Eternity [ryeji]

Chapter 29

Ryujin wakes up in the middle of the night with an urge to go to the toilet. She rolls to one side, towards the edge of the bed, but an arm over her waist stops her.

Yeji mumbles something into her pillow while tightening her hold, not letting Ryujin go.

“I need to pee,” mutters Ryujin half awake, her eyes barely open.

With a huff, Yeji removes her arm and Ryujin sits up, getting off the bed to then drag her feet into the bathroom.

She closes her eyes once she’s seated on the toilet and falls asleep for another minute until she feels cold.

She goes back to the bed after washing her hands and lies down next to Yeji who has moved to face the other way. She hugs her from behind, needing her warmth, and falls asleep yet again after managing to pull the blanket over her body.

When she wakes up a few hours later, she feels thirsty and carefully moves off the bed to get a glass of water.

Once that’s done, she takes out the hotel bathrobe, puts it on and goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.

She has just wiped her face dry when she hears shuffles and turns her head to see a very sleepy Yeji dragging her feet into the bathroom, hair sticking out left and right and eyes still closed.

The woman walks right past her, heading to the toilet.

Ryujin takes the other bathrobe, knowing that Yeji’s going to feel cold soon enough since the bathroom area is open. The only part that’s slightly private is the shower that’s separated from the rest of the room by frosted glass. She waits until the other woman is done, watches her wash her hands then drapes the bathrobe around her shoulders, urging her to put her arms through the sleeves.

Yeji just follows along, still too sleepy to even open her eyes properly. She lets Ryujin fix the robe, tie the belt and put a toothbrush in her hand.

At the touch of the plastic and rubber against her palm, she finally opens her eyes, frowns at the woman smiling at her and looks at her hand.

“Brush your teeth first. You didn’t do that last night,” says Ryujin. “I’ll call the host service and ask for breakfast to be brought here.”

She’s about to move when Yeji grabs her arm, stopping her.

“What?”

Yeji doesn’t answer. She’s busy brushing her teeth but her hand won’t let go of Ryujin.

“You don’t want breakfast?”

Yeji shakes her head.

“Okay. Then what do you want?”

Yeji rinses, wipes her mouth and finally says, “It’s still early.”

“I’m hungry,” replies Ryujin. “And why won’t you let go of me?”

“Because we have unfinished business. I’m going to wash my face. You wait.”

Yeji withdraws her hand and goes about washing her face while Ryujin takes a seat on the bed, watching her.

After she’s done, Yeji calmly grabs herself a glass of water then picks up the bear that’s been sitting on the wide windowsill since last night and climbs onto the bed.

“Can I hug Jinnie now?” she asks.

“That’s our unfinished business?”

“Yes. So, can I?”

Ryujin takes a deep breath. “I… would prefer you wait, actually.”

Yeji raises her eyebrows. “Why is this so complicated? What could you possibly have said in 10 seconds? The mysterious location of your secret lair filled with gold and jewels?”