Bomi is tired.

"Yoon Bomi! It's time to get up, your breakfast is getting cold." Her mom’s voice comes from right outside her room.

She groans and sits up slowly, "Hold on." She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and winces when she brushes a scratch on her right eyelid.

Her hand finds its way to her phone and she sends Chorong a quick text (Morning) before shuffling over and unlocking the door. "Good morning, Mom."

El’s jaw drops.

Bomi almost wishes she had taken the time to look in a mirror, because if her mom’s face was any indication, she looks pretty horrible. She can feel a bruise on her jaw and the scratch over her eye makes her feel like Scar. At least Eunji hadn't gotten her nose. Her body feels like it has been properly tenderized, but on the bright side, she can breathe well and she isn’t limping.

"Is there something on my face?” She catches her mom's eyes and smiles innocently.

Her mom points at her. "Yo- …, you… downstairs. Now."

Bomi grimaces and sighs. She had it coming.

She follows her mom downstairs and sits on the couch as directed. El leaves the room and comes back a couple of minutes later with a first aid kit.

"Shirt off, young lady."

"Mom," she pouts.

"Now, Bomi. I need to check your ribs."

She murmurs under her breath, pulling up her shirt. "I'm sure they're fine."

El’s face is tight as she inspects her. She gets out some salve for her bruises and scratches.

"I called your father, he's on his way home."

"Mom! That wasn’t necessary! I’m fine, Dad is busy and has no ti—"

El cuts her mid-sentence and hushes her. "I think this is a little more important than writing speeding tickets."

“I’m fine, Mom.” She whines like a little child.

"Listen, missy, you're in trouble. If I were you I would keep my answers short."

Bomi huffs and then flinches when her mom touches a spot on her ribs.

El has just finished putting disinfectant on the scratch on her eye, when they hear the door close and Doojoon walks in. He looks at Bomi and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Bomi speaks hurriedly. "Eunji's been having a hard time and has been frequenting a fight club. I talked to her and she said she'd stop. I was going to help her work on American football to replace it. I told her if I found out she went again I would go there and beat her up."

The dancer breathes forcedly after her long rant.

El grabs her hand. "Eunji did this to you, darling?"

"It was a fight club, Mom." She turns to her Dad, "Do you remember when her Dad left?"

He frowns, thinking. "I do."

Bomi nods. “She needed it.”

Doojoon gently places his arms around her shoulders and kisses her head, "Do I need to send your Mom over to her house and make sure she's still alive?"

"Probably, but Eunji wouldn't like it."

Her mom squeezes her hand, "Bomi, I know you're a capable young woman, but you're still my baby, so no more fight club. I understand why you did it, but you should have warned us,” Then she points at her, “you're still in trouble."

Her dad clears his throat. "I bet you want to stay in bed all day."

The auburn-haired girl eyes him suspiciously, "That would be great."

"Well, it's too bad your Mom needs help running errands. Shopping, wasn't it? Lots of heavy bags to carry. If you're going to fight, you're going to it up and get on with life." He stands up and kisses them both on the forehead.

"I have to go back to work.”

As far as Bomi is concerned, grocery shopping is just awful. Her mom is making her do everything and she’s sure she is buying some stuff just so Bomi would have to pick it up.

She’s in pain and people are gaping at her. She isn’t ashamed of her battered appearance at all, but when she saw a woman throw a dirty look at her Mom, it made her a little sick.

Bomi has just turned down the frozen food aisle when she sees Chorong standing there with her mother. She squeaks and backs up quickly, running into El.

"What's wrong, dear?"

Bomi's heart thunders in her chest. "Chorong's there."

Her mom’s eyebrows raise. "Chorong? As in Park Chorong? The girl who doesn't reply to your endless messages but you plan on charming into submission anyway?"

"Yes that Chorong." Bomi glares at her.

"Mhm. So, what's the hold up?"

"I can't go down there, Mom!" She’s fuzzing.

El smirks. "Why not? Don't you want to show off your new look?"

"It's not that. I don’t want to face her yet, I’m waiting for her to reach me first.”

"Bomi…" El puts a hand on her shoulder, "You two live in the same town. It's expected for you to run into one another from time to time. If she can't accept that, maybe she's not the kind of friend you want."

"She's not like that. Chorong is strong and beautiful and good, Mom.”

"Then go. Where's the confident Bomi I know? The girl who went to the club and got those bruises?"

She exhales, "I'm here, Mom. It's just… with Chorong, everything is different."

Her Mom nudges her forward, "Just be polite. Now move, frozen peas wait for no man or woman."

Bomi takes a deep breath and pushes the cart forward. Chorong and her mother are still in the same spot, the black-haired girl’s back to her. Bomi's palms are getting sweaty and her heart is about to pound out of her chest when she realizes both women are standing directly in front of the vegetable she needs. Bomi stops the cart and Chorong glances up with a slight scowl on her face. Then she does a double take and the scowl falls away leaving Chorong staring at her with wide eyes. Bomi squirms under her gaze.

"H-hello, Chorong, Mrs. Park. If you'll just excuse me, I need to slip pass you to grab some snow peas."

"For your face?" Chorong blurts out and then snaps shut.

"Chorong!" Inna gasps. El just chuckles.

Bomi blushes, "Actually, I think they are for a stir fry."

She squeezes past Chorong, careful not to touch her and grabs the vegetable and puts them in her cart. Her Mom nudges her.

"Bomi, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

She turns cautiously towards her Mom and she smiles.

"Mom, this is Chorong and Mrs. Park Inna. Chorong and Mrs. Park Inna, this is my Mom, Yoon El."

"I'll say, Chorong, it's nice to finally meet you. Bomi always talks about what a great girl you are. In fact—"

Bomi elbows her, "I'm sure Chorong doesn't want to hear about that. Shouldn't we be going? Didn't you say something about dry cleaning?"

She smiles. "Of course. How could I forget? Chorong. Mrs. Park."

Bomi ignores Chorong's worried looks and practically races out of the aisle. She doesn’t stop until they are a good two rows away.

"What was that?" Bomi snaps.

"What was what?" El asks innocently.

"You're not a very good actress." She deadpans, turning to push the cart further.

"You do talk about her."

"She doesn't need to know that!"

"Maybe she does."

Bomi frowns and her Mom sighs.

"Dear, I'm going to go find the coffee. Take a moment to get it together, okay?"

Bomi nods and stares at the meat in her cart. She doesn’t like feeling so out of sorts.

"Bomi."

Bomi jumps and looks up to see Chorong standing in front of her with her arms crossed over her chest. It is strange to see Chorong face to face after so long and desiring this moment for months now… but Bomi thinks she looks beautiful. Chorong’s hair is down and it makes Bomi's fingers twitch. She starts to get distracted by her eyes, so she shakes her head lightly and her lips.

"Chorong. Am I in your way? I’m sor-"

"I see why my text was so short this morning. What happened?"

Bomi stutters. "I, well, you see—"

Chorong takes a step closer and Bomi inhales sharply. She looks so worried that it makes Bomi's heart clench.

"Bomi." Chorong steps forward again and her voice comes out in a low growl.

The hairs on the back of Bomi's neck stand up and she gulps. "Yes, Chorong?"

The black-haired girl’s eyes are practically glowing with anger.

"What happened?"

"I was just helping a friend out."

Chorong raises her eyebrow.

She deflates. "Okay, we were fighting. Things got a little out of hand."

Chorong searches her face for almost a minute before stepping back again and rolling her eyes. "Something you do get out of hand? Shocker."

Bomi huffs and is relaxed now that they are in familiar territory. "I have no idea to what you’re talking about."

"Don't make this a habit." Chorong says gesturing to Bomi's bruised body. The black-haired girl is absolutely serious.

"Okay."

"I've got to go." She begins to walk away when Bomi calls her out.

"Wait, Chorong!” The other girl stops for a second, and the dancer grins. “I wanted to let you know that you look gorgeous."

Bomi thinks she sees Chorong blushing slightly before turning away. Bomi's eyes follows her until she disappears.

By 10 o'clock, Bomi is ready for bed. She sends Chorong a text. She giggles as she types.

Bomi: Chorongie, you'll never guess who I saw at the grocery store today. Have a good night.

Two days has passed since hers and Eunji's fight and she’s still sore and a little bit worried. Bomi’s fairly certain than Eunji is in worse condition than she was considering her previous injuries. No matter how much Bomi wanted to check on her, she refrained because the singer is in control now. Bomi had laid out all of her cards and offered her her hand and it was up to her friend to reach out and grab it.

Just as Bomi is thinking about it, her phone goes off.

Eunji: Bbomrilla, our house tonight?

Bomi's lips quirks up at the use of her nickname.

Bomi: I'll be there.

The night is cool and cloudy and Bomi wishes she had worn a light jacket as she jogs over to the park. It hurts to climb the tree, she wonders how Eunji had managed.

Eunji’s in her normal position, so Bomi goes and takes hers, looking out over the treetops and dangling her legs. The singer sets something between them and she can’t help the confused look on her face.

Eunji clears . "'I'm sorry' peperos."

She studies her profile, noting that Eunji looks worse than the first night they had talked. None of the bruises were fresh though and that comforts her.

Bomi grabs a pepero and bites into it. She smiles at Eunji and nods toward the box, "Share in my bounty?"

The shorter girl grabs a pepero and holds it up, "Cheers."

“Cheers."

Eunji takes a bite before she speaks. "Speaking of bounty, you left your money prize the other night."

Bomi raises her eyebrows. "Money prize?"

"It was best fight, the crowd chose."

"Well, we always have epic battles."

Eunji nods and laughs. "It's at my house, if you want it. There's about three hundred bucks there. I used some of it at the store. A load of painkillers and some Band-Aids and stuff."

They eat several peperos in silence before Eunji speaks softly. "I would have given you these sooner, but I couldn't move."

Bomi chuckles at Eunji’s sheepish face.

Bomi wakes up aware of two things: she can’t feel her right arm and she’s spooning Eunji. They had fallen asleep at the tree house and it is kind of comfortable, except for the fact that Eunji is laying on top of her arm and she’s afraid it might be turning blue.

Bomi groans and shakes her shoulder. "Eunji…Eunji-ah…Get up!"

Eunji grumbles but doesn’t move. Bomi reaches up with her free hand, grabs a fistful of hair, and pulls.

Eunji yelps and rolls quickly away from her. Bomi hisses as the blood flow resumes in her arm.

"What the hell?" Eunji is more surprised than mad.

"Pins and needles! Pins and needles!"

Eunji eyes Bomi clutching her arm and smirks.

"What's that? You can't move your arm? Want me to help?"

Bomi growls. "Eunji-ah, if you touch my arm I will end you."

Eunji laughs and then yawns, "What time is it anyway?"

Bomi uses her functioning hand to pull out her phone. "8:30.” She gasps. “Oh God, I forgot to text Dad to tell him that I was spending the night.” She pushes herself up and stands slowly. She feels her bones creak and pop.

Eunji groans when she stands up. "Next time we bring pillows."

Bomi nods and then pauses when something catches her eye. "Eunji, what's that by the door?"

Eunji frowns and walks cautiously over to the doorway of their tree house. There is a large rock on top of a piece of paper. She doesn’t touch the rock, just jerks the paper from underneath and steps back from the doorway, squinting at the paper.

Dear Bomi (and Eunji),

I came to find you when it started raining and your mom started having a meltdown. You were already asleep when I arrived. I assume you were exhausted. I'm going to assume this same exhaustion caused you to forget to text me with your changed plans. I told your mom you were safe and you were spending the night with Eunji. She’s is expecting you both for breakfast at 9. Don't push your luck.

Love,

Dad.

Relief floods Bomi and then she panics.

"We have to go! We're going to be late!”

"We can take my truck. I parked it on the other side of the trees." Eunji is climbing down already.

Once they are in the truck, Bomi relaxes considerably. She looks over at the other girl curiously. "Why do you look so nervous?"

Eunji shifts gears and sighs, "I don't know, maybe because I butchered her daughter days ago."

"You know they both love you."

"I know, which makes it worse. Your Dad knows how to cut someone's heart out of their chest."

Bomi rolls her eyes and grabs her phone.

Bomi: Morning, Chorongie. I hope you slept well. I'm going to have breakfast with my Dad and Eunji. Have a great day.

"Who are you texting?"

Bomi fights the blush rising in her cheeks as she glances at Eunji. "Chorong."

 The shorter girl seems surprised. "I didn't know you two texted each other, I thought she has been avoiding you."

"We don't. I text her. And she is avoiding me."

The dancer felt her questioning glance and exhales a breath of air. "Eyes on the road, Eunji,” She wipes with her finger a small spot on the window, “I’m just trying to bring her out of her stubbornness. "

"Chorong? If she thinks she did something wrong, she can be even denser than you and me together."

Bomi hums. "I’ve come to realize that.” She smiles sarcastically. “I'm fine with telling her good night and good morning until she's ready to talk."

Eunji laughs. "So how's charming her pants off working for you?"

"I’m not trying to charm her pants off! Mom thinks the same. I'm just trying to prove her that I’m there for her and that we’re even now. That I’m ready to start again."

Eunji shakes her head. "You were better at wooing girls when we were younger."

Bomi smacks Eunji’s arm. "Shut it, Meunggji."

At the end, breakfast went surprisingly well.