Icy like diamonds || Ryeji

Chapter 18

Yuna had made sure to sit on the edge of the couch, making her sit besides Yeji and giving her an annoying teasing look.

Unfortunately, she couldn't do much about the seating arrangements, though she tried her best to keep her distance. Luckily, the couch was big enough to leave some room between her and Yeji. Something caused by the older of them sitting on the other edge, obviously trying to create distance between them as well.

It was rather ridiculous, considering they were engaged. But she could count on one hand the number of times they had actually made physical contact with each other. Even now, after two months, they had barely invaded each other's personal space. Let alone consciously touch each other. Except for that one time they had held hands. Something that she might have replayed in her mind a lot since.

Each of them had been holding popcorn, something that had surprised both her and Yuna. Since Yeji had been the one offering them some, which she wasn't aware they had in the house. Then again, Yeji had the eating habits of a ten year old so it wasn't all that surprising.

"Don't hold unto me if you get scared." Ryujin teased her sister who immediately kicked the side of her leg.

"I'm not a kid anymore."

"Lies. You're simply the tallest kid ever."

Yuna pouted, which was adorable and proved her point perfectly.

Ryujin noticed that Yeji had been looking at them as they bickered, and it bothered her just a little too much. Normally she wouldn't pay much attention but whenever Yuna was around, she would always stare and be nice. It really was starting to anger her.

Both because of her jealousy towards the way she acted when Yuna was around. And because her sister was far too young to be the subject of Yeji's interest.

Yuna had been doing surprisingly well at avoiding holding tightly to her, something that was far too common whenever they would watch anything remotely scary. Not that they did it often. After all, they had barely seen each other for years now and it hadn't been long since Yuna was old enough to consume such content. But the handful of times they did watch movies with scary scenes, the younger Shin had always ended up crushing her arm from how tightly she held unto it.

"Why is she walking towards the noise?" Yuna yelled, covering her eyes in expectation.

On her other side, she heard nothing but silence but somehow, Ryujin could feel how tense Yeji was. Despite how far apart they were sitting.

She didn't turn her head to peek but, she did side glance throughout the movie, catching glimpses of Yeji flinching or closing her eyes. Ryujin had struggled to hide her amusement at that. She had never expected Yeji to be scared of horror movies and it had caught her off guard. Yet, somehow, it made her seem more human. More relatable. Even if Ryujin wasn't one to be scared by a horror movie.

If someone asked how it happened, she wouldn't be able to explain it. She's not even sure of it herself. Perhaps it had been because she had joked around with Yuna throughout the movie and created distance between them to avoid her kicks and punches. And maybe Yeji had also unconsciously moved towards the middle of the couch. But somehow, they were sitting fairly close to each other.

Ryujin hadn't been aware of it until she nearly allowed for her elbow to touch Yeji. Who was either not aware of how close they were or was an expert at ignoring the fact. But she, however, was oh so very aware of the fact that if she wasn't careful, there would be physical contact made between them.

For some reason she had been taking smaller breaths, as if breathing normally would reveal their current position to the other girl. At that point, she hadn't even been focusing on the screen in front of them. How could she? Ryujin could do nothing but think of how close she was, holding tightly to her popcorn as if her life depended on it. As if they provided some sort of protection from Yeji.