“WHAT? No, no, no this can’t be happening. No.” Chorong woke up to a distressed Bomi on the phone. “Are you sure, please? It’s not her, okay? NO IT’S NOT!” Bomi shouted bursting out in tears. “Call me back later please.” Bomi said and hung it the phone.

She was kneeling on the ground, clutching her heart and sobbing. Chorong witnessed the vulnerable girl from the bed. “Why, why, why, why!” Bomi hit the ground with her fists as hard as she could. Chorong wanted to give Bomi some space, but when she started to hurt herself Chorong felt she needed to interfere.

Chorong rushed to the girl on the floor and grabbed her fists. “What’s wrong, tell me what’s wrong.” Chorong whispered and hugged Bomi tightly. “EVERYTHING IS WRONG!” Bomi shouted and cried into Chorong’s chest. Chorong felt her entire shirt getting wet and her tee was now sticking to her chest.

She decided not to ask Bomi anymore questions for the better, she took the poor girl to her bed and comforted her for about an hour, just hugging her and wiping her tears. She waited patiently for her to calm down.

“Bbom-ah. Don’t tell me if you don’t want to, but I want to help you.” Chorong whispered into Bomi’s ear. Bomi was still hiccuping and whimpering but she tried her best to talk to Chorong.

“She promised me that she’d be back and she ing broke that ing promise.” Bomi’s response was tangled with heavy breathing and coughing but Chorong tried her best to comprehend.

“Who?” Chorong held tight to Bomi’s hand and petted her hair lightly. “ing Hyeri.” Bomi started to sob again, mentioning her best friend’s name. “She ing promised! She said that this time she was really going to be back in a couple weeks and now what?” Bomi screamed and punched her knees.

“What happened with Hyeri?” Chorong tried to soothe Bomi as best she could. “The ing plane crashed. She said she would be back, , I loved her so much.” Bomi cringed that ‘love’ turned to ‘loved’ within minutes of her finding out.

Bomi was crying her heart out; just 1 day ago, Hyeri was there with her, looking into each other’s eyes, touching each other’s noses, and kissing each other’s lips. That girl that she was making love with was now a corpse. Chorong and Bomi fell silent and Chorong was trying her best not to make Bomi feel like a burden. Bomi trying her best not to make Chorong feel obligated to take care of her.

“She was my best friend. She told me everything, she was the one that I went to when I needed someone and I was the one she came to when she needed someone. We met in high school and she was the only one that I could really talk to. She had so many other friends that she could’ve spent every lunch with but she picked me. And there was a time that I that I wanted to marry her. And then there was a time that I was convinced I hated her, y’know when we had fights. And now I’m convinced that she was the greatest best friend I could ever have, but I was the most horrible to her. I never told her everything about me then she died and now I can’t. I just wish she was right here beside me, so I could kiss her and tell her that I love her, but she’s not beside me and I can’t tell her that now.” Bomi sniffed her nose and sobbed into her hands.

Chorong was a bit confused about their relationship, were they friends or lovers, or both? Either way, she continued to help Bomi recover. “I just don’t know why I didn’t tell her about my parents, the abuse. I guess I was scared of losing her, that she would judge me, or I just didn’t think the past mattered anymore but it does, it always does. And I feel like I hid such a big part of me from her, and I regret it. I ing regret it, Chorong.”

Chorong took a deep breath before she started. “Bomi, I believe that everything happens for a reason and even if that reason isn’t all that great, what had happened is fate. Now you may hate this fate, but that’s the fate that has fallen upon Hyeri, and upon you. I know it’s unfair, and I know you loved her, I don’t know how much, but I know you really loved her; but you have to get through it and realize you can’t do anything about what has already happened. So instead of subjecting yourself to pain, and mourning, and hurting; be grateful that you ever had her at all. Celebrate what you had with her that was special, celebrate all that she did, celebrate how great of a person she was. It’s hard, I know, but just rejoice her and you’ll end up happier in the process.”

Chorong kissed Bomi on the cheek and tasted her salty, dried up tears. “It’s so hard.” Chorong nodded. “I know.” Bomi got out of bed and cleaned herself up, Chorong did as well. They went into the living room of the apartment.

“Hyeri was that girl you saw me kissing that day at the bar, by the way.” Chorong nodded remember the cute girl, short brown hair and petite body frame. “She promised me yesterday before she left for Melbourne that she would be back in a couple weeks. Because I told her that I missed her so much, and I told her to stop traveling so much because I needed my puppy fix everyday. She told me not to cry for her, that she wasn’t worth it. And I won’t cry for her anymore not because she’s not worth my tears, she worth every last drip of my tears, but because she didn’t ever want me to cry. Every time when I dropped her at the airport she would say ‘don’t cry’ and I always tried not to but always ended up with at least a tear. She’s everything to me, Chorong.”

Bomi shook her head, her mind was trying to tell her heart that Hyeri was gone, but the girl’s heart wasn’t accepting it. “I’ll take care of you Bomi, until you stop hurting.” Chorong rubbed the younger’s shoulder. “It’ll take forever to stop hurting.” Bomi’s eyes were bruised and stinging, she was still trying not to cry which hurt them more.

“Then I’ll stay here forever.”