Home; I Found With You // Ryeji FF

unspoken.

Lying on the cold ground was a feeling her body knew by heart.

Summers too hot to sleep in the car, nights spent half-awake beneath whatever roof she could find, long hours sprawled on dirt during overnight supply runs— the ground had always been her default.

Then came them.

Her family.

And Seulgi, who gave her something she never thought she'd have in these ruins, a bed.

She remembered the first night clearly. Sinking into the mattress felt like being eaten by a giant marshmallow, too soft, too enveloping. She hated it. It kept her restless, staring at the ceiling for hours.

But during those sleepless nights, she learned the quiet details of the woman who would become the love of her life. The subtle curve of Yeji's cheekbone, the barely-there twitch when she would be wandering in her dreams, the way her fingers would curl toward the centre of the bed as if searching for someone.

Now, with gravel needling into her spine and a sharp stone the wind had brought inside, digging into her lower back, she found herself studying her again.

The small habits she never noticed, the faint sniffle whenever the wind brushed past, the tiny twitch in her eyebrow when she was trying so hard not to cry. The soft, uneven snores that only Ryujin could ever hear because she was the one to always fall asleep last.

Yeji was the only living thing tying her to this world.

The only thing keeping her breathing.

The only thing keeping her alive.

All she wanted was to rest. To rest her stinging eyes. To rest her burning heart.

But sleep didn't come. Not even close.

It was relatively safe in the abandoned gas station. Chaeryeong had found a rusty chain she wrapped around the door handle with no lock.

Ryujin lay there with her eyes open, staring at nothing, listening to the shallow breaths around her, Yeji's soft snore, Chaeryeong's shaky exhales, Yuna's uneven breaths, and the brittle silence from Lia.

All of it should've been comforting.

Instead, it terrified her.

What if she lost more?

What if this wasn't the end of it?

What if God wasn't content with taking things from her?

The fear spread across her chest like frostbite. How was she supposed to survive more loss when she could barely stand under the weight of the ones she had? How could she wake up tomorrow knowing the world was no longer keeping Seulgi in it anymore?

Then it hit her. Once again.

This was why she'd spent nearly half the apocalypse alone.

The reason she kept herself to the shadows, never letting anyone get too close.

Because every time she cared for someone, every time she let a person into her heart, the world found a way to carve their name into it... and then take them away.

Her parents.

Her old friends.

Anyone she dared to love.

Everyone has left an enormous scar— letters carved deeper and deeper into the same fragile heart that resides within. And now Seulgi's name was carved there too, raw and bleeding.

Ryujin curled slightly, one hand pressed against her chest as if she could stop the ache from spreading.

She wasn't sure how much more she could survive.