“Mrs. Jung, are there anymore cardboard boxes?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen. Mrs. Jung turned around when she heard me walk in and smiled kindly. Wrinkles formed at the corner of her eyes as she smiled, but she still managed to look young for her age.

Mrs. Jung had her black hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck and she wore a gold necklace around her slender neck. Her outfit consisted of a light pink dress with capped sleeves.

Sooyeon inherited their mother’s more delicate features whereas Soojung resembled their father more. I remember Soojung always complaining to me saying she wanted to look more like Sooyeon and her mother.

“Oh, they’re in the basement, dear. Check under the stairs,” Mrs. Jung said as she continued to stir the pot over the stove.

The kitchen was very large – Soojung’s family was very well off – and clean. Two large windows were placed side by side over the sink bringing in much natural light. All you could hear were the sizzlings from Mrs. Jung’s cooking and the ticking of the timer from the oven.

The Jung family was expecting a lot of people to come later, so Mrs. Jung was preparing food. With what was happening with Soojung, it was only expected that so many people would visit them.

Mr. Jung was in the living room with my dad talking about the arrangements of the whole event. My mom was doing some last minute shopping with my younger brother, so they would come by later to help Mrs. Jung with the rest of the preparations.

I went into the basement to retrieve more cardboard boxes, and as I was walking upstairs, I stopped and looked at the space where Soojung and I would play when we were younger.

There was a large, older T.V. on the wall where Soojung and I watched our favorite Korean dramas and a small kitchen where we would make snacks. Nostalgia hit me as I wished I could go back to those days where nothing mattered. Soojung was usually quiet, but when it was just the two of us, we were a wild pair.

I turned off the light and went back upstairs.

“Dear, go get ready now. You can come back and finish up later. It starts in an hour and a half, you know,” Mrs. Jung said as I walked past her. She closed the oven door and walked over to me, grasping my hands tightly.

“You know Soojung wouldn’t like it if you didn’t pretty yourself up,” she whispered with a small smile, “Go get ready. I’ll make Sooyeon finish up.”

I nodded and went upstairs to Soojung’s room to drop off the boxes. Afterwards, I went to Sooyeon’s room where she was getting ready.

“Finally, are you done?” Sooyeon asked while putting the curling iron down and looking at me through her vanity mirror.

In the room were some of our old friends from high school and a couple of Soojung’s friends from America. I recognized Jinri sitting on Sooyeon’s bed and putting a pair of pearl earrings. She smoothed the black skirt of her dress and smiled at me.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” she asked, patting the spot next to her.

“I’m alright,” I said, sitting down next to her, “how are you?”

In the room, I stuck out like a sore thumb in my white t-shirt and jeans while the rest of the girls wore pretty dresses and had their hairs up nicely.

“I’m holding up okay,” she whispered and patted my hand. She offered me another smile before pulling my hair out of the pony tail. “Let’s get you ready, okay?”

“I think I like Jongin.”

My head snapped up at the small confession and I gaped at confessor.

“Jongin? Didn’t you like Park Chanyeol last month?” I asked in disbelief.

We were sitting in lunch with our girls when Jinri made the revelation to the rest of us. She smiled shyly and blushed as she fiddled with the water bottle in front of her.

“I don’t know. I like Jongin, not Chanyeol. I can feel it in my bones,” Jinri said confidently looking at the rest of us. Qian laughed a little but stopped when Sunyoung glared at her.

“Why do you like Jongin all of a sudden?” I inquired.

Jinri looked up at the ceiling as if thinking of an answer before she looked off into the distant. It was when she blushed that caused me to turn my head to see that she was looking at Jongin who sat with the other boys a couple tables away from ours.

“I don’t know,” Jinri smiled behind the palm of her hand, “I guess I’ve kind of liked him for a while. It’s just that the other day... he talked to me. And then I just realized how much I liked him.”

I stared at Jinri for a couple more seconds to see that the smitten expression never left her face. She curled a lock of her short, wavy hair behind her ear and then brought her hand down to the table to drum the tips of her fingers against the table.

“Ew, Jinri, that’s gross,” Amber blurted as she slumped back in her chair, “Jongin? Out of all guys, why him? He’s not even that tall.”

“Wh