It'z You [𝟸𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙽/𝚁𝚈𝚄𝙽𝙰]

past

"Wow, time really flew, huh?"

Ryujin blankly stared at the cup of tea in front of her and nodded.

"My fiancee"

Yeji's voice echoed in her ear like an unwelcome siren. What's worse is that Lia is completely oblivious to how the pain of waiting felt like. Ryujin felt foolish. How could she expect that her first love, a beautiful, kind, and talented woman like Lia, wouldn't find anyone in ten years? Lia went to Canada, Japan, and back to Korea. In three countries, two continents, and ten years of living, she was bound to change. She was bound to meet someone.

Ryujin was rather a hopeless romantic who had so many suitors yet a cold heart that could only be melted by Lia, or rather, the Jisu she loves until now.

"Ryujin-ah, are you listening to me?"

The latter's eyes widened and she cracked an awkward grin, "Sorry. I'm still really overwhelmed. You..." She stared at Lia in a daze, "... are still so beautiful. You didn't change, Jisu-ya."

"Call me Lia, now. Don't you think it suits me a lot more?" Lia playfully flipped her hair and chuckled. Ryujin bitterly smiled and nodded, "Quite so."

"Anyway, I asked you... how's your love life? I'm sorry we couldn't keep in touch as I wanted. It was difficult adjusting to the other side of the world, and also... I knew you had your own things going on so I didn't want to bother you."

Excuses, excuses, nothing but excuses. Ryujin laughed and mindlessly stirred her tea, her eyes empty of joy. Or in fact, empty of any feeling at all.

"You know, the same. I never changed, Jis- Lia." My heart stayed the same throughout those ten years.

Lia nodded and didn't know what to say. They both knew what she had just referred to, but she wasn't certain if it would be appropriate to bring that up.

2022. Ten years ago

Ryujin was never one to have small crushes on anyone. When all her friends were boy crazy, she decided to slowly distance herself from them and found joy in reading books instead. There was this one book that suddenly changed everything.

"Oh, I took it first."

"Well, I took it second. And now it's mine," The girl on the other side of the bookshelf stuck her tongue out and snatched it with all her might.

Ryujin gawked, "H-Hey! Rude?!"

The girl walked around to meet her on the same side and grinned, sticking out her hand.

"I'm Choi Jisu. Wanna be friends? So we can bond over the newest volume of Beastars together?"

Ryujin thought that was the best offer she had received in her 19 years of living. She accepted her handshake and since that day, the two were inseparable.

In the next year of their friendship, things started to get rocky as Ryujin was developing feelings for her and suspected that Lia did as well.

Lia mentioned wanting to go to Canada to study abroad there and eventually work there to follow her dream of studying astronomy, particularly of the Northern Lights. Ryujin thought she was quite weird even back then but she didn't expect Lia to follow through with this quirky, yet intriguing dream of hers.

Lia's departure came sooner than she imagined. Her father was so excited to see her that he bought her plane ticket as a surprise. One afternoon, when Ryujin still expected at least 72 hours with her, Lia made a school-wide announcement with the help of the student who usually had control of the intercom.