I Used To Be Alright

Chapter 3

Ryujin

Several days after the party, Ryujin found herself knocking at Yeji's door.

It took her a couple of minutes to answer, but Ryujin was already untying her shoes when the door opened – Yeji hates it when she steps inside on her footwear.

She nodded subtly at the feline eyed and proceeded to walk inside.

Ryujin halted in her steps when she saw a familiar figure seated on her spot on the couch. Just in time, her friend turned around and faced her.

"Who was–"

"Minjeong?"

"Ryujin-ah! You're here."

Ryujin paused as she watched Yeji sit across from her friend like it was the most natural thing in the world – several books lined up on the table between them.

She couldn't form a response and instead sat on the empty chair beside Minjeong.

"I was just borrowing some books from Yeji. She mentioned she has lots of the genre I like on her shelf here."

Ryujin just nodded and smiled – not knowing how to feel about the two hanging out. She isn't the type to gatekeep friends, but she didn't expect Yeji to actually warm up to other people that easily. Especially someone whom she only met a couple of times prior.

Have they been hanging out without her knowing? Who am I to keep tabs, though?

She shook off the thought and joined the conversation. She isn't a bookworm, but figured that it'd be too weird for her not to say anything, so she pointed at a random book and started asking questions.

Over the next couple of weeks, Ryujin noticed Minjeong's growing curiosity towards Yeji. She would ask random questions about the girl during their hangouts, tags along whenever Ryujin wanted to stop by Yeji's department to say hi or to ask for help regarding some lessons, and even got a hold of her schedule from an acquaintance in Yeji's class.

"So I was thinking, we guys should go on a quick road trip this break. It's two weeks of no school, after all." Lia was saying during their lunch break.

"Hmmm. Sounds good." Minju agreed.

"Do you have any place in mind?" Ryujin supplied.

"We could go to my family's house in Jeju. No one's staying there, anyway."

"Oh yeah!"

They almost forgot how rich Lia's family is – like having a huge resthouse in Jeju Island with barely anyone using it.

"Just the four of us, though? I'm thinking of inviting some people to join, if that's alright with you guys." It was Minjeong's time to speak.

"Sure, the more the merrier." Lia answered.

"Cool. Let me go and ask Yeji now."

Minjeong pulled out her phone and started to type in a message for Yeji.

Ryujin stared at her with slightly raised brows.

"I didn't know that you two text each other now."

Minjeong looked up quickly, nodded with a smile, and looked back down at her phone.

Ryujin was so focused on her that she didn't notice the collective glance from their other two friends, clearly feeling the tension at the table.

She remained quiet during the remainder of the break and excused herself to walk back to class a little earlier. Lia tagged along and walked with the brunette.

"So... what's up?"

"Huh?" Ryujin looked at her best friend confusedly.

"What's up with you, you dummy. You've been acting a little off since the party."

She shrugged and continued walking in silence.

"Are you not okay with Minjeong making moves on Yeji?"

"Of course I'm cool w– wait what?"

She halted in her steps and walked closer to Lia.

"She's making moves on Yeji? Like... flirting?"

"Ugh... I guess? She has been asking a lot about her. They were also practically glued to each other during her party."

Ryujin paused and gathered her calm.

She was so busy easing up Somi's anger that she completely forgot about Yeji. She always hated it when a casual encounter mistook the situation for something else, and she spent almost the entire night clearing things up with the blonde. By the time the party's wrapping up, she found herself almost asking the same girl back to her place (again), but was saved by Lia.

She didn't know that Yeji and Minjeong bonded – not that it should bother her.

"O-of course I'm okay with that. If that's the case."

"You sure? Because you don't look like you're cool with it, Ryuddaeng."

"I am cool with it. And hurry up, we're gonna be late."

Even though they're not, she quickened her pace – ignoring the forming feeling of something she couldn't quite name yet, nor she's planning to ever do so.

Over the next several days, Ryujin felt the need to be more distracted than usual. Besides the usual annoyance from either parent's daily reminders of how she would never ever live up to her sister's standard (aka the morning emails asking for the days' schedules) , she found herself to be a little more irritable than usual.

She spent most of her time in the clubs and getting back to other people's places – allowing very little time as possible to think or contemplate about her life.

So when exam season came, she's practically begging Lia to teach her in one of their major classes.

Aside from the promise of driving her around for a week, she also agreed to daily study sessions in the library, which didn't leave much time to do other things.

She turned off her phone for a whole week to focus.