Settling boundaries

Chapter 2

-

Ryujin's POV

I woke up with my phone vibrating nonstop, I look at it and got tons of messages from my bestfriend and Yeji

I groaned and sat up still half a sleep, and checked the time on my phone and to my shock it's already 9:30a.m

Damn I'll be late, I cursed to myself and immediately ran to the bathroom to take brush my teeth and take a shower

After washing myself I dressed casual and took my stuff with me to finally go to the mall

I look at Yeji's text to see if she's already at the mall

I'll wait for u near the
ice cream stall:)

It's 10:20 are you on your way?

Ryuuu

?

Sorry, I woke up late but I'm
almost there

Oh, ok!

When I was at the ice cream stall, I saw Yeji and quickly walk up to her

"Hey, I'm sorry I was late" I told her catching my breath

"Woah slow down, did you ran all the way here?" She asks

"I took a cab, but ran the whole mall till here" I explained to her, which she gave me a genuine smile instead

"Come on" Yeji pulled me with her towards the store where we'll buy all the materials we need

When we got there she's still holding into my sweat shirt so I gently pulled it, Yeji realized what she did and look for the materials instead

I followed her while bringing a cart with me to store all the stuff we'll buy

After almost an 1hr we finally got all the materials we'll need for our project and we payed equally

I volunteered on carrying the stuff we bought which she agreed immediately

"I almost forgot" Yeji started "..did you eat breakfast earlier?"

I shook my head and said "I didn't bother, I was already running late"

"Well.. any ideas where to eat?" She asks

"No it's okay, we have a project to do"

"I won't carry you if you collapse so let's go, I know a place" She jokingly said while pulling me once again to follow her

We sat at the food court area and Yeji came in our table to give me pancakes with the same order as hers

"Thanks for this, how much was it?" I ask to start a conversation with her

"Oh no-no it's my treat" She said

"Sorry I can't accept that, I'll pay you seriously" I insisted but she kept refusing me

"No Ryu it's free take it please" she told me while pouting

I smiled and gave up "Thank you for treating me then"

"Of course, you welcome" Yeji answered returning the smile

We ate in silent not saying a thing, but it wasn't awkward like before. It's like I'm not hanging out with the Yeji I used to be in a relationship with

The Yeji in front of me now feels like, like she's a stranger I've gotten close with.

After finishing we grab all our things and the stuff we bought for our project we decided to finally go to my house and start.

-

Yeji and Ryujin sat cross-legged on the floor of Ryujin's room, the space around them littered with supplies.

A large cardboard box lay in the center, serving as their canvas for the science project on plate boundaries.

To its side, containers of various colored paints, lumps of clay, and a few brushes awaited their creative touch.

Yeji grabbed a handful of brown clay and started molding it into a rugged shape. "Okay, so this is going to be the continental plate," she explained, concentrating on getting the edges just right. "It needs to look strong and solid."

Ryujin, meanwhile, was working on a different section, rolling out thinner, blue clay to represent the oceanic plate. "And this is the oceanic plate. It's thinner but denser," she added, pressing it gently onto the box. "We should make it look like it's diving under the continental plate here." She pointed to the area where the two clay pieces met.

As they worked, Yeji dipped a brush into the blue paint and began to fill in the ocean around the oceanic plate, adding waves and currents for a realistic touch. "Do you think we should add some underwater volcanoes? It could show where new crust is being formed."

"Good idea," Ryujin said, grabbing some red and orange clay. "And we can't forget the mountains on the continental side. Maybe even a fault line in between." She skillfully shaped small peaks and placed them along the edge of the continental plate.

Their hands moved in unison, layering the clay and adding details with paint. They laughed as they accidentally smeared paint on each other, and chatted about their project and how it connected to real-life geology.

As the final touches were added, Yeji stepped back to admire their work.

"Not bad, right?" she said, smiling at Ryujin.

Ryujin nodded, brushing a strand of hair away from her paint-smeared face. "Definitely. This is going to be the best model of plate boundaries the class has ever seen."

With their project complete, the room still buzzing with creative energy, they high-fived, proud of their teamwork and the masterpiece they'd built together.