GIRLS ON TRACK || Ryeji

Chapter 83: Wish You Were My Child

(Guys... When I was searching for an edit of Lisa and Ryujin, I found this photo from above. From a glance, I legit thought Rosé was beside Lisa, not until I enlarged the photo to full-size.)

Ryujin's P.O.V

"This is the nearest restroom to the evaluation room," the woman we who led us explained, gesturing at the door that has a stick-woman figure engraved on it. "The evaluation's starting soon. So, don't take too long, girls." Afterward, she pointed at the far left side from the restroom, showing us the location of another room— that looks more spacious than all the rooms on this floor, judging by its large double doors. "You see that room with double doors over there? That's where the monthly evaluations usually take place. Come when you're done with your business. I'll be waiting inside there, arraseo?" Yeji and I nodded, and immediately entered the room without a second thought, closing the door right behind us. Before you can say knife, Yeji hurled me into one of the stalls with her and swiped the lock shut with a loud click.

"This is really a bad idea!" She grumbled under her breath, getting fidgety and pulling a few wisps of her hair in frustration, so I seized both of her hands to stop her.

"I told you so," I muttered, putting her hands to back her sides, and I received a nose scrunch, accompanied with an adorable pout from her. "So, what do we do? Pretend as trainees and join their monthly evaluation?" I snickered.

"I don't know, Ryujin-ah. What if we get caught? I'm too young to go to jail," she sputtered warily on the brink of tears, her voice wavering with perturbation.

"Lmao. Jail? We aren't committing a crime, Yeji. There's no way they'll send us to jail, and the only thing they could do is ban us from the building, or maybe call our parents," I retorted with an eye roll, which only intensified my girlfriend's worries, resulting a deeper ridge to form on her forehead.

"Should we run away?" She voiced out, staring at me intently with pathetic cat eyes, so I interlocked our fingers as I brought them up to chest-level.

"Yeji, aren't you the one who dragged us here?" I asked rhetorically, my eyes piercing right through her soul without tearing my gaze from her. "We've already walked into their lair, there's no backing out at this rate." She heaved a sigh with her head hung low in resignation, hence I gently lifted her chin up to meet my tender stare. "Yeddeong... We're in this together, okay? You got me right next to you. And nothing will go wrong as long as we stay low and don't draw any attention to us. What if she's in that room? I really wanna see her with my own two eyes. Even if things go south, I wanna, at least, see the woman who brought the greatest happiness in mom's life — after my grandma, of course—, and the woman who gave me this meaningful name." At this, Yeji flashed me a gummy smile, with her eyes disappearing, but I managed to detect glimmers of admiration and respect in them.

"Wow... I'm touched," she talked under her breath, wiping her nonexistent tears, yet her words conveyed pure sincerity. "Let's do it! Hwaiting!" She exclaimed discreetly as she promptly held both her fists up in front of her to express her determination; the action of which accidentally jabbed me in my ribs, owing to the confined space of the cubicle we're in. I winced sharply, feeling an achy pain coursing through my bones. "미안해, 자기야. 진짜 미안해(Sorry, honey/baby. Really sorry.)," she apologized, guilt propelling out of her weak voice as she caressed the area below my chest, where her fists just grazed past.

With a subtly strained chuckle — the lower part of my ribcage still throbbing—, I circled an arm around her nape, pulling her into a heart-to-heart hug, whilst the palm attached to my other arm held the back of her hooded head, stroking it affectionately. "날 이해해주고 항상 내 곁에 있어서 고맙다, 예지야 (Thanks for understanding me and always being by my side, Yeji-yah)," I mumbled and pulled away slightly to lower my mask down to my chin, then I kissed her forehead gingerly— I had to tiptoe, in all honesty. Speak of the cons of being a short top.