I'm Yours | IZ*ONE Yujin x Male Reader

Chapter 15

"Long time no see, huh?" She chuckled lightly. "So you really are back."

Thousands of words raced through my head, I mean, what was I even supposed to say? I didn't know where to start.

"Ryujin... I—"

"Can I come in?" She interrupted. "It's just... We need to talk."

There it was, my chance to explain everything, to make things right. Maybe all this guilt I'm holding would finally go away. I only really had one choice here.

"...Okay." I exhaled.

Stepping aside for her, she walked in quickly. The air got more tense as I led her to the living room, and it stayed even when we were sitting down on the couch.

"I'm gonna be honest, Ryujin," I said. "I don't—"

"Why did you leave? Cause I've been asking myself that for almost two years, and I just..." She paused, her hands trembling. "I don't know why."

Seeing her like this broke my heart, and I wasn't sure how to handle the situation at all.

"Ryujin... I'm sorry."

She looked at me, her eyes staring straight into my soul. "Sorry for what? For breaking your promise? For leaving me alone?!" Tears started to fall from her eyes. "I just want to know why, Y/N."

My throat tightened up, making it take all the power I had just to speak. I couldn't even look at her. "I shouldn't have made that promise. I should have told you I was leaving. I'm so sorry, and I know nothing can make up for what I put you through."

I braced myself for whatever was coming next, but... Nothing. Silence. No response from her. I looked to my side, only to find that Ryujin had fallen asleep. I didn't even notice at first, but she looked incredibly tired. When was the last time she slept?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved, cause I don't think I was ready to do this at all. But now I had another problem, do I just wait for her to wake up?

Luckily, my answer came quickly when I noticed she had left her phone on the table in front of us, lit up with dozens of messages and missed calls. That's when the pieces started to fit together.

I grabbed her phone, finding notifications asking where she was as early as 5 in the morning.

"Ryujin..."

I scrolled through her contacts looking to contact her manager or one of her members, anything, until I eventually found one. The phone rang for a while, but eventually she answered.

"Ryujin!? Where are you?! We've been worried sick!"

"Yeji noona, this is Park Y/N. Ryujin is at my apartment."

"What is she..." She paused. "Never mind that, can you give us directions?"

A set of directions and a very much needed cup of coffee later, Yeji arrived with who I assumed was Ryujin's manager. She rushed over to Ryujin, nudging her awake and hugging her tightly before scolding her for what felt like eternity while I stayed in the kitchen to give them some privacy.

Yeji walked into the kitchen not long after and hugged me. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I'm just relieved Ryujin is safe," she said. "But it's also good to see you again."

"What's going on noona?"

"When she heard you were back... It honestly didn't change much, she was fine." Yeji sighed. "But then she heard your voice on the demo, and the next thing we knew, she was gone."

"Wait... You guys are the—"

"Yeah, you were supposed to work with us." She chuckled. "I'm surprised JYPE let that happen."

Considering the past I had with that company, I was surprised they were even willing to look at my work, but companies work in strange ways I guess.

"I don't even know how she knew where to find me," I said.

"She and Chaeryeong met with Chaeyeon recently, she probably mentioned it," Yeji answered. "Look, maybe you shouldn't help us record that song. I'll talk with our managers, we'll get it sorted out."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's for the best. I'm sorry."

"Don't say that to me." Yeji pat my shoulder. "I'll go get her."

I sighed. As far as mornings went, this wasn't how I expected it to go. Part of me thought I'd be in JYPE by now, meeting whatever group I was gonna work with... Well, at least one part of that was true at the moment.

Ryujin walked into the kitchen, she looked tired, but that was understandable.

"Y/N, I..." She paused. "I'm sor—"

"Don't apologize to me Ryujin, this is my fault, not yours," I interrupted. "I owe you an explanation, I really do... I just don't think I'm ready to give it yet."

Ryujin placed her hands on the counter.

"Where do we even start?" She asked. "Are we still together? Are we even friends? What are we?"

"I don't know," I said. "Things are really confusing right now, and I don't think either of us are ready to talk about it. Not yet."

"Whatever reason you had for leaving..." She paused. "It still won't change what happened."

"Yeah..."

"But please, can you tell me when you're ready? I don't think this is ever gonna stop until I know why."

"...Okay," I said. "I'll let you know."

She did a half-smile, and then left. Leaving me alone in the kitchen once again to avoid more tense situations. It wasn't for long though, with Yeji coming back not long after.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, it's fine noona," I assured her. "Look, its been a long morning, and I think I need some extra shut eye."

"Of course." She nodded. "We'll let ourselves out."

A few more minutes of waiting, and eventually, the door shut. Signaling to me that they had left, and that it was safe to go out again.

The living room had a different tone to it now, bringing me down rather than making me relaxed like it used to. Honestly, I doubted if I would ever feel relaxed again after that.

Grabbing my phone, I quickly texted Jongin to call me as soon as he could. He'd be busy with his music show appearance today, but I held out hope that I could ask for his help. 

Whether it was out of shock or emotional exhaustion, I don't know. But all I could do was sit on the couch as tears started to fall from my eyes. Seeing her again brought everything back to me, every date, every conversation, every single moment I spent with her came back.

And it hurt more than anything I've felt before.

_____

Hey! It's me again. Sorry for the half-sized chapter, I've just been terribly busy lately (college stuff, amirite?) and haven't had much time to write. So I figured I could at least write what was supposed to be chapter 16, cause spoilers, this was originally supposed to be a flashback chapter. 

I'm still working on that slowly, but I realized it'd take much longer than usual to update so I opted for this instead, however half-baked it may be (which I also apologize for.)

One last thing before I disappear in the realm of college prep time. This book has been doing amazingly well which I truly didn't expect. So thank you to everyone, seriously, this means a lot to me. 

-Currently Dying, Arc