Chapter 13 

As Dongwook parked the car in front of Bom's house, they both took off their seatbelt and got out of the car and closed the door behind them. They glanced at each other as they walked side by side on one of the two concrete paths that led to the entrance of the house but as soon as their eyes connected, Bom looked away out of nervousness, her mind still on that warm embrace they had in the parking lot of the driver's license place. 

She still couldn't believe that it even happened, especially after the awkwardness and quietness in the car on the way there. Bom figured she had done something that made him upset and she made up her mind that when she got done taking her driver's test, she was going to apologize because no matter what feelings she had for him, she didn't want to lose him as a friend. 

She was fully invested in maintaining her friendship with him and the others...

"Bom?" She heard Dongwook say.

"Huh?" She turned her head towards him.

"Do you have the key?" He asked with an amused smile on his face.

"Oh! Sorry." Bom exclaimed in embarrassment as she opened her bag and went through it until she found her keys, taking them out and unlocking the front door. "I wonder why it's so dark?" She said to herself as they both walked in, Dongwook closing the door behind them once they made it inside.

Then, just as he started coughing and Bom turned around to make sure he was okay, the lights suddenly came on and she caught Dongwook's smiling face before turning around to see her friends and her aunt in front of her. "Surprise!"

The black haired beauty eyes widened as she gasped silently and took in everyone's presence, trying to search for any words she could say in her mind but it was hard. Nana, who hardly could keep still or keep her excitement for Bom within her, slide past Soo-hyun and ran over to Bom so that she could envelop her in a hug. "Congratulations on getting your license, Bom unnie!"

"We all knew you could do it." Seho said with a wide smile on his face as everyone walked over towards me.

"Especially, Dongwook. He felt like you would earn a perfect score and you did." Minwoo told her as he patted her on the shoulder, sneaking a glance at Dongwook, who had slightly blushed for a half a second as he playfully grabbed the sophomore and put him in a head lock.

Bom smiled at everyone graciously and said, "Thank you for having such faith in me. I was a little nervous at first but I thought about everyone's encouraging words and it made me feel better."

"Well, I'm glad they did." Her aunt said before changing the subject. "Now, you and your friends can go in the kitchen and grab something to eat. I cooked your favorite: oksusu and bread."

Bom eyes widened with glee and clapped her hands in front of , causing Dongwook to smile amusingly. "Okay!" 

'How cute can she get?' He thought to himself as he and the rest of the gang followed her into the kitchen to eat.

Soon they all got a serving of the food that Bom's aunt cooked and ate to their heart's content while talking about things that happened during Bom and Dongwook's absence and their personal lives, which all just happened to make everyone laugh. Bom, didnt say much, of course. She just likes to hear them talk about themselves, that way she could get to know them better and observe their personalities.

Like Kang-joon for example. The handsome sophomore was, like herself, quiet and shy so it was a little difficult to decipher him but after one faithful of day of sitting with him and Minwoo, listening to them talk, she began to understand that he wasn't as quick-witted as most. But he made up for it with his honesty and respect, which was what she liked about him. Him and Minwoo were two peas in a pod and Kang-joon seemed to follow not only his lead but everyone else lead because he learned a lot from them.

'Of course, he'll never learn anything from me.' Bom thought as she watched him hold his stomach while laughing his heart out at Seho, who was trying to get Nana's attention. She didn't really have much to give or add to this lively group and they didn't know much about her yet. She knew that was her own fault because she hasn't been willing to open up much because of her fear of them thinking negatively of her, just like the people back at her old school did. 'Maybe it's okay to open up...I just have to be careful with what I say..."

'But Dongwook wants me to be more comfortable with everyone, him included...' She thought as she glanced over at the senior, who was laughing along with everyone else. When his eyes moved to her, she quickly looked away and smiled softly as she tuned into the conversation.

"We were walking to the tennis court to watch the match and on the way there, a strong breeze had came through from behind us just as Nana turned her head, causing her hair to fly gracefully behind her. Seho was so mesmerized by it that he ran into a pole and almost hurt himself." Chan-yeol said, causing everyone to laugh. "She had to run over and make sure he was okay."

"I bet that was a dream come true for you." Dongwook teased as he playfully hit his best friend.

Seho just smiled dreamingly and said, "It was just like in the movies so it made the whole thing worth while." 

"I hope you didn't do that on purpose. You really had me worried." Nana told him with a frown.

Seho shrugged shamelessly as he said, "Okay, I may have exaggerated a little when you came over but I really didn't see that pole there. It appeared out of nowhere." He confessed, making everybody laugh again.

"Seho, that pole has always been there. You just weren't looking where you were going." Soo-hyun told him.

"He probably had his eyes glued on Nana the whole time." Dongwook added, causing the young girl to blush and everyone else to laugh, including Bom herself.

"Enough about my apparent clumsiness. Let's talk about something else." Seho said.

Minwoo took a sip of his drink before saying, "Like what?" 

"Like this house. It's so beautiful Ms. Linda. It's elegant but it has such a warm and cozy vibe to it." Soo-hyun told Bom's aunt, who was sitting beside Bom and had been smiling and laughing quietly as she watched the young group converse, observing every one of them all the while. It was her first time meeting Bom's friends yet she had already began to love the bunch as if they were her own. She could see the tight bond between them and was so happy that they included Bom into their already huge circle without any hesitation and only hoped that they would grow to love her niece just as much as she did.

"Actually, this is my sister's and her husband's house. I'll be sure to call her and tell her though." She said, adding a small laugh at the end.

Ga-yeon glanced at the older lady and Bom. "As in Bom's parents, right?"

She nodded her head. "Neh... Both of them are out of town and working on a case together so my aunt is staying with me until they come back."

"Ah, so they're both attorneys?" Dongwook asked with much interest as he gazed at Bom from where he was sitting, which was across from her. She nodded her head. "So that's why you want to be an attorney, because of them?"

Bom nodded her head once more and smiled softly at him. "I guess you could say that." She answered, causing him to smile as well.

"Well, what city did you move from?" Se-ho asked curiously.

"Gangwondo."

"Oh! I have a cousin that live there. Maybe you know her." Nana said as she turned towards Bom and smiled excitedly.

Bom shrugged casually and looked down at the floor with slight embarrassment. "Probably not...I really didn't have any friends back in Gandwondo..."

"That's hard to believe." Kang-joon commented and everyone nodded their head in agreement. They all felt like Bom was way too lovable and way too nice to not have had any friends back her old school, especially Nana. After all she did help her out on her first day of school so she figured it had to have something to do with the people who attended school, which is why she asked the next question.

"Well, what was the name of the school you use to attend?" 

The brown eyed junior glanced at Nana nervously, which didn't go unnoticed by Dongwook the slightest bit, and hesitated before answering "Suji High School." 

Soo-hyun gasped and pointed at Nana from across the room. "Isn't that the school that Chae-rin goes to?" 

The brown-haired freshman nodded her head quickly before turning to Bom. "Yeah, that's the one. Do you know her, unnie?"

'No... She can't be talking about CL... They may just have the same name... There's no way.' Bom thought to herself as she shook her head. "Doesn't ring a bell..." Bom told her silently, even though something told her that the Chae-rin they knew and the CL she knew was the exact same person.

And her thoughts were soon to be correct when Ga-yeon said, "But doesn't she go by CL? 

"Oh yeah! That's all I heard everyone call her when I visited her a few months ago. She's pretty popular over there. I don't really like her friends though. They left a bad impression on me."

'It can't be...' Bom thought to herself as she glanced at Nana, who was still going on and on about her cousin and her friends. The more she talked about them, the more Bom came to realize that Nana's cousin was the one that Bom feared. 

The one that she accidentally took Jiyong from. 

The one that made Bom, the girl that she was now-the quiet, insecure, careful and afraid teenager who was scared of losing the very people sitting in this room along with her.

And she didn't know if she was ever going to change...

"How come, Nana?" Chan-yeol asked curiously as he took a sip of his drink.

Nana shook her head before answering, "One time I went with them to this place called 'YG's Spot'... I think CL's boyfriend had just up and left town or something but anyways, her friends had basically threaten everyone the whole time we were there to make sure that CL stayed happy." Nana explained, frowning deeply at the memory. "I was so embarrassed that I had to pretend that I had got sick just so we could back home..."

"You mean Dara and Minzy, right? I remember when I went with you to Gangwondo and we ran into CL and them... I swear, those girls followed her around like they were her own puppets." Soo-hyun asked, causing the freshman to nod her head. 

"Yeah, they did everything they could to please Chae-rin but she was so heartbroken by Jiyong's disappearance. That was the first time I've ever seen her on the verge of tears. I felt bad for her, to be honest."

Everyone leaned their heads in closer as they listened to Nana, all except Bom, who had by now guessed the whole story and was staring at the floor shamefully because, after all, she felt like she was the one who caused his sudden disappearance. 

Along with her was Linda and Dongwook, who were both watching her carefully. Her aunt was trying to understand why Nana's story was causing her favorite niece to react that way while Dongwook was putting it all together in his head, coming up with the conclusion that the girl he saw grab Bom's wrist so harshly was in fact the very same girl they were talking about.

But he didn't suspect that Bom was the one who, unknowingly at the time, took Jiyong from CL.

"Why did he leave town?" Seho asked curiously and everyone nodded too, wondering the same exact thing and waiting for an answer from her.

The light-brown haired teen shrugged casually. "She kept saying that this girl from her school took him away from her, only to reject him in the end so he left." 

After a pregnant pause, Ga-yeon was the first to say something."Why would someone do that?"

"Yeah, thats kinda hard to believe..." Minwoo commented skeptically.

"I'm just telling you what she told me." 

Soo-hyun shook her head in disagreement. "Well, I think there's more to it than that. You know how your cousin can be sometimes. She was probably over exaggerating. I just can't imagine a girl taking someone else's boyfriend only to reject him later on. It's just not realistic."

"Well, if it is true then she's gonna get what's coming to her because a person who does that is heartless and doesn't deserve for anyone to love them or care for them." Nana commented, which caused Bom to cover with her hand in dismay.

Suddenly, Bom's aunt stood up and said "I think I'm gonna go in the kitchen and wash the dishes."

Bom quickly stood up after her, turning towards her while saying, "Thats okay, auntie. I'll do it for you so you can sit down and relax for a while." 

Dongwook glanced at Bom before standing up and saying, "I'll help you, Bom." This made Linda smile silently to herself as she slowly sat down and watched them both look at one another.

"Okay, oppa. Thank you." She said before making her way to the kitchen to wash the dishes with the senior following her lead. While Bom washed the dishes, Dongwook took a towel and dried them off, stacking them after they were squeaky clean. While doing this, he would often glance at the beautiful teenage girl every now and then, frowning in concern as he watched her wash each plate and utensil with a look of angst on her beautiful face and it was killing him inside.

After a while, Dongwook finally broke the terrible silence by asking what seemed like a simple question but in truth was the exact opposite. "Is CL the girl from that restaurant?"

Bom remained silent as she kept washing the last plate, which was currently in her hand, trying to keep herself calm and composed, hoping to come up with an excuse to use so that Dongwook wouldn't have to worry about her as much as he was now but her mind was as blank as a clean dry erase board so she couldn't say anything to make him nor her feel better.

Dongwook glanced at the girl beside him for the hundredth time before placing his plate on top of the stack and leaning back to look out the doorway, making sure that the gang was still conversing with each other and not within a range to where they could hear him and Bom talking. Suddenly, Dongwook gently took the plate out of Bom's hand and placed it in the sink before grabbing her shoulders and turning her body towards him so that he could have her full attention. "Talk to me." He pleaded as he look into her beautiful cocoa-colored eyes and caressingly rubbed his thumbs back and forth against her skin. "Is CL the blonde girl from that restaurant?"

Bom's eyes watered quickly as she looked into his eyes, nodding her head shortly as she crossed her arms in such a way that it seemed like she was holding herself. Dongwook glanced at the doorway in slight frustration before suggesting an idea. "Maybe you should tell Nana about CL..."

Bom shook her head quickly. "No... They're cousins and she seems to really care about her." She told him before silently murmuring, "It's not Nana's fault that my past is trying to haunt me..."

"What?" Dongwook asked as he looked down at her, not quite catching the last part she said.

Bom knew it wasn't wise to repeat it and she didn't want to lie to him either so she change the subject instead by saying something she had meant to tell him for ever since yesterday. "Thank you, Dongwook Oppa."

"For what?" He questioned as he took a step closer to her.

"For not telling everybody what happened... I really appreciate it." Bom told him softly as she looked down at the floor, due to his unwavering gaze set upon her.

He nodded his head and, for the third time today, grabbed her hand and pulled her into a  big hug, rubbing his hand up and down her back warmly as he said, "Don't thank me. It's not something that I think should come from me."

"Still, you could have told them if you wanted and I wouldn't have blamed you. Their your friends after all and I know you guys aren't use to keeping secret from one another." Bom said quietly as she tried to resist wrapping her arms around him by placing her hands and head on his chest and closing her eyes. She was very aware of her racing heart beat but as she took in he scent of his cologne she knew it was too late for it to stop now. Dongwook had her trapped in his strong and warm arms with no intent of letting her go any time soon.

"But I didn't... When you're ready to tell the others, I know for a fact that they will listen and that they will still love and care about you just as they do now. Heck, maybe even a a lot more when they realize that you took the high road even though she hurt you..." He told her before pulling away slightly so that he could look into her big doe-like eyes. "I just want you to be happy." He told her softly.

If Bom thought that it was too late for her heart to stop pounding against her chest before, then it definitely was too late for the fist size organ now that Dongwook's brown eyes were gazing directly into hers, captivating her instantly and making her feel as if it was just them two. Bom was now trapped and she honestly wouldn't have it any other way if Dongwook felt the same way she felt about him. 'He just sees me as a friend...' She concluded to herself as she tried to look away but just like her body was trapped in his arms, her eyes were trapped in his own.

Suddenly, she found that her assumption was starting to be questionable when she noticed him glance at her lips before slowly leaning down towards her. Her breathing slowed all at once and as his handsome face kept inching closer to hers, she thought to herself, 'This can't be right... If he thinks of me as his friend then...why does it seem like he's about to kiss me?' And even with that thought in mind, her eyes acted as if they had a mind of their own and slowly closed, just like the distance between his and her lips were about to.

"Dongwook hyung! Bom! Are you guys done yet?" Seho suddenly yelled out loud, making Dongwook and Bom freeze in their tracks.

Before Bom knew it, she immediately jumped back and covered her pink tinted cheeks with both of her hands, causing Dongwook to sigh lightly, an amused smile appearing on his face as he looked at her. "Yeah, we'll be there in a sec."

"Neh."

"Y-you can go ahead, oppa. I'm just gonna dry this plate off." Bom told him quickly before turning around and picking up the plate he made her put in the sink earlier, turning the hot water on so that she could finish rinsing it off. 

He nodded his head understanding that she was embarrassed and that she didn't want to walk in the living room with her cheeks still painted pink for everyone to see, even though she wore the look very well on her doll like face. 'She's so cute.' He thought to himself. "Okay. I'll see you in there." He told her but just as he was about to walk away, he walked back towards her and daringly kissed her on her cheek, causing the warmth to transport from his lips to the side of her, therefore making the color a shade pinker than before.

As Dongwook walked away, Bom let her hand slowly rise up until she felt it touch the very spot that his lips touched and smiled at the feeling of warmth and happiness that it made her feel inside. She had no idea what this meant for them but at least she had a pretty clear idea of how he felt about her. 'Maybe he doesn't just think of me as a friend... Maybe he really really likes me too.' She thought before she dried the plate with a rag and place it on the stack of other plates, turning around and walking out of kitchen with an expression calm and collected but her mind filled with blush worthy thoughts of the moments that took place between him and her today.