You lied (Ryeji)

Chapter 10

My eyes widen in disbelief as he stared at me with hope lingering in his eyes. I glance over at Yeonjun and Yeji who quickly turned their attention to us the moment the question was asked.

I felt my body go numb as Yeji stared at us with an unreadable expression. I look back at Beomgyu and stared at him for a moment before grabbing his hand off my cheek and lowering it to his side. After letting go I took a step back.

"I..I'm sorry Beomgyu but now isn't a good time. I'm going to be on tour for a while and I just don't feel the same way." I softly say. He sighs but smiles gently and nods in understanding before kissing my forehead gently and backing away.

"I understand." I look over at Yeji and what I saw was even more bewildering.

She was smiling.

"We're still cool though, right?" I cautiously ask. He chuckles dryly and nods his head while reaching out and squeezing my hand in a reassuring matter.

"Of course. How could you live without me?" He teases. I smile gratefully towards him before waving goodbye to the boys as they drove off. I turn towards Yeji who seemed to be smiling towards me.

"You okay?" She asks. I shrug with a simple smile.

"Yeah. Just tired." I reply. She lets out a breath with her same beautiful small smile before grabbing my hand and dragging me inside the house.

..............

I exhale loudly as I flopped myself on my bed. I look at my phone screen and smiled softly seeing Beomgyu's message.

Beomgyu: I hope I didn't make things awkward between us 😭

I chuckle and shake my head before typing away.

Me: No worries! We're still cool 😊

I look up towards my door as I heard it creak open. I sit up and prop myself on my elbows seeing Yeji shyly peeking out her head from the door. I send her a faint smile.

"Cuddle?" I ask. This was a regular routine for the both of us, if neither one of couldn't sleep I would either go to her room or she would go to mine.

But this situation seemed unusually different because both of us were extremely exhausted so I had no clue as to why she decided to come to my room tonight.

She smiles sheepishly and nods her head. I chuckle and scoot to the side and patted the empty spot next to me. Her smile widens as she enters and closes the door before walking towards my bed and slowly lying down next to me. She turns her body to face me and I do the same.

My heart began to race as she silently stared at me with a soft smile on her soft lips. I smile back and scooted closer. She closes her eyes as I slowly placed a strand of her hair behind her ear, intentionally grazing the tips of my fingers against her cheek.

"Hey Yeddeong?" I whisper. She hums in response and keeps her eyes closed as I began to soothingly trace her cheeks lightly.

"Why were you smiling when I rejected Beomgyu?"I hesitantly ask. She slowly flutter hers eyes open and stares at me questioningly.

I knew it was a dumb question to ask but I couldn't help but feel hopeful that maybe, just maybe she was slowly feeling the same way, considering the fact that she has been extra clingy and extremely irritated the moment Beomgyu speaks to me.

I'm not completely dense.

But her response was something I was expecting. She simply shrugs.

"I just don't think he's good enough for you. If anyone was going to date my baby sister, he has to be good enough to take care of you." I bite back a frown and dryly chuckle as I slowly nodded my head.

'baby sister, of course.'

"Why?" She asks. I slowly roll on my back and closed my eyes, trying to conceal the pain that I knew was very much visible. I smile.

"Just curious." I simply state. I quickly held in my breath as I felt her scoot closer until the length of her body was flushed against my side and her head was placed on my chest again.

"Goodnight Ryuddaeng." She yawns out as she wraps her arms around my waist. I chuckle and kiss the top of her lightly as I wrap my arms around her frame.

Her body had painfully fit perfectly in my arms, but knowing she probably feels more secured and loved in Yeonjun's arms caused me to loosen my grip around her slightly.

"Goodnight."

...............

"Okay, yeah we're leaving in a few hours." Yeji whispers. I peek one of my eyes open to see Yeji seated at the end of my bed, whispering into the phone. I groan in satisfaction as I began to stretch my limbs. I look over at Yeji who was watching me in amusement. I playfully wink towards her causing her to roll her eyes and chuckle and continue to speak into the phone.

I slowly roll off my bed as excitement was surging through that I was finally going back to my hometown. I walk over to my closet and began to rummage through my clothes but immediately froze when Yeji spoke again.

"I love you too."

'I love you too.'
'I love you too.'
'I love you too.'

Those words painfully repeated in my mind. It sounded so beautiful coming out of her mouth but the knowledge that it was indeed towards Yeonjun caused the pain to return again and squeeze tightly.

I close my eyes and took a deep breath before shaking it off and continue to silently grab my clothes. Without glancing towards Yeji, I quickly grabbed my clothes and swiftly left the bedroom.

'I love you too.'
'I love you too.'
'I love you too.'

Damn it all.

.............

Finally making it to our seats in the airplane, I exhale loudly as I flop myself tiredly on the chair. Airports were my break from Yeji, she was always either with Jisu or by herself. Before I use to be jealous but now I'm simply relieved. Chaeryeong flops herself next to me and smiles tiredly at me.

"Excited to go back home?" She asks. I smile and nod.

"Always, I can't wait to see my mom." It's been a while since I was able to see her again. Because of our past, we grew closer and leaving her to become and idol was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever done but she pushed me to follow my dreams.

And now here I was, an idol with a mother that was finally living her dream as a chef and an owner of the most popular restaurant in Thailand. Chaeryeong smiles in excitement and lays her head on my shoulder.

"Seeing you happy is making me happy." She softly speaks. I look down at her slightly confused but fondly towards her kindness.

"Why are you being sappy?" I tease. She laughs lightly and locks her arms with mine and shrugs.

"I don't know. I've noticed your mood has been down recently and I know for a fact that once you're back home you'll be happier again." I frown and with my free hand placed my fingers on her chin and lifted it up. I scan her eyes and noticed it slowly becoming watery.

"Chae-" she cuts me off and squeezes my arm gently.

"You don't have to talk about what's going on with you right now but please know if you ever need someone to talk to or someone to listen my door is always open for you Ryujin." I smile gratefully and felt my eyes watering. I softly place my hands on both of her cheeks and kissed her forehead before placing her head back on my shoulder with me leaning on her head.

Chaer and I had a closer friendship bond since we're both always seen as babies just because we were the youngest. I felt extremely guilty for hiding these secrets and emotions from her since I have never done that before.

Before, the only thing that I have never told her about was my feelings for the one and only Hwang Yeji, in fear I would be rejected by my members and looked at as if I was a disgusting creature that needed to be terminated, considering the country we live in.

"I promise when I'm ready to speak you'll be the first I'll speak to." I whisper. I feel her nod against my shoulder and tighten her arm around mine.

"Good."