To Woo Bin was her guide to this foreign world called South Korea. She barely understood that language and she knew next to nothing about Seoul, the city that she now resided in. At first she was starting to regret her decision to follow her sister to this foreign country, but then she met Woo Bin.

A visceral feeling spread throughout her body, an unexplainable feeling. Maybe it was her need to try and fix something or someone that is broken. Maybe it was that heartbreaking and forlorn look in his dark brown eyes. Whatever it was it drove her to want to be there for him, to be next to him if he needed her.

She was shocked and so was Jae Joong when Woo Bin offered to be her guide and help her while her sister and Jae Joong are busy getting ready for their wedding.

Jae Joong warned her that Woo Bin was a workaholic and even if he had offered to be her guide it may not happen because to Woo Bin work comes before everything else.

Jae Joong was wrong.

Amber had signed herself up at a language school. If you want to live in a country you have to know how to communicate, verbally and written in their native language. So during the day Amber spent most of her time at school. On the Monday, after she met Woo Bin he was there in front of her school right after her classes was over.

She was not able to hide the look of surprise on her face and he chuckled at her for it. That was the first time she heard him laugh and it cause her heart to race like a freight train.

He took her for a tour of one of the popular spot in Seoul that night. They even stood on the side of the road eating spicy rice cakes from a small mobile stall.

Every night, for over a month continued with Woo Bin standing there waiting for her in front of her school. Then they proceeded to venture to the various places in Seoul. On weekends they spent time helping Jae Joong and Jackie with their wedding preparation.

With Woo Bin help, Amber was able to converse verbally in Korean. It wasn’t perfect, she still had a long way to go, but people were able to understand her a bit more.

They had a lot in comment, considering the fact that he is six years older than her. They got along well and Amber enjoyed the time the spent together. He smiled now and again, but his eyes still look sad. The smile never reached his eyes whenever he smiled.

They were sitting in a small café in Hong Dae - two coffee cups on the table and a plate of cherry cheesecake in between them – Amber took a sip of her coffee, looking over the edge of the cup at Woo Bin and then set the cup down on the saucer with a small clunk.

Woo Bin looked up from his phone and gazed into her eyes.

“Oppa,” she had taken to using the term a younger girl in Korea used to call a close older male.

“Yes, Amber?” He answered in Korean. That was one of the rule he had made. They must converse in Korean as much as possible, unless she really does not know the words.

Amber had learned and repeated these words over and over again. She stayed up almost all night last night to make sure that she got the pronunciation correct, “Are you unhappy to be with me? Am I taking away your time?”

She had his full attention now. He sat his phone down on the table. She saw the surprise and a glimpsed of hurt flash in his eyes, “What make you say that?”

“You never smile.”

With a brow raised he shook his head, “I smile all the time when I’m with you. I smiles so much I think you might think I’m a lunatic sometimes.”

Amber gave him a small smile.  He does smile all the time, but it just never shown in his eyes, “Yes, you smile all the time, but that smile never reaches your eyes.” She reached across the table and placed her hand on his warm chest, over his heart. “You never smiled from here, from your heart.”

He looked down at her hand. He clasped it in his bigger hand and then looked back up at her. His gazed was intense, a mix of emotion that she couldn’t quite grasp.

“For a long time,” he paused, but never took his gazed from hers. “My heart was locked up in a cage until I met you. My life is so mundane until I met you. You, Amber Liu, changed everything around me and I’m the happiest when I’m around you.”

Amber only understood bit and pieces of what he said. He was going too fast for her. She shook her head, “I can’t understand. You’re going too fast.”

He repeated himself in English. The words made Amber blushed.

The sadness returned to his eyes, “I was hurt so badly once in my life. I’m trying to heal from it. Please don’t misunderstand me. Please don’t leave my side … I need you as a friend.”

Friend, that word sent a sharp pain through her heart, but she smiled at him, she wanted to be there for him, even if he could only think of her as a friend, “I’m here for you. I’ll be your friend forever.”