"What's this??" Yeji exclaimed upon seeing the tiny gift Jisu had prepared for her.
After their not-so-little moment of a kiss on the dance floor that brought about quite the reaction from Yuna and Chaeryeong who squealed loudly while Ryujin stood there with the largest, most annoying I-fucking-knew-it grin she had, and even Jisoo who looked on with a subtle smirk, they continued to dance for a bit more, purely enjoying the way their arms seemed to wrap around each other perfectly, while their bodies moved in unison to the beat of the music, before Jisu finally took hold of Yeji's arm and led the two away from the dance floor and back to the table where their coats were, surprising the older girl with the gift she had put together.
"I-It's nothing much ...," Jisu answered shyly, her little fingers fidgeting with uneasiness, worried about what the silver haired girl was going to think of her present.
Yeji carefully unwrapped the green and red wrapping paper, revealing a new knee brace underneath that was in Yeji's favourite colour, black.
"D-Did you make this!?" Yeji exclaimed once more, her mouth gasped forming the shape of an 'o' while her eyes grew as wide open as they could.
"Yeah I did," Jisu replied with a relieving sigh upon seeing the older girl's reaction. "It was a real headache figuring out the physics behind a proper knee brace," she added.
"I can imagine!" Yeji quickly responded, for she knew that making sportswear wasn't just simply knitting yarn together. There was actual science and technology behind it and the fact that Jisu learnt all of that to make what was essentially a tiny piece of fabric surprised Yeji to no end.
"Oh? And what's this?" Yeji asked upon noticing the 3 little embroidered words that was written in a sky-blue colour subtly placed on the bottom edge of the knee brace that spelled out "trust in myself.".
It was Yeji's personal motto. And though the silver haired girl never answered whenever Jisu would ask what it truly meant, she knew Yeji had always tried to live by it ever since they had met, especially when it came to basketball.
"I thought it would be a little too plain to leave it all black..."
Yeji continued to admire the way the words were stitched on in a neat font, while the bright blue colour stood out among the black background of yarn and fabric.
"Thank you, Jisu-ya," Yeji said with a grateful smile. "I'll make sure to wear it every game."
"You better," Jisu teased back.
"I ... I actually got something for you too," Yeji awkwardly chuckled as she scratched the back of her head. "But it's not here."
"Oh you mean it hasn't arrived yet? That's oka-"
"Oh no!" Yeji quickly interrupted. "I-I meant we kinda have to go somewhere else for it."
"Wait what??" Jisu replied in shock, hoping what Yeji got her wasn't anything too much, or even worse, too expensive. But nevertheless, it would be a lie to say she wasn't curious.
"It's not much," Yeji said with a laugh after having already expected the younger girl's reaction.
"Are you sure?" Jisu asked with one eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"Yes. Really," Yeji answered with a wide smile. "We can go after we've had our fun here," the silver haired girl continued as she turned to look at the other 3 and Jisoo, and even her cousin who had just been forcibly dragged onto the dance floor and was pretty much being forced to dance by the others to the now once again upbeat music that was being played, and it was quite the hilarious sight if Yeji could say so herself, almost making her want to take out her phone to have it on record, just in case her cousin ever annoyed her too much.
"Do you wanna go back there?" Yeji asks while lifting her arm and offering her open hand to Jisu, which the girl took almost immediately, no longer with any hint of hesitation or doubt, as their hands locked with one another, their fingers fitting perfectly within the spaces between them.
"Sure," Jisu answered with a playful eyeroll and the left corner of her mouth curling up slightly, as the two made their way to join their friends once more, hoping to dance the night away in what could only be described as a moment of euphoria, their bodies still surging with dopamine while the taste of each others lips still lingered on, the memory of the kiss they shared only a few minutes ago forever engraved into their minds.
-----
"U-unnie ... a-are you sure about this?" Chaeryeong nervously asked, as they slowly pulled up to a place that the three younger kids recognized almost immediately, and if it weren't for Jisu being blindfolded at the request of the silver haired girl, she would certainly recognize where they were at too.
"Chaeryeong-ah, you're making me nervous," Jisu whined, though still trying her best to keep her cool.
If Yeji was being completely honest with herself, she would answer no to Chaeryeong's question, as she nervously tapped the steering wheel with her restless fingers. But they were already here, and although a small part of Yeji was anxious and slightly questioning why she chose to do this, a large part of her believed this was for the best.
"It's okay. I think it'll be fine," Ryujin whispered from the passenger seat beside Yeji, noticing her best friend's nervousness as she placed her hand on the older girl's shoulder, while Yuna did the same for Jisu behind them.
Yeji let out a deep sigh as she carefully reversed her car into an open parking spot in the basement, before stopping the car and turning off the engine.
"I heard that, Yeji-ya," Jisu complained upon hearing the older girl's sigh. "And it's not making me feel any better."
"It's okay unnie. Trust in Yeji, okay?" Yuna comforted with her usual bright tone, though Ryujin could immediately tell how nervous her girlfriend was too.
The 5 got out of the car, with Chaeryeong carefully guiding Jisu, making sure the shorter girl wouldn't bump her head on her way out.
"A-am I still not allowed to take this thing off??" Jisu asked.
And almost instantaneously, she felt a hand gently take hold of hers. A hand that was slightly bigger than hers, and rougher, but a hand that was able to comfort her uneasiness the second it touched her own.
"We're almost there," Yeji calmly spoke, and though Jisu couldn't see, she knew from the girl's voice that that there was a warm smile on the older girl's face, and that was enough for her to completely put her trust in the silver haired girl.
They carefully entered the building from the basement entrance, with Yeji holding onto Jisu's hand tightly, taking slow and steady steps to make sure Jisu would feel at ease as much as possible.
The eldest took out a keycard from the chest pocket of her blazer, showing it to the security guard that was stationed by the entrance of the lobby, before they entered the elevator and slowly made their way up the building.
"H-have I been here before?" Jisu suddenly asked much to the surprise of the other 4.
"Hey no peeking unnie!" Yuna replied immediately.
"I'm not!" Jisu quickly denied. "I-it's just ... it feels really familiar. The sound of the elevator, the smell of it. I-it doesn't feel new ... ..."
"...You'll see soon enough," Yeji calmly responded, playfully patting the shorter girl's head as if to say she's doing a great job.
After getting off the elevator and arriving in front of the door to their destination, Yeji turned to look at the other 3, wanting a final confirmation or some sort of conviction that what she was about to do wasn't the dumbest thing she had ever done.
"It'll be fine," Ryujin answered confidently, giving her bestfriend a comforting nod with Chaeryeong and Yuna following as well.
"Guys I'm still here," Jisu interrupted, making the others laugh and thankfully, ease the noticeable tension that had been building up since their car ride.
"Jisu-ya ... you trust me, right?" Yeji asked, her hand still clutching onto Jisu's, though just slightly tighter than before.
"That's not the most comforting thing to hear when you're blindfolded," Jisu answered, bringing out a light chuckle from the silver haired girl. And while Jisu didn't answer the older girl's question, Yeji felt a slight squeeze of her hand from the shorter girl, and that was enough to let her know that yes, Jisu did indeed trust her with all her heart.
"I guess I'll take that as a yes," Yeji responded with a subtle grin.
The oldest took one last deep breath, before tapping the keycard on the doorknob censor and opening the door slowly, carefully leading Jisu inside with the 3 following closely behind.
Upon setting foot inside, both Chaeryeong and Yuna gasped at the sight of the well decorated room, while Ryujin could only mouth a silent wow.
"C-can I take this off now?" Jisu asked, in which Yeji responded by letting go of the younger girl's hand and moving to stand behind her, before cautiously untying the blindfold.
Jisu blinked several times for a moment, adjusting her eyes that had gotten use to the darkness of the black blindfolds to her new environment, and with each blink, she slowly came to the realization that where she stood was in fact, not new at all.
They were in Jisu's old apartment.
The one she had spent much if not all her high school years living in, and though much of the furniture remained in the same spots just as it had been when she first rented the place, there were Christmas decorations adorned all over.
The living room itself was dimly lit, with only several yellow-ish orange string lights illuminating the place in a warm festive glow. There were 5 large red socks hung by the wall just above the TV, while Christmas ornaments could be found scattered all over, from a few cute elf plushies that sat by the sofa, to the little different sized Santa statues that adorned the empty shelves. There were even mistletoes hung by every doorway possible. And by the corner of the room, was a medium sized Christmas tree, well decorate in different sized round bulbs of various styles, some coated in glitter while some were glossy and metallic smooth, while the lights that wrapped around the tree changed from red, to blue, to green, to yellow, to a mixture, every few seconds, each complimenting the yellow-ish orange hue of the whole place in different ways.
"Is this why you asked for our secret santa gifts?" Yuna exclaimed as she excitedly pointed towards the present she had wrapped herself that was underneath the tree along with other gift boxes of varying sizes.
Yeji nodded with a smile, happy to see the youngest excited and amazed, as were Ryujin and Chaeryeong too, who were also walking around the place, admiring the way the eldest had created such a picture-perfect Christmas living room, while also reminiscing the times they use to come over to Jisu's place, whether it was for late night study sessions or even just to chill and talk, which most of the time ended with everyone sleeping over.
"How?" Chaeryeong asked. "How did you get the keys to this place again?"
"I-it wasn't easy ... I had to go around asking for the building owner's number, and then asking for the landlord's number, and then asking her if I could rent the place out for a night ...," Yeji answered.
"And she let you?" Ryujin responded.
"Uhh ... yeah, sort of ...," Yeji replied hesitantly, hiding the fact that she actually had to pay a whole months-worth of rent for this one night as the landlady didn't rent the room at a per-night rate.
All the while, Jisu hadn't moved a single step from where she stood, rooted on the same exact spot this whole time and only staring emptily ahead, as if she couldn't believe where she was.
"H-hey ... w-we can leave if you don't like it here ..." Yeji softly said as took a step forward to stand by the shorter girl's side.
But to her surprise, Jisu only silently took hold of Yeji's hand, before finally taking a step forward, and then another, and soon enough, Yeji found herself being guided by the younger girl as they slowly walked around the apartment, with Jisu holding on tightly to the older girl's hand while looking around the familiar interior of the 4 walls, occasionally raising her other hand to just gently graze the surfaces of the furniture she had used all those years ago, her mind and thoughts going completely blank with every second that passed.
And while she wanted to ask why Yeji had brought her here, Jisu also knew she didn't need any explanations from Yeji, for she understood all too well what the silver haired girl was trying to do by bringing her here.
This was where Yeji had left Jisu three years ago, on that last fateful night before Yeji took off, disappearing from her life for what she thought was going to be forever.
And here she was, three years later, back in the place that was what she still considered to be the closest to hell she'd ever be.
For the pain that she had endured, the anger that had coursed through her blood and veins, the tears that were shed every time the moon rose up from the horizon, and the hope that day by day tragically slipped away from her grasp, it all but reminded Jisu of how lonely she had felt to be confined within these four walls all those years ago.
Yet this time, in the same surroundings, no longer did she feel alone.
This time, Yeji was there again, by her side, holding her hand tightly, as if to tell her that this time, she wasn't going to leave.
Not again.
This time, Yeji promised to stay.
That from here on out, no longer would Jisu have to walk her path alone.
That she'd once more have someone to share her pain and burden with, whether it was from the past, in the present, or later on in the future.
And that person was no one else but Hwang Yeji.
And just like that, what Jisu once viewed as an empty, dark, and grim space inside 4 looming walls now seemed oddly bright, pleasant, beautiful, and dare she say ... hopeful, as the sweet, fond and precious memories she had made in this place that she had once thought were forgotten and buried came flooding back, washing away the anguish she had once felt about this room.
And it made the shorter girl pull the taller girl in, wrapping her arms around the silver haired girl's waist and resting her head upon Yeji's chest, her ears now able to clearly hear the older girl's rapidly beating heart.
"T-thank you," Jisu muttered out, her voice cracking slightly at the end as single tears began to run down her cheek.
Yeji didn't answer, instead enveloping the smaller girl in her warmth and resting her own chin on top of the younger girl's head, her hand gently rubbing Jisu's back as the two embraced into a tight yet comforting hug.
The two stayed in that position for a few seconds, neither one of them wanting to let go of the other, only to be interrupted soon enough by Ryujin who spoke up with a grin on her face.
"Sorry to disturb the both of you, but are we staying here for the night?"
Yeji nodded with a smile, with Jisu still in her arms, as she continued to share her warmth with the younger girl who only seemed to hug her waist even tighter with each passing second.
"But what about our pajamas? And our toothbrush? Or shampoo?" Chaeryeong quickly responded with a bit of concern in her voice.
"Check Jisu's old room," Yeji replied with a wink, gesturing her head over to the only closed door remaining in the whole apartment.
"Oh!" Yuna exclaimed upon entering her bestfriend's old room, as she saw 5 pairs of red pajamas neatly folded and placed on the bed.
"The toiletries are all in the bathroom too, and there's ingredients to bake cookies in the fridge. There's Netflix on the TV too, and there's several boardgames in the shelf just in case," the eldest added with a proud look on her face.
"Wow... ... Yeji unnie really is the best," Chaeryeong answered, giving the older girl a two-thumbs up with both her hands.
Just then, Jisu finally slowly lifted her head up, and upon doing so, Yeji quickly wiped the girl's tears away with her thumb.
"Are you okay now?" Yeji softly whispered with a subtly teasing look, though she continued to gently caress the younger girl's soft cheeks despite already wiping most if not all the tears away.
"Yeah ... I'm alright now," Jisu said after a letting out a light chuckle, which brought out a soft smile from the older girl's face.
"Good. Cause we still have Christmas to celebrate."
Author's Notes:
Hi everyone🥰! Long time no see apologies for the few days of no uploads I was busy with work😅.
But now I'm back! And did you guys watch today's Naver Now episode?? That final scene with Yejisu and 2shin had me crying😭❤️.