1/2/12

YESSSSSS Finally got the image thing to work!! :D:D:DDDD

Hello my lovelies:) Another chapter for you guys! But sorry for it's mundane-ness. Hehe, don't worry though. The next one will most likely make up for it :D

       I can’t believe I’m feeling like this, Bom mentally hit herself. She was sitting on a bench in the garden outside of the inn, trying to hold back her tears. I should be happy for them!

       Bom came back from shopping with Dara, and the first thing she saw after arriving at the inn was Chaerin desperately running out of their room. The moment she saw Bom, Chaerin’s eyes widened in what seemed like fear. It was only after Bom went into their room that she realized what was wrong. Seungri was still in the girls’ room, sighing and massaging his temples. When seeing Bom and Dara, he muttered a small “sorry” and left. Obviously, something happened between the Chaerin and Seungri, and it was something good.

       At least it was supposed to be good. It was definitely something that improved their relationship, or else Chaerin wouldn’t have looked so scared when she saw Bom. But although Bom would like to say that she was happy about their development, her heart did not feel the same. In fact, it felt like her heart was twisting and breaking. The feeling in her chest was unbearable.

       No, I can’t cry, Bom thought to herself as she felt tighten.I must be happy for them. Seungri and I will never have a future together. I know this, but why am I suffering so much?

                     :::::::::::

     “Bom, time for dinner,” Youngbae called out. When there was no reply in the bedroom, he looked out the window from the hallway. She’s usually in the garden if she’s not in her room. And just as he predicted, Bom was sitting on the garden bench with her back facing the window and her head hunched down. Walking down the stairs and going out the back door, Youngbae was about to call out Bom’s name again when he saw something shimmering coming out of her eyes.

            She’s crying, Youngbae thought as he also heard whimpering. He frowned. The lighting from the inn was dim, so why are her tears so apparent? Are her tears especially shiny? Taking a few steps forward for a better look, Youngbae gasped. Her tears were made out of ice. Even before coming out, the tears were frozen, caught in between her eyelids. No wonder she was whimpering, Youngbae thought, the ice must be scratching the insides of her eyes. And she can’t close her eyes because the ice is attached to the eyeballs.

            Quickly taking the remaining steps and standing in front of Bom, Youngbae cupped his hands on her eyes, emanating heat so that the ice could melt. When he felt water running down and Bom stopped crying, Youngbae removed his hands from her eyes and knelt down in front of her. Bom’s eyes red and veined, as expected from eyes that were just frostbitten.

            “You okay?” Youngbae asked, still a bit worried for her eyes’ condition.

            Bom made a small smile, “Yeah, thanks. I’ll ask Dara to help my eyes heal.”

            “Good,” Youngbae smiled back. “Anyways, it’s time for dinner.”

            “Ah, that’s right,” Bom sniffed and readjusted her clothing. “We’re having the New Year party celebration today.”

            Nodding, Youngbae stood up and waited for Bom to lead the way back to the inn. While walking back, Youngbae let out the question that had been in his mind, “Is it because of Seungri?”

            “Don’t ask me that question,” Bom replied without looking back at him, basically confirming his assumption.

            When they arrived at the dining hall, Bom had already assumed her placid expression. Youngbae reflected on the event that just occurred. When did Bom start becoming like this? When did she become so cold that she started crying tears of ice?

       That thought stuck onto him for the rest of the dinner. There was a lot of tension in the room, and Youngbae’s realization about Bom did not help the atmosphere.

       Trying to ease up the tension, Bom held up her glass of water. “Why don’t we make a toast to all of the adventures we have had in Terra?”

       “Yeah,” Jiyong tried to help her out. “Happy New Year, everybody.”

       Dara also lifted her glass with exaggerated enthusiasm, trying to provoke the others to do the same. The rest of the friends finally complied, but with little enthusiasm.

       “To all the obstacles we have gone through and all the challenges of the new year,” Bom forced a smile and looked around the room. Her eyes met Youngbae’s, and her smile faltered slightly. Clearing , she continued clinking glasses with the others.

       After dinner, Youngbae asked Bom if he could talk to her in private. Dara let out an approving sound, and Bom turned around and shook her head. “It’s not like that!”

       For some reason, her action seemed to increase the uncomfortable atmosphere. Clearing once more, Bom followed Youngbae to the garden. Even though he wasn’t saying anything and was facing away from her, Bom could practically feel his anger emanating from his body. This is not good, Bom thought. What did I do to make him so mad?

       “Uhh, Youngbae?” Bom asked tentatively. “Why do you want to talk to me?”

       There was silence for a few seconds. Bom could feel the anger building up inside of him.

       “Stop pretending to be considerate. It makes me sick,” Youngbae practically spit out.

       The words were like venom to Bom. She flinched at his words, even though she didn’t really understand what he meant. “W-What do you mean? I’m not pretending to be anything.”

       “Yes you are!” Youngbae turned to face Bom and walked toward her. “If you don’t feel happy, why do you pretend to be happy?”

       Bom finally realized what he was referring to. Oh, the dinner. “I was doing it for the sake of our friendship, Youngbae. Don’t you understand that? The mood was so bad during the party, and it’s New Year! I can’t let us start off the new year on a bad note.”

       Youngbae was still huffing from his anger, but he had no way to counter Bom’s logical argument. That made him even angrier. He resorted to glaring at her and eventually looking away. “You do too much for this friendship of ours.”

       “I disagree,” Bom replied, crossing her arms. “Efforts have to be made in order to keep any relationship going. I feel that I’m doing my part in protecting our relationship.”

       Seeing the red in Youngbae’s eyes starting to dissipate, Bom heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh, come on, Youngbae. We’re just arguing about trivial things. It was just to keep the party going. It’s not like I was physically harming myself for you guys.”

       Woops, wrong move, Bom thought as Youngbae’s eyes flashed sharply at her. She saw the red color appear again. “Uhh, let’s let this go for now, okay?”

       Realizing that the argument will go nowhere, Youngbae just sighed and complied. “Alright. But… Just don’t sacrifice your happiness for the sake of keeping this friendship. You’re not the only one in charge of how our relationship fares.”

      Youngbae quickly walked back into the inn, too embarrassed by what he said to wait for Bom’s reply.

                      :::::::::::::::

       The next morning, the six friends woke up early to cross over to the Mulonar. They had to walk a few hours before reaching the River of Space, and after Dara dispelled the river, they prepared to cross the river.

       “Head straight for the cave,” Youngbae reminded everyone. The six of them were wearing thick black blankets crafted by Alana to cover themselves from the harmful rays of the sun. “Since it is daytime, people should be sleeping underground right now. Be careful not to speak too loudly when you reach the cave, or else they might think we’re enemies.”

       “Yes, general,” Seungri teased as he readjusted his blanket on top of his head. “Ready when you are, Bom.”

       “Ready,” Bom replied as she raised her hand and froze the river.

       The six filed one by one across the river, and once they all crossed the river, Youngbae melted the ice from the river.

       “Wow, it’s such a sudden change,” Chaerin marveled. “Right when I stepped off the river, it felt as though the sun suddenly decided to shine brighter.”

       “Yeah,” Jiyong agreed. “Alright, let’s get going before the sun burns off our faces.”

       The rest of the friends complied immediately, as they were all suffering from the abrupt heat. They headed for the cave that was around ten feet in front of them. After entering the cave, the six of them heaved a sigh of relief.

       “And you are?” a voice came from the dark.

       Quickly turning to the direction of the voice, the group waited for Youngbae to answer.

       “We are just visitors from the Land of Hes. By any chance, are there any inns here?” Youngbae stepped toward the voice.

       They heard a scratching sound, and a candle was lit. The owner of the voice was a young man wearing light armor. It seemed like he was in charge of watching the village at night.

       “We do have an inn. Go straight and turn right on the fourth intersection,” the young man said as he handed the candle to Youngbae. “Interesting. We don’t usually have many visitors in the Land of Gin. The inn-keepers will be happy.”

       “Thank you,” Youngbae said as he accepted the candle. Looking back at his friends, he proceeded to walk farther into the cave. The architecture of this village was somewhat similar to the Land of Yul, except a bit less sophisticated. It seemed like the walls were put together quickly, but it made sense considering that the people in the Mulonar are only underground for half the day, as opposed to the people in Yul, who are underground for the whole day.

       As the friends reached the fourth intersection, they turned right, and they saw the battered sign for the inn. The friends looked at each other and hoped that the innkeeper was still awake.

Hmm, it seems like I didn't fit in a daragon moment into my outline. Weird, there should be at least one... Back to the drawing board. :P

BigBang_VIP: hehehe, YEAH!

thatspringskye: The inner voice will be revealed later :D Maybe in two chapters? Ah, yes :) Bom is the only who can see youngbae's changing eye colors. Wooh~ wonder what that means :P Actually, I don't really know why she's the only one who can see it. God-given gift?

SuperJ13: lol, they'll get together... at the end of the story :P But there will be more interactions soon *evil laughter*. Hmm, Yoli didn't tell Youngbae that much... Or, it doesn't have a lot of meaning until later on in the story :D

ApplerUra: Welcome :D Bombae coming right up :) But daragon, well, I honestly planned to have a few daragon moments! I will look back at my notes and try to fit something in :D

onewstar16: Welcome :D Yay for addiction! Well, maybe not the harmful kind :P But this type of addiction isn't harmful, right o.O?