Taeyeon, Sooyoung, Yuri, Hyoyeon and me turned to look at Amber with cheeky smiles on our faces after Krystal left to look for her friends.

"Why were you stuttering, Amber?" Yuri was the first one to ask her.

"Did your heart skipped a beat when you look at her?" I asked before Amber had a chance to answer Yuri's question.

"You were literally frozen on your spot as you stared at her." Taeyeon added on to the comments.

"She's 4yrs older than you though." Sooyoung didn't waste the opportunity to join in the teasing.

"But you can always call her Noona." Hyoyeon said before she started singing Shinee song 'Replay' as the 4 of us started singing along.

"Noona neomu yeppeo...."

Amber ran away from us so we decided to run after her. It ended up with a snowball fight but after 20mins, we realised that our girlfriends were no longer around. Frantically running around to look for them, we found them at the cafe, enjoying a cup of coffee with some cakes.

"Yah, how can all of you enjoy the warmth inside without bringing us along?" Sooyoung pouted as she took a seat beside Sunny while taking a bite from Sunny's cake.

"All of you were being dorky among yourselves so we decided to just wait here." Yoona answered as the rest of us took a seat beside our girlfriends while Amber sat between me and Hyoyeon.

"You could've just joined in. We were all having fun teasing our Baby Amber here who seem to have a liking for Krystal." Hyoyeon straightaway spilled everything as she pointed to Amber beside her.

"Omo omo omo... Amber is turning red. So cute." Tiffany excited clapped her hands,causing Taeyeon to pout. "But my Taetae will always be cuter."

All of us rolled our eyes at TaeNy as we continued chatting and teasing Amber who was nervously looking forward to the dinner tonight.

5hrs later, all of us were at the resort's restaurant, waiting for our dinner. Our parents would be joining us too as we were ushered to our tables that Appa had already made reservations.

Appa had booked 5 tables for each couple to share with their parents while Amber sat at my table. I noticed that Amber's eyes were scanning around the restaurant as she tried to look for that one person.

"Did you know what time she'll be coming to the restaurant?" I asked as Amber shook her head. "Maybe she's not here yet."

"Or maybe she has already left." Jessica said with a blank expression, causing Amber to slump in her seat. "Aigoo, Amber. It's only 7pm now. Obviously, she's not here yet."

Seeing Jessica giggling in her seat, Amber realised that she's been teased by her. "Sica-unnie, don't tease me please. I've already been teased by Jae-unnie and the rest of the unnies the whole day." Amber pouted.

"Who has been teasing you, Amber?" Appa asked.

Amber who was sitting between me and Appa kept blinking her eyes as she slowly pointed at me.

"Yah!!" I nudged her by her shoulders as Amber meronged at me. "I'm not going to help you with Krystal. She's my fan, okay."

I smirked at her as I felt a sudden coldness coming from my back. Slowly turning behind, I saw Jessica glaring at me. I chuckled nervously and grinned at her.

"Krystal is your fan? She likes you?" Amber asked with a frown, showing a little disappointment in her expression.

"What this pabo meant is that Krystal is her futsal fan. Both of them are futsal players, representative of their own teams. Krystal asked for Jae's autograph during the last Futsal Tournament." Jessica explained as I nodded my head. "About Krystal liking her, I'm not sure about it though."

I quickly shook my head after Jessica's last statement. "She doesn't like me. She just admires my skill."

Both Amber and Jessica looked at me with squinted eyes as they didn't believe me. Lucky for me, the food arrived soon and both of them were distracted by it.

"Amber!!" Taeyeon's voice could be heard from the next table.

Turning our heads to her direction, Taeyeon pointed to Krystal who had just walked in with 2 of her friends. I could see the smile forming on Amber's face the moment Krystal noticed her and waved at her. The 3 girls were then ushered to a table that was near an empty stage as Amber kept watching her.

"So is that the reason why you were being teased, Amber?" Appa's voice caused us to look at him. "Just because you didn't tell me, doesn't mean I won't catch on. I'm quick-witted."

Amber was about to say something but she closed before turning red. She bite her lips and looked down as Appa patted her back. We continued talking until a middle-aged man came up to Appa and greeted him. I looked at the familiar-looking man and after Appa introduced him, I remembered who he was.

"Aigoo, Hyun Jae. It's been so long since I last saw you. Has it been 6yrs? You've grown up so well." The man said as I shook his hand and gave him a hug.

"Uncle Eric, how have you been? By the way, do you still remember Taeyeon and Yuri?" I asked as I called the two of them over to my table.

"Aigoo, the two of you are also here. My 3 musketeers." He laughed out loud as Appa joined in the laughter. "You 3 girls have really growned up to be fine ladies. By the way, how was your stay so far?"

We chatted with Uncle Eric who was the one who managed the resort. He was Appa's friend from university and had asked for Appa's financial help when he wanted to open up the resort. We used to meet him when we came to the resort and he always entertained our dorkiness. Uncle Eric was also the one who taught us the basic skills of skiing.

Appa then introduced him to the rest as I saw Amber stealing glances at Krystal who was busy chatting away with her friends.

"If you're not going to do something about it, you might not be able to see her again after this. I remembered her telling us that she'll be checking out tomorrow morning to celebrate new year's eve with her parents in Seoul." I whispered to Amber who sighed.

"But I'm...I'm a nobody. It's better this way I think. She won't have to know that I live in an orphanage. I.... Aaarggghhh." Amber held the back of her head which I had just hit.

"Amber liu, how many times do I have to repeat myself? Stop degrading yourself and those who grew up in an orphanage. So what if you live in an orphanage? Don't you think those orphans deserve better credit than this? At least you know who your parents are. Some of them at the orphanage will never know who their parents are." I glared at Amber who had a guilty look on her face. I was about to continue talking when I felt someone rubbing my back slowly.

"Jaegi, what's wrong?" She asked softly as I sighed and just pointed at Amber. "Care to explain, Am?"

Amber repeated wht she said to Jessica who shook her head afterwards. Jessica told me to calm myself down while she patted Amber's head.

"Mianhae, Jae-unnie. I didn't mean to look down on the orphans. I was just thinking about myself which I know is selfish. I'm sorry." Amber bowed down and remained looking down on the floor.

"Am, you're better than what you think. It doesn't matter where you come from. If Krystal is sincere in being friends with you, it shouldn't matter to her too." I said as I saw Amber nodding her head and still looking down. "Right now, you should do something to attract her attention and made your presence felt."

Amber suddenly looked up with a confused expression as I grinned and quickly typed a message on my phone. Standing up, I told Jessica that me and Amber would be going to the restroom for a while.

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

"What's up?" Taeyeon walked in with Hyoyeon and Sooyoung behind her.

I gestured them to gather nearer as the restroom door swing opened again with Yuri walking in.

"The reason I called you all here is to find a way to help Amber to convey her feelings to Krystal." I said as Amber, who was resting against the wall, suddenly stood up straight.

"Wait, wait. I don't have feelings for her. I.. I.. I just want to make friends." Amber suddenly blushed as we laughed at her.

"Yeah, right. Looking at your red-face, it's so easy to believe you." Taeyeon teased with her sarcastic remarks.

"What do you have in mind, Jae?" Yuri asked as I suggested for us to perform on the stage available.

"But I can't dance." Sooyoung said.

"Told you not to get so excited when skiing." Hyoyeon said as Sooyoung pouted as she looked at her swollen ankle.

"No worries, Soo. You can help us to record the whole performance. It's better for you to rest so that you won't aggravate your injury." I said as I remembered how Sooyoung fell down on the slope during skiing and twisted her ankle. Luckily, Sunny was nearby to attend to her girlfriend's injury.

The 6 of us quickly discussed on our performance before we walked out from the restroom together. Yuri and Taeyeon went off to look for Uncle Eric to seek his permission for us to use the stage. When I got back to our table, Jessica was staring at me with questionable eyes.

"How come the 6 of you went out from the restroom at the same time? Are you girls up to something again?" She asked after I sat down.

"We've got something up our sleeves. That's all I can say." Jessica arched her brows at me. "It's to help Amber out. You'll find out soon."

I saw Taeyeon and Yuri walked back and showed me the thumbs up. Patting Amber's shoulders, I stood up and gathered at the corner of the stage with the rest of them following me. Uncle Eric was already there with one of his staffs, waiting for us.

"Girls, this is Andy. He will be helping you with the audio so do discuss with him about your plans." Uncle Eric smiled at him as we thanked him for his help. "When I know the 3 musketeers are here, I've got a feeling that there's sure to be something that you're going to come up with. Well, at least it'll bring some life to the atmosphere in the restaurant. Enjoy yourselves, girls."

After Uncle Eric left us, we quickly discussed what we had in mind with Andy who was very helpful. He then handed each of us mics to use during the performance. Sooyoung volunteered to do a little introduction on stage since she won't be performing with us.

"Mic test, mic test." Sooyoung was standing at the centre of the stage as she bowed to the audience. "Good evening everyone. My name is Choi Sooyoung. First of all, my apologies if my sudden appearance has disrupted your dinner. Secondly, I'm here to announce that my friends would like to ask permission from everyone here, if it's possible for them to do a little performance to lighten up the atmosphere in here."

"Mwoya?" Taeyeon whispered to me. "Why did she have to ask for permission? What if they don't allow us to perform?"

Before I could reply to Taeyeon, we heard loud cheerings from the audience as the 5 of us were shocked with the great response.

"Well, at least now we can perform at ease." I said as Taeyeon grinned shyly at me. "Soo knows what she's doing. Trust her."

"I'm glad that everyone is so hyper tonight. Gamsahamnida on behalf of my friends. Thirdly, their performance is actually a dedication to their special someone out there. Even though I can't join in to perform with them, I'm dedicating it to my special someone too. You know who you are." Sooyoung paused to wink at Sunny's direction while the rest of us cringed at her cheesiness. "But the most important thing is, this song is very special to one of the performers who is trying to convey her feelings to someone in this room. So listen attentively to the lyrics as my friends will be performing Shinee's 'Hello'. Enjoy the show and thank you once again."

Amber who had heard what Sooyoung said earlier, started to panic as her face turned red again. "Why did Soo-unnie say it out like that? Krystal will surely know that Soo-unnie was referring to me since I'm the obvious one without a special someone."

I saw Amber pacing around while Sooyoung walked down from the stage. "Stay cool, Am. Everything will be fine." I said as I placed my arms over her shoulders and dragged her to the stage where Hyoyeon, Yuri and Taeyeon were already waiting.

Krystal's POV

I was shocked when I heard someone talking on the stage. My table was only a few metres away from it so I could clearly see from where I sat. Wait a minute. Isn't that Sooyoung-unnie? What is she doing up there? As I listened to her speech, I heard her asking everyone's permission to allow her friends to perform. The crowd went wild as they clapped and cheered loudly.

Did she just say her friends? Does that mean...? I quickly turned to look at their tables and saw that there were a few missing faces. Sooyoung-unnie was talking on stage but I couldn't see Jae-unnie, Taeyeon-unnie, Hyoyeon-unnie, Yuri-unnie and also Amber. I was totally anticipating the performance.

As I continued listening to Sooyoung-unnie's speech, there was something that caught my attention. She said that the song was dedicated to their special someone but for one of the performers, it was a performance to convey her feelings. The only person that I could think of is Amber. Well, I knew that the rest of them are already attached but I'm not sure about Amber since I've only met her today.

Talking about Amber, I found her to be cute especially the way she stutters when she talk. Even though she's very boyish, she looked sincere and innocent. It made me smile suddenly as my friend nudged me by the shoulder while pointing to the stage where 5 girls were already standing in position. I sat up straight to watch the performance with my eyes focussing more to that one person.

(Imagine them performing this. Onew - Taeyeon, Jonghyun - Jae, Taemin - Amber, Key - Hyoyeon, Minho - Yuri.)

Amber's POV

Oh my god. I could see Krystal from here. Why is my heart beating so fast? Calm down, Amber. Relax. You can do this.

When the performance ended, the 5 of us gathered at the front of the stage and gestured for Sooyoung to join us. Once Sooyoung stood beside us, the 6 of us bowed down to the crowd who had given us an encouraging cheering and claps. Walking down, we returned the mics to Andy and thanked him for helping us out with the music.

We returned to our table with heavy breathings after the dance. Our girlfriends and parents were giving us positive feedbacks on our performances.

"That was awesome, Jaegi." Jessica said as she handed me a glass of water. "You were great too, Amber."

Just when I was about to drink, I saw Jessica's eyes widened as I heard a familiar voice.

"Excuse me."

Turning around, I saw Krystal standing behind me and Amber with her 2 friends standing behind her. Instantly I saw Amber panicking as she gulped down the rest of her drink.

"Sorry to interrupt. I just need to pass somehing to Amber." Krystal said as she handed Amber a piece of napkin. "It was a great performance earlier. I've to go off now. Take care everyone and good night."

Krystal and her friends bowed down slightly as they quickly walked away. I saw them exiting the restaurant before turning my head to look at Amber who was still staring at the back of Krystal.

"What's with the napkin?" I asked but received no response from Amber. "Yah!"

Amber rubbed her forehead that I had just flicked as the rest of the girls surrounded us.

"Frozen again, Am?" Taeyeon smirked as the rest of us shook our heads.

"So what did Krystal gave you earlier?" Sunny asked.

Amber who seemed to just realised that she was holding on to something, quickly opened up the neatly folded napkin.

To Amber,

Hello.. I think that's what you're trying to say to me, right? Anyway, I really enjoyed the performance. Let's keep in touch, shall we?

There was a phone number written below the message as I saw Amber's eyes widened as she realised what she had in her hand.

"Woohoo!! Aaaaandddd Ambeeeeer scores." Sooyoung suddenly said as she grabbed me, Taeyeon, Yuri and Hyoyeon into a group hug.

"You better save it in your phone, Amber. In case it gets lost." Seohyun suggested as Amber quickly stood up to take her phone out from her jean's pocket.

"Look at how eager she is. Young love is so cute." Tiffany said as she started to clap.

"Are you that old, Tiff? Because you sounded so." Jessica commented as Tiffany pouted.

"Actually, among the couples JaeSica is the oldest." Yoona said as Tiffany gave her a high-five while Jessica only rolled her eyes at them.

Dinner was over an hour later with all of us returning to our own rooms. All of us had continued to tease Amber about giving Krystal a good night message but she just shook her head and blushed. Due to the activities that we had done the whole day, everyone turned in early that night and were looking forward for tomorrow's celebration.

We had so much fun at the ski resort that we didn't have the heart to leave the place on New Year day itself. Since Appa would be flying off on the 2nd, we had to return to Seoul on the 1st. Last night, we enjoyed a showcase of fireworks, courtesy of the resort as all of us gathered at the penthouse which had a great balcony view of it. Counting down excitedly for the clock to struck midnight, we had a great after party with everyone.

On the way back to Seoul, it was another amazing journey with 8 cars moving together like a convoy. We obviously had to make a lot of stops since Sooyoung kept saying that she was hungry. Once we reached Seoul, everyone returned to their own home while Amber followed us back to Taeyeon's house. She slept in the movie room for the night after enjoying her time jamming with me and Taeyeon at the music room. Amber showed us her rapping and dancing skills which we were really impressed with.

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

"Take care of yourself, okay. Remember to study hard but also don't neglect your health. Make sure to rest well and eat well."

"Appa, don't worry. I'll be fine." I smiled at him as I hugged him again. "You should take care of yourself too."

"Appa Park, I'll take care of Jae. You don't have to worry, okay." Jessica smiled at Appa and also gave him a hug.

"Make sure she doesn't bully you, Sooyeon. Tell me if she does." Appa patted Jessica's head as I pouted.

"Appa, did you forget I'm your daughter? How can you show favouritism so fast? We're not even married yet. Unfair." I folded my arms and pretended to be upset.

"To me, Sooyeon is already my daughter-in-law. You better make sure you treat her right." Appa gave me a  headlock and ruffled my hair. "I'm going to miss you, my daughter."

"Don't worry, Soo Ri. You can always come down to visit them whenever you're free. If Jae manages to do well in her business studies, she will be able to attend the enrichment programme at Hokkaido University and you can visit her there too. You should be in Japan around that period right? Between April to June?" Appa Ken said as Appa nodded his head, citing that he would be having some conference meetings around that few months.

After saying goodbye to Appa and watching him disappeared behind the glass doors, I walked towards the carpark with Appa Ken, Omma Jung and Jessica. We went off for lunch together before Appa Ken dropped me and Jessica at Taeyeon's house.

For the next few weeks, I took turns to stay between Taeyeon's house and Jessica's house. We also had some gatherings with the other girls and would sometimes hang out at the orphanage. During one of the visits at the orphanage, Amber honestly informed us that she had been in contact with Krystal ever since that night. We gave her some encouragements and also some advices. But most importantly, we advised her to take things slow. Amber admitted that both of them were currently in the 'just friends' status.

All of us decided to return to our dorms, two weeks before the new acedemic year began. Driving to Jessica's house to pick her up, Omma Jung had invited me to have lunch first at their house.

"So Jae, I heard from my husband that you'll be taking over some of your Appa's project once you've graduated. Are you ready for the big world?" Omma Jung asked as Jessica placed a plate of rice in front of me.

"Hopefully, I am. Currently, both Appa and Boa have been sending me emails to keep me updated about our company's on-going projects so I roughly understand how things work. I just need to have more on job trainings once I started." I replied.

"Sooyeon-ah, what do you intend to do after graduating?" Appa Ken asked.

"Actually Boa-unnie had recommended me to work in her fashion company but I'm still considering." Jessica answered.

"Boa also has a fashion company? She must be a very busy woman. Besides handling her own company, she's also helping out her Uncle Soo Ri with his hotel projects." Omma Jung commented with amazement. "She's not married yet, right? Is it because of too much work?"

"Anni. I think she's just fussy. She has really high standards in her partner." I replied while giggling. "But I think after I graduate, most probably some of the hotels under Boa's purview will be taken over by me. So maybe she'll have more time for herself."

"Won't that make you busy then? Seems like you won't have time for me." Jessica frowned as I placed my spoon on my plate.

"Sicababy, I can't promise you that I'll be with you 24/7 but I promise you that I'll find time for you. I'll make time for you." I said earnestly as Jessica smiled and giggled.

"Obviously, you can't be there for me 24/7, pabo. You need to earn money to invest in my fashion line, remember?" Jessica giggled at her own sentence.

"Fashion line? You planning to have your own company, Sooyeon?" Appa Ken asked.

"Maybe. I'm not sure yet, Appa. Maybe I can learn a thing or two from Boa-unnie first before I finalised my decision." Jessica explained as we continued to chat until it was time to drive back to the dorms.

The other girls had all returned by the time we reached there. We decided to have our own free time before gathering back for dinner so Jessica went to my room and sat on my bed while I was seated at my study table, facing my laptop.

"Jaegi?" I replied Jessica by humming a short reply. "This will be our final year. I can't believe I'll be graduating soon. There's so much beautiful memories that I can't bear to graduate."

"You can't bear or you're afraid?" I turned around to face Jessica who seemed to be thinking. "Are you scared of the future, Jessica?"

It took Jessica about 10secs to finally admit the truth. "There's so many uncertainties in the future. Well, at least in my future. You've had yours all organized and ready." Jessica pouted as I walked towards her, taking a seat beside her.

"That's not true, Sicababy. My future is full of uncertainties too. Even though it seemed that I'm all set to take over Appa's projects, I'm still new in all of these. The only certain thing in my life right now, is you." I smiled as I saw Jessica blushing. "And for you, the only certain thing you'll need is me. Because we're going to be there for each other, Sicababy. Every step of the way. I'm certain of that."