Manual Of The Forbidden - Ryeji

Chapter 32

The smell of alcohol invaded my nostrils, almost reaching my throat, making me wrinkle my nose and cough. I began to open my eyes slowly and caught sight of a silhouette next to me.

—Ryujin,— I whispered. But the voice that responded to my call wasn't the same I had heard before.

—Are you feeling better, Yeji?—

I rubbed my eyes and blinked repeatedly to clear my vision. Eunwoo had a cotton ball in his left hand and his gaze fixed on any change in my expression.

—Where am I?— I asked, looking around, but instantly, another, more important question arose, and I scanned the place again, this time with desperation. —Where is Ryujin?—

—Calm down, tell me you're feeling better,— Eunwoo insisted, concerned. —You're in the back of the hall.—

—I'm fine! Where is Ryujin?— The place was darker than illuminated, but clear enough to examine every corner.

My mouth started to tremble with an uneasy —no— on my lips, afraid that it had all been just a hallucination in my head.

I grabbed Eunwoo by the collar of his shirt, leaning towards him and realizing that I was lying on an old sofa smelling of dampness.

—Where is Ryujin?— I almost shouted, desperate, believing that I was going crazy, if I wasn't already.

Eunwoo's silence made me think the worst, and I felt my heart shrinking with anguish in my chest.

—She's... she's talking to a guy, just outside the room,— he said, and my eyes widened.

My heart beat faster than my thoughts, reviving with thunderous beats pounding against my ribs.

I got up from the sofa, as if pushed by it, and ignored the dizzy spell that overwhelmed my head. I walked briskly to the door of the place, and being slightly ajar, I managed to see what my heart desperately wanted to feel again.

I would recognize that back with that totally black hair among millions. I didn't hesitate to go out to meet her, but the name she uttered froze my feet in the same spot without a single muscle moving, bringing to mind the second before I fainted.

—Jaehyun, I...,— she stammered a bit, but hearing the sound of her voice again was like a blind person seeing the sunlight again. —I just don't understand you.—

—What don't you understand, Ryujin?— The guy's voice prompted me to focus on him. He had black hair, was taller than Ryujin, his mouth was wide as well as his forehead, covered by his hair, all of that along with his flat nose made him look like a doll, but of some brand that occupied the second place in sales, overshadowed by the first place so as not to ever rise to it. —I'm telling you in the simplest way I can,— he continued. —Breaking up was a mistake, it affected me so much when I found out you had left!— he said, with feigned melancholy, even I could notice it.

So he was Jaehyun. When I remembered what Ryujin had told me, I almost wanted to go out and tear his hair out with my own hands.

—Yeji,— Eunwoo called me, but I didn't move, I stayed there, behind the door, listening and watching everything.

—Jaehyun,— Ryujin took a moment to continue and then spoke slowly. —When we were together, everything I said to you was sincere and real. You were the person I loved the most,— she fell silent again, and along with that lack of sound, my heart sank.

Did she still love him? I looked at Jaehyun's face, ecstatic with joy, as his smile grew a little more every second.

What was the point of the joy of my madness working now? What hope was there in having her right there if her heart was still far away? There was nothing if she still loved Jaehyun.