“Yah, I’m exhausted,” Amber called as she fell onto the large couch sitting in the living room of her new dorm. SHINee and EXO followed suit, sitting in the ground when the couch was filled up.

“That took a lot longer than I thought it would,” Dongmin took note.

“It would have taken less time if a certain pair of boys would have stopped playing around and bickering.” Kris said, glaring intentionally at Kai and Taemin. The two whistled nonchalantly, looking around the room. The rest of the group broke out in laughter.

“Well, we’re done now, and as I promised. I’ve already ordered what is now dinner and it’s on its way now.” Dongmin said, causing cheering to erupt out of the tired group.

“Did you order chicken?” Jinki and Kai asked at the same time. Amber sighed. “Not you too, Kai.”

He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “What? I like chicken.” He tried defending himself, much to the enjoyment of his band members.

“Yes, Kai-ssi and Jinki-ssi, there will be chicken.” Dongmin sighed. The two stood up and high fived, excited for the upcoming meal.

“Ah, we should probably get Lu. He’ll be hungry.” Lay said when the group was silent again.

Amber stood quickly. “I’ll do it. I wanted to talk to him alone, anyways.”

Kai’s face darkened and he looked away, however only Taemin noticed his friend’s behavior.

“Are you sure, Amber?” Xiumin asked cautiously.

Amber nodded. “This is important, oppa. I’ll be back soon.”

“The dorm is 9B! It should be open!” Kris called as amber shut the front door behind her.

She walked down the hallway and stopped at the door labeled 9B. She took a deep breath and turned the knob, pushing the door open quietly.

She walked into the dark dorm and closed the front door behind her. She stepped forward and hit her shin on a table. “!” She called into the dark. “Aish, I should have asked where his room was before I left.” She said to herself quietly in English.

A light flicked on behind her and Amber turned.

“What did you say? And what are you doing in here?” Amber saw Luhan looking at her with a blank expression on his face.

“Um, everyone is over at my dorm for dinner. Manager Oppa ordered enough for everybody and we didn’t want you to feel left out, so I came over to talk to you and then bring you over so you could – oh my god what happened? Are you okay?” Luhan had moved around her as she was explaining and had the lights to the living room, giving Amber a good look at the bruise Luhan now had on the right side of his face.

She ran to him and grabbed his chin, turning his face so that she could get a better look at the mark on his face. However, he grabbed her wrist and pulled it back, facing her straight on.

“I’m fine. What did you want to talk about?” He said, not meeting her gaze.

Amber hesitated. She pulled her wrist out of Luhan’s grip and walked quickly to the kitchen, opening the freezer and pulling out an ice pack. She walked back to the living room, where a confused looking Luhan had been watching her. She moved him to the couch and sat him down, setting herself beside him. She placed the ice pack on his cheek and held it there.

“I wanted to know what I did to piss you off so much that you felt the need to ignore me. If I did do something, I want to know what it was so that I can try and fix it.”

Luhan lowered his eyes and pulled Amber’s hand from his face along with the ice pack and sighed. “It’s not you, Amber-ssi. You didn’t do anything.” He said quietly.

Amber wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion. “Then what was the silent treatment for?”

Luhan looked at Amber and gulped.

“Amber, do you know how I became a trainee for SM?”

She shook her head.

“I was scouted on the streets because of my face. So, I auditioned and got an invitation to become a trainee for SM Entertainment. I was attending University here at that time, studying Korean. My parents were against my studying here, but they allowed it. But when I told them that I was leaving one dream for another, to become a singer, they disowned me, and told me that I would never be welcomed back into my own home. Since I had absolutely nowhere else to go, I accepted SM’s invitation and began training. But, Koreans aren’t very open to other races, as you may know. I hung out with Lay, mostly, since he spoke my mother tongue and he spoke very little Korean. We got along great. But because we were Chinese, especially me, for my girlish looks, we were bullied, used as punching bags for the other trainees who felt threatened or felt they were superior to us. My years as a trainee were hell. I had to fight to get a spot as a trainee, I had to fight to get a spot as a potential member for EXO, and I had to fight to keep my spot here.”

Amber watched the man breaking down in front of her as tears silently slid down his face. He continued.

“When we debuted, I thought everything was going great. I was finally getting something right. And then you came, and it seemed that you got everything so easily because you were Minho-ssi’s pretty cousin. I didn’t want to admit that you actually sounded really good at your exhibition. I acted like a brat. A really good friend of mine said that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions so easily. So, I wanted to apologize for my behavior towards you.”

Amber smiled and wiped the tears from Luhan’s cheek, bringing his eyes to meet hers. “I forgive you Luhan-ssi. And trust me; I haven’t had it as easily as you think I have. But we’ll talk about that later. The food is probably already half gone. Let’s go get some.” She smiled and stood up, turning to offer her hand to Luhan. He smiled slightly and grabbed her hand. He stood up and the two headed towards amber’s dorm.

Amber let go of Luhan’s hand and pushed the door open. Cheers erupted around the room as she stepped into the room. Luhan followed, but stayed close to the wall, still unseen. “Just in time, the food just got here.” Suho said as he laid more food on the counter.

“Oh my gosh, Manager Oppa, are we feeding a whole football team?” (A/N: Football, as in European football that Minho and Luhan play. Not the crappy American football where everyone tackles each other. That’s just barbaric.)

Dongmin laughed. “This will barely be enough for you and me, plus SHINee, plus EXO. That’s almost 20 people, Amber. Honestly, I think the food could have stood against a football team.”

Everyone laughed and migrated towards the table. Luhan stayed against the wall, staring at the group apprehensively. Amber noticed this, but stopped when she saw Kai approaching the blonde man.

“Hyung, I’m sorry for what happened.” Kai said quietly, not looking Luhan in the eyes.

Luhan smiled and placed his hand on Kai’s head. “Me too. Can we go back to before?”

Kai smiled and punched Luhan lightly on the arm. Luhan winced and held his arm. “Aish, hyung, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean –”

Luhan stopped and began laughing at the panicked expression on his dongsaeng’s face. “I’m just kidding, Kai. Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

Luhan ruffled Kai’s hair and then walked towards where Xiumin and Lay were standing and began chatting with them.

Kai smiled and fixed his hair. He noticed Amber watching him and walked over to where she was standing. “Hello there, beautiful. See anything you like?” he said flirtatiously.

Amber cocked an eyebrow, feigning innocence. “Actually, the tteokbokki looks pretty appetizing. I think I’m going to have some of it.”

Kai laughed and placed his hand on his heart. “That hurt, Amber.” Amber laughed and noticed Luhan glancing in their direction.

“So what was all that about with Luhan-ssi?”

Kai began to look uncomfortable. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing now.” Amber nodded and looked away.

Kai noticed Amber’s hurt look and quickly tried to fix it. “I didn’t mean it like that, beautiful, I promise. I would tell you anything and everything I could.”

Amber laughed at Kai’s frantic expression. “Got you.”

Kai looked stunned and then laughed. “Ya, you’re good. You know you’ve got acting talent when I fall for it. Good job, beautiful. Now why don’t we go get some food?”

Amber smiled and nodded. She looked back to see Luhan watching her interactions with Kai with a dark expression. She shivered, but turned and followed Kai, wondering what Luhan’s look meant.