Hot Chocolate || RYEJI

4

It starts with a couple of passing smiles and tiny hi's.

Whenever they would pass each other in the corridors, Yeji would lift her hand for a wave, and Ryujin would follow along. This clearly delighted the second girl because of obvious reasons, but what really brought her to life was this one night where she received a face-time call from a particular someone.

Although anxious, Ryujin slides the green button at the bottom. "Hello?" She hesitates. Only her eyes were showing.

"Hi!" She hears Yeji's enthusiastic voice, as always, and soon enough two pairs of cat eyes appear on the screen. "This little one kept clawing at the door. I even took her for a walk earlier but she kept pulling me to your apartment, so I think she really wants to see you."

Ryujin lets out a small 'oh' and a smile creeps onto her face. This time, she doesn't hesitate to show her full face.

"Oh god, she's gonna break my phone!" Yeji cries as she starts adjusting the angle just so the animal wouldn't claw at her screen. "Okay, so this isn't going well."

"Sorry! But I think next time you can knock on my door. I live in the third floor, Unit 4," Ryujin suggests. The only responses she gets is a couple of horrifying screams and the meowing of the kitten.

"Uhhh, okay! I heard like half of your sentence but I'm sure you said something smart!"

Ryujin stifles a laugh as she watches the screen blur from the amount of shaking that was happening. She wonders how Yeji handles all of that, as well as how she takes care of the energetic kitten when she apparently lives alone.

Well, that's only an assumption.

"So," Yeji exhales with the kitten cradled in her arms. They both appear to be exhausted with all the cat and mouse, so this sight of both cat eyes slowly blinking is an adorable case for Ryujin to witness. "I'm thinking that you should come over next time, or the other way around."

Being taken aback is simply an understatement. Thus, Ryujin blanks out for a moment before uttering, "What?"

"Yeah!" Yeji confirms, "She's super attached to you and at this point I think we need to make weekly appointments to see you."

At that moment, Ryujin was completely oblivious to the underlying meaning that was within the brunette's suggestion. Because in that second, all she could feel was bursts of happiness and anxiety and everything else that was pleasant and unpleasant at the same time. Mostly pleasant, but she still felt nervous nonetheless. It was only safe to say that she was probably harbouring a dangerous crush on this brown-haired angel.

So, the next day comes and Ryujin runs to Chaeryeong to tell her all about it. It's been weeks since she told her best friend about the hot chocolate incident, and throughout every one of Ryujin's updates, there wasn't a second where the latter would forget to tease the shorter girl about how rare it was.

"Dude, you realize that you're practically fangirling over her, right?"

Ryujin shoots her a look that told her to shut her mouth. It didn't work.

"Like, I just cannot believe it. I mean who knew my monotonous best friend who lived in a monochrome world could be so full of colour and energy? Certainly not me!" Chaeryeong exclaims, crossing her arms. "You need to introduce me to this Yeji, because she's done near impossible things to you."

"Shut up," Ryujin mumbles, "You're exaggerating it."

"Sure am," Chaeryeong rolls her eyes with clear sarcasm laced within her tone, "You should see how you light up every time her name shows up on your phone. I could write about this and I'm not even a writer!"

"Stick to your canvas and paintbrushes, Ryeong," Ryujin chuckles, standing up as she's now getting ready to go to her next lecture. But then, she pauses. "Hey, did you know that Yeji's best friend is also a painter?"