Paper Hearts「2Shin」

Breakdown

"Oh! Ryu, welcome back to school- Wait. What's with that look?"

It was the morning after and Yuna was nowhere to be found. All her belongings weren't at Ryujin's place anymore and she rakes at the back of her mind if it was something that she did?

All she got was a little sticky note from Yuna that said,

"Unnie, I'll see you around.
Thank you for taking really good care of me. I appreciate you so much.
Take care.
- Love, Yuna ♡"

Chaeryeong handed back the sticky note that Ryujin gave for her to look at. Her best friend is upset that Yuna left without even waiting for her to be awake and she's at school to look for Yuna.

"She should be here, Ryujin. Don't worry." She comforted her friend who was trying her best to not cry, patting the girl's back as she slumped over with her head on the table.

"Look, on the flip side, at least you're at school. Come on, you'll have something to look forward to and we might get to graduate together!" Chaeryeong said. Looking around to see if there was a Shin Yuna insight.

"You don't think-..." Ryujin's voice croaked. All she could do was just stay silent and hide her face. She couldn't bear the thought of Yuna leaving her behind. What did she do? Did she say something wrong? Was there a mishap between the both of them? She can't help but wonder.

"Ryujin... She won't leave you. Everyone in this school knows how loyal she is." Ryujin sniffled, wiping the shy tears that were clouding her vision and sighed. Maybe Chaeryeong was right, there's no way Yuna would do that to her. Not after their short period of being alone together.

Ryujin's fear of abandonment was getting too irrational but what can she say? She's been practically living alone since she was 7 years old with the help of her nanny, Sunmi. Her parents were never around to see her grow up and achieve goals that other parents would have been proud of. Yeji left and has a deep grudge on something that wasn't in her control. Only Chaeryeong stayed and now, Yuna.

She doesn't know what to think with this fear of hers that had been haunting her since she was still a kid.

The bell rang, indicating classes are about to be in session. Ryujin looked around once more, in hopes of seeing the blonde girl but to no avail. All Ryujin could do was sigh as Chaeryeong dragged her to their class.

Ryujin focused so hard in class, too hard apparently that Yuna keeps reappearing in her head. All the what-ifs intoxicating her mind, the sticky note replaying itself like a broken tape over and over again.

What did Yuna mean by 'I'll see you around'? Why did it seem like she's leaving for good? Did she hear what Ryujin said last night and got scared of it? Was Ryujin just thinking too much?

"Shin Ryujin, is there a problem?" The teacher called out, eyes focused on the pen that Ryujin had been tapping on her table unconsciously that disrupted the class and her blank gaze that were obvious to most.

"No, I'm sorry." The teacher sighed and shook his head before continuing the class. Chaeryeong looked over to her left to check on Ryujin who was now diligently writing down notes in her notebook.

All she could offer was a back rub to soothe the girl's anxiety.

It didn't take long until Ryujin sniffled again and excused herself to run to the nearby toilet so that she could just bawl her eyes out for some relief.