Once Upon Online

chapter 12

I'm currently laying in bed waiting for Ryujin to call me. I'm so nervous. Dana and Eva are already sleeping. I purposely started a fight with Dana earlier so I had an excuse to sleep in the guest room. I know it's wrong but I didn't care at that point.

My phone starts ringing and I'm about to lose my heart. My hands are sweaty, my stomach feels weird and I feel like I have to poop. I take a deep breath and I accept the call.

I notice he already turned on his camera but it's facing the ceiling.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Hey" I hear him say but still can't see.

"Where are you? Why aren't you showing your face?"

"I'm shy" he chuckles.

I thought that was the cutest thing I've ever heard aside from Eva's laugh.

After some time, he finally shows his face. He had his hood over his head from his sweatshirt.

I saw his face and boy, is he handsome. A bit feminine looking but still extremely handsome. Not what I really expected but I'm not complaining.

"Hello? Are you going to say anything?" I hear him say hesitantly.

I blink a few times and smile, "Yes. Sorry I didn't expect you to look like this."

"Is that good or bad?" I can sense the nervousness in his voice.

"It's good. You're really cute" I say causing him to blush.

"Stop" he laughs, "you look really beautiful tonight" he adds.

"What are you talking about? I'm not wearing make up" I glare at him a little.

"I like the natural beauty of women. I have nothing against make up. I just think natural beauty will always be best" he says and now it's my turn to blush.

I like watching him talk but I can't get over how he looks so feminine.

"Has anyone ever told you that your face is a bit feminine like?" I ask.

He looks away and cough, "Uhh yea. I get that a lot."

"So when is your mom coming?" He ask.

"In a few days. It's gonna be fun. I just hope Dana will behave" I roll my eyes.

"What do you mean? Does he not behave?" He looks at me intently. I feel my heart flutter a bit. I'm not used to someone actually listen and pay attention to me.

"He just sometimes would be passive aggressive towards them and it annoys me. He just doesn't understand since he's lived close to his parents his whole life."

"Where is your hometown?" He ask me.

"Newfoundland" I answer.

"Do you ever think about going back? Say Dana allows you to leave with Eva?" His question got me thinking. I love my hometown but would I go back? I love it because of my family and some friends I have but I also have bad memories from there.

"I don't think so?" I say unsure, "There's not much for me back there. There is a guy there that likes me and we still chat from time to time. He's always trying to convince me to move back so we can be together" I say which is true but I shared it to see if Ryujin will show some sort of emotion about the topic.

I notice him crease his eyebrows but he tried to hide it away, "Do you like him?" He ask.

"I used to. He's actually the guy who got me into drugs and alcohol" I say. I quit because of Eva. There are days where it's hard and I want to turn back to that lifestyle but I just always think about Eva.

Things were silence between us for a little bit but it doesn't feel awkward. He looks at me while I look at him.

"Yeji?" He breaks the silence.

"Hmm?"

"I've mentioned this to you over text before but I want to actually say it. You have a good heart and I can feel it. You're a good person and you're strong. You're a good mother. I can see how much you love Eva. You've been hurt by so many and have gone through so much. If you don't mind me asking, why do you dislike gay people?" His question shocks me. I completely forgot all the nice things he said prior to that question.

I'm debating if I should tell him or not. He might look at me differently but I don't want to hide it from him either. He's been so understanding with everything. So I shared the story with him. About my aunt. About my bad experience with a gay woman.

"Now it makes sense why you feel the way you do but not all gay people are that way you know? You just happen to encounter the ones that ruins the gay reputation" he says which I'm confuse why he's so supportive of it.

"Why are you so supportive of it?" I ask not meaning to sound rude.

"Because I know a lot of gay people. My older sister is gay and she has a wife. I have a few friends that are gay. I admit there are gay people out there who will manipulate you and disrespect you but all straight people do that too. Straight or gay. They're just bad people. Their genders have nothing to do with that" he makes a good point but I don't know if I could just stop disliking them just like that.

"I'm not saying it will be easy to get past what you went through. All your feelings are valid. I'm just saying, don't let those two people ruin all gay people for you because they can also be sweetest and kindest people you'll ever meet" he must have read my face and knew what I was thinking about.

"I'll try. Thank you" I say.

"For what?"

"Most people would have probably insulted me or say other things but you tried to make me see another perspective without making me feel like I'm a bad person" I say in a low voice.

"You're not a bad person. You're a good person that experienced bad things" he says.

Maybe this video call wasn't a good idea. Seeing him talk to me and look at me makes my feelings for him more evident. It's getting harder to push it back.

I didn't realize it's so late so I just yawn right in front of him. He laughs and gives me the sweetest smile.

"You should go to sleep its late there" he says.

"It's late there too and you have work in the morning" I retort back.

"I'd rather talk to a beautiful woman than sleep" he winks at me.

"Such a flirt" I roll my eyes.

"Only to pretty women" he laughs, "but seriously go to sleep. We can video call another time" he says.

"Can you stay on the line?" I ask feeling shy.

He looks at me waiting for clarification.

"I mean don't hang up. I want to sleep knowing you're around. We don't have to stay on video call. Even it's just voice call. Please?"

"Of course. That's not a problem at all."

He turns off his camera so were just on voice call. I turn off the lamp next to me.

"Good night Yeji. Sweet dreams" he says and good thing he couldn't see me because I have the biggest smile.

"Good night Ryujin. Thank you for tonight."