Chapter synopsis: Chorong and Bomi are on speaking terms again. Bomi finds out about Chorong’s breakup and it seems to affect her more than expected.

//

“Ugh,” Bomi groans in pain. Her head throbs with each slight movement, and she thinks her senses are amplified by at least a hundred times.

“Here,” Chorong hands her a painkiller and a glass of water like their past routine.

“Oh, thanks,” Bomi says, uncertain of how she should react to this familiar care. Chorong’s hospitality was something Bomi could always rely on but has slowly been forgetting these few months. The simple act of passing her a pill and water suddenly brought back memories of all the other times she’s taken care of Bomi, and she finds herself reminiscing about the way they used to be. Bomi slowly sits up on her bed to take the painkiller and finds herself hoping that they could go back to the way they once were.

“Will you be okay alone?” Chorong’s voice brings Bomi out of her head and back to reality.

“Hm? Oh, yeah,” Bomi makes a pained expression as she stretches down to place the cup on the floor before slowly lying back down. “I’ll be fine,” she says, not very convincingly.

“I know you don’t have any appetite right now, but I’ll get some food for you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Chicken porridge?”

“Mhm,” Bomi hums softly at the sound of her favourite comfort food; Chorong knows her like the back of her hand. And with that, Chorong exits the room, leaving Bomi on the bed with the ends of curled up ever so slightly.

She’s happy to hear Chorong talking to her, but she’s more than glad to know that Chorong still cares. She almost forgets why they’re in this cold war in the first place. (Ah right, it was about trust.)

Bomi spends the day in bed like a sick child while Chorong spends hers at a council meeting. She had to finalise a few things for the Annual Carnival and make sure that everything was in check before the big day. At least this gave her mind something else to focus on. Chorong hasn’t thought much about last night. There wasn’t much for her to think about anyway. Bomi was drunk, said some things she meant for Naeun to hear, and Chorong simply couldn’t do anything about it. If there was any consolation from the whole fiasco (that Bomi doesn’t remember), at least they’re speaking to each other again.

When Chorong comes back in the afternoon bearing warm porridge, Bomi is certainly delighted. Steam escapes the plastic container as Bomi removes the lid off her packed food, and its pleasant aroma dances around the room. She sits at her desk, letting Chorong do her own things quietly like her usual self. Bomi is blowing lightly onto a spoonful of porridge when she hears Chorong clear a little awkwardly behind her.

“I’m sorry,” Chorong says, her voice soft and sincere, “I trust you, I do, but I need you to trust me too when I say I’ll tell you everything… when I can.” She sits in her own chair facing Bomi’s back and fiddles with her fingers in front of her. Chorong wishes she could tell Bomi everything, but it wasn’t that simple now, was it?

Bomi puts the spoon down and spins around in her chair to face Chorong. She looks at the older girl, and call it a gut feeling, but Bomi knew she could trust Chorong. “Okay, I trust you.”

Chorong lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “It was really hard not talking to you,” Chorong admits, and there’s a beat of hesitation before she speaks again. “So, we’re okay now?”

Not wanting to spend any longer in this tense air, Bomi thinks humour would lighten the mood. “Yeah, of course. Hah! Sounds like you missed me,” Bomi teases jokingly and laughs. Chorong looks up at the sound she’s grown to love, and their eyes meet from across each side of the room. There’s a pause, as if Chorong was carefully deciding the words to say, then, “I did.” Chorong’s voice is small, so small that it would’ve been inaudible if not for the silence in the room.

Did you? Chorong wants to know, but she doesn’t ask. She doesn’t dare to.

Bomi stares back into Chorong’s eyes and sees what she thinks is anticipation and hope. The grin on her face has transformed into an unreadable expression, and an unfamiliar sensation sits in her stomach. There’s another pause, then as Chorong’s eyes fall to the floor, “I missed you too,” Bomi says. Her voice not as soft as Chorong’s, but just as genuine.

They both smile warmly, and just like that, it was the two of them against the world, together again.

//

It’s Math period now and the teacher is saying some things that Bomi hardly understands - maybe she would if she bothered to pay attention. Beside her, Byulyi plays with her pen from boredom and restlessness. There was still a good half an hour till the end of class. Bomi feels a poke in her side and she turns to face her desk mate.

“So, Chorong and Eunkwang, huh?” Byulyi half-whispers, because they’re in class.

“What are you talking about?” Bomi has absolutely no idea what Byulyi is suggesting.

“They were at the party together last week so I just thought,“ Byulyi gestures with her hands ambiguously.

“They were?” Now Bomi is really confused. Eunkwang, as in the senior in Changsub’s class? What did he have anything to do with Chorong?

Byulyi analyses Bomi and concludes that the baseball captain probably wasn’t up to date with the whole Chorong-Changsub situation yet. She wonders why, though she already has an inkling, since she discussed this with Yongsun the night of the party. Yongsun thinks they’ve broken up, and Byulyi only thinks so because she’s sure the president wouldn’t cheat on Changsub like that. Okay fine, it’s not like she caught Chorong making out with Eunkwang or anything, but it was definitely possible and could’ve happened, and that’s what counts.

“Yeah, they seem pretty cute together.”

“No, they’re not,” Bomi denies, then quickly questions the denial. “Are they?” She frowns, what is this strange feeling bubbling in her stomach? But she doesn’t even give Byulyi time to answer before she’s asking another question, “Wait, what about Changsub?”

“I don’t know, I thought they broke up,” Byulyi lets it slip and she regrets it instantly when Bomi whips her head and lets out a hushed “What?!”

Ah , Yongsun is gonna kill me.

“I don’t know for sure though,” Byulyi tries quickly.

Bomi is still confused. She’ll have to ask Chorong about that later. Why would she be at the party with Eunkwang? There must be some sort of misunderstanding, right? Well, forget Math, because all Bomi knows is that she ponders over Byulyi’s words for the rest of the class.

“They seem pretty cute together.”

/

Meanwhile, in another classroom, Yongsun has been waiting for the opportunity to dig out more information to confirm her suspicions. As much as she empathises with Chorong for being in such a mess, she’s been having her own fun playing Detective with Byulyi every now and then. Between the night of the party that happened last week and now, Yongsun has heard a few whispers about Chorong and Changsub breaking up, but she won’t fully believe it unless she hears it from Chorong herself.

The teacher had just given them a five-minute break and some students leave to go to the restroom. This is it; this is the perfect opportunity. Yongsun leans over and invades Chorong’s personal space like it’s nothing.

“So, Byulyi told me she found you with a certain boy at the party last week...”

It isn’t a question, but Chorong feels like Yongsun wants answers. And she’s right.

Chorong swats Yongsun away with her hands like she’s an insect, and successfully wins some of her space back. Yongsun has a huge grin on her face though, so Chorong doesn’t feel like she’s won at all.

“And?” is all Chorong says. Of course, reserved as usual.

“Aaaand,” Yongsun drags, “Why wasn’t it Changsub?” She bites her bottom lip in suspense, waiting to hear what she’s been thinking, but from Chorong’s own mouth.

“We broke up,” Chorong says indifferently.

“Oh!” Yongsun feigns surprise. “So, that boy at the party - Eunkwang, was it? What’s up with you and him?” She leans a little closer to Chorong again, her full attention on the president.

Chorong doesn’t recall saying his name so it must mean Yongsun knew this whole time. Byulyi must’ve told her, and Chorong isn’t even mad or surprised.

“Nothing,” Chorong shrugs. This five-minute break feels longer than it should be. “We didn’t do anything if that’s what you’re asking.”

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