"When you get married, make sure it's to someone of the opposite ." Her dad's deep voice echoed in her head. Even though he was over a thousand miles away, over twelve hours by plane, and even though there was a whole ocean between them, it felt like he was right next to her, scrutinizing every single one of her actions. She never told her parents about her attraction towards females, though it always seemed like they already knew. She always questioned his need to remind her and her siblings the importance of getting married to the opposite gender. It was as if the statement was made specifically for her.

 

She couldn't blame them though. Religion was always played such a central role in their lives. Her father was a deacon at the church that they went to, a leader who was supposed to help the congregation grow in their faith and help the pastor lead them in the right direction. Their family was supposed to act as a model for others to follow. They were supposed to show everyone else what it meant to be a God-centered family.

 

What would happen when the people found out that the daughter of one of the leaders was actually biual? She would be a disgrace. The congregation would scrutinize her family. They would blame her parents for not raising her the right way, that they were terrible parents. She could handle hearing those words aimed towards her. She had already prepared herself for so long. She was ready for them but she knew her family wasn't. She couldn't bear to be the reason why her father would be forced to step down from his leadership role and lose the trust of all the people they were close with.

 

She imagined telling her family of her uality all the time. She ran through every single scenario in her mind, and every time it would end up with her family suffering. She could handle getting hurt, but she couldn't let her family feel the same pain all because of her.

 

That's why she left. She used the excuse of wanting to learn more about music and different styles of it in order to move to Korea, with the promise that she would be back to share her newfound knowledge to the music team at the church. In reality, however, she just needed to get away. She needed to escape all the expectations, all the pressure, and find herself. She needed to figure herself out.

 

And that's how she got here. She was chilling with the group of friends she made when she got here. Each one of them, even if they didn't know, taught her something new about herself and she was forever thankful. Meeting them, she knew she was supposed to be in Korea. She was supposed to be in that exact spot, squished in between Ailee and Eric on the couch with Kevin sitting on the armrest and Jimin huddled on the floor because after an hour into the movie they were watching, the armrest made her hurt. Rome, as always, was late, probably because he got some inspiration and had to finish up some song that popped into his head. He texted that he would be there in a couple of minutes. Peniel, on the other hand, was scouring the kitchen for something to eat because he finished all the popcorn.

 

Realizing that Peniel was taking forever in the kitchen, Ailee frowned a bit before turning her head in Peniel's direction. "Penoodle, what's taking so long?" She groaned in realization before getting up and running after him. "You better not be messing up my kitchen!"

 

"I'm not!" Peniel's unique voice was heard in the distance. There was a bit of shuffling before a loud crash was heard. "Ow! You hit me! Hey! Put that frying pan down! I wasn't even doing anything! Ack! Amber, control your goldfish!"

 

Amber chuckled a bit before looking back at the TV, even though she wasn't really watching. She wasn't even sure what movie they were watching much less what the movie was about.

 

Peniel was her first friend when she moved to Korea. It wasn't hard for her to be friends with him since he was always so outgoing and happy. He was just really comfortable to be around. It was like she knew him for her entire life even though technically she only knew him for a couple years. Being friends with hm, Amber learned how important it was to stay happy and positive. His happiness was contagious and he always knew how to make her laugh so no matter what she was going through, she always knew that she could count on him to make her smile. He taught her to always be positive because when she's positive, not matter what the circumstance is, all the problems begin to seem so small.

 

Amber met Ailee a few months after moving to Korea. She was a bit older than her, so naturally Ailee turned into a mother-figure to her. It felt nice to have someone give motherly love when Amber's mother was so far away. Ailee was always there to support Amber and listen whenever she had a lot on her chest. Ailee was Amber's rock. She didn't know what she would do without her. Between the late night phone calls and the ocean of tears they shared together, Ailee was always there to comfort her and assure her that everything was gonna be okay. Ailee taught Amber how important it was to keep herself surrounded by a group of friends that would always support her and accept her for who she was.

 

The doorbell rang, but Ailee was still busy lecturing Peniel on why it's rude to just go searching through someone's kitchen no matter how close you are. Noticing that Ailee was probably too distracted to get the door, Eric got up from the couch and went to open the door. In the process, Jimin smirked then stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt before moving onto the couch and cuddling up next to Amber. Kevin was too absorbed in the movie to notice anything else happening.

 

Amber shifted a bit to make sure that Jimin was comfortable then smiled at the younger girl. Jimin was the youngest of the group and even though the age difference between her and some of the others was pretty big, she never felt out of place, mostly because in some way of the other they were all just big kids. Amber always admired Jimin's innocence and curiousity. Being so young, Jimin always approached any challenge with fire and determination. Despite being so young, Jimin taught Amber a lot. She taught Amber to go at life with curiosity and perseverance like a child because that always made everything more exciting.

 

Kevin and Eric taught her a lot about her faith. Having the same belief system, they gave her an outlet to openly talk about her religion and figure out how her uality stood in the midst of it. Kevin proved to her how important it was to stay grounded in her beliefs because blindly accepting what everyone else told her to believe was no way to go about life. She not only had to know what she believed but why she believed it. It wasn't enough to just settle on what people told her. Eric taught her that it was possible to be Christian and biual at the same time. She didn't believe that God was some angry old guy, throwing punishments on everyone. No. The God she believed in was one of love and compassion.

 

"Hey, man!" Rome's voice entered the room after she heard the sound of the door opening. There were a couple of muffled words, probably Eric and Rome exchanging some sort of bro conversation, when the voices were interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the kitchen again.

 

Amber would be lying if she said that she didn't have the tiniest crush on Rome when they first met. Just look at him. Between his toned body at that Aussie accent, there was nothing not to love. Though, eventually she realized what a dork he was and that the crush was just a crush and nothing more. Now, if she was asked the same question, she would proceed to answer with a couple fake gags and a laugh before explaining that he was like her brother and that would be gross. Rome taught Amber his infamous "B.Yu" motto. He taught Amber that it was okay to be different and that everyone was so she just had to accept herself as she was. She shouldn't let anyone dictate the person she would become and that she had to control her own life.

 

Ailee came into the room, dragging Peniel by the ear then forcing him to sit down on the floor. His face was all scrunched up in pain and the moment she let go of him, his hands reflexively moved to his ear, trying to massage it and lessen the pain.

 

"That'll show him never to eat my cookies." Ailee grumbled then picked up one of the throw pillows on the couch before collapsing onto it and placing the pillow on her lap to hug. Rome and Eric walked into the room just at the right time to witness the incident.

 

Eric chuckled before squishing on the couch and placing an arm around Ailee's shoulders. It was a tight fit since the couch was really only meant for three people but Eric didn't mind being pressed up so close to hs girlfriend. He gave her a little peck on her head before leaning his head on hers. "Don't worry. I'll just buy you some more cookies.

 

Suddenly snapping out of his trance, Kevin's arms flew up and covered Jimin's eyes while scowling at the couple being all lovey dovey. "Hey! There's a minor here! You know you can't do that while she's around!"

 

Struggling against his hands, Jimin tried to push him away. "Kevin oppa, stop!" He finally let go of his grip on her and she furrowed her eyebrows at him. "If you want to know, I have a boyfriend already. You don't have to do that anymore." She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, staring at the TV.

 

"What?" All the guys yelled in unison with each other while staring at Jimin in shock as if she has four heads.

 

"What the hell?" Rome spoke first. "Why didn't you say anything? Who is he? Where did you meet him?"

 

"And most importantly," Eric added, "does he have a prison record?" Ailee chuckled then playfully hit Eric on the shoulder.

 

"Hey, stop that. I met him already. He's a nice kid. Don't go scaring off Jimin's first boyfriend." Ailee scolded the guys.

 

"Wait," Peniel stoods up with a frown, "you met him already? How long have they even been together?" He turned to Amber and pointed at her. "Amber, you say something! Jimin is still way to young to have a boyfriend, right?"

 

Kevin frowned before speaking. "Are you okay, Amber? You've been awfully quiet the whole time. Is something bothering you?"

 

Amber pressed her lips together in a straight line. She shut her eyes for a bit before deciding that it was now or never. She had to tell them before she exploded. "Actually, I have a confession." She took a deep breath to calm herself before opening her eyes again to look at everyone. "I'm bi."

 

Not even five seconds after she she spoke, Jimin looked up at Amber with a pout. "And? Why is that bothering you?"

 

Ailee chuckled before patting Amber on the back. "I knew already, Berber."

 

"I kinda knew already, too." Rome chuckled them moved to sit on the other arm rest so that he was't standing the whole time.

 

"And you guys are okay with that?" Amber questioned, trying to make sure she was understanding the situation correctly. Out of all the times she practiced this scene in her head, this never came out as one of the outcomes.

 

"Yea, why wouldn't we be?" Eric asked. "It doesn't change who you are, right? You were Amber. You're still Amber and you're always gonna be Amber, right." Still a little unsure, Amber hesitantly nodded her head.

 

"Now we got that out of the way, can we discuss again how Jimin has a boyfriend? This is a very serious!" Peniel ran to Jimin's bag and stole her phone in order to look through her contacts. "Who is it? It's this Benji guy, right? I've never heard of him before!"

 

"Oppa, stoooop!" Jimin whined before turning to Ailee. "Unni, help meeeee."

 

Ailee got up then smacked Peniel's head. "What did I just tell you about personal space, huh?"

Amber chuckled as the guys processes to chuck Jimin's cellphone around the room to take turns sending Jimin's new boyfriend threatening text messages. Smiling to herself, she took a sigh of relief wondering again why she was so nervous. She never had to be nervous. They were her friends. They were always going to accept her for who she was. She never had to be worried about anything because even though she was far away from her real family, they were also her family. Even if they are slightly dysfunctional, they were still family and if they could accept her, maybe one day her real family could too.