Krystal’s POV

“Ugh. I really hate that Bae Suzy! How can she get the attention of every guy in this school when she’s not that pretty at all?! And she didn’t even spare my beloved Kim Jongdae!”

“True! She’s ugly and scary; I don’t understand why guys go crazy over her!”

There go again my big-mouthed classmates who did nothing but bash The Pillars especially Bae Suzy. They wouldn’t let a day pass without badmouthing Suzy saying that she’s ugly, scary, y and so on but I knew they’re just bitter over the fact that the guys they like were into Suzy instead. No, I’m not defending her because we’re friends ‘coz we’re actually not, but because Suzy really had everything that a guy would like. I mean, she’s pretty smart and everything that more than half of the Hansung guys population fell for her.

On the other hand, my guy classmates were always comparing me with her, they say we’re both gorgeous, smart and have a cold personality but for me, I couldn’t match up with someone like her. Maybe we had these things in common but on different levels with Bae Suzy on top of course.

“There’s a rumour that someone saw her kicked Amber Liu yesterday! How can she do that to her friend?! Bae Suzy is really crazy!”

I never once got interested with their conversations but this time, my ears reacted on their own at the mention of the name—Amber Liu. That person had always intrigued me since my freshman year. I don’t know, maybe because she’s the only girl in a guy’s school uniform that she had always caught my attention. And what happened the other day made me want to know her more.

FLASHBACK

It was Monday afternoon and I had to go home alone since Jessica unnie went to buy something with her classmate. The sky was clear and there were no signs of bad weather so I decided to walk instead of taking the bus. Walking home has a lot of benefits; aside from being a good exercise and having the chance to window shop on the streets, some good things could happen along the way. Like what just happened to me.

I was about to cross the street but the stop light changed and gave the cars a go signal, making me stuck on that side of the street for a while. Then I heard a purely angelic voice humming a song just right beside me. The song was perfect for that soothing voice and it was too pleasant to the ear that I felt heaven by my side. And when I turned to see who the owner of the voice was, my heart nearly jumped when I was greeted by that familiar handsome dinosaur face.

My body tensed up when we stared at each other’s eyes but to my disappointment, it’s not the person I’ve been waiting to see. It took some time for me to realize that it wasn’t my boyfriend Jonghyun oppa who’s currently in Japan, but another person who looked exactly like him instead.

One of the most respected sunbae Pillars, Amber Liu, she shared the same eyes with Jjong oppa but not the warmth in my boyfriend’s eyes; Amber had cold empty eyes that constantly give off mocking stares. But with the overall features of their faces, anyone could have mistaken them as twins.

We held each other’s gaze for a moment until she broke our eye contact by raising an eyebrow and looked down on my...chest?! And she smirked like she’s mocking me with what she saw!

Did she just look at my chest?! This ert!

My fist balled on my sides out of anger and I lost it.

“Yah!”

Amber turned her eyes immediately back at me but I also caught the attention of the other pedestrians. They stared at me questioningly and I heard one school girl told her friend, ‘Are they fighting?’ while the other murmured ‘Lovers’ quarrel,” and slightly shook her head.

To avoid fuelling up their misconception but at the same time, not wanting to let the ert go, I controlled myself from hitting Amber Liu but darted an ice cold glare at her and spoke in a gritted manner instead.

“Excuse me but did you just look at me in a erted way?”

Amber gave me an are-you-kidding look and looked down on it for the second time. Yes, for heaven’s sake, it’s the second time! Then she sighed and shook her head lightly this time before crossing the street as the traffic light colour changed.

Looking once isn’t enough, huh? You can’t get away with this, ert!

Without hesitation, I grabbed her arm and dragged her across the street until we reached the other side. “Now let me at least slap you for trespassing me.”

“I beg your pardon, Jung Soo Jung-shi?” she replied with a raised eyebrow.

“I said—wait, what did you just call me?”

“Jung Soo Jung. Aren’t you a Hansung sophomore?” And once again, she glanced down and this time I followed her look. “And what did you say about trespassing?”

I wanted to dig my own hole when I realized that she actually just looked on my pinned name plate and Hansung sophomore badge. But there I was demanding justice for my own mistake.

“Uh, n-nothing. I-I just thought—aish. Never mind,” I stuttered without meeting her innocent gaze that made me melt on the spot. “I’m sorry but I have to go. Goodbye.” I walked away without lifting my head, cursing myself nonstop for my embarrassing action a while ago. For sure, I would be a laughing stock for Amber Liu and her Pillar friends. Aish!

Unluckily, the bright blue sky earlier darkened and the rain started to pour. I ran to the nearest shed and pulled out my umbrella before walking to the nearest bus stop. I really should have taken the bus instead and avoided my shoes from getting wet. Maybe I could have avoided embarrassing myself in front of Amber too! *sigh*

Speaking of Amber, I just saw her walking under the rain several feet away from the bus stop. She had no umbrella and was using her uniform blazer to protect her backpack from getting wet.

Walking instead of running? Stupid, you’re going to get sick.

I didn’t know what exactly I was thinking but I ran up to Amber and shared my umbrella with her.

“Oh, it’s you,” she greeted me with a not-so-surprised tone.

“Are you crazy? You could get sick if you stay under the rain too long,” I told her. She just smiled lightly and stepped out of my umbrella and continued walking under the rain. “Yah, do you seriously want to get sick?!”

Amber didn’t even look back and ignored me completely but my guilty conscience told me to follow her. “You’re drenched. Let me walk home with you,” I said while attempting to share my umbrella with her once again. I could see how she was hugging her backpack covered under her coat and I thought that maybe something important was in there.

“I live nearby, just two blocks away from here.”

“I live three blocks away from here so let’s walk together.” Amber was beginning to annoy me with her coldness but I chose to be patient with her since I was the one who accused her of being a ert earlier.

“Thanks for the offer, but no.”

Her rejection of me automatically made me gave her my trademark icy glare that made her furrow her eyebrows. All my classmates were afraid of my stare but I didn’t know that it would have an effect on Amber.

“But if it’s okay, then at least protect my bag from getting wet,” she said before giving  me her black Jansport backpack which was a little bit heavy compared to mine.

Opposite from what my gossiper classmates’ description, the ‘egotistical and rude’ Amber Liu just treated me nicely and in the most gentleman way. Amber insisted to hold the umbrella for me and shifted her position to my left, specifically on the danger zone where vehicles were passing just right beside her and if an accident happens, she would be hit first. My umbrella was too small to accommodate the two of us that only half of Amber’s body was being covered as only my shoulder was getting soaked by the rainwater.

“You’re uniform’s getting wet,” she said and attempted to move the umbrella to cover my whole body but I stopped her. She gave me a puzzling look that I ignored. “Take this, I’ll just wait for the rain to stop,” she insisted and nudged the umbrella to me.

“No, keep walking and—AAAAAAH!”

There was a streak of lightning on the skies followed by the loud roar of the thunder that I feared the most. For the second time, the thunder hollered again and this time I started to cry. I was afraid of thunder since I was a kid and there I found myself hugging the nearest person to me.

“Stop being childish, it’s just the thunder,” I heard Amber told me. The feeling of her hand patting my back as I buried myself on her arms was so comforting but then it snapped me out of the situation and pulled away immediately.

“I-I’m sorry, i-it’s just that—

“You’re afraid of the thunder? Oh c’mon, that’s childish.”

“But it’s scary.”

“I know. But let’s start walking home so you could change your now wet clothes.”

We continued walking home, this time I pulled Amber closer to me to prevent her from getting wet. Everytime the thunder creates a loud noise, I would tightly grip Amber’s arm and I couldn’t help but be thankful when she didn’t complain about it. But when the loudest thunder boomed, I unintentionally hugged Amber again, much tighter this time. It was too tight that I happened to inhale her intoxicating manly scent and I admit I kind of liked it.

“Yah, you scored twice already.” Whether it was a complaint or a joke, I had no idea. But I immediately pulled away with burning red cheeks for sure. “Fine, I’ll just sing so you won’t hear the thunders anymore, is that okay?”

I just looked at her blankly and nodded my head. She started singing as soon as we started walking.

Oneur haru haengbokha gil

Eonjena achim e neun tteu myeon gido reur hage dwae

Dara nalkka du ryeo un haeng bogape

Amber’s voice, I didn’t know it would sound beautifully like that. I heard her hum earlier but her singing voice was one thousand times better than humming. And I was too lost listening to her that I didn’t hear the thunder after that.

Cheo eumi yae naega deu die o naega

Sarang e nan ppa jyeo beoryeosseo

Honja in ge joh a

Nareur sarang haet deon naege

Tteo dareun naega eon goya

Nae apeni ga eongoya

Amber then stopped singing. “Oh, it’s not raining anymore,” she said and it’s true. The sky brightened up again and it would be sunset in no time.

“Daebak! You swept away the dark clouds,” I kidded and we both ended up laughing.

Just then, we both said our goodbyes. She even flashed a genuine smile that made me see her cute eye smile just behind the fringes of her wet black hair. We parted ways, yes, we didn’t introduce ourselves to each other but I just found myself smiling when I reached home. It was because of something that she told me before she left.

“No need to be embarassed about your childish fear. I’m afraid of lightning, just so you know.”

Amber Liu, one of the feared Hansung Pillars, she just told me that she’s afraid of lightning! Isn’t that cute? And did I say that she’s cute too? Why do my classmates say that she’s cold and all that when she’s actually warm and nice?

Ohmygod, I didn’t cheat on Jjong oppa just now, right?

END OF FLASHBACK

“But why would Suzy kick Amber? They’re like BFFs or something! If Amber got injured, our team would suffer for sure,” my friend Jiyoung, Amber’s volleyball teammate, just entered the gossiping conversation about the Pillars.

“I don’t know! You know how crazy Bae Suzy is, enough to hit someone so close to her.”

“They’re not just BFFs, you know,” my other friend and the biggest gossiper of them all, Luna Park, stated with full conviction. Well most of the time, Luna’s right. I had no idea about the reason why but I kinda felt disappointed about her statement.

I went home early for my scheduled chat with Jjong oppa but I was greeted by my sister’s sweet rendition of the song that I came to like lately.

“Cheo eumi yae naega deu die o naega, sarang e nan ppa jyeo beoryeosseo,” I heard Jessica unnie singing that familiar song from the kitchen.

What’s with that song, really?

“Yah, unnie! What song is that? I haven’t heard of it.”

“Of course you won’t know,” she replied sarcastically.

“But seriously, what song is that?!”

“The title is Beautiful Restriction.”

“You’re not into old songs, aren’t you? Why sing it all of a sudden?”

“Because there will be junior-senior collaboration on the Christmas program this Friday and my stupid adviser picked me for the performance. Seriously, me and that bunch of s called Ghostring band? We won’t click for sure.”

They’re not all s, unnie. Make an exception for Amber.

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Author’s Note: A Kryber update for the New Year. Do you smell some Jessber on the next chapter? :D

PS: Have a blessed 2014, my dear readers!