He looks ... weird.

The childish fringe that used to cut his forehead into halves are replaced by ruffled dark brown hair that reaches his eyebrows. She notices his old roundness gone, his baby fat on his cheeks disappeared into thin air and his facial structure grown longer as he matured. And of course he's gotten taller - though admittedly that wasn't new since he's always been taller than her. Blatantly eyeing him from head to toe as they sit on the sofa, Bomi concludes she's not sure if she likes the difference. 

But 'oh'? They meet for the first time in four years and the first and only thing Byun Baekhyun has to say to her is oh. Bomi smiles - but in effect produces nothing but a constipated grimace that not so inconspicuously flies at least three punches at his face. 

"So. Um. Bomi this is Chorong. Chorong this is Bomi." he introduces awkwardly. His voice has gotten deeper as well.

Chorong laughs. "Ignore him. He's just an awkward old-fashioned nineteenth century dude. Hi, I'm Chorong, Baekhyun's friend."

 "Bomi, his childhood friend." She smiles and offers a handshake, which Chorong takes.

"She's joining Seoul University with us this semester," Baekhyun adds with a lowered voice, leaning towards the other's direction.

"Oh, congratulations," Chorong exclaims, "Are you from one of the provinces? I've never seen you..." and she eyes Baekhyun timidly, "or really heard about you in fact."

"I studied overseas for like four years," she replies slowly, feeling herself frown. 

"Oh no wonder you felt so foreign." She laughs and Bomi starts to wonder if it's actually normal to laugh so often. "You'd be really awkward with Baek though. I bet he's changed a lot" She scrunches her face as if she's empathizing then giggles. 

Bomi nods and smiles then sits there as Chorong rants about who the good professors and which bad ones to avoid as much as possible. Here and there she mentions Chen, Luhan and another foreign name, Hayeon or Hahyung or something of the sort that Bomi couldn't figure out because her pronunciation was so incoherent. Apparently they built a jogging route by the central Han river so she goes for aerobic exercises every weekend, with Baekhyun and Luhan but not Chen, who's far too lazy to walk out of his bed. "Come with us!" she adds excitedly but Bomi only hums uncertainly.

Once or twice she gets the urge to ask about Korea, about changes, and about her own friends, but she forces it in. The more Chorong talks, the more she feels like an alien. Bomi doesn't want to reiterate that fact. 

"Oh God I'm late for my Hapkido," Chorong hisses and jolts up from her seat. "You two catch up on things. I have to get going, bye!" 

After the door rattles and the doorlock automatically locks itself, Bomi stares at Baekhyun wordlessly as if stunned. 

"She. She kind of. I don't know why but Chorong kind of acts like me."

He blinks and his head. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No it's more of an observant thing."

"Um I don't really think so," he says slowly and eyes her with an unreadable expression. He raises his hand and waved it in the air as if to exaggerate, "You know for the past twenty minutes you were sitting there being dark-vader and she being a social butterfly." He chuckles.

"Me minus seven years. So the thirteen me and twenty-one her." 

"Thats a huge difference."

"Minus mathematical factor."

"Nah you're just oversimplifying everything. You might as well say I look like you because we both have two eyes one nose and one mouth. Persuasiveness nullified."

She throws a cushion at him. "Are you here to argue with me or what?"

"Yeah. I am."

Bomi would have sprung herself over him and given him a choke with her arms wrapped around his neck, but she remains stiff on the sofa. "So how're Luhan and Chen?" 

"Alive." 

"Wow."

"Chen's still short."

She snorts.

"And Luhan still thinks he's manly."

"He kind of was the last time I checked." 

Baekhyun shakes his head and winces at the bitterness of the coffee he sips from. "He's far closer to looking like a deer than a human to begin with so no." 

"You know I'm beginning to think that the sole objective of your talking to me is proving me wrong with every opinion I have."

"Then what? That's what we always did."

She rolls her eyes meaninglessly. Ten minutes later, Bomi gathers her belongings and tells him she is late for an appointment. She rolls her suitcase with her and trudges into her empty home for the first in four years. The furnitures are still the way they were when she left and she can still taste dust in the air despite the fact that Baekhyun's mom dutifully fufilled housekeeping during her absence. The apartment seems smaller than she remembers. It's uglier too. 

She falls flat on the sofa, sighing, and realizes how tense she has been for the whole afternoon since she stepped off the airplane. 

She half expected Baekhyun to come barging into her house that evening. But he doesn't come. 

She calls her mom, but the number you have dialled is unavailable. Please leave a message after the-

She searches her contacts log to call Luhan or Chen or Baekhyun and finds she doesn't have any of their numbers.

In the end Bomi makes an international call to her dad. 

"The plane ride was fine."

"I'm just a little tired."

"Yeah. It's a little dusty but I'll clean up the place later."

"Love you too."

She huddles up under her blankets. It's a little too cold for May. 

***************

sorry I haven't updated in ages :S

nothing that i'm writing sounds right. i don't really like this chapter myself OTL