Chapter 14: Birthday

Simply by the words "boyfriend", Bomi's world shattered into pieces. She scanned the older boy, who looked like a fool grinning all the way to his ears. 

"You are Chorong unnie's boyfriend?" asked Bomi with caution, it hurt inside saying the word "boyfriend" and even more when the boy responded with a "yes".

"Let me in, i said the password already." said Changsub as he squeezed in between the door, forcing himself into the dorm. He looked around and still grinned widely.

"Good to see that she found a good place to stay." said Changsub to himself, as he handed the bags he was carrying to Bomi before proceeding to casually relax on the sofa.

Bomi checked the bags inside, wondering what it was. To her surprise, it was packaged chicken feet and a small note beside it.

"Is it for us?" asked Bomi.

"That's Chorong's birthday gift. Don't eat it."

"Birthday?"

"What, she never told you? Aish, she's still the same as ever. It's March 3rd today, Chorong's birthday." sighed Changsub, still sitting on the sofa while fiddling with this phone like nothing.

"She likes chicken feet?" asked Bomi in curiousity.

"More like it's her whole life."scoffed Changsub as he positioned himself sideways, lying down on the sofa.

"Wake me up when Chorong comes." he yawned, stretching his arms before falling asleep. Bomi just stared at him dumbfoundedly, a stranger just randomly walked into the dorm and slept. But what was more important was that, it was Chorong's birthday. With heavy steps, Bomi walked towards Eunji's room and violently shook her until she woke up.

"What? Was there an earthquake or something?' yawned Eunji still half-asleep.

"We're in Korea Eunji-ya...Anyway, we have to do something."

"About what?"

"It's Chorong unnie's birthday today!"

"How did you know that?"

"Chorong unnie's boyfriend told me. He's over there, sleeping." said Bomi, pointing towards Changsub who seemed to be enjoying his sleep.

"You pabo, you actually let a stranger in?" 

"What, he said he was Chorong unnie's boyfriend!"

"He could be lying you know, next thing you know he's a robber in disguise." sighed Eunji. Even though it was a scolding, Eunji's hopeful words calmed Bomi's uneasy heart. Perhaps he wasn't Chorong's boyfriend and simply a stranger.

"But he said the password and brought chicken feet as Chorong unnie's present." said Bomi with a straight face.

"Ok. Then, he's not a stranger." said Eunji laughing off as she got up from her bed.

"Then he must really be her boyfriend...." mumbled Bomi to herself.

"So, what shall we do? Want me to call Hayoungie first?"

"Then what about Naeun? Oh wait, we can ask her to..."

With that, the same-aged friends spent the hour discussing their plans about Chorong's birthday. With the power of the cellphone, Eunji called the two maknaes who were at the internet cafe and asked them to buy party materials that they can use to decorate the house and then, called Naeun to buy something on their way back. Meanwhile, Bomi called a chinese food delivery as the two didn't want the "birthday girl" to cook and that their unnie deserves some time off.

In the midst of all this preparation, Chorong who is still stuck at her office sat inside the meeting room anxiously. She couldn't shake off the worry of what was happening back at the dorm, especially with Changsub's arrival. There was so much on her mind, she could barely concentrate on the meeting.

"Chorong-ssi?" asked one of her co-workers.

"Ah! Erm, yes?" 

"Would you mind explaining the our annual statistics if we were to succeed in the proposal?"

"Ah..yes! Sorry.."

Throughout the meeting, Chorong kept checking her phone for the time. It was now past 6, she was worried whether the kids at home would be starving. She had promised to be back by 5. She too, was tired and hungry. It never even crossed her mind that it was her birthday today. Finally, after long hours in the meeting it was over. Leaving the office and taking public transport back home, it was already 7pm. Going up the stairs leading to the dorm, a random thought ran pass Chorong. "Why didn't they text me why I'm late?" that single thought itself suddenly went to "Don't tell me they died of starvation". With a random, serious thought, she quickly opened the door only to be shocked by the sudden bursts of balloons flying in front of her.

"Happy Birthday Chorong unnie!!" shouted the five girls together, greeting their unnie at the front door.

"W-What? It's my birthday?" asked Chorong in confusion.

"Obviously! As expected, you always so focused on work that you forget your own birthday!" grinned Changsub, hugging Chorong. It was a sight that stung Bomi deeply.

"Right....it's March 3rd today..." smiled Chorong.

"And I told them that I'm your boyfriend." whispered Changsub, while laughing.

"Hey! Changsub-ah!" shouted Chorong in surprise her smile turning into a frown as she begun to hit him violently while pulling his ears.

"Unnie, is that how you act towards your boyfriend?" asked Hayoung innocently.

"Boyfriend? He isn't my boyfriend Hayoung-ah! All of you fell for his scam!" said Chorong, still beating Changsub up.

"Huh?" said Bomi, thinking that she had heard wrongly.

"It's so fun to play around with kids! You totally thought I was her boyfriend!" laughed Changsub while running away from Chorong.

After hearing those words, it was as if something heavy was lifted from Bomi's heart. Her expression became lighter, and finally she smiled. The other girls stared dumbfoundedly, at the fact that they had been completely fooled.

"Wait...I should starting cooking! You girls must be-"

"Unnie. Calm down. Look over there." said Eunji, halting Chorong's movements as her head turned towards the dining table where it was full of the chinese food delivery in which Bomi ordered. She then looked at Namjoo, who had evidence of jajangmyun sauce all over . With that, she sighed in relief that the kids didn't starve waiting for her.

"Unnie. I told you to eat more elegantly." said Hayoung staring at Namjoo's messy mouth.

"Can't help it, food is more important." 

"Unnie need to watch her weight." sighed Hayoung as she placed her finger, wiping some of the sauce on Namjoo's mouth and putting it inside .

"Hayoung-ah, that's dirty.." said Naeun, slightly disgusted at the sight.

"Please, you wouldn't mind if Eunji unnie did that" whispered Hayoung to Naeun, with a suspicious wink.

"Wait. How did you know that?" whispered Naeun, dragging Hayoung away in a corner.

"Don't ask me that unnie. Let's just say that I know that you and Eunji unnie have feelings for each other." said Hayoung with a smirk before walking away, only to be grabbed by Naeun.

"Don't tell anyone about this." said Naeun firmly.

"Of course unnie, I'm not that dumb to know what would happen if everyone knows." smiled Hayoung before walking away.

Meanwhile, Changsub presented Chorong his gift of chicken feet.

"Sorry, it's not as fresh as before because you took way too long to come back." said Changsub, opening the container.

"Where did you get this from?" asked Chorong.

"From your favourite place all the way back in Chuncheong." said Changsub with a smile.

"Wow, you brought it all the way here? Thanks" gasped Chorong in astonishment, before breaking into a smile. She hadn't eaten a single chicken feet since she arrived in Seoul and she was honestly craving for it. The two friends chatted with each other, laughing at their jokes and listening to their stories. Eunji, Naeun, Namjoo and Hayoung were still eating their food while watching the television but Bomi on the other hand, couldn't help but to stare at the two same-aged friends who seemed to enjoy their company. Watching them together, made Bomi feel uncomfortable.

"Bomi, you want to eat some of the chicken feet?" asked Changsub, noticing Bomi's constant stares towards them.

"No....." replied Bomi while pouting.

"Just come here Bomi-ya." said Chorong, noticing Bomi's unusual behaviour.

"What?" asked Bomi coldly, her arms folded and continued to stare at Changsub.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" asked Changsub.

"Nothing."

"Oh? Is it because I look too handsome for you?" joked Changsub, pushing his hair back elegantly.

"Oh god, please don't do that." said Chorong disgusted at the sight before feeding Bomi a chicken feet.

"No, you're ugly." said Bomi with a straight face, while chewing a piece of chicken feet inside .

"Wow. That hurts." laughed Changsub, amused at Bomi's words.

"Hey, you shouldn't say that Bomi-ya." scolded Chorong.

"No it's fine Chorong-ah, i'm not offended at all. I find this hilarious." said Changsub with a grin, staring back at Bomi. After being friends with Chorong for all his life, meeting this girl was interesting. From his point of view, he knew that he wouldn't have to worry about Chorong anymore because he could tell that Bomi would take good care of her. 

"I swear, even after knowing you for so long I still can't get used to your weirdness. Why are you smiling like that? It's creepy" sighed Chorong.

"No, it's nothing. Look at the time, I should get going." said Changsub, avoiding the question as he stared at the clock.

"Wait, you heading all the way back to Chuncheong now?" asked Chorong, worried.

"Yup. Nothing wrong with that."

"No, you came all the way here just to celebrate my birthday. I only met you for like one hour and you're leaving like that?"

"Hey, that's what best friends do right? Enjoy your birthday with the new friends you made Chorong-ah, I need to get going or I'll miss the last train!" said Changsub with a smile, heading for the door.

"Thank you Changsub-ah...I should also travel all the way to Chuncheong when it's your birthday."

"Nah, don't do that! Only I can do that!" smiled Changsub.

"Okay. Stop. Thank you and please come again." said Bomi, stepping in between their conversation while closing the door so that she wouldn't have to see Changsub's face ever again.

"Bomi-ya." said Chorong, staring at Bomi.

"What?"

"I haven't even finished talking to him."

"You can talk to him on the phone. Isn't that fine?" said Bomi as she walked away, her arms still crossed as she sat down on the sofa.

"What's with her?" sighed Chorong.

~X~

Everyone gathered to watch the television together, as there was nothing else to do. Even though it was Chorong's birthday, it was like any other normal day but this time, no one was in their rooms. They listened to Chorong's story of her first day of work, hearing her worries and her own opinions. As they were younger, they had no idea what a working life was so it was interesting to listen. 

At the moment, Eunji nudged Naeun, signalling her something. Naeun who noticed it, quietly went to her room to bring out something.

"Unnie, before we forget...." said Naeun, giving the box to Chorong.

"It's nothing much, but all five of us shared our money on this." said Eunji.

"Sorry we didn't realise it was your birthday sooner unnie!" said Namjoo.

"Next time, we will have an even more awesome birthday celebration!" said Hayoung.

"Wow..you didn't have to buy me a birthday present guys.." said Chorong with a smile, touched at their actions as she opened up the box. It then revealed, six silver rings.

"It's couple rings for all of us!" smiled Eunji, putting a ring through her finger.

"Is this like real silver unnie?" asked Namjoo, fascinated at the quality.

"No, I just bought it at an accessory store. It's not actual silver." said Naeun, with a soft giggle. She found the innocence of Namjoo, rather cute.

"So we can't sell it if we need money?" asked Hayoung with a pout.

"Hey, why on earth would you want to sell the couple ring? Do we not mean anything to you?" joked Eunji, playfully raising her hand up as if she was about to smack the maknae.

"Do you not feel anything towards the unnies who love you so much?" asked Bomi, dissapointed.

"No~it's not like that unnieI didn't mean it that way....Namjoo unnie please help me" said Hayoung, lightly leaning towards Namjoo with a nervous smile. Indeed, the maknae's flaw was not being careful with her words.

"Sorry unnies, Hayoung is just joking!" said Namjoo, trying to save the younger girl.

"We're joking too Namjoo-ya, calm down" said Eunji breaking into a laughter. It was always fun to younger sisters, she had always found her reactions cute but deep inside her heart, nothing else was cuter than Naeun's sleeping face that she would occansionally stumble upon in the middle of the night.

"Unnie! Don't do that! You know how scared I was when I saw your face" pouted Hayoung, relieved inside but still dissapointed that the unnies tricked her.

"That's why you're still too young Hayoung-ah, it will take awhile till you grow up" teased Bomi.

"Does my face look that scary to you?" laughed Eunji at Hayoung's statement.

In the midst of all these noise, Chorong quietly placed the ring around her finger. Smiling with gratitude, she felt thankful to have these five sisters to depend on. Each and every one of them was unique, and she loved each and every one of them individually. Suddenly without even her noticing, tears welled up her eyes.

"Unnies, Chorong unnie is crying again~ someone please find her a boyfriend please~" joked Namjoo, passing a tissue to her.

"Again? Aigoo, this unnie is really like a tofu. So soft in the inside." giggled Eunji, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"No..it's just that I'm thankful. It feels as if I've become a part of this family when I haven't even been here for a month. I don't know whether I deserve to be part of this-"

"Unnie, don't say things like that!" said Hayoung.

"That's right, since the first day you were already part of us." said Naeun.

"Aigoo, just stop worrying over things. Hey guys, let's give this birthday unnie a big hug so that she can stop crying!" shouted Eunji as she gathered all the girls, and everyone embraced the crying older girl who smiled. 

After all the chaos that night, Chorong's birthday ended with the girls going into their rooms to sleep. The only person still awake was none other than the birthday day, sitting at the desk in her room staring at the couple ring on her finger. Looking at it, she reminisced the memories when she came to The Pink Dormitory just a week ago. A lot of things had happened, she met the girls, understood them, learnt about their stories but in the middle of all this, an image of Bomi suddenly popped into her mind. For some reason, she couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling of Bomi's unusual behavior when Changsub came over. 

She thought for awhile and added her own assumptions because in truth, she didn't know much about Bomi at all. She presumed that Bomi didn't like being around boys but that can't be true especially with her personality. So, why did Bomi act that way? That thought itself kept Chorong awake, because even when the girls presented her the gift, Bomi was quiet the whole time. This worried her. Unable to hold herself anymore, she decided to head out to find Bomi. The moment she opened the door, she almost screamed as a sleeping Bomi suddenly appeared at the entrance. She was shocked, confused as to what she was doing there.

"Bomi? Bomi-ya?" said Chorong with worry, gently shaking her. It was then she noticed, there were tears spread around Bomi's sleeping eyes.

[END OF CHAPTER 14]

A/N: What's happening to Bomi? I think it's pretty obvious whose story is up next lol, thank you for reading and subscribing! See you in the next update! :)