"Unnie, do you think Chorong unnie is fine? Y'know, it's the time of the year again." Naeun asked worriedly. "Things have been pretty bad this year.."

"I hope she is. If she's not, I'm sure she would be," Eunji replied, giving a light squeeze to Naeun's hand. 

"Mmm... Should I go with her? Like, for the entire day rather than just after school.." It was a usual thing, Chorong would skip school to visit her parents in the morning, while Naeun would join her after school.

"She probably wants some alone time, Naeun ah. If she needs someone, she would ask. Unnie is strong, so don't worry too much hmm?" Naeun just smiled faintly from that reply, she could only hope it was that way. It had been a rocky year, and she was not too sure if her sister was strong enough anymore.

"Bbom-ah, let's go to the rooftop today." Chorong suggested. It was an unusual request, and technically not allowed, but Bomi agreed to it. She thought, There's probably a reason why unnie wants to do that.

There was a bench on the rooftop, a little dusty as people normally did not go there. In fact, it was Chorong's secret hideout for the past few years, one that she went to less often after she met Bomi. "Ah, it's still here."

"You've been here before, unnie?" Well, Bomi was learning something new that day.

"Mmm." Chorong did not say much. Truthfully, the reason why she loved going to the rooftop was because it was the closest she could get to the sky, closest she could feel to her late parents. While the familiar feeling greeted her as she took a few steps away from the door, she felt something tugging at her hand. It was Bomi's hand.

"Why?" Chorong asked as she turned, Bomi looking down and not walking.

"I-I'm actually a li-li-little s-s-scared of height-t-ts," Bomi confessed, shaking simply from the idea of stepping out.

"Oh. I'm sorry then, let's go." Chorong loved it there, but she would certainly not make Bomi do something she was afraid of.

"It's alright."

"No, let's go since you're scared."

"N-no it's o-o-k-kay." Bomi shook her head as she daringly interlaced her fingers with Chorong's. "J-J-Just like th-that, l-l-let's walk."

Chorong held Bomi's hand tightly as she slowly walked towards the bench. Although Bomi was scared, she felt like everything was safe with Chorong around, thus she stopped shaking. She was still frightened, but her faith in Chorong overpowered it. Once they reached the bench, Chorong was about to sit down when Bomi shouted, "Wait!"

The older looked at the other in confusion while the other just let go of her hand. Bomi took out a piece of tissue and wiped the dust away before signalling Chorong to sit and thereafter holding her hand again. Chorong watched in amusement at how caring the younger was, even when she was so afraid.

The two sat there in silence, just holding hands. As Chorong did not say anything, Bomi thought she should not either. However, though the former did not exactly say anything, her mind was occupied with many things. She thought of her life; how it paralleled a rollercoaster so much, how she could never figure out whether the physical pain or emotional pain she received was more intense. She thought of her parents; how it had been years since they left and she simply missed them more and more each year. She thought of Naeun; how the beautiful and intelligent sister of her was growing up so quickly. She thought of Eunji, how the kind girl had never once looked down upon them nor spread their family issues out. Then she looked towards Bomi as her thoughts went on to the latter. Didn't she hate me in the past? Isn't it too good to be true to have her in my life, next to me all the time? She never knew anything much but neither did she ask, isn't she curious?

"Is there something on my face?" Bomi asked as Chorong had been staring at her for some time. This knocked Chorong out of her deep thoughts and blush slightly after realising that she was staring at her friend.

"No." Chorong sighed, deciding to ask Bomi straight. "Bbom-ah, aren't you curious?"

"About?"

"Just, y'know. The hits, the crying, everything.." Everything included so much more, like the fact Chorong rarely brought up anything about her family, the 'random' things Chorong said just last night and more.

Chorong was actually mentally preparing herself to let everything out - she thought the other deserved to know. However, the response she received was much to her surprise. Bomi shook her head and replied, "When you're ready, you'd tell me. And I know you're currently not. It doesn't matter that much anyway, it wouldn't change the fact that Bbom is always here for unnie."

Tears welled up as she was touched by the younger's words. Bomi was always so understanding and such a great companion, Chorong felt so heavily indebted to her.

"Naeun ah let's go somewhere!" Eunji excitedly suggested, her eyes resembling the shape of a crescent moon. "I'll settle your aunt for you later."

Her only worry was gone, and with that Naeun had no reason to stop her from agreeing. Adding on to that, she was more than willing to spend more time with Eunji. "Where are we going?"

Eunji just smiled as she hooked Naeun's arm and started walking.

***

"Is this..." Naeun had a slight idea of where they were heading to, given the direction.

"Indeed." Naeun had always liked drawing - she had a talent in drawing as well. In order to help Naeun become happier from all that she had been through, plus worrying about her sister, Eunji had brought her to an art exhibition, where many beautiful pieces of art were put up for sale, or for display.

Naeun skipped from one painting to another, admiring the beauty in each of them, whereby each and every line drawn complemented one another perfectly. For Eunji, however, she was unable to appreciate the meaning of them. Art was never her sort of thing, she very much preferred singing. In fact, singing was her forte, her personal method of expressing herself, while the paintings in front of her at that moment meant nothing more than what the drawing itself showed. Everything had a very literal kind of meaning to her, and the most she could them as was "pretty and well-drawn". In her opinion, the only piece of art in the entire exhibition was the girl who was going about looking at each painting, with a wide smile that had not been seen in a long time. And seeing that made Eunji feel like she had made the best choice on earth to bring her there.

Eunji only went forward when Naeun stopped at one of the pieces of artwork. It poratrayed two girls doing things together in their own world, oblivious to their surroundings. One was looking lovingly at the other, while the other looked genuinely happy. "Why?" she asked the younger girl who waws giving extra thought to that particular piece.

"Unnie, look. It's so cool how they can just enjoy each other's presence without being bothered by others at all. One of them seems like she loves the other girl, but the other girl doesn't seem to realise anything yet. This is so different from the cultural norm of not accepting homouality. It'll be great if that girl loves her back too." Naeun was serious with whatever she said, giving deep thought into it. Eunji pondered over the younger's words, over how it paralleled the situation between them. Yeah, it'd be great if you love me back.

"Don't you think the girl will be rejected and judged? She might even lose the friendship," Eunji commented, indirectly voicing out her worries.

"Why would she need to worry? If their friendship is real, I believe the girl will accept her friend for who she is, even if she doesn't feel the same back."

"It's hard to say, Naeun ah."

"Well, at least I will." Naeun smiled, concluding that it probably only applied to her. Eunji smiled a little as well, her hopes becoming a little bit higher.

"Unnie, today I will be the one sending you home, because I need to help you again." Bomi informed, rather than offering.

"I can do it myself Bbom-ah. Or Naeun can help me." Bomi sending her home would mean more time spent alone for her, and that had to be minimised in order to minimise the pain Bomi felt as well.

"No." Chorong did not bother to continue insisting, she knew she would lose anyway.

"Ah!" Chorong screamed and hissed at the pain each time Bomi's cotton bud came into contact with her wounds and bruises. Tears involuntarily fell due to the pain. 

"It'll be fine soon Unnie.. Here, grab my hand if the pain is too much." The older's hesitance in accepting it vanished once the cotton bud made contact with her skin again, the burning sensation causing her to grab onto Bomi hard, her sharp nails and the strength used hurting Bomi a little as well. The younger, however, beared with the pain and made no response to that.

"I'm done," Bomi said, getting up from her previous position. She reached out to rub away the tear stains as she commended, "Good job unnie."

"Bomi, your hand.." Chorong had just realised what she had done to Bomi. But Bomi just ignored, pretending like she did not hear.

"I'm sure these will all recover soon. Meanwhile, I'll take care of you." Bomi picked up her stuff, preparing to leave. "I'll get going unnie, wouldn't want to take up more of your time."

"Bbom ah," Chorong called softly, holding the other back from leaving. She walked slowly to the other and hugged her from the back. "Thank you again. Could you follow me somewhere on Wednesday morning?"

"Morning? We've got school Chorong unnie." Bomi turned to face the older, both her hands holding the other's.

"Yeah, but.. Nevermind it's okay if you're not too comfortable with skipping school." It would be great if Bomi could go along, but Chorong did not want to force it upon her.

Bomi scrutinised the expression that her unnie had, and knew it was probably something important. "I'll go with you, unnie. Wednesday morning right? No problem."

Watching Chorong's eyes lit up after her agreement, Bomi was certain she had made the right choice. "You would? Thank you!"

For once, Chorong would not be alone in the morning of that significant date anymore. For once, Chorong had asked someone to accompany her, to be there for her.

A/N: Wow this story reached 20 chapters before I even realise.. How's it so far? I'm really curious to know what you guys think about it..

Second semester is more packed so my updates are not that often anymore, but nonetheless I'm trying my best to get everything updated! Finishing up Change (my progress each time I edit the chapter is too slow :( ), keeping this updated, and writing the next request for Apink Oneshot Collection. Thank you for supporting my fanfics! :D And btw I wrote a oneshot for Bomi's birthday too^^

Comment please! ^^

@Kimmyloh well it'll be pretty hard for two young girls to survive like that x: and given Chorong's intelligence (in this story), it'll be pretty hard to get a legit job to survive either. 

@Taengoo99 yeah, sweet yet.. :( yes I did! my feels were all activated haha. Ep2 seems to have quite a bit of chomi as well and I saw that ep3 Chomi are roommates in Japan! Chomi showtime~

@Nachomisan Things are indeed a little hard for them now, but I'm sure Bomi would get better and Chorong's situation would too!

@akumatsubasa as long as this story goes on~ haha jk, maybe I would let Chorong leave soon, or maybe the aunt would get fedup. or perhaps the aunt might turn nicer.. who knows? I hope chomi will just continue to spend sweet moments together and that they'll both be happy xD