“Hey Dara! Come and look at this!”

The 2NE1 girls had a free day today for some much needed R and R. Sandara lazily walked over to Bom and joined her at the dining table in their apartment. “What is it?”

Bom had a Facebook page open and she was viewing a photo album. “Do you remember that classmate I mentioned before? Well, she gave birth to another child! Isn’t she so cute?” Sandara chuckled and motioned to virtually pinch the little baby’s rosy cheeks. “Oh yes! The cutest!" she responded. “I want one!” Bom whined.

Sandara eyed her friend closely  “Oh? Is that so?” she asked. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper “You know, you kind of need a husband to give you one.” Bom’s cheeks flushed the tiniest bit and she yelled back, “I know! And I want one of those, too!” Sandara laughed while Bom hmphed loudly.   

A minute or two passed as Bom gazed at the screen and clicked around a bit more. “Oh! I recognise another girl in this album. She’s another classmate and- what! Omo she just got engaged!”

Sandara oohed at the big diamond ring the woman was showing off. “Yeah, lately I’ve been getting a lot of invites to weddings in the Philippines.” “Jinjja? I guess that makes sense. A lot of my friends my age are either married or engaged...”

It was silent between the two for a minute or so until Bom cried out, “I want a boyfriend!” She flopped onto the laptop keyboard and slapped the dining table. “I’m not asking for a husband or a baby right now! I just want the first step towards something.” Sandara patted her on the back. “Ah Bommie, it’ll be okay, hm? And you’re definitely not alone... huuuhuhu.” She began to fake cry and accompanied it with fake tears she traced down her face. Bom giggled a bit and then sighed.

Then Sandara tapped her chin with her finger and asked, “Okay, is there at least someone you’re interested in? Someone you have your eye on? I think that should be step one.” Bom pondered a bit. Eventually, her lips formed a little “o” and a guilty smile appeared. “I... I hadn’t thought about that at all hehe.” “Silly Bommie!” Sandara exclaimed as she attempted to bring a fist down on Bom’s head. Bom wiggled away and protested.

“I’ve thought about this before - several times, in fact, and- well, look at it this way: usually when people meet someone new, they date for a while, right? And say the time it takes time for a couple to get to know each other before getting married is anywhere from three to ten years. I’m going to be 27 soon!” “... I’m not getting any younger.” she finished in a quiet voice. Bom paused and added, “ And the same goes for you, too! So you should be just as worried as me!” Sandara closed her eyes and turned her face away. “Ah! Please... please don’t remind me!” The girls chuckled a bit at each other and then it became silent again.

“Mianhe, Dara.” Bom said softly as she looked down and played with one of Sandara’s bracelets. “But it’s the truth.” Sandara let out a little smile at her fellow Park sister who wore a rather downcast expression. She slipped the bracelet off and then slid it onto Bom’s wrist. “Well, there’s no point in feeling down about something like this. Instead, we should be doing our very best! In both our work and love lives, so we can grab onto our dreams!” Bom couldn’t help but smile widely at the enthusiastic Dara. She nodded and mentally pinched herself for being so mopey earlier.

Sandara squeezed Bom’s hand and looked at her closely. She had known Bom long enough to realize there were many sides to her. A childish side that was mischievous, weird, and complained a lot. A shy side that appeared on variety shows and in front of the president. A cheerful side that laughed a lot, pranced around, and was really sweet. But beyond this, sometimes Sandara caught a glimpse of a pensive Park Bom - one she didn’t recognise. This Bom was afraid and lacked confidence. This side of her emerged from all her failures and doubts when her parents didn’t support her dreams and when she was rejected many times before. And here this side was, appearing in front of Sandara, worried about the direction of her life and whether having a family was an achievable option. These thoughts were also very close to Sandara’s heart but she knew Bom was particularly delicate regarding this topic. “Hey, it’s getting late now. Let’s not think about this anymore and go to bed, hm?” Sandara suggested. “We’ll do some serious brainstorming from the next day onwards.” A small smile appeared on Bom’s face as she nodded sleepily.
 

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The next morning.

Bom woke up with a grey cloud hanging above her head. She pulled herself in front of the mirror and remembered Sandara’s advice last night. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks to both figuratively and literally wake up. “Dara was right. Being all mopey won’t get me anywhere. I need to truly wake up and try my best.” She got ready and before leaving her room, she looked back in the mirror and saw a very rosy-cheeked but happy Park Bom.
 

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A week later.

It was 3 in the afternoon when Bom and Dara were finally able to head down to the cafeteria for a late lunch. Chaerin was with the vocal coach and Minji was with the Japanese language teacher. The girls sat across from each other as they tore into their lunches.

“Today’s going to be another late day, huh?” asked a tired Sandara. “Yeah, seems like it. We’ve got the dance room booked from 2 to 6.” Bom replied. “Aigo, I’m just tired thinking about it.” Sandara said as she pretended to weep into her bowl of rice.

“I know it , Dara, but let’s not dwell on it. I really want to give it my all! And you too, so I’ll cheer you on as well.” Sandara faced Bom who was calmly sipping her water. “Huh? When did she become so positive? Usually she’d be complaining the most out of everyone, especially when it comes to working on choreography...”

"Are you okay, Bommie-ah?” Sandara asked. She placed down her chopsticks and put the back of her hand on Bom’s forehead. Bom made a noise and swatted her away. “Hey! I’m eating here!” Sandara apologized but still looked at her friend with wide eyes. “Remember what you said last week? If you have a problem, it makes sense to go out and do something rather than complaining and not have anything change.” Bom stated. Sandara went “ahh” and nodded while mentally patting herself on the back for giving such good advice.

“Oh! Speaking of which, we should do some brainstorming for you!” “Eh?” was all Bom could say. “Hold on a second.” Sandara reached into her bag and opened up a diary-like notebook. She immediately started jotting down some notes. “We're going to get you a boyfriend." Bom gasped and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Let’s start with what we know. You’re old-” “Hey...” “Well, I’m the same as you!” “But when you say it like that...!” Sandara sighed and smiled at Bom. “Okay, you’re a mature woman.” “Better!” “And you don’t have a lot of time to get to know someone.” “Correct.” “So... that means instead of wasting time meeting new people, you should consider someone you already know.” Bom looked puzzled. “Just anyone I know? This doesn’t lead me anywhere!” “You’re right. We need to narrow this down.” Sandara concentrated as she mapped things out in her mind. “You’ll need to tell me what you like and don’t like in a guy. But first, start naming your male friends.” Bom looked unsure but then the tiniest smile appeared with a big look of determination in her eyes, “Okay, let’s do this.”

An hour later, a comprehensive list was detailed in Sandara’s notebook. It consisted of names that were coded and sorted by level of friendship, interest, attraction, how long Bom knew the person, and a pros and cons comment section. She proceeded to aggregate the scores in order to find the best “candidate” for Bom. Sandara was one hell of a methodical chick.

“Alright, Bom, are you ready?” Bom was finishing up a pudding cup and quickly placed her spoon down. “Yes!” Sandara cleared . “According to the data we have pooled together, Park Bom-sshi, we have come to a very strong conclusion. With your incredibly strict criteria and standards, we were able to narrow the results down to a single candidate.” Bom made a very audible gulp as she leaned closer to Sandara. “Honestly, I never even considered him but it’s not too bad of a-” Bom shot a deathly look that said “hurry up!” to Sandara. “Ahem...as I was saying the person you should start looking at differently is-” but before Sandara could finish her sentence and long before she could even notice, someone came up behind her, peered over her shoulder, and reached for the book. “What’s this, Dara-noona?”

Sandara froze from the shock and Bom stood up loudly and snatched the book with cat-like reflexes. “Jiyong-ah! It’s not nice to creep up on people like that!” Bom scolded the BIGBANG leader. Jiyong smiled widely and eyed both of his noonas. “Oh, I just wanted to know what you two were so focused on. Are you planning something?”  Sandara started to regain colour (maybe a bit too much) in her cheeks, “A-aniyo, Jiyong-oppa. Just some girl talk right now.” “Ah girl talk." He repeated. "So what’s in that book?” he asked as he pointed at it. Bom was not in the mood to play nice after this little disturbance. “Nothing! There is absolutely nothing of interest in this little book.” Bom replied sarcastically. “See?” she said while flipping through the pages haphazardly with her thumb. “Just pages of Dara’s boring diary that says blah blah “today I did this” blah and blah- TABI?!” Bom yelled at the top* of her voice. Jiyong and Sandara reflexively jerked back at the sheer volume of 2NE1’s main vocalist who certainly knew how to belt it out.

But before she could even regain composure, a familiar voice came out from behind her. “Ah! Is something wrong, Bom-noona?” Bom tore her eyes away from the page that had “T.O.P” with a big red circle around it and cheesy hearts drawn next to it. She swiftly slammed the book shut as she swiveled around and faced BIGBANG’s other rapper.