Hershe (Ryeji ver.)

15 - Girlfriend

"Hey, honey. I've been looking everywhere for you."

Ryujin is undeniably shocked to see Yeji there. Even so, Yeji's presence gave her momentary solace. She was on the verge of falling from the cliff when Yeji came in to save her.

"Honey, are you okay?" asked Yeji, holding Ryujin's face.

Ryujin peeked at Heejin for a second just to see that the latter was surprised too with Yeji's sudden appearance.

"H-how did you know I'm here?" she asked Yeji.

"I was looking for you and noticed that your IM status was idle, so I asked Taehyun." Yeji pulled her hand away to intertwine their hands together.

And Ryujin loved the warmth of Yeji's hand on hers. She looked at Heejin. "Uh, Heejin, this is--"

"Yeji, right?" Heejin's eyes were on Yeji who nodded at her. She shifted back to Ryujin. "Have you forgotten your girlfriend and I have already met?"

The term girlfriend is too much for Ryujin to take. "Uh. Yeah. I forgot..." She scratched her head.

"Ryujin has always been forgetful lately because she's too busy." Yeji brushed a stray hair from Ryujin's eyes. "Right, honey?"

Ryujin felt Yeji squeezing her hand. She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah..."

Heejin studied Ryujin for a moment. "Your hair was long when we met last time. Decided to finally cut your hair short?"

"It's her request." Ryujin pointed at her fake girlfriend who smiled.

"Ahh." Heejin nodded.

"Um. Could you excuse us for a while?" Ryujin asked Heejin. "Yeji and I need to talk outside for a moment."

"Sure. We'll just be right here."

Ryujin didn't waste any second and dragged Yeji along outside the room.

---

They let go of each other's hands once they are outside.

"Are you all right?" asked Yeji, looking worriedly at her.

Ryujin evaluated herself for a second. "I think... I think I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm cool."

Yeji exhaled. "Okay. That's good to hear."

"How did you know I'm here again?" asked Ryujin, still confused.

"I was looking for you because I needed to hand over the materials from Felix. Taehyun told me you're here."

Ryujin hummed. "And are you aware that Heejin is here?"

Yeji nodded. "I saw Heejin's picture on the outline Taehyun showed me."

"Oh."

"I went here because I was worried. It might affect you. It might affect your work. You lost the ability to speak the last time Heejin showed up in your apartment."

"Oh." Ryujin scratched the back of her neck, feeling embarrassed. "Thanks, Yeji."

"Were you affected?" asked Yeji.

"I don't know." Ryujin shrugged. "I'm confused. I thought she won't affect me anymore. But hearing her speak the way she spoke to me before made me feel something."

"Something like?"

"It's hard to explain." Ryujin smiled. "But I felt nostalgic a while ago there. Suddenly it felt like everything was coming back to me."