Thursday Night, Winter Break

Bomi's house.

The living room was filled with peals of squealing laughter and angry curses as Chorong watched Bomi and her brother Jongjin playing Mario Kart together in front of the TV. At home, Bomi was very much still a child, and with video games in the mix the noise levels were enough to make the neighbors think they were having a party of some sort when in reality it was just a fierce competition between the two siblings.

"Yaaa!!! How dare you!" Bomi yelled as her kart hit a banana.

"Ha! Take that noona!" Jongjin grinned, speeding ahead and leaving Bomi spinning out behind him.

Bomi shoved her brother sideways blocking his view of the screen with her body in a desperate attempt to mess up the game.

"Get out of my way Bowser." She cackled. "Peach isn't taking any more losses today."

Chorong, who had long since given up interest in the game, looked up from her phone with a sigh.

"Bbom-ah how much longer are you gonna be playing?"

"Until…I get…first…place." Bomi said through gritted teeth, still trying her best to sabotage Jongjin's Bowser.

"We'll be here all night then." Jongjin jeered.

"Oh no you won't you little cheat." Bomi glowered.

Shaking her head, Chorong sat up.

"I'm gonna lie down." She announced.

"Kay. I'll be there just as soon as I beat this brat." Muttered Bomi, not looking away from the TV.

Chorong headed to Bomi's room where her guest futon mattress had been set up on the floor and lay down to browse her phone again. Changsub should've texted by now. Unless he too was busy playing video games at home. Surely he would send her something before going to sleep though. He always did.

She scrolled down her Instagram feed.

Famous actresses she admired, cute puppy pictures, Rain fan accounts, road shop cosmetics, nail art, and Naeun's latest modeling photos featuring outfits of her own design. 

Chorong tapped on Namjoo's story. Another random Tinder date. Her fifth one since the beginning of winter break.

"Oh dear…" Chorong murmured softly.

Perhaps it would've been better if Namjoo hadn't discovered the app to begin with.

The next story was Eunji's, a sweet selfie with her kid brother Minki with a caption that read, "Leaving my Minki behind in Busan again T__T See you soon Suwon."

And then came Minhyuk's story. A mirror selfie with the caption, "Night out with the new roomies" followed by a video of a girl busking with her guitar and another video of the same girl singing a duet with…

"Changsub?" 

Chorong stared at her screen. What was he doing with that girl? She quickly searched the girl's username which was tagged in the video and checked her profile.

Bang Minah. Singer-songwriter. Ecology Major c/o 2021. "Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world." -John Muir.

Chorong went back to Minhyuk's story and watched the video again. She knew Minhyuk was close with Minah but why would Changsub be singing with her and why did he look so...happy? Her heart pinched slightly. She trusted Changsub enough to believe that he would have a valid explanation, but Minhyuk had a huge following on Instagram which meant that half the university had probably seen his story already. Including...

Suddenly, the Instagram page disappeared and was replaced with an incoming call. It was the last person she wanted to be talking to at a time like this. Still, she answered it and braced for impact.

"PARK CHORONG YOU BETTER CHECK LEE MINHYUK'S INSTAGRAM STORY RIGHT NOW!"

Chorong winced.

"Namjoo-ya don't…"

"UNNIE YOUR BOYFRIEND-"

"Namjoo…"

"…IS CHEATING ON YOU WITH THAT TREE HUGGING BOHO-"

"NAMJOO STOP IT!" Chorong finally raised her voice.

Namjoo stopped midsentence as Chorong huffed in frustration.

"Namjoo-ya." Chorong tried again, calmer this time. "You can't just assume things so quickly like that."

"But you’re his-"

"Yes. I know. And I know him better than you do thank you very much. Now will you please just hold off on the conspiracies and let me sort this out."

Chorong heard Namjoo sighing on the other end of the line the way she usually did when she was rolling her eyes.

"Unnie I have the receipts ready to drop on both of them if they even so much as-"

"No." Interrupted Chorong. "You're not going to do or say anything you hear me?"

Without waiting to hear Namjoo's reply, Chorong hung up and buried her face in Bomi's spare pillow. Why did Namjoo have to go and make her feel worse than she already felt with the wild assumptions?

Eventually when the pillow became too stuffy to breath through Chorong lifted her head slightly.

"I should call him." She thought, picking up her phone again.

Changsub however, didn't pick up the first call. Or the second one. Or the third. Finally on the fourth try he answered.

"Hey. Sorry um Eunkwangie hyung dragged me into a League match. Did you need something?"

The faint sounds of the game sound effects and incessant clicking could be heard on the other side. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but Chorong couldn't help feeling irritated.

"Can you not do that right now." She sighed.

"Chorongie it's League I can't just pause."

"Is it a ranked game?"

"No, but-"

"Then turn it off. We need to talk."

About 20 minutes later, Chorong was standing outside of the convenience store near Bomi's house waiting for Changsub to show up on the bus. She had told Bomi she needed to go buy a toothbrush. A lame excuse, but with the additional promise to buy Bomi snacks, Chorong managed to escape suspicion for leaving the house so late.

Chorong kept her eyes on the road, feeling strangely calm as she watched the bus rounding the corner of the block until finally it came to a stop in front of the convenience store. 

Changsub stepped out from the bus. He came towards Chorong, who remained where she stood until they were standing only about a foot apart.

"Chorongie… you wanted to talk? Is everything alright?" He said, seeing her serious expression.

Chorong studied his face. Clearly he wasn't aware of what the problem was.

"Of all times to be dense."

She decided to open the questioning with a softball.

"How was your outing with the guys?"

Changsub blinked.

"Oh. Good…great actually. We went to go watch a busking performance at the plaza. You know that girl who was helping Minhyuk hyung learn guitar? Bang Minah?"

"The girl on Minhyuk oppa's Instagram story."

Changsub paused, frowning.

"What's an Instagram story?" He asked.

Chorong almost laughed.

"Changsub-ah are you being serious right now?"

She had half a mind to lash out at him for trying to distract her with a poor joke but the look on his face told her he wasn't joking.

"You know when somebody has a pink circle around their profile picture and you tap it to see their story?"

Changsub still seemed confused.

"Chorongie I haven't opened Instagram in like two months. You know I barely use it."

"You…oh never mind." Chorong sighed. "The point is, Minhyuk oppa posted a video of you singing with that Minah girl and it's not that I'm angry or I don't trust you, I just want to hear the story from you so there aren't any misunderstandings."

"Misunderstandings? What are you talking about?" 

"The way you smiled when she looked at you..." 

A look of understanding crossed Changsub's face as Chorong trailed off and he quickly pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make it look that way." He said hurriedly. "Rong you know I would never do that to you in a million years. You'll always be the only girl for me."

"What made you look so happy then?"

Changsub hesitated before answering.

"I was inspired." He said, choosing his words carefully. 

"Tell me honestly Changsub-ah." Chorong said, pulling back from the hug to gauge Changsub's expression.

"Well she asked me to try performing something with her on the spot and I didn't think I could do it but when I was singing for all those people I just got this feeling...this energy. It was like nothing I'd ever felt before. 

Changsub's eyes seemed to shine with inspiration as he continued.

"She made it so easy that I even started thinking maybe I might want to try it again, the busking I mean." He added quickly, seeing Chorong's raised eyebrow. "Not necessarily with her. I'd be doing it with Hyunsik and maybe Eunkwangie hyung too if he wants to try. And then if people like our music we could even become an indie group! Just like you said."

He traced a finger down Chorong's cheek with a warm smile.

"I always loved your idea. I just needed a push in the right direction and Minah…she opened that door for me today."

"So a girl you just met today inspires you more than I do is that it?"

Chorong was surprised by the volatile words which had almost just come out of . She hadn't expected to feel hurt even though Changsub was being open with her and hadn't actually done anything wrong.

"I'm being stupid." She thought guiltily.

It would be unfair to make such an accusation which would surely lead to a fight she didn't want and that he didn't deserve.

Noticing Chorong's lack of response, Changsub's smile faded into a worried look.

"Chorongie I don't want you to be upset over this…" He said apologetically. "I was planning to talk to Minah again to ask her for help getting started with my own busking gig but if you don't want me to see her I won't."

Chorong shook her head, lowering her eyes. 

"It's alright. I'm happy you found something you want to do with your music."

"But you don't look happy." 

"I am happy..."

It wasn't a complete lie. Chorong truly did want to support Changsub in his new endeavor. After all, he'd always been supportive of her when it came to pursuing her acting career. Even when he had to sit through her stage kiss with Sungjae. 

The reminder made Chorong suddenly feel ashamed for the way she had almost snapped at Changsub earlier. Teaching Sungjae how to do a stage kiss was no different from Changsub learning about busking from Minah. It was a professional relationship, mentor to mentee, and if Changsub could accept that for Sungjae why couldn't she do the same?

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A/N So like the cliche "what were you doing with that girl scenario" but i couldn't do the cliche breakup fight. I'm too chicken to do that to these two just for the drama. I have to be careful here though the story is getting so long it gets hard to keep the mental/emotional stuff consistent lol...writer struggles. LMK if anything starts getting out of character please huhu...

also I'm so proud of this chapter cover even though it only took me like 5 minutes