Constant and Changing (kryber)

Chapter 7: Chocolate Love

On the morning of October 5th, the second day of the SMTown Tokyo concerts, Krystal woke up feeling very well rested but alone. Despite falling asleep with Amber on separate sides of the bed last night, Krystal was completely on Amber's side now and Amber was no where in sight.

"Amber?" Krystal called out, wondering if she was in the bathroom. There was no response. "Amber?" she called again, a little sad that Amber had abandoned her before she had woken up. Shaking off the disappointment, Krystal showered and brushed her teeth. By the time she finished dressing, Amber returned to their room carrying a covered plate of food and what looked to be coffee.

"Morning," Amber greeted her with surprise. "I thought I'd be able to wake you up myself, but guess I wasn't sneaky enough."

"Not quite," Krystal agreed with a grin. "Although you were sneaky enough to get out of bed this morning without waking me. How'd you do that?"

"Are you kidding?" Amber asked incredulously. "Do you know how HARD it is to wake you when you're sleeping, Jung Soo Jung? Here, I'll give you the play by play," she said, pushing the coffee into Krystal's hands and leading her to the bed. Krystal took a sip of the coffee, which was perfectly balanced to her liking, and gestured to Amber that she could proceed with her story.

"So last night, after you fell asleep," Amber began, "you totally took up ALL of the bed."

Krystal snorted into her coffee, nearly choking on it. "What?! No way, you're lying!"

"I assure you that I am NOT lying," Amber said with a mock-disapproving look. "I don't have any photo evidence, but I guarantee you that you took up 90% of the bed."

"Well why didn't you wake me up or push me back onto my side?" Krystal asked, still giggling.

"Uh, I did!!" Amber protested. "More than once! The first time it happened, I gently rolled you back to your side without waking you up. The second time it happened? I actually WOKE you up--after shaking you for like 5 minutes--and you rolled back to your side on your own. Clearly you don't remember it. And the third time? Well you were literally sleeping ON TOP of me at that point."

Krystal was doubled over with laughter listening to Amber's story and watching her exaggerated portrayal of how Krystal had nearly smothered her in her sleep. "There's no way that I sleep that badly," Krystal argued. "I've shared a bed with Jess before and we stay on our own sides of the bed without any trouble."

"Then there must be something special about this bed because you were allllll up on my side last night. You know what I did after that third time when you were sleeping on top of me?"

"What?" Krystal asked, sitting on the edge of the bed with an amused look on her face.

"Well, my first thought was the throw you OFF the bed for interrupting my beauty sleep all night," Amber admitted, much to Krystal's amusement, "but you were sleeping so peacefully that I couldn't bear to wake you. So like a ninja I crawled out from underneath you, got out of bed, tiptoed across the room, slipped out the door, and..." she handed Krystal the plate she had been carrying, "...I went downstairs and brought you up some breakfast. Enjoy."

"Awwwww..." Krystal said, her amusement turning into genuine affection. "You're the best!"

"Of course," Amber responded. "I live to serve you, Princess-nim."

"Thanks Am, you're always so sweet to me," Krystal smiled, but she paused as the familiar conversation triggered a fuzzy memory. Slowly, she thought back to last night and what she had said right before bed.

"You're really sweet Am. If you were a guy, I would have fallen for you already."

And then, Amber's response.

"So you'll never fall for me because I'm a girl?"

Remembering this now, Krystal felt distinctly awkward. Her words toward Amber had been meant as a joke, but Amber's response made Krystal wonder if Amber ever seriously thought about them becoming a couple. The idea of two women in a relationship never struck Krystal as odd, but she had never imagined herself in a relationship with Amber before, or anyone else for that matter.

When Krystal thought about Amber's devotion to her--which she had always assumed was a sign of friendship--it seemed plausible that Amber might actually love her romantically. And if that was true, then Krystal couldn't help but feel guilty that she was unable to return Amber's one-sided feelings.

"Eat up," Amber urged, kicking off her shoes and flopping onto the bed. "We're going to leave in a little while. You don't wanna be late and make Vic-unnie mad."

Krystal tilted her head and looked at Amber appraisingly, trying to gauge Amber's behavior this morning. But Amber was the same today as she always was. Krystal stood there for a few moments, watching as Amber took out her phone and started to play with it. How does someone look when they've fallen in love?

"Hey, Am..." Krystal started to ask the older girl a question, but then stopped. What was she going to ask Amber? Are you in love with me?

"You OK, Soojungie?" Amber asked, turning to look at her. "Are you still sleepy or something?"

"Uh, no, just thinking about something." She sat down next to Amber, lifted the cover off the plate, and found some of her favorite breakfast foods waiting for her. Chocolate pancakes topped with whipped cream, an omelet stuffed with spinach, onions, and mushrooms, and a small mountain of crispy bacon. She looked over to Amber again, touched that her friend had woken up early to bring her back the perfect breakfast.

"Seriously Amber, you're too nice to me."

"Well yeah," Amber responded, "you get how the whole princess and servant thing works, right? The servant lives to serve and the princess lives to be served. We're a perfect match."

Krystal felt even more guilty now. If Amber's devotion to her was rooted in a one sided love, Krystal couldn't let Amber keep serving her like this. It would be too cruel to string along a friend like this, and it made her heart ache. Krystal had to find out.

"Do you love me?" Krystal blurted, surprised at how blunt her brain was this morning. She mentally smacked herself for asking the one question that she had not wanted to ask, but she couldn't take it back now.

Amber, however, seemed completely unfazed by Krystal's sudden question. "Well yeah, of course I love you, stupid," Amber responded, raising an eyebrow to indicate that the answer should have been obvious. "Do people who don't love you routinely sleep in your bed and bring you your favorite breakfast?"

"And coffee."

"And coffee," Amber agreed. "Cream and no sugar, just the way you like it." Krystal nodded with a smile, taking another sip. "So did you really not know the answer to your question?"

"Well, you make it sound so obvious when you put it that way," Krystal said with feigned annoyance, putting down her coffee to focus on the food.

"Sorry, I just thought that my feelings for you were pretty straight forward," Amber grinned. "I don't like to play games."

Krystal weakly smiled back at Amber, still unsure whether to classify Amber's love as romantic or platonic. "Straight forward, my ass," Krystal thought to herself, but she wouldn't push the topic for now. As long as Amber was behaving like her usual self, Krystal felt comfortable doing the same.

"Here," Krystal said, offering Amber a bite of bacon, "my apology for asking you such an obvious question."

Amber smiled as Krystal fed her. "Why thank you, Princess-nim."

"Aren't you going to ask me whether I love you, too?" Krystal wondered, feeding Amber the rest of the bacon strip.

"Do I even need to?" Amber responded. "Sharing one's bacon is a sign of true love."

Krystal laughed shyly and finished up her breakfast with Amber peacefully.