As Amber took a seat at the computer table, I asked her permission if it was okay for Jessica to stay around and she nodded her head.

"My name is Amber Liu. I'm 16yrs old this year. By the way, no one has beaten me in the shooting game before." She sniffed out her tears and looked up as me and Jessica smiled sincerely at her. "Wait. You're the owner of this orphanage, right?"

"Yes, I am." I smiled again as I saw Amber smiled a little.

"Thank you. Because of you, at least I have a place to call home. This orphanage is all I have." Amber said as she bite her lips and looked down.

Hearing her words, I noticed Jessica trying to control her tears beside me. Amber then started to tell about how school was. With the students making fun of her boyish character, some of the boys hated her because she was popular among the girls and how some of them called her names such as gay and abandoned child.

"Amber. Can I ask you something?" She nodded her head at me. "What makes you decide to speak up to me?"

"I saw you and your friends earlier. I knew all of you are couples with one another. I like how you guys are free to be your ownself without having a fear of being judge." Amber answered.

"What are you actually afraid of, Amber? Afraid of being judge by others or afraid of accepting who you really are?" My question caused Amber to look up to the ceiling as if she was in deep thoughts.

"My mum had to leave me here because my stepdad can't accept the fact that I'm into girls. He thinks that I'm a bad influence to his future kids so he told my mum to choose between him or me. My stepdad was a rich man. Now, I'm afraid of of people finding out that I'm into girls so everytime when they asked me, I'll just keep quiet. But even when I didn't tell them anything, they still make fun of me because of my personality and also because I'm an abandoned child." Amber sighed as she looked down.

"Do you blame your mum for what happened to you?" I asked trying to understand her feelings as she shook her head after sighing once again. "That's very kind of you. By the way, what do you think is your strength and weakness?"

"My strength and weakness? I'm good at rapping and basketball." I noticed her face lit up when she mentioned it. "My weakness is that I'm a coward."

"A coward? Why so?" I asked.

"I allowed others to bully me. I didn't stand up for my ownself. I didn't fight back. But I think even if I did so, I will still lose out because I'm a nobody. Those kids have rich parents and friends to back them up." Amber clenched her fists. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have troubled you with my stories. You won't understand anyway. I should stop."

"Why do you think I won't understand? Is it because I'm rich?" Amber nodded her head. "I may be rich, Amber but I'm still a human being. Just like you. With a heart and feelings." Amber looked up to me as I smiled at her.

I started to tell Amber about what happened to me during my middle school. Obviously I excluded the part about Uee since I don't think that it was necessary. I only told her about the bullying and also the name calling. About how I was treated like an outcast, being pushed out from my futsal team which was my passion. But I also told her about Taeyeon and Yuri. The two good friends that stuck with me through good and bad.

"You see, Amber. Not everything is bad in life. You just need to open your heart to people that really cares for you. I believe that out of so many schoolmates that shunned you away or make fun of you, there must be at least one whom you yourself knew is sincere in being a friend. Am I right?" I asked as Amber nodded her head and put up 3 fingers. "3 friends? That's good, right?"

"It's good. When I hang out with them, it's always fun. But I pity them sometimes. They will get drag into the bullying because of me. So sometimes, I'll feel reluctant to be around them." Amber sighed.

"But they will stick to you, if they value your friendship. Trust me. Even if they walk away from you, don't blame them. Don't judge their actions." I said as I saw Amber nodding her head again. "By the way, you said that you're good in rapping and basketball right? Are you actively participating in them while in school?"

"No. I mean I do play basketball with my 3 friends sometimes but my school only has a basketball team for the boys. For rapping, there's nothing much I can do." Amber replied as I noticed that she's communicating better now than in the beginning.

"Maybe I'll try to find ways to help you out in that. Anyway, I'm glad you decided to open up to me." I smiled at Amber. "Let me tell you something else. The people here in the orphanage, they're sincere in helping you out. Especially Ms Song. There's a condition that I emplaced for people who want to work for me and that is, they must have a heart. Ms Song has a big heart. She truly cares for each and every one of you in here. Because, she was once an abandoned child too and grew up in an orphanage."

"I... I didn't know about that. She doesn't look like she has that kind of background." Amber replied with a guilty look on her face.

"Not many people knew about it actually. Your background doesn't define who you'll be, Amber. You can grow up poorly but end up as the most successful person in the world. You can grow up being surrounded by wealth but end up on the streets. You can come from the most complete family but end up feeling all alone. Or you can come from a broken family but live your life with all the love that you can ever have. Life is a journey. It's always changing. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. But take it all in your stride. Just remember, what other people see as happiness might not necessary make you happy and vice versa. Happiness comes from your heart. Only you can make yourself happy, if you choose to be happy."

"Amber." Both of us turned to look at Jessica. "Be confident of who you are. You shouldn't hide anymore. Just be yourself. Everyone deserve to be happy and so do you. No matter where you are, people will always judge you but don't let it bother you. Those who know the real you and loves you for who you really are, will always be there for you. Because for someone who doesn't blame their mum for abandoning them, you've shown that you're a great person."

I smiled at Jessica as I nodded my head in agreement with her statement. Amber seemed to be happier after our little chat as I took her to be introduced to the rest of the girls. We even ended up playing basketball together while our girlfriends cheered us on.

********************************

"Jaegi, how do you plan to help Amber out?" Jessica asked while I was driving towards a restaurant for our dinner.

"I was thinking of getting Hyo's help. Her dancing school provides lessons for students who want to learn more about music and I've seen some kids rapping there. I'll talk to Hyo later." I replied as I concentrated on the road. "About the basketball thing, maybe I or Ms Song can send an email to her school to suggest to them to have a girl's basketball team. We'll have to see how it goes."

"Okay but promise me that you'll take care of yourself too. We're already busy with our exam preparations and with the additional things that you're going to do for the orphanage, I'm afraid you'll start neglecting yourself." Jessica reminded me as I chuckled at her naggings.

"I'll manage. Don't worry. Anyway, we've arrived." I said as I parked my car besides Yuri's.

The 10 of us entered the grilled-eel restaurant where Tiffany was being super excited and kept saying about her love for eel. We were given a big room as I took a seat beside Hyoyeon with Jessica opposite me. While waiting for the food to arrive, I chatted with Hyoyeon about Amber's situation. Both of us were so engrossed with our discussions that we didn't realised the food was already being served.

"Jaegi." I didn't hear Jessica calling me as I continued talking to Hyoyeon. "Park Hyun Jae."

I was startled by the firmness of her voice as I chuckled nervously at my girlfriend who was glaring at me. "Yes, Sicababy?"

"Stop discussing. The food is already here." Jessica pointed to the plates of marinated eel that were on the table and also the side dishes. "Once you're so immerse in work, you'll neglect yourself. Remember your promise to me." Jessica said as she placed one of the cut eels on the grill.

"Wow, she nags like a wife." Hyoyeon said with her normal poker face as I saw Jessica blushing.

"I think she's preparing to be one." I further as she bite her lips and showed a fist at me. "But she might have to wait a little longer for me. Appa already prepared a long list of things for me to do once I graduate."

"Who's marrying you?" Jessica meronged at me as everyone laughed at me as I pouted and pretended to be hurt.

The dinner session was once again filled with laughters and some serious talking when we discussed about our upcoming exams. Sunny then reminded me about the enrichment programme with Hokkaido University and encouraged me to do well for my Business degree exams.

"How long is the programme and when will it be?" Jessica asked as Sunny informed her that it'll be for 3months, from april to June.

"3 months? You'll be in Japan for 3 months?" Sooyoung had her eyes wide opened.

"I told you about it before, Soo. Don't you remember?" Sunny asked as she arched her eyebrows at Sooyoung who paused for a while before nodding her head.

"So you and Jae will be staying together in Japan for 3 months? Hhhmmm.... Interesting." Hyoyeon said, once again with a poker face but her sentence had caused some of the girls to look at each other.

"What do you mean by interesting, Hyo and why does your question sound intriguing?" Taeyeon asked as Sooyoung and Yoona started to distribute the cooked eel onto eveyone's plate.

"Nothing. It was a sentence with no pun intended." Hyoyeon replied as she placed a piece of the eel into a lettuce wrap before it disappeared in . "Hhmmm.. this is delicious."

"It is right? I'm so in love with this." Tiffany smiled brightly as she grabbed another piece of the eel. "Taetae, don't you want to try some?"

"Anni. I don't really like it because of it's small bones. I'll just eat the noodle and the cutlet." Taeyeon smiled.

Preparaing an eel wrap for Jessica, I asked her to open as I placed the food inside. Everyone started to tease us for our actions as I just meronged at them while Jessica only blushed.

"When Jae goes to Japan, we won't be able to witness this kind of cheesiness anymore." Yuri said as Taeyeon gave her a high-five.

"But I'm going to miss my SunnyBunny when she's there. Just her and Jae there. Alone. Omo omo omo.... Hyo, I think I understand what you meant earlier." Sooyoung pointed her finger at Hyo who had a blank expression. "Yah, Hyun Jae. If you try to do anything funny to my Bunny, I'm not letting you off."

I almost choked on the wrap that was in my mouth as Hyo quickly patted my back while Jessica handed me a glass of water.

"Yah, Choi Sooyoung. Don't put words into my mouth. All I said was that it'll be interesting. I didn't have any hidden meaning behind my words." Hyoyeon pretended to throw a punch at Sooyoung who had a cheeky grin on her face.

"Sorry, Jae. I was just joking around too." Sooyoung admitted as she scratched the back of her neck.

"She could have choke on her food, you tall shikshin. You shouldn't be joking around about this." Jessica glared at Sooyoung who kept apologising.

Even Sunny ended up nagging at Sooyoung until I told them that I was fine and that I knew Sooyoung was just joking. I said that I choked because I ate too fast.

Dinner ended 2hrs later as we all went back to our dorm.

********************************

It was back to the studying table soon after the futsal tournament. Library was a common place to meet up for me, Jessica, TaeNy and Sooyoung since the 5 of us studied in the same faculty. HyoHyun, YoonYul and Sunny would study together in the School of Sports science library. It was during one of our library outings, one week before our exams that Jessica showed me her phone.

To Jessica:

You should know vey well that I'm not good at waiting. But just for you, I'll wait for you to accept my dinner invitation. You can choose the most expensive restaurant. I won't mind since I'll be able able to afford it anyway.

"Taecyeon?" I asked to which Jessica nodded my head.

"There's something else that I wanted to show you." Jessica said as she scrolled down her messages.

To Jessica:

I know you've told me before, not to appear in front of you anymore but could I atleast seek your forgiveness and also from your friends too.

I frowned as I read the message again. I was about to ask Jessica who the sender was,  when she told me that it was from Donghae. It took me some time to register that name into my head. "Donghae?"

I must have said out the name a little louder than a whisper as Taeyeon, Tiffany and Sooyoung turned to look at me. I grinned nervously while turning to look at Jessica who had a poker face as she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Why are you suddenly mentioning his name, Jae?' Taeyeon asked as I passed Jessica's phone to her. Since Taeyeon was sitting between Tiffany and Sooyoung, both of them just peeked at the phone over her shoulders.

"Forgiveness?" Tiffany voiced out.

"From us?" Sooyoung added on.

"Are you really going to forgive him, Sica?" Taeyeon asked as she handed the phone back to the owner. "He caused us so much trouble and even put Jae into the hospital, albeit indirectly."

"But he's also the reason that made both of us realised how much we meant to each other. In other words, he made our love stronger." I said as Jessica remained quiet. "But I'll leave the decision to Sica. I think she's more affected in this than any of us."

As everyone's attention turned to Jessica, I felt her hands on my lap as I placed my hands over hers.

" I.. I don't think I can't forgive him. Maybe not now. The pain that he caused me left a very bad impression of him in me. He made use of me to try to get his revenge. He even staged an act to make me believe in his lies. Worst of all, he tried to cause a rift between me and Jae when he already knew that I've got feelings for Jae. Because of his actions, I threw harsh words to Jae and seeing Jae in the hospital, that was the last straw for me."

I felt Jessica's handa clenching on my mine so I rubbed the top of her hand slowly. "It's okay, Sicababy. It's all in the past. No one's forcing you to accept his apologies. You don't even have to reply him if you don't want to." I smiled at her as Jessica nodded her head.

"That's true but I think the bigger problem now is Taec. Seriously, what does that guy wants? Doesn't he already have a girlfriend? What's with inviting Jessi out for dinner?" Tiffany started to talk very fast as me and Sooyoung had to cover our mouth to stop our laughter.

"Yah, stop laughing at my Fany." Taeyeon hissed softly at us, not wanting to disturb the other students in the library. "She's just rapping."

In the end, all of us laughed out loud and had to apologies to everyone in the library after our laughter stopped.

"I think you should just meet him, Sica. It's only one dinner right? Get it over and done with." Sooyoung suggested.

"Just me and him? Anni. I'm not going without Jae." Jessica replied.

"Why don't you reply him and tell him that we'll meet him next Friday after my last paper?" I said as Jessica took out her phone and started typing. "What time will your Business Theory paper ends on Friday, Jaegi?"

After telling her that it'll end at 6pm, Jessica continued typing her message by asking Taecyeon to meet us for dinner at 8pm at one of the most expensive restaurants in Seoul.

"Sica, can you bring me along too? I heard that restaurant have a seafood buffet promotion at the moment." Sooyoung asked with her cute voice, making me and Taeyeon threw balls of paper at her.

It was a hectic week for me since I have an extra degree to handle. Except for Sunny and Seohyun, the rest of the girls will usually end their papers by 3pm and their last paper will be on Friday morning. For the 3 of us, our papers will end at 6pm almost everyday until Friday.

To Jaegi:

How's your exams so far? Did you do well? What are you doing right now? My last paper will end at 11am tomorrow.

I read Jessica's message and a smile crept up my face. Putting my books aside, I typed in a reply.

To Sicababy:

So far, everything is manageable. I've just finished revising my notes. My first paper will end at 12pm tomorrow and the last paper will be from 2pm to 6pm.

To Jaegi:

Shall we meet for lunch? By the way, what should I wear for the dinner tomorrow? What will you be wearing, Jaegi?

I paused for a while to think. I had actually forgotten about the dinner since I was so busy with the exams and my revision.

To Sicababy:

Sure, let's lunch together. Wait for me at the cafetaria after your paper ends. By the way, I'm not sure what to wear yet but since we're going to eat at a posh restaurant, maybe I'll wear something smart casual. How about you? Wearing a dress?

To Jaegi:

Should I? I'm afraid you and Taecyeon will start drooling when you both see me. :) I'll see what's my mood tomorrow before deciding what to wear. Jaegi, I'm going off to sleep now. It's almost 1am. You should sleep too, sweetheart. 

To Sicababy:

Okay, I will. Rest well, my princess. Sweet dreams and don't forget to dream of me. :P

******************************

I walked into the cafetaria with my eyes scanning around to look for my girlfriend. When I spotted her, she waa busy playing with her phone that she didn't even notice my presence. Walking up behind her, I knocked on the table.

"Hi, beautiful. Is this seat taken?" I smiled when Jessica looked up with a shocked face. "Omo, you're more than beautiful. You're like an angel."

Jessica rolled her eyes and pinched my arm as I smirked at her blushing face. "Just sit down, Jaegi. You and your sweet tongue."

"How did you know it's sweet? Did you taste it before?" I continued to as she punched my arm instead. "Anyway, how's your last paper?"

"It was okay, passable. Jaegi, I'm hungry. Really hungry." She pouted at me, trying to act cute before shyly smiling away.

I took her orders and left for the counter. 'She must be really hungry since she ordered tteobokki and kimbap.' I chuckled to myself as I carried the tray of food back to the table but my steps were stopped when I saw Taecyeon  there. I took a deep breathe and continued my walk, trying to remain as calm as possible.

"Here's the food." I placed the tray on the table. "Hi Taecyeon. Are you joining us for lunch too?" I asked casually before sitting down beside Jessica. Taecyeon was seated opposite her.

"No. I've had mine. Actually I'm here to invite her to a movie since you'll only finish your exams at 6pm while me and her had already finished ours. It's a premiere movie ticket." Taecyeon said with a smirk.

"Wow, you must have a lot of connections to be able to get a premiere movie ticket." I said as I placed Jessica's food in front of her. "So are you going, Sicababy?"

Taecyeon snorted when I called Jessica by her nickname and before she could answer me, he intervened. "Of course I have a lot of connectioms. That's one of the benefit of being rich. Anyway, I think she's afraid that you won't allow her to go."

"Yah, my Jaegi has never control my freedom. I was actually planning to sleep aftr lunch while I wait for her to finish her exams." Jessica admitted, causing me to smile at her reason.

"Aigoo, my sleeping beauty." I ruffled her hair, causing her to merong at me.

"The movie will start at 5pm. You'll have enough time to sleep. Please, Jessica. Just this once." Taecyeon asked as he claps his fingers together. "Please, please."

"Why don't you invite your girlfriend instead?" Jessica rebutted.

"Actually, I've broken up with her. After the futsal tournament ended. She didn't even bother to attend any of my matches to cheer me on." Taecyeon replied, a shock to both me and Jessica since we were not aware of it.

"Fine. I'll go but this will be the only time that I'm doing so." Jessica replied, causing Taecyeon to smile widely.

"Thanks, Jessi. By the way Hyun Jae, please wear something appropriate later. Maybe something classy and not cheap. That is provided if you have it." He laughed at me as he walked away from the table.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked, still confused with Taecyeon's remark and the reason for his laughter.

"Aigoo, my slow baby. He's making fun of you by asking you to wear expensive or branded clothings for dinner later. He laughed because he thinks that you won't have those." Jessica explained as I finally got it. "He's so irritating and full of himself. The only reason that I quickly agreed to watch the movie with him is just to get him to go away from our table faster. We're already wasting our precious time together with him around."

"Anyway, what will you be wearing later? Since you're going to the movies, bring a jacket or cardigan to keep you warm." I said as I started to mix my bibimbap.

"Initially, I wanted to wear a dress since I'll be going with you but now, I think I'll just wear pants or jeans. Don't worry. Even if I'm cold later, I'll never ever dream of hugging him for warmth. I rather endure the coldness. Who would want to hug him anywhere? So stiff like a robot that is full of arrogance." Jessica answered.

I giggled while looking at a nagging Jessica. "Hyo's right. You do nag like a wife."

Receiving a slap on my thighs, both of us started on our lunch before we parted ways later. I had to proceed to the auditorium for my next paper while Jessica made her way to the dorm to catch on her beauty sleep.