"Bomi ah," Chorong called in a worried tone.

"..."

"Bomi?"

"..."

"Bbom would you open the door please? Take it as I'm begging you."

"Go away Park Chorong! I've said this many times, just leave me alone! I don't need anyone like you!" Chorong gulped, still unable to get used to such mean comments.

It had been a couple of days already. It was the same everyday, Bomi refused to open the door, objecting to meeting anyone at all. And this made Chorong experience the greatest regret of her life, for things would not have been like that if she had listened to Bomi that day.

Flashback

Eunji was now finally approaching Naeun, and that sight comforted Chorong. When it comes to Naeun, sometimes Chorong felt like a useless sister. She could protect her, but she was never able to cheer her up. And Chorong hated herself for that. But this was also what made Chorong even more thankful about Eunji's presence, because the latter always unwaveringly took great care of her sister.

Then her phone rang. If it were anyone else she would have just ignored, but lighting up on her phone screen was Bomi's name. Or nickname, rather. For Chorong, picking up Bomi's calls were a must and so she did. However, before even hearing Bomi's voice, she said, "Bbom ah my sister's still upset, I talk to you tomorrow hmm?" Without even getting a reply from the caller, she hung up.

The next day, Bomi did not come to school. Worried, Chorong sent a text to her.

To: Bbom

Bbom ah, are you sick today? :(

Sure enough, Chorong did feel Bomi's absence since the very first moment, but had not been particularly anticipating her response. It was not till she actually did NOT get a reply when she realised something was wrong.

To: Bbom

Are you very sick?

To: Bbom

Hey are you okay?

To: Bbom

Bomi?

By the time school ended, Chorong was already worried sick. Something must have happened, for if not Bomi would never ignore her messages.

Thankfully, even though Eunji did not know Bomi personally, they had mutual friends and it did not take much effort to find out Bomi's address, since Eunji's persuasion skills are topnotch. 

End of flashback

Four days had passed since then. Chorong visited Bomi every day, taking the risk of being caught by her aunt when she got back home. Although it took her some time to convince Bomi's workers on the very first day, she did not have such problems subsequently. But nonetheless, in these four days Bomi never once stepped out, and it seemed like she did not take any meals as well.

Now, facing the hurtful comments, Chorong took a deep breath and decided to try again. "Bomi... Please?" 

She received no reply, and she did not say anything anymore. She leant against the wall, slid down till her reached the ground. Clasping her hands tightly together, all she hoped for was for Bomi to come out.

"Naeun, shall we go home together today?" Eunji suggested. However busy she could have been, nothing mattered more than making Naeun happy again. Naeun nodded slightly, not giving any verbal reply. Ever since her outburst of emotions the previous day, not a single word came out from .

The two girls stepped out of the school. Naeun was prepared to head back home, but Eunji had other plans. "Let's go somewhere first."

The younger of the two wanted to protest, stating that she was not in the mood to go anywhere other than home. However, she did not want to refuse the older's request so she obliged and slightly followed.

The place Eunji wanted to bring Naeun to was the H River. Although it was still daytime, the river never failed to display a magnificent view. Spotting an empty bench, she quickly pulled the silent one to sit with her. "Looking at this, don't you just feel like shouting all your troubles away? Let's try it."

Naeun did not exactly want to, but Eunji held her hand and swing it, using all her cuteness to persuade her, so she eventually gave in. To help Naeun, Eunji offered to scream together with her. That happened for the first time, but Naeun found herself screaming on her own subsequently, on her own accord. Eunji smiled in relief, glad that Naeun was not keeping everything to herself anymore.

Now the two sat back on the bench, Naeun feeling obviously better. "Unnie, how did you discover this method to release stress and all?"

Eunji looked at Naeun, slightly contemplating in answering. "You know, Naeun ah, my mother isn't my real mother. My parents divorced and my father won my custody. Of course, he remarried after."

Naeun's eyes widened, surprised at hearing something she had never known. 

"My stepmother treats me very well and loves me like I'm her very own. Things could have been fine just like that, but my friends went to spread the fact. And not long after those who knew would tease me, saying that my mother abandoned me for sure. I know the divorce is caused by conflict, and my mother did not leave just to abandon me, but those comments just get to me so much. Which is why I moved house and shifted to become your neighbour, I couldn't stand it so I went to ask my dad if we could move away. Anyway so one day, I couldn't take it anymore so I ran and ran, and ended up here. And so yeah." 

Naeun looked straight into Eunji's eyes and said, "I'm sorry." Her mind was in a blank state actually. She never knew Eunji faced so much in the past. She did not even know that the auntie she had greeted and regard as "Eunji's Mum" was not actually her biological one. 

"I never knew.." It was a mutter, but Eunji heard it anyway.

"Well, not exactly something to brag about, right?" This made Naeun's face turn red in an instant, embarrassed for making that sentence. "It's okay, everything's in the past anyway. I don't really care anymore, the only thing I care about now is that my adorable girl here is happy. So always remember to smile, hmm?"

"I will try.." The things Eunji said made Naeun flush even more, but no one could deny that she liked it. "Unnie, thank you so much."

Patience is a virtue, and having that definitely helped Chorong. After sitting there for some time, the door creaked open and appearing in front of her was a familiar face that she had not seen for the past few days.

The smile that had disappeared in quite some time was once again painted on Chorong's face. Getting up quickly, she ran forward and embraced the girl. "So glad to see you again. But just look at you, you lost so much weight. What happened?"

"I'm hungry, shall we go eat?" Bomi flashed a smile that made Chorong forget all her thoughts for that moment. The older girl nodded immediately, barely even processing the question to begin with. She was over the moon to see the girl step out of her room she would agree to anything the girl wanted.

Two of them walked to the food court nearby, fingers entwined. The long lost warmth that was felt between the two hands made both of them smile unconsciously. 

"Bomi, what exactly happened in the past few days?" Saying that Chorong was worried was a total understatement. The younger might have came out from hiding in her room, but the mean comments she made, the occasional sound of items breaking, all these were unforgettable by Chorong. And she was determined to find out.

"Chorong, I have never noticed this, but your hands fit perfectly in mine." Bomi said, tightening her grip on Chorong's hands. Chorong blushed, embarrassed but happy. Just like that, Chorong asked again and again, only to digress from the topic all the time.

Chorong watched as Bomi sneakily placed a small bottle into her pocket before heading out of the classroom. It had already been some time since Chorong had noticed Bomi doing this. She dealt with her curiosity and tried not to pry excessively into Bomi's business, but things were getting too hard to bear, she had to find out what was going on.

Seeing Bomi act like that once again, Chorong decided to seize the opportunity and follow her. As she ended up at the toilet and the followed entered a cubicle, it really made Chorong wonder what could be happening inside. She stood there quietly, and to her surprise she heard sobs, undoubtedly from Bomi since there was no one else inside the toilet.

For the subsequent ten minutes or so, nothing changed. All that was heard were the soft sobs, and no one else entered the toilet. Thankfully, for that matter. The only thing that was changing was the intensity of Chorong's worry for the girl in the cubicle. She was increasingly concerned.

Why was the girl crying? What exactly was going on in the cubicle? Curiosity, being one if the hardest emotions to control, overwhelmed Chorong. As much as she did not want to, she decided to pry open the door with a coin. 

As she pushed the door open, the girl who appeared rubbed her tears away and rolled down her sleeves, keeping what she had in her hands away. It was too late, Chorong's eyes were faster than her actions.

"What was that? The bottle, the razor.." Chorong's eyes were welled up with tears, disappointed that her friend had turned to self-harm instead of confiding in her.

"I.. I.." The tears Bomi tried to hold in after Chorong opened the door eventually fell, although she did not want that to happen. And now there was another reason for those tears - fear that she would get judged by the girl in front of her, who mattered so much to her.

A/N: Hi guys so now you guys know why Chorong regretted hanging up on Bomi but WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED TO HER? D: i wonder too ._. and I'm glad Eunji made Naeun slightly happier, but isn't her past rather sad as well? :( anyway hope you guys enjoyed this chapter~ thanks for reading! ^^

@akumatsubasa didnt take her that long~ and i guess Eunji is halfway there :) someday they will^^

@athousandreveries this /dum dum dum/ i hope so too~

@Taengoo99 I hope this chapter didnt disappoint you! ><

@ckaz99 yepyep! ^^ Bomi....

@jetiunique dramas are needed for better advancement of romance HAHA but well more drama if you'd consider it? >< yep haha somehow decided to add that in. minor details though~

@Nachomisan problems, problems everywhere! :(

@Darkie999 Hello!! /waves frantically/ I'm glad you like this. and I don't really write well but always grateful for supporters like you and all of yall <3 hope that you'd continue to enjoy this fic!

@secretagentspy none of those but I can consider that for the future advancement of my story /ahemahem/ HAHA