Stargazing - Ryeji

Their Story

"What?! she carried you all the way to your apartment?!" Lia shouted and let out a laugh as she couldn't handle the sweetness. "That's so romantic, Shin Ryujin!" Lia shouted while smacking Ryujin's back.

"Yep. She works multiple jobs. I can tell that she's a very hardworking person." Ryujin said and smiled while thinking of the cat-eyed girl. "She also called me a hour ago to ask me how I was and greet me a happy birthday."

"Can we trust her? what if she's a fake friend, Ryujin Unnie?" Yuna, the girl with trust issues, said while giving a worried look at the short-haired girl.

"Nope. She's not like....Wonyoung, Shin Yuna. She is a genuine nice person." Ryujin said and smiled at her tall friend.

"Hey, I told you, don't ever mention her name." Yuna said and pouted.

"Do you like her?" Chaeryeong asked and rested her head on her hands while waiting for a reply.

"Well, yeah...she's a nice person and...I'm going to treat her to lunch tomorrow because I need to apologize after what you did, Lee Chaeryeong." Ryujin said and pouted.

"Right, I'm sorry." Chaeryeong said and let out a chuckle.

"You're still strong, Chaeryeong. I can't believe you lost in the finals 10 years ago." Lia said and let out a laugh but she immediately stopped when she noticed that Chaeryeong is glaring at her.

"Don't ever mention that again." Chaeryeong said and stood up and left.

"Jeez, she's still mad about that." Yuna said while scrolling down through her phone.

"Yeah, I don't think Chaeryeong will be able to forget that memory." Ryujin said and pouted

--

"Shin Ryujin, you didn't have to treat me to a meal. You're so kind." Yeji said and gave the short-haired girl a smile.

"It's okay. It's for everything you did to me and I want to apologize for what my friend did to you." Ryujin said and let out a weak chuckle.

"Yep, my arm still hurts right now. She almost broke it but that's okay. Are they your bodyguards?" Yeji said while massaging her arm.

Ryujin let out a laugh and held her head. "They're just my overprotective friends, Hwang Yeji." Ryujin said and let out a smile.

"I see. How long have you been friends?"

"For almost 10 years." Ryujin said and the smile on her face became bigger as she remembered the first time she met her friends.

"I'm interested in their stories. Do you mind telling me?" Yeji said and rested her head on her hands.

"I don't think I can tell you Yuna's story. It's really sad and a little disturbing." Ryujin said and weakly smiled.

"Sure. That's fine."

*Camera clicks*

"If you don't let her go, I will show this picture to the principal. You will surely get expelled." Ryujin said to the three girls standing in front of her.

"Shit. Let's just go." The girl who was holding Lia's collar said and left with her friends.

"Hey, are you okay?" The short-haired girl said and offered her hand to the injured girl.

"H..hi..I'm Choi Jisu...Lia...thanks for helping me, Shin Ryuj..in.." Lia said and bowed at the short-haired girl before standing up.

"You're welcome. Why are you getting bullied? you should always stand up for yourself, Choi Jisu." Ryujin said and placed her arm on Lia.

"W-what's a weak bulimic girl like me going to do? I can't even hurt an insect." Lia said faced the floor with a sad face.

"Lia is bulimic?" Yeji asked and cut off Ryujin's storytelling.

"Was bulimic. When she was a kid, her parents forced her to be an idol. They pressured her to be very fit and had a really strict diet for her. Years later, she developed an insecurity to her body and weight and she became a bulimic." Ryujin said with a sad face.

"Really? that's horrible."

"Yeah, Lia was bullied a lot for being very scrawny. That's when she met Chaeryeong."

"Shin Ryujin, I want you to meet Lee Chaeryeong. She is so good in fighting and she helped me earlier when I was getting bullied!" Lia shouted at the short-haired girl like a little kid.

A big smile formed on Ryujin's face as she witnessed her friend let out a genuine smile. "Really? thank you, Chaeryeong." Ryujin said and took out her hand for the girl to shake.

"T-thanks. It's nice to meet you." Chaeryeong said and shook Ryujin's hand.

"After that, the three of us became really close and became best friends." Ryujin said and let out a smile.

"That's so adorable. How about Yuna?"

"We met Yuna when we entered college. Yuna's school was across of ours. Yuna befriended us because she said that we were the type of friends she wanted to have. Yuna actually had a best friend before us. Her name was Wonyoung."

"What happened to her?" Yeji asked out of curiosity.

"Something happened between them. Yuna dropped out of school because she was bullied a lot because of Wonyoung. She felt so betrayed and started to have trust issues." Ryujin said and the big smile planted on her face dissolved into a sad face as she remembers what her friend went through.

"Wow...I didn't know that you guys went through so much. I'm really happy to see that you guys have an unbreakable bond." Yeji said while thinking about someone.

"Yep! we are always there for each other. Anyways, Hwang Yeji, why are you so nice to me?" The short-haired girl asked that completely caught Yeji' attention.

Yeji completely went silent for a moment and tried to think for an honest answer to Ryujin's straightforward question. "B-because...you remind me of someone." Yeji said and let out a smile.

Ryujin sat down straight and felt a little happy and excited. "Really? may I ask who?" Ryujin asked and rested her head on her hands.

"M-my girlfriend. She's the same as you." Yeji said and smiled.

"O-oh...i-is she visually impaired too?"

"Yep." Yeji weakly said.

"Oh, where is she now?"

"Sh...she passed away..
and until now, I'm still blaming myself for not being there for her." Yeji said and tears started to form in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry..." Ryujin said and tried to find Yeji's hand on the table.

"D-don't worry, Hwang Yeji. I-I'll always be here for you." Ryujin added and placed her hand on top of Yeji's hand.