“No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. No.” Eunji bolted up from her seat, clinging to the leather seats when the bus lurched forward. She was wearing an exaggerated look of disgust and was now flailing about in the little space shehad. Chorong began to stir from her nap, disgruntled and unconsciously pulling at her right earbud to see what the fuss was about. All she could really make out was the blurry lines of Eunji standing with her shoulders heaving with emotion. Her voice was booming along the bus and her fingers tapped urgently against the screen as she responded to whatever chaotic mess was occurring. Curious as to what had Eunji so fired up, Chorong peered over at the phone, blinking hard to clear her vision. She barely caught a glimpse of the glowing screen when Eunji came crashing back down onto her seat. She sighed heavily, then turned to look sadly at Chorong, still trying to catch her breath and her eyes dilating wildly. Chorong thought about waiting for Eunji to talk first, but then proceeded to cup her face between her hands. She had a feeling being gentle would get the story out of her quicker.

                          “What’s wrong?” She asked softly, watching as Eunji began to relax under her touch.

“My younger sister is at our dorm.”

                          Chorong paused, taken aback by the thought of Eunji being an older sister. She had always just assumed she was an only child. 

“Your sister? At our dorm?” Chorong echoed, letting her hands fall to her sides.

                          Eunji nodded, now back to scowling at her phone. “She runs away from home a lot but I didn’t think she would ever make it this far.”

“Is she a troublemaker?”

                          “The world’s best.”

                          “So she’s like you.” Chorong merely chuckled when Eunji began to object, listing all the times her sister was particularly painful or difficult. Even without having seen the girl, Chorong could tell they were quite similar even if they were only half-sisters. Eunji was quite restless the entire way back, but she remained in her seat and kept shut much to Chorong's surprise. An hour passed when they finally began to see the familiar signs and buildings that circled around their school campus. Chorong had successfully slept through the majority of the ride since she had lost a lot of sleep the night before but Eunji was as lively as ever. Chorong blamed it on the fact that she was excited for her supposedly unwanted surprise. 

                          “We’re getting off now!”

                          The second Eunji heard those words, she was rushing to be outside, tugging insistently on Chorong's arm and yelling at people between the aisles. Once she had carefully unloaded their suitcases, Eunji half sprinted in the direction of their dorm, letting their suitcases carelessly clash into each other. Exasperated and worried about all their delicate items, Chorong began to yell after her, eventually snagging a strap of her backpack to get her to stop her.

                          “Walk.”  Chorong mouthed sternly. Eunji's eyes seemed to settle for a second, darting back and forth to check if Chorong was still holding onto her.

                          “Cute dog you have there.” Bomi smirked when Chorong jerked Eunji back for the third time. Chorong brushed off the comment, trying to ignore how true it was that she felt like she was walking a dog on a leash. She watched  Bomi curb off into the distance with Hayoung, her hand still clutched along the rugged leather of Eunji's backpack. Just then, she felt Eunji violently pull forward, escaping her grasp and hammering down the grass field toward the courtyard.

                          “Kim Namjoo!” Eunji hollered, waving her hands in the air. Chorong watched helplessly from a distance, fighting back a small smile when she saw how silly Eunji was acting. Her sister was sitting calmly on a bench, a large pink suitcase parked next to her and her feet swinging out in front of her in impatience. She indeed looked like a wild girl, burgundy hair rolling down in wavy bundles and sparkling eyes that blinked innocently back at them. They started off with small talk, a mix of a berating nag and pure joy peppered in Eunji's tone when she spoke. Namjoo, who was used to this treatment, failed to say much back though she did have her own share of outbursts. Before the two sisters could notice, Chorong slipped past them quietly, rolling her suitcase through their dorm to ensure that everything was tidy before the guest entered. Of course, since Eunji was living there, there were problematic spaces but  Chorong was swift to cover up the piling rack of dirty clothes and crumbs scattered around the floor. The door clicked open seconds after she had just taken a random candle out of the sink, a strangely common occurrence due to Eunji's forgetfulness after she placed objects in the most peculiar places.

                          “Wow! This place is sick.” Namjoo exclaimed, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping with shock, “And pretty neat considering you basically used to live in a pig pen.” She began to stroll around their couch and examine Eunji's room, bursting out into laughter at strange times when she caught things of her interest. Eunji was now dealing with three suitcases, dumping each one onto the living room floor and earning a glare from Chorong who was still concerned for the contents of her luggage. Eunji just smiled nervously before eyeing her room and sitting on their couch when she saw Namjoo still examining the area. Eunji didn’t seem very wary of her little sister, despite having been so irritated at the news of her arrival in the beginning. Perhaps it was a sibling thing. Chorong began to settle in the silence, getting out a cup from their dish rack to grab a drink of water. The sudden noise seemed to have surprised Eunji, whose eyelids were drooping closed until it occurred to her that Namjoo had never met Chorong.

                          “Hey, come here and meet my roommate.” Eunji called out, motioning for Chorong to stand next to her. She looked slightly hesitant at first but decided that greetings were definitely necessary. She just couldn’t help but be shy as always at the thought of socializing.

                          “Oh yeah, I was wondering who she was.” Namjoo poked her head back to the kitchen, shuffling over to Eunji and Chorong with a look of playful curiosity. She waved at her rather gracefully, bowing for a respectful introduction.

                          “Hello! I’m Kim Namjoo.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Park Chorong.”

                          Chorong gulped at the break in their conversation. She could feel Namjoo's eyes glued onto her and for some reason, she had no idea where she was supposed to look anymore. 

                          “You’re really pretty.” Namjoo piped up, grinning from ear to ear as Chorong simply blushed. Eunji preened at the mention of Chorong's beauty, puffing out her chest as she drew Chorong closer to her.

                          “She’s my girlfriend.” Eunji said, a hint of arrogance in her tone as she watched Namjoo crumble in confusion. Chorong just blinked, clearly unaware of the situation but calculative enough to stay quiet.

                          “Girlfriend?! You?” Namjoo furrowed her brows, her fingers tracing her lips, “Why would someone like her want to date you?” The oddly awestruck and mocking statement struck Chorong as harmless enough but Eunji was already staring her down with a deadly glare until Namjoo finally muttered a loud apology.

                          “Fine, then while you flirt with the girl that’s way out of your league, I’ll just be taking a shower.” Namjoo stuck out her tongue with a definitive goal to taunt her sister then stalked off to the restroom before Eunji could retaliate. It seemed that silence had finally taken over the dorm again when the sound of water running began to come from the bathroom and even Eunji heaved a deep sigh. Her feet were already gingerly approaching Chorong, a soft smile on her face ready to fit her chin into Chorong's shoulder from behind. She felt Chorong begin to push away, but before Eunji could cling on again, Chorong abruptly spun her around to face her.

“What’s this about?” Eunji murmured, her grin only growing wider. Chorong shook her head stiffly, then let her hands guide Eunji to the couch.

                          “We need to talk.”

“About what?” Eunji was more than bewildered at the situation and she had still not given up on grasping the tips of Chorong's fingers as they talked. Chorong sighed again, then lifted her feet onto the couch so she could sit sideways. Eunji copied her movements, staring into Chorong's shifting eyes. Was there something wrong?

                          “I think we need to have the relationship talk.” Chorong said slowly, shyly staring at the way Eunji's thumbs were circling the palm of her hand.

“What do you mean?”

                          “Why’d you tell Namjoo I was your girlfriend?” Chorong paused to watch Eunji stare blankly at her as if nothing was wrong with how casual that word had felt to describe Chorong.

“What do you mean?” Eunji tried again, still hopelessly lost, “You are my girlfriend.”

                          “I am?” Chorong began to fiddle with the ends of her hair, trying to assess how Eunji was looking at the stream of events. Just when she felt Eunji's hand crawl up her legs, she finally began to understand.

                          “Eunji?”

“Hm?” Eunji muttered, now her hand against Chorong's knee aimlessly. Her gaze shifted upward, lingering around Chorong's eyes but not directly looking into them.

                          “Did you think that just because we had  that we’re in a relationship?”

“Is that not how it works?”

                          “Oh my god, Eunji,” Chorong began to laugh, unable to stop when she saw Eunji's puzzled face. “You haven’t even told me you like me.”

“But I did. After .” Eunji still looked dead serious though Chorong was struggling to keep her face straight.

                          “Well, you could’ve just asked me out.”

                          Eunji nodded slowly, processing the new information and her apparently lacking knowledge of the world of dating. “Okay.” she started, her words dragging out of as she continued to check Chorong's expression. “I really like you and…” She paused, the strange air lingering between them unbearable to the usual social butterfly. Chorong couldn’t help but giggle at how cute she was when she was like this.

                          “Okay so… Will you be–”

“Yes.” Chorong interrupted, then pressed a kiss on her cheek, smiling warmly when Eunji beamed brightly. She loved how easy it was to please her even if that meant that she was often childish.

                          “So this means I can kiss you whenever I want even when we’re in our dorm?” Eunji asked suddenly, hopping slightly in her spot in excitement. Okay, maybe a little too childish, Chorong thought, groaning as she nodded hesitantly to Eunji's contract.

“Whenever you want.”

                          “Okay.”

And before Chorong could even get away from the conversation, Eunji's lips were on hers, claiming what was hers properly for the first time. It felt perfect.

A.N. : This chapter was a bit rushed but EunRong is officially together! :D