Yuri kissed her way down Jessica's neck, between her s, then the smooth curvature of her stomach. She paused and patted her pregnant belly gently, rising back up on her elbow so she could look down at the smaller woman. 

"How many more months until I can see my baby?" she asked. 

Jessica sighed and looked away. "Please don't call her that." She bit her lip and put her hand on top of Yuri's on her tummy. "Four." 

Yuri grinned. "I'm gonna be right there beside you when you give birth." 

"My husba-"

"Your husband will probably be out of town like he was with the first one." She moved up so she could wrap her arms around Jessica and look down at her lovingly. "I'll be right there beside you to welcome our daughter into the world." 

Jessica's brows scrunched like she wanted to cry, but Yuri tsked and smoothed the frown away. "When are you going to divorce him?" 

"I can't. I-"

"My little Jessica, always so scared." 

"I'm sorry, Yuri." 

Yuri shook her head and pressed her lips to Jessica's. "It doesn't matter. You're mine no matter whose ring is on that finger." She twined their hands together. 'You're mine?" 

Jessica closed her eyes and smiled happily. "I'm yours." 

"Aaand, that's the last box," Henry huffed with relief, dropping the box heavily on the floor and plopping down beside it. 

Amber went to the kitchen and got him a glass of water. She brought it to him and sat down beside him, looking around at her new apartment. "I can't believe it." 

He threw an arm around her shoulder while he drank. "You're probably going to be lonely without your mom. Are you sure you don't want me to move in with you, Babycakes?" 

Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Ew. No. I've seen that sty you keep with the rest of your band."

"Aww, come on!"

"No," she said firmly, but laughing. "Call my mom and let her know I'm done moving in. I can't believe she wanted to be updated at every step." 

She laid down on her back and stared up at the ceiling while he dialed the number. 

"Hey, Mama Liu," he said sweetly. "Your precious daughter just forced me to drag her last heavy box into her apartment."

Amber slapped him on the back. 

"She's fine, but she won't let me move in with her. Can you make her, please, Mama?" 

Amber sat up and snatched the phone out of his hand. "Stop encouraging him, Mom. Besides, his girlfriend is jealous enough of me already." 

"I don't know why," Henry pouted. "I already told her you'd much rather date her than me." 

Amber kicked him. "Alright, Mom. I know it's getting late over there. Tell dad I got the package and I love him. Alright. Bye Bye." 

Henry watched her sigh and her shoulders slump, so asked again seriously, "Are you sure you don't want me to move in?" 

She nodded. "Thanks for the offer, though. If things get too lonely, I'll put out an ad in the paper and get a roommate or a puppy or something."

He ruffled her hair, "Alright. Just let me know if anything changes. I have to go meet my girl now. I'm about..oh," he looked at his watch, "fifteen minutes late."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Why did you finish helping me move if you had something scheduled with Eun Ji? This is why she hates me?" 

He grinned. "I love that jealous look in her eye when she sees you and the way she clings on to me when you're around." 

"You're disgusting. I'm going to tell her to break up with you." 

When he'd left, she got up and started unpacking the last few boxes. She'd already painted the place a week ago and had almost everything moved in. Putting away her dishes and arranging the books in the living room shelves was the final step. She paused in front of the one next to the open window. Photos of her family lined the top of it. Mostly pictures of her and her mom when she was feeling up to taking them, a few solo pictures of her dad he'd sent her over the years or that she'd printed out from facebook....and a really really old one of all of them together. Mom, dad, Amber...and Jackie.

She touched her sister's face lightly, wondering where she'd gone and if she'd ever see her again. She missed her and wanted to talk to her and tell her that things had gotten better and ask her...if she regretted leaving. 

Leaving off the thoughts, she finished breaking down the boxes and folding them to take down to recycling the next morning. She didn't really feel like making another trip down the stairs. 

It was only noon, but she was feeling exhausted. 

She went to her room and laid down on her bed, wrapping her arms around her pillow. She tried not to look at the picture on the nightstand, but she couldn't help it. It was a beautiful photo from a rooftop in Italy. 

She brushed her fingertip down the side of the frame. 

"You should've listened to Henry and burned everything," she scolded herself. 

"How's the second day of your internship at your father's company?" Sulli asked, sipping on a cocktail. They'd gathered a few friends and had gone out for a night on the town. 

"I hate it just as much as my first day," she said absently, her eyes tracking a short haired girl around the room. Realizing what she was doing, she snapped her eyes away and stirred her drink with a toothpick. "Running around making copies for everyone and taking minutes during meetings is killing my brain cells." 

"Come out on another photoshoot with me then," Sulli suggested. "The photographers love you and my team would totally hire you if you submitted a portfolio." 

Krystal shook her head. She was going to be a businesswoman. 

"Fine. At least tell me you're having some sort of fun. How was your date with that Eric guy?" 

Krystal grimaced. "Awful. He kept ordering for me and treating me like a brainless lampost." 

"At least he looked good enough for a quick roll," Sulli shrugged. No date was a waste for her. She had fun with the good ones and knew she could gather stories to tell about the awful ones. There was nothing better than talking about a bad date story. 

"Ew. He touched my hand at dinner and his palms were so clammy he felt like a snail corpse." 

"How do you know what snail corpse feels like?" Sulli asked, disgusted. 

"Cause that guy touched my hand," Krystal stated indignantly, making the group of friends laugh. 

"So this is what pretty girls do on a weekend? Sit around and roast guys who are intimidated and just trying their best." 

They looked up to find a thin guy in glasses looking down at them. Krystal squinted. He sort of looked like that annoying guy from her first year in college. 

"Yes," Sulli said with a smirk. 

The guy shook his head in disgust. "You're all the same." 

"And you're no better for thinking that we all are," Krystal glared at him. 

"You don't even give guys chances. You just look at their faces or their bank accounts." 

"And whether they have gross clammy dead snail hands," Krystal finished for him. "Please leave us alone." 

The guy lowered his brows, looked like he was about to say something else, but to all the girls' relief, stalked away.

"God," Krystal said. "That guy!" 

"Ew." 

"Ew," they all agreed.

Krystal slumped back in her chair, all talked out now. She had a class early in the morning and more internship later. She hated her classes and she was struggling with math worse than ever, but she couldn't imagine anyone besides Amber teaching her. Those moments when she would get tired of studying and Amber would lightly grip and massage the back of her neck. 

She rubbed at it, her eyes prickling. The stupidest things could remind her of Amber it seemed. 

She stood up. "I'm gonna go ahead and go," she told her friends. "I already have a cab waiting. I've just got to get up really early tomorrow. Sorry for being a party pooper." 

"Aw, don't worry about it," they said, hugging her. "We'll see you on another off day, hmm?" 

"Alright." 

She went to stand at the entrance of the club to wait for the cab and the short haired girl she'd been looking at earlier came over to her. Krystal blinked at her cautiously. 

"Hi." 

"Umm, hi," Krystal whispered, dry. 

"My friends said you'd been staring at me all night. Want to tell me why?" 

Krystal shook her head, biting her lip. 

The girl felt flattered that someone so pretty had been looking at her, but she didn't really want to get her hopes up. "I was kind of looking at you too if that helps," she offered.

Krystal shifted on her feet. "Oh...oh. Thank you." 

The girl laughed. "You're welcome." 

Krystal couldn't help but smile a bit. "I was just admiring your haircut. It looks really good on you." She touched the strands of her own long hair. "I couldn't imagine what I'd look like with mine so short."

"You'd be cute," the girl said, getting a little bolder, but Krystal was starting to feel a little panicked. 

She glanced up and sighed in relief, "Well, my cab's here. Nice talking to you." 

"Oh, uh. You too. If you want, I could give you my number and-" 

Krystal shook her head quickly, then darted past the girl and ducked into the cab. She dared a look out the window and saw the girl staring after her in confusion. 

She put a hand to her chest and tried to control her breathing. If I'm not interested in girls, then what was that?