“Are you sure that I can’t help with anything?”

                  “Yeah, just go relax with Yuri and Tiffany.”

                  Sooyoung smiled and nodded before she left the kitchen to Taeyeon and Hyoyeon. The two older women were bonding through their love for cooking, their blonde hair, and shortness. Sooyoung had no choice but leave them to the meal preparation and return to the living room, where Tiffany was watching Yuri like a hawk. Sooyoung sighed softly as she watched Yuri coolly flipping through some of Sooyoung’s CDs while Tiffany silently observed her.

                  Sooyoung cleared her throated and smiled when Tiffany looked up to her. “What’s so interesting?” She knew the answer.

                  “Oh, I was just watching Yuri-ssi. She’s very pretty.” Tiffany moved over so Sooyoung could sit down on the sofa. When Yuri heard that, she turned back and politely smiled at Tiffany.

                  Tiffany replied with a cordial smile as well. Their interaction seemed a bit forced to Sooyoung. She nodded and sat down beside Tiffany.

                  “Don’t let Taeyeon-unni hear that.” Sooyoung joked.

                  “Don’t let me hear what?” Taeyeon narrowed her eyes at Sooyoung, she heard her name since the kitchen was not far away and she was paying attention to the atmosphere in the living room.

                  “Nothing, Taetae.” “Nothing, unni.” Tiffany and Sooyoung replied at the same time before giggling at their timing.

                  Yuri put a contemporary CD into the player and soon a soft melody provided a relaxing backdrop to the ongoing conversation. She came back and sat beside Sooyoung on the sofa. Tiffany scooted all the way to one end to make room for them.

                  “Lana Del Rey?” Tiffany asked after she quietly listened to the low toned tune.

                  “Uh huh.” Yuri smiled. “I don’t usually listen to contemporary, but I fell in love with her voice when I was overseas.”

                  “Hmm.” Sooyoung listened and nodded. “She has a beautiful voice …”

                  “Her songs are a bit sad, not quite the celebration music.” Tiffany finished Sooyoung’s thoughts.

                  “I guess you’re right.” Yuri lowered her gaze and Sooyoung gently rubbed her back comfortingly. “I’ll change to something more lively.” Yuri looked up and reclaimed her smile.

                  “It’s okay, let me do it.” Tiffany hopped onto her feet and took her turn to peruse through Sooyoung’s CDs.

                  “I’m sorry.” Yuri softly apologized.

                  Sooyoung nodded understandingly and tucked Yuri’s hair behind her ear. She looked around carefully and lowered her voice. “Let’s listen to that CD later.”

                  “Okay.” Yuri relaxed her face, which had become tense.  A smile quickly followed. She lost herself in Sooyoung’s warm eyes until Tiffany came back.

                  “So, how is this?” Tiffany’s voice pulled the two’s focus away from each other.

                  “Justin Bieber?!” Sooyoung scowled. “That’s not one of my CDs!”

                  “Well it was in your CD rack …” Tiffany’s eyebrows rose and she held up the CD case.

                  “Oh, that’s mine. I’m sorry, I left it here.” Yuri laughed while Sooyoung hopped onto her feet.

                  “We’re going to listen to real music.” Sooyoung took the CD case away from Tiffany and quickly changed the music.

                  After a while, a familiar tune started and from the kitchen, Hyoyeon yelped. “Oooooh yeeeeaaaaah!” She started to dance in place, marking the kitchen as her temporary dance floor. Taeyeon was caught up in the energy and started to wiggle her body too.

                  “Shinhwa?” Tiffany laughed. “This CD is old!”

                  Yuri was laughing at Hyoyeon’s outrageous dance moves that involved various kitchen appliances.

                  Sooyoung was in the middle of dancing to “Hey, Come On!” when the doorbell rang. “Oldies are goodies.” She replied to Tiffany as she trotted to the front door.

                  Yuri watched Sooyoung for a second before she turned and politely smiled at Tiffany. They were awkward with each other since she knew that Tiffany was a friend of Jessica. As far as she could tell, Tiffany disliked her and that made their interaction awkward.

                  “So how long have you known Sooyoung?” Tiffany asked, as if she was interviewing Yuri for future daughter-in-law.

                  “About three years …” Yuri recounted, she was about to continue when a commotion at the door called her attention.

                  At first, they heard Sooyoung say “O-Oppa?” and then a loud “Yah!” followed it! Then Sooyoung’s voice cried out in pain “Ahhh!” and lastly, a soft voice said, “Calm down, yeobo. Breathe! Count to ten … ouch! Don’t hurt me!”

                  Yuri and Tiffany looked at each other; they were about to rush to the door when Sooyoung started hobbling in on one foot. She had a pained expression on her face. Just a second later, a pair of girls came in. First was a short girl with short blonde hair, who was scowling. Then there was a meek looking girl with long brown hair, who was rubbing her arm and pouting.

                  “This is … Sunny, my cousin.” Sooyoung leaned away from Sunny, who was giving her a sharp look. “And this is Hyomin, Sunny’s girlfriend.”

                  “Hi, I’m Sunny, this jerk’s cousin.” Sunny waved to everyone, while they stared at her in awed.

                  Hyomin nodded slightly and stood behind Sunny. “Hi, I’m Hyomin.”

                  “Hello.” They all replied in unison while curiously staring at the people who made quite an entrance.

                  “Don’t you think this haircut makes her look a bit boyish?” Sooyoung jerked her thumb toward Sunny, who gave her a death glare. “I’m just polling their opinion.”

                  Hyoyeon and Taeyeon exchanged glances before they looked at Sooyoung. “No comment.” They then pretended to be busy cooking. Sooyoung turned to look at Yuri and Tiffany, but they avoid her gaze and pretended to be discussing the Shinhwa’s anniversary concert. They did not want to get hurt by Sunny, after seeing what she did to Sooyoung and Hyomin.

                  “Cowards!” Sooyoung growled before she yelped in pain. Sunny had kicked her shin again. “Watch out, I’m injured. Can’t you see?”

                  Sunny looked at Sooyoung’s bandaged head and casted arm before she blinked. “What happened to you? Did you get into a bar fight or something?”

                  “Do you need me to arrest someone?” Hyomin looked Sooyoung up and down. “Or …”

                  “No! Don’t arrest me.” Sooyoung stopped Hyomin before she could continue. “It was an accident.” She quickly glanced at Yuri for help and got a blink in response.

                  “She was in a fight.” Yuri’s answer caused Sooyoung’s eyes to widen. “She fought for my honor. Some jerk wanted to harm me and she stopped them.” Yuri stood up and walked to Sooyoung’s side. They looked into each other’s eyes once again and smiled.

                  Sunny looked between the two and nodded. “And you are …?”

                  “Kwon Yuri, nice to meet you, Sunny-ssi.” Yuri tore her attention from Sooyoung and extended her hand toward Sunny. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

                  “Nice to meet you, too.” Sunny smiled and shook Yuri’s hand. “You are Sooyoung’s …” She had not heard about Yuri from Sooyoung before.

                  Yuri quickly glanced at Sooyoung before she ruefully smiled. “Coworker.”

                  “And bestfriend.” Sooyoung added instantly. She rarely spoke about her work and friends to Sunny, so she did not want Yuri to feel unimportant.

                  Sunny studied the two younger women and nodded. “Let me see you.” She inspected Sooyoung like an overprotective mother. “You are too old to be getting into fights, Soo.”

                  Sooyoung chuckled and ruffled Sunny’s blonde hair. “I know. I’ll try to stop … but you should know, Taeyeon and I got to know each other better after a fight.” She pointed to Taeyeon, who looked like a dear in headlights.

                  “Uh … that was a misunderstanding!” Taeyeon smiled nervously, not wanting to be kicked in the shin by the tough-looking Sunny.

                  “I saw it all! Taeyeon even threw up in my car afterward!” Hyoyeon chirped in.

                  “Yah! Nobody asked you to be the witness.” Taeyeon protested.

                  “They were fighting over me!” Tiffany added with a hint of pride in her smile.

                  Sooyoung rolled her eyes while Yuri looked confused. “I’ll tell you later.” She was starting to regret inviting these weird people into her home.

                  Sunny chuckled; she felt comfortable with these people already. “Hyomin, I’ll be joining …” she looked at Hyoyeon and Taeyeon in the kitchen. The two women nervously looked back at her, they did not know how they feel about having a violent person in the kitchen. Nevertheless, they told her their names and invited her into their workspace. Together, the danshin group worked to make food.

                  Hyomin was left with Yuri and Sooyoung, who were smiling and blushing at each other. She noticed a girl, in the living room, who was staring at Yuri and Sooyoung. Sighing, she made her way to the living room and wondered why she agreed to come to this party full of weirdoes.

                  “Hyomin, this is Tiffany, one of my friends from high school.” Sooyoung took up her role as host again and introduced the two women.

                  “Nice to meet you.” Tiffany flashed one of her famous eye-smiles. Hyomin was charmed for a moment and smiled in return. “Nice to meet you, too.”

                  Hyomin sat down on an armchair next to the sofa while she looked around Sooyoung’s place. She had never been inside the apartment before. Her gaze lingered at the wall that was mostly covered with photos of Yuri and Sooyoung. She was puzzled by their relationship, but she did not want to ask, fearing to be drawn into something too complicated for her to understand.

                  “So Hyomin, would you like something to drink?” Sooyoung inquired.

                  “I’m okay, thanks.” Hyomin smiled. She was not a great conversationalist and usually blended into the background when she had to go to gatherings with strangers. That was why she was called “Wallflower” when she was in school. She was more talkative once she got to know people better. No one knew how she managed to become a decent detective with that personality of hers.

                  “So where’s Jiyeon?” Sooyoung politely asked about the little she-devil. She tried to engage Hyomin in conversation.

                  “She’s on a date.” Hyomin replied without adding any more detail.

                  Sooyoung stared at her expectantly, wanting to hear more. “Jiyeon is Hyomin’s cousin, who is living with them.”

                  Yuri smiled and nodded, but wondered about all these people in Sooyoung’s lives. She did not know much about Sunny, and even less about Hyomin and Jiyeon. For someone who claimed to be Sooyoung’s bestfriend, she knew so little about the other people in Sooyoung’s life. She felt a sense of anxiety and threat brewed at the bottom of her stomach.

                  Hyomin was not speaking more about Jiyeon, so Sooyoung looked to Sunny instead.

                  Sunny felt Sooyoung’s eyes on her. “She’s on a date with Jieun from her class.”

                  “Oh.” Sooyoung nodded and was glad that Jiyeon found someone to focus her attention on. However, she felt sorry for this Jieun. That fox Jiyeon probably had Jieun wrapped around her pinky.

                  “How about we play a game?” Yuri spoke up after a break in conversation.

                  “Sure!” Tiffany happily agreed, despite not liking Yuri. She was loyal to Jessica, but she wanted to play something fun.

                  Yuri got up and opened the bottom cabinet of Sooyoung’s entertainment center. She pulled out several board games and placed them on the coffee table. “We have Monopoly, Life, Cranium, Jenga, Uno …” She rattled off a long list of names.

                  “Let’s play Monopoly, I haven’t played that in a while.” Tiffany clapped her hands. “It was back in high school, remember Sooyoung?”

                  Sooyoung blinked and tried to recall that memory.

                  “It was me, you, Soojin-unni, and Jessica.” Tiffany helpfully reminded Sooyoung.

                  As if Tiffany had mentioned a tabooed word, Sooyoung froze up before she looked at Yuri. Her gaze was met with a calm smile as Yuri set the game pieces on the table. Sunny looked out from the kitchen, studying her cousin’s sudden stiffness. Taeyeon shook her head at Tiffany, who looked back at her with a shrug. Tiffany half-intentionally mentioned Jessica’s name. She wanted to know how Sooyoung and Yuri would react. Hyomin and Hyoyeon were blissfully unaware of the motives under the surface.

                  “Ah, yes. That was quite long ago.” Sooyoung smiled slightly and then looked down at her lap as an uncomfortable feeling of guilt squeezed her heart.

                  Hyomin finally sensed the strange atmosphere and spoke. “How do you play Monopoly?”

                  That clueless question relieved the tension as Yuri smiled brightly. “You haven’t played Monopoly before?”

                  Hyomin shook her head.

                  “Ever?” Sooyoung blinked.

                  Hyomin shook her head again.

                  “How’s that possible? Everyone’s played Monopoly at least once!” Tiffany said incredulously.

                  Hyomin frowned. “Obviously not everyone.” She picked up a game piece and then the Monopoly money. “What do I do with these?”

                  “We’ll teach you, it’s really easy …” Yuri replied and started to explain the rules. Sooyoung and Tiffany added in some other details. Sometimes they would argue with each other on the appropriate rule.

                  Sunny smiled proudly at her girlfriend, who managed to diffuse the tension without even trying.

                  “So Sunny, what do you do?” Taeyeon asked. “Hyoyeon works with Sooyoung and Yuri. I have a café.”

                  The three danshin started to talk and joked around. Hyoyeon’s comedic talent, Taeyeon’s ahjumma laugh, and Sunny’s energy made the kitchen a very lively place. Occasionally, they would laugh so loudly that the living room party would stare at them.

                  Some time after the sun had set, the food was done and set on the table.

                  “You’re done already? I just got the hang of this!” Hyomin whined as they all moved to the dining table.

                  “We’ll play again after dinner.” Yuri took her seat next to Sooyoung, who was staring at the feast in front of them. “You’re drooling, Sooyoungie.”

                  “Oh.” Sooyoung wiped and chuckled. “It all looks so good. I haven’t seen this much food since … forever! And there’s a lot of my favorites … in fact, they’re all here!” She clapped happily while her eyes widened. “Thank you, unnis!”

                  “Whoa! Don’t call me unni, I’ll feel old!” Hyoyeon raised her hand and rejected the title. “Congrats on finishing your semester.”

                  Taeyeon smiled and scooped rice into people’s bowls. “Good job and good luck on studying for your entrance exam.”

                  “Just stay out of trouble and stop getting into fights.” It was Sunny’s turn to ruffle Sooyoung’s hair.

                  The younger girl looked around the table at the faces smiling at her before she started to tear up. “Thank you everyone for coming here and celebrating with me. I’ll study hard and won’t let you all down.” She sniffled a bit. It was a very touching moment for her since she had not felt this much warmth and love in one room for a long time. Ever since she left home.

                  They all raised their glasses, filled with soju or barley tea, and toasted to Sooyoung. The honored girl thanked everyone and knocked back her glass of soju. Her happiness greatly boosted her appetite because everything tasted so good in . Yuri had to smack her back once or twice, when she was coughing before she ate too quickly.

                  The doorbell rang again. Sooyoung felt all eyes on her and she shook her head. “I'm not sure who that could be.” She wiped her lips and put down her chopsticks before she went to the door.

                  “Yo.” The little devil winked at Sooyoung while leaning against the doorframe.

                  “Stop trying to act cool.” Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be on a date?”

                  Jiyeon pushed past Sooyoung and went inside. “She had to go home early to study.”

                  “Why didn’t you go with her?” Sooyoung closed the door behind them.

                  “I missed my Sunny-unni!” Jiyeon sweetly batted her eyes before she skipped right over to where Sunny was.

                  Sooyoung gritted her teeth as Sunny doted on Jiyeon and pulled up another chair for the younger girl.  “She’s not YOUR Sunny-unni, she’s mine …”

                  “Ahem. Correction,” Hyomin raised her hand, “Sunny’s mine.”

                  They all laughed while Sunny blushed. “I’m so lucky to have three people fight over me.” She joked as she passed a bowl to Jiyeon.

                  Jiyeon introduced herself to everyone at the table before they resumed eating and talking. Sooyoung narrowed her eyes at the youngest girl while Yuri looked on curiously. Before long, Sooyoung felt someone’s foot gently rubbing on the side of her calf. She almost choked on her food. As she coughed violently, she saw Jiyeon winked and smirked at her. Yuri and Taeyeon vigorously smacked Sooyoung’s back.

                  “Stop! That’s not helping! You’re going to bruise my lungs.” Sooyoung cried out and everyone laughed. She wondered why her bodily injury is so funny to everyone.

                  Through out dinner, Sooyoung tried avoid any more food related accidents. Finally, it was time to relax after they spent some time cleaning. The three danshin sat in the living room and sang old Shinhwa songs while the rest cleaned. Since the party grew larger, they moved to playing Cranium instead, much to Hyomin’s dismay. She did not want to learn a new set of rules.

                  They split into two teams of fours. Taeyeon, Hyomin, Sooyoung, and Jiyeon were on one team while Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, and Yuri were on the other. Needless to say, they were loud and rambunctious. The game brought out their competitive side, especially Hyoyeon, Tiffany, and Taeyeon.

                  They played while the night grew shorter. Eventually, they switched to playing Uno after a few rounds of Cranium. As the game heated up, another ring at the doorbell halted the fun.

                  “Hmm … I wonder who that is.” Sooyoung tried to get up, but Yuri gently held her back.

                  “I’ll get it.” Yuri smiled and got up instead. “You should rest for a bit.” She motioned toward Sooyoung’s injuries.

                  Sooyoung smiled and nodded in reply.

                  “Did you invite Sulli?” Sunny asked as she reorganized her Uno cards. She looked around the other people, “Sulli is our other cousin.”

                  “Yes.” Sooyoung nodded. “I did, she said she might stop by late. She had planned a date with Krystal. So that’s probably her.”

                  “Ah, young love.” Sunny sighed dreamily.

                  Yuri straightened her clothes before she opened the door. She stared at the new arrival while the other woman stared back at her. They continued to lock eyes before Sooyoung’s voice disrupted their stand off.

                  “Who is it, Yuri?”

                  Yuri nodded to the other woman and opened the door widely before stepping aside. “Um … it’s Jessica-ssi.”

                  “Hi.” Jessica smiled nervously when she stepped into the room full of people.

                  Sooyoung was speechless.

                 Hello everyone! Here is the first part to the beginning of the end.

That sounded cool, I've always wanted to say it. We have about 5-7 chapters (give or take 1-2) left in this story.

Thanks for everyone who's commented and left messages for me. You all are very kind.

I'm still getting back into the groove of writing, so it's taking a bit of time. Thanks for reading!