It was 8.30pm before Sunny returned home, completely drained from the day she spent with Yuri and the rest of the group.  It had gone so well that Yuri even found space to show off her dancing skills.  Hyoyeon was relieved that Yuri wasn’t as impressive a dancer as her, but also equally so because she wouldn’t have to carry the whole group’s dancing prowess on her shoulders.  The girl could move, and everyone was impressed.  Immediately, she was welcomed into the band.  Nine members in one group promised to be Herculean in nature, but they all hoped that would come off positively in their performances and not negatively in their fame.  Eight, she reminded herself, eight members.  Even Yuri had been more than ready to help Sunny choose her new career path.  She thought everyone should follow their dreams, and that you should always be happy, whatever you do.  ‘Of course she would say that,’ Sunny’s inner critical cynic told her, ‘she has the chance to replace you.’  Sunny sighed and fell onto the sofa before looking around for her remote control and switching on the TV.  She couldn’t get that song out of her head.

neoneun naui beulling seuta

naneun neoui beulling seuta

uri deurui kkumeul wihayeo

It was so perfect for her.  She must have known.  Although, she did write it for her boyfriend.  How could he have been a jerk?  Yuri had never mentioned anything to the group for the day, and nobody had asked.  Maybe Yoona would know.  They had been friends for a few years.  But how would she ask?  “Hey, Yoona, you know your friend?  Yuri?  Just how was she treated by that colossal asshat that she calls an ex-boyfriend?”  ‘Smooth,’ Sunny laughed.  She sighed, flicking through the channels.  “‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’?” she muttered aloud.  “Seen it.  ‘Zombie Lesbian Vampires’?  Must let Taeyeon know about that.  ‘The Big Bang Theory’?  Which one?”  She pressed the information button.  “‘The Fish Guts Displacement’?  Wait, that’s the one when Sheldon spanks Amy!  I love that episode!” she chuckled, pressing Select and curling her legs up underneath her to enjoy her selection.  As she waited for the commercials to finish, she found her mind drifting to the new addition to the band.  She did seem very polite and well mannered, as well as crazy as hell.  The group had been looking around a local shopping mall and has been browsing the new additions in Build-A-Bear, when Yuri picked up a stuffed unicorn and made an impromptu impression of a jockey competing in the British Grand National.  Hyoyeon, Yoona, Taeyeon, Sunny and Sooyoung had burst into fits of laughter, where Seohyun, Tiffany and Jessica walked away very quickly, embarrassed at the sight.  Seohyun had at least found it hilarious, but maintained her group image: mature and professional.  Sunny shook her head and smiled.  Yuri could well be just what the group needed.

“Yuri, unnie,” Yoona argued, “you don’t have to go!”  She was standing near her chair and facing Yuri, who was sitting on the sofa.  Her arms were locked by her side, fists clenched in desperation.  This had been a recurring theme for the last week; Yuri wanting to leave, Yoona wanting her to stay.  As much as Yuri had every right to leave, Yoona didn’t want to remain in her little apartment, alone.  Having Yuri there had made the house a home, a place she enjoyed.  If Yuri left, all of that would surely end.

“I do,” Yuri remained firm.  “Yoona, you’ve been so good to me, I can’t ever repay you, but I can’t stay here forever.”  Yuri sat on the very sofa she had been sleeping for the last few weeks.  Whilst she truly was grateful for her friend’s hospitality, Yuri knew that staying with Yoona would be too much for the younger member.  She was stifling her social life, her possible love life.  It would be embarrassing for Yoona to bring home a boyfriend, only for the pair to find her sprawled out on the sofa, snoring and drooling.  That is, if she snored and drooled.  Yoona was too polite to say anything about Yuri’s night time habits.  Yuri knew she couldn’t take the chance.

“You don’t have anywhere to go!”  Yoona countered.  She was her best friend, why should Yuri be out on the streets when there was a perfectly good roof over her head now?  There was no rent to pay, she didn’t have to help with the bills although she always contributed, and she never had to cook.  Which was a blessing in disguise, because Yuri really could not cook.  Their evening meals consisted of takeaways, which was fine for Yoona, especially since they could spend their evening relaxing and gossiping and just generally chilling out.  Why on earth would she not want Yuri, her closest friend, her confidant, her partner-in-comedic-capers to stay?

“I know,” Yuri conceded.

“So stay!”  Yoona interrupted, a worried look crawling over her face.

Yuri sat in silence.  “Let’s compromise,” she started, “I’ll stay until I find somewhere else to live.  I’ll look in the morning, I won’t let it interfere with the group schedules, I won’t let it keep me awake, but I will look.  And you can’t stop me, ok?  I need my own space, I need a bed to sleep in, I need …” Yuri sighed.  She couldn’t explain it.  She had everything she really needed here, but there was something missing.

Yoona nodded.  “Ok.  I won’t let you leave until you find somewhere else to live.  You know that you can stay here as long as you like, right?  And you can always share the bedroom with me.”

“Thanks,” Yuri smiled, “but I think you might lose an eye if you share a bed with me.”

Yoona giggled.  “I’d be ok,” she smiled.  “At least I’d have a chance to talk to my bestie all night.”

Yuri lifted her eyes and looked directly at Yoona.  “All night?”

Yoona nodded.

“A whole night of you talking about boys and food and TV shows?”

Yoona laughed and nodded.

Yuri mockingly raised her eyebrows in worry.  “I’ll look for a new place now, if you don’t mi…  HEY!”  She barely had time to react before the cushion Yoona had thrown in her direction hit her in the face.  Yoona sat on the chair, preparing to throw her second padded missile.

“So, how is the apartment hunting going?”  Hyoyeon asked.  The group had joined for another meeting at the same coffee shop where Yuri had first met them.

“You told her?”  Yoona asked, shocked.  “You only went looking for apartments two days ago!”

“She saw me at the estate agents,” Yuri explained, “what else could I say?  ‘No, I’m not looking for an apartment, I’m here to buy some melons’?

“Is someone talking about me?”  Sunny remarked, leaving the shop with her freshly made passion fruit iced tea.  Groans left the mouths of Sooyoung, Tiffany and Jessica.  Seohyun and Yoona rolled their eyes, whilst Taeyeon and Hyoyeon stifled a laugh.

“Huh?  No, I was talking to Yoona,” Yuri answered, confused.

“She knows we weren’t talking about her,” Taeyeon explained, as Sunny sat back at her seat, smiling.  “Whenever anyone says … the ‘M’ word, she just pipes up with some smart comment.”

“That would be because my really is smart,” Sunny smirked.  “It has like a third of my brains.”

“Sunny,” Tiffany despaired, “you are my best friend, please stop reducing yourself to your … body parts.”

“Why?  It’s not my fault I was blessed with an amazing rack,” Sunny replied cheekily, waving her hand underneath her s, as if showing them off on a game show.

Tiffany just stared in response, raising her eyebrow questionably.  “I can’t believe you’re my best friend,” she answered, a few seconds later, before sipping at her Diet Cola.

“Anyway,” Jessica interrupted, trying to get the conversation back on track.

“Actually,” Taeyeon mused, “Sunny, didn’t you say you might be looking for a roomie?”

“I … uh … I guess,” Sunny thought.  She had considered getting a flatmate, but not for a while.  “Why?”

“Apparently, Yuri’s looking for somewhere,” their leader caught her up, before turning their attention to their new addition.  “Why don’t you see if you can move in with Sunny?”

Sunny and Yuri looked at each other, a little shell-shocked.  A few ‘uhhs’ passed between each other, before Yuri broke the silence.  “I don’t want to impose, I’m fine to find somewhere of my own.  Besides, I bet Sunny has a lot of company to entertain.”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon agreed sarcastically.  “She has Mario, Luigi, Kirby, Daryl Dixon, quite a bunch of guys.”

“Heeeey!”  Sunny pouted.

“Whaaat?”  Taeyeon mimicked.

“You forgot Link,” Sunny sulked playfully, sipping at her iced tea.

A sigh of exasperation and her head falling into her hands showed the group that Taeyeon immediately regretted making that comment.

“Actually,” Sunny dismissed her bandmate’s reaction, “I … I guess I would like a flatmate.  I mean, I do have a spare room, and the company would be nice … not to mention a little help with the bills wouldn’t go amiss.”  She shrugged her shoulders, semi-dismissing the idea as nothing more than vocalising her inner monologue.  Yoona seemed more in thought.

“It … it might not be a bad idea,” Yoona answered.  “Sunny is my friend, I trust her, she’s in the band …”

“For now,” Tiffany snapped.

“She’s still here,” Yoona extended her hand to Sunny’s.  “And, if she does leave the group, I’m sure she wouldn’t leave the apartment for a while, so Yuri wouldn’t be homeless.  And since that … idiot left her, she … she has been a little lonely.  Maybe she and Yuri could be of use to each other, you know, help each other through it.”

Sunny half smiled at Yuri.  “It … it would be nice.  What do you say?”

Yuri sighed and looked at Sunny, thinking of her options.  Eventually, she smiled slightly and asked the question her train of thought had arrived at: “What’s the rent?”