Bomi did not go see her mother that day. 

Nor the day after.

And the day after the after.

She realized that she didn't even know where her mother lives; whether she's still in Seoul; whether she's busy working; whether she even wants to see her daughter. So when her father calls on her to check, neither of them has anything to say and they drag a meaningless conversation along in circles. She tells him Baekhyun is doing "fine" - the word encompassing many meanings in one: firstly that she doesn't know because she hasn't contacted him since her first day back, and secondly that she doesn't want to talk about him so to cut every blurry and shaky line into the short and blunt "fine". 

"Actually dad, I have some things to do before school tomorrow. Stationeries and stuff."

"I love you too."

She sighs and pulls the blanket over her head. 

"Oh my God. What the ." The next morning she finds herself cowering under her blanket under her own roof, scuttling away to and fro with Baekhyun trailing after her. 

"How the did you get in here?"

"You just happened to have a terribly unsophisticated security mindset and kept the most obvious password on the door."

"You can't just barge into people's houses like that, freak!"

"Seriously Yoon Bbom? Who sets perhaps the most important password in her life as a four digit code - did you get that from America?"

"Can you just get out?" 

When she's done and emerges from her room, Baekhyun is on her sofa with her copy of Jane Eyre on his lap. 

She scoffs. "You don't even understand that do you?" 

He frowns. "Don't underestimate my English skills. We studied Hamlet last year in college."

"Well Byun, I studied that in grade ten. In high school."

"Yeah, yeah, all hail the almighty Yoon Bomi." He tosses her sack at her and nods to the door. "Ready?"

She fastens her sandals by her doorway, shaking her head in disapproval. "And Jane Eyre is a piece of art meant for appreciation of writing and style. Not for some intermediate to cruelly dissect it through with a Korean-English dictionary and - "

"Hi Bomi!" Chorong tucks her hair behind her ear and grins to greet her outside the door. She has a sleeveless pink shirt on matched with skinny jeans and a yellow backpack and a pair of high-heeled converse. Bomi realizes how short she is as she still stands levelled with the girl with flat shoes. 

"Chorong goes to school with me," Baekhyun explains in the elevator. 

"That's cool. Are we supposed to meet Luhan as well?"

"We usually go as two, but Baek said he might need to wake you up at least on the first day," Chorong answered, "So we dropped by. I hope you don't mind my company." 

Bomi smiles. "Well technically I'm the one intruding. So thank you. I would have been lost."

"And late," he corrects her. 

Chorong giggles and follows him out of the lobby. 

"By usually did you mean you go like this usually?" Bomi asks incredulously as she watches Chorong latch onto Baekhyun's waist on the back seat of his bicycle. Bomi boards on her own, taking the silence as an affirmation and follows the couple out onto the main street. 

The air is still frosty.

The morning traffic is heavy - probably the only universal thing in the twenty-first century. But they seem to be the only cyclists in the pink of dawn. Most of the bakeries and stores are closed, the shutters blocking the view through the windows and the signs on the doors offering empty apologies for causing inconvenience. 

Chorong tosses her head back at her and smiles. Her black hair swishes in front of her face and she leans closer to Baekhyun, snuggling against his back. Bomi smiles back at her and fixes her attention back onto the road.

Gradually population grows on the sidewalks. Walkers line up to the right side and let them pass by. Scholarly buildings start to emerge as well, beginning with an enormous library and the admissions building.  Baekhyun halts in front of the engineerng department. 

"I'm off here. See you guys later." Chorong chirps and straps her bag on, which Bomi notices Baekhyun had been carrying for her the entire way. She waves back and watches her small figure blur into a crowd of engineering students. She looks back at him, catching his stare wearing longer than necessary before turning his head away. 

Baekhyun starts off again and she follows. 

Chen the ing Jongdae literally jumps on her when she and Baekhyun make their way through the row of students. She topples onto the desk and shoves his face away in case he attempts to plant kisses on her. 

"My little muse," he sings and sits next to her. 

She wonders how the used-to-be-delinquent and still-socially-challenged Chen ended up in Advanced Literature. 

"The smartest people are the weirdest people." Luhan slips into the seat on her other side. 

"Hi Lu," she greets genuinely for the first time in the day then frowns. "Hey where did Baekhyun go? He was here a second ago."

"Oh that Byun sits at the front there." She follows his finger to see her friend isolated on the front row of the lecture hall. 

"Well he's sure a hell of a ninja. What's he doing there?"

"He promised himself celibacy."

"What form of celibacy is it to sit at the most uncomfortable place in the room?"

Luhan laughs as he opened his pencil case and offers her a pen. She shakes her head and tells him she has her own. "Well," he continues, "He's avoiding all physical proximity with girls aside from Chorong."

Bomi grimaces. "Are they going out?"

"No, which is why I don't understand his absurd commitment even boyfriends don't stick to when they actually are in a relationship."

"If that's his way of showing her he likes her he needs to get his brain checked," she states rather bitterly. 

He glances at her hesitantly. "I wasn't so sure how you would feel about his feelings for Chorong." 

She rolls her eyes, as if she doesn't care. "He just sinned this morning when he barged into my house." Her voice isn't as nonchalant as she wants it to be.

"You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason. Just checking because I still can't get used to it though I've seen him through this phase for more than three years." 

Bomi laughs again and gazes back to the podium. She doesn't resist to flicker her stare at Baekhyun for a brief second. Luhan doesn't miss that. 

"Meet us down at the plaza after your classes." Baekhyun tells her before they split up after Advanced Literature. He's gone before she can reply.

Bomi doesn't call when she doesn't see her friends at the plaza, reckoning they're still in lectures. She settles on a bench and opens Jane Eyre. By four in the afternoon she's rather anxious and dials their numbers. No one answers. By six, she decides cafe sandwiches will suffice for dinner. By six thirty, she's on the street, cycling back home. 

She is caught by the traffic light and stops before the zebra crossing. On the other side of the road is a large cinema hall Luhan promised to take her soon. Its doors slide open and a group of teenagers trot out of the building with the remaining popcorns in their hands. 

And right behind them Bomi spots Baekhyun. And Chorong. And Chen. 

And Luhan. 

They laugh and start crossing the road towards her as the light turns green. The pedestrians on her either side pass her onto the zebra crossing in front of her. 

They're still laughing. Baekhyun throws his right arm around Chorong's shoulders. 

She purses her lips and hops on her bike. Her hands on the handle hesitate; she can always cross at the next intersection; but she has no reason to avoid them. She cycles forward.

As they grow closer a surge of regret swells inside her gut and she turns her face away. 

7 meters. She lowers her head.

6 meters. She cycles faster. 

2 meters. She feels her cheeks reddening.

1 meter. She doesn't hear nor see anyone call after her. 

Bomi is too childish. She races back home. 

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i know the whole baekhyun-taeyeon thing but i can't really be bothered to care about their relationship

this is fiction after all. I'm going to continue to write this till the end like I promised

and I hope you continue to read as well :)) i'll really appreciate that. THANK YOU GUYS. 

and additional note regarding baekmi hanmi lurong and the sort of shipping or whatnot:

1. I'm sorry but I don't want to go  "BAM these are the couples of the story" because sadly my story's already cliche enough as it is and I really don't want to make anything else too obvious

2. but I'll make one thing clear and obvious: I really don't like lurong. I'm sorry if this is heartbreaking for lurong shippers, but could you perhaps enjoy the story as it is? I know I sounded really harsh and y right there but they turn me off because they have no click because they're too different. like puzzle pieces that will never fit together. and they're too random. so sorry. no lurong or chohan. (and it's not a secret I like chorong with suho instead or woohyun)