-- 1 month later --

          “So… I kissed your sister,” Bomi finishes and immediately directs her eyes down to her lap.

“YOU WHAT?” Eunji all but spits out the smoothie she was sipping on.

          “Sorry. I’m so sorry. I know it’s against the bro code and all but I was just drunk and she was just so hot so I couldn’t keep my hands to my––” Bomi is halfway through her intricately planned out apology that she thought over for a month when Eunji shoves a chocolate chip cookie into .

          “Why didn’t you tell me?” Eunji is suddenly smiling all bright and happy and Bomi begins to wonder why she ever feared telling her before.

“S-so you aren’t… mad?”

          “Why would I be mad?” Eunji jumps excitedly in her seat, “So were you guys just dating this whole time and I didn’t know?”

“W-What?” Bomi shakes her head urgently, “Of course not. I would never do that to you!”

          Eunji’s face seems to fall and she groans in a sort of devastated manner. She supposed that the whole kissing fiasco that she just heard about was the reason behind Bomi and Chorong constantly being on edge with each other though. “Well, do you like her?”

          Bomi avoids eye contact and rubs the back of her neck, “No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“What do you mean I don’t know? Didn’t you just call her hot like two seconds ago?”

          “Yeah, but the kind of hot that’s out of my league!”

“Pfft,” Eunji rolls her eyes and sticks her finger in front of Bomi’s face, “More like she’s out of your league.”

          Bomi’s eyes sparkle a little at that but it only takes Eunji one more look at Bomi’s face scattered with cookie crumbles to decide she misspoke. “Never mind. I take it back. Chorong unnie is way out of your league,” Eunji hands Bomi a napkin and scoots closer to her, still gnawing at inquisitively on her straw, “But none of that stuff matters. Not when you’ve got a secret weapon up your sleeve.”

          “A secret weapon?” Bomi echoes, lips parted and ears open to hear her best friend's newest plan.

“Me,” Eunji crosses her legs smugly and points at herself, “I know everything about my unnie which also means you know everything too.”

          “But… I think I already scared her off,” Bomi says slowly, “She wasn’t drunk that night so remembers the kiss but we haven’t even talked about it.”

“Let me guess. She’s just all jumpy and awkward and shy around you instead?” Eunji raises a brow at Bomi’s puzzled expression.

          “How did you know that?”

          "Because that’s how you act around her too,” Eunji spits in annoyance, “I’ve been watching you two interact everytime I go visit and all you guys ever do is blush and make heart eyes at each other before going back into your apartments again.”

          “S-so you really think she might think I’m hot too?” Bomi blinks innocently, only to have Eunji give her a quick squeeze.

          “Oh, silly. I don’t know about hot but I’ll be damned if she doesn’t find you cute,” Eunji concludes. This makes Bomi smile at her watery-eyed and Eunji has to push her away to stop her sappy friend from bawling. “Don’t cry. You’re ugly cute when you cry,” Eunji wails, threatening to film the already sobbing Bomi. It only works when Eunji mentions sending the video to Chorong. That shuts her up.

          “Wait,” Eunji gives Bomi a suspicious eye, “Don’t tell me that the night at the club was the only night you two have hung out.”

          Bomi sniffles loudly. “We’ve gotten ice cream together before. Does that count?”

“Did you sit and eat with her?”

          Bomi doesn’t say anything.

          “You didn’t sit and eat with her?” Eunji exclaims, trying to piece together what that even means, “How did you get ice cream with her and not eat it together?”

          “Well…” Bomi nibbles at the edge of the cookie she’s holding, “We bumped into each other at the mart and happened to be buying the same ice cream. And then she had to go to work so…”

          Eunji sighs and flips out her phone. Bomi peers at her keenly but only starts to panic when she realizes who Eunji is calling. After failing to steal the phone, Bomi quickly admits her defeat and leans in against the phone to at least listen in on the conversation.

“Hey, unnie.”

          “What do you want?” She sounds irritated.

“What? I can’t just call to check up on you?”

          There are some muffled noises in the background before Chorong repeats monotonously, “So what do you want?”

          “Can you come to the cafe and play some arcade games with Bomi and me?” This offer results in Bomi freaking out a little too much, but it only takes Eunji’s stern hand clenching down on her shoulder to get her to settle again. She’s all red in the face and nervous yet Bomi remains silent; she would trust Eunji with her life.

          “I’m going on a business trip tomorrow. I don’t have time to play,” Chorong retorts quietly.

“But aren’t you done packing already anyways?” Eunji whines into the phone only to hear Chorong scoff.

          “I still need to water my plants.”

          “Oh yes, of course basil’s mother needs to take care of the rest of her precious baby plants,” Eunji rolls her eyes in sarcasm and almost wants to gag when she realizes how much adoration is in Bomi’s eyes upon learning about Chorong’s gardening hobby.

          “So is that it? Can I hang up now?” Chorong asks grumpily and before Eunji can even grunt an answer, the line beeps and cuts off.

          Eunji just chuckles a little anxiously, “She doesn’t like talking too long on the phone.”

          “Now what?” Bomi whines in disappointment, “It looks like she doesn’t really want to hang out with me.”

“Don’t start panicking again,” Eunji drawls while picking up a cookie, “She just hates going out.”

          “What?”

“My sister is a homebody,” Eunji nods as if to agree with herself, “She doesn’t leave her apartment for anybody except our parents and occasionally me.”

          Bomi glances at her cynically.

          “Okay, maybe not for me but the point is, unless she’s out for food, work, or whatever pilates class she’s taking, you won’t spot unnie wandering around outside.”

          “So should we just go back to my place and drag her out?” Bomi points backward in the direction of her apartment building.

Eunji clicks her tongue charmingly, “Bingo!”

          With that, Eunji and Bomi link arms and skip to the apartment building, loudly singing songs at the top of their lungs and occasionally bickering whenever Bomi forgets the lyrics or gets too excited on her own. They make their way up the stairs while discussing strategies of how to get Chorong to leave her apartment only to find the said woman already at her front door. She’s still wearing what looks to be her pajamas and a pair of round glasses; her hair is in a messy half-ponytail that she probably tied back only to get it out of her face. It’s a comfortable look but something about it takes Bomi’s breath away. She didn’t think that the perfect girl-next-door image could be altered into something like this; it made Bomi break into a goofy smile. She’s snapped back into reality when Eunji pushes ahead of her and yanks Chorong’s ponytail with an obnoxious “Hey!”

          “What the–” Chorong whips around to gain revenge on Eunji only to find herself staring straight into Bomi’s sparkling eyes. Chorong feels herself blush and suddenly she wishes she wasn’t still in her pajamas. Her hand reaches to tap her glasses, wondering if it would look strange to take them off. She didn’t like the thought of Bomi seeing her like this.

          “Hi!” Bomi waves brightly and hops around on her foot a little. Eunji throws her a weird look.

          Is this how Bomi flirts?

          “Hello,” Chorong says shyly and begins to pull at her hair despite it being in a ponytail. She looks back down to her feet shyly and gathers her hands together in front of her. Eunji can’t believe what she’s seeing. If it wasn’t her sister and her best friend, she might as well have thrown up right in front of them.

          Eunji chuckles awkwardly to interrupt the whole mess of gay panic between the two and stares directly at Chorong, “I thought you were too busy watering your babies.”

          “I was. I just came out to recycle,” Chorong lifts up her bag that she usually fills up with her typical daily trash to emphasize her point. Eunji doesn’t seem to believe it.

“But you usually take forever watering your plants,” Eunji taps her chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness, “Last time I checked, you even talk to them.”

          “I just finished early, okay?” Chorong snaps with a vexed glare. Bomi stirs from behind, her hands stiffly moving about to signal her distress. It’s about time that she butts in before the two sisters go after each other’s heads. Again.

          “Sorry I keep bringing this fool home.” Bomi manages to blurts before roughly snagging Eunji’s collar and pulling her back to the stair rails. Eunji looks like a kicked puppy but she obediently keeps her distance while grumbling under her breath. Eunji can be childish but she’s got enough sense to know when she should let the two talk on their own.

          “No, I should be thankful that someone is even willing to be friends with her,” Chorong laughs timidly, “I know how high maintenance she can be.”

          “You did not just call me high maintenance to Yoon Bomi,” Eunji protests immediately, recalling all the memories of stupid tricks Bomi pulled that required Eunji to rush to her rescue. Bomi is sweet, no one would disagree with that, but she’s always been a little slow. Yet, it was also part of her charm and Eunji out of all people would not trade it for anything even if it meant “high maintenance.”

          For example, at the moment Eunji would rather burn her eyes out then watch the overly polite and strange flirting occurring right before her eyes but she clenches her fist and third wheels for as long as she can resist. When the expected awkward silence commences, Eunji takes it as her cue to heave a deep sigh and tiredly ask, “You should just come inside and watch Train to Busan with us, unnie.”

          Chorong looks up in half-confusion and half-interest while Bomi scratches her head as she genuinely thinks about it. “You sisters can watch it together. I already watched that movie before,” Bomi remarks, blinking innocently at her best friend.

          Eunji deadpans. ‘Hopeless. She’s hopeless!’ Eunji thinks and considers just throwing herself out the window. And before Eunji can make more of the situation she attempted to set up, Chorong places her hand on her door knob with a somewhat disappointed look on her face.

          “Well then, um… I should finish cleaning up.” Chorong hesitates as if she wants Bomi to say something but then slightly shakes her head and disappears into her apartment. Eunji gapes at the way Bomi just watches her leave, happily waving goodbye as if she isn’t the most oblivious but lovestruck idiot in the entire world.

          “Dude!” Eunji wails while beating against Bomi’s shoulder.

“What?”

          Eunji needs to stop herself from ripping Bomi’s head off on the spot. “You just missed a chance to watch a movie with her!”

          Bomi stares at Eunji long and hard before tilting her head and scrunching up her eyebrows. Eunji knows that look. She’s seen it one too many times. It’s the expression she makes when she’s solving a math problem or reading a particularly difficult book.

          Eunji sighs again, “Let me ask you this real slow. Why did you say you already watched the movie?”

“Because I really did already watch it.” Bomi admits.

          And that’s how Eunji explodes.

-- 1 week later --

          "So when does Chorong unnie get back again?” Naeun, Chorong’s old neighbor, asks as she sips at her steaming cup of chestnut-colored coffee. She looks around warily, though she’s not really interested in the peppy landlady and tall bartender in front of her. She’s more self conscious of the fact that her girlfriend, Eunji, is leaning against her. There’s another gentle nudge on her shoulder and Eunji stirs restlessly, seemingly tired out from complaining the entire time the four friends had been in the cafe.

          Namjoo peers up from the sandwich she was stealing from Hayoung and shakes her head with a soft laugh. “Chorong unnie shouldn’t be back in three days.” She takes a large bite and speaks between chewing, “Bomi’s been looking a bit depressed because of it, actually.”

          “I can confirm that. She’s been to the club a little more than usual this week,” Hayoung nods as she recalls dragging a drunk Bomi back home. Eunji lets out a long groan, fiddling with the ends of Naeun’s hair as she lets herself think.

          “Are you sure they really like each other?” Naeun speculates while pushing Eunji away for the millionth time, “When you told me to convince Bomi to move into my old apartment, I didn’t really get why you would think they would match.”

          Eunji pouts, “I refuse to believe I’m wrong about this.”

          “I hate to agree, but those two have explosive chemistry,” Namjoo imitates the sound of fireworks and motions excessively with her hands, earning a few chuckles from Hayoung. The three who had seen Chorong and Bomi interact even in the slightest way seemed to reach this mutual conclusion that they were perfect for each other, much to Naeun's surprise. To be truthful, Naeun was only dragged into this mess after about two weeks of Eunji begging for her help while Hayoung and Namjoo willingingly decided to assist for their separate reasons: Hayoung because she was sick of Bomi complaining about her single life to her and Namjoo simply because she likes to make tenant romance “come to life.” The whole idea of the Chorong and Bomi’s set-up was bizarre but who was Naeun to interfere when she herself was victim to one of Eunji’s intricate schemes which resulted in her dating her for this long?

          Hayoung groans, “Who knew getting these two lovebirds together would be this difficult?” She regrets complaining about it right after it leaves . But it’s too late. Namjoo has already gone on a full rant on how useless Hayoung had been while she was working her off to make coincidences to meet outside the apartment or basically not gag at their overly sugary, submissive, frustrating, cringey, bashful flirting so as to not discourage them further from pursuing the other. She doesn’t stop talking until another order of fries appears at the table.

          “I just don’t get it,” she says with a mouth full of food, “Why can’t we just get our two single cute slash hot friends who like each other to just already?” Naeun finds it unsettling that nobody questions Namjoo’s inappropriate comment.

          “Or date,” Hayoung merely grumbles.

“Or at the very least just hang out on their own will!” Eunji exclaims.

          Naeun places a hand on Eunji’s shoulder and that’s all it takes for her to quiet down. Oftentimes, Eunji was uncontrollable but when it came to Naeun, all it took was a single hard gaze or subtle touch. If Naeun told her to stop breathing, Eunji would probably obey it in a blink of an eye. Naeun lifts her eyes from her coffee and lets a low hum escape from her lips. “Let’s trace this back. What exactly is the biggest reason they won’t get together on their own?”

          Eunji, Hayoung, and Namjoo exchange glances and wonder if they’re thinking the same things. And of course… they aren’t.

“It’s because they’re shy!” Namjoo cries out dramatically.

          Hayoung shakes her head in disapproval, “It’s because they’re inexperienced.”

          “As the best friend of Bomi and Chorong unnie’s only little sister, I can say the truth,” Eunji says solemnly, “It’s because they’re a pair of weirdos.” Naeun stares at Eunji as if she’s grown another head, trying to figure out if Eunji was attempting to be funny or if she genuinely thought they were “a pair of weirdos.” Naeun decides that she doesn’t really want to know.

          “Okay, I suppose some of those observations are valid,” Naeun murmurs, “Since Chorong unnie and Bomi have never dated anyone it might be difficult for them to approach each other especially because they don’t really have any time to talk to each other besides upon coincidence...” Her voice trails off into almost a whisper while the other three friends fall into silence to let Naeun think. It’s not often that Naeun gets invested in the conversation as much as she is now.

          “Ugh, this would be a lot easier if they just lived together or something,” Eunji groans while stabbing her plate of pasta. There’s a few seconds of more pasta abuse when Naeun taps her fingers against the table. Namjoo, Hayoung, and Eunji look up at the devilish expression on her face. Sometimes, Eunji forgets that Naeun is the most mischievous of them all.

          “I have a plan,” Naeun says and subsequently turns to face Namjoo, “Although I would need your permission on it”

Namjoo’s eyes widen, “Me?”

          “Yes, and it's going to sound a little crazy.” Naeun glazes over her words quickly but everyone is listening attentively.

They were more than ready for a little crazy.

-- 3 days later --

          As requested by Namjoo since the day she moved in, Chorong checks in with her the second she arrives back home from her business trip. It’s become a usual routine because Chorong’s work required frequent traveling during this time of the year but it’s not every day she sees an oddly anxious Namjoo. She kept babbling about the condition of Chorong’s apartment but then veering around the subject whenever Chorong quirked a brow. Chorong figured it was because Namjoo was in a strange mood; it happened occasionally after every dance audition Namjoo insisted on taking despite already owning a highly successful company and the apartment building, of course.

          “I-I have somewhere I have to be so… if you need anything…” Namjoo purses her lips for a few seconds and without warning, bolts out the door.

          “What’s up with her?” Chorong mutters before letting herself out of Namjoo’s apartment as well. She watches Namjoo dash around the corner of the block and disappear quietly before shrugging to herself. Something about Namjoo zooming off left her feeling uneasy. Something fishy.

          “Chorong unnie?”

          A familiar voice rings from behind her. One that makes Chorong blush on any occasion. She turns almost hesitantly, tucking her hair behind her ear and letting a small smile form on her lips. Bomi is standing at the bottom of the stairs, an exuberant expression stretched on her face and an orange popsicle dangling from . She makes a distinct slurping noise before busying herself with the plastic bag she’s carrying. Chorong waits patiently, looking anywhere but at Bomi until the younger woman hops over next to her.

          She holds out an unopened popsicle up to Chorong’s face and says, “Here. Have one.”

          “Thanks.” Chorong takes the cold treat from Bomi’s hands and carefully tears it open, ignoring the fact that Bomi is staring at her. Chorong doesn’t typically feel too good about eating popsicles but in that moment, she’s glad to have something to cool down all the heat running through her body.

          “So when did you get back?” Bomi asks a little too loudly but it makes Chorong crack a smile at how hard she’s trying to make it any less awkward.

“Just now. I had to tell the landlady first.”

          Bomi looks at her with a puzzled expression on her face, “You mean Namjoo?”

          “Yes. Namjoo.” Chorong nods, noting to herself that Bomi prefers to call everyone by their names. Chorong was so used to keeping all her interpersonal relationships at a certain distance; it was curious to see someone so unfamiliar with the idea of aloofness. But maybe that’s what drew Chorong to Bomi. The woman was as introverted and bashful as Chorong was but there was a glimmering charm to her social nature that was warm, inviting, and personal. To Bomi, everyone was a friend.

          When they reach their floor, their choppy conversation comes to an inevitable break and they enter their separate apartments without trying to get caught peering curiously at one another. Bomi desperately wants to call her over and suggest they have a meal or something, but her stomach churns just at the thought of it. Chorong also has the words at the tip of her tongue when she realizes that Bomi has already disappeared. She stands there for a long while and sighs partly out of habit and partly out of disappointment before defeatedly stepping into her apartment. She knows she probably shouldn’t pine after her little sister’s best friend but in reality, what harm would it do? It’s not like Bomi was going to ask her out any time soon when they could barely keep a discussion going without Chorong remembering their kiss and panicking all over again. Chorong figured that with such submissive but fire and water personalities, neither Bomi nor herself would be able gain the courage to confess. She sighs and kicks off her shoes, leaning over to place them on her wooden shoe rack with care before turning into her living room.

          And that’s when Chorong notices.

          She doesn’t feel her scream leave but it must have because her ears are pounding from the high pitch. There’s a second of disbelief and horror and suddenly her mind is spinning. She’s so dizzy she can’t even think straight anymore. What is happening? Where is she? Is that Bomi?

          And why the is there a giant hole in her wall?

Her questions are left unanswered because there’s a loud thud and her vision goes black.

-- troublemakers/까불이 eunji and naeun (as said by chorong in Weekly Idol lolz) back at it again to make ChoBom happen... comment your thoughts and thanks as always for reading/subscribing! --