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“Are you serious?” Chaeryeong basically yells into the phone, making Ryujin flinch. “Out of every time you decide to get sick, it’s when I’m not around?”
“It’s not like I get to choose when I get sick,” Ryujin whines. “It’s nothing anyway, it’s just a little fever. Maybe because I was in the rain for a little too long that day—”
“You what?”
“I was trying to save someone’s puppy!”
“…okay, that’s justifiable. Wait, whose puppy?”
“Our neighbour. The hot one.”
“Oh,” Chaeryeong drawls, and though Ryujin couldn’t see her face, she could clearly hear the smirk in her voice. “The one that you’re head over heels for? No wonder.”
“I’m not,” Ryujin scoffs. “I was just trying to be a good person.”
“Yeah, yeah, a good person alright,” from the tone Chaeryeong was speaking, Ryujin could tell that she was rolling her eyes behind the phone. “You sure are a good person when you tried cutting my hair with a pair of arts and crafts scissors.”
“You’re still mad about it?” Ryujin groans. “We were six. What, you expect a literal child to understand what’s wrong and what’s right? I was immature.”
“Still are,” Chaeryeong snorts, and Ryujin just sighs. “Seriously, take care of yourself. I’ll call you every few hours to make sure you’re okay.”
“Aw, Ryeongie cares about me? That’s a first.”
“No, you jackass, I don’t trust you in being alone in the house while sick. What if you die or something?”
“I’m not that irresponsible.”
“I had to force you to come out of your room to eat when you were in that gaming obsessed phase, Ryujin, don’t play with me.”
“Okay, mom, I’ll see you then,” Ryujin smirks, and she hangs up before Chaeryeong could say anything else.
Just as she hangs up, snickering, her phone vibrates as she receives a message.
Stupid
Don’t u dare hang up on me ever again
Asshole
You
ok mommy dearest
Stupid
Die
You
:(
Stupid
:)
Ryujin smiles to herself as she lies back down, feeling the fever creep back to her. She presses her palm to her forehead and winces a little. She didn’t remember her temperature getting that high.
She gets off her bed, deciding to head downstairs to grab a glass of water and maybe a few snacks. Chaeryeong forbade her from drinking or eating anything unhealthy while she’s having a fever, but she wasn’t here, so what could she do?
Just stay in bed and rest, or I’m going to find a way to beat your ass, Chaeryeong had said, but Ryujin just brushed it off. Chaeryeong’s three states away, and it wasn’t like there were security cameras in the house anyway. They were far too expensive for two broke, fresh-out-of-college kids who get paid minimum wage.
Ryujin slumps down on the couch with a grunt, booting up her gaming console. She’s ready to indulge herself in some gametime that she usually wasn’t able to because of her nagging housemate, but she finds herself getting interrupted as there came knocking from the front door.
She groans, making sure to toss her controller as carefully as possible onto the couch as she reluctantly gets up and starts making her way to the front door.
Ryujin didn’t order any takeout, nor did Chaeryeong have any packages coming in, so who the hell could be knocking on their door at one in the afternoon?
It better not be some Jehovah’s witnesses, Ryujin grumbles as she trudges to the front door before unlocking it, peeking out through the crack in the door.
And there, staring back at her was, of course, none other than the hot neighbour.
Ryujin nearly slams the door shut, but her rational side fought over, and she swings the door open fully with a far-too-kind smile on her face.
“Hey, Ryujin,” Yeji smiles at the nervous latter, and Ryujin notices that she had an entire bag slung over her shoulder. What the fuck.
“H—um, hello,” Ryujin awkwardly stutters, and all she wanted to do was disappear from the embarrassment. “What’re you doing here?”
Ryujin internally facepalms as she curses herself for coming off ruder than she’d intended to, but Yeji didn’t seem to mind.
“I heard you’re sick,” Yeji cocks her head to the side. “And alone. So I came to take care of you.”
Ryujin’s face flares up, from the heat of the afternoon sun streaming in through the open door, her fever, but mostly from how embarrassed and flustered she was.
Take care?
“How—I mean, how did you know?”
“Chaeryeong called me to tell me,” Yeji shrugs, and Ryujin grits her teeth. Chaeryeong truly had her ways of keeping her eye on Ryujin even when she wasn’t physically present. “Mind letting me in? Sun’s merciless these days.”
“Oh, of course, come in, come in,” Ryujin stammers as she waves Yeji in, and she just giggles. “My bad.”
As Yeji looks around at the interior of the house, Ryujin can’t help but notice the scent in the air. Yeji smelled like flowers, not too strong that it made her head spin, but just enough that she felt comforted by it.
“Did Chaeryeong ask you to come take care of me?” Ryujin asks as they walk alongside each other, and Yeji hums.
“Mm, no, but I figured I wanted to anyway because it’s my fault that you’re sick anyway,” Yeji flashes Ryujin a compassionate smile. “If you didn’t have to help rescue Insam, you probably wouldn’t have gotten sick. I’m sorry about that.”
“No, it’s not your fault,” Ryujin frowns. “I don’t mind at all.”
“Still, I feel like it’s my duty to help you recover, especially since you’re gonna be alone. No one deserves to be sick alone.”
Ryujin’s cheeks tint pink, and Yeji realises, smiling to herself.
“Don’t you live alone?” Ryujin asks.
“Yeah, but I have my dogs to keep me company,” Yeji shrugs. “I don’t feel that alone with them around.”
“Nice to have human company for once?” Ryujin grins, and Yeji just laughs. It was the best sound ever, and Ryujin couldn’t get enough of it.
“I guess so.”
As the two reach the living room, Yeji blinks at the game on the TV, and Ryujin gets embarrassed, realising that she’s been busted for doing anything other than resting.
Yeji turns to look at Ryujin, who looks like a child that had gotten busted with their hand in the cookie jar.
“Now, Ryujin,” Yeji starts, shaking her head like a disappointed mom. “You should be in bed, you know. We’ll leave the games for when you’re better.”
Ryujin nods sheepishly, feeling like a kid again, and Yeji just smiles warmly.
“Good girl,” Yeji grins, and Ryujin’s face flushes redder than the colour red itself. She links their arms and guides Ryujin to what she assumed was the direction of her bedroom. “Go get some rest.”
Ryujin’s close to passing out, both from Yeji holding her arm, and also because she was starting to heat up like water in a kettle.
“Shit, you’re burning,” Yeji mutters as she ushers Ryujin into bed, and Ryujin immediately throws the blanket over herself. Yeji kneels down beside Ryujin, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead, and frowns. “That’s not good. D’you have an ice pack?”
“Yeah, it’s in the freezer.”
Yeji nods, and she wastes no time in dashing out of the room and grabbing an ice pack from the freezer before running back in. She gingerly places the pack onto Ryujin’s forehead, and she smiles as Ryujin seems a little less distressed at the coolness.
“Little better?” Yeji asks as she presses the back of her hand against both of Ryujin’s cheeks, resisting the urge to pinch them.
“Mhm,” Ryujin hums, and she opens her eyes a little to see Yeji looking directly into hers, nothing but an expression of sincerity staring back at her. “Thanks.”
“You’ve had your lunch yet?”
“No.”
“Breakfast?”
“…also no.”
“Ryujin,” Yeji frowns, shaking her head in disapproval. “You need to eat. I’m gonna make you some soup, alright?”
“Okay,” Ryujin says, voice small as Yeji gets up and out of the room again. She watches Yeji leave, and she feels an unidentifiable emotion stirring up in her chest as her heartbeat increases.
Just as she was adjusting the ice pack on her head, Ryujin feels a vibration from the phone in her pocket, and she fishes it out to see an incoming call from none other than Lee Chaeryeong.
“Hello?”
“Did Yeji come visit?”
“Did you ask her to?” Ryujin whisper-shouts into the phone. “Because you know I feel about someone having to take care of me.”
“I literally didn’t!” Chaeryeong whispers back for no apparent reason. “I just told her that you’re sick and to keep an eye out if she sees smoke or fire or whatever coming from the house.”
“Well, she’s here, and she’s fucking making me something to eat,” Ryujin grumbles, but Chaeryeong just makes a noise of excitement.
“Aw, that’s cute, she’s taking care of you.”
“I feel bad though, she doesn’t even need to do all this.”
“Count this as a win for all parties—you get to see your crush, I get to not have the house burned down, and Yeji gets to not be alone for once. Think positive.”
“Well, but—” Ryujin cuts herself off as she hears footsteps coming towards her room. “Fuck, gotta go, Yeji’s coming.”
And then she hangs up, completely forgetting about Chaeryeong telling her not to hang up on her earlier.
Ryujin ignores the repeating vibrations of notification from the phone in her pocket as Yeji comes in with two bowls of what looked like chicken soup and porridge.
“That was quick,” Ryujin remarks as Yeji places the bowls on a stool.
“It’s instant,” Yeji flushes as she gets embarrassed. “I can’t cook to save my life. I’ll probably burn the kitchen down if I try.”
“Well, we have something in common, I guess,” Ryujin chuckles, and Yeji does as well.
“Eat up,” Yeji says as Ryujin sits up. The two don’t make any movements for a while, and it takes a few more seconds before Yeji realises, with Ryujin’s mouth slightly ajar and a patient look on her face, that Ryujin wanted to be fed. “Oh, you want me to feed you?”
Ryujin gets shy again for the nth time that day, and she just shakes her head. “N—no, I just thought that… uh, I thought—”
“It’s okay, I’ll feed you,” Yeji chuckles as she scoops up a spoonful of porridge, gently blowing on it as steam rose above in curls of white. “Here comes the airplane.”
Ryujin, despite feeling the most embarrassed she’s ever felt in a long time—and it was surprising, because the woman has never felt a shred of remorse nor embarrassment in her life—opens her mouth. Yeji grabs Ryujin’s chin with one hand, tilting it up, the other sending the spoon past her lips, making sure she’s eaten up all the porridge before retracting the spoon, now empty.
“Good girl,” Yeji praises again, fully aware of how it was making Ryujin feel, since Ryujin was not-so-subtly clenching the sheets as the words left her mouth. “‘S it good?”
“Yeah,” Ryujin nods. “Another?”
Of course, Yeji knew she couldn’t possibly resist her, so she scoops up another spoonful, making sure to place more chicken on there before she feeds it to Ryujin.
And that continued for a while. Yeji’s patient with her, and Ryujin couldn’t help but find solace in that. With every scoop, Yeji could feel Ryujin softening and being less tense, and she feels warm, knowing that she was getting increasingly more comfortable in her presence.
“Nice, you finished it all,” Yeji praises as she stares at the two empty bowls, and back up to meet Ryujin’s captivating pair of hazel. She hands Ryujin the cup of water, ushering her to drink it up. “I’m gonna go wash the dishes.”
Yeji picks up the bowls and exits the room, with Ryujin’s curious eyes trailing her all the while.
As Yeji’s applying dish soap, she feels a pair of arms hug her from behind, coiling around her waist, and a chin making its home on her shoulder. And yet, Yeji barely flinches.
“What’re you doing?” Yeji asks, her smile evident in her tone. “You should be resting.”
“I dunno,” Ryujin mumbles beside her ear. “It just feels right.”
It just feels right.
“You’re so clingy.”
“I know,” Ryujin smiles. “Wanna watch a movie?”
“Ryujin, rest—”
“But I feel okay now,” Ryujin protests, and though Yeji couldn’t see it, she could feel Ryujin’s puppy eyes throwing her attempts to be strict out the window. “And I’m at normal temperature.”
Yeji sighs, turning off the tap. “Fine. But if you get worse after this, it’s on you. Chaeryeong isn’t gonna be too pleased as well.”
“She’s already pissed enough with me ignoring her texts,” Ryujin snickers. “Why not just go all-in?”
“You’re lucky you’re cute.”
Before long, the two were sat on the couch, with Ryujin mindlessly flicking through the options on the TV for movies to watch.
“Let’s watch a horror movie,” Yeji suggests, and that has Ryujin shuddering a little. “What? You don’t like horror movies?”
“No, no, they’re fine,” Ryujin shrugs, putting on a smug façade. “Let’s watch the conjuring then.”
“You’re scared of horror movies, aren’t you?” Yeji teases, and Ryujin’s face flushes bright red. Truth be told, she was as well, but of course she couldn’t tell her that. “You can just admit it and back out before you piss yourself.”
“Not gonna happen,” Ryujin scoffs as she clicks on the first conjuring movie, already feeling herself regretting that decision as the introduction plays. It also didn’t help that a heavy storm was brewing outside, greyish clouds clumping together like angry herds of sheep. A faint crack of thunder could be heard in the distance, and Ryujin flinches a little at the sound.
Ryujin looks outside the window, then back at Yeji, who looked slightly nervous. “Aren’t you dogs gonna be scared or something? ‘Cause… you know, the thunder and all?”
“Don’t worry, I built them a little panic room they could go to when threatened,” Yeji assures. “There’s a little heater, pillows, beds, and a food and water dispenser. They’re all good.”
“And you built it yourself?”
“Mhm.”
“Wow,” Ryujin nods to herself, amazed by Yeji’s compassion for even animals. “That’s… nice.”
The beginning of the movie finally starts, but Ryujin couldn’t help but realise that Yeji’s shivering a little.
“Want a blanket?” Ryujin asks, and Yeji nods.
“Yes, please.”
Ryujin grabs a flannel blanket hanging from one arm of the couch, unfolding it and throwing it over Yeji.
“You’re cold too,” Yeji remarks, lesser of a question and more of a statement as she notices Ryujin putting her hands under her ass to warm them up. “Let’s share?”
Ryujin hesitates a little, but Yeji opens up a gap, making grabby hands.
“Okay.”
Ryujin scootches closer, until she could feel the warmth of Yeji’s body engulf her, and Yeji wraps the blanket around her. It was as if they were cuddling with how close they were. Neither were paying attention to the movie, too preoccupied with the fact that they were sharing a blanket during a storm, one of the most romantic things you could ever do, especially with someone you weren’t even dating.
“Are we… cuddling right now?” Yeji asks as Ryujin moves closer to her, not only being able to physically feel their shared warmth, but metaphorically as well.
“Guess so,” Ryujin shyly says, purposely avoiding eye contact in case her heart would burst.
And there the two sat, in silence, their shared blanket wrapped up to their necks as they watched the movie, occasionally trying to trick each other into screaming.
Just as the jumpscare part came up, Ryujin screams, making Yeji flinch as well. Ryujin buries her head in the crook of Yeji’s neck, shuddering a little.
“What, you scared of a weak jumpscare? I saw that coming and I—”
“Bug,” Ryujin’s muffled voice cries out, and Yeji furrows her brows, trying to see what bug Ryujin was so afraid of until her gaze lands on a black beetle proudly sitting atop the glass of the coffee table.
Yeji laughs so hard she nearly folds in half as she rips the blanket off her, squishing the beetle with a piece of tissue, in disbelief that even such a harmless, tiny creature would scare the living shit out of a person like Ryujin.
“You’re really losing your mind over that little thing?” Yeji snorts, wiping a tear from her eye as she slumps back down after discarding the beetle, and Ryujin glares at her from under the bundle of blanket. “You’re such a pussy.”
“And you’re an asshole,” Ryujin clicks her tongue as she takes the blanket off her. “Remind me why I let you into my house.”
“Because you needed me,” Yeji grins.
Yeji’s satisfied as Ryujin doesn’t even try to fight back nor deny, and they’re right back to watching the movie, all fear purged and replaced by a feeling of familiarity, despite the raindrops pattering onto the roof and windows with all their might.
“It’s not even as scary as I thought,” Ryujin’s scoffs as she makes a show of yawning. “It’s like comedy. And it’s also boring.”
“Don’t flatter yourself too much,” Yeji rolls her eyes. “You’re scared of beetles.”
“They’re scary,” Ryujin protests. “Everything about them is disgusting.”
“Oh, really? Like their little, disgusting legs?” Yeji grins. “And the fact that they can fly? And their beady eyes? And the—”
“Stop, that’s gross,” Ryujin squirms.
“—the crunch they make when you squish them, and the green blood—”
“Stop,” Ryujin growls as she tackles Yeji, clamping a hand over her mouth as she keeps her in a headlock. “That’ll teach you.”
When Ryujin was caught off guard, Yeji flips them over, pinning Ryujin onto the couch by the wrists and snickering as Ryujin tries wriggling out of her grasp.
“Let me go, you ass,” Ryujin grumbles as she struggles, but Yeji’s stronger than she looks. “You—let me go.”
“Make me,” Yeji grins, and Ryujin sighs before she lands a kick right onto Yeji’s crotch, taking the moment of vulnerability and shock to grab Yeji by the neck and drag her down.
Who knew that the moment of hardcore roughhousing that nearly led to the couch being tipped over would end with Ryujin falling asleep in Yeji’s lap?
Yeji’s gingerly stroking Ryujin’s hair, twirling her blonde locks with her index as she pays attention to nothing but Ryujin. The movie, though at the highest volume possible to drown out the sounds of rain, was completely blurred out and tossed to the side as Yeji focuses on Ryujin’s chest heaving and falling, her soft snoring and mumbling, along with just how innocent she looked while asleep.
As she’s admiring the person in her lap, her phone vibrates, and she plucks it out of her pocket to see an incoming call from none other than Chaeryeong.
“Hey, Yej, how’s everything?”
“It’s going well,” Yeji answers as she continues tenderly stroking Ryujin’s hair. “I fed her brunch, we watched a movie, and now she’s asleep in my lap. Her fever went down somehow. I didn’t even give her medicine or paracetamol.”
A pause.
“Are you guys fucking dating and didn’t tell me or am I just oblivious?”
“Wh—we’re not dating, Ryeong,” Yeji rolls her eyes. “She’s just clingy as all hell. So I have to accommodate that.”
“Mhm,” Chaeryeong drags out the word, and Yeji knew that Chaeryeong saw right through her excuses. “Right then. I’m glad to know you two are getting along well. I mean, ‘well’ is an understatement, but I’m glad the house isn’t incinerated or at least on fire right now, considering how stupid you two can be sometimes.”
“Told you I’m trustworthy,” Yeji puffs up her chest, and Chaeryeong just scoffs.
“Alright, whatever you say,” Chaeryeong snorts. “I’ll call back in a while. Have fun, lovebirds! Right, whatever you do, don’t do it on the couch.”
“What does that even—” Yeji starts, but Chaeryeong hangs up before she could finish the sentence. Yeji stares at her phone with a look of disbelief and simultaneous disgust. “Unbelievable. This woman is deranged.”
Yeji sighs as she sets down her phone, averting her attention back on the woman sleeping in her lap. She smiles, reaching down to leave a kiss on her cheek, and leaning back against the cushions to take a quick nap as well.
As soon as Yeji starts snoring, Ryujin’s eyes pop wide open, her heart racing so fast she felt like it would grow wheels and burst out of her ribcage. She caresses the spot where Yeji kissed her, feeling butterflies fill her stomach and her heart doing flips inside her chest.
She kissed me.
Now, more content than ever, Ryujin goes back to sleep, smiling harder than she ever has and thinking of a way to prolong Chaeryeong's business trip.
Anything to keep Yeji by her side, even for a little longer.