A little over a year have passed since their break up. Ryujin is struggling to move on. Truthfully, she doesn't know if she can and she's accepted that. She's accepted the fact that she might spend the rest of her life alone and die alone. She still believed that Yeji will come back to her.
Ryujin still cared for Yeji a lot so she would constantly ask Lia to give her updates about Yeji. Is she doing good? Is she happy? Is she eating properly. Yeji broke her heart but that never stopped her from loving the girl. Lia was the only person Yeji stayed in contact with.
Yeji seems to be okay Lia said. She never gives her a lot of details and Ryujin never pushed her for it.
Yuna didn't agree with that. She thinks she's just hurting herself more. She wants her sister to find someone who will appreciate her. Ryujin understands why her sister is that way and she's thankful for her.
To make her sister happy, she did try dating other girls but she just didn't feel that spark with them like she did Yeji.
Her bestfriend, Chaeryeong just supports Ryujin's decisions. She's always there to listen when there are nights that are harder than most.
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Another year has passed, Chaeryeong and Lia are getting married. Yuna decided to continue her education abroad. She didn't want to leave at first but Ryujin convinced her otherwise. Yuna has always wanted to go but she didn't want to leave her sister.
Ryujin was at the reception for the Lee/Choi wedding. She watched people dance, laugh, sing, Chaeryeong performed a dance for Lia, Lia sang a song for Chaeryeong, Ryujin gave her award winning speech as their best Lady, and Yeji wasn't there.
She sat by herself at the open bar smiling to herself, happy for her friends but feeling a bit of jealousy that she's not married or even no where near being married to someone she loves.
She was deep in thought when she felt someone sit next to her. She turned to see who it was.
"Hey, you look like you could use some company" the woman said.
Ryujin laughed, "Did I look that lonely and sad?"
"Weddings are tough for single people. You're not the only one feeling lonely and sad" the woman laughed.
"I'm Karina by the way. And might I add I enjoyed your speech earlier." The woman introduced herself.
"Thanks. I'm Ryujin. So how do you know the brides?"
"I work with Lia. How about you? What do you do?"
"Ahh I have my own business. I create curriculums for schools. Specially STEAM related projects" Ryujin said.
"Mind if I accompany you the rest of the reception?" Karina asked.
"Go ahead. Better than sitting by myself" Ryujin chuckled.
"So I'm surprised someone like you is still single?" Karina tried to start a conversation.
Ryujin took a sip of her drink, "It might sound pathetic but I'm still hung up on my ex."
Ryujin took another sip. "Yeji right?" Karina asked.
Ryujin choked on her drink and stared at Karina, "How did you know?"
"Lia told me. She's actually been trying to set me up with you" Karina laughed.
"Oh my god. Is that why you're talking to me now? I'm sorry I can't promise you anything. It won't be fair for you to even give it a shot since I still have feelings for my ex."
"That's okay but I do want to help. Maybe we can go on a few dates and see how it goes?" Karina asked.
"I don't know Karina. That doesn't sound like its gonna end well. I don't want to hurt you."
"How can you hurt me when I'm the one asking for this? I know what I'm signing up for."
"But why?" Ryujin asked.
"I honestly don't know. I just feel the need to try this out" Karina simply explained.
"Okay. Let's try."
After the reception, Ryujin took Karina home.
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Ryujin did take Karina out on a few dates. They had a good time together. They got to know each other and spent a lot of their free time together.
Ryujin tried her best to care for Karina but the latter knows Ryujin is still hung up on Yeji.
She tried her best to help Ryujin move on from Yeji but it was a harder task than she thought but they were making it work.
They spent a year together but in the end it just didn't work out. Ryujin still hadn't completely moved on from Yeji and Karina ended up falling for her cousin, Winter.
Ryujin's heart didn't hurt anymore when she thinks about Yeji though.
Ryujin sometimes still wonders what went wrong in their relationship when she's alone.
She misses Yeji. So much. So she decided to do a little social media stalking. She found her Instagram right away. She was scrolling down when she found a picture of Yeji in a wedding dress.
Her heart ached seeing that but she smiled through the pain. She was happy for Yeji. Yeji's happiness has always been her goal and looking at the picture, she looked happy.
After seeing that, Ryujin thought maybe it was time to move on for real now. Stop hoping for something that will never happen.
Sometimes love doesn't work out. First love doesn't mean only love. Ryujin learned that the hard way. Ryujin doesn't regret loving Yeji. She will forever cherish the girl that made her the happiest in her life.
That's the story of her first love. Her Cliché Love Story. Where two people fall in love but doesn't always have a happy ending.
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"And that's it. Thank you everyone for coming to my final book reading in this tour. We're going to take a 10 minute break then we will get started with Q&A" I said before leaving to use the restroom.
