"Eunji ah! I've thought of nicknames for you! Choose one!" Naeun excitedly told Eunji.

"Yes my dear goddess?"

"First on my list: my knight hehehe," Naeun giggled after revealing it.

"I think you've read too many fairytales already."

"Okay next, Euneun~" Naeun said in the cheesiest tone possible, which made Eunji show utter displeasure by curling her fingers up.

"Okay fine. I have a last option for you!" Eunji looked at her with anticipation, but as expected, was always disappointed with her response.

"Baboji, it seems fine, right? You'll be my babo from now on," Naeun decided.

"Yah I did not agree," Eunji tried to protest, but the playful Naeun took action. 'Baboji~ Baboji~' she sang in a tune as she skipped away. Eunji smiled to herself as she saw her lover's actions. However childish Naeun acted, she never failed to make Eunji think of her as adorable. A while after Eunji had caught up with Naeun, the latter was not quite in the same state. She was more serious, and had a more troubled look on her face.

When asked about what was wrong, Naeun truthfully answered, "It's been quite some time since we last spent time with Chorong and Bomi. Like outside of class. They must be having a hard time since Bomi's father is strongly objecting towards their relationship. And.. I miss Chorong.."

"I miss Bomi too," Eunji stated as a matter of fact, "Let's go with them later during break." Naeun nodded in agreement.

***

The four of them finally spent another break together again. As usual, Naeun would be walking with Chorong while Bomi with Eunji.

"Chorong ah," Naeun asked after slightly hesitating, "It's hard, isn't it?" When she noticed that Chorong was looking at her with a confused look, she elaborated, "Bomi's father's against you two being together."

Sighing, Chorong nodded. It was indeed a tough time that they were having. "You know, he got people to warn me that day. Grabbed me while I was waiting for her, brought me to a corner and threw some boards at me."

"HE WARNED YOU NOT TO STAY WITH BOMI? LIKE THIS?!" Naeun was rather shocked, thus she accidentally shouted. Chorong placed her finger onto Naeun's lips, signalling her to quieten down.

"Yah, Bomi's just behind and she doesn't know about it. You're going to reveal everything like that," Chorong hushed Naeun, who simply nodded like an obedient child. She continued, "Anyway, it's hard, I just hope things will work out eventually to prove that all these times are worth it."

"It will," Naeun replied, trying to assure her friend.

===

"So Eunji, I see your relationship with Naeun's progressing really well, eh?"

Eunji beamed at the comment. "I'm positive I have never been happier in my life. Naeun's like my vitamin, my daily energy boost. She doesn't even have to specially do anything yet she energises me and makes me more optimistic about life too. Look, we even have couple bracelets." She raised her hand to show Bomi what she was referring to.

Bomi was listening to Eunji but was distracted by Naeun's shout. She thought, What does Naeun mean by that? Like what? I have to talk to Chorong later on about this.

***

Once they bid the teacher farewell, Bomi held Chorong's hands and dragged her to a corner immediately. Chorong wondered why she was acting like that, but went along with her anyway.

"There's something we need to talk about." Bomi said in a serious tone.

"What's so important that we can't talk about it when we're walking?" Chorong protested, but Bomi insisted. "No. Now."

Giving in, Chorong asked, "Okay, so what's the important thing you want to talk about right now?"

"The bruises you had. They were not from bullies, but from guards my father sent. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie to me?" Bomi said, her voice carrying elements of disappointment. Chorong did nothing but look away, avoiding eye contact with Bomi at all cost. Using her hands to manually shift Chorong's vision to her eyes, Bomi reiterated, "Why didn't you tell me? Do you not trust that I can protect you? Is that it? Did you think I'd be happy like that, with you trying to hide from me the fact that my father is starting to approach you and harm you?"

Not being able to turn her head anywhere, Chorong closed her eyes. She knew too well that she would not want to look into those eyes of Bomi - those that evidently showed how crestfallen Bomi was by her actions. Feeling guilty, tears rolled down as Chorong continued to stand there. She spoke nothing but repeated two words, "Please.. stop.." In her heart, she felt nothing but a huge pang of guilt towards Bomi, for hiding, for hurting her.

Seeing the tears on Chorong's face, Bomi reached out to wipe them away, determined to catch as many as possible. However, hers started forming as well. She laughed, trying to act strong, "Yah, why are you crying? I'm not even scolding you." But when Chorong did not move nor respond at all, Bomi started feeling bad for speaking to Chorong in such a tone. Embracing Chorong, she managed to choke out, "Chorong, don't cry... I know it's tough... It's hard for me too.. With my father like that and all.. I'm sorry.. Things will be better.. I promise. Till then.. I will protect you. Every moment.."

Bomi sniffed and wiped away her tears, since she asked Chorong to stop as well. "We will get through this together, Chorong. I just hope you wouldn't try to hide such stuff from me again. I want to know, and I need to, so I can ensure your safety. Promise?"

Struggling to stop her tears that ran like a tap, Chorong held up her pinkie, showing that she promised. Both of them hooked their pinkies, confirming the promise Bomi made.

***

Eunji was out with her mother for shopping when she saw a familiar silhouette. She recognised it, it belonged to Naeun. What upset her was that Naeun was with another girl, and she was positive the girl was not a relative of Naeun. Her mood took a 180degrees turn as jealousy overtook her.

===

A few days later, when Eunji walked out of her house, Naeun was waiting for her at the void deck alone. She was surprised and excited to see Naeun, but she remembered that she was supposed to be angry, thus she walked past Naeun like she did not see her. Naeun grabbed onto Eunji's arm as the latter walked past her. Eunji just tried to continue walking away, which made Naeun extremely puzzled.

"What's wrong?" Naeun asked, pulling onto Eunji even tighter. Eunji turned around and was about to speak, when she realised that Naeun was only wearing one bracelet - the one given by her grandmother. Is this a confirmation that she wants too end our relationship?

"Whatever you intended to say, don't say it, I don't want to hear it," Eunji said in a cold voice. Naeun kept quiet as she was taken aback by Eunji's attitude. Eunji continued, "Go find your girl. I won't bother you anymore."

Naeun's heart broke at this sentence. Why does Eunji think I have a girl? What happened? Does she not trust my love for her? What does she think I'm going to say? Shouldn't she know why I'm here today? These thoughts bothered her the rest of the day, and Naeun lost her smile. Not only was she confused, she was also depressed to be treated like that.

Meanwhile, Eunji went to the bridge nearby her house that faced the river. Looking at how vast and wide the river is, she recalled the image of Naeun with the other girl. Feeling downcast and dejected, she let out screams in the loudest volume possible and held it for as long as she could. All she wanted to do was to erase that image from her mind, erase Naeun from her life and go on like nothing had ever happened. But she could not.

A/N: Took all your name suggestions / jokes into the chapter hehe ^^ I support #staystrongchomi too :D Thanks for commenting~

@athousandreveries he's the mean bean of the story hahaha xD every couple has a possessive one, glad you like them HAHA. you really got people supporting in your #staystrongchomi trend heh.

@sparklinghealthykid totally loved that idea that I chose it hehe. everyone would want to protect Chorong ^^ but physically I'm pretty sure she can protect herself better than people can haha.

@akumatsubasa (this applies for both couples) happiness is short lived hahaha until they've all gone through hard times :')

@fluffsaur maybe Bomi should just use taekwondo against her dad hahaha

@ChristiiChan Bomi doesn't need to give her one, she can just be one :D

@mayounooo yeah, but it helps to show to Chorong how Bomi is trustworthy ^^