He was getting up to run toward her but she put up her hand and stopped him, “Just wait there, Hae. I’m fine.” She limped over toward him and sat down in the empty swing next to him. 

“What happened to you knee?” Donghae reached over and gently touched Amber on her knee.

“I fell,” she shyly smiled. “I guess it’s the heels. It was a bad idea to wear it. I think I might have twisted my ankle.” 

Donghae got up from his swing and kneeled down in front of Amber. He gently grabbed her ankle, lifted her leg up and placed it on his knee, “Does this hurt?”He gently pressed on and around her ankle. 

“Ouch!” Amber flinched when Donghae pressed on the area of her ankle where it hurt. 

Donghae shook his head from side to side and started to take of her shoes, “You have to be careful with you ankle – it’s not that strong, since you broke it when you were younger.” 

Amber pouted, “I know, but I wanted to wear the heels today – sorry.”

Donghae got up, ruffled Amber’s hair and scooped her up in his arms, “Let’s go home.”

“Let me down, Hae!” Amber tried to push herself out from his arms but he was holding her too tight. She stopped trying and let out a sigh. “I’m not a kid anymore, but do whatever you want. I’m too tired to fight with you. My jetlag is kicking in.” 

Donghae smiled as Amber slowly fell asleep while he carried her back to their home. 

“Kyuhyun, make sure you clean up those wires and cables in the backroom, takeout the trash and get us lunch while you’re at it,” an older looking man yelled over as Kyuhyun was mopping the floor. 

“Yes, sir,” Kyuhyun bowed back at the man as he took the ordered. 

The older man smirked at Kyuhyun, “If you keep this up, one day, you might become a great programmer like me. So, until then this kind of job suit you better,” he laughed as he walked away.

Kyuhyun clinched his hands around the mop’s handle. I qualify for the job, I have the education and degree to show for it, but that freaking old man just doesn’t want to give me the job. The reason he said was that I’m too young. I really want to be a programmer; if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t let him look down on me like this. As he was thinking to himself his phone’s message alert went off.

“Damn it Kyhyun!” the old man yelled at Kyuhyun. “I told you to turn your phone off during work hour!”

“Sorry sir!” Kyuhyun cried over at him as he flipped his phone open to see who it was. 

Kyuhyun laughed quietly to himself as he typed in the location of their meeting.

“Sorry, have you been waiting long?” Amber walked up to the table where Kyuhyun was sitting and sat down in the chair opposite of him. 

“No, I just got here,” he smiled at her as he waved the waitress over to their table. “What do you want to drink?”
“Coffee is fine for me,” Amber answered him. 

“Two coffee please,” he politely asked the waitress. 

They were at a small cafe closer to Kyuhyun’s apartment. The cafe had a small outside patio in front of it, which is where they are sitting. 

“Sorry for being late,” Amber apologized again. “The coach asked me to stay behind.”

“Why did he ask you to stay behind?” Kyuhyun asked her as he took the coffee cup from the waitress. 

Amber smiled shyly and pointed down toward her ankle, “It seem that the knee injury was the least of my worry. I twisted my ankle; therefore I’m out for a month, at least.”

“I’m really sorry. It’s entirely my fault,” Kyuhyun grabbed Amber’s hand and held it in his. 

Oh my god! My heart is beating too fast. Why is he holding my hand? I hope he doesn’t hear the sound my heart is making right now. Amber thought to herself as she quickly pulled her hand away from Kyuhyun.

“Nah, it’s not your fault, my ankle is weak to begin with. I was in a car accident when I was younger, I think, I don’t really remember.” Amber looked out toward the street. “Actually, come to think of it – I don’t remember anything about my life before that accident. Anyway, here your pants, I tried to get the stain out from the old one but it wouldn’t come out so, I bought you a new one.” She handed him a brown paper bag, which contains his new pair of pants.

He took the bag from her and smiled, “Thanks.” He took a sip of his coffee, and then glanced back up at her. “I’m sorry that you are out of commission for a month. What are you doing now?”

Amber sigh, “I just sit and watch, but they are giving me physiotherapy. I hope I get back to my normal condition faster that they expect me to be.”

“Basketball is your life huh?” Kyuhyun asked her.

“Well, I enjoy it. It makes me happy. When I’m on the court I feel like nothing can hold me back. One day, maybe, I can join the WNBA,” she was smiling from cheek to cheek while talking about her passion for basketball.

“WNBA?” Kyuhyun asked her, tilting his head to the side.

“Women’s National Basketball Association, it’s the American professional basketball league for women.” Amber replied.

“Kyuhyun?” a beautiful woman with long wavy hair stopped on the side walk in front of the cafe. She smiled at Kyuhyun. 

Kyuhyun go up from his seat and looking back and forth between Amber and the woman, “Yuri – ssi, what are you doing here?”

Amber looked at the way Kyuhyun looked at the beautiful woman call Yuri and she felt a small ache in her heart. He looked at her with loving eyes, he smiled at her differently and Amber knew right then and there she is no match to Yuri. 

Yuri looked at Amber and smiled at her, “I had to pick up some stuff in a store near here. Who is this?”

“This is my friend Amber. Amber this is Yuri-ssi,” Kyuhyun introduced the two women to each other.

“Nice to meet you,” Yuri smiled at Amber and in returned Amber bowed at almost a ninety degree angle back at her. “Anyway, I got to go. I see you later?” Yuri waved as she walked away from them.

Kyuhyun sat back down with a huge smile plastered on his face. Amber looked at him, which caused the aching pain in heart to worsen, “your girlfriend?’ She asked him.

“It’s complicated, but something like that,” Kyuhyun replied.

Amber frowned, “Then why did you try to kiss me? You already have a girlfriend, but you tried to kiss me before. Why would you do something like that?” She asked him. Her anger shown through her voice.

“I’m sorry. What I did was wrong,” Kyuhyun apologized.

Amber got up and put some money on the table, “I’m leaving, and this is for my coffee. Bye.” 

“I’ll pay for the coffee,” Kyuhyun pushed the money back toward her. “And is this a permanent goodbye?”

Amber frowned and grabbed her money, “It’s ... a semi – permanent goodbye.” 

She walked off leaving Kyuhyun sitting by himself at the table. His smiles that were plastered on his face earlier turn into a frowned. His let out a long sigh before he got up to the cashier to pay for the bill.

“Lee Jonghyun!” a middle age man cried. “What in the world are you doing? Are you day dreaming again? Come here right now. You have all the setup on this stage all wrong. I can’t trust you with anything; this doesn’t go here, but there.” The middle aged man pointed at all the mistake that he found. He then poured the ice coffee from the cup in his hands on Jonghyun’s head. “Get it right the next time.” 

Jonghyun looked at the man then looked down on the ground as he noticed that his co-workers were all staring at him. He clinched his fist as he continues to fix the mistake that he had done – according to the middle age man.

Ryeowook was standing in front of a health centre when he saw Seohyun slowly walking towards him. He gently puts his arm around her delicate shoulder and entered the health centre with her, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks for coming with me today. I don’t want Amber to know about this,” tears rolled down her cheeks. “Therefore, I need to ask you to keep this between the two of us.”

“She’s your best friend why do you want to keep something like this from her? She would be best to support you if your worry comes true,” Ryeowook asked her.

“I don’t want to destroy her innocent image of me,” Seohyun simply replied. 

We were too engrossed in our own problems back then to realize the pain and agony that you were feeling inside. You were so quiet about your turmoil, how you struggle with your problems quietly. I understand now what’s the meaning of ‘the calm before the storm’ is.