Chorong’s morning goes the way it has for going on two years.

Her alarm goes off in the early morning, making Bomi curl further under the covers while Chorong gets up. After a quick workout, Chorong makes breakfast and leaves a serving for Bomi in the microwave for when she gets up. Then it’s off to her first class of the day. It’s when she’s on her way to class that she’s checking her email. 

What Chorong finds makes her stop cold.

One of the first emails in her inbox is from her favorite professor from last year, Professor Young, about her Teaching Assistant position being filled. By someone who isn’t Chorong. 

She isn’t usually the type to have a big head, but she knows she’s the best person for the job. She aced that class, and she held in depth conversations with Professor Young after class all the time. There’s no way anyone else could do that. There just isn’t. 

Chorong’s classes pass in a blur before she walks determinedly across campus to talk to Professor Young. Maybe she can convince her it was a mistake. It’s Chorong who should have got the TA position. She’s always been a bit stubborn, or very stubborn if you ask Bomi, when she’s gotten something into her head. 

Chorong approaches Professor Young’s office when another woman steps out from it. She looks about Chorong’s age with smooth brown hair and a charming smile. She’s dressed in a crisp navy suit and a white button-down. One too many buttons are undone to be professional, but it admittedly looks good on the woman. Chorong watches this woman bow to Professor Young, and it suddenly occurs to her this might be the woman who got the TA position.

“Professor Young!” Chorong blurts out as she hurries over to the pair. The two women look at her in surprise, and Chorong does her best not to blush. “Professor Young, I received your email, and I’d like to speak to you about it.”

Professor Young looks at her knowingly before waving a hand at the young woman beside her, saying, “Chorong, this is Jeong Eunji. She’s the one who got the Teaching Assistant position you’re probably here to talk about.”

Chorong flushes at the blunt statement while Eunji shuffles awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. 

After an uncomfortable pause, Eunji smiles and holds out her hand, “Nice to meet you, Chorong.”

Chorong ignores the hand. Instead, she turns to Professor Young and demands, “Why her?”

“Chorong,” Professor Young sighs.

“Please, I just want to know,” Chorong says, making sure her tone remains calm in front of Eunji. Steeling her nerves, Chorong looks to Eunji and asks, “What year are you?”

Eunji frowns but answers, “Second year.”

Chorong works to keep her surprise off her face. She lost the TA position to someone two years under her… She’s Bomi’s age, and she managed to get the position. 

“Chorong, you are a brilliant, young woman,” Professor Young, making Chorong look back to her. “That doesn’t have anything to do with this. I just needed someone with a different way of thinking. You have a deep understanding of philosophy, but Eunji is able to really grapple with it. She understands it but she also questions it.” Professor Young smiles gently and adds, “Besides, I assumed that a fourth year like you would have more than enough on your plate already.”

“I would’ve been able to handle it,” Chorong replies automatically.

Professor Young chuckles, “I’m sure you would have, but it doesn’t hurt to take things easy sometimes. Nonetheless, I would love for you to stop by class whenever you have time. Why don’t you exchange numbers with Eunji and work something out?” With that, Professor Young pats both Chorong and Eunji on the shoulder and walks away.

“Um, so do you just want to enter your number into my phone?” Eunji asks.

“No, thank you,” Chorong replies stiffly, all of her civility disappearing once Professor Young is out of earshot. “To be honest, you’re a complete stranger, not to mention the person who got chosen for the TA position over me. I’d rather you not have my number. Who knows what you’ll do with it.”

Eunji rolls her eyes and says, “I’m just trying to be polite, but fine. Be a prissy brat.”

Chorong’s jaw drops in outrage, but before she can say anything, Eunji is already walking away.

Chorong thinks about yelling after her, but she remembers she’s in the middle of the Liberal Arts building. Not wanting to cause a scene, she just clenches her jaw and storms away. As she heads back to her apartment, Chorong mulls over why she’s so upset. She’s always been the type to get what she wants, as in there’s never been something that Chorong has worked for that she hasn’t gotten.

As a pre-law student, it’s not really necessary for Chorong to take philosophy classes, but she genuinely enjoys them. She likes picking at the theories and applying them in how to understand law. Chorong guesses she wants the TA position because it’s something outside of law. She doesn’t mind law, but it’s more her parents pushing her than anything else. Being a TA for a philosophy class would have been one last thing for Chorong to do for herself before she has to go off to law school. 

Chorong huffs as she walks up to her apartment building. She can grapple with philosophy just fine. Probably even better than Eunji. Maybe she’ll show up to a class just to show Eunji exactly who should have been TA.

Almost as soon as she lets herself into the apartment, Chorong is attacked by Bomi, who pounces on her like she was just waiting by the door for her. Chorong yelps, stumbling into the nearest wall, before she glares at her girlfriend. After the day she’s had, she really doesn’t want to tolerate any ridiculousness. 

“Sorry!” Bomi says, only sounding half-apologetic. She reaches out to help Chorong get back into her feet, smiling sheepishly. “I was just so excited!”

“Excited about what?” Chorong asks as she brushes past her to put her things up in their bedroom. “Did you get your test grade back?” 

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m excited about,” Bomi says, following her. She plops down on their bed and smiles up at Chorong. It puts Chorong on edge because she recognizes that smile. It’s the smile Bomi always gets when she wants something. “There’s this girl I’ve been talking to in one of my psychology classes, and she’s really cool. We were talking about that party Hyeri’s throwing, and I told her that she should meet me there.”

“So you’re excited about making a friend?” Chorong asks, not quite following.

Bomi’s smile widens ever so slightly as she says, “No, I’m excited because I want to introduce her to you. For us.”

Chorong blinks, caught off guard for a moment. 

Chorong has been dating Bomi since her third year of high school. They knew each other long before that, and they began dating naturally. It made sense. They know each other better than anyone else, all of the little quirks and likes and dislikes. Chorong couldn’t imagine dating anyone else. 

That is until Bomi started university. After a few months of being weird, Bomi admitted she was interested in another girl. Chorong remembers how hurt she had been, ready to kick Bomi out of their apartment right then and there. Bomi had been quick to explain though, trying to make Chorong understand that she wanted to date the girl and Chorong. She liked the idea of the three of them together.

It had been hard for Chorong to wrap her head around it at the time. She knew polyamory existed, but she’d never really thought it was for her. She couldn’t imagine sharing Bomi with anyone. It was a scary thought. Bomi had given her this pleading look though, and Chorong had agreed to try.

The first time they tried to introduce someone else in the relationship was a complete disaster. The girl just hadn’t clicked with Chorong the way she had with Bomi, and it was clear. At some point, the girl had asked Bomi if she didn’t just want to dump Chorong for her. Bomi was quick to dump the girl instead and spend the next few months apologizing to Chorong.

It was almost six months after that when Chorong agreed to let Bomi introduce her to another person. This relationship turned out much better. The girl had been equally interested in Chorong and Bomi, and she got along well with them. It had been strange for Chorong to get used to another person in their lives, but it wasn’t as bad as she thought. In some ways, it had been nice to have another person. It was exhausting though, trying to balance her life with Bomi’s and someone else’s.

Eventually, the relationship with that girl had ended after about five months when she said she needed to focus on her studies. Chorong and Bomi had been understanding, knowing themselves just how difficult a relationship could be between just two people and school, and had wished her well.

Since then, Chorong has warmed up to the idea of having another person in her relationship with Bomi, although there’s only been one other short-term relationships with other people since the second girl. It’s almost been a year since the last one, so for Bomi to suddenly want to introduce Chorong to someone is jarring. 

“Really?” is all Chorong can think to say.

“Yeah, I think you’ll really like her,” Bomi nods. She reaches out and grabs Chorong’s hands to pull her closer. “She’s totally your type,” Bomi teases.

“And what is my type?” Chorong asks playfully. She leans in and kisses Bomi, pulling away when she can’t stop smiling. “Hmm, is she sweet like you? A bit of a dummy?”

“Your other type,” Bomi amends with a sly grin. “Someone who’ll challenge you, someone who’ll argue with you, but also someone who’ll hug you after all of it. Plus, she’s hot and definitely both of our types in that way.”
 

Chorong can’t help but blush when Bomi spells out what she’s attracted to so bluntly. After their first two relationships with other people, Bomi had taken Chorong out and asked her to pick out who she found attractive. They went to plenty of parties where they would talk to a bunch of people, just so Bomi could pick Chorong’s brain about what she thought of them after. Chorong had been embarrassed when Bomi began to be able to pick her type out of a crowd, almost down to a science. Chorong either found herself looking for someone like Bomi, sweet and endearing and silly, or someone a bit rougher around the edges that would push her where Bomi would support her. In their other relationships, it always worked better if the other person was more of the latter. A balance. Chorong doesn’t really need two Bomi’s in her life.

“So, you’ll come with me to meet her?” Bomi asks, eyes wide and begging. “Please, I think you’ll really like her.”

Chorong hesitate