Chapter 8

"Come on Honey! I don't want to be late for my doctor's appointment." Bom heard her aunt yell from downstairs.

"Okay Auntie!" Bom yelled back she got up from her bed and grabbed her bag, all while having her eyes glued to her cell phone. 

She and Dongwook have been texting ever since he dropped her off at her house after the clique's little get together, only stopping to shower, sleep and fix themselves up the next morning. 

As Bom and her aunt seated themselves in the car and put on their seatbelts, they drove off to the school. While the teen was busy, smiling softly as she texted the senior continuously, her aunt smirked as her eyes wavered between her niece to the road ahead of them.

 "My my my. This is the first time I've seen you use your phone, you barely have it with you most of the time...who is that you keep texting?"

"Just a good friend of mine at the school." Bom replied simply without moving her eyes away from the screen.

The middle aged woman chuckled lightly. "Just a friend, hmm?" 

Bom mumbled "mhm..."

"It's that boy isn't it?" 

Bom laughed a bit at the text Dongwook sent her before nodding and answering. "Neh..." 

Her aunt turned her head towards her and smiled brightly. "You have a crush on him, don't you?"

Bom's eyes widen, mouth opening a bit as she dropped her phone in her lap and looked at her aunt, all while blushing. "Auntie!"

"Oh my gosh! My niece has her first real crush!" Her aunt yelled happily with a big smile on her face, ignoring Bom's quick gestures. 

"Auntie! It's not like that! He just a friend." Bom pleaded softly, almost getting startled by her vibrating phone but she put it aside for the first time today.

The older woman just shook her head and smiled silently. "You say that now but just wait and see. You and him will be together for sure. I knew it the first time I saw him talking to you when we moved here. You're something special and he knows it."

"You shouldn't talk such nonsense like that, Auntie."  Bom said before she knew it but just as her aunt heard it, she started coughing harshly.

"Auntie!" Bom yelled, while turning to the side, grabbing the steering wheel and taking control of the car so that she could park it on the side of the road while her aunt rushed and grabbed a red handkerchief from the side door compartment and covered , still coughing violently. 

Once her coughing had ceased Bom's aunt looked over at her slowly while whipping with a shaking hand. "No, you shouldn't talk such nonsense." Bom's eyes widen at bit at her favorite relative before she frowned sadly. "Auntie-" 

"Don't auntie me." The woman said calmly while starring into her nieces eyes with such powerful emotion that the teen couldn't dare to break. Her aunt was surprised and hurt at Bom's earlier outburst and the girl couldn't do nothing but blame herself. She had done it again. Only this time it was worse.

"When are you gonna realize that you are special, Park Bom? What is it gonna take? A tragedy, maybe? When are you gonna realize your self-worth? You shouldn't be so insecure and doubtful about yourself. If you don't love yourself no one will love you Bom. I hate to hear you say such things about yourself. It's hurts me deeply..." 

Hoping that her words would sink into Bom's brain, she put the car back on drive, much to Bom's disappointment and started back driving. 

"You shouldn't be driving, Auntie. Pull over. I'll do it."

Her aunt shook her and kept on driving. "I'm fine. It's just a cold. Besides, you don't have any license but I think you need to practice driving this week and try to get them on Friday so that you can drive me to the doctor from now on." She explained, saddening Bom even more with her emotionally tired voice.

"Okay, I will." Bom answered softly while looking down at her hands sadly, totally forgetting about texting Dongwook back, as they drove to her school in complete silence.

After her aunt dropped her off at the school, Bom walked slowly to her dorm with the event from earlier still freshly painted in her mind. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that her aunt had been very hurt by Bom's statement and it also wasn't hard to see that her reaction really bothered Bom. As soon as Bom saw the emotional hurt glazed over her relatives eyes, it felt like someone had shot her in the chest and all the air inside her lungs left at once. Then she felt that familiar pain cling on to her whole being as she remembered CL kicking her in the bathroom with as much force as she could, granting Bom with the metallic taste of her own blood.

Out of all the long and everlasting list of things Bom regretted doing, this really took the cake. Never in her 16 years would she want to hurt her favorite person in the world and she did her best to prevent it until now. But she would rather have her aunt kick her 20 times, just as long as she didn't have to face that look again. It was something that she feared in her dreams for the longest and seeing it with her eyes opened was one too many.

By the time Bom looked up, she saw the door to her room appear once she turned into the corner of the girl's hallway and slowly walked over to the entrance until there was only less than an inch of space between her and the wooden doorway. With a deep and tired sigh, she laid her head against the door with her eyes closed, patiently waiting for the tears to swell in her eyes until they had no choice but to fall.

Soon enough, just when she felt the familiar process of crying beginning to start, she felt her phone vibrate and the sound of a catchy ringtone flow to her ears. Sighing tiredly, she touched the green circle to answer the call with her thumb and steadily brought the phone up to her ear. "Hello?" 

"Hey Bommie. It's me..."

Bom eyes widen a bit as soon as she recognized his voice. "Dongwook Oppa."

"The one and only." He chuckled silently before saying "You didn't text me back so I decided to check and see if you were okay... Are you okay?" 

The female nodded her head, unconsciously let out a small smile. "I'm okay, Oppa. My aunt was just taking me back to the school." She explained.

"Ah, okay...I was just arguing with myself for 30 minutes straight, trying to decide if I should call to check up on you or not. Now I feel stupid." He said sheepishly with a small laugh.

Bom couldn't help but laugh a bit at his statement. "Ani-yah. I just forgot to text back. I'm sorry for making you worry. Mian-hae, Oppa." She retorted with a smile.

"Ani." Don't worry about it. Just as long as you're okay I'm fine. So, have you made it to the school?"

"Neh, I'm in front of my room right now."

Dongwook nodded his head and sighed softly. "Well, you should go inside and get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow."

Bom nodded her head in agreement, proceeding to take her key out of her purse so that she could unlock her door when a thought slipped into her mind. "Oppa?"

"Hmm?" 

"Do they have anything such as a driver's ed at the school where I can practice driving this week so I can get my license?"  She asked curiously. 

"The school has one but the driver's ed teacher is going to be in the hospital this week so no one will be able to take it until he comes back." Dongwook replied.

Bom unknowingly pouted before saying "Ah, okay." 

"But, since I'm his assistant, I have permission to use the drivers ed car so I help you practice after school, if you want." He suggested verbally, deep inside hoping that she would say yes.

"Okay. Thank you so much Oppa." She exclaimed softly, smiling from ear to ear as she walked inside her room after finally unlocking the door.

"No need to thank me. Were friends, right?" He questioned rhetorically with a smile.

Bom closed her door while smiling softly. "Of course, Oppa." 

The older male chuckled silently before saying "Go get some rest. I know girls complain that they need their beauty rest, especially Nana." He joked before mumbling "but I'm sure you won't need it." 

Bom laughed before yawning a bit, missing his last statement, while slipping under her bed sheets and laying comfortably on her soft and fluffy pillow. "Okay. see you tomorrow, Oppa." She got out through her next yawn and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

After listening to her sleep for a few minutes, he smile softly and whispered "See you tomorrow, Angel." and hung up.