I Used To Be Alright

Chapter 16

Yeji

"Ryujin-ah?"

"Hi."

Yeji tried her best to hide the surprise in her voice when she saw who was calling her.

"What's up? Everything alright?"

She wasn't sure if she was the girl she saw outside the coffee shop the other day – but it's highly unlikely to see her around that area, so she was convinced that it's probably just her missing the brunette, since they haven't really hung out for a week.

And as if the universe was reading her mind, she was surprised to receive a very specific call from Ryujin.

"Yeah. Everything's fine. I just-"

There was a pause on the other line.

"I miss you."

Yeji almost dropped the phone when she heard the statement.

"And I was hoping we could hang out tomorrow after class? Have dinner or something."

There was a pause in the line. Both seemed to be measuring what will happen in the next several seconds. Until Ryujin broke the silence.

"Only if you're free, of course. I don't want to get in any way of your schedule."

"I'd love to have dinner, Ryujin-ah."

There was another pause – this time, they're pretty sure that the other is smiling on the other line.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Awesome."

"I guess I'll see you outside my classroom tomorrow?"

Both of them chuckled.

"Definitely."

The following day couldn't come any slower.

"Looks like someone barely got any sleep last night." She bumped into Yuna as she was yawning her way towards her first class.

"Good morning to you, too."

"Couldn't stop thinking about your date?" The taller girl teased.

"It's not a da- I mean, we can't be sure."

"What? I thought we'd already agreed on that. It's definitely a date. And Ryeong agrees with me on this one."

Yeji playfully rolled her eyes and chuckled at her friend.

After the previous day's invite from Ryujin, she sent a casual message (or at least she thought it sounded casual, despite the hours she spent revising and rephrasing it) on their group chat saying that Ryujin asked her to hang out and have dinner together.

Yuna and Chaeryong, as expected, jumped into a video call that lasted for a couple hours – arguing that the invite was definitely a date.

She'd like to believe that it was because of the call that she didn't get enough sleep the night before. But the weird feelings in her stomach would say otherwise – if it was excitement or anxiety, she couldn't tell. All she knew was that last night was one of the longest nights she had.

"Alright, alright. Meet you guys at lunch."