Amber sat in the conference room with the members of Big Bang, Teddy, Dongmin, and Luhan, tapping her foot nervous, the uncomfortable silence putting on her edge.

 

The clock on the wall ticked along as she watched it, willing it to go quicker. Finally, the door opened, and everybody stood as Lee Sooman entered the room and took his seat at the head of the table.

 

“Well, I listened to the albums and watched the music videos,” Lee Sooman started out, and everybody held their breath. Amber’s debut literally depended on if Lee Sooman thought her and her music was profitable, if it would be well received by fans, and make it onto charts. She stared at her boss, his expression showing no signs of good or bad news.

 

“Everything was great, and we are expecting nothing but good things,” he said finally with a smile, and everybody breathed a sigh of relief.

 

He quickly turned serious as he continued talking, though. “But this is only the beginning. This partnership between our company and YG is a very big deal, nothing like this has ever been done before. So Amber, the rest of this is on you. How you perform on music shows, how you act on variety shows and in public. Everybody’s eyes will be on you solely, and we are holding you to a much higher standard than we normally would for any other debut.”

 

Amber’s face paled as she listened on. “No pressure, got it,” she laughed nervously, tying to ease the tension in the room.

 

Lee Sooman’s face hardened as he looked on at her. “No Amber, all of the pressure is now on you. This is no joking matter. We put our trust in you for all of this, and it is now up to you.”

 

She looked down, ashamed. “Yes sir, I’m sorry sir, I’ll do my very best.”

 

He nodded and stood. “Very well. Good work, everyone. And good luck tomorrow night, Amber. We’ll be watching.”

 

And with that, he exited the room, and noise erupted from all around her. Big Bang and Teddy were congratulating each other and high fiving each other, with Dongmin happily making plenty of phone calls to solidify her schedule for the next month. Everybody seemed to be in a joyous mood except for Amber, who felt the weight of the world on her shoulders.

 

She felt something push against her foot, and she looked up to see Luhan looking at her from across the table. He gave her an encouraging smile, and she nodded back at him.

 

Dongmin quieted the room after he hung up his phone, stealing Amber’s attention from Luhan. “Alright, everything’s been set in motion. Your music video premieres tonight at 7 pm, which is good, because your teasers have caused a bit of hype, so we’re good so far. I’ve got a conference room set aside for that time for when the music video debuts, since I’m assuming you’ll want people there with you.”

 

Amber nodded and gave him a grateful smile, and he gave her a knowing wink. She looked to the YG members.

 

“You’ll all be there, right?” She said hopefully.

 

Teddy came over and wrapped an arm around her, giving her a squeeze. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, sweetheart.” The members of Big Bang agreed, and she looked over to Luhan.

 

“And you and the other guys will be there, too?”

 

He smiled and nodded, a tinge of sadness in his eyes. “We’ll all be there, promise. I already texted our managers and Suho to let them know.”

 

Amber mouthed a quick thank you to him, not missing the sad look, but decided to save that for a later conversation, when they were alone.

 

Dongmin spoke up. “And I’ve already talked to your cousin, they’ll be there as well. We should be all set to go.”

 

Amber stood and gave him a quick hug, thanking him for everything. Everybody bid goodbye and filed out of the room, leaving her and Luhan by themselves for a moment.

 

“Is everything okay, Luhan?” She asked, taking a seat next to him.

 

He nodded, giving her a forced smile. “Luhan, are you sure? We’ve spent enough time together that I can tell when you- “

 

The door opened, and Amber stopped in the middle of her sentence, and Luhan pulled away from her.

 

Taeyong peeked his head in, and Amber and Luhan both breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey, Amber, sorry to interrupt, but the dancers are all ready for your practice.”

 

Amber cussed under her breath. “Shoot, sorry, I forgot all about that. I’ll be there in just a. moment.”

 

Taeyong nodded and backed out of the room, closing it behind him. Amber looked towards Luhan, who was busying himself with gathering his belongings. “This conversation isn’t over, Luhan, something’s bothering you and we promised to be friends and talk through our problems together, so we don’t have a problem like last time.”

 

He slammed down his bag on the table, startling Amber, and she looked at him, scared.

 

“Friends, I know, I remember perfectly well.”

 

Amber narrowed her eyes at his antagonizing tone. “What else do you want, Luhan? I thought we were on good terms.”

 

“We are!” He yelled out, throwing his hands up in frustration.

 

“Then what do you want from me! I’m trying to be a friend to you, and you’re making it really difficult!”

 

“I want you!”

 

Amber stopped and blinked in surprise, and Luhan covered his mouth, his eyes wide.

 

“You… you want…” Amber stuttered out, not knowing what to do with the situation.

 

Luhan groaned and grabbed his bag. “Just forget about it,” he muttered as he stormed out.”

 

Amber was left alone in the room, until she turned to the door and noticed Taeyong standing there awkwardly. He rubbed the nape of his neck, not meeting her eyes.

 

“Sorry, I heard screaming, I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he muttered.

 

Amber took a deep breath and left the conference room, Taeyong following closely behind. “I’m fine,” she said flatly, her face expressionless.

 

They got to the dance studio and ran through her song U & I a few times before Dongmin came in, putting a stop to the practice in time for her music video to premiere.

 

She silently followed him with her bag to the conference room, and the room was already bustling. All of the members of Big Bang, EXO, and SHINee were waiting for her, and they all clapped and cheered when she entered. She smiled appreciatively, but she couldn’t help the hurt and pain when she locked eyes with Luhan, who stood in a corner with Xiumin and Lay, whispering to themselves.

 

She quickly turned away from them and took a seat in between Minho and Taemin, who gave her an encouraging hug.

 

“I’m so proud of you, noona, you did it!” Taemin said excitedly, and Amber couldn’t help but laugh at his childishness.

 

“Thanks, Minnie, I really appreciate it.”

 

“Are you ready?” Minho asked from her other side as he rubbed a hand down her back comfortingly.

 

She thought about it for a moment before she smiled and nodded. “More than ready.”

 

They quieted down as Dongmin turned off the lights, directing their attention to the projector on the wall.

 

The music video started, and Amber looked around the room worriedly, trying to gauge everybody’s reactions. Once the music video had ended and the lights had come back up, the room erupted in cheers, everybody congratulating Amber and giving her hug after hug.

 

“That was amazing!”

 

“I didn’t know you could be like that!”

 

“I’ll be seriously surprised if you don’t win any awards with this debut!”

 

Amber couldn’t help but feel proud in this moment, and she looked around the room, looking for the only approval she really wanted in this moment. She was stopped when Kai appeared in front of her and gave her a big hug.

 

“That was seriously the best, Amber. You did amazing,” he said in her ear as he kept hugging her.

 

She gave him a squeeze back, and she finally locked eyes with Luhan over Kai’s shoulder. He sat in the corner by himself, watching her. He gave her a nod of approval and then quietly slipped out of the room.

 

“Excuse me, Kai, sorry, I’ll be right back,” Amber slipped out of his arms and followed Luhan out of the room and into the hallway.

 

“Luhan!” She called, running after him. He stopped and sighed, turning back to look at her with a blank expression.

 

Amber panted as she stopped in front of him, slightly out of breath. “Luhan, please, we need to talk about earlier.”

 

He looked at her and sighed, shaking his head. “No. We have nothing to talk about. I made a mistake saying what I said earlier, and I don’t want to ruin us, what we have.”

 

Amber scoffed. “We don’t know what this is us unless we have an actual discussion about this.”

 

Luhan looked at her hard before sighing and dipping his head down, catching her lips in a quick yet passionate kiss. He pulled away and looked at her before sighing and taking a step back.

 

“You know what my half of the conversation is. I think you just need to figure out what your half is.” He turned away and walked away, leaving Amber behind looking bewildered, her mind racing a mile a minute.