“Honey? Is that you?” Inna asks as she hears the front door slam shut. She walks out of the kitchen and meets Chorong in the hall.

“Hi Mom.” The girl answers distractedly.

“You’re early. Something’s wrong darling?”

“Just a headache, Mom, nothing to worry about.” Chorong smiles reassuringly.

“You sure?” The woman eyes her daughter suspiciously.

“Of course.” Chorong hits her mother lightly on the shoulder while showing her the best smile the girl could muster.

“Go take some Ad-“

“Mom.” Suddenly, an idea strikes her.

“Do you know what happened to my Rain Tour DVD I had when I was little?”

‘Dongwook stepped on it and then throw it one day you were at school.’

“The one you used to love so much? I have no idea, honey. I remember how you used to watch it every night.” She pauses for a second. ‘Every goddamn night for years.’ “Maybe it got lost when we moved over here… but you have it on your laptop now, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I just was being nostalgic.” She forces a smile. “I’ll be in my room for a while, Mom.”

“Go rest, honey.”

“I knew it.” Chorong spits as soon as she closes the door behind her. After a few seconds of silently ranting about her parents’ betrayal, she sits on her bed, finally realizing what has been happening all day.

“So, I can hear people’s thoughts.” The crazy statement that falls from makes her shudder and echoes in the solitude of her room. 

She must be mental at the young age of 18. Great. Just great.

But it has to be true. It’s the only explanation to all the craziness of today. Well, not all, because Bomi thinking that she’s hot, pretty and worrying about her is still inexplicable.

The matter at hand now is… why did this happen? What’s going on?

She takes her laptop and after an intensive research on the Internet she found surprisingly very serious looking pages and some other rather questionable forums and essays. What she could gather was that electrical charges in the human body, nervous receptors, sound waves and an immense amount of terms she doesn’t know about are the culprit of her new ability.

And now what? The stories she found on some forums were frightening. She sighs and let a long breath of exhaustion. What can she do with it? Can it hurt someone? Is it even moral?

How can she stop it?

She figures she’ll just skip dinner today, take a shower and call it a day. Tomorrow she’ll try to handle the voices in her head and now the silence is reassuring.

The next day, the black-haired girl is feeling rather rested and fresh. Chorong is convinced she’ll be able to stand a bunch of teenagers whose main train of thought revolves around , self-esteem crushes and videogames. Even though, Bomi’s thoughts make her anxious and are not helping to calm her. Instead it is giving her butterflies in her stomach, anticipation and distracting her from solving the problem at hand and Chorong has too much on her plate to focus on that now.

Her internal reflection is cut short when someone taps her shoulder delicately. A pair of smiling eyes are looking softly at her.

“Hey, RongRongCho.” Eunji smiles at her- she’s not going to lie, Eunji still has the special talent of making her feel at ease and protected- arranging the strip of her backpack. “Just wanna be sure you’re okay, yesterday you were kind of off. Everything’s fine?”

“I’m okay Eunji-ah, I was having a really bad day and snapped at all of you. I’m sorry.” She assures the girl. Chorong can see the doubt written in Eunji’s eyes. She wants to say something else and escape from the sharp mind of Jung Eunji, but suddenly she realizes she can use her ability to her favour. The black-haired girl tilts her head.

‘… not ready to tell anyone yet.’ “I see. See you later, Rong. Don’t forget to relax a little time to time” She gives her an encouragement sign with her hand and a blinding smile.

In moments like these, Chorong is reminded of why Eunji retains a piece of her heart.  She understands even when she doesn’t want her to do so. Their relationship may have failed, but their bond is real and their friendship is something Chorong holds dear.

“I know you’re just stalling the moment to go to class and using me as an excuse, Pabboji. Hurry up, I don’t want you to be late because of me” She laughs it off and knows that Eunji acknowledges the gratitude hidden between her words.

Chorong turns to head to class, when she catches a flash of auburn and two rounded eyes staring at their direction. The moment their eyes meet, the familiar soft echo rings through her mind.

‘This will always be your place, Bomi. Why cannot you accept it and move on.’

Bomi’s voice is sad and honest and Chorong has to avert her eyes because she can’t bear to hear the bright girl like this. When she walks past her, who’s leaning on a row of lockers, hugging her books to her chest, two things catch up with the black-haired girl: a subtle but alluring breeze of perfume and a faint, ‘Good bye.’

The cafeteria is flooding with students and Chorong is looking for a blonde girl who’s supposedly was waiting for her minutes ago.

“Chorong!” The excited voice stands out from the incomprehensible chatter of mixed thoughts and conversations. “Rong, over here!”

She spots a giddy Namjoo waving from a table in the far corner and she can’t suppress the smile exploding in her face. Chorong knows if there’s someone whom she can confide her secret, is Namjoo. She makes her way to the table and then she sees Hayoung beside the jumping blonde. That’s new.

“Rong!” Namjoo hugs her over the table as soon she sits.

“Hi, Joo.” She returns the hug. “Hello Hayoung.”

“Chorong”

Namjoo seems to be the only one comfortable. “How are you?”

“I’m good, Joo-ah” Chorong can’t stop wondering why is Hayoung there. Both of them have never gotten along very well. They had have their good moments since Hayoung is close to Naeun, Namjoo and Eunji, but the tall girl’s struggles with her appear to be born from Hayoung’s friendship with Bomi.

“You sure about that, Chorong? What about yesterday at rehearsals?” Hayoung asks.

Chorong shifts in her seat nervously. “I was having a hard day. Stress. Nothing a good sleep couldn’t fix.”

Silence falls around the table and the black-haired girl feels small under the scrutinizing gaze of Hayoung’s intense brown eyes. After a couple of seconds, the blonde leans into the tall girl and whispers loud enough for Chorong to hear.

“So, what you’re gonna tell-“

“Namjoo-ah” Hayoung whispers back harshly. “Remember what you promised?”

‘Not to mention Bomi in the conversation with Chorong, ‘cause she’ll hunt you down and kill you slowly.’

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” Namjoo bats her eyelashes and smiles apologetically.

‘Cute’ “It’s good you’re good, Chorong.” Hayoung says honestly redirecting her attention to her. ‘Now Bomi can stop pestering me about it.’

Chorong starts unpacking her lunch and her mind shuts out the murmurings. But the revolution happening in her stomach is not letting her take a bite.

‘Not to mention Bomi in the conversation with Chorong, ‘cause she’ll hunt you down and kill you slowly’, she recalls.

Chorong is certain now that the bright girl feels something for her. Maybe just a little interest, and that excites her like nothing ever has done it before.

Most importantly… why is Bomi so fixed in making her feel otherwise? Because of Eunji? But… there’s nothing there any more than a friendship. She’s sure Eunji would not feel objected to the idea of something happening between them. Bomi must know since she’s Eunji’s best friend… right?

Chorong is seating on the bleachers of the school’s football camp. The ability seems to drain all of her energy and she has opted for walking from class to class with headphones and having lunch outside the cafeteria, where the people’s thoughts are faint enough to not be a burden to her.

“Rong!” Namjoo hugs her before taking a seat beside her. Namjoo seems to be an easy case for her, since the girls almost every time says out loud what’s in her mind. So, she doesn’t worry to be prying her friend’s privacy.

“So, what is the matter so urgently you had to tell me, Rong?”

Today is the day.

She swallows hard, reaching for the hem of her skirt. “I really don’t know where to begin.”

“How about the beginning?” She smiles.

“Okay.” She takes a deep breath and begins to relate her story.

Chorong has just finished to tell her story and is looking intently into Namjoo’s eyes, waiting for an answer.

‘Chorong has gone bat crazy. Thank God she’s pretty because she’s a nut case. Probably that’s why Bomi likes her.’

“Namjoo! How can you possibly think that about m-“

Wait. That was not Namjoo’s voice. WHAT. She was so into her story that she couldn’t tell somebody else was listening. Chorong focuses on recognizing the clearly feminine voice, but that is not necessary, seeing as Hayoung is coming from behind Namjoo.

“I confess it wasn’t my intention to eavesdrop.”

‘Oh .’ Now that is Namjoo.

Hayoung is standing in front of us. ‘Bomi was just being a pain in the pleading me to come ask you again if you were okay… which obviously you aren’t.’ “But,” she singsongs “considering I already did… let me get this straight. You are telling us-“

“I was telling Namjoo”

“Whatever. You are telling us, that you got electrocuted by your running machine, survived and now you can listen to other people’s thoughts.”

"Well I guess when you put it like that, it does sound ridiculous."

"Right. And now you're going to tell me you have a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt."

"How did you- Well it's not a lightning bolt, it's more like a root. See," She carefully moves the bandage away from her hand, making Namjoo gasp and Hayoung’s eyes bulge.

"Okay. I guess I should start calling you "The Chorong That Lived" then."

"What-" Then it all clicks. "Hayoung! This is not funny. You have to believe me."

The tall girl sighs.

"Guys. I can read minds." She says slowly.

Hayoung snorts. "Do you really want us to believe you're a psychic or whatever?"

"I am!" She cries.

Hayoung gives her a look that says "yeah, right" and Namjoo tilts her head at her. 'Aww. Rong is losing it.'

"I am not-" She stops herself on time and suddenly realizes the easiest way to prove it. "I'll prove it. Think about something, anything."

'Spicy Chicken.'

"Anything but spicy chicken, Joo."

The blonde gasps amazed, clearly convinced by Chorong, but Hayoung doesn't seem impressed at all.

"Nice try."

"Go ahead, think about something only Oh Hayoung would know if you're so sure that I'm lying." The dare in her voice doesn't go unnoticed by the other girl, who looks down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"This is stupid."

"Then you have nothing to lose."

"Whatever." Hayoung scoffs.

She rolls her eyes. 'Uh, okay, I don't know... I'm afraid of clowns. I steal my brother's comics 'cause I love Batwoman and... I’m love with Cloud Strife and Lightning… Oh! One time I-‘

"Okay, okay. Enough. Clowns, Batwoman, Cloud Strife, Lightning. It’s not my intention to know all your secrets."

Hayoung jumps back like she has just been burned.

'How the ? There has to be another explanation. This is irrational. There has to be a way-'

"There isn't." Chorong cuts off her train of thoughts. "Trust me."

"Wait a minute." The taller girl says. "If you can hear what we think since Monday, then you know why I..."

"Yes, I know about Bomi." Chorong smiles apologetically. “I don’t know what I’ll do about her… she’s not alone in it, you know?” She says hesitantly.

Hayoung looks at Chorong with a frown. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Namjoo surprises the shorter girl with a sudden hug and distract her from questioning Hayoung. It's comforting and she clings to the girl gratefully.

"We’ll help you, Rong” The blonde says.

'How do I even get myself into this ?' Hayoung sighs dramatically.

Hi guys! Sorry if the chapters are coming short, but I'm trying to update as soon as possible too, to make it up for the shortness :')

And thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment, and also thank you for suscribing and uptvoting. Thank you so much!