Chapter 33: Pain

"What? What are you saying Bomi-ah?" asked Chorong as her smile dissapeared, she was confused as to what she was hearing.

"It's exactly what I said unnie, you're seeing that girl...aren't you?" said Bomi again, her voice trembled as it hurt to say those words again. She didn't want to lose her but even so, she shouldn't jump to conclusions like what Eunji has always told her before. This wasn't the first time this has happened.

[FLASHBACK]

Bomi sat inside her classroom, legs up on the table and her hands held onto the smartphone. The girl was busy browsing through Chorong's instagram feed, it was mostly pictures of food or buildings in Greece. But what bothered her was a recent picture of Chorong together with an unidentified girl, whose arms were across the girl's waist. The younger girl did not feel comfortable and her heart was uneasy. With a sigh, someone suddenly entered the empty room noticing Bomi all alone.

"What are you doing here? Did your lessons end early today?" asked the girl with a smile, sitting beside her.

"Eunji-ya..." 

"What's wrong? Why do you sound so dissapointed?" asked Eunji, concerned. The girl simply replied by showing her the picture of Chorong with another girl.

"Ah, seriously. Is that why you're upset?" sighed Eunji, looking at Bomi dumbfoundedly.

"What? Can't you see this? Her hand. It's. On. Her. Waist."

"And?"

"She's definitely dating someone. She's cheating on me. I'm sure of it."

"Hey. Yoon Bomi." said Eunji sternly, holding onto her hand.

"What?"

"Why are you jumping into conclusions so fast? You don't even know the full story or relationship of that girl with Chorong. Who knows, it might be her host family or someone she really trusts. Don't meddle with something when you don't even know Bomi-ya." 

"Then, how would you feel if someone placed their hand on Naeun's waist?!"

"Hey, why are you putting her in this situation?"

"So that you can understand how I feel right now."

That day was yet another simple argument between the same-aged friends. It was normal for the two to fight, especially when it involved people they loved. However, everything settled down after Eunji won by speaking sense into the other girl. 

"Call her. Do it." said Eunji.

"......" Bomi was scared. She was afraid that her thoughts might actually come true. She had an image that Chorong would've forgotten about her while in Greece and found someone better.

"Aish seriously, do it!" sighed Eunji in frustration as she grabbed the phone, dialled Chorong's number and placed the phone back into Bomi's hand with her strong force.

"H-Hey what are you-" said Bomi flustered but before she could say her next words, Chorong picked up.

"Bomi? You called?" asked Chorong through the call. Usually, Bomi wouldn't call her unless it was an emergency. But these emergencies was normally when Bomi didn't know how to operate the microwave or was lost in calculating costs.

"Yeah....unnie...."

"Don't tell me you broke the microwave again..."

"No..."

"Did you fight with Eunji again?"

"No...."

"Then what is it Bomi-ya? I have to go soon, the kids are going to wake up soon."

"U-Unnie...who's that girl that you uploaded on your instagram?"

"Ah, you mean Eunseo unnie? She's my teacher, more like my guide. She really took care of me during this whole trip in Greece. Why?" 

"I see...then it's nothing then unnie...Have a nice day." said Bomi as she finally smiled, ending the call.

"See. Told you. Aigoo, you pabo." teased Eunji as she playfully pushed Bomi's forehead.

"You win this time...." mumbled Bomi as she touched her forehead while pouting.

[END OF FLASHBACK]

"Bomi-ya..." said Chorong gently, as she reached for her hands and looked straight into the eyes.

"Am I someone that low? Am I a girl who cheats?"

Surprised at her question, the younger girl shook her head.

"That girl is a co-worker of mine, her name is Irene. She's a nice, friendly girl but I guess at times, she's a little weird but I have absolutely no feelings for her. I only see her as a friend and that's all. Understand, Bomi-ya?" said Chorong in a calm tone. She had known Bomi to be very vulnerble to jealousy, especially when she hangs around with girls. This wasn't the first time Bomi had acted like that and the older girl knew how to handle and calm her down.

"But she seems to like you a lot....holding you freely and all that...." mumbled Bomi as she looked away.

"I mean, you hold hands with not just girls but guys too Bomi-ya"

"T-T-That's for filming purposes" stuttered Bomi.

"Still, they hold your hands so why can't I? I love you Bomi-ya but I don't want a relationship that restricts my freedom." 

There was silence afterwards. Bomi knew what she meant, it was a logical answer and even an idiot would understand. Even so, she didn't like people touching Chorong, the idea of skinship was uncomfortable.

"I got it unnie...I love you too so I guess.....I should also allow that too......" mumbled Bomi. Chorong only smiled and lightly patted her head.

"You worried me for nothing." chuckled Chorong.

"At least I got to meet with you in a while since you're so busy." pouted Bomi.

"Hey, you're busy too. Every time I flip through the channels, I see you. It's even harder to meet with you Bomi-ya."

"At least I sleep with you everyday, makes up the time we lost together right?" grinned Bomi.

"....w-whatever....." mumbled Chorong with a blush, embarrassed at the thought of them sleeping together even though they had done it many times. Bomi could only laugh, she knew how to make the older girl shy and loved seeing her like that because it was cute. With that, misunderstandings were cleared between the two girls and soon seperated their paths to focus on their own work. Even though the time they were together was short, it was worth the moment.

~X~

That afternoon, Eunji had a recording at a studio for a singing program called Immortal Songs where artists remake songs from the past. The girl had made news headlines after surprising the public with her appearance on Mask Hidden Singer, showing her powerful and unique vocals that no one knew. For her, she knew how to calm herself down as she was going to perform in front of seniors that she only saw from her textbooks in college. 

"Oppa, do we have any other schedules after this?" asked Eunji who was sitting at the table, getting her makeup done by the assistants.

"If you finish it in one take, you're clear for the whole evening."

"Alright, that's what you said oppa." said Eunji with a smile as she grabbed her phone.

"Are you free after 4? Let's meet up." texted Eunji to Naeun.

Within a second, the girl replied.

"Meet me in my art studio. I need to talk to you unnie." - Naeun

Eunji's eyebrows scrunched, she was confused and wondered what was wrong. Since yesterday after reading her text message, the older girl knew something was up. She tried to come up with all kinds of possible answers but couldn't conclude herself. As much as she had missed her, she didn't like this uncomfortable feeling that her loved one was suffering from something. A pain that she cannot identify.

"Ok! Meet you soon <3 " texted Eunji as right after it was sent, she had to go and prepare herself. With the thought of meeting Naeun soon, the girl was confident to finish her recording in just one take. Nothing is impossible and Jung Eunji made it happen with one song, one cry of a voice that shook the hearts of everyone. Even her manager was surprised that she finished it without any mistakes, the director gave it a thumbs up and allowed Eunji to head home early.

Satisfied, Eunji bowed in thanks to all the staff and seniors and headed into her car.

"You must really wanted a break off, it really was a one take..." said her manager, still quite surprised.

"That was nothing oppa, don't do that~" smiled Eunji as she broke into her casual Busan accent.

"Where to? Back home?"

"No, please send me to Horang Art Studios. I'm meeting someone." 

Eunji's manager didn't want to ask any questions and simply followed her orders. Soon enough, the car reached Horang Art Studios, one of the most pretigious studios that is famous for producing many artworks and designs of not just paintings but for albums, fashion, interior design and even designs for animations. It was in the evening so the office was quite empty, reaching in front of the receptionist, all Eunji had to do was asked for Son Naeun, one of the head directors of the studio. Soon, she was lead into the 8th floor of the building where Naeun's small office was, walls painted black and had a wide spacious room for her to freely paint and design anything.

"Naeun-ah, unnie's here~" smiled Eunji as she entered, her arms wide open ready to hug Naeun. However, the younger girl responded coldly and didn't hug back. The older girl's smile dissapeared as she held her arms and asked "What's wrong?"

"Sit down unnie." sighed Naeun as she pulled a chair over, the two sitting down as the atmosphere became tense.

"Are you stressed at work? Someone bothering you? You being like this...it's weird Naeun-ah...." 

"Unnie..." said Naeun as she handed her phone where an article of her interview was on the screen. The title read "Rising Artist Eunji, Fell In Love Before?"  

"Ah...this...." said Eunji as she quietly scrolled through.

"You didn't tell me any of this...the fact that you loved someone else before...." said Naeun, as a small fire boiled inside her heart. She didn't like secrets to be kept from her, especially from someone she loves.

"Naeun-ah...." said Eunji calmly as she looked into her eyes.

"All of this.....is a lie."

~X~

Meanwhile in the university nearby, Hayoung was having her classes as usual. Ever since she had enrolled in the course, she was the top in every class just like how she did it in high school. But being in top, obviously catches attention and jealousy from others. Her lecturer a.k.a Mr.Annoying as labelled by Hayoung knew about her case. Seungho has heard rumours of people talking about Hayoung and wanted to protect her but in the middle of these two years of teaching her, he fell in love. It wasn't something he could stop, being attracted into her weird 4-D charms made her unique, he wanted to know her better but he knew for sure, the girl would reject him.

"Alright, that ends today's lecture. Be sure to revise chapters 17 & 18, we will have a surprise test tommorow. And of course, I'm expecting a lot from you, Oh Hayoung." smiled Seungho as he made eye contact with Hayoung before leaving the classroom.

Hayoung ignored him, as always. She had followed Namjoo's advice closely, to be as cold as possible. 

"If only he wasn't my lecturer, my whole college life would've been so peaceful.." mumbled Hayoung to herself as she wrote her notes.

"Hey. Smart kid." said one of the girls from behind, as a group of girls started to gather around her.

"Oh god, not this again." sighed Hayoung as she mumbled to herself.

"Let's not do this again. We're college students, not high school students. Try to be a little mature can you?" said Hayoung as she stood up, looking at the girls that surrounded her.

"Just because teacher Seungho likes you, you're acting all high up and mighty. Don't think you're so smart, you're just getting good marks just because he's biased towards you. How stupid." said a girl.

"You shouldn't play with people's feelings like that if you want to be so "smart" in the class. You're just making yourself look bad." said another.

"Don't do it Hayoung...don't do it...." mumbled Hayoung to herself as she clenched her fist.

"Why don't you just go and join the acting department if you're so good at this play. Like that girl who's gonna be part of a musical, what was her name again? Namko? Namyu? Whatever, that doesn't matter because only dumb people like her would end up in-" before the girl could continue, a loud slap echoed the classroom.

~X~

In the opposite building is a rehearsal room where all the acting students of the department were practising for their musical. Students were remembering their lines, reading closely at their scripts while some were busy knowing their positions for certain scenes. Namjoo, who acquired the main role for the musical was under a lot of pressure in order to make it a success. She was hardworking, didn't even stop to rest when there was a break interval.

"Hey Namjoo-ya, you should at least drink some water alright?" said a girl who walked towards her in worry.

"Thanks Hyesung unnie, sometimes I tend to forget important things like that." said Namjoo, taking the water bottle from her hand and gulping down.

"Don't overwork yourself, you're going to make unnie worry. Getting a main role is good, but there's a lot of pressure in it." said Hyesung. She was Namjoo's senior and has taken care of her since the first semester. She recognized her talents in acting and reminded her of herself when she was younger.

"I know unnie, but it's my first time doing such a big role. Gotta make it perfect you know." said Namjoo with a smile.

It was at that moment, someone came running into the rehearsal room.

"Guys, I think you better go see what's happening in the Law Department." said the boy.

"What's going on?" asked Hyesung.

"Seems like there's a fight" 

The moment Namjoo heard that, her legs immediately moved by instinct. She wished it wasn't what she thought it was, but knowing what had happened last time, that was no mistake about it.

[END OF CHAPTER 32]

Looks like what happened in the past will repeat again?! Eunji's interview was a whole lie? Thank you for reading and subscribing! I will work hard to get the next chapter as soon as I can, while studying for my finals! :)