INEVITABLE

Chapter 25

Ryujin's sure something's changed.

It's been only a day since she'd last seen her wife--a day after she and Jisu finally crossed the line.

But for whatever reason, her wife feels like a different person now.

Is it Ryujin, or is it Yuri?

Or is it the spirits work because she has finally embodied her duties to her soulmate?

It's strange, Ryujin thinks. How come her wife's touch on her arm, which she's been familiar with for years, feels foreign to her now?

And when her wife kissed her cheek, she felt... nothing.

"Boo, you look different today," Yuri comments as they walk out of the airport.

"Huh?"

"You seem glowing. What have you been up to yesterday?"

Ryujin looks straight ahead.

Sex.

It was pure sex the entire day. Sex with her soulmate.

"Uh... just... sleep..." She says. "I slept for sixteen hours."

Yuri chuckles. "Yeah. You looked like you did. You look so fresh. I should sleep too once we get back home."

Ryujin thinks home seems to be a different place to her now.

---

She is a horrible person.

It comes as a passing thought when the asleep Yuri unconsciously moves to nuzzle on Ryujin's neck.

Ryujin runs her palm along her wife's back, thinking, feeling the guilt creeping up her body.

It was wrong for her to sleep with another woman. Her wife doesn't deserve infidelity.

But is it wrong for someone to sleep with their soulmate? Didn't the spirits themselves will it?

And why does it felt so right to do it with Jisu?

Ryujin remembers everything vividly; how she held her soulmate, kissed her, touched her, tasted her--everything felt like they were meant to happen.

Ryujin doesn't have much experience with relationships as it's been only Yuri since then. But now that she met Jisu, she finally sees the huge differences even in the simplest gestures.

Like with the way they sleep. Why is it that Jisu's head seems to fit better in the crook of Ryujin's neck?

How come her hands seem to be molded just to fit Jisu's face?

Whenever she holds Jisu's hands, how did it happen that their fingers perfectly lock like it's their innate function?

It was like they were meant to hold each other, meant to love each other.

Love.

Is it already love or is it just the works of the spirits?

How is it different from the affection she's feeling for her wife?

And what is Ryujin supposed to do? It would be unfair to leave her wife--her lover of ten years, her best friend--just because she found her soulmate. But it would be unfair to Jisu too if Ryujin would keep their relationship in the dark.

They can't be forever like that, seeing each other once or thrice a week to sleep together.

Which she still plans to do, by the way.

And is actually looking forward to it.

"This can't be happening." Ryujin groans, smacking a fist on her forehead.