Your Name || yejisu

Chapter 15

A/N pls ignore if u see some mistakes, I'm just gonna edit it if I have a free time

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" How do you want me to do that?" Ningning replied " I love you Lia but this..." she gestured between me and Yeji and then around  " This is...this....Arghhh..."  she grabbed her hair in frustration  "I don't know anymore,"

She sat back on her chair, looking conflicted and in that moment I thought I had broken her. She was staring straight ahead, lost in her thoughts but I could see the internal battle happening inside her head.

"Lia don't deserve to suffer any more than she already did,"  I turned my head toward Yeji who had stood up from her spot on the floor. She seemed to have gained some sort of new confidence  "She almost died. She doesn't deserve to have her private life exposed any more than it already did. Neither does she deserve to be judge or hate for it. You're her friend." she finished in a calm voice.

Ningning slowly rose up and came closer to Yeji, an unreadable expression on her face. My heart was pounding in my chest. She stood in front of Yeji, looking like a child due to their height difference. Yeji was dominating her by a good head but it was Ningning who had the upper hand. She had the power to destroy us both.

"Do you love her? Really love her?" She simply asked, looking into Yeji's eyes with firmness.

Yeji seemed a bit taken aback by that question but wasted no time to answer without breaking eye contact.

"Yes...I do...with all I have,"

My heart did something in my chest that I couldn't comprehend and the warm feeling in my stomach came back. I inhaled deeply trying to control this feeling and to not let it be apparent.

I looked up at the girl who made me feel this way, it was the first time since I got to know her again that I saw Yeji being so confident and I got to say it kind of surprised me. It was so different from her usual self and yet it suited her well.

The two stayed staring at each other for a moment, Ningning assessing Yeji and her true intentions, and Yeji trying to prove she wasn't the person Yeji had in mind.

I didn't dare break the silence, I was so scared. My heart threatened to rip out of my chest at every beat. I was holding on, on the edge.

Finally, Ningning broke their staring battle and came toward me. She kneeled in front of me, delicately taking my hands. Her eyes looked into mine, all the anger in it earlier was gone, her eyes were sparkling as she seemed somehow sorry.

"You loved her too, didn't you?"

I nodded, unable to speak due to the lump that had formed in my throat. A sudden tear rolled down her face, taking me aback. " I'm so sorry,"  she muttered before putting her hands over her face, crying. I didn't know what was happening. Why did she react like that? I looked up at Yeji who was just as confused as I was. So I did the only thing I could think of; I hugged her tightly in my arms.

" It's ok," I whispered.

-
After comforting Ningning, I realized how late it was. So I texted my mom that I'll be late and Ningning proposed to go back home with me to be my alibi. Ningning swore to not say a word and she wanted to be kept in the loop.

Yeji was staying behind at the treehouse to clean up the mess but I knew it wasn't the only reason. She wanted to let Ningning and I talk on the way home without being an obstacle for Ningning to express herself. Also, she was kind of scared of Ningning, which was really funny to me but I reminded myself that Yeji saw Ningning as one of the people who hang around the people who bullied her.