Yeji has been lying on the sofa for an hour and a half, scrolling through profiles and swiping in the yellow bee app that she re-installed for the nth time.
This has been the most boring summer break of her college life so far. She usually plans in advance and gets a summer job but the coffee shop she usually works in has been temporarily closed until further notice. A renovation of some sort, the sign says.
As always, her parents are overseas on a business trip and didn't even bother checking in with her if a summer at home would be favorable.
Psh. I don't want to come home to an empty house anyway. Yeji told herself.
And so the long days of staying in bed, ordering take outs and night club hopping began. Most of her friends went home, and her best friend decided to take some elective classes so most of her days are spent slacking around her apartment.
She stares at her phone screen absentmindedly. She usually goes for girls who look for the same things - a quick, meaningless fling. And everything else that goes with it.
She's not one to commit or look for relationships. Especially at a time when she's slowly feeling the pressure of business school.
The doorbell startled her and she dropped her phone to her face.
"Mother f-"
That's when she remembered that she placed an advance order for today's lunch.
She hurriedly went to the door and received the large pepperoni from the delivery man. The smell made her stomach growl. She grabbed her phone from the sofa and sat on the dining table.
Hey! :)
A message from the app was previewed in the notification pane.
When she opened it, she saw a photo of a pink-haired girl who was smiling so wide, she almost looked like a cat because of the whiskers-like folds on her cheeks.
Ryujin. Her displayed name said. Yeji visited her profile, wondering why she didn't remember swiping right on her.
Age: 21
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Height: 1.64m
Hobbies include Dancing, Singing, Taking Photos and Reading
Prompt: 2 truths and a lie
I have never dated anyone.
I am good at dancing but too shy to dance in front of other people.
I like John Green more than Emily Dickinson.
Yeji scrolled to the bottom of the profile and surely, below her spotify top artists is something that she already saw coming.
Looking for: a relationship
She had to double take and make sure she read it right.
Her eyeballs grew wide when she realized that she must've accidentally swiped right on her when her phone fell earlier.
She went back to the chat window and was about to press the unmatch button when she saw a typing bubble come up from the other end.
After what seemed like a minute of waiting, the typing bubble disappeared.
And appeared again.
Disappeared.
And appeared again.
Her annoyance was growing so she decided to send a message.
Y: Whatever you're trying to say, you need to come out with it fast. I'm very impatient and you might not be able to send that after a minute.
An immediate reply came in.
R: I could tell.
Y: What?
Yeji grew even more annoyed with the vagueness of her answer.
R: That you're very impatient. But I'm the opposite so that's okay :)
She was about to send a whole text about her being over assuming and confident when she received another message.
R: I was trying to tell you that your photos look really good and that white suits you.
R: I know white suits a lot of people but especially you.
R: I'm pretty sure you pop out in any crowded place. With your adorable smile and all.
She was taken aback by the sudden compliments and felt somewhat guilty. But it was immediately cut off by the messages that came after.
R: That wasn't me! My r
R: My roomste stole my phone and sent tha
Judging by the uncoordinated messages, Yeji figured that this Ryujin must be fighting for the possession of her phone with whoever her roommate is.
She chuckled and shook her head lightly.
"I guess unmatching her could wait."
She locked her phone and dug in the pepperoni pizza in front of her.
After her meal, she felt so full that when she laid back down on the sofa, she immediately dozed off.
*
"That wasn't cool, Lia!" Ryujin whined in annoyance. "Now she isn't even reading my messages."
Lia couldn't help but feel bad for her best friend.
She just got home from her summer class when she saw Ryujin pacing around the kitchen while staring at her phone.
After the mandatory teasing upon discovering that her best friend finally gave in and installed a dating app, she attempted to help her construct the message that she was trying to send a certain cat-eyed girl whom she matched with.
The girl on the other end seemed impatient, and Ryujin isn't the best at being prompt. So Lia took the matter in her own hands, snatched the phone, and sent quick replies to try and save the conversation.
It didn't seem like she helped at all because the messages remained unreplied.
After minutes of waiting, she decided to back off.
"At least she did not unmatch or block you", Lia sheepishly smiled and retreated to her room to give the other girl a space.
Ryujin popped down on the sofa and continued to stare at the now quiet chat window.
She clicked on the girl's profile again and looked at her photos for the 4th time. Or was it the 5th?
"Gosh, she's really pretty."
When she received a notification from the app earlier, she immediately ran towards her phone to check if it was what she thought it was.
She had only been scrolling for less than an hour when she came across the girl's profile. She made sure to be careful and read through the profiles before deciding... at least until she came across Yeji's. She hasn't swiped right on anyone until her.
Those piercing eyes caught her off guard. She knew she had to swipe right.
Her profile was almost bare. Aside from two photos, she included a couple of basic information about herself. She's 22 and is 1.67m tall. At the end of profile says:
Looking for: Something casual. Hard pass on relationships.
Despite that, Ryujin mustered all her courage and sent a message. That obviously didn't turn out well.
After one last check, she decided to let it go.
She walked back to her room and took a quick shower before going back to bed.
"Still got a few more hours before my shift", she yawned and buried herself under the covers while scrolling through her Facebook.
It has been 2 weeks since she started working part time at a local nightclub near their apartment.
She took a job as a waitress when the summer break started. It pays well and she needed the extra income so when she came across the ad on Facebook, she did not hesitate to apply for it.
Turns out, there weren't many people who wanted the job because of the shift, and because they'd rather be in the night club than serve in the night club. Ryujin wasn't a night club person, anyway, and she'd rather sleep through the mornings so it was the perfect job for her.
In the nightclub, too, was a singer named Sana. Ryujin met her on her first day and she was the reason why Ryujin downloaded the dating app.
"You know, lesbians, they like to keep it on the down low. It's still pretty risky to hit up on women out in the open", she said as she took a swig of her beer. Usually, Ryujin would take offense in assumptions about queer people but she was clearly in the presence of a drunk woman who came from hours of tireless singing, so she let it go.
The casual drunken talks with Sana turned into a Friday night routine. And she would, without missing a beat, encourage Ryujin again and again to try and go out more. Find women online.
Live your life and stop wasting time waiting to be ready.
She was sure that wouldn't stop until she talked her ears off so she decided to fuck it and installed the app one morning when she got home from work.
She didn't expect to see someone as gorgeous as Yeji there.
If the profile wasn't verified, she would think that she might be a catfish. But the blue check beside her name says otherwise.
Why would a woman that good looking even be in a dating app when she could clearly pull off anyone in person?
Sighing, Ryujin put down her phone and closed her eyes.
She can resume her train of thoughts later, she thought to herself. For now, she needs to sleep if she plans on coming out of the night's shift in one piece.
A/N
Tell me what you guys think. :D