“What are you doing?” Bom stared at Jungjin, who was busy texting away on his cell phone.

“Nothing,” He replied, not looking up at her once. He continued to text on his phone.

Bom shook her head as she went on to read her Chemistry textbook. “You’re honestly not helping here.”

There was no response. She looked up again and still found him texting away. Bom slammed book. “Jungjin, I can tell you’re really busy right now with all your texting and all.”

“Remember Seojin?” asked Jungjin.

“Who doesn’t remember Seojin? You had the biggest crush on her back in ninth grade, but she wouldn’t give you the time of day,” laughed Bom. “Then she moved away and you were devastated for a week, well until that foreign exchange student came along, what was her name? Hope? Yeah. Hope.”

Jungjin smiled at her and shook his phone in the air. “Well, she’s texting me now.”

“What?!” yelled Bom as she got closer to Jungjin. “Let me see!” She grabbed for his cell phone successfully and began scrolling down his texts.

The texts were so…flirty. It was dated back to two weeks ago and they talked a lot. Bom was surprised that Jungjin actually had someone to talk too besides her. To her ultimate surprise there were a lot of texts that read ‘Goodnight ;)’. Bom shoved it back to Jungjin. “Gross!”

Smiling Jungjin asked, “What’s gross?”

“You! Why are you saying stuff like that to her?”

"Like what?!”

“Like,” said Bom. “You looked pretty on your cyworld default pic or you’re so much better than me at Math or you’re smile is so pretty. What are you trying to do, get girls?”

Jungjin shrugged, “It doesn’t hurt to flirt here and there. Flirting is not a crime.”

“But leading on a girl is,” retorted Bom. “Do you even like Seojin…like that?”

“Of course not! It’s just for fun, there’s no harm in it.”

“It is harmful when she thinks you’re flirting like that because she thinks you like her, and when she finds out you don’t she’ll be hurt.”

“Look, it’s not going to go down like that, I’ll be careful.”

“Fine, whatever do it your way.” Bom reopened her Chemistry book and began to read where she left off. “Put that phone down and help me study.”

---------------------------------------------

“Hey, where are you?” Bom laid on her bed, with her cell phone in her ear waiting for Jungjin to reply.

“I’m out hanging with Seojin right now.” He replied.

“Seojin?” asked Bom. “How is that possible she lives all the way in Pusan?”

She could heard a girls voice talk in the background. “Sorry Seojin wait a second. Bom? Yeah, she came over so we can hang out tonight.”

“All the way from Pusan?!” exclaimed Bom.

“It’s not that hard to take a train over here Bom,” laughed Jungjin. “It’s not like she’s never lived in Seoulbefore.”

“What are you guys going to do?”

“Well, we’re going to watch a movie, eat out, and do a little bit of shopping. She said she wanted to talk to me about something.” She heard Seojin laugh in the background. “I’ve got to go but I’ll text you later. I love you Bom, you know that right?”

“Yeah…”

“Bye Bom!”

Bom scoffed to herself. Park Jungjin you stupid wannabe player. If you hurt her as a part of the female gender community she will be obliged to punch him directly in the face. End of story.

Bom decided to get out of bed and walk out into her terrace. She almost forgot she had one. Usually she would go out there to think about her day. But that was years ago when Jungjin had not existed in her eyes yet.

She slid the long curtain in her living room aside and it revealed a glass sliding door. She slid open the door and it revealed the terrace. It was a little chilly that night so Bom immediately wrapped herself in her arms. She leaned on the terrace holding and stared up into the night sky.

It was dark and cloudless. Few stars were spotted that night. Bom spotted one star that was bigger than the others. She closed her eyes and immediately made a wish.

“Please don’t change.”

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“She loved all the things I was saying to her. I could tell because she was blushing bright pink!” gloated Jungjin. “She was so light!”

Bom rolled her eyes for the thousandth time at Jungjin. He would not stop talking about Seojin and his ‘hang out’. Today Bom and Jungjin were at Starbucks having coffee before school. School was going to start late today because of exams for the freshman and sophomores.

Jungjin was just filling in Bom about Seojin for oh…about the millionth time. She was getting pretty annoyed and she didn’t even get to have a sip of her coffee.

Bom held her hand up at Jungjin to stop him from talking. “Alright you had a great time end of story, now can I enjoy my coffee?”

Jungjin leaned in with his large chocolate chip cookie in his hand. “The plus part is she’s only practice.” Jungjin leaned back into his chair and took a bite off his cookie with a satisfied smirk. “Easy practice.”

Bom took a long sip of her coffee before speaking to Jungjin. “Easy practice? Isn’t she your friend?”

“Well yeah.”

“Friends don’t do that to other friends. You should have more respect for her!” Bom took another long sip. “Are you going to ‘practice’ on me as well?”

“Why?” smiled Jungjin. “Do you want me too?”

Bom narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want to make a scene in a public place and kill you. If you dare practice on me I’ll make sure you won’t be able to see daylight tomorrow.”

Jungjin shrugged. “I’ve already practiced on you here and there.”

Bom scoffed. “Yeah I know! I’ve never heard you say I love you so many times in one day before since the day I’ve met you! Sometimes you really freak me out.”

“Don’t worry about it,” assured Jungjin. “I have other girls to turn too.”

Bom laughed. “Like who?!”

“There’s Seojin.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Um….Miyeon!”

“Miyeon’s your biology partner!”

“So? I know she has a crush on me though.”

Bom threw her arms up in the air in defeat. “Fine, you win do what you want.” She stood up from her seat and grabbed her coffee. “Let’s go before I throw up from the grossness I’ve just witnessed.”

Jungjin laughed as he stood up. “You know you like me.”

“No I don’t!”

They exited Starbucks and began heading for school.

“Do you know what Seojin wanted to talk to me about?”

Bom turned to Jungjin, “What?”

“She has some guy issues back at home and she told me she felt like I really knew her.”

Bom laughed, “You’ve got to be kidding me right? You’re like the least person who can give like good advice. I give better advice than you.”

Jungjin shrugged with a smile plastered on his face. “I don’t know she said it helped. I feel accomplished somehow. I feel like every girl can come to me and tell me their problems.”

Bom began to laugh even harder. “Okay you go do that and I’ll just watch all those girls realize how stupid you are. Seojin just likes you.”

“Okay, okay.” said Jungjin backing off. “I’ll stop. Can you walk a little faster? I feel like I’m trying to keep up with a turtle.”

“Oh shut the up!”

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Seungho and Bom were at the Han River, hanging out. It was around night time and today Heyi and Seohyun were too busy to meet up with them. So it was just the two of them. They sat side by side as close to the river as they could get. It was cold that night. Bom had her sweater on and the hood up. She felt Seungho wrap his arm around her as she laid her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of his leather jacket. Something she would never hate.

As his hand rubbed her arm Seungho asked, “How are you?”

“He pisses me off,” replied Bom with her eyes still closed. “He doesn’t know how much I hurt because of him.”

Seungho nodded sympathizing with her. “But you love him and you can’t let him go.”

“And that’s the sad part.” She nestled deeper into the crook of his neck. “It makes me so mad that I care so much for Jungjin when he obviously doesn’t care that much about me.”

“You’re still mad over that Seojin girl?”

“Seungho, imagine if I went to some guy and told him all my ing secrets and troubles and he advises me on what I should and shouldn’t do.”

“But you do, you go to Jungjin when you have troubles.”

Bom scoffed. “Hardly, it’s more like he tells me his problems and I sit and listen like a . I shouldn’t be waiting around for him to come around, should I?”

“I’ve been telling you that and so have Seohyun and Heyi. But, for you I think if you leave him you’ll feel bad and if you stay you’ll get mad at him. There’s no winning for you is there Lee Bom?” chuckled Seungho. “You just lose at this kind of game.”

“I’m not a player,” laughed Bom. “I’m just part of the crowd.”

Seungho smiled down at her. “And I’ll be part of that crowd with you.”

Bom smiled as she looked out into the Han River. To her the river didn’t flow steady. Instead, it coursed through the river roughly. Some days the river may be calm and peaceful. On another day the current may be rough and there may even be winds. But at the end of the day the river is just the Han River. For Bom, Jungjin was her rough days and Seungho was her calm days. She needed them for her to be Lee Bom.