Yuri watched from the window of her apartment as Jung Yunho’s car drove away from her block. She closed her eyes tightly and thought to herself that this is finally over. She would never have to deal with the Anhs anymore and she didn’t have to worry about the Jung magna either. She didn’t have to fight her feelings for him and she only had to forget him now.

“Yuri-ssi?” Of course, that was easier said than done when his little sister was becoming even more of a permanent fixture in her life now that she was officially dating JaeJoong.

“Yes?” she replied with a slight backwards glance.

“JaeJoong oppa said that breakfast was ready.” Yuri finally turned to look over the Jung Ice Princess fully, and noticed that she was wearing her brother’s shirt. She raised an eyebrow and the blonde blushed brightly and covered her cheeks and eyes with the sleeves. “Don’t be embarrassed Jessica-ssi, if you are going to be dating him, I’m going to have to get used to it.” She said with a small smile as she stepped out of the living room. “Oh and, might as well call me Yuri now.” She said before fully moving into the dining area.

The blonde blinked twice before a bright smile appeared on her lips. ‘ She’s not so bad after all eh? Oppa, you have good taste!’

“Don’t even think about it” JaeJoong’s voice said amused, as he leaned against the door frame. “She’s not going to fall for any match making tricks. Let them go at their own pace Sica.” He walked towards her and put his arms around her tiny waist. “If you could make me love you, I’m sure Yuri won’t be immune to your brother’s charms.”

She breathed in his scent deeply and relaxed against him. “My brother has no charms. He has good looks and that is all! He needs my help if he wants to be with Yuri-ssi.”

“I said that you could call me Yuri and I can still hear you guys!” A voice called out from somewhere else. Jessica jumped in fright, but Jaejoong was expecting it and held her tight against him. She blushed lightly and she could hear Yuri’s giggles from the dining area. She forgot that the wall between the two spaces was made of glass. The other woman was watching them through it and JaeJoong had stuck his tongue out towards her.

Yuri got out of her car and stared at the house in front of her. She was here often lately. More than what she was used to. She took her keys out and unlocked the door to her childhood. She nodded to a few of the servants but kept her pace as she climbed up the stairs. She stopped in front of a door and took a deep breath.

She didn’t get a chance to talk to Joon yesterday, when she finally got to him, he was fast asleep. She lightly knocked on the door and could hear a feeble come in. Composing herself one last time, she opened the door slowly and walked in the small gap she made. She closed the door and turned towards her little brother. The sight of him almost made her burst into tears. He was malnourished, eyes sunken in and bruises could be seen on his now clean skin. She walked towards him slowly, not taking her eyes off him, and neither did he. He was still lying on his bed, not having had the strength to get up by himself. His little sister, Seohyun, has come in earlier and had fed him his breakfast silently before walking out. She didn’t say a thing to him and neither did he.

“Joon” She finally choked out.

“Noona” He rasped out after a moment of silence. Yuri finally broke, “Oh Joon!” She leaned across to envelop him in her arms. “I’m so glad you are back, Joon...”

She spent the next hours just holding on to him and telling him all the things that he missed. He occasionally asked a few questions but merely enjoyed the warmth that was his sister’s embrace. When they heard knocks, they both looked up to see who it was. “Yes?”

“Unnie?”

“Come in Yoona.”

Joon sat in Yuri’s arms and waited anxiously that his sister walked in. Yoona entered with Jiyoung and Seohyun. They all shared glances with Yuri and she smiled, proud of her siblings.

“Joon, let me introduce you to your little brother and sisters. Yoona, Jiyoung, come here. Joon you remember the twins right? They were only a few years old when you were taken, but they’re still the troublemakers as they were in the past.”

“Noona/Unnie!”

Yuri only smiled and said” This is SeoHyun, our maknae! She was born that night,” Seohyun’s eyes widened by a fraction, that night... “She’s our little genius you know, top of her class, popular with the boys and just an all around cutie. You know we have problems keeping the boys away from these two ladies right here!”

“Don’t talk as if you were an ugly duckling noona, we have to chase away goons after you too!” Jiyoung piped up, as they all sat around the bed or on the bed. “The only difference between you three is that you scare them away on your own when they get to know you!” He ducked a pillow, letting it fly by him and hit the door.

Joon looked at the gathered group and felt lighter than he had in thirteen years. But something was missing.”Noona...”

“Yes sweetie?”

“Where’s Jaejoong hyung....?”

Yuri looked at him, and smiled a little, although it looked forced to him. “He’s with his new girlfriend. They haven’t really spent actual time together lately,” here the twins snorted “so they went on a date. I’m sure he’ll come by later.”

“Oh. I hope he’s happy with her...”

“He’s happier than I’ve seen him in a long time Joon. She’s good for him.”

“At least it wasn’t Krystal!” Yoona mumbled, and her twin laughed. He was glad to be rid of the youngest Jung too.

“Krystal?”

“That’s oppa’s girlfriend’s little sister. She’s... your typical princess?”

Joon only looked at them confused. Yuri backtracked, not realising right away that he might not know what that means, having been locked away for 13 years. “She’s spoiled.”

Yunho created another gossip wave when he walked into his office tower that day when no women followed him in. Sometimes, he wondered if this company gets anything done by the end of the day with all the gossiping. He entered his office and set his briefcase on the table and turned to look at his screen but his eyes kept looking over at the couch. He imagined Yuri sitting there, flipping through a magazine or just tapping away at her laptop. It was weird without her, or even the bouncing ball of energy that was TaeYeon.  Though the latter, he was sure to see around. He missed Yuri though. It was only the first day back to work since the events but he missed her. He got accustomed to her and wasn’t sure if he liked that he finally got his wish of being away from her. Not when he realised his feelings, not when he realised that what she did was of little concern to him if only she was with him.

His secretary’s voice suddenly called him through the intercom, and announced Junsu. He told her to let him in and settled back into his chair and waited for his friend. ‘Hm, I know one person who is happy Yuri is no longer here’ he thought with his secretary in mind. The woman was dead scared of the Kwon and of her friends. She had stepped on Yuri’s toes, figuratively, many times and a single glare would always shut her up but it was easy to see that she was curious and quite a bit jealous of the beautiful woman, so she reverted to hate.

“Ah Hyung!” Junsu called as he entered the office. He looked around and smiled, “It’s weird without Yul around heh?” The shorter of the two asked. Yunho could only nod as his eyes flitted back to the empty couch again. “What do you want Junsu?”

“Oh yeah, we put the Mah account on hold for the last month already, it is time to meet their CEO. We scheduled a meeting today in an hour, I just wanted to brief you,”

Yunho’s eyes widened, he completely forgot about the Mah, having been so caught up with the Anhs and the Kwons. ‘What would I do without my right hand man?’

“And Yoochun wants to meet up tonight, to celebrate as he says. Says we can bring our girls too, his words not mine,“ Junsu said, smiling.

Yunho looked at the man and raised an eyebrow. “TaeYeon says she wants to bring some friends too.” Junsu continued. Yunho perked up then. He hasn’t seen Yuri the whole week-end now. “Now about the Mah, they want a share of” The president was no longer listening as his mind went to Yuri again. Junsu noticed and tapped the man’s desk to get him back to earth. “Hyung, think about Yuri later, for now, focus on the Mah.”

“Wish I could... She keeps pushing me out Junsu!”

“Hyung-ah! Focus on the Mah!”

“Junsu-ah! It’s your hyung’s lifelong happiness-”

“Prove to her that you can protect yourself and then we’ll talk; now we’re talking about the Mah!”

“Protect myself heh?”

“Oppa!!!!” Jessica squealed out as her boyfriend doused her with ocean water. She tried to run after him but he was too fast and the waves were too strong. She stood there and pouted. “Oppaaaaaaa~!”

“Catch me if you can Jessica!”

“You know I can’t! Oppa!”

“C’mon Sica!”

Jessica finally decided to move after flailing her arms around. “Aish, that man!” She tried to run after him but the time she spent not moving had sunk her feet into the wet sand and she fought to take her feet out. “Oppa! Help!!!”

“Can’t fool me Sica!” She heard his voice far from her and she started to panic, a particularly strong wave hit the back of her knees and made her stumble into the water. Her feet got out but she was having difficulties, as she was not a good swimmer and though they were not in a deeper zone, she was panicking.

“Sica?! Sica!!!”

“Oppa! Help!” Her voice was getting gradually weaker too, as panic overcame her.

“Jessica!!”  Her vision was slowly getting darker as she felt more waves of water rolling over her flailing body.

“Jessica!”

Yuri was still sitting on Joon’s bed when her phone rang and she left the room to take the call. “Yuri-ah, I need your help!”

“Oppa? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine but I need you to bring me a bag of Jessica’s clothes, towels and the likes”

“Wae? Oppa?”

“I’ll explain when you get here. Just come!”

“Oppa! Would you just tell me where you are?”

“That house by the beach, you know which one!”

“Aish Oppa, that’s an hour away from where I am! And longer if I need to go home and pack!”

“Just get here Kwon Yuri!” He hanged up on her.

She blinked at her phone after JaeJoong hung up on her and slowly pushed Joon’s door open. “Hey kids, I have to go somewhere now.”

She looked at the disappointed faces and smiled. “I’ll come back tomorrow? We can have supper together? I’ll cook, and Yoona, you could help me? And I’ll even try to convince JaeJoong oppa to join us tomorrow night?”

She smiled at the blooming faces and hugged each one of them before leaving. Sometimes she forgets their ages and treats them like the children they never were. She bid them all goodbye before hurrying to her car and back to their apartment. ‘I wonder what’s with Oppa and Jessica?’

She quickly went into Jessica’s room and grabbed what she considered to be bare necessities. “Let’s see, a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, two tank tops, a thick sweater, socks, underwear, pajamas, flats, toothbrush, brush,... should I grab her makeup and lotions...? Mah, she can do without them for whatever reason she’s there... Might as well grab clothing for oppa and his toothbrush too...”

After quickly packing everything away, she went back to her car and prepared herself for a long drive. ‘Aish, the Point’s End house? Really oppa?’

The Point’s End house was a beach house they purchased between the two of them two years back after stumbling onto the property during one of their many getaways. They tend to take a week or two off after any major assignments and just go off somewhere to take their minds off their missions. They had been planning their getaway after this assignment until Jessica and Joon came along. Point’s End was located at one end of a beach, secured away from the public area. It was a small house, enough for three to four people at the most with the most beautiful view of the sunset they had been able to find this close to the city. ‘She must mean a lot to him for him to take her there. Even our family don’t know about this propriety. Though I think Dad knows...’

During the one hour drive Yuri spend the time thinking about her next move. Her father wasn’t going to assign them any missions anytime soon, giving them quality time with Joon, but after that period, she knew they were going to be thrown head first into the next spy, assassination or dealing mission. She wanted a longer break and debated whether or not to take an extended vacation somewhere away from Seoul at the moment. She could not take Joon with her, after all, he needed to be acquainted with the rest of the family but she couldn’t bear to leave him behind either. She has spent too long looking for him to just leave him behind now. She couldn’t just up and take the whole clan with her on a whim... ‘Plus the Jung issue... I’m never going to be able to part JaeJoong oppa and the Jung princess, not that I particularly feel the need to do so... Plus Seohyun is at that age now, so I have to stay close in case the others can’t deal with a teenage going through puberty... Gods know Yoona was hard to deal with... But it will do me some good to be away from Jung Yunho... I need to clear my mind off him, must be all the time I spent with him during this assignment...’

The time flew by quickly as she thought about her plans and she had already arrived at Point’s End. “I’ll figure that out later” She said out loud before getting out of her car and opening the trunk where the two duffel bags sat. She grabbed them and walked towards the entrance at a fast pace. She took her keys out and entered the small house. She already knew that he was in his room here and made her way up the stairs to his room.  She spotted him outside his door and knew instantly that he heard her pulling up.

“Oppa?”

“Yul. I almost lost her...”

“What? Oppa? What are you talking about? We offed all the Anhs!”

“No Yuri... I was stupid... She almost drowned...”

“Oppa...” She looked at him and sighed. She brushed past him into the room and looked at the girl in the bed. She was still shivering. Yuri could see that JaeJoong had wrapped her in the blankets and had taken off the basic outer layers but she needed clean clothes and underwear or she was going to get hypothermia. “I’ll change her oppa, wait for me downstairs.”

“Yes...”

After making sure the older Kwon went downstairs, Yuri turned back to the girl on the bed. “I maintain what I said last time; you really are a klutz Jung Jessica.” She let out a small unlady like snort and pushed back the covers. Jessica was still in her tank top and shorts, only her sweaters has been taken away. ‘Ay oppa, now was so not the time to care about her modesty!’ She manoeuvred the blonde so that she could undress her with ease and slipped her into the pajamas she brought with her. She tucked her back into the covers and made sure they were tight corners so that she couldn’t flail them off in her sleep. Before Yuri slipped out of the room, she closed the lights and made sure to light a scented candle far from the bed.

When she marched downstairs, she saw her brother with his head between his hands.

“Oppa.”

“I almost lost her Yuri. I just got her...”

“Oppa it wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah it was. I left her side, I should have known she wasn’t a good swimmer!”

“If she didn’t tell you then you couldn’t have known oppa. She’s alive and well at the moment doesn’t that count more?”

He stayed silent for a moment and then lifted his head, his stare going right through Yuri. She felt a shiver at the haunted look in his eyes. “Yuri, promise me one thing.”

“Yes oppa?”

“When you feel like love has come for you, don’t let it go...”

“How can I prove that I can protect myself?” Yunho asked for the millionth time that night and the three friends around him all wanted to rip their hair out. Taeyeon and her friends left for the bar for the same number of times that night, not wanting to deal with desperate Yunho. Yuri had not shown up like Yunho thought she would. Instead, TaeYeon brought Sooyoung with her. And to YooChun’s dismaythe model like girl seemed more interested with Changmin than him.

“Hyung! Not that again?”

“Wait! I still don’t get why she would want you to be able to protect yourself?” Changmin asked, the only one of them who didn’t know what happened.

The three older ones looked at him and then at each other. “Um...” Yoochun started but Junsu hit his thigh under the table. He’s not letting the man go there again, not after the poor excuse he gave last time.

“Changmin, Yuri comes from an ancient line of warriors and soldiers. Her family have been fighters and they’re trained at a young age to be able to protect themselves. Anyone from the Kwons are able to do so with their bare fists. Yuri thinks that Yunho hyung isn’t up to par with the men she grew up with.”

“Thanks Junsu, very helpful!” Yunho said with his head between his hands, mimicking JaeJoong unknowingly.

“But Hyung is strong!”

“I know that, you know that, but she doesn’t!”

Junsu leaned back with a smile, ‘I have never seen him like that!’ he thought to himself. He shared a look with YooChun who smiled back and shook his head.

“It takes more than physical strength to be up to Kwon Yuri’s standard.” A voice said behind them. All four men turned to see a brown haired man looking at them with a drink in his hand. Junsu recognized him easily, and smiled. “Ah Jihoon-ssi! It’s been a while! How are you doing?”

“I’m good Junsu-ssi, and you and TaeYeon?”

“We’re just fine! She’s around here somewhere with Sooyoung. Let me introduce you to my friends. This is Shim Changmin, Park Yoochun and Jung Yunho, guys this is Jung Jihoon-ssi, an old acquaintance of mine.”

“Hyung?” Yunho asked, confused.

Junsu looked at the two men, the smile on Jihoon’s face was very telling for him and Yunho’s confused face was laughable. “You two know each other?”

“Junsu, that’s my little cousin right here.” Jihoon said, smile still in place.

Yunho was extremely confused. How did his cousin know one of his best friends? He never introduced them, and bigger still, how does his cousin know Yuri?

“Hyung, how do you know Yuri?”

Both Junsu and Jihoon shared a smile. “You know hyung, if you want to get into Yuri’s heart, your cousin might be a big help to you.”

“Why?”

“Because Jihoon-ssi here is Yuri’s longest standing boyfriend to date.”

“Ex-boyfriend, Junsu-ssi”

“And if I remember well, you two separated when you moved to the States?

“Ah yes.”

“Three years if my memory serves me well?”

“Three years and five months.”

Yunho sat there wide eyed. His cousin dated the love of his life? For three years at that? How did they even meet each other? “You dated Yuri?”

“Yes he did.” Yuri’s distinctive voice called out from behind them. Behind Jihoon, Yuri had just walked up with the rest of her girls. Tiffany, Hyoyeon and her had met up with the remaining two at the bar. With them were two other guys. Junsu stood up to greet the guys with a manly hug. “Siwon, Eunhyuk!”

“Junsu, man it’s been a while!” Eunhyuk said. Yoochun, who had perked up at the sight of the two girls, deflated again when both men put an arm around each girl.

Yunho ignored the guys with him and focused only on Yuri. ‘She’s beautiful...’ She was wearing a pair of tight white jeans tucked into calf high brown leather boots and a white tank top covered by a cropped bleached jean jacket. It was the most relaxed he’d ever seen her out of her house, and thinking about it, the others girls too. He was used to them being dressed to the nines anywhere they went. What he wasn’t impressed with, though, was the fact that Yuri leaned against Jihoon’s body and he wrapped an arm around her. Junsu seemed just as surprised as him and shot him a quick concerned look. ‘Did he not say ex-boyfriend earlier?’ they both thought.

“Yul, you didn’t tell me you got my cousin drooling after you?” Jihoon said as he leaned back into his seat, his arm still around her shoulders.

“Wasn’t important.” Yuri said quickly. She glanced around her and watched as the couples settled down together and Sooyoung and TaeYeon both reclined into single seats. “Let’s talk business though.”

“Must we Yuri? We just finished with the Anhs.” Tiffany whined, leaning her head into Siwon’s shoulder.

“Tiffany, the world didn’t go on pause.”

“Wish it did” she mumbled, “What is it?”

“It’s nothing major. Father wants us to train Joon, and Seohyun.”

“Seohyun? Why?”

“She’s young, untrained, an ideal prey? Also, he’s being over protective too? He doesn’t want her on the field but you know, Father is still father. And Joon, well, that’s obvious...”

“Is your brother the reason Boss called me back here?”

“Yes Oppa, Father wants you to personally train Joon, with Boa unnie.”

“And the rest of us?” TaeYeon asked “You did call the rest of us too tonight. Is the only reason why Sooyoung and me here endured lover boy’s whining!”

“Yeah that, Fany, Taeyeon, I need you to just boost up SeoHyun’s training. Soo, Hyo, you’re with me.”

“To do what?”

A bright smile came on Yuri’s phase. “There’s a new girl Father wants us to initiate.”

“New girl?” Both girls perked up, “Who is it?” It was rare for them to bring in outsiders. All of their families have been working under the Kwons for years, except Jihoon’s, but he was the exception, so for them to bring in a new girl, it was big.

“Her name is Park Sandara, a former Anh.”

“What?”

“Her parents owed the Anh money, so the Anh took her to repay their debts. She’s been... under the head of the clan ever since she was taken.  She’s 19 now, and she was taken at 14.”

“Under... You mean?” Tiffany asked, back suddenly rigid.

“Yes... I need you two to re-adapt her to the world. I don’t mean to convert her, but just to get her back on track? Whether she wants to join us is her choice, but Father wants her healthy when she leaves us.”

“How did you guys find her?” HyoYeon asked, holding EunHyuk’s hand tightly. He wrapped his arm around her to stop her shivers. Even in their line of business, they found to be despicable. The Kwon were not known for mercy but for victims, they would always try to set them back on track before letting go into the real world disoriented.  

“When our people were placing the bombs in their properties, one of the man who was in charge of the manor found her... I don’t want to go into the details.” Yuri said, closing her eyes, remembering the sight she was presented with when her father called her to the safe house a mere few hours before the showdown at the port. It had fuelled her hate for the Anh even more.

“Sandara Park...” Sooyoung whispered, “We’ll take care of her Yuri...”

The group stayed silent for a while. Looking around, Tiffany saw that all of them were looking grim and lost in memories. She hated it. She might be a killer and desensitized to a lot of things like Yuri, but she hasn’t lost faith yet, and she always tries to brighten the day when she’s with her friends. “On a lighter note, Jihoon-oppa, Yul! Are you two back together?” She asked. She hoped not. It’s not that she didn’t like Jihoon oppa, it was just that she found Yuri and Yunho to be a better couple. Plus, the younger of the two Jung was a better man for Yuri, he hasn’t been touched by darkness like Jihoon has.

The man in question looked down at the woman in his arms and shook his head. “Aniyo.”

All the women’s, minus Yuri’s, eyes widened. “You are not?” TaeYeon asked, “Becasue it really looks like it.”

“Don’t be silly ladies, Yuri and I were friends before we were a couple.”

It’s true, because if they thought hard enough, they would remember that those two would cuddle even before they became a couple, even though Jihoon was JaeJoong’s best friend at that time. Of course, they would do it only if they were with their close circle of friends but they would nonetheless. Everyone thought they were dating back then, before they actually were. They were taking out of their thoughts when they saw two familiar shapes approaching them. One was JaeJoong, the other was Boa. The group greeted each other quickly before they all settled down again.

“Oppa, where’s Jessica?” Tiffany asked.

“She’s resting at home, she had a scare earlier so she didn’t want to go out drinking tonight.”

“A scare?” TaeYeon asked.

JaeJoong nodded but did not elaborate. They all felt the need to let it go, while Yuri smiled knowingly. “So Jihoon hyung, I ddin’t know you were back in Korea”

“Came back two nights ago but I had things to attend to. So I heard things have changed now?”

“The game has changed Jihoon ah.” Boa told him, they were close friends too, her being only a few months older than him.

“I noticed a lack of... rodents around town”

“You missed the extermination hyung.” JaeJoong said, his tone brought smirks to the others’ faces.

 “Ah...: Jihoon said thoughtfully. “And the nesters?”

“The first to go” Boa added.

Jihoon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He nodded, “Ok.”

“What do you think they are doing up there?” Yunho asked his friends later, but focused on Junsu. The younger man shrugged, “Probably just talking, why?” Junsu knew what was happening, since Jihoon just came back, he was being briefed. He did see JaeJoong and Boa arriving two hours ago.

“You think they’re together?”

The men groaned again. “Hyung, stop talking about Yuri!” All three men said at the same time. Yunho looked at them, and raised an eyebrown “Ok boys, your hyung here never acted like this in the years you have me, however, I have endured all of your moments, so indulge me!”

The three blinked and thought about it. It was indeed true. Yoochun always whined when a pretty lady didn’t fall for him at first glance, which happened often enough. Changmin always complained about his hyungs’ quirks and then proceed to clean their wallets for them when they felt guilty and took him out to a restaurant, Junsu would always be talking about his own girlfriend, that they had not met before now, and ignore the others. Yunho was right, they couldn’t complain.

“Fine Hyung, talk about Yuri all you want.” Changmin said, hanging his head.

“Oh no Changmin, you are not making me feel guilty this time!”

“And why would you be guilty Jung-ssi?” Yunho froze at the sound of Yuri’s voice, having had adverted his glances from the stairs to his friends. He heard the amusement in her tone and the giggles and chuckles of her friends. ‘This woman makes me feel like I was in high school all over again...’ he thought. “Uh...”

“Yuri-ah, you are embarrassing my little cousin.” Jihoon said and Yunho sat upright. He quickly turned around and looked at the arm wrapped around Yuri. He had enough of the sight and quickly stood up, surprising his two friends. However, they all wondered what he would do.

Usually, Yuri could side step any manhandling attempt, but she was curious too as to what he would do so when he reached out to grad her arm, she let him. However, she didn’t expect him to drag her back up the stairs. Her group let it be, knowing he couldn’t even attempt to harm her, and his friends were just surprised at his audacity.

When he finally stopped, he turned around to look at her. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to do something other than just staring at her. Million of thoughts went through Yunho’s head at that point, the most prominent being ‘should I do it?’ If he did it, he risked his life potentially, but if he didn’t and let her go back downstairs into his cousin’s arms...

He seemed to have taken a decision because in a split second, and faster than Yuri has ever seen him move, he grabbed her arms, pulled her to him and he finally kissed her.