Twenty-three years earlier
 

“You don’t talk much, do you?”
 

Yuri wished she had sunglasses to shield her eyes as Jessica Jung  sat down beside her. The black bikini revealed far more than it hid and Yuri’s gazed strayed to Jessica’s s before she could stop herself.
 

“I’m Jessica, by the way.”

“I know,” Yuri said stupidly.
 

Jessica arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow, waiting.
 

“Yuri. Kwon Yuri.”
 

Jessica leaned closer, her eyes holding Yuri’s captive.

 “I know,” she whispered.
 

Yuri found it hard to breathe as the object of her teenage fantasies sat so close to her. And if Yuri has all her wits about her, she’d swear Jessica was flirting.  Of course, why would Jessica Jung, the cheerleader, flirt with her?

“So, you don’t talk much, do you?” Jessica said again.
 

“No.”  Yuri  smiled  and  tried to  relax.  The  others  were  splashing  in  the  pool, not  paying them any attention. And here they sat, side by side on chaise lounges, bare legs stretched out, soaking up in the sun.  She chanced another glance at Jessica, find her still watching.  Her heart lodged in and she looked away quickly.
 

“Yuri?”
 

Yuri  slowly  turned,  deciding  right  then  and  there  that  she  loved  the  way Jessica said her name. 

“You know TaeYang thinks you’re hot, right?”
 

Yuri rolled her eyes. “If he only had a brain.”
 

Jessica  laughed  out  loud,  then  covered her  mouth  as  the  others  looked their  way.  “Not  only does he not have a brain, he’s an .”
 

She glanced to the boy in question and Yuri followed her  gaze. Sure, TaeYang  was cute.  And he was slated to be the starting quarterback on the next year’s football team, and most of the girls would give their right arm to date him.  But he was crass and conceited and so full of himself, even if Yuri wasn’t totally enamored with Jessica, she’d still have no interest in TaeYang.

 “Is that why I got invited?” she asked, the realization dawning  on her.
 

“HyoMin didn‟t tell you?”