I Used To Be Alright

Chapter 4

Yeji

Yeji was surprised to receive Minjeong's invite on a school night.

She wasn't sure why but since the party, she has been seeing Minjeong a lot, and almost everywhere – in the library, in the cafeteria, even with Ryujin when the latter stops by for the usual chitchat.

She also has received a few messages from her containing random memes, or links to some funny video – which seemed pretty harmless. So she didn't bother asking where she got her number from.

It wasn't annoying or creepy. But the sudden attention from someone whom she knew for as long as she knew Ryujin was a little surprising.

Her friends have been telling her that the girl might want a little more than friendship from Yeji, but she didn't want to jump on the same boat and embarrass herself. Hence, her sending replies to the girl as a courtesy.

Tonight, though, was a little different. She has been staring at her phone for ten minutes trying to decipher the tone and the intention of the message.

I really don't know how to ask, Yeji.

But are you free tomorrow night to go out to dinner with me?

A dinner sounds fine. But why does she have to ask her that way?

And why does it have to be on a school night, on the week of the exams? Is she trying to get free lessons or something?

Several thoughts went through Yeji's mind. She couldn't possibly ask her best friends as they are as clueless as her when it comes to these things, so she sent a message to someone whom she's sure can help her understand it.

Not even after a minute after sending the message, she was startled to see her name on the calling ID displayed on the screen.

"Yeji-ah. What's up?"

"Hey. I wasn't sure if you're at home or somewhere else. Anyway, I just want your opinion on something."

"I'm listening."

"I received this text from Minjeong and I was trying to figure out what she meant by it."

There was shuffling on the other end before Ryujin answered.

"And you're asking me that because..."

"Uhm. Because I thought you'd know?"

"Alright, forward me the screenshot."

There was a pause on the other line and Yeji wasn't sure if Ryujin was still there.

"Ryu?"

"I'm here."

"So... what do you think?"

"Hmm. Do you want to go to dinner with her?"

Yeji contemplated, not sure how the question was relevant to what she's trying to figure out, but answered anyway.

"I guess dinner with her is alright. But what I want to-"

"Then go to dinner with her. Don't overthink it, if going is really what you wanted to do."

There was a slight strain in Ryujin's voice when she said it but Yeji was more weirded out because the brunette cut her off – and she has never done that in all the conversations that they've had. Despite her being all cocky and unserious, she has always respected the feline's phase in all their exchanges.

"Uhm. Okay. Thank you for taking the call, Ryu."

She heard a heavy sigh from the other line followed by the beeping sound of an ended call.

She must've had a bad day.

She thought, as she reopened the message from Minjeong.

A week after the exams, break has finally come.

Yeji and her friends were driving towards the airport when she received an unexpected call from Ryujin.

Since the last phone call, Yeji has felt animosity whenever they find themselves in the same space – and almost unintentionally, at that. Because for the whole two weeks, she didn't hear anything from the brunette.

Initially, she assumed that the other girl was busy with preparing and taking the exams. Ignoring the fact that she would almost always see her walking in the opposite directions in the hallways, almost as if she was intentionally avoiding bumping into her.

But when she only got a wow emoji after sending a specific article about new fossils that were discovered in the beach near Yeji's hometown, she knew something was up.

On a normal day, Ryujin would've delved into an animated discussion with the feline eyed. Because, despite having two very different majors, fossils are things that they'd always find the same fascination about.

So she was a little more than surprised when she saw her name on the caller ID.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?" Chaeryeong asked from the shotgun seat.

Yeji nodded and waited for the other person on the line to speak first.

After a couple of seconds, she heard Ryujin's voice.

"Yeji-ah."

"You're on speaker, because I'm driving."

There was a pause, followed by a semi-stuttering response.

"Oh, O-kay. I just want to let you guys know that we're here on the benches in front of Terminal two."

Yeji ignored her friends' questioning looks. For days, they have been jumping to conclusions as to why Ryujin acted the way she did when she found out about Minjeong's invitation. Things that go along the lines of – she must be jealous because she has liked you all along, and whatnot.

But these were immediately disproved whenever they remembered that the topic of discussion was Ryujin – who's carefree, and practically doesn't develop feelings towards other people.

When they got into view, Minjeong was the first one to greet them. She ran towards the group and gave Yeji a quick embrace.

"Hey."

"Hi."

The two groups soon mingled and made their way towards the boarding gate.

Ryujin was still awfully quiet but Yeji could see that she's doing her best to at least acknowledge her presence; contrary to Minjeong who stayed glued to her side the whole time. It was a relief that Lia and Minju were both nice and very accommodating towards them, so her two friends fell into easy conversations with them.

Soon after, they boarded the plane and settled into their seats.

It should be a quick trip.

But, despite the very attentive Minjeong beside her, Yeji couldn't help but glance towards a certain brunette who's sitting on the front seat across hers.