Sooyoung could hear a quiet ringing in her ears as the world around her turned silent. Her smile morphed into a shocked jaw drop. She slowly rose from her seat, warranting a little wince from her injuries. “Jessica.” She said as if she needed to confirm the other woman’s presence.

                  Yuri watched Sooyoung with an unreadable expression and then took a step backwards to let Jessica into the apartment. The door is closed with a soft click after Jessica thanked Yuri and stepped inside. Sooyoung stood to face Jessica. There were two bright flushed spots on her cheeks. Yuri folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall, watching the pair.

                  “Good evening.” Jessica’s eyes darted toward a waving Tiffany before she continued, “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

                  Sooyoung shook her head and smiled as she lost herself in Jessica’s wide brown eyes. “No.” Her voice croaked, forcing her to clear and repeat. “No, you’re not interrupting.”

                  “Good!” Jessica grinned and held up a box. “Because I brought cake to celebrate!”

                  Sooyoung looked at the box and suddenly she felt so guilty for not inviting Jessica. She merely wanted to avoid an awkward situation and had she known it was going to happen anyways, she would have invited Jessica first. “Thanks Sica, you didn’t have to … since you already helped me study.” Yuri looked surprised when she heard Sooyoung said that.

                  “It’s okay, I’d rather surprise you anyways …” Jessica blushed.

                  “Are you two going to keep talking in the hallway?” Tiffany yelled out before she started to laugh.

                  “Yeah! I want cake!” Jiyeon’s voice followed.

                  Sooyoung grinned and shook her head. “Alright, alright! Hold on!” She hobbled ahead of Jessica and pointed the older woman toward the living room. “I’ll be right there, let me get some plates and forks.”

                  “Okay.” Jessica nodded and went to the room.

                  “Jessi!” Tiffany happily hugged her friend and pulled Jessica down to sit beside her.

                  “Tiffany!” Jessica happily hugged her friend back. “I can sit on the sofa to give you more room …” she noticed how Taeyeon was wedged against one side of the love seat.

                  “No no. Why don’t you sit here? Taeyeon and I will move.” Tiffany smiled brilliantly, but Jessica could tell that she was up to something.

                  “We are?” Taeyeon was getting comfy in her warm seat; she did not want to move to a colder place.

                  “Yes. We. Are.” Tiffany’s eyes screamed unimaginable pain, so Taeyeon hung her head low and moved over to the sofa.

                  Meanwhile, Sooyoung waited for a moment to breath before she turned back to Yuri. She looked at her best friend, only to be met with a polite smile. Sooyoung knew that smile very well. It was the fake, polite smile that Yuri often showed to clients. Sooyoung never thought she would ever be at the receiving end of that smile. “Are you …”

                  Yuri cut Sooyoung off before she could finish. “I’m fine … let me get the plates and forks. You should go join them.” She hurried away before Sooyoung could apologize. Sooyoung knew it was not anyone’s fault, but she felt guilty anyways.

                  Sooyoung came back to the living room to find that the seating arrangement had been switched. Tiffany and Taeyeon now claimed the sofa while Jessica was seated at the love seat that they once occupied. Sooyoung casted a knowing glance at Tiffany then she sat down next to Jessica.

                  “So …” Sunny was the first to speak, “this is THE Jessica?”

                  Sooyoung blushed deeply, asking herself why her cousin was being so embarrassing.

                  “THE?” Jessica giggled and tilted her head.

                  “Yep. She used to talk about you all the time … Jessica this, Jessica that … I feel like I already know you.” Sunny laughed and made it even worse for Sooyoung. She was unaware of Sooyoung’s difficult situation.

                  “Oh really? What sort of this and that did she tell you?” Jessica leaned a little against Sooyoung while trying to get secrets from Sunny.

                  As Sunny start to speak, the sharp bang of plates and forks on the coffee table distracted her. Yuri had returned from the kitchen. Sooyoung could tell that Yuri was unhappy with her new seat next to Taeyeon. “Oops, I’m sorry.” Another polite smile was seen before Yuri sat down at her new spot.

                  The seating arrangement was Tiffany, Taeyeon, and Yuri on the sofa; Sooyoung and Jessica in the love seat; Sunny and Hyomin in the armchair (with Sunny on Hyomin’s lap); Hyoyeon and Jiyeon were on separate chairs.

                  “I don’t believe you’ve met everyone here.” Sooyoung smiled and nodded at the sofa. “You’ve already met Tiffany, Taeyeon, and Yuri.” Tiffany and Taeyeon smiled back while Yuri had a blank look on her face. “This is Sunny, my cousin, and her girlfriend, Hyomin. That’s Hyoyeon, my other co-worker and friend, sitting next to Jiyeon, Hyomin’s cousin.” Sooyoung gave a quick introduction.

                  “Everyone, this is my friend, Jessica.” Sooyoung smiled.

                  Jessica bowed a little. “Nice to meet you, everyone.”

                  The other occupants in the room uttered echoes of the same sentiment, but Tiffany quickly teased Sooyoung. “Friend? C’mon Soo, Jessica is more than that to you … she’s your best friend, right?”

                  Jessica blushed and turned to look at Sooyoung, who blinked and hesitated. Jessica was disappointed by Sooyoung’s lack of enthusiasm, but her attention was soon distracted.

                  “Yuri is Sooyoung’s best friend.” Hyoyeon stated very matter of factly, causing the whole room to go quiet.

                  Yuri smiled a little when her eyes met Hyoyeon’s.

                  Sooyoung’s mind was screaming and she was sweating inside, but eventually she chuckled and nodded. “Both are my best friends. I’ve known them for very long … Tiffany, you are one of my best friends too … and everybody in this room is close to my heart. Thank you for coming here to celebrate with me.”

                  “Less talk! It’s time for cake!” Jiyeon clapped her hand. She knew she was not particularly close to Sooyoung’s heart.

                  “Jiyeon!” Hyomin gasped. “That’s so rude!”

                  “But unni …” the youngest whined.

                  Sunny turned a little and glared at Hyomin. “She’s your kid.”

                  The crisis seemed to have been averted when everyone started smiling at the bickering family, except Yuri, who have adopted Jessica’s cold façade for the night. Sooyoung was helpless to do anything about Yuri, so she turned to Jessica. “Have you eaten dinner? I can prepare something for you.” She offered.

                  Jessica shook her head. “I’m fine. Thank you.” She smiled.

                  “Are you sure? The three shorties made a really good dinner. We have lots of leftovers.” Sooyoung chuckled.

                  “Hey! Who are you calling shorties?!” The three shorties protested at once.

                  Jessica waved Sooyoung’s concerns away. “I’ve eaten already, Soo. Thank you …”

                  “How about we have the cake?” Jiyeon reminded them.

                  Sooyoung rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes …” While she did not act like it, she was glad that the kid was around to diffuse some of the tension.

                  Jiyeon clapped and almost reached for the knife when Taeyeon already claimed it. “Kids shouldn’t be handling knives.” The oldest woman smiled and cut the cake into slices.

                  Jiyeon pouted, but she was getting cake so she did not complain.

                  Sooyoung laughed at the youngest girl’s drooling look before she turned to smile at Jessica. Taeyeon handed out slices of cake out to everyone before she shared some with Tiffany. Sooyoung set her plate on her lap and gingerly cut her slice up to smaller pieces. Her struggle was cute in some strange way.

                  “Let me help you.” Jessica grinned at Sooyoung and took the younger woman’s fork. “I remember you like this kind of cake.”

                  Everyone else quietly or, in Jiyeon’s case, excitedly ate their dessert while watching the show.

                  Sooyoung glanced at the poker faced Yuri before she shook her head, smiling slightly. “You should eat your slice, I can manage.” She carefully took her fork back while Jessica pouted cutely. Putting a piece of cake in , she made a small sound of enjoyment. “Mmm.”

                  “Don’t worry, Jessi. You know the shikshin will be fine when it comes to food.” Tiffany some icing from her lips. “I can’t believe that you still remember that she likes green tea cake.”

                  “The last time we had green tea cake together was her seventeenth birthday …” Jessica casted a sideway glance at Sooyoung, who was applying her energy to eating and avoiding Yuri’s icy looks. She wondered why Sooyoung was being so awkward and cold to her today. Inside, Jessica suspected that something was strange.

                  Tiffany nearly choked before she laughed heartily, scaring almost everyone in the room. “Remember how she stuffed herself with cake until she nearly threw up? She said it was the best cake she’s ever tasted so she tried to keep it away from everyone else … just because you made it for her.”

                  “Hehe.” Jessica covered and laughed. “She did it for my sake. I accidentally put too much green tea flavor in there, so it tasted more bitter than sweet …” She turned to look at a blushing Sooyoung, “she wanted to save me the embarrassment.”

                  Yuri shot Sooyoung a sly look before she turned to Taeyeon. “Taeyeon-shi, you own a café, right? So you must be good at baking and such?”

                  Taeyeon clumsily swallowed the cake in and shook her head. “Ah no, I’m not very good. I just have good workers.” She picked up her cup of tea.

                  “That’s very humble of you.” Yuri smiled and lifted her tea and held it out in front of Taeyeon. “Here’s to good workers.”

                  Taeyeon looked at Sooyoung, who was watching them, and clinked her cup against Yuri’s. “Here here.” They both lifted their cups to drink.

                  Sooyoung was puzzled by Yuri’s interaction with Taeyeon, but the moment she saw the burning look in Tiffany’s eyes, she knew what Yuri was up to. Yuri was getting Tiffany back for all the things she had been saying, she wanted to make Tiffany jealous. Sighing softly under her breath, Sooyoung felt bad for dragging Taeyeon into her mess.

                  “Ah!” Taeyeon suddenly lurched forward and her cup of tea spilt onto Yuri, staining the woman’s light colored dress. Taeyeon’s eyes went wide and she froze up before grabbing a handful of napkins. “I’m so so so sorry!” She dapped the napkins on Yuri’s wet clothes. Despite knowing that Taeyeon meant nothing lecherous, Sooyoung’s stomach was twisting while she watched the skinship.

                  “Don’t worry.” Yuri held off Taeyeon’s attempts to dabble her with napkins. “It’s just a little spill.” In fact, it was a very big spill on a very expensive dress.

                  Everyone watched the fabric of Sooyoung’s life coming undone, one threat tugged at a time.

                  “Let me help her.” Sooyoung rose, but Yuri shook her head.

                  “I’ll go get a change of clothes.” Yuri smiled and excused herself before disappearing into Sooyoung’s bedroom, with Jessica look puzzled while Tiffany appeared annoyed.

                  Taeyeon turned to her girlfriend. While she was drinking the tea, she felt a sharp pain to her side; Tiffany had pinched her hip sharply, causing her to spill her tea on Yuri. Tiffany stared back at her girlfriend and the two silently turned away from each other.

                  “Yuri-shi is very familiar with your apartment.” Jessica casually commented.

                  “Ah, she …” Sooyoung started.

                  “Yuri and I come over often.” Hyoyeon smiled and put her empty plate on the table. “Sometimes we sleep over, too.”

                  “I see …” Jessica then pointed at the magazine on top of Sooyoung’s side table. “She must be over often enough to have her magazine subscriptions sent here.”

                  Sooyoung was sweating and panicking like a child who stole candies and was about to get caught. “Yes, we interest in fashion … she get them sent here, so we can discuss new trend when she comes over.” That lie was bad enough to not fool even a fool, but luckily, the sound of the bedroom door opening cut through the tension.

                  Sooyoung was feeling thankful for Yuri’s well-timed interruption, but when she saw the other woman, her jaw dropped. Instead of something “normal,” Yuri had on a cropped sleeveless top that showed off her tone, tan belly and a pair of yoga pants that hugged her booty. Of course, Sooyoung had seen that outfit often, but she was not expecting it to make an appearance in front of a group of people.

                  “Yah! Kwon Yuri, do you not have anything else to wear?” Hyoyeon joked as Yuri returned to her seat next to Taeyeon, who was trying hard not to look since Tiffany was watching her.

                  “Ah, I wished I did. Before I went abroad, I cleaned out my clothes drawer here and this is the only clean other than a night gown.” Yuri acted naturally.

                  “You could’ve worn some of Sooyoung’s clothes, you both are about the same size.” Hyoyeon rolled her eyes, she liked picking on her friend.

                  “Her tops are a bit tight on my chest.” Yuri shook her head and smiled at Sooyoung.

                  Sooyoung tried to act normal and laughed, though it came out sounding nervous. “I’m sure I have a bigger shirt somewhere … let me find one for you. I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

                  Yuri shook her head and giggled. “I’m fine and I’m not bothering anyone … right, Taeyeon-shi?”

                  Taeyeon could have died right then and there of a heart attack. She wanted to cry because of the stress, so she just gave Yuri a twitch of a smile. Then her face betrayed a hint of pain as Tiffany pinched her side again. Sooyoung saw the pinch this time and was worried about Taeyeon getting black and blue because of her.

                  “Yuri-shi, you come over here often?” Sunny tilted her head and studied the tan woman.

                  Yuri nodded in response and looked between Sooyoung and Hyoyeon for an explanation of the random question. “I guess …”

                  “We were talking about how you and I often came over to visit Sooyoung.” Hyoyeon shrugged.

                  “So do you have your own clothes drawer here as well, Hyoyeon-shi?”  Sunny asked pleasantly, though Sooyoung wondered where her cousin was going with the questions.

                  “No.” Hyoyeon met Sunny’s eyes as she shook her head. “I keep some of my make up here, but not clothes.”

                  “Oh yes, our slumber parties!” Yuri laughed and nodded. “You all should stay and we can have one of those. We had a make-up trying party once, it was really fun.”

                  Sooyoung nodded and smiled. “Yes, we tried on different make-ups to see which combination fit us the best.”

                  “You can see pictures from that night, it was hilarious. Sooyoungie was so cute as a sparkly clown!” Yuri stepped over to Sooyoung’s bookcase and retrieved a photo album. “Here, you can see how young she looked back then.”

                  “Hey! What do you mean ‘back then’?” Sooyoung protested.

                  When Yuri went back to her seat, laughing and shaking her head, Sooyoung stuck her tongue out at the older woman. She laughed a little and turned to Jessica, only to be met with cold eyes. Her joy died as quickly as it rose. Sooyoung was sure that she would die that night, since Yuri and Jessica took turn being cold to her.

                  As Hyoyeon and Jiyeon were snickering when they flipped through the silly photos of Sooyoung in the photo album, the rest of the room was quiet. It was one heck of a party atmosphere. Sooyoung smiled at Jessica, “We were playing games before you came, would you like to play something?”

                  The sullen Jessica met Sooyoung’s eyes and deliberated quietly. Sooyoung stared back at her with a hopeful smile and waited for an answer.

                  “A game would be fun.” Hyomin quietly spoke. “I would own you all with my awesomeness.”

                  Everyone turned and looked at Hyomin, who was as cool as a cucumber.

                  “Honey, what have you been smoking?” Sunny laughed as everyone, minus SooRiSic, smiled at them.

                  Hyomin shrugged and looked at Jessica. “I’m just being confident because I know what I want.”

                  Hyomin’s words and tone seemed like she was encouraging Jessica. Finally, Jessica nodded and a smile returned to her lips. “I would like to play Truth or Dare.”

                  Jessica’s words slowly sunk in and Sooyoung felt that the inevitable truth was coming.

                  “Sounds like fun.” Yuri was the first one to agree with a smirky smile.

                  Tiffany and Taeyeon nodded, their moods were not good enough to enjoy any kind of games.

                  Hyoyeon and Jiyeon shrugged, they were outsiders in all this.

                  Sunny nodded and Hyomin sighed. “There’s no winner in Truth or Dare.” 

I'm writing the last part of this section ... it's coming out quite long, so I decided to make it a 3-parter instead.

I don't want to write the end chapters of Love Song! Isn't that bad?

Anyways, thanks for the comments, support, and love that you all have shown me :D 

Enjoy!