Part 7

*Flashbacks in gray italics*

The radiant sunlight trickling in through the partially covered window of the hospital room woke Krystal up. Slowly and reluctantly, she opened her eyes. It was soothingly quiet and the dazzling and inviting rays that flowed through the window provided warmth to Krystal’s body. She hasn’t felt so relaxed in a long time, not even on her off days.

Letting out a big yawn, Krystal rubbed her eyes then stared up at the white ceiling tiles in silence, waiting for her brain to catch up.

“Mhm...” a soft hum echoed inside the quiet room.

With her brain still half asleep, it took a good few seconds later before Krystal processed the hum and realized that it did not come from her. She turned her head slowly to the side and her eyes widened in surprise. There, lying peacefully next to her was a sleeping Amber.

Krystal gasped and gawked in silence at the sleeping face only inches away from her. She didn’t dare move, afraid to wake the older girl up.

Gone were her sleepiness as Krystal’s brain went into overdrive, trying to remember when and how Amber ended up sleeping on the same hospital bed as her.

“No, not Oppa,” Krystal shook her head. “I want you... to stay with me.”

“Me?” Amber points at herself, surprised.

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“N-no, it’s not that.” Amber quickly shook her hand. “I don’t mind at all... it’s just, you know me, my insomnia is pretty bad. I don’t want to end up keeping you up all night when you should be resting.”

“You won’t.”

“Wow,” Amber chuckled. “You sound so sure about that. Did you forget that I’m a pretty hyper person?”

“So?”

“So when I’m hyper, I need to do something to get rid of the excess energy.”

“Then play a game on your phone.”

“Ok... But what if I get bored of that?”

“Read a book.”

“That usually makes me more restless.”

“Listen to some music through your headphones.”

Amber contemplated that option. “But that usually ends up making me want to dance...”

Krystal couldn’t help but smile at that. It always comes back to dancing with Amber. “If you dance quietly in the corner over there, then I don’t see a problem with that.”

“Deal.”

“Good.”

They both smiled at each other. Amber would’ve stayed regardless of her insomnia or anything else. As long as Krystal asked, she would not say no. And Krystal knew that. That’s what makes their little exchanges that much more sweet and precious.

Krystal shook her head, fast forwarding her memories. She remembers talking with Amber for a little bit longer after that before she fell asleep. Did she perhaps wake up in the middle of the night?

“Amber?” Krystal groggily opened her eyes. The room was dark and quiet.

Krystal pushed herself up slowly and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She scanned the unlit room and stopped on a silhouette next to the window.

“Amber?” Krystal called out again, slightly louder than the first time.

The figure sitting on the chair near the window shifted and a few seconds later, a sleepy voice responded. “Ye...ah?”

“Sorry, were you sleeping?” Krystal rubbed her eyes. She was half asleep herself.

“No.” Amber got up from the chair and grimaced in pain from falling asleep in an awkward position. She rubbed her neck and shuffled towards Krystal, but not before bumping into the edge of the hospital bed. “Oof... ow...” She eventually made it next to Krystal’s bed. “Is... something wrong? Why...are you up?”

Krystal couldn’t quite make out Amber’s face due to the darkness of the room but it was obvious the older girl was half asleep as well. Probably speaking to her with her eyes closed.

“No, but I’m worried you’ll get back pains if you sleep on the chair.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Here,” Krystal scooted to one side of the bed and patted the empty space next to her, “there’s enough room for the both of us.”

Amber was too sleepy to argue so she complied by quietly getting under the covers next to Krystal.

“Night,” the tomboy muttered before she fell back to sleep.

“Goodnight,” Krystal said and succumbed to sleep herself shortly after.

OH.

MY.

GOD.

Krystal covers her face with her hands and squealed silently in her head. She was the one who told Amber to get into bed. Just thinking about it made her feel shy and hot even though she has no idea why.

After lying there for a while like that, Krystal eventually parted and peeked through her fingers at Amber. She could feel the heat growing in her cheeks as she watched the adorable sleeping face next to her. Amber was so close Krystal was sure she could count every eyelash if she wanted to. Her eyes had just traveled down to Amber’s lips when the older girl suddenly shifted on the bed.

Krystal turned her head away and stiffened when Amber snuggled up to her shoulder, probably mistaking it for a pillow. The extra weight on her shoulder made Krystal restless. Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid it would wake Amber up. Not to mention her whole body was burning up for some reason.

Calm down, Krystal told herself. There was no reason for her to be so worked up. Not only are they really good friends but they are also both girls. Lying in the same bed should not be weird, Krystal rationalized to herself silently.

After reassuring herself that this was totally normal, Krystal reached for her phone on the bedside table. She pressed the home button and the screen lit up. To make fun of Amber later, she was going to take a picture of her sleeping and drooling on her shoulder. Because that’s what friends do.

Krystal tapped the camera icon and held the phone out on top of her and Amber. She moved her head so it was slightly leaning against Amber’s and took a normal picture. She then took two more but made weird faces in them. She was snickering to herself quietly and was about to take a fourth one when the image of them on the screen stopped her. She didn’t really pay much attention when she took the first three pictures but now that she was taking a closer look, she couldn’t help but smile to herself. She liked what she saw. She liked having Amber lean on her like that.

“No, I’ll give him a call later.” A man’s voice out in the hallway interrupted Krystal from staring at herself and Amber on the phone screen. In a panic, Krystal accidentally drops the phone on her face. The device then tumbled onto Amber’s face.

“Ow.” Krystal winced in pain as Amber groaned and slowly opened her eyes. The older girl rubbed her face where the phone had landed as she slowly came back to the world of the living.

Krystal was about to apologize when the door to the room slid open causing her to instead shove Amber off the bed by reflex. She felt more and more like a criminal caught in act with every passing second even though there was no reason to feel this way.

“Oof!” a loud thud as Amber landed rather harshly on her side. She still had no idea what was going on but this has to be worst wake up she’s ever experienced in her life. Not to mention extremely painful.

As soon as Krystal realized what she had done, she gasped and quickly crawled towards the edge of the bed, peering down nervously.

“So-Sorry!” she whispered. “Are you... okay?”

Amber was too busy rubbing and soothing her arm and hip to hear the soft apology from Krystal. When she eventually pushed herself up off the ground, she was met with a pair of pouting lips and apologetic eyes. Even though she was still in extreme pain, Amber couldn’t help but find the sight rather cute.

“Did you push me?” Amber asked. She didn’t look angry nor did her voice sound angry.

Krystal ducked her head down a little and peeked over at the now closed door. Whoever was at the door never came in.

“Sorry...” Krystal muttered again.

Amber chuckled and patted the younger girl’s head. “Considering you’re a sick patient right now, I’ll forgive you this once.”

Krystal looked up and saw the smile. She couldn’t help but wonder why Amber wasn’t upset or frustrated with her. It looked to be a rather painful fall but there wasn’t the slightest bit of displeasure or annoyance showing in the girl’s expression. It’s almost as if Amber enjoyed the fall, which would be ridiculous.

“You’re not mad?” Krystal couldn’t help but ask. If her friends or her parents pushed her out of nowhere without a good reason, even if by accident, she would still be slightly annoyed by reaction.

“Mad?” Amber sounded as if she was hearing the word for the first time. “Why would I be mad? Accidents happen all the time.”

That’s true... Krystal pursed her lips. Perhaps she was thinking way too much into this. It’s almost as if she was trying to make it seem like Amber was acting different around her. Like she was more special than all those other people Amber hangs out with. But she’s not. Is she? And why would she care about being more special?

“But next time, please inform me of your weird habits beforehand. It would’ve been nice to know you kick in your sleep. But at least now I know not to be anywhere near you when you’re sleeping.” Amber’s voice pulled Krystal from her thoughts.

Ah. So she thought I was kicking in my sleep. Krystal felt slightly disappointed to hear that for some reason.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go freshen up. Be right back.” Amber stretched her arms a bit before disappearing into the bathroom.

Krystal hopped off the bed and picked up her fallen phone. The camera was still on so she was greeted by her own reflection. For a few seconds, she just stood there staring back at herself on the screen. It felt like something was missing, but what?

Before Krystal could pinpoint an answer, the door slid open and in walked her manager.

“Yes Sir, I will be there shortly... Yes... Ok...Bye.”

“Morning, Oppa.” Krystal waited until her manager had ended the call.

“Ah, good morning.” The man pocketed his phone and smiled. “Why are you up so early? Doctor Shim says you need plenty of rest and one night is definitely not enough.”

“It’s nothing serious. Look.” Krystal did a full turn to show that she was fine. “I’m all better now. See?”

The man chuckled and walked towards Krystal. “You’re one hardworking and strong girl,” he said and gave her a soft pat on the head. He then softly guided Krystal back towards the bed. “I’m glad you feel better now. That’s great news. However, I would feel better if you rested a little bit more. I’ve already talked with the company this morning and they have agreed to give you the week off. I’ve gone ahead and cleared up your schedule so please use this time to rest up. You’ve more than earned it.”

Krystal sat down on the bed quietly as she stared up at her manager, momentarily at a loss of words by what she was just told. Her manager has always been nice to her so she wasn’t surprised by that. It was more the fact that her company had agreed to give her a week off and even gave the okay to clear her schedule. That meant penalty fees and rescheduling or canceling all those events that were lined up – and it was quite a lot.

“Thank me later.” The man chuckled and turned around to place the bag hung around his wrist on the table behind him.

Just then, Amber walks out of the bathroom looking refreshed. Her hair was slightly damp and there were visible drops of water running down the side of her neck.

Krystal gulped.

“Oh, Hyung,” Amber called out when she noticed Krystal’s manager in the room, “Good morning.”

“Morning. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Yeah, I slept like a baby until this morning. Got a pretty rough wake up call though.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“Well, you see, we were sleeping on the –”

“O-Oppa!” Krystal suddenly yelled out, causing both Amber and her manager to turn to look at her.

“What?” The man furrowed his brows in confusion at the sudden shouting. “What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing.” Krystal bit her lower lip as her cheeks flushed red. She then quickly racked her brain for an excuse. “Uh... A-are you going somewhere? You were talking on the phone earlier...”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.” The man quickly glanced down at his watch. “As a matter of fact, I do have somewhere I need to be.”

“Where are you going?” asked Amber.

“Well, a few of our managers came down with the flu that’s been going around the company lately and are too ill to work so there’s a shortage of staff for the other labelmates. We’re basically very shorthanded at the moment and trying to pull in whoever is available.”

“Oh, that’s awful to hear.”

“That’s what they get for not letting the only one person sick take a break and stay out of the office until he recovered.”

“So are they rotating you to help out with the other groups?”

“Pretty much... That’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about before I disappear for the week. Technically, I should be here until you discharge Krystal, but they need me now so...” The man turned to Amber. “If it’s okay with you Amber, could you stay with Krystal on my behalf? She’s fully capable of taking care of herself but if you could keep an eye on her, at least until she’s discharged, that would really set my mind at ease. I know you two are very close to each other so... how about it? Or I’ll have to call up Krystal’s parents...”

“Sure, I don’t mind. You go do what you need to, Hyung.” Amber didn’t even hesitate to answer. She’s always more than willing to help out her friends and people she’s close with.

“Thanks, Amber. I knew I could count on you,” the man sighed in relief and smiled, “I’ll treat you both to whatever you want to eat next week when I get back. Sky’s the limit.”

“Ha, you don’t have to Hyung. It’s no big deal.” Amber playfully slapped the man’s arm.

“I want to. You guys are by far the easiest people to work with.”

There was a moment of silence before Amber and Krystal’s manager burst out laughing at the awkwardness of those words.

“Wow, I better leave before I go off on a rant.” The man cringed and started walking towards the door. “I’ll be out of the country but still call if there’s an emergency, okay? You both have my number.”

“Will do. Come back in one piece, Hyung.”

“I’ll try.”

Amber gave the man a small wave before he stepped out and closed the door behind him.

“Well then...” Amber turned to Krystal and noticed she hasn’t said anything throughout this whole half of the conversation. “You’re awfully quiet.”

No response.

“Hello?” Amber walked towards the girl and waved a hand in front of her. “Anyone there?”

Krystal’s continued lack of response made Amber pout.

“Yo! Earth to Krystal~” Amber leaned down until her face was directly in front of Krystal’s. She stared at those dark brown orbs until they slowly started to focus on her.

Krystal blinked once, then twice.

Amber was about to smile from finally getting Krystal’s attention when a hand came into contact with her face square on. She didn’t even have time to react as her head was pushed back and away.

“Oof...” Amber stumbled back a few steps to keep her neck from bending any further and possibly breaking. She wobbled a little bit but quickly regained her balance. “Yah...” Amber painfully rubs the back of her neck then stares at Krystal with a pout. “What was that for?”

Krystal coughs and swings her legs up onto the bed. “Y-You were in my personal space.”

“Only because I was trying to get your attention.” Amber defended. “You were zoning out.”

“...still...”

The room fell silent as Krystal watched Amber massage her neck. It looked like she was in a lot of pain and that in turn made Krystal feel guilty.

Did I use too much force?

But that was only because she surprised me.

It’s her fault for putting her face so close to mine...

“Are you okay?” Krystal finally asked.

Amber looks back at Krystal for a moment, sighs then smiles. “You’re lucky you’re cute. I’m fine.”

Krystal felt her breath catch in . W-What?

-----

End of Part 7.

Um... surprise? It's been quite a long time, hasn't it? *bows head*

I'm sick this week and was browsing through my stories. Intitially had no intention of posting for this short story. I actually wanted to write and post up a halloween oneshot in celebration of halloween coming up soon. Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter. This chapter was actually 3/4 written a year ago but since it's been so long, I had to reread the whole thing to remember what it was about so I could wrap it up. Still rusty so please do forgive me.

Even though I have been writing a lot of different stories, I have been hesitant on posting anything here. Didn't want to get anyone's hopes up about me posting regularly so all the stories are just saved on my computer haha. As always, your comments are appreciated. I do read them. No guarantees on regular posts (not that I had done that in the past) but I'll try my best - for all my stories and/or new ones.

Until next time, Ramen out~