Later that morning, when the girls finally got up from their night of clubbing and drinking, Nari met them in the living room, sipping on a cup of Chai tea.

She watched as Meri emerged from the room, holding her head in her hands. The others later joined her, mirroring Meri’s actions. Before Nari woke up that morning, JooHyuk had left the apartment. She felt awful about their encounter before, but she had to set him straight; there was no way that they could manage a relationship, given their jobs and the type of press that SK had. It would have been a risk to reveal their feelings for each other to the public, and that was a risk that Nari could not take right now.

“Rough night?” Nari asked the girls, teasingly.

They glared at her. “How did we even get home last night?” Dani asked, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

“You can thank JooHyuk oppa for that later, whenever you see him.” Nari informed them.

They nodded and proceeded to the dining table, glasses in hand.

Nari’s phone ringtone sounded and she glanced at it next to her cup. It was JongHyun. She answered it, remembering that YongKi’s comeback music video had been released earlier that morning.

“Yoboseyo?”

“Nari-ah, have you seen your video on YouTube yet?” JongHyun responded, anxiously.

“No, why?”

“Take a look. I think you’ll like what you see.”

Nari scurried to her room and opened up the web browser, immediately going to YouTube’s website. There, YongKi’s video was on her homepage and when she clicked it, she thought she had seen wrong. There were so many numbers under the views section of the webpage. According to YouTube, the video had gained 1.2million+ views in a matter of 9 and a half hours. She couldn’t help but look at the screen in amazement.

“Nari-ah? Are you still there?” JongHyun hollered from the cellphone. She had completely forgotten about the phone call.

“Oppa,” she replied hurriedly, “I’ll call you back, okay?”

Before he could respond, she ended the call and rushed to her group members.

“We did it!” Nari yelled, leading all of the girls to wince at her outburst. Nari ignored their response, too excited to hold it in.

“What did we do this time?” Momo asked, slightly annoyed at her own hangover.

“Seems like you all forgot that our new music video was released earlier this morning. And, so far, we have over one million views!” Nari informed them, clutching her phone to her chest.

The girls looked up and began smiling. Although they were in pain, Nari noticed the excitement and content in their eyes. Under better circumstances, they would all be jumping around the apartment, squealing every now and then.

“How about we head out this morning to get some breakfast, perhaps ‘Hangover Soup’?” Nari offered, knowing that the girls would accept anything of help.

They got ready as quickly as they could and headed out, feeling as though all their hard work was paying off, once again.

~~~

It wasn't long until people in the soup restaurant noticed them and came up, requesting autographs. Although that can get annoying, the YongKi members enjoyed it, as it reminded them that they hadn’t yet faded into obscurity.

Nari’s phone rang again. She answered it, gingerly.

“Yoboseyo?” the caller asked. Nari’s smile fell. She recognized this voice and it wasn’t a voice she expected to hear today. Although Nari wasn’t eating anything from the restaurant, she was drinking a glass of water. However, upon hearing the voice, even the water tasted off to her. “Nari-ah?”

“Yes, how can I help you this morning?” Nari responded, tense.

She couldn’t believe her step-mother was calling her so early; she never called her directly.

“Well, your father and I saw the new video this morning and we wanted to invite you and your friends to dinner tonight, at our house.”

She knew her step-mother meant well, but Nari couldn’t stand to eat in the same room as her again.

“JiHyo and Peter will be there?” Nari asked, looking for a silver lining.

“Yes, of course. They’re always home in time for dinner.” Mary told her.

“Okay, then we will be there around 7 tonight,” Nari told her, in an emotionless tone. She didn’t want to have dinner over there, but if she could get to spend time with her sister and her nephew, she would take the opportunity. She hung up and turned to her friends, who were staring at her.

“What was that all about?” Laura asked, curious as to who called to make Nari look so sour in the morning.

“My step-mother. We’re going to have dinner with them tonight, so make sure you all feel 100% by then, okay?”

The girls nodded and continued with their meal.