Water beaded on my skin, mixing with the sunscreen and magnifying the texture of my tanned stomach. The sun beat down on us, and everyone else on the beach, making the heat dance in waves on top of the sand between the patches of brightly colored beach towels.

“Ma’am,” the waiter said, leaning down with two drinks. Sweat dripped off his dark skin, but he was smiling. “Charging to the room?”

“Yes, thank you,” I said, taking my frozen strawberry margarita and signing the check.

Bom took hers and stirred the ice with her tiny straw. “This. Is. Heaven.”

We all deserved a little Heaven to recover from the last year. After attending dozens of funerals, and helping Jiyong deal with his guilt, we fielded more questions from investigators. The students who were at the fight kept Jiyong’s name out of it when speaking with the authorities, but rumors spread, and it took a long time for Daesung’s arrest to be enough for the families.

It took a lot of convincing for Jiyong not to turn himself in. The only thing that seemed to hold him back was my begging for him not to leave me alone, and knowing Jo would be charged with misleading an investigation. The first six months of our marriage was far from easy, and we spent a lot of long nights arguing about what was the right thing to do. Maybe it was wrong for me to keep Jiyong from prison, but I didn’t care. I didn’t believe he was any more at fault than anyone who had chosen to be in that basement that night. I would never regret my decision, just like I would never regret looking straight into that detective’s eyes and lying my off to save my husband.

“Yes,” I said, watching the water climb up the sand and then recede. “We have Jiyong to thank. He was at the gym with as many clients as he could fit around his classes six days a week from five in the morning to ten o’clock at night. This was all him. It sure wasn’t my tutoring money that got us here.”

“Thank him? When he promised me a real wedding, I didn’t know he meant a year later!”

“Bom,” I scolded, turning to her. “Could you be more spoiled? We’re on a beach, drinking frozen margaritas in Jeju.”

“I guess it gave me some time to plan your bachelorette party and the renewal of your vows,” she said, taking a sip.

I smiled, turning to her. “Thank you. I mean it. And this is the best bachelorette party in the history of bachelorette parties.”

Harin walked over and sat down in the lounge chair on the other side of me, her pixie short chestnut hair glistened in the sun. She shook the salt water out of it, making it feather out. “The water is so warm!” she said, pushing up her oversize sunglasses. “There is a guy over there teaching kids how to windsurf. He’s stupid hot.”

“Maybe you can talk him into being our stripper later?” Bom said, straight-faced.

Sohee frowned. “Bom, no. Jiyong would be livid. Dara isn’t actually a bachelorette, remember?”

Bom shrugged, letting her eyes close behind her sunglasses. Although Sohee and I had grown very close since I moved out, she and Bom still weren’t on the best of terms. Probably because both of them said exactly what they thought.

“We’ll blame it on Harin,” Bom said. “Jiyong can’t get mad at her. He’s forever indebted to her for letting him into Morgan Hall that night you were fighting.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to be on the wrong end of a Kwon rage,” Harin said, shuddering.

I scoffed. “You know he hasn’t lashed out in a long time. He’s got a handle on his anger now.”

Harin and I had shared two classes that semester, and when I invited her to the apartment to study, Jiyong recognized her as the girl who’d let him into our dorm. Like Jiyong, her brother was also a member of Big Bang fraternity, so she was one of the few pretty girls on campus that Jiyong hadn’t slept with.

“Jiyong and Top will be here tomorrow afternoon,” Bom said. “We have to get our partying in tonight. You don’t think Jiyong is sitting at home doing nothing, do you? We’re going out and we’re going to have a damn good time whether you like it or not.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Just no strippers. And not too late. This wedding will actually have an audience. I don’t want to look hungover.”

Harin lifted the flag next to her chair, and almost immediately a waiter came over.

“How may I help you, miss?”

“A piña colada, please?”

“Of course,” he said, backing away.

“This place is swank,” Bom said.

“And you wonder why it took us a year to save up for this. ”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything. Ji wanted you to have the best. I get it. And it was nice of Mom and Dad to pay my way. I sure as hell wouldn’t have been able to come otherwise.”

I giggled.

“You promised me I could be a bridesmaid and do everything you made me miss last year. I see them paying as a wedding present and an anniversary present to you, and a birthday present to me all rolled into one. If you ask me, they got off cheap.”

“It’s still too much.”

“Dara, they love you like a daughter. Daddy is very excited about walking you down the aisle. Let them do this without ruining the spirit of it,” Bom said.

I smiled. Auntie and Uncle  treated me like family. After my father landed me in a dangerous situation last year, Uncle decided that I needed a new father—and nominated himself. If I needed help with tuition or books or a new vacuum cleaner, Uncle and Auntie showed up at my door. Helping me also gave them an excuse to visit Bom and me, and it was obvious that they enjoyed that the most.

Not only did I now have the unruly Kwon clan as family, but I had Uncle and Aunt as well. I’d gone from belonging to no one, to being a part of two amazing families that were incredibly important to me. At first, it made me feel anxious. I’d never had so much to lose before. But over time, I realized that my n