Bomi stands with her gaze fixed on the wood of Chorong's front door and takes a breath. Then another. She balances the bag and the coffees in her right hand to knock but then decides her left hand is not that good at knocking. When she finally frees her good hand and raises it, she stops to ponder if maybe it would be best to ring the bell. Or maybe she should call Chorong and make sure she's awake first; she did came a little early after all.

This is hard.

"Yoon Bomi." Chorong's mom, Inna, opens the door and greets her with an amused smirk. Her face burns at the thought that she had been watching her all along.

"Good morning, ma’am" she says firmly and then frowns, "I thought Chorong said you were out for the weekend."

"Mhm," she nods, "we were just leaving. Actually… Dongwook, honey! You have five minutes or I'm leaving without you!" She calls into the house and then turns to her with a confident smile. "He's just like Chorong, you know. Always thinks he's going to forget something and starts freaking out at the last minute."

Bomi chuckles at the mental image. "Where are you going?"

"My high-school friend just had a baby. We're going to visit and meet the new member of the family. I've seen pictures, he's adorable."

Dongwook finally appears with a bag slung across his chest and a carry-on in his hand. He notices her and sends her an unsure look.

"Hi sir, I'm Bomi," she says extending her free hand, happy with her decision of carrying the stuff with the left one because awkward handshakes are the worst introductions ever. Dongwook still stares at her like she's not trustworthy and she shifts nervously. "I brought breakfast for Chorong," she shows him the bag and the coffees.

"She doesn’t breakfast lightly on weekends" he snaps eyeing the bag.

"These are spicy chicken feet."

Dongwook raises his eyebrows impressed, meanwhile Inna watches the stare match awkwardly.

"Okay…" she mumbles, "time to go. Bomi, you and Chorong have fun and keep an eye on her, alright?"

"Sure, ma’am. Drive safe and have fun."

Inna pulls Dongwook to the car, sending Bomi an apologetic smile back. She finally breathes out a long sigh and makes her way to Chorong's bedroom. She knocks on the door and waits. When there's no answer she pushes the door ajar and peeks inside. Chorong is on the floor doing sit ups with her earphones on.

Bomi lets her brown eyes roam freely over Chorong's taut body. 'And I'm gonna have this girl all by myself this weekend. How did I get so lucky?'

Chorong suddenly stops and jumps into a sitting position, her head snapping to the girl standing ogling her from the door.

"Bomi! Good morning! Is it nine already?" Chorong stands in a rush and checks her phone. Surely she didn't notice the time with the new exercising regime she's trying and all. If it wasn't for Bomi's thought that resounded loud and clear through her head and over the music from her i-pod, she wouldn't have noticed the auburn-haired girl had arrived.

"Yeah, I came a little early," Bomi stammers, forcing her eyes to stay above Chorong's neck. "I just met your parents, by the way."

"Oh my God, you did?" Chorong's eyes widen comically. "Did my dad say something mean? Oh he's in so much trouble if he did."

Bomi laughs. "No, they were fine."

"Oh, okay." Chorong finally looks down at herself, realizing she's wearing the tiniest shorts and sports bra she owns and her skin is wet from the sweat. "Uh, I'm gross. I'm going to go shower real quick. You can wait in kitchen Bomi-ah; I'll be downstairs in a minute."

Bomi does just that. She sits on a stool and sips on her coffee, her fingers tapping on the marble table and her ears catching the muffled song Chorong is belting out in her shower over the sound of splashing water.

Chorong in the shower. Uh oh.

She quickly forces her mind to stop going in that direction.

Minutes later a fresh and clean Chorong runs down the stairs. She takes her seat in front of Bomi and the dancer passes her her coffee and her plate.

Chorong flashes her a grin and reaches over the table and pecks her on the lips, murmuring a quick "thank you," before digging into her food.

When they finish their breakfast, they move to the living room to watch some TV. At this time in the day it's all mostly talk shows and cartoons, so Chorong switches to the cutest looking ones and diverts her attention to the auburn-haired girl.

There's a question in Chorong's eyes and it's the same Bomi had that day in her bedroom. The dancer catches on it quickly and smiles sheepishly before leaning in and kissing her. And so they kiss and kiss and kiss.

They stop eventually, of course. Chorong suggests that they play Scrabble. She finds a tough opponent in Bomi because, contrary to popular belief, Bomi is one of the smartest girls in school.

They have lunch, watch a movie, and listen to music. They also kiss on the couch, on the bed and on the kitchen counter. They just can't seem to be able to take their hands off of each other.

It's all still pretty tame. They've gone under the shirt but never got close enough to second base. They're only feather-like touches, brushing skin, tickling sides, only fuelling the coiling desire inside them. But it's much too soon for that for them, so they keep kissing. Innocent and not so innocent kisses, interrupted by giggles and breathy sighs and sometimes a good placed hickey in that spot that turns Chorong into a poodle of goo.

They lay on Chorong's bed, this time talking and having a few drinks. They are learning about each other, sharing secrets.

“I guess there’s nothing more I could hide from you now, Rong” Bomi’s smiling, so relaxed that she’s slowly falling prey to dreamland.

Chorong breathes deep, feeling a pang of guilt at how she still can’t bring herself to confess to Bomi how she really discovered the girl’s true feelings about her.

“Bbo- Bbom-ah,” She stutters, staring at the void and feeling her stomach twisting. “There’s one thing I don’t know how to begin to tell you. You see, I know it will sound ridiculous and you won’t believe me but one day I was on my ru-”

‘Can’t believe I tried to deny myself this happiness sleeping with Hani’

Stop.

“You did WHAT?!” Chorong cries bolting to an upright position at speed light.

“What happened?!” There’s a throbbing beeping sound in Bomi’s eardrum. The girl is wide awake now.

“You slept with Hani?” Chorong is seeing red. 

‘Did I say that out loud?’

“Doesn’t matter, Bomi. When did it happen? Answer me.” Chorong is already formulating a way to chop Bomi’s head by now.

Bomi scoots closer to the girl cautiously, “I did once, but that was before you and me. Why are you up in arms?” She squeezes the shorter girl’s hand and the regret written in her face is painfully obvious.

Chorong squeezes it back. She looks at the bed trying to cave a hole in it with her eyes.

“… Because I can’t stand the thought of someone else touching you…” She trails off murmuring.

“I’m yours Rong. I’ve always been. That time or any other time it was me trying to get you out of my head because I thought you couldn’t be mine.” She smiles sadly. “Anyways, what were you trying to say before I ruined the mood with my loose mouth?“

Chorong squirms.

“What I was trying to say is…,” she gulps nervously, fidgeting with the hem of the blouse, “that you don’t have a loose mouth, Bbom-ah. You did not say anything. You thought about it and I heard it.”

The dancer’s face is expressionless. “I don’t understand.”

“Bomi-ah. What would you think of someone if said someone were keeping you in the dark all along, reading your mind, knowing every fleeting thought of yours and controlling everything like some kind of puppet master?”

“Who would do such horrible thing?”

“… Me.” Chorong stares back at Bomi's confused eyes as if she would want to dive into them and never get out.

“I can’t explain it to you, I can’t explain why… that’s why I knew about your Hani thought now, that’s how I always knew when you were thirsty or tired, that’s how I knew since more than a month ago, that you were thinking about me more times than you were not.”

Silence.

As stricken by lightning, all lost pieces start to fall in place for Bomi. Memory to memory. It’s impossible. It should be.

Bomi stands up slowly, wobbling and takes a step back and looks at her. Her eyes are guarded and Chorong could feel her eyes begin to burn. Bomi’s whole body seems tense and she seems to quiver.

She looks frightened. “Chorong…”

“I’m going to get rid of it! I promise. And I’m sorry. I’m deeply sorry. So, so, so, sorry, Bomi-ah.”

“All those times where I thought destiny was finally pulling through,” she spits, “those were all you, testing. Playing.”

Bomi feels deceived.

“How can you say that? It was none of those! I’ve always felt the same way as you did about me this whole time!”

“I feel like a fool, making an even bigger fool of myself. I can’t face you right now, Chorong.”

Bomi turns abruptly. “The main door is unlocked, right?”

“I love you.” Chorong mumbles softly.

Bomi swallows down the overwhelming urge to cry. ‘I love you too.’ “I’m leaving.”

It feels like hell.

Chorong can’t stand to watch her leave, so she looks at her feet and doesn’t look back up, even when she listens to the door closing, even when she listens to Bomi’s car engine starting up.

Chorong makes the decision to plug in her running machine with her wet hand again that night.

When Namjoo walks into the Park’s residence on Sunday morning to check on why Chorong still has not responded to any of her messages or calls, she finds an unlocked door- ‘highly dangerous!’- , and Chorong still on bed curling, with an even bigger red burnt mark across her other hand.

“Chorong!”

Namjoo can only think about how close to death her friend has been once more. Chorong can only think that, although Namjoo’s eyes are screaming concern and desperation, she can’t listen to anything else but the other girl’s brisk breathing.

Chorong smiles woefully.

It feels like hell.

Author's note: Hi! First of all, sorry for being late at posting this chapter guys.

Aaaaannndddd... it was a very short update but after this one, a change will happen into the plot. I think it was necessary for everything that happened, to happen, so the story keeps going. It was kind of rushed in the end, but everything has a purpose and I'm dying to keep ranting about it haha, but I'll spoil it, so I'll just shut my mouth now.