Eternity [ryeji]

Chapter 14

Yeji keeps stealing glances at Ryujin who’s driving next to her. The woman is humming along to the song on the radio while her fingers tap the wheel to the beat. It’s obvious that she’s in a very good mood and Yeji finds it very cute to see Ryujin like this.

She doesn’t look a day over twenty. Twenty five tops. Who would’ve suspected her to be nearly four hundred years old? She sings quite well too. Not off key, at least. I wonder what her previous names were and whether she had had nicknames. Her real name is bound to change again but a nickname can stick for a long time, right? It can be something special that only I’m allowed to use. Something that’s exclusively mine. Yeah. I like that. I should ask her about it later.

“You okay?” Ryujin suddenly asks, turning her head to look at Yeji for a quick split second.

“Of course.”

“Then why do you keep looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?” Ryujin stops at the red light and shifts the gear to neutral while pulling up the handbrake so that she can check her face in the rearview mirror.

But before she can reach up to adjust the mirror, Yeji has said, “No, there’s nothing on your face”.

“Then what were you doing? Is there something on your mind? Something you want to ask me?” says Ryujin, looking at the woman next to her.

Yeji shakes her head. “Nope.”

“I think you’re lying to me.”

Just then, Ryujin’s eyes catch the light turning green so she quickly shifts the gear back into drive and releases the handbrake before grabbing the wheel to start driving again.

“Come on. Tell me,” Ryujin coaxes the grinning woman next to her.

“It’s nothing, Ryujin.”

“Are you thinking about him? I was hoping that you’ve forgotten about him somehow. At least for today.”

“I have, thanks to you,” says Yeji as her smile widens.

Their lunch date was nice and relaxing thanks to Ryujin’s choice of location. She took Yeji to a quiet and very comfortable coffee shop in a less known university district where hundreds of books lined the walls and the seats are cushioned and large.

It didn’t have a fancy menu since most of the customers were students from the nearby campus but the food was delicious nonetheless.

They talked for hours, with Ryujin telling Yeji about the fourth memorable person she had had a relationship with. The man was a rich-heir-slash-medical-doctor who was the first person to ever cheat on her.

She deliberately chose to tell this story to make Yeji feel better. When Yeji asked about the sudden change of pattern in Ryujin’s stories, she argued that the request was about mentioning her most memorable lovers and this spoiled heir was definitely memorable.

“Seriously though, I’m not gonna stop nagging you until you tell me what’s on your mind.” Ryujin glances at the grinning Yeji for a second before returning her eyes on the road.

“It’s really nothing important.”

“Tell me!”

“No!”

Ryujin winces at the sound of Yeji’s loud voice echoing inside her car. “Fine. You win, for now. I will nag you again later.”

They soon reach Yeji’s building and the latter invites Ryujin to stay until dinner.

“Why do all our dates always get extended?” asks Ryujin as she swings Yeji’s hand while walking towards the elevator.

“Do you mind?”