Your Name || yejisu

Chapter 13

Two weeks had passed since the incident. I had consumed the two diaries in one weekend after my encounter with Yeji. It was like entering Wonderland, discovering a world that belonged to someone else. It was rather nerve-racking when I got reminded that it was me. I was the main character of a story that I didn't remember.

I paced in my room so much after reading some passages too mind-blowing for me to handle. However, once I was done I wanted to know what would happen next. But this was next. Right now. The girl got into an accident, lost her memory and she was now me.

I didn't know what to do after all that. So I confessed my worries to Yeji who listened to everything without the slightest annoyance on her face. She was patient with me; walking at my pace, massaging my leg which by the way felt so nice. She apparently learned multiple techniques through internet tutorials and I got to say, it worked. I wished she could also massage my headaches away.

In the past two weeks, we met as much as we could at the treehouse. Well, when I could. I would tell my parents that I was with the girls and I would tell the girls that I was home. Was it reckless? Probably but I knew that if I got caught I could always say that I was having some alone time.

In consequence, I distanced myself from everyone except Yeji. I got to learn a lot about her through the diaries and I continued to learn every time we hang out together. She didn't make any move on me and I knew she wouldn't. Her priority was my comfort and my well being even if it cost hers. I could see how sometimes she was restraining herself or she was about to do or say something but froze for a few seconds before moving on like nothing happened.

This Thursday was just like any other now. I lied to both parties and I planned to hang out with Yeji at the treehouse, even if the ladder was still the path to hell but hey, no pain no reward, right?

" I still don't get why we have to do all this homework on the book when we already did that in class," Yeji whispered, sighing.

I chuckled as I passed the door that leads into the hallway.

"Is it me o...or are you com...complaining a lot this week?"

She faked a hurt expression, putting her hand on her heart which made me laugh harder but we were in public so I stopped rather quickly. We continued walking down the hallway not too close to each other.

"What class do you have?"

" One tha...that is going to give me an he...headache,"

"So...math," she concluded, smirking at me from the corner of her eyes.

"Did I ha...hate this class before too? "

"Uh...It's a big yes,"  she chuckled.

I sighed heavily, not surprised by the answer.

"Well, I have calculus with Mrs. Park so it's no better. See you later,"  she said turning into another hallway, leaving me with my loneliness.

I looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. Ningning was just a few meters away with wide eyes. My heart started pounding. How much did she see? In any way, I needed to play it cool, as Yeji said. I approached her with a wide fake smile on.

" Hey, Ningning! Re...ready for some men...mental torture?"

She kept staring at me, blinking.

"Ningning? Are you ok? "

"What were you doing with Yeji Hwang? What did she say to you? "

"I..."

" And don't say nothing, I saw you," she exclaimed, raising a finger before quickly looking around shyly and retracting it.

At this point, I knew she wouldn't let go of it. Ningning was a curious cat, she was always the one to find the truth about all of the rumors and hear-said that circulated. So I decided to lie.

"Ok..Ok, she too..took notes for m...me in class and we talked ab...about our upcoming homework. That is all ," It was kind of the truth.

"Ok ,"  she simply replied after a moment, taking a hold of my arm and leading us toward our class.

It was really odd, she would usually ask a lot of questions even for simple things. She was a teacher's nightmare; always questioning things, asking for more details, etc...

" Did you know that Karina is pregnant?"  Ningning blurted out of nowhere so innocently like she hadn't just revealed a whole ass secret.

"Seriously?"

-
" Arghh.." I huffed, crashing down onto the bean bag that Yeji had installed into one corner of the treehouse. "We re-really need to do something about this ladder,"

Yeji kneeled in front of me taking out weird bottles out of her bag.

"Sorry to say this missy but we can't really do anything about it. Unless I drag you on top with a rope,"  she grinned.

"haha...really funny,"  I replied, smacking her arm lightly  "Wha...what is all of...this anyway?"  I pointed at the display of 6 bottles she got out of her bag.

"Well... "  she started scratching the back of her neck, a bit embarrassed " Please, don't laugh,"

Her expression alone made me want to laugh. Her cheeks began to be so red.

"Yeji, come on!"  I whined.

"Ok, well...I've been thinking about your leg and your headaches a lot, you know. I did a lot of research and I came across this,"  she pointed at the bottles " It's little potions I made with essential oils,"

After being shocked for a moment, my smile spread widely and my eyes got a little teary.

"Yeji-yah...It's so sweet,"

She continued scratching her neck, still embarrassed but I could see the proud little smile she had on.

"Don't thank me just yet. Let's see if it works,"

" Are you going to try it now? "

" I can try one for your leg? " she proposed.

"Sure,"

It was a good thing I had sweatpants so I could pull it up easily. One thing I had realized over the past week was that I didn't mind physical contact with Yeji. I was really sensible with people touching me especially when it came to my injuries. However, I had no problem letting Yeji massage me, even if it meant that she saw my scars.

When she opened one of the bottles, the strong smell invaded the place in no time.

" Ew,"  I tried to block the air from entering my nose  "Yeji...It's...no,"

She came closer to me  " I know this one smell bad but it's supposedly the best out of all,"

She put some on her hand and I kind of gagged.

" NO...Yeji. You are n...not putting this on me ,"  I tried to push her away, not letting her hand reach my leg. " YEJI...EWW...NO,"

She started laughing, a mischievous look appeared in her eyes and she became playful with her hand.

"Come here....come here,"  she laughed. Her other hand grabbed my calf but not too hard to not hurt me. She has always been very delicate and I appreciated that even in this commotion she stayed the same.

"YEJI...NO,"

"Come on, it's going to feel good,"  she chuckled.

At one point, her hand managed to find a way to my knee and the oily liquid felt like ice on my skin.

"AAAHHHH,"

"STOP,"

Both of our heads snapped in direction of the entrance of the treehouse.

There, Ningning was standing with an angry expression.