Your Name || yejisu

Chapter 20

I stood in Lia's street, staring at her house from afar.

I didn't want to get too close. Just in case.

I had never been here. Too afraid that someone might see me hanging out around her house and make the connection.

I stood there, unsure of how to proceed. The only sure thing was that I wanted to see her or at least understand what was happening. I had texted her again. Begging her to call me or just send a text if she saw it. I told her I was getting worried and her friends too. But nothing. Not a single word. No even a letter.

"What are you gonna do, stupid?"

I jumped in fear. Ryujin was looking at me, hands in her pockets. Chilling.

"What the hell, Ryujin?"

She put a hand up in front of her, shaking it around  "Please, don't say my name. It's already difficult enough as it is,"

My brow knitted. What was difficult? Being here? With me?

Yeah, probably me. I was always the problem.

"Why are you here?"  I asked.

She sighed, looking in direction of Lia's house.

"I'm here because I want to know where my friend is,"  she looked back at me  "I care about her....just like....you but in a different way. You know? A friendly way,"   she gestured at me with a slightly disgust expression. "Plus, she has some explaining to do,"  she glanced me up and down.

Of course, she did. How could she be with someone like me, right?

We stared at each other in silence for a moment before she shook her head and looked back at Lia's house.

"So, no activities?"

"No,"  I sighed "Nothing,"

She nodded. I did too. It was awkward.

" I also came because Ningning was worried about you,"  I looked at her but she kept staring at the house  "About what stupid shit you might get yourself into,"  she let out  "I told her I'll come here and keep an eye on you to appease her,"

" Th...Thank...you,"  I was unsure what to say about that. It was nice to see that Ningning cared about me even if we didn't really know each other. When it came to Ryujin, well, it was weird that she cared but maybe she was realizing that one of her best friends wasn't the person that she thought she was and she started to reassessed who she thought she was. And maybe accept her.

"Don't thank me. I'm here for Ningning and Lia not you,"

I chuckled. Maybe I spoke too soon. What was I expecting anyway? I couldn't expect to change someone view of the world. But I had hoped she would be nicer. Guess not.

"So, what's your genius plan?" she asked.

" I...I don't have any,"

She laughed  "Ningning said you were smart but apparently not,"

Ok, now she started to get on my nerves. I didn't have the patience to deal with this when Lia was still missing.

"Well, what do you suggest, smarty?" I spatted.

Shit, maybe I went a little too strong. I shouldn't have shown my anger like that because her eyes left the house and stopped on me with a deadly glare. She advanced toward me and I saw her fist clenched. Shit.

"What did you just say?"

" I knew you two wouldn't play nice together ,"

Suddenly, Chaeryeong appeared and snatched our hands, dragging us to a car. She pushed us in the back seat where Ningning already was. Yuna in the passenger seat. Chaeryeong got in the driver's one quickly. I was squeezed in between Ningning and Ryujin. It was really uncomfortable.

"So.." Chaeryeong turned on her seat to look at the backseat  " What were you two planning?"

"Nothing," Ryujin scoffed  "The dumbass didn't have a plan ,"

"Hey!" I interjected, offended.

" Of course she didn't have a plan" Ningning defended me  " She's an emotional wreck. Look at her"

Did I really look that bad?

"It's true that she looks worse than usual,"  Yuna agreed.

What did she mean by 'worse than usual'? What did I look like on a normal day?

"We could sneak to the back of the house and throw rocks at Lia's window?"  Ryujin proposed out of nowhere. Stopping my roasting session.

I had to give it to her it wasn't a bad idea. Why didn't I thought of that? Guess I was too absorbed in my problems to think rationally. Like Ningning said 'an emotional wreck'.

"All of us?" Ningning asked.

"If we send dummy here she'll keep Lia to herself and we won't have any answers,"

I knew I should feel offended by that but I started to become insensible to Ryujin's words. At this point, it was best to ignore her.

"I'll go with her," Chaeryeong stated "You three stay in the car,"

"Why?"  Yuna whined "Why you?"

Chaeryeong sighed holding back her anger "Because...we all know that I'm the only responsible person in this car so case closed. Shut up and stay here in silence. The last thing we need is the neighbors complaining,"

With that, she opened the door and got out. She passed her head inside before closing  "Yeji, let's go."

The thing was that I was trapped. Between Ningning and Ryujin. I looked at each side hesitating but Ningning was definitely the best option.

"Uh....excuse me."

"Oh, yeah. Of course," she got out, letting me back in the street before climbing back in and closing the door.

I looked at Chaeryeong who gestured for me to follow her in silence. We went to Lia's front lawn and Chaeryeong guided me to the back of her house. The garden although I never saw it appeared to be a generic type of garden. There was nothing really distinctive or maybe the dark hide the interesting part.

Chaeryeong pointed at a window on the first floor. Lia's. She searched on the ground and I did too but the rocks were too big for the purpose we intended to use them for. It would only break the window.

That's when a crazy idea crossed my mind.

"I'm gonna climb." I whispered to Chaeryeong whose eyes widened.

"Are you crazy?"

I definitely was. That's was Lia's effect on me or rather the lack of her that was driving me insane with no sense of survival instincts. I understood what junkie felt. You'll do the craziest thing for your needs.

I didn't wait any longer and started climbing with the disapproving look on Chaeryeong's face on me. It wasn't long before I was near the window. It was really a high climb. I hung in there on the tip of my toes.

The room was in complete darkness, it was impossible to distinguish anything. My heart was pounding in my chest and weirdly it became hard to breath. I knew it was a sign of an upcoming panic attack so I closed my eyes and breathed.

After a moment I felt better. I softly tapped at the window. 1...2...3 times. Every time a bit louder. Lia, please answer I begged in my head. My wish came true. A form moved in the room. She turned on the light on her nightstand and looked toward me. My heart skipped a beat. She was so beautiful with that surprised face that I almost cried. She was here. Safe and sound.

She threw the covers away and almost tripped out of her bed. She stopped by the window as if to make sure I was real. The glass was the only thing separating us. She opened and her perfume hypnotized me. Oh...the absolute delight.

"Ye...Yeji...what..."

Tears started to form in her eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked at the same time.

I couldn't even get an answer. The door of her room burst open, her parents came inside.

Fuck.

They looked at me in shock. I looked at them with fear.