"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. Chorong inched towards the speechless crying girl, squating down to meet the girl's eye level. Chorong's tears were falling like a running tap as well, hurt from seeing Bomi self-harm. Taking in a deep breath, she dared herself to pull up the sleeves of Bomi, who was crying way too hard to even bother protesting.

Long ones, short ones, deeper ones, some more on the surface. What Chorong had seen for a moment just now resurfaced in front of her, and she ran over them lightly with her fingers. She felt a couple - or more - tears fell. Every single one there was a representation of sheer pain, and the number of cuts there signified the number of times she was not there for the younger.

Chorong looked up, and her eyes met with Bomi's through a blurry vision. Despite the clarity, she could see, and feel, the sense of agony and fear in Bomi. The very first tear of hers fell when she finally found her voice to speak. "Why?"

"My mum, she left.." Four words were the maximum Bomi could choke out. No one said anymore, not even a word. Chorong just shifted herself and hugged Bomi, while the latter clung on tight to the other, causing her shirt to turn damp with tears. Being able to understand Bomi's feelings, the older was determined to stay there for as long as Bomi wanted. True enough, they stayed in that position, just hugging, until the younger fell asleep in Chorong's arms due to exhaustion. It was abrupt and rather random, but the older was kind of glad as well, since Bomi could finally take a rest from the pain she was experiencing. It was hard for a small girl like her to shift Bomi, but she carried Bomi in bridal style using all her strength and walked back to their classroom. Since everyone had left already, Chorong laid Bomi down on the floor carefully, letting her use her thigh as a pillow.

The door opened, signalling the entrance of someone. Without looking up, Naeun greeted, "Hi Unnie."

It was not till she felt someone sitting next to her when she finally stopped looking at the notes she was revising. As she saw the person's face, her head shifted back slightly from shock and was left agape. "Oh unnie, it's you, I thought it was Chorong unnie. What are you doing here?"

"Chorong unnie said she needed to stay with Bomi for today, so I'm here to accompany you." The girl explained, giving the usual eye smile that was always on her face.

"But aunt-" Right, why would Chorong dare to just stay one night out like that with their aunt being like that?

"She doesn't care." Eunji shrugged. "I guess that's the power of love. Ready to sacrifice anything and everything, just for the other. Ah, it's so romantic, like the next Romeo and Juliet story."

These earned her a knock on the head, leaving her pouting while rubbing the spot she was hit at. "Babo, that's not a good analogy. Romeo and Juliet died in the end!"

"I'm sorry." Eunji gave an apologetic smile. "Anyway, so I'm here for the night whether you like it or not, and this marks the beginning of "Make My Little Kiddo Happy" Part 2."

"How am I a little kiddo, and yours at that?" Naeun protested, in an attempt to cover up for her flushed face.

"Oh? Are you not?" Eunji pounced onto Naeun and begun tickling her, attacking straight at the spots she knew Naeun was most ticklish at. Naeun's reaction was openly displayed with violent movements of her body, accompanied with hysterical laughter and constant shouts of "Stop it!". Subsequently, Eunji continued doing crazy actions to make Naeun laugh. It threw her image away - if there was ever one in front of Naeun - but she was more than glad to do so, for Naeun was enjoying her time so much she had no time to let negative thoughts enter at all.

***

"Unnie, may I ask you a question?" The two girls were now lying side by side, exhausted from all the fooling around.

"Mmhmm?" Eunji leaned towards her side and supported her head with her arm. Using the other hand that was free, she slowly caressed Naeun's hair. Loving at Naeun affectionately, she waited for her question.

"Ermm.... If your biological mother came back looking for you, would you go back to her?" The atmosphere became still for a moment, and Naeun looked up worriedly. It was a rather sensitive question after all.

Eunji bit her lip, seemingly in absolute deep thought. Her expression looked rather pained, which made Naeun regret asking, so she shifted herself to give Eunji a hug as an apology. The older responded with a hug in return, but answered as well. "Depends. I will not leave my stepmother, though. Afterall, she took care of me for so long."

"Mmmm." Naeun tightened the hug. She did not want to continue the topic anymore, not wanting to ruin Eunji's mood further. 

"I had long forgotten the feeling of having a mother, but on days like these I really yearn for it." The waver in her voice was obvious, and Eunji could only pat on her back as comfort. Her past might not have been pleasant, but at least she still has both parents now, while the poor girl she was with had neither.

Bomi opened her eyes, only to see Chorong sleeping as well. Surprised, she quickly got up, and this action of hers woke Chorong up. 

"Oh, you're finally awake, Bomi." Chorong smiled slightly, while trying to find the feeling of her legs once again. With Bomi lying on her thighs for the past one to two hours, her legs had gone numb. Meanwhile, Bomi was still looking around, confused as to what had happened.

"You fell asleep. I can't carry you home, only till here, so I kind of got ourselves settled here."

Bomi nodded, finally starting to grasp the situation. "Let's go home."

"I'll send you home today," Chorong announced. She was slightly alarmed when Bomi changed from hooking hands to interlocking their fingers. Very securely. Concerned, she asked, "Why?"

"Unnie, I'm scared. What if my fears and insecurities get to me when I'm alone at night? I'm afraid that I'd hurt myself again, I feel like I'm becoming a monster."

"Unnie?" It was the first time Bomi had actually acknowledged Chorong as someone older, and it just proved how pained and frightened Bomi was. The younger blushed, realising that she had totally softened in front of the older. Chorong chucked softly at Bomi's reaction. Stopping in her footsteps, she pulled Bomi into her arms. "If that's the case, then I'd be here for you. I will be with you for the whole night."

***

The door opened, revealing a terribly messed up room. The room was disorganised and generally dirty, but what caught Chorong's attention were the few bottles of painkillers on the table, together with a couple of other sharp objects. 

"I'm sorry that my room's messy, I kinda, you know, flipped my whole room upside down." 

"It's okay, go take a bath and chill hmm?" Bomi listened, and Chorong took this time to tidy up the room for her. She arranged everything back into place, and swept away the pieces of glass lying on the floor. There laid a picture on the floor next to her bed, and as she picked it up she saw that it was a picture of Bomi together with her mother. Bomi was a young kid then, and just from the picture Chorong could feel that both of them were very happy. Cleaning it slightly so it will look as perfect as new, she left it on the small table next to the bed.

The last place she needed to clean up was the study table, and her heart ached when she picked up the bottles, each and every one of them being empty - or close to empty. The razors and scissors had corners stained with blood. Without a second thought, she threw everything in the bin. She then sat on the bed, admiring at how neat the room was, ready for Bomi to start anew.

***

"Unnie, may I tell you something?"

"Yes?"

"Last time, when I was quite young, I had this best friend. Then one day, I was walking with her, when her things fell and she ran to pick it up. A car came driving past and everything was too shocking. I didn't react in time and I just watched as she got knocked down in front of me.." It really took Bomi a lot of courage to decide to share this. She just had the urge to, there was no particular reason why. "My schoolmates assumed that I intentionally did not want to save her, so they ostracised me. Life was hard, and everything was hard to bear. And that was the first time, I used my scissors in the most inappropriate way ever."

Chorong just nodded, listening attentively to Bomi. "That time, other than now, was the most painful part of my life. My mother found out about my self-harm, but she never once approached me to talk about it. She was considerate of my feelings, and only indirectly gave me strength. She would send me messages, or simply tell me in the morning, stuff like 'You know you're not alone, right?'. It look me very long, and a lot of effort to stop. And now, I'm relapsing because of her. I really don't want to, but it hurts too much unnie.."

Chorong embraced Bomi, biting her lip slightly as she knew exactly what Bomi meant by "it hurts too much". "Cheer up hmm? I'm sure your mother wouldn't want to see you in this state as well. I threw away those stuff of yours, and I hope this neat room of yours will help you to move on."

The two of them moved a little closer, a little too close for normal friends, but neither of them cared at that moment. They were both too preoccupied with their thoughts, thinking about their late parent(s).

***

Talking through the night was expected, but sleep was essential after all. Besides, the younger girl was still feeling tired from all the crying for the whole day.

"Bbom ah." Chorong rolled up Bomi's sleeves, revealing the evidence of her suffering. Bringing Bomi's hands up as well, she bent down slightly and planted a kiss on the largest cut. "You'll get well one day, hopefully soon. Just remember that every time you fall back down, I will be there to pull you back up. One day, you will reach the platform that I'm waiting for you at."

Chorong's gestures brought the younger to tears, sobbing for the thousandth time that day. The only difference was that this time, it was of being touched, instead of sad. "Thank you, unnie. For caring about me even though I said those cruel remarks to you. For looking out for me, noticing that I had troubles. For not moving away nor being scared of this terrible creature I'm becoming. For offering to stay with me tonight. For being here, always supporting me."

A/N: I guess this is a good chapter(?) well in the sense that both had positive endings, no? (: Close to 2K words, hope you guys enjoyed it hehe. And it's just nice 12AM KST, so happy birthday Hayoung <3

@Nachomisan idk either, lol. yeah, but at least things got a good ending here eh?

@kohaku193 spot on heh :3 I guess it was obvious

@athousandreveries hopefully she won't anymore, since she has Rongmama by her side~

@Taengoo99 it would be too cruel of me if she left right T_T I won't ever forgive myself for that haha. Anyway I still remember how when Bomi gave Chorong the goodluck charm away, you mentioned about bad things happening to Bomi. You're good at sensing these kind of stuff haha.

@Darkie999 yep, why did I make it this way TT yeah, that. >< Eunji forever repairing Naeun's heart <3

@akumatsubasa this.. loss of a loved one ): i'm glad for that too (:

@jetiunique deal with the unbearable pain, finding relief ><