Eternity [ryeji]

Chapter 51

Ryujin wakes up to a dark room. She yawns and searches blindly for her phone to see what time it is and suddenly senses that she's being watched.

She rubs her eyes and turns her head to see Yeji lying down next to her, watching her.

Ryujin frowns and mumbles sleepily. "You're creepy."

"I'm just making sure you're not going anywhere."

Ryujin huffs then opens her arms. "Come here."

Yeji scoots closer, letting Ryujin pull her into a warm hug.

"I won't run away from you again," Ryujin says as she leans her head against Yeji's and fixes the blanket that covers them. Unlike herself, Yeji's now clothed and Ryujin likes how Yeji's body warms up her own.

"Better safe than sorry," replies Yeji, closing her eyes. She loves being held by Ryujin like this and she has missed it a lot during the lonely nights when Ryujin wasn't there.

"How long have you been watching me?"

"I don't know. I got hungry so I took a snack break and a shower in between."

"You should've woken me up."

"You looked tired."

Ryujin shifts her head to press her lips against Yeji's forehead. "I love you," she says, against her better judgment, because maybe saying it would convince Yeji that she wouldn't repeat her mistake. Maybe it would change Yeji's mind about the current state of their relationship. Maybe Yeji would let her get a head start and try to win her back now instead of after she graduates and gets a job because Ryujin is willing to do anything for the woman she's holding in her arms, because she now realizes it's impossible to live without her even if only temporarily. She can't even describe the feeling of having her right there in her arms after one and half years apart. It cures every longing and all the stress she's been under.

I'm finally home. And now I realize that I only need you to feel at home.

"Who's Alicia?"

"Wha-..." That's not the reply Ryujin's expecting. "Alicia? Err... my classmate? How do you know her name?"

"Your phone kept ringing when you were asleep. I thought it was urgent so I took it out of your bag to give to you but then the ringing stopped. I saw the caller's name," explains Yeji. "Is that the same classmate who came with you to Korea?"

"She didn't come with me, okay? I helped her book a flight, that's all. She's leaving in a week."

"But you traveled here together, right?"

"For practical reasons, yes," Ryujin answers. She moves so she could see Yeji's face. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course," replies Yeji coolly, refusing to meet Ryujin's gaze. Her brain's busy trying to devise a way to find out more about this Alicia without sounding jealous.

Lucky for her, Ryujin seems to understand what she's thinking so she starts to explain.

"Alicia is a Korean girl who was adopted by a British couple. She never knew her real parents and her Korean is limited to words she learned on her own from K-pop songs or Korean variety shows," she says. Her right hand gently caresses Yeji's back as she talks.

Yeji hides her smile, secretly loving the gesture, and snuggles closer.

"She has known about the adoption since forever, of course, considering how different she looks compared to her Caucasian parents. When she turned thirteen, she told them that she wanted to find her birth parents. Her parents supported her and they slowly started to track her birth parents down. Finally, earlier this year, they got news that her mother now lives in Seoul."