After playing golf, Eunbi leaves right away without saying much to me which is odd. Usually, after I play, she will stick around and talk to me for a while then ask me to hang out which I'll respectfully decline.
Another weird thing is, Yeji called me baby. Was she making fun of me? Was she calling me a child again like before? Is she gonna leave me again? But she kissed me afterward and it was a good kiss. Was that a goodbye kiss?
"Yeji, why did you call me baby earlier?" I ask and my mom chokes.
We're on our way home now and my parents are driving us. I'm in the backseat with Yeji with our hands together.
I wait for Yeji to respond but her face is pink again. Was it something I said? I just asked a question.
"It's a term of endearment" she finally answers.
"But you've never called me that before. I'm curious why the sudden change?" I raise our hands for no reason. Sometimes I just like to look at it in midair.
"I was jealous" she shares.
"Of? Did I not pay attention enough? Was I too focused on the game?" I worry.
"No, no" she looks at my parents and I don't know why.
"Just pretend we're not here" my dad randomly says.
Yeji nods then she faces me again, "I was jealous because of Eunbi. You may not have noticed it but she was flirting with you right in front of me and I didn't like it. I even talked to her about it but she continued to flirt so I called you baby and kissed you in front of her."
"Awww" I hear my dad say then my mom hits him on the back of his head.
"I'm sorry I didn't recognize that you were jealous" I look down.
"Hey, stop that. I'm not mad at you. I was upset with her" she lifts my head to face her.
"Then from now on, I will search for a new caddie" I say with a determined face and she laughs.
Hearing her laugh puts me at ease. Seeing her happy is enough to make me feel like I had a good day.
Sometimes I do feel like my mood relies on Yeji a lot but I can't help it. I've never had to care for someone before. It's always been me that was being taken care of so I'm just trying to remember the things that Chan and Felix did for me to hopefully help me take care of Yeji.
I can't really use my parents as a reference when it comes to caring because I don't want Yeji to see me as a parent. I also watch how Yeji's friends care for her and I combine that with what I know from Chan and Felix. I hope it's enough to make Yeji want to stay with me.
"You don't have to do that" she cups my cheek.
"I like it when you touch me like that. I don't know how it's possible but I can really feel your love for me when you do that. I also like how you look at me when you do that. Do you know that I have so much love for you that sometimes I feel like my heart is about to explode?" I place my hand on top of hers that's on my cheek.
"Our daughter is really a sweet talker" my dad whisper to my mom.
"Sshh, you might ruin their moment" my mom whisper back.
"Why is your face red?" I ask Yeji.
"Its just, I became aware that your parents are here" she hides her face in my neck and it tickles so I let out a little giggle.
I happily wrap my arms around her and I squeeze her a little.
"If I can hug you with my legs, I'd do that too but we're in the car" I comment.
"It's weird that I don't like hugs but here I am wanting to hug you with all my limbs" I laugh.
"Mom, look. I have someone in my arms" I'm enjoying this moment a little too much.
While in this position, something else crosses my mind.
"Mom, when am I allowed to have sex?" I ask and my dad nearly causes an accident then Yeji backs away from me, making me sad.
Yeji's eyes widen and her mouth hangs open. I'm trying to figure out why, did I squeeze her too tight?
"Well, do you feel like you're ready for that step?" My mom ask and Yeji is frozen.
"Mom, I think Yeji is broken" I say and my mom turns around to see.
"We should go to the hospital" I panic a little now.
"Yeji, it's gonna be okay" I take her hands to comfort her.
"She's okay, sweetie. You probably surprised her with your question" my mom explains.
"Why?" I frown.
"Normally, people don't ask their parents about sex in front of their significant other."
"Are you gonna leave?" My eyes become watery. I'm trying to get rid of my fear that she will leave when I think I did something wrong but it's hard.
She becomes unfrozen, "I'm not leaving you anymore, remember? Even if we disagree about something, I won't leave. What happened before won't happen again."
I just nod and try my best to believe what she said.
She cuddles me in the car during the rest of the car ride. My parents drop us off at Yeji's apartment and we say goodbye. I'm spending the night with her tonight so I'm excited about that. I always like the nights when we get to be together.
People probably would think that since I don't have a job then I can spend every night with Yeji but I have so many appointments that I can't because Chan or Felix has to take me.
"How was your day together?" Chaeryeong ask as soon as we walk in.
"Yeji got jealous so I need a new caddie. I thought I broke her because I asked my mom when I can have sex. She called me baby and I thought she was insulting me but it turned out that it was a term of endearment. We kissed. There was a lot of hand holding and hugs. We ate food" I give her a recap of my day.
"You didn't have to share everything with her" Yeji chuckles.
"But I do. I normally update her throughout the day but I was occupied today so I'm doing a recap now. It's what we do. She's my friend" I say.
"Wait, what? You do? How come I didn't know this?" Yeji's expression becomes serious.
"Yeji, don't tell me you're getting jealous because of me" Chaeryeong states and I look at my girlfriend if it's true but I can't tell based on her expression.
"Why would you be jealous of Chaeryeong? She's your friend" I question.
"I'm not saying she will or is but some friends sometimes betray you" Yeji explains.
I think about Chan and Felix. They've been there for me for a very long time. They've always respected me and how I am. I don't see them ever betraying me. I'm sure I'm not an easy person to be friends with but they're still there. They drive me to my appointments or any place I want to go. They always make time for me. True friends won't do anything they know will hurt you.
"Then they weren't your friends if they do that. A true friend won't betray you and Chaeryeong is a true friend. To you and me. She always shares stuff about you to help me understand you better and I really appreciate that because I want to make you happy."
"I didn't even know I get jealous this easily. I've never been in love. I've never been in a relationship. I've never wanted anyone like how I want you. I know you're scared of losing me but I'm scared of losing you too. This" she points at me then at herself, "has become my light in my dark world."
"Meeting you was unexpected but you changed my life in a good way. Ever since my parents died, I lived my life for Jinni. I didn't do much outside of work. If my friends and I didn't live together, I probably wouldn't see them much. I was in a routine or a rut, you can call it whatever, but you pulled me out of that. Now, I'm living for me and Jinni. My life feels somewhat normal again and it's thanks to you" She starts crying.
I go to her so I can hug her. After being Yeji's girlfriend for a little bit, I've come to realize that hugging her when she cries helps. I rub her back in the process because that's what people did to me when they hugged me. I never understood it but it must help since people keep doing it.
"I understand that you shared something emotional with me and I understand that it's a big moment but I'm not sure what to say to help you stop crying" I say.
"Holding me is enough" she says while still crying so it's making me even more confused. If it's enough then how come she's not stopping?
"I can't believe you'd be jealous of me" Chaeryeong laughs and Yeji breaks away from my hug.
"I can't help it. You're an amazing person so I wouldn't blame Ryujin if she falls for you" my girlfriend comments.
"I'm here to remind you that Ryujin met Chaeryeong before you so I think if they were to fall in love, it would have happened by now" Lia, the short friend, comments.
"That's not true. They didn't talk much back then but they constantly talk now so they could have fallen in love after Yeji" Yuna, the tall one, joins.
"You two, shut up. You're not helping my jealousy. Is Jinni home yet?" Yeji walks towards her room and I stay standing by the door.
Even though I've been here multiple times, I wait for them to tell me to sit because I don't want to seem rude or disrespectful. I feel like my mom would be sad if people think that about me. Not because she cares about what they think, but because she's afraid that I'll get hurt when people say bad things about me.
"Ryujin, you don't have to wait for us to tell you to be comfortable. You're always welcome here" Lia smiles at me so I finally make a move to go to the living room.
I see Yeji calling someone on her phone so I'm assuming that Jinni is not in their room.
"Where are you?" Her infamous frowning face shows.
"Why are you going there? And why didn't you tell me beforehand?" I watch her. There's something about just watching Yeji do simple things like talking on the phone. It makes me love her more for some reason. Am I crazy?
"Okay, behave yourself. I love you" She hangs up the phone.
"Where is she?" Chaeryeong asks.
"She's spending the night at Ryujin's house. Well, her parents" Yeji answers.
"I'm glad they're getting along but I get so worried that Ryujin's parents are gonna think we're taking advantage of them" Yeji breathes out heavily and I'm trying to think of the reason why.
Yeji sees me on the couch and she smiles but it's not her usual smile. She comes to sit down next to me while resting her head on my shoulder.
"Do you not like my parents?" I ask and she takes my hand to play with my fingers.
"I love them but I'm afraid that if things don't work out between us then Jinni will get hurt too" she sighs.
"Why do you say that?" I ask because I don't see us not working out unless she leaves me.
"Because if we break up then it would be weird for Jinni to keep going to your mom. She's already attached to her so it would hurt her if she can't go over to your house anymore" her answer confuses me.
"I was asking why you said if things don't work out. We should think that things will work out" I say.
"But you're afraid of losing me, isn't that the same as thinking of us not working out?" She ask and she brings up a good point.
"You know seeing you two together makes me believe in soulmates and I hate it" Chaeryeong chuckles.
"Uhm, excuse me? Yuna and I have been dating for a while and you don't believe in soulmates by seeing us?" Lia sounds like she's not happy.
The two start bickering and I look at Yuna to see what she's doing. She's not bothered by the two at all. She's just eating food at the dining table.
"You wanna take a shower so we can get some rest?" Yeji ask and I love her even more for knowing that I shower first before getting into bed. She's just the best, in my opinion.