Home Is You [Ryeji]

CH. 23

"The longer you wait, the worse this gets." Jisu shrugged, sitting back with a huff.

Yeji felt the rays of morning sun greet her through the window, and she blinked, taking a step forward. Her eyes scanned the balcony, taking in every inch of the railing. "I think I have an alternate route." She murmured.

Jisu shot out of her seat. "Oh, Yeji, god no. You're not thinking-"

"It's time I returned the favor." Yeji nodded, her lips twitching into a little half smile.

"Wait." Chaeryeong sighed. "Are we seriously doing this?"

Yeji stiffened. "We are not. I am."

Chaeryeong sighed, clapping Yeji on the shoulder. "Can you just, be careful? Ryujin will kill you if you die."

At that, Yeji furrowed her brow, and stepped out into the open air.

She thought of Ryujin's first acrobatic attempt, back at the apartment, rose in her mouth like some cheesy comedy film. Yeji had loved her then, and Yeji was head over heels for her now.

A little height wasn't about to stop her from letting Ryujin know.

Peering around the edge of the separating wall, she nodded to herself. She could do this, for Ryujin.

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The incessant knocking on Ryujin's hotel room door was driving her insane. She hadn't gotten more than maybe five or six hours of sleep, and tearful hours at that. She'd gotten up and dragged herself into the shower to cry more, as soon as Chaeryeong had left her apartment. She'd decided that, if Yeji wanted to break her heart, then she was at least allowed to mourn properly. If she wanted to spend the whole day holed up in their- no, her hotel room, that was her prerogative.

"Shut up, Ryeong!" Ryujin called as she pulled on her shorts, towel drying her hair with little enthusiasm. "I really don't feel like talking."

There it was again.

Knock.

"Chaeryeong!" Ryujin called from her bathroom, gritting her teeth.

Knock.

She rolled her eyes as she pulled herself into the living area, reaching for a mug, pouring water into it to make an instant coffee that tasted about as appetizing as it sounded.

Knock.

"Oh, for the love of-" Ryujin ground out, whipping around to open her hotel room door.

To her surprise, she found nothing. No one, not even those annoying kids from down the hall whom she and Yeji had seen playing "ding-dong ditch" with the floor's other guests.

"What?" Ryujin's eyes widened slightly.

And then she heard her voice. Her favorite voice in the world, the voice that was currently haunting every waking (and dreaming) second of Ryujin's miserable existence.

"Ryujin?" Yeji's voice, shaky and present, sounded again.

Ryujin whipped around, eyes widening at the sight, gaping as she dropped the coffee mug, watched the handle shatter off as it rolled uselessly around the floor. "Yeji?!" Ryujin gasped, blinking, as if she were to disappear in a moment.

Yeji was there, in all her glory, donning her jacket and looking ridiculously tired with her messy bun and her mildly scared expression.

And then there was the fact that she was on the balcony, floors and floors above the ground. Had she-