There were so many things that Amber wanted show the world about Krystal. From her adorable little habits to her warm and generous heart, Amber wanted everyone to see the Krystal that she got to see and to love Krystal the way she loved Krystal. But at the same time, Amber wanted to keep Krystal all to herself.
On Sunday following the SMTOWN Live V concerts in Osaka, no one noticed Amber sneak into Krystal's hotel room late at night. Krystal's roommate, Luna, remained asleep as Amber used a spare key card to enter and rouse her slumbering girlfriend.
Under the faint glow from Krystal's cell phone as she checked the time, Amber smiled at Krystal with affection as Krystal groggily tried to comprehend the situation.
"It's 11pm and you want to film my music video part now?" Krystal whispered, repeating back the scenario that Amber had just explained.
"Only if you're interested," Amber clarified. "Yours is the only part left to film and I feel like I'm running out of time to finish this. I know we planned to film it tomorrow, but can we do it now?" SM had already prepared a music video for f(x)'s "All Mine", but Amber had a last minute idea for the video and barely less than a week to turn an idea into reality. "Please?" Amber added sweetly, sensing her girlfriend's reluctance to get out of bed.
Krystal cast the older girl a sleepy yet exasperated look. Without another word, she got out of bed, quietly grabbed her makeup bag and phone, and led Amber out of the dark hotel room by the hand. Only after they exited the room, with Luna still sound asleep within, did Krystal speak again.
"Stupid, how am I supposed to say no if you ask me nicely like that? Let's go film the music video."
Amber smiled and squeezed Krystal's hand tightly. "You're awesome, you know that?"
Krystal returned the smile faintly, the only hint of acknowledgement that the embarrassed, young girl could offer, and then began to walk towards Amber's room. "Come on, I'll do my makeup in your room."
In less than thirty minutes, Krystal and Amber made their way to the spacious parking garage of the hotel and began to film. Their only company was an elderly night shift guard who kindly gave them permission to film, and then showed no interest in what the couple was doing. Armed with a camera and a cell phone playing "All Mine", Amber was ready to capture what would likely be the most popular scenes from f(x)'s newest music video.
"Come on, work it for the camera," Amber called out to Krystal. From opposite sides of the camera, cinematographer Amber Liu held hands with idol Krystal Jung to give the illusion that idol was holding the camera on her own. Krystal danced energetically while lip syncing to the music. But as hard as Krystal was working, Krystal's shy awkwardness was apparent on camera.
"Cut, cut," the older girl announced, gently pulling the camera out of Krystal's hands. She replayed the last bit of filming for Krystal, pointing out the awkwardness to the younger girl. "You've gotta loosen up a little bit and have some fun!"
"But it's so embarrassing," Krystal laughed shyly, covering her face with her hair. "It'd be easier to act silly and stuff if you or Luna-unnie or Vic-unnie were doing it with me."
"We are all doing it with you. Just not at the same time," Amber joked. She had already explained her vision for the 'All Mine' music video with the members, which had each member filming solo and then combining all four streams at once. "And if you recall, you nearly blew my eardrum when you interrupted my filming earlier," she teased. "Now come on, let's try again," Amber encouraged, lifting up the camera.
Krystal continued to cover her face with her hair. "No seriously," she giggled, "I really can't do this!"
Amber eyed her shy girlfriend with amusement. "Is laughing and dancing in front of a camera really that embarrassing to you? More embarrassing than wearing Minnie Mouse slippers in public?"
The younger girl looked down at her feet and glared back at Amber playfully. "Hey! I like these slippers. I think they're cute!" she retorted. On top of being her honest opinion, this was the footwear that Krystal had been wearing when she snuck out hotel room earlier, and subsequently the only footwear she had available for this music video shoot.
"And what about your shirt?" Amber asked.
"What about it?" Krystal shot back, looking down at the white and red t-shirt she had recently purchased for Amber. Again, since Krystal had not taken much with her when she left her hotel room, her wardrobe options were limited to the contents of Amber's suitcase. "You said you liked this when I gave it to you."
"I do like it," the older girl agreed. "But wearing your secret girlfriend's clothing in public? I find it suspicious that you're not embarrassed by that either. Do you really know what it means to be embarrassed, Jung Soojung?" Amber asked cheekily.
Krystal's smirked and narrowed her glare dangerously. She slowly approached Amber in her Minnie Mouse slippers so that their faces were mere inches apart. In her most dangerous voice, she asked the older girl, "Are you trying to mess with me, Amber Josephine Liu?"
Amber leaned forward and placed a quick and fearless kiss on Krystal's lips. "Yes I am, but only to bring out that sassy confidence of yours," she smiled triumphantly, seeing that her plan had worked. "Now come on, let's take it again from the top while you're still feeling dangerous!"
Just as Amber had predicted, Krystal's confidence came out best when Amber teased her. Whenever Krystal felt stupid or embarrassed in front of the camera, a verbal poke from Amber brought out her sassy streak again. Before long, Krystal had shown a dozen different sides of herself that Amber was eager to share with their precious MeU. This was not f(x)'s ice princess Krystal Jung. It was bubbly Soojung, sassy Soojung, hair-flipping, finger-pointing, lip-biting, crazy-bouncing, finger-heart-shooting, on-top-of-a-traffic-cone-dancing Jung Soojung in all her glory.
As Amber held Krystal's hands while they spun in a circle with the camera between them, Amber was awestruck by how radiant Krystal looked on video. Krystal was smiling brightly for their music video, but Amber couldn't help but arrogantly think, even as the younger girl stared directly into the camera lens, that Krystal was really smiling brightly just for her. Whenever Amber thought of Krystal like this, Amber felt like she was selfishly stealing Krystal away from the rest of the world. The young woman before her was not the world's Krystal Jung; she was really Jung Soojung, her Jung Soojung, and the thought made Amber both happy and guilty.
Without warning, Amber dropped the camera and it fell towards the ground, catching on the strap around Amber's arm until it dangled back and forth between them.
"What are you doing?" Krystal wondered with a curious smile, lowering her hands which were still clasped with Amber's. The older girl answered her question by pulling Krystal toward her and gently pressing her lips against Krystal's in a kiss. Startled, the younger girl pulled back at first. But the surprise quickly melted into affection and they both leaned fully into a second kiss. It was sweet and heated and more intense than was safe for them in public even though they were alone in an empty parking garage save for the disinterested security guard that was fighting off sleep in the background.
When they broke the kiss at last, a breathless Krystal pulled away and rested her head in the crook of Amber's neck.
"Seriously, what are you doing?" Krystal asked with a gentle smile.
Amber said nothing and held Krystal close. She loved Krystal with all her heart. Without a doubt, Krystal was the most important person to her in the world. One day she wanted to marry Krystal and to have a family with her, and the thoughts of wanting Krystal were so intense sometimes that Amber couldn't help herself.
What was she doing right now? If Amber were to answer truthfully, she was trying to make Krystal all hers in that moment.
"I just felt like kissing you," Amber responded, not quite lying but not quite revealing the motivation behind her actions just now. "Is that a crime?"
Krystal shook her head. "No, I just didn't realize you loved me so much. I guess I'm pretty special, huh?" she teased.
Amber smiled, not wanting to take the bait and offer Krystal the praise she clearly wanted. After all, mildang was their specialty.
"You? Special?" Amber scoffed nonchalantly. She let go of the younger girl. "Yeah, right."
Still full of sassy confidence, Krystal turned her head for a whisper, letting her breath tickle Amber's ear gently. "You really don't think I'm special?"
Amber flinched and pulled back shyly. She took one look into Krystal's playful glare and was instantly forced to tell the truth, forgetting her plan to mildang. "You're always special," she stammered, much to Krystal's delight.
The younger girl's eyes lit up and she began to jump around happily. "I'm so special! I'm so special!" she sang.
"Not really! Amber shouted back, but it was too late. "Never mind!"
Leading the way back into the hotel, a cheerful Krystal would not let it go that Amber had called her special. And even though Amber had lost in that round of mildang, her heart swelled with love as she watched Krystal teasing her over the "victory", and she decided that she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Author's Note: Today's the one year anniversary of All Mine! It's totally a coincidence, but what perfect timing. :)
Sorry for the long gap in updates. Work has been killer lately. >< I'm only 5 chapters from the end though. Not sure when I'll update again, but I won't stop until I'm done. :)
Connections To Reality:
Amber had less than a week to film "All Mine" during SMTOWN LIVE V in Osaka. And her ears were ringing after Krystal yelled into her ear at the start of the video. :)
http://www.fuse.tv/2016/08/amber-kcon-2016-la-interview-fx-solo-projects
Amber filmed Krystal's "All Mine" cut at night. Amber working on MV late at night.
http://www.kcon.tv/media/HJqrfBYK (at 8:02)
Krystal wore Minnie Mouse slippers during "All Mine":
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=82
Krystal wore Amber's t-shirt during "All Mine":
http://oi67.tinypic.com/1440fo9.jpg
Bubbly Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=133
Sassy Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=151
Hair-flipping Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=174
Finger-pointing Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=196
Lip-biting Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=73
Crazy-bouncing Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=69
Finger-heart-shooting Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=97
On-top-of-a-traffic-cone-dancing Soojung:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=82
Amber (assumed to be) spinning Krystal while shooting the MV:
https://youtu.be/Z0S3knWIdrY?t=30
Amber called Krystal special. ...and they tried to take it back. :)
https://twitter.com/Ahntahee/status/886069309381816320
All Mine MV released on July 21:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0S3knWIdrY
Also, I tried to include this Kryber moment but I just couldn't fit it into the story. Oh well. :( But since it's too good to just ignore completely, please make sure to watch the "Kryber Wedding" moment that happened at the start of the SMTOWN Tokyo on August 13, 2016!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8ZXmBcNAYY