Paganini's Puppet | Ryeji

Death's Doorstep

(A/N: 😩 I love this chapter.)

Yeji POV
I could feel my tears building up.

The pressure. It was too much.

I looked to see Ryujin's pained expression dying down, signaling that she was healing.

Getting the sense that she was alright, I quickly left, not being able to stay still any longer.

Ryujin POV
"Yeji?" I looked up to see her leaving.

She didn't turn back or respond.

I know she's probably angry right now. Mad that I ruined our performance. Furious that I ruined her chances of getting into her dream school.

Damn it. I quickly followed her out of the room.

I saw her open the door to the school's stairwell.

Crap, where is she going??? I watched as she continuously climbed up the staircases, not bothering to look back.

I proceeded to trail her, being about 20 steps behind.

She didn't stop going up until finally, I heard the sound of a metal door opening.

The rooftop. 20 stories high.

I swiftly reached the top floor and opened the door, spotting her by the rooftop edge.

Shit. Don't tell me.

"Yeji." I called out to her in a gentle voice.

I could hear sniffles coming from her and slowly approached her.

"Yeji?" I called out to her again.

"I-it's too much, Ryujin." She cried out in a barely audible voice.

"Wh- what do you mean?" I calmly asked her.

She didn't respond and quickly got up the low wall of the rooftop edge. My eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat.

"Wait! Yeji, please don't do what I think you're about to do."

She failed to respond again and I could feel my heart banging rapidly out of my chest. My mind was racing too fast and I couldn't think of anything to say in this situation. There was no point in waiting when I didn't know what was going on in her head.

While she was just standing over the edge, I hastily rushed towards her, yanking her down by pulling on one of her wrists.

She fell in my arms and I promptly shoved her backed to the stairwells, locking the metal door before she could react.

She fell onto her knees, breaking down and letting her sobs echo through the stairwell.

I could feel my heart ache at the sight.

I went down and hugged her as she continued to cry.

"I'm so sorry for ruining our performance.
Please, please don't do that again. I was going to have a heart attack." I begged her. I felt like crying as well, but that wouldn't be fair to her.

"I c-can't...do t-this...anymore." She said in between her crying.

"Can't do what anymore?" I asked her tenderly.