About a month and a half after the honeymoon, everyone came over to me and Panda’s house just because we all hadn’t seen each other in a while. JiYong, Youngbae, Daesung and Dakota had already arrived and we waiting for TOP to get there before ordering pizza. I was upstairs getting Hana dressed and laughing at the conversation downstairs.

“Dakota, why didn’t TOP come with you?”

“Am I TOP’s mother? I don’t keep his schedule.”

“I was just asking,” JiYong said, and muttered something we couldn’t hear.

“Aish…we’re going to starve to death waiting on hyung,” Daesung said.

“SeungRi, where’s joka?” Youngbae asked, changing the subject.

I walked down the stairs with Hana on my hip. “I’m right here!” she exclaimed happily and I put her down so she could greet him. I saw his eyes flicker to her shirt, then back at me.

“I knew it wouldn’t be too long,” he said to me. He turned to Hana. “Boss wanted to come today, but I knew your mama wouldn’t like it. You have to come over one day soon and play with him, okay?”

She nodded. “Me and Boss are friends.”

“Can you do me a favor Hana?” he asked her. She nodded and he whispered some instructions in her ear. Grinning wildly, she ran over to JiYong and jumped on him.

“What’s this?” JiYong asked. He looked down at Hana who seemed to be trying to communicate telepathically. Whatever message she was trying to send he must have picked up because he reached into his pocket and grabbed some bills out of his wallet, silently handing them over to Youngbae.

“What’s that all about?” Dae and Dakota asked together.

“Go show Uncle Dae,” JiYong told her.

I watched in amusement as Dae’s eyes widened to twice their normal size before he burst out in a grin. He didn’t say anything as he shuttled my daughter over to Dakota. It took her about 2.7 seconds to figure it out and her eyes snapped to mine.

“Heifer, why am I always the last to find out ?”

“Don’t call me a heifer, or curse in front of my kid,” I said, laughing just a little. “And you weren’t the last. TOP doesn’t know yet.”

“Mommy, you were right. Uncle YB was the least surprised that I’m gonna be a big sister!”

“Your uncle YB knows entirely too much,” I told her. A knock came to the door. “Now, let’s go surprise Uncle TOP.”

TOP’s expression was priceless when he opened the door and Hana’s “I’m going to be a big sister” shirt was directly at his eye level. After the initial shock, he came in the house and handed Youngbae some money too.

“Were guys betting on this?” I asked.

Panda spoke up from the corner of the room where he’d just been watching everything. “They were. I’d think by now they’d know better than to bet against Youngbae.”

“You guys are a mess!”

“We’re your mess,” Daesung said rather cheesily.

“Yeah, you’re my mess. But you guys are also the best friends I’ve ever had. Just think, we came from you guys not speaking English to us, to hanging out, to some serious drama and a lot of fun. I love you guys.”

“Aww…that’s so sweet,” someone said. It may have been Dae, but I wasn’t quite sure.

“I have an idea,” TOP said. “For old time’s sake, let’s play truth or dare.”

“Not too wild guys,” I said. I could almost see the ideas going through JiYong’s head. “Hana’s only three.”

“Take her next door. I’m sure your mom wouldn’t mind for the night,” SeungRi suggested. I thought about it for a moment, but part of the reason we got this house right next to my mother (the one the guy’s were staying in with Sun Young was now a dorm for the female trainees) was so that we would be close in case I needed her to watch Hana or something. This wasn’t necessarily an emergency, but my mom didn’t seem to mind, so Hana went to spend the night with her granny.

“SO, truth or dare…JiYong?”

“Dare.”

That night is one that I can honestly say ranks up there in the best nights of my life. There was a certainty quality to the night that made it feel special and real. I knew that not everything in my life was going to work out as great as things had, but I had amazing people beside me for the whole journey. Everything is always okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end. For now, things look pretty okay to me, so this is

The End