us against the world (amber/victoria)
Us against the world
Amber/Victoria. PG-13. 2.9k words.
Victoria is getting married, and Amber is the maid of honor. In between, there are a few hiccups.
→ For kpop_olymfics! Thank you so much, Team Future, for the amazing experience c:
us against the world
Amber certainly doesn't expect to get the call. It's five in the afternoon where she is and God knows what time it is in China. More than that, overseas calls are bloody expensive, so she isn't really expecting to hear Victoria's voice on the other end of the line, saying, "I'm getting married in a week. Please be my maid of honor?"
"Why me?"
Victoria chuckles. She probably doesn't want to go through this, but she replies, anyway. "Because you're the best one for the job."
Then it dawns upon Amber - Jinri's inability to keep a straight face during formal ceremonies, Krystal and Sunyoung possibly getting enlisted to sing during the ceremony. It's not that Amber is the one who fits the job description the best; there's no one left to do it but her.
"Don't you have other friends?"
"This is an overseas call, you know-"
"Yeah, but-" Amber exhales into the receiver. "Do I really have to do this?"
There is silence for a while. Amber anticipates Victoria's reply, a statement dripping of pure hero-worship befitting of the moment, a curl at the edge of Victoria's lips, and that distinct lilt in Victoria's voice. "Please?"
She shuts her eyes tight, throws her head back, then gestures for the waiter to refill her glass with water before finally giving her answer.
"Fine. I'll do it."
Amber's discomfort does not stem from the fact that she has to travel so many miles just to get to China. She doesn't mind the long hours and the sore limbs; it's going back home that makes her feel uneasy in her own skin. She hasn't been in touch with any of the f(x) members since they disbanded four years ago, save for Krystal who has made it a point to give her a blow-by-blow account of her daily activities. And then there's Henry and Kris constantly bugging her on Viber. And Kibum's Instagram follow requests.
She's stuffing the last of her clothes in her luggage when her phone sounds off. A notification for a tweet comes in and, even at first glance, she can already tell that it's from Jinki. "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire! Amber! Ember!" it says, and a notification for a picture of Jonghyun attempting to cook barbecue comes in not too long after.
"Lol oppa see u," she types really quickly, then slips her phone in her pocket.
And then, an influx of messages and notifications.
To an extent, she misses the attention, being surrounded with people. When she was much younger, she used to use Kibum's name to get great shopping bargains; nowadays, she uses Amber Josephine Liu, signs above her name in black ink, and doesn't even get a 5% discount. She hands over her e-ticket and checks in her luggage like normal, non-idol people do. She also picks out goodies to bring to China on her own - unusually-colored nail polish for Sunyoung, a nice scarf for Jinri, an Elizabeth Kostova book for Krystal, and stories for Victoria.
"You didn't get her anything," Krystal says, more like a declarative statement than an interrogative one. "Are you stupid or are you stupid?"
"Not much of a choice there, no?"
"I mean-"
The PA system goes off and Amber quickly excuses herself. "See you," she says, then ends the call, ignores the other notifications on her screen, and sinks in her seat once she has already settled in the plane.
She fastens her seatbelt, then takes out a tiny notebook containing notes and letters, all addressed to Victoria.
* * *
The trip to China has got to be the longest fifteen hours of Amber's life. Toiling with games hasn't helped calm her nerves, though successfully clearing several levels in Coffee Press took her mind off things for a while. She spends the last two hours trying to sleep. A hundred and twenty sheep after, she gives up. As if on cue, a flight attendant announces that they'll be landing in a few minutes. Saved by the PA system yet again.
She isn't expecting fanfare, nor a pool of over-enthusiastic fans, but she looks around for a signage with her name on it. Some frantic jumping to her far right, and she finally spots Kibum, Krystal, and Victoria.
She gulps down hard.
"Amber Josephine Liu," Kibum begins, eyeing her from head to toe as if judging her choice of an outfit for the flight, then continues, "the nerve you have to come back here." He's smiling, and so are Krystal and Victoria, so Amber holds out her arms in a hug and Kibum indulges all too eagerly.
Krystal ruffles her hair, and Victoria just smiles.
Kibum and Krystal leave Amber with Victoria not too long after, using wedding preparations as an excuse. Amber doesn't even bother to argue with them, simply resigns herself to drawing figures on her latte foam, wondering if the coffee can swallow her whole.
"So, how was Canada," Victoria begins. There's a tentative question at the curl of her lips. "How've you been?"
Canada's still Canada, she wants to say. Years back, she probably would have, but she's older now and living alone, far from her friends and away from the perils of an idol life, has changed her. A lot. She favors books over games now, although she still keeps replaying Zelda and Pokemon. Her hair now stretches past her shoulders and she has discarded baggy pants in favor of colorful skinny jeans. Tanks tops have become a staple in her wardrobe. She fucking wears nails art now. "Different," Amber replies, sudden, unceremonious. "I mean, I'm good, but I've changed."
"I can see that."
Amber blows a circle into the foam. "Wow, thanks."
"I mean-" Victoria leans in, reaches over, and tucks a few stray strands of hair behind Amber's ear. There's a hitch in Amber's breathing. "I like it. It suits you well," Victoria continues.
Amber nods, laughs a little, the pull at the corner of her lips feeling a bit awkward, maybe even uncalled for. "Thanks," she replies before taking a sip of her coffee. It's still hot. "I really mean it."
"And I really meant it when I said I like your new look."
Amber takes another sip. It burns her tongue. She never learns.
With only a few days left until the wedding, Amber tries her best to come off as at least a passable maid of honor. Victoria introduces her to the bridesmaids, most of them friends Victoria met while participating in musicals. Jinri's in the roster, much to Amber's amusement, and Amber makes a mental note to make funny faces during the ceremony if only to make Jinri laugh out loud and go ballistic.
"I know what you're thinking - I probably shouldn't have made Jinri a bridesmaid."
Amber chuckles. "What? I think it's perfect. Best idea ever."
Victoria narrows her eyes a bit, then waves Amber off.
Later in the morning, she finalizes the list for the bridal registry and makes sure to contact the sponsors about the news. Krystal tells her to lay off the logistics of the wedding itself and to just leave it to, "my and Kibum's expert hands," and Amber just laughs, slapping Krystal on the arm just lightly.
"You have very little faith in me!"
Amber shakes her head. "Nope. I have no faith in you at all. Get it right, Jung."
Krystal instructs her to take care of the bachelorette party, instead.
She finally meets the groom over lunch. "He prefers to be called Danny," Victoria says, laughing a little. "We met two years ago. The ballet musical, remember?" Victoria continues, then rushes, "Oh, sorry, I wasn't able to invite you-"
"Barbie and The Nutcracker, a modern adaptation." Amber bites back the bitterness threatening to fall from her lips. "Krys told me about it. And it was all over the news."
"You never miss out, don't you?"
Amber just smiles.
Before leaving the restaurant, Victoria excuses herself to go to the restroom. Danny watches as Victoria walks off and moves to the seat next to Amber. "I'm planning to get her these ballet shoes she's been eyeing for a while already," he tells Amber, whispering. "Can you distract her for a while? Make sure she doesn't find out?"
Amber grins. Her fangs are showing; Danny should be warned. "Yeah, sure. I'll just… take her to a spa or something."
"Thanks." Danny gives her a light pat on the shoulder. "I knew she picked you for a reason."
Danny is the worst at lying to Victoria, but Amber is such an expert at it that the plan goes well. She manages to convince Victoria to spend a few hours away from her husband-to-be. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," she quips, and Victoria just laughs at her, calling her an amalgamation cheesy and corny.
Much later, towards the end of their foot spa session, Amber asks, "Did you ever tell Danny?"
"Did I tell him about what?"
Amber holds her breath the way Victoria holds the eye contact. She bites the inside of her cheek. About us and what we had or what we could have had, she wants to say, but nothing ever happened between them. They were just bandmates who were probably a bit too fond of each other. They didn't kiss behind the curtains or in between breaks, nor did they have silly escapades as they traveled from one country to another. They didn't say to each other, "I love you," or even, "I like you," but Amber thought Victoria was beautiful and breath-taking in a way she can never be, and she hated it, so she ruined Victoria by feeling something for her and trying to make Victoria return her feelings.
But nothing ever happened between them, really, so she stares and waits for the right words to come to her, to spill from her lips as she chokes. "The disbandment. Everything."
"Ah." Victoria laughs a little. "Well, he knows what everyone knows. We disbanded because we were a flop and because Krystal was suffering the worst back ailment-"
"And f(x) won't be the same without baby Jung," Amber finishes. She can feel the laughter creeping up her throat again. "Yeah. Of course."
Victoria nods, then smiles, then sinks back in her seat. She closes her eyes. Amber follows suit and relishes the feeling of laughter tickling her lungs, pushes the voice screaming Victoria Victoria Victoria at the back of her mind.
And then, the bachelorette party happens.
As per Krystal's request, they hold it in a bar. Krystal has enough connections and enough things to blackmail Kibum with, so they manage to book a bar for the whole night. It's too big for a group of seven, but surprisingly small enough when Victoria finally arrives, donning a little black dress.
Amber downs her Mojito all too quickly and it goes down the wrong pipe.
There is no set program. Amber isn't fond of plans and, luckily, Victoria isn't, either. So they bump into each other on their way to the comfort room and Victoria stumbles a little, her heels betraying her. "Exactly how much alcohol have you had?" Amber asks, still perfectly sober, and Victoria giggles for the next ten seconds before coming up with an answer.
"Just enough." And then, after a while, "I should have more-"
Victoria stumbles a second time and yanks Amber by the wrist, pulling her along. Amber closes her eyes. She expects to feel cool tiles on her skin, expects to hear collective gasping and the club music coming to a very abrupt halt, but none of these - she lands in Victoria's arms and her face is somewhere between Victoria's own and a pinch of self-restraint.
Victoria laughs and Amber notices they're too close. She laughs a little, and the muffled sound she makes tells her that Victoria's lips are on hers, and that they're kissing, and that, in the few seconds that Victoria has let her guard down, things are changing. She tries pushing Victoria away, but her hands are shaking, and it's too cold, and suddenly she can feel the tiles on her skin.
Amber takes a deep breath. Anything can happen.
a. The lights go out completely. In the background, Amber can hear Krystal panicking, asking, "What the hell is happening? Why is everyone screwing up?" She should be one going ballistic about the blackout. She should be on top of things but right now, she's on top of Victoria.
"Just one more drink-"
"Victoria, stop it-"
They kiss again. And again. And again. Ten minutes later, the lights turn back on and Amber's sitting on the couch at the far end of the bar, with Victoria resting her head on Amber's shoulder.
The morning after, Victoria calls the wedding off without giving a reason and leaves, doesn't even bother to bring her phone with her. She specifically tells Danny to not follow her and that, "I just… need some time alone." Only a week after does Victoria resurface, this time in Canada, on Amber's doorstep, saying, "Can I stay over?"
It's seven in the morning, too early to put up a fight, so Amber just nods.
Victoria never really leaves.
- - -
b. "What the- Amber!"
Amber scampers away from the scene, leaving a half-drunk, half-giggling Victoria leaning against the wall. "I'm sorry, I-" She struggles with words for a while, biting the inside of her cheek, and she tears her gaze from Krystal, unable to take the disappointment in Krystal's eyes.
"I'll take care of this. You take care of the party."
Amber nods. She watches as Krystal and Victoria's figures fade into the distance and lets the heavy beats consume her, drowning out the heavy pounding in her chest.
The wedding is a success.
- - -
c. "Vic- Unnie, stop it, please-"
"Amber?"
Krystal rushes to where they are and suddenly Amber's back on her feet, and she's helping Victoria get up, and she's whispering, this didn't happen, just forget what happened. "I'll get you some water," Amber says after a while, and she doesn't return until five minutes later, when she can finally feel her lips again to say, "That was a mistake."
Victoria nods slowly and takes a sip of her water. "You're right.
Everything was a mistake."
"Maybe I should just call off the wedding."
"Maybe you're being irrational and impulsive. Don't be silly. It's obvious that you love him and that he loves you."
"But the kiss- Amber, we-"
"Are going to attend your wedding tomorrow, and Danny will be watching you walk down the aisle, and you're going to be the perfect wife."
Victoria smiles weakly. Her eyes are perking up, and she no longer smells of alcohol. "You think so?"
Amber nods. Maybe she should have taken more shots or drank more alcohol. "I know so."
Victoria panics a little when the wedding march begins, but it doesn't show when she starts walking down the aisle. Amber's breath hitches a bit when Victoria looks up. There's a shy smile on her lips and uncertainty in the way she furrows her eyebrows, and Victoria is beautiful and possibly everything that Amber can ever want in life.
Beside her, she hears Danny sob a little, so she reaches for his hand.
"Hey. You'll be a great husband, don't worry."
Danny laughs a little. "It's forgetting my lines that I'm more worried about."
Amber smiles. Victoria and Danny would make the perfect couple. They really would.
* * *
Amber gets a call at around three in the morning. She feels around for her phone, eyes still half-lidded and heavy, and mumbles when she finally takes the call. "There's got to be a good reason for this," she says, and she hears familiar laughter at the other end of the line.
"Do you think you can fly back to China to see your goddaughter?"
"You really have to call me so early in the morning just for this."
"Of course."
Amber laughs and shakes her head. She makes a mental note, anyway - download the e-ticket Victoria has probably sent her already, demand retribution from Victoria, kidnap the cute little kid for a week and maybe keep her forever.
"Fine. Whatever. I accept payment in cash and in coffee."
Some static on the other end of the line, then Victoria and Danny's voices blare in her ears.
"You're the best!"
Amber/Victoria. PG-13. 2.9k words.
Victoria is getting married, and Amber is the maid of honor. In between, there are a few hiccups.
→ For kpop_olymfics! Thank you so much, Team Future, for the amazing experience c:
us against the world
Amber certainly doesn't expect to get the call. It's five in the afternoon where she is and God knows what time it is in China. More than that, overseas calls are bloody expensive, so she isn't really expecting to hear Victoria's voice on the other end of the line, saying, "I'm getting married in a week. Please be my maid of honor?"
"Why me?"
Victoria chuckles. She probably doesn't want to go through this, but she replies, anyway. "Because you're the best one for the job."
Then it dawns upon Amber - Jinri's inability to keep a straight face during formal ceremonies, Krystal and Sunyoung possibly getting enlisted to sing during the ceremony. It's not that Amber is the one who fits the job description the best; there's no one left to do it but her.
"Don't you have other friends?"
"This is an overseas call, you know-"
"Yeah, but-" Amber exhales into the receiver. "Do I really have to do this?"
There is silence for a while. Amber anticipates Victoria's reply, a statement dripping of pure hero-worship befitting of the moment, a curl at the edge of Victoria's lips, and that distinct lilt in Victoria's voice. "Please?"
She shuts her eyes tight, throws her head back, then gestures for the waiter to refill her glass with water before finally giving her answer.
"Fine. I'll do it."
Amber's discomfort does not stem from the fact that she has to travel so many miles just to get to China. She doesn't mind the long hours and the sore limbs; it's going back home that makes her feel uneasy in her own skin. She hasn't been in touch with any of the f(x) members since they disbanded four years ago, save for Krystal who has made it a point to give her a blow-by-blow account of her daily activities. And then there's Henry and Kris constantly bugging her on Viber. And Kibum's Instagram follow requests.
She's stuffing the last of her clothes in her luggage when her phone sounds off. A notification for a tweet comes in and, even at first glance, she can already tell that it's from Jinki. "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire! Amber! Ember!" it says, and a notification for a picture of Jonghyun attempting to cook barbecue comes in not too long after.
"Lol oppa see u," she types really quickly, then slips her phone in her pocket.
And then, an influx of messages and notifications.
To an extent, she misses the attention, being surrounded with people. When she was much younger, she used to use Kibum's name to get great shopping bargains; nowadays, she uses Amber Josephine Liu, signs above her name in black ink, and doesn't even get a 5% discount. She hands over her e-ticket and checks in her luggage like normal, non-idol people do. She also picks out goodies to bring to China on her own - unusually-colored nail polish for Sunyoung, a nice scarf for Jinri, an Elizabeth Kostova book for Krystal, and stories for Victoria.
"You didn't get her anything," Krystal says, more like a declarative statement than an interrogative one. "Are you stupid or are you stupid?"
"Not much of a choice there, no?"
"I mean-"
The PA system goes off and Amber quickly excuses herself. "See you," she says, then ends the call, ignores the other notifications on her screen, and sinks in her seat once she has already settled in the plane.
She fastens her seatbelt, then takes out a tiny notebook containing notes and letters, all addressed to Victoria.
* * *
The trip to China has got to be the longest fifteen hours of Amber's life. Toiling with games hasn't helped calm her nerves, though successfully clearing several levels in Coffee Press took her mind off things for a while. She spends the last two hours trying to sleep. A hundred and twenty sheep after, she gives up. As if on cue, a flight attendant announces that they'll be landing in a few minutes. Saved by the PA system yet again.
She isn't expecting fanfare, nor a pool of over-enthusiastic fans, but she looks around for a signage with her name on it. Some frantic jumping to her far right, and she finally spots Kibum, Krystal, and Victoria.
She gulps down hard.
"Amber Josephine Liu," Kibum begins, eyeing her from head to toe as if judging her choice of an outfit for the flight, then continues, "the nerve you have to come back here." He's smiling, and so are Krystal and Victoria, so Amber holds out her arms in a hug and Kibum indulges all too eagerly.
Krystal ruffles her hair, and Victoria just smiles.
Kibum and Krystal leave Amber with Victoria not too long after, using wedding preparations as an excuse. Amber doesn't even bother to argue with them, simply resigns herself to drawing figures on her latte foam, wondering if the coffee can swallow her whole.
"So, how was Canada," Victoria begins. There's a tentative question at the curl of her lips. "How've you been?"
Canada's still Canada, she wants to say. Years back, she probably would have, but she's older now and living alone, far from her friends and away from the perils of an idol life, has changed her. A lot. She favors books over games now, although she still keeps replaying Zelda and Pokemon. Her hair now stretches past her shoulders and she has discarded baggy pants in favor of colorful skinny jeans. Tanks tops have become a staple in her wardrobe. She fucking wears nails art now. "Different," Amber replies, sudden, unceremonious. "I mean, I'm good, but I've changed."
"I can see that."
Amber blows a circle into the foam. "Wow, thanks."
"I mean-" Victoria leans in, reaches over, and tucks a few stray strands of hair behind Amber's ear. There's a hitch in Amber's breathing. "I like it. It suits you well," Victoria continues.
Amber nods, laughs a little, the pull at the corner of her lips feeling a bit awkward, maybe even uncalled for. "Thanks," she replies before taking a sip of her coffee. It's still hot. "I really mean it."
"And I really meant it when I said I like your new look."
Amber takes another sip. It burns her tongue. She never learns.
With only a few days left until the wedding, Amber tries her best to come off as at least a passable maid of honor. Victoria introduces her to the bridesmaids, most of them friends Victoria met while participating in musicals. Jinri's in the roster, much to Amber's amusement, and Amber makes a mental note to make funny faces during the ceremony if only to make Jinri laugh out loud and go ballistic.
"I know what you're thinking - I probably shouldn't have made Jinri a bridesmaid."
Amber chuckles. "What? I think it's perfect. Best idea ever."
Victoria narrows her eyes a bit, then waves Amber off.
Later in the morning, she finalizes the list for the bridal registry and makes sure to contact the sponsors about the news. Krystal tells her to lay off the logistics of the wedding itself and to just leave it to, "my and Kibum's expert hands," and Amber just laughs, slapping Krystal on the arm just lightly.
"You have very little faith in me!"
Amber shakes her head. "Nope. I have no faith in you at all. Get it right, Jung."
Krystal instructs her to take care of the bachelorette party, instead.
She finally meets the groom over lunch. "He prefers to be called Danny," Victoria says, laughing a little. "We met two years ago. The ballet musical, remember?" Victoria continues, then rushes, "Oh, sorry, I wasn't able to invite you-"
"Barbie and The Nutcracker, a modern adaptation." Amber bites back the bitterness threatening to fall from her lips. "Krys told me about it. And it was all over the news."
"You never miss out, don't you?"
Amber just smiles.
Before leaving the restaurant, Victoria excuses herself to go to the restroom. Danny watches as Victoria walks off and moves to the seat next to Amber. "I'm planning to get her these ballet shoes she's been eyeing for a while already," he tells Amber, whispering. "Can you distract her for a while? Make sure she doesn't find out?"
Amber grins. Her fangs are showing; Danny should be warned. "Yeah, sure. I'll just… take her to a spa or something."
"Thanks." Danny gives her a light pat on the shoulder. "I knew she picked you for a reason."
Danny is the worst at lying to Victoria, but Amber is such an expert at it that the plan goes well. She manages to convince Victoria to spend a few hours away from her husband-to-be. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," she quips, and Victoria just laughs at her, calling her an amalgamation cheesy and corny.
Much later, towards the end of their foot spa session, Amber asks, "Did you ever tell Danny?"
"Did I tell him about what?"
Amber holds her breath the way Victoria holds the eye contact. She bites the inside of her cheek. About us and what we had or what we could have had, she wants to say, but nothing ever happened between them. They were just bandmates who were probably a bit too fond of each other. They didn't kiss behind the curtains or in between breaks, nor did they have silly escapades as they traveled from one country to another. They didn't say to each other, "I love you," or even, "I like you," but Amber thought Victoria was beautiful and breath-taking in a way she can never be, and she hated it, so she ruined Victoria by feeling something for her and trying to make Victoria return her feelings.
But nothing ever happened between them, really, so she stares and waits for the right words to come to her, to spill from her lips as she chokes. "The disbandment. Everything."
"Ah." Victoria laughs a little. "Well, he knows what everyone knows. We disbanded because we were a flop and because Krystal was suffering the worst back ailment-"
"And f(x) won't be the same without baby Jung," Amber finishes. She can feel the laughter creeping up her throat again. "Yeah. Of course."
Victoria nods, then smiles, then sinks back in her seat. She closes her eyes. Amber follows suit and relishes the feeling of laughter tickling her lungs, pushes the voice screaming Victoria Victoria Victoria at the back of her mind.
And then, the bachelorette party happens.
As per Krystal's request, they hold it in a bar. Krystal has enough connections and enough things to blackmail Kibum with, so they manage to book a bar for the whole night. It's too big for a group of seven, but surprisingly small enough when Victoria finally arrives, donning a little black dress.
Amber downs her Mojito all too quickly and it goes down the wrong pipe.
There is no set program. Amber isn't fond of plans and, luckily, Victoria isn't, either. So they bump into each other on their way to the comfort room and Victoria stumbles a little, her heels betraying her. "Exactly how much alcohol have you had?" Amber asks, still perfectly sober, and Victoria giggles for the next ten seconds before coming up with an answer.
"Just enough." And then, after a while, "I should have more-"
Victoria stumbles a second time and yanks Amber by the wrist, pulling her along. Amber closes her eyes. She expects to feel cool tiles on her skin, expects to hear collective gasping and the club music coming to a very abrupt halt, but none of these - she lands in Victoria's arms and her face is somewhere between Victoria's own and a pinch of self-restraint.
Victoria laughs and Amber notices they're too close. She laughs a little, and the muffled sound she makes tells her that Victoria's lips are on hers, and that they're kissing, and that, in the few seconds that Victoria has let her guard down, things are changing. She tries pushing Victoria away, but her hands are shaking, and it's too cold, and suddenly she can feel the tiles on her skin.
Amber takes a deep breath. Anything can happen.
a. The lights go out completely. In the background, Amber can hear Krystal panicking, asking, "What the hell is happening? Why is everyone screwing up?" She should be one going ballistic about the blackout. She should be on top of things but right now, she's on top of Victoria.
"Just one more drink-"
"Victoria, stop it-"
They kiss again. And again. And again. Ten minutes later, the lights turn back on and Amber's sitting on the couch at the far end of the bar, with Victoria resting her head on Amber's shoulder.
The morning after, Victoria calls the wedding off without giving a reason and leaves, doesn't even bother to bring her phone with her. She specifically tells Danny to not follow her and that, "I just… need some time alone." Only a week after does Victoria resurface, this time in Canada, on Amber's doorstep, saying, "Can I stay over?"
It's seven in the morning, too early to put up a fight, so Amber just nods.
Victoria never really leaves.
- - -
b. "What the- Amber!"
Amber scampers away from the scene, leaving a half-drunk, half-giggling Victoria leaning against the wall. "I'm sorry, I-" She struggles with words for a while, biting the inside of her cheek, and she tears her gaze from Krystal, unable to take the disappointment in Krystal's eyes.
"I'll take care of this. You take care of the party."
Amber nods. She watches as Krystal and Victoria's figures fade into the distance and lets the heavy beats consume her, drowning out the heavy pounding in her chest.
The wedding is a success.
- - -
c. "Vic- Unnie, stop it, please-"
"Amber?"
Krystal rushes to where they are and suddenly Amber's back on her feet, and she's helping Victoria get up, and she's whispering, this didn't happen, just forget what happened. "I'll get you some water," Amber says after a while, and she doesn't return until five minutes later, when she can finally feel her lips again to say, "That was a mistake."
Victoria nods slowly and takes a sip of her water. "You're right.
Everything was a mistake."
"Maybe I should just call off the wedding."
"Maybe you're being irrational and impulsive. Don't be silly. It's obvious that you love him and that he loves you."
"But the kiss- Amber, we-"
"Are going to attend your wedding tomorrow, and Danny will be watching you walk down the aisle, and you're going to be the perfect wife."
Victoria smiles weakly. Her eyes are perking up, and she no longer smells of alcohol. "You think so?"
Amber nods. Maybe she should have taken more shots or drank more alcohol. "I know so."
Victoria panics a little when the wedding march begins, but it doesn't show when she starts walking down the aisle. Amber's breath hitches a bit when Victoria looks up. There's a shy smile on her lips and uncertainty in the way she furrows her eyebrows, and Victoria is beautiful and possibly everything that Amber can ever want in life.
Beside her, she hears Danny sob a little, so she reaches for his hand.
"Hey. You'll be a great husband, don't worry."
Danny laughs a little. "It's forgetting my lines that I'm more worried about."
Amber smiles. Victoria and Danny would make the perfect couple. They really would.
* * *
Amber gets a call at around three in the morning. She feels around for her phone, eyes still half-lidded and heavy, and mumbles when she finally takes the call. "There's got to be a good reason for this," she says, and she hears familiar laughter at the other end of the line.
"Do you think you can fly back to China to see your goddaughter?"
"You really have to call me so early in the morning just for this."
"Of course."
Amber laughs and shakes her head. She makes a mental note, anyway - download the e-ticket Victoria has probably sent her already, demand retribution from Victoria, kidnap the cute little kid for a week and maybe keep her forever.
"Fine. Whatever. I accept payment in cash and in coffee."
Some static on the other end of the line, then Victoria and Danny's voices blare in her ears.
"You're the best!"