3/31/12

I didn't mean to make this story exactly 30 chapters and end it on the last day of March, but it's cool that it did :)

As a reminder, Mahro is like heaven, while Ryerauve, where the Vidle lived, is like hell.

            When Bom woke up, she found herself in her own room. Looking around, she found out that it was around the afternoon. She got out of bed, combed her hair, and put on appropriate clothes. Was it all a dream? Bom asked herself.

            After she went out of her room and into the living room, she saw her mom. “Mom?”

            Bom’s mother turned around. Her face was filled with elation. “Bom! You’re finally awake!”

            “Finally? How long have I been sleeping?” she asked.

            Her mother answered. “You’ve been sleeping for over a week already. We found you outside the school last week, and you haven’t been awake since then. I was really worried about you.”

            A thought came into her head. “What day is it?”

            “A week after school ended,” her mother replied.

            A sinking feeling grew inside her stomach. That couldn’t be right, Bom thought. I have been in Terra for over six months already. It really was a dream.

            She thought of all her friends, especially Youngbae. Was it really just a dream? If so, how come Bom felt like it really happened? How come it was so clear to her, all her memories and feelings she had felt in Terra?

           “You are very lucky, Bom,” her mother said. “You woke up just in time for your friend, Youngbae, to visit.”

            Bom doubled-taked, “Youngbae?”

            Her mom nodded. “Yes, Youngbae. I guess you don’t remember who he was since you haven’t seen him in six years. He used to be your childhood friend.”

            “I remember him,” Bom told her. “I remember him very well.”

            Her mom looked surprised. “Well, that’s good. It’s not that much of a surprise since you two were very close.”

            The doorbell rang. Bom’s mom looked over her shoulder and said. “That must be them.”

            As her mom went to answer the door, Bom heart doubled its already fast moving pace. This was the only way Bom could tell if going to Terra was a dream or not. And she hoped it wasn’t a dream. Bom’s mom opened the door, and on the other side of it were Youngbae and his mother.

            “Hi,” he said, smiling a secret smile. She couldn’t help but smile back.

          Youngbae’s mom embraced Bom. “Hello Bom, dear. How are you doing? You’ve grown so much!”

            It seemed funny to Bom because when she got to look closely at her face, Bom slowly recognized Youngbae’s mother. “I’m fine.”

            “Bom, do you want to show Youngbae around the house?” her mother asked her. “I want to catch up with his mom.”

            Bom nodded and told Youngbae to follow her into the dining room that was next door. When they were out of earshot, Bom let go of the question she held onto for the period of time when Youngbae came to her house. “Was it all real?”

            Youngbae smiled his secret smile again and said, “Yeah. It was all real.”

            Bom became puzzled. “Then how come it was like we never left?”

            “Because we traveled back in time,” he explained. “My mother talked to the new rulers of Terra, who are from the Mahro, and they were able to grant us some time as thanks for relinquishing Terra from the Vidle’s rule.”

            Bom looked around the dining room, and to her surprise, she saw the basket that Alana had given her. She smiled.

                                                                                    ::::::

            Chaerin woke up a few days after Bom did, and so did everyone else. Now, a week later, the six friends were hanging out in the local park, enjoying their last weeks of summer vacation before they all had to split up for college.

            “I can’t believe we are going to college,” Dara said. “We just got back together, and now we have to split up again.”

            “Don’t worry,” Jiyong consoled her. “We’ll be able to hang out together during the holidays and breaks.”

            “Wait, what will happen to Youngbae?” Chaerin wondered. “You didn’t attend high school. Will colleges still accept you?”

            “I’m going to a community college,” Youngbae replied. “Courtesy of the people of from the Mahro.”

            “Ohhh,” Jiyong smiled. “You’ve got connections.”

            “One of the many things they did to thank us for knocking the Vidle out of power,” Seungri explained. “But it was also compensation for the time Youngbae had lost.”

            The friends nodded in understanding. If the Mahro hadn’t helped, Youngbae would feel as much of an outsider in Earth as an outsider in Terra.

            After eating lunch, the friends agreed to visit Terra after they graduate from college as a way to celebrate their lasting friendship, and they went their separate ways. Bom and Youngbae had to attend an event with both of their parents (“Our mothers are trying to set us up,” Bom laughed.), while Dara had to go attend a fashion design workshop and Jiyong had to help his parents manage their restaurant.

            Chaerin and Seungri, however, had nothing to do. Since Seungri’s house was closer to the park, Chaerin decided to walk Seungri back to his house before going back to hers.

            I shouldn’t have offered, Chaerin thought to herself as she awkwardly walked next to Seungri.

            But, over the past week, Chaerin had been thinking about her relationship with Seungri. After realizing that she had been very selfish, Chaerin began to admit that being independent is not worth the cost of hurting another’s feelings, and worse, losing a friend.

            And there was another thing that she realized. Like the wind that controls the currents in a tsunami, Seungri gave Chaerin strength. She came to this realization during the time when Seungri helped her with her asthma by giving her oxygen before returning to Earth.

            Now, there was nothing to prevent her from admitting her feelings to Seungri, except for her pride and embarrassment. And Seungri probably knows that.

            “Why don’t you hang out for a while?” Seungri asked as they reached his house.

            “Uh… okay,” Chaerin nodded. Seungri knew that she had nothing else to do, so she couldn’t say no.

            “So, did you think of me for the past week?” Seungri as he climbed up the stairs of the front porch and started to unlock the door.

            “No,” Chaerin just finished climbing up the stairs and met his eyes. She couldn’t tell him that he had been on her mind for the whole week.

            Seungri let Chaerin walk in and closed the door swiftly, trapping her against the door so she had nowhere to go. He asked again, still smiling. “Are you sure? You didn’t miss me?”

            “What? Of course not,” Chaerin said too emphatically as she pressed against the door. She did not tell him that she felt so much happier, so much calmer, when she is next to him.

            “Of course not as in you’re not sure, or as in you don’t miss me?” Seungri stepped closer, trying to get eye contact.

            “Of course not I’m not su— I mean I don’t miss you!” Chaerin stuttered, her mind failing to operate. She can’t think when he gets too close.

            Seungri chuckled. “Why don’t you look at me when you say that?”

            She kept her head down. “… Because you make me nervous.”

            “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Seungri said. Chaerin could practically hear him smiling. Dang, I shouldn’t have said that.

            “Do whatever you want with it,” she said indignantly. She looked up at him. “I don’t care.”

            Seungri chuckled again and moved in for a kiss. “Oh, but you do. It’s written all over your face.”

            Chaerin started to lose oxygen as his face moved towards her. Unconsciously, she moistened her lips and cocked her head up towards his. It was at that moment that she realized Seungri had already stopped moving towards her, and she was the one that finished the kiss. Chaerin tried to move away, but Seungri put his hand at the nape of her neck, securing her in the kiss.

            When he let go of her, he had a huge grin on his face. “If it makes you feel any better, I missed you too.”

            Chaerin was breathing a little hard from the lack of oxygen during the kiss, and she was grateful for that because she couldn’t think of anything to say. She looked away.

           “Come on,” Seungri tilted her head back to its previous position. “You’ll have to admit it one day.”

            “What if I don’t want to admit it?” Chaerin asked.

            “Well too bad,” he said and placed his face close to hers again. “You have to because you’re already in too deep.”

            It was Seungri who started the kiss this time, but Chaerin knew that after the kiss, he will be grinning from ear to ear like the last time. What Seungri had said was true. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was already too deep to get out. Chaerin rested her hand on his shoulders, and after they pulled away, she put her head on his chest.

            “I’ll admit it under only one condition,” she said softly. “Never, ever, make me regret falling for you.”

            Hearing this, Seungri cried out with joy and pulled Chaerin into a bear hug.

            “Gah, you’re suffocating me!” Chaerin shouted, her voice muffled.

            “I’ll never make you regret it,” he said as he released her. Seungri looked straight into her eyes. “You’re the only one I’ll ever want.”

                                                                                                  The End