Once Upon Online

chapter 34

Everyone is getting ready for the barbecue. It's kind of like a family reunion. Ryujin went back to her hotel to say goodbye to her friend and grab her stuff. I told her she should just stay here with me until she leaves. It took some convincing because she didn't want to make my mom uncomfortable but I got my mom to agree so she has no choice.

I get Eva ready and I notice I feel like I have more energy.

"Ryujin is real right?" I talk to my almost two year old daughter. She's finally turning two next week.

"Yes she is" I hear someone say from behind me.

"Karina! You scared me" I say.

"Why don't you think Ryujin is real?" She ask.

"I feel like she's too good to be true? What are the odds of someone like me finding someone like her and her actually loving me?" I sigh.

"You know you're amazing, right? Ryujin is lucky too" she says to me.

"Even Travis likes her, stop worrying and enjoy it. I can see she really cares about you" She says while patting my back.

I finally get Eva dressed and I hear people are already arriving. My anxiety suddenly shoots up. My family are probably going to ask who Ryujin is and where's Dana. I didn't think about it. Ugh!

"Karina, what do I say about Ryujin? What do I introduce her as?" I ask my sister.

"Girlfriend?" She suggests.

"But she's my not girlfriend?" I say.

"Then make her your girlfriend, stupid" my sister scoffs.

"Uhh hi?" Ryujin says standing by the door.

"Oh look, your girlfriend, I should leave now" my sister says and she actually leaves.

"I'm sorry about my sister" I embarrassingly say.

"What was that all about?" She ask me.

"I was freaking out because I don't know how to introduce you to my family" I sit down on my bed while holding Eva.

Eva squishes my cheeks and Ryujin laughs then sits next to me.

"You can introduce me as your friend. We're technically not together" she says.

"Well that's the thing, I kind of don't want to introduce you as my friend?" I say unsure.

She raises one of her brows waiting for me to clarify what I just said.

"I want to introduce you as something more because you're more than just a friend to me but I completely get it if you're not ready. I just thought maybe you would want it too but you haven't asked so I don't know if you still want us" I say really fast feeling shy.

"Yeji, I want that too. I just wanted to give you some time to make sure you really want this, you know? You just broke up with Dana. I figured you'd want to be single for a while. Did you forget that I love you? So I want to be your girlfriend. I was just trying to respect you" She says.

"You're okay with facing my family as my girlfriend?" I ask to make sure.

"I'm ready to face anything with you" She smiles and squish my cheeks like Eva did. Eva laughs when Ryujin did that.

"This is not exactly how I imagined us being becoming official but I guess it will work the same" she laughs.

"How did you imagine it?" I ask being curious.

"You know? Like those cliché dates where I surprise you with something then you'll be like 'what? For me?' then I'll say yes and hug me. Then after the date or in the middle I go 'will you be my girlfriend?' using my sultry voice and you say yes then I jump from joy then we live happily ever after" she says.

I laugh at her, "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"I may be ridiculous but I still got you to love me right? So being ridiculous is the key" she proudly claims.

She takes Eva from me, "Go and get ready. I can watch Eva until you're done or if you're not comfortable with me watching her, I can hand her to your mom or sister" she smiles.

"You can watch her. But to make it clear, I can introduce you as my girlfriend?" I ask one more time.

"Yes" she kisses me on the cheek.

"Just be ready for some negative reactions."

"I'm used to it. Better question is, would you be okay with it?"

"I think so" I say.

She stands up while holding Eva and they leave the room so I can get ready. I can do this, I tell myself. If they don't accept us then tough luck. I pinch my cheek to make sure I'm not dreaming and that this is really happening.

I finish getting and I head downstairs to look for Ryujin and Eva which doesn't take long because I can hear them. They're in the living room playing. Ryujin has Eva in her arms while they run around and Ryujin would bend down and do like a scooping motion with Eva. Eva seems to love it since she's laughing like crazy.

My mom stands next to me, "She's warming up to me faster than I thought."

I look at her and smile, "Thanks mom."

Ryujin sees me and stops playing with Eva. She points towards me, "Look Eva, your mommy is done. She looks pretty huh?"

"Oh shut up, I'm starting to think you're being bias" I say taking Eva from her.

She shrugs her shoulders, "Nah. Just stating facts yo."

I laugh at her, "Thank you."

"Huh?" She tilts her head to the side.

"Thank you for forgiving me when I said leave me alone before and not giving up on us" I say.

She takes a step closer to me and slightly look up, "I lied to you. You shouldn't be thanking me. I should be thank you for giving me another chance."

"Okay, lovebirds that's enough. People are waiting outside" my sister disrupt us.

We head outside and see there's already a lot of people. The family gathering became a family and friends gathering.