Always Been You (Ryeji Converted)

Chapter 18

The call that Yeji had been dreading came. She picked up, "Good morning, Mam."

Norma just caught wind of the fact that her daughter wasn't coming home for Christmas, "Debbie just told me that you and Ryujin were staying in New York for the holidays?"

Yeji sighed. Ryujin, who just had an almost identical conversation with her mother, was lounging on the couch, poring over the Times Crossword puzzle. Said blonde looked up and mouthed good luck before returning to her clues.

"Mam, Ryujin drew the short straw at work. Actually, she is the short straw, given that she's the rookie, and someone from her team needs to be on call over the holidays so she's stuck here. Besides, I'm gonna go on the team training trip second half of break, so if I don't stay here, I won't see her at all over winter break."

Ryujin sat up and lifted her shirt. Can you see me now? she mouthed.

As a response, Yeji flipped her off and turned away, tuning back into what her mother was saying, "...maybe we can come down and visit?"

"You wanna come visit? All four of you?" Yeji looked at the blonde, who just shrugged. "Yeah sure, but Ryujin's place is basically two rooms with a latrine in the middle, and my dorm room is tiny..."

During the conversation, Ryujin had narrowed her eyes as she watched the brunette listen to whatever it was that her mother was saying.

"Uh-huh. I guess that could work.... yep, that could work, too," Yeji opened her eyes wide with mock horror, "Mam, why don't I talk to Ryujin, and then we can call you back. You wanna come down for that long weekend, right?... Great! I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Let me guess. They want to do Christmas here. And they want us to stay up in your dorm room while they bunk here." Ryujin went back to her puzzle.

"Not bad, Sherlock. That was her first proposal, and then she said she would look at holiday rentals."

"That one. Push her towards that option."

"Okay, let's do the search..." Yeji opened her laptop as she sat down next to Ryujin, scanning the crossword that the blonde was working on, "25 across is Denali, by the way. 'North America's highest peak.'"

"Freak."

"16 down is Raisa. And 5 down is Green Tea. You're done. Now come help me find a place to stash our parents over Christmas."

"You know, it's really no fun doing these if I spend 40 minutes doing 95% of it and you swoop in at the last minute and finish the last few clues in two seconds."

Yeji planted the computer in front of of the blonde, "Ryujin, FOCUS. These are the search results for our zip code. Question one: do we want them in our zip code?"

"I don't know. Most options around here will be walk-ups and I don't think dad's knees would like that. Maybe go north to Chelsea or south to Battery Park?"

Yeji updated the search parameters, "No way! Look!"

Ryujin looked at the listing Yeji had clicked on: a two bedroom condo in Chelsea. "Yeah, what about it? Looks too expensive."

"Look at the name of the owner of the listing... Jisoo Kim."

Ryujin looked at Yeji, puzzled, "I'm not following, sweetie. Sorry."

"Kim Jisoo -- from FAC. It has to be her. This is her apartment! She's listing it. Maybe we can get it for a lower rate! I'm emailing her now."

Yeji smiled as she sent the email, hoping that this rare real estate fluke would come through. "Oh, this would be amazing if it works!"