“I'm telling you,” Ryujin insisted, bumping her shoulder lightly against the girl's, a grin playing on her lips, “that waiter was so into you. He didn't even try to hide it.”
The girl let out a soft laugh, shaking her head as they walked. “You're imagining things, Ryu.”
“Am I?” Ryujin grinned. “Because he was cute. And attentive. And very obvious.”
“Or maybe he was just... doing his job?” Soul countered, amused.
“Doing his job by staring at you every time he walked past our table?” Ryujin scoffed dramatically. “Please. That man was gone.”
“You're ridiculous,” the girl replied, but there was warmth in her voice. The kind that came easily these days - lighter than it used to be.
“Let me live my delusions,” Ryujin whined dramatically, flailing her arms for emphasis. “It makes studying bearable.”
Soul laughed, shaking her head as they stepped out of the café, the warm afternoon air wrapping around them.
They had met up to study in a small coffee shop not far from campus, books spread across the table, cups slowly going cold as they got distracted more often than not.
The smell of coffee still clung to their clothes, their backpacks heavy with notebooks and half-finished flashcards.
They had spent hours inside - too long, really - hunched over textbooks, sharing earbuds, complaining about exams.
Dinner had been a spontaneous decision.
One of those why not? moments that felt natural - easy. It sounded better than instant noodles tonight. The girl had mentioned that Bang Chan, Seungmin, and Jisung were coming over, that her cousin would be there too. Ryujin had shrugged and smiled and said, Sure. Sounds nice.
Now they were walking side by side toward the girl's place, their conversation drifting lazily from school to music to absolutely nothing of importance.
That was when the sound of tires slowed beside them.
A black van rolled up next to the curb, matching their pace for half a second before stopping so close that the girl could see her own reflection ripple across the tinted window-two girls frozen mid-step, sunlight abruptly swallowed by shadow.
Both girls halted instantly.
The window slid down with a low mechanical hum, revealing a man leaning comfortably inside, one arm resting on the door as if this were the most natural encounter in the world.
Soul felt the subtle shift in the air when something familiar appeared where it wasn't supposed to be.
“Hey, shorty,” The voice slicing through the relaxed chatter between the two girls.
“How was your weekend?”
His tone was smooth, casual -too casual- like someone who already assumed familiarity, which startled Ryujin slightly.
“Jump in,” he added lightly, nodding toward the back seat. “I was told to pick you up and bring you home.”
Not a question.
A statement.
Ryujin felt her pulse spike.
Her gaze flicked to Soul, searching her face for recognition - for confirmation that this made sense.
The girl blinked, genuinely confused, her brows knitting together as she looked at him, clearly trying to place the situation rather than the person, searching her memory for any version of reality where this made sense. Pick her up? She hadn't planned on being picked up. And Home was the other direction.
