started right up, purring at her happily.  With everything else that had happened she wouldn’t have doubted something befalling her car too.  Content for the moment, she turned the radio on and set her sights on home.

                “Oh, come on!” Amber cried not more than five minutes later as she developed a flat tire and pulled off the side of the road, out of the flow of traffic dejectedly.  For a moment, she just sat where she was, hands gripping the steering wheel as she couldn’t really believe her ill luck today.  “Seriously?” she groaned, flipping on her emergency lights and getting out of the car to assess the damage in the slowly fading light of day.

                Completely flat…  Her inspection of the tire revealed a large nail jammed into the seam of the wheel.  “Great…”  Muttering darkly under her breath, she moved to the cab to retrieve her phone so she could let Sulli know, if nothing else, only to stare dumbly at the blank screen.  Caught between wanting to scream in frustration and aimlessly flail, she firmly slammed the dead phone on her seat and reached to pop the trunk instead, be her lack of a car charger.

                “Fine.  I’ll do it myself,” she grumbled, dragging out the tire iron and jack so she could change the stupid flat on her own.  Working the jack wasn’t problematic and she managed to get it up just fine but getting the bolts off was a different matter entirely.  Leaning her whole body weight down on the first one did nothing to budge the stubborn thing.  “Come…on…” she growled through clenched teeth as she tried pulling instead, leaning back with all her weight and pushing firmly with her legs.  “Yah!” she yelped when it slipped and she went flying backwards, scraping her left palm on the asphalt.

                “This is so not my day…” she groaned, inspecting the raw patch of skin with a grimace, leaving the tire iron where it was and leaning against the car, arms propped on her raised knees.  She scrambled to her feet when a small pick-up truck pulled up behind her and without looking to see who it was, she resolutely put the tire iron back on and resumed her efforts, determined not to appear quite so pathetic as she certainly felt.

                “Need a hand?” a kind voice asked the smile evident in his tone.

                “No.  I’m good,” she murmured, struggling vainly against the stuck bolt.  The stranger approached anyway and she finally took a moment to look up and glance over, blinking in surprise at the figure.  Startlingly blonde hair topped the lean young man who gave her a gummy smile, dressed in a dusty tank-top with a short sleeve dark gray button up shirt open over top of it.  By his equally dusty pants and heavy cargo boots, he appeared to be some sort of construction worker.

                “Mind if I?” he offered, gesturing at the tire iron.

                Amber finally swallowed her mangled pride and sighed.  “Please.”  Defeated, she stepped aside and watched as the wiry figure only a few inches taller than her bent to the task at hand.  She stared when his arms flexed, revealing very defined muscles that tackled the first bolt with a modicum of trouble initially before promptly defeating the rest of them in short order.  Determined to be of some use and not the complete damsel in distress she’d ended up being, Amber snagged the spare tire from the trunk and rolled it over to help him.

                “Thanks,” he smiled at her as he removed the flat and put the spare on.  “Mind holding it for me while I get them started?” he asked, gesturing at the loose tire.

                “Sure!” she agreed quickly glad to have something to do.

                In next to no time, the stranger managed to tighten and then snug the bolts back into place with a couple firm torques.  “There.  All done,” he smiled, dusting his hands off and offering her a polite bow after he let the vehicle down from the jack.

                Despite her situation, Amber smiled back, grateful for his assistance.  “Thank you again…um…” she trailed off, not sure what to call him.

                “Hyukjae,” he smiled, wiping his hand off on his person before offering it to her easily.

                “Amber,” she responded, accepting the gesture.

                “Well Amber.  It has been a pleasure,” he bowed again, waving at her as he returned to his truck, humming under his breath.

                She replaced the flat in the back and stored the tire iron and jack, pausing to wave at him as he pulled off.  All things considered, that could have been considerably worse.  Feeling slightly better at having been involuntarily stranded, Amber hopped back in her car and headed home, praying that nothing else would happen.

                Her weary feet carried her up the four flights of stairs to her apartment since the elevator was out of commission.  Just another thing to top her day off...  She hadn’t seen Sulli’s car when she got home but it was possible she was out and about as the day grew late.  It wasn’t unusual for her to be visiting friends or attending functions at all hours.

                Amber unlocked the front door and called out anyway, just to be sure, “Sulli?  I’m home.”  When she got no immediate response, she kicked her shoes off at the front door and set her keys on the side table, pausing when she turned around and noticed the single lavender rose resting in the middle of the floor, a thin white ribbon wrapped around the stem.  Confused, she scratched her cheek with one finger and bent down to pick it up, careful not to prick her finger on the…nonexistent thorns.  “Odd…” she murmured to herself, looking around curiously as she pulled off the ribbon that had writing on it.  Love at first sight.

                Still standing in the hallway, she looked up instantly when the first notes of a familiar song started to play from the living room.  Amber felt her heart flutter when she recognized the sound as a violin and she bit her lip shyly when she realized the song was ‘No Other.’  Only one person played her that song…

                Breathlessly, she rounded the corner and covered with both hands, hiding the gleeful smile that graced her lips when she saw Henry standing in her living room playing his violin and illuminated by a series of candles resting on the mantle and table instead of the overhead light.         While he wasn’t wearing a suit, he was definitely sporting one of his nicer shirts, a new pair of jeans and his sneakers and he was just smiling at her as she stopped to stare back.

                He found a decent stopping point in the song and chuckled as he set the violin down on the sofa, stepping to the lounge chair to retrieve two more items he hid behind his back as he approached her.  “What are you doing here, Henry?” Amber asked, hardly daring to believe he was just…here in her apartment.

                With a boyish grin still dancing on his face, he held out a red plush stuffed rabbit and another thornless red rose.  “A little birdie told me you were having a rough day,” he chuckled, watching her accept the items with quiet delight, holding the rabbit close in an unusually open display of affection.

                “Bunnies aren’t red,” she laughed, smelling the rose and looking up to meet his sparkling gaze, feeling tears threaten on her lashes.

                “Well this one is,” he assured her, grabbing her cheeks in both hands and leaning down to place his lips gently against hers.  “Surprise,” he whispered, easing back just enough to put space between them.

                Amber laughed breathily and promptly slid her arms around his torso, hugging him tight as she ducked her head under his chin.  “How did you get in?” she asked, savoring the feel of his arms around her.

                “Eh.  Sulli was here but when I told her I wanted to surprise you, she just giggled and waved at me,” he told her in amusement.

                “Feh.  She knows better than to let strange men into our apartment,” she teased lightly, laughing when he pretended to be hurt by her words.

                “I think it would’ve been strange if I’d have worn a suit,” he commented wryly.

                “Oh goodness no,” Amber laughed, pulling back to look up at him to see if he was serious.

                He shrugged and winked at her good-naturedly, “I didn’t exactly have a great deal of time and mine’s still at the cleaner’s anyway.”  Amber just looked at him skeptically until he laughed and surrendered.  “Fine.  No suit, but I did manage to make a stop along the way,” he grinned, the expression adorable.

                “Oh?” Amber couldn’t help but be intrigued.

                “Neh,” he nodded, stepping back and edging around her to hurry into the kitchen, coming back with a bag of food that made her stomach grumble when she caught a whiff of it.

                “You didn’t,” she giggled, practically dancing in place.

                “I did,” he nodded, thoroughly satisfied with himself as he handed the top container to her with a fork to accompany it, just in case.  Delightedly, Amber opened the steaming dish of Mexican food and took a deep breath, sighing happily.

                “You know me too well,” she pointed with her fork, taking a bite and chewed slowly.

                “And that’s a bad thing?” he chuckled, ushering her to the couch so they could have a seat.

                She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, chewing on the fork with a thoughtful expression.  “Maybe not,” she agreed after a brief pause.

                “I guess that means you don’t really want the ice cream in the freezer either then?” he commented nonchalantly.  He couldn’t maintain the neutral expression when he watched her face light up at the mention of ice cream.  “That’s what I thought,” he nodded, taking a bite of his food.

                In much better spirits, Amber and Henry ate slowly, talking and sharing their food with each other, taking turns offering bites to the other.  Amber giggled when a bit of the sauce ended up on her chin and Henry used a napkin to wipe it off, stealing a kiss on her cheek when she shied away.

                “Done?” he asked, reaching for her half-finished meal.

                “Neh,” she nodded in agreement, watching him carry the food back into the kitchen, surreptitiously letting her eyes linger before he disappeared behind the doorway.  She took the opportunity to grab her phone and plug it in to charge, pausing when she saw she’d missed two texts.  The first was from Luna who sent: I hope you have a good night!  Amber raised a brow and shook her head, unable to stifle her smile.  The second was from her roommate, Sulli: The team’s having a get together later so I’m staying with Victoria tonight.  Don’t wait up for me.

                Amber shook her finger at the phone and then grinned foolishly.  Just the two of them in the same place, all night?  Giddily, she danced in place and hurried back out to the living room, bouncing onto the couch before Henry returned bearing two heaping bowls of delicious, chocolate syrup covered ice cream.

                “Tada!” he posed, offering her the first one and sitting back down next to her, thighs and shoulders pressing together comfortably.

                “Thank you, Henry,” Amber accepted, leaning over to plant a warm kiss on his cheek in gratitude.

                “Any time, love,” he murmured softly, pressing his free hand to the back of her head as he kissed the side of her head tenderly.  “So.  What do you want to do next?” he asked, taking a bite of ice cream while she thought about her answer.

                “Well,” she mused, tapping her bottom lip with the spoon.  “We’ve got the whole night to ourselves so why don’t we start with a movie?” she suggested, leaning forward to retrieve the remote and turning on the television.

                “Works for me,” he nodded, throwing an arm around her shoulder and hugging her close.

                The ice cream disappeared quickly and the pair promptly found themselves leaning against each other, fingers intertwined as they started watching some action-adventure that probably had some sort of romance thing in it somewhere.  Of course, by the end of it, there was no guarantee either knew exactly what had happened.  And as for the rest of the evening…  Well, they had all night after all.

(a/n:  There is a meaning behind the flowers an why I used the ones I did.

Lavender = love at first sight and/or enchantment, hence the note on the ribbon

Red = love (pretty cut and dry here)

And keep in mind that a single rose of any color also means 'utmost devotion.'  Thornless roses also mean 'love at first sight'.

For the favorite foods, I can only go by what I see on fact page and whatnot and apparently Amber likes bunnies and kittens and her favorite color is red.  Debatably, her favorite food is Mexican though I could find nothing more specific.  *shrug*

Either way, I had fun writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading it!  ^_^)