Six girls then became seven girls on the road to debuting as singers. 

With only a few months before their possible debut, the company continued working hard to find a main vocalist for their girl group. Eunji fit that description perfectly. Her vocal ability was amazing—it was no wonder she got accepted in so quickly. She blew away everyone at the recent auditions. They needed someone like her to easily fill that position of main vocal. 

Like Bomi, she was also an unexpected character but was clear about it from the beginning. She was from Busan and talked in her funny Busan accent, which amused the girls to no end. 

Although she would be part of the unnie line in the group, she seemed to be yet another kid Chorong would have to take care of. Their personalities were way opposite. She had a passionate personality with a sharp tongue, but that same extrovertedness and confidence made her very well-spoken, which Chorong was rather relieved by—despite the funny dialect. 

Her loud cheerfulness would also balance the group out a bit more in terms of loud and quiet members. 

Overall, Chorong was glad to see the members getting along well with the new addition to their team. She was also glad that Eunji was a social kind of person, making it easier for everyone to get close with her. They definitely needed to bond in order to strengthen their group. 

The training and dieting was exhausting, but soon it would all be worth it. 

——

They now had a name. The upcoming girl group was confirmed to be called "Apink". It was originally just a nickname, a working title, but apparently the name got leaked over the internet somehow, and the company decided it was best to keep it. 

Filming for their reality-documentary show "Apink News" started. It was a show that would introduce the members' personalities to the fans and the public, and would follow their activities leading up to debut. The company thought it would provide some good exposure and keep the girls active and playful.

Around the same time, Apink moved into a dormitory together. Chorong shared a room with Naeun, and Bomi had the four-person room with Eunji, Yookyung and Namjoo. Hayoung had the other room with their manager unnie. Their sleeping arrangement would come to change many times.

With a seven-to-eight-person dorm, everything was a lot more crowded and busy than it was in Gina's apartment. The kitchen felt smaller, the chores were greater and the noise-level was louder, but they were like a happy family and it would never get lonely. 

As Chorong and Bomi had lived together comfortably and knew each other's living habits, the two were the closest and most comfortable with each other from the beginning of Apink's dorm life. Even so, their Tom-and-Jerry dynamic often caused them to bicker over the cooking and the cleaning as the unnies of the household. Eunji was found to be more helpful than Bomi at times, though that girl did have a problem of sleeping through alarms like a rock. Despite their differences, the unnie line always did their best to care for the maknaes. 

And all the while they were busily preparing for their much-anticipated debut. With all the exhaustion and excitement, time flew. 

——

Chorong was watching Bomi taking her headshots after her own rather disappointing ones. Looking at her own photos had made her cringe. "I think I'm not photogenic," she sighed. 

The camera PD for Apink News continued focusing on her as she looked over at Bomi, who was just glowing while doing the photoshoot. 

"Bomi is doing great," Chorong commented. "She looks like a child actress, right? I look like an adult actress."

"What's the difference between a child actress and an adult actress?" asked the PD.

Chorong gazed at Bomi again in admiration. "I don't have the fresh and new image," she said simply. "Bomi has that something in her."

The brunette found herself smiling. "She's cute..."

Sometimes expressing her thoughts to the camera was easier than saying it in front of the person.

But at least in this case, Chorong knew the camera was on her and had some control of her expression. Bomi, on the other hand, wasn't quite so lucky.

During the music video filming for their debut title song "Mollayo", the seven girls' individual singing shots were to be taken one by one.

First up was Naeun who was praised afterwards for how well she did. Bomi was shocked. Apink's visual had set the bar high for the rest of the girls and Bomi wasn't sure how she was going to do it herself. 

Then it was Chorong's turn. 

Heol...

While worrying for her own part, Bomi wasn't aware the camera PD had captured her shocked blank face. That is, until the episode aired and took the internet by storm. 

"What was that! That expression!" Bomi said looking astonished at the television screen before laughing along with the girls in embarrassment. 

——

Although fans affectionately called them a Tom-and-Jerry couple for their mischievous antics, Chorong and Bomi were also terribly cute with one another as well. From their skinship in the background of Apink's formal introduction, to being paired up for ballet, the show was able to capture some rather heart-fluttering moments in its duration. 

"I'm saying this and this kid here is always fooling around," Bomi said as she turned around to meet the face of leader Park Chorong.

What was hilarious were the priceless expressions on their faces as Chorong gasped and Bomi jumped back in late realisation. It wasn't clear whether they were more shocked about the misunderstanding or how close their faces had gotten, since Bomi had turned her head right as Chorong moved near. 

The camera PD was just as surprised.

Bomi's classic laughter filled their ears as she enveloped the older girl in an apologetic hug. "I thought you were Eunji!"

Chorong grumbled with a contradicting smile on her face, "She said this kid... Our Apink has grown a lot."

More memorably, the two went on as each other's pillars of support for their Apink News Season 2 commitments.

After dying of laughter at Bomi's Horse-to-the-Back riding, it was time for Chorong's written drivers test. It wasn't as smooth as it could've been, since they weren't prepared with documents, but eventually Chorong was able to attend the safety lecture.

And Bomi was left an hour to wait with the Apink News PDs. So, when pork cutlet was suggested, of course Bomi was going to choose food over idle waiting.

"You ate something right?" Chorong glared, catching onto Bomi's acting.

"No.. no... I was waiting for you," Bomi struggled as Chorong grabbed her and pulled their faces impossibly closer. 

Sniff.

"Why are you chewing gum?" 

Chorong felt hunger and annoyance rumble within her when she learnt that Bomi had pork cutlet without her. 

"I'm not playing," she grumbled trying to walk ahead while Bomi held onto her hand, chuckling. "Unnie!" 

The PDs turned off their cameras as they made their way down the stairs.

"Wow, is that normal for you girls?" asked one of the PDs. "You surprised me there. It was like you were going to kiss." 

"Noo, we don't kiss," Chorong said, her eyebrows furrowed and cutely shaking her head. "Blegh," she added with a comical shiver, earning a playful punch from behind. 

Maybe she didn't think much of her actions as they were both girls and Bomi had a girlfriend. Her bold action was like something that would happen in a drama. What she did could have made anyone's heart flutter. Perhaps the two were so comfortable together that neither of them thought much of it. 

It was times like these that bewildered the people around them who didn't know them. Although skinship was natural to their culture, everyone still had their own boundaries. The two of them just didn't have some of those boundaries.

"Wah! Rong unnie you passed! Unnie!" Bomi yelled, proudly handing over a large plastic bag to a confused and slightly amused Chorong. The older girl had just stepped out of the building after completing the writing test. 

A bright smile lit up the leader's face as she peered into the bag, hopping on the spot to contain her happiness. 

"Bomi bought a congratulation lunch for me!" Chorong rejoiced while eating the pork cutlet on the sidewalk. "It's so good eating after the test."

Bomi watched on favourably as her unnie ate the food happily and all was forgiven...

Until Bomi did a round two!

The Apink members were posing embarrassingly as fans with their large hand-made posters professing their love and support for Rong leader on her skill test. In true Tom-and-Jerry fashion, Bomi began expressing her caring self only moments after she had bickered with Chorong. 

"Hey don't hold that, you look like a real fan," Eunji reminded Bomi as they neared the edge of the fenced-off track. 

"I am a real fan!" 

Eunji burst out laughing as Bomi went to the edge of the fence, shouting, "Unnie, don't go! Look over here! Chorong unnie!" 

Once she had her unnie's attention, Bomi flipped her placard over the fence, making the girl laugh. "I love you! I'm always by your side!" she called from across the track. "Don't get hurt~!"

"She's really special..." commented Chorong, who was walking and glancing back repeatedly during the exchange in amusement. 

"Does she always do things like that?" asked the camera PD, curious about their cute friendship.

Chorong nodded. "If she doesn't do that, I ask her if something is wrong with her, really."

And that was when Bomi betrayed her to have pork cutlet... again. 

"Don't even joke Yoon Bomi, you're the worst one out of all. You've done it twice," Chorong growled. 

"Unnie, really, it wasn't me!"

There they go again.

——

Even when it was just the two of them, they always played well together. It was never awkward or borin