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."
After her last class, she found Ryujin leaning on the usual spot where she typically waits. She took a couple of seconds to just look at her and found herself smiling as she continued walking towards the brunette.
"Hey."
Ryujin looked up and an instant smile broke out in her face.
"Hi. You ready to go?"
Yeji nodded and fell into stride beside Ryujin.
They remained quiet during the walk, which was typical. But Yeji noticed that the brunette now walks a tiny bit closer to her, their arms almost brushing.
"Do I get a hint of where we're going... or should I just accept my fate and follow?" The feline eye teased, gaining a smile from the other girl.
"Accept your- what? May I remind you that you agreed willingly to this date?" Ryujin bumped her shoulders playfully.
"Well, yeah. I did."
Wait. She said-
Date.
She said date.
There was a moment of silence after the soft giggles when they both realized that they just labeled the activity as a date.
Ryujin feigned a cough before continuing.
"S-so I'm planning to show you my favorite place, my go-to whenever I want to relieve stress."
"Ah, a place to relieve stress. Just what I need." Yeji smiled at the brunette sheepishly.
"You probably won't need it because you're the least stressed person I know. I just thought you'd like to see some places that I've kept for myself."
Yeji smiled and nodded. "I would love to see it."
The affirmation earned a beam from Ryujin. She suddenly turned into a kid who looked giddy and excited to show someone her favorite spot.
Has she been this cute this whole time? Gosh.
The feline eye tried to hide her blush as they continued to make their way towards their destination.
Yeji was surprised to witness a lot of children running around as they make their way towards the far end of a public park for kids.
Ryujin led her to the back of an abandoned-looking house as she pulled out a key to open the door.
"Come on."
When they reached the 2nd floor, she saw two empty chairs facing a huge glass window – the view captured the whole park perfectly.
They sat down and enjoyed the view.
"I don't know if this will freak you out but I love spending time here. This is an old admin building that has been abandoned for years now. I like seeing these kids run around so freely. Like there are no worries in the world."
Yeji looked at her intently – appreciating her profile and the sudden softness that was shown in her eyes.
"I've always felt like I wasn't able to be a kid. To act like one, at least. My family... We have a very complicated dynamic. And now I'm in my 20s, and my idea of fun is to sleep around and waste my time in trying to find what is it that will make me feel alive. Like really alive. You know, not those pretentious parties and all. So it's been comforting... seeing all these kids get to live their life as kids."
She suddenly felt the feline eye's stare and shook her head out of the trance.
"Well, what a way to ruin the mood."
She chuckled awkwardly and grinned.
"Anyway, this is it. And I often bring food or drinks here. It's a good spot to look at the lights, too, at night."
Yeji smiled and nodded.
She wanted to say more – an assurance; comforting words to mirror the other girl's genuine confessions – but her mouth failed her. She has always been inept when it comes to providing comfort. She would take things directly the way they are and say stuff that she wouldn't realize were not comforting at all. So she almost always avoids speaking up on moments like this.
But this time, she was actually bummed that she didn't say anything.
Nonetheless, the afternoon went well.
They exchanged some lighter stories and Yeji got a little more of Ryujin's sensible side. Despite them being in constant communication for the past weeks, it was still good to hear the brunette not talk about her escapades and whoever she went home with.
In fact, she seemed to have laid low on the whole sleeping around thing. After the last incident at the bar, she hasn't received any more drunk calls from her – which she takes as a good thing.
She also found it thoughtful that the brunette actually prepared for their hangout (or date? Who knows) and bought some takeaways for them to eat while watching the flock of kids play around.
By sunset, they were already walking back to Yeji's dorm.
The walk was the same as earlier – mostly quiet. Only now, they intentionally bump into each other and laugh about it.
It made Yeji feel all warm inside, it's almost unbelievable. She had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from smiling too much.
Soon after, they said their goodbyes – both unable to hide the blush that crept on their cheeks because of the quick goodbye embrace.