Pleasure Therapist || Ryeji ff

- Chapter 6 -

"I'm a complete and utter dumbass."

Chaeryeong snorted, then collapsed onto the sofa next to Ryujin. "Yup."

Annoyed by the predictable comeback, Ryujin nudged Chaeyoung with her shoulder. "Maybe wait until I tell you why?"

"Oh, right." Chaeryeong's luminous grin belied her tired countenance and lit up the entire room
- Ryujin included. "Go ahead. Narrow it down for me."

Chaeryeong was her opposite in nearly every way - taller by about two inches, blonder by at least as many shades, and the product of an undeniably happy childhood; courtesy of two parents who genuinely loved one another. Her father Mason was Ryujin mother's eldest brother, a lanky, brilliantly minded engineer whose compassion for others had inspired him to join the Peace Corps right out of college. That's where he'd met Chaeryeong's mother, Clare, a fellow volunteer whose passion for teaching Ghanese schoolchildren immediately won Mason over, to hear him tell it. They married within months, delivering their daughter that same year. Chaeryeong spent the first five years of her life in Ghana, until Mason and Clare decided to return to the place of their birth in search of more and better opportunities for Chaeryeongthan they were likely to find while fighting to make the world a less terrible place. Although they'd faced their fair share of struggles after moving back to "the land of the free," Ryujin had always envied her cousin's happy little family. Their devotion to each other was palpable, like nothing she'd ever received from her own worthless egg and sperm donors.

Whatever jealousy Ryujin felt coexisted alongside a deep wellspring of gratitude. All that love, acceptance, and stability had produced her emotional rock and the closest friend she'd ever had. Bearing in mind Chaeryeong's cherished place within her heart, Ryujin resisted the urge to give her another, harder nudge. "You'll love this one, I'm sure."

Chuckling, Chaeryeong folded her arms over her chest and turned her head to meet Ryujin's gaze.
"I hope so. It's been one hell of a day, and I could really use the distraction from my own miseries."

"Is everything all right?" Ryujin furrowed her brow. "Tales of my dumbassery can wait if you're in need of a friendly ear."

"I'm fine." Chaeryeong patted Ryujin's knee. "I spent the afternoon with a male patient who suffers from early dementia and increasingly wandering hands. Nothing I can't handle, but it is getting old."

Ryujin's frown intensified. "I don't love the sound of that."

"And I don't love having my tits grabbed, but a paycheck's a paycheck." Chaeryeong's smile became even sunnier, as though to will away the ugliness of what she'd endured. "Anyway, don't keep me in suspense. Why are you a dumbass This time, I mean."

Ryujin harrumphed. "This time, huh? Nice."

"Sweetheart, this is hardly the first conversation you've initiated by confessing that you'd either already done or were about to do something regrettable and/or ill-advised. Please don't expect me to act surprised on every go-around." Chaeryeong bit her lower lip, as though to prevent her rising mirth from bubbling forth.
"We've been friends for long enough that I'm well aware of your tendency to occasionally play the fool."

Ryujin gave in to temptation and pinched
Chaeryeong's elbow, prompting an infectious peal of full-throated laughter. Even as she attempted a disapproving frown, Ryujin couldn't help but chuckle along. "Come on. That's so not true, and you know it. You've said it yourself:
I'm a remarkably well-adjusted and mature individual, given my age and history."

"Yes. One who sometimes does silly things to impress women." Chaeryeong brought her other foot up onto the couch and sat cross-legged facing Ryujin. "Unless whatever you're about to share doesn't involve a woman you hope to impress."