Serendipity (Ryeji)

Study "Date"

"Hold on. I forgot to give this to you."

Ryujin curiously turns to the brunette, although the curiosity quickly subsides within seconds and turns into appreciation. Yeji had repeated an action similar to the other day.

"I didn't know if you had anything to drink so I stopped at the vending machine while waiting." Yeji holds out a water bottle. "I was looking for a snack you might like. I didn't see much of your favorites in there, but I also didn't want to show up empty-handed."

Ryujin shoots glances back and forth between her friend, the water, and the granola bar. She's a bit stunned to learn Yeji was thinking about her whereas she herself nearly ditched Yeji out of jealousy. "You really didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. We're friends, and friends do nice things for each other."

"Thank you." She nods, blushes as she climbs the ladder leading to the slide at the park located between their school and the Hwang residence. Now seated at the top of the slide, she silently observes Yeji wander around the playground, kick around the mulch, scuff her feet against the ground. It appears the older girl is thoroughly taking in the scenery, though honestly, Ryujin couldn't focus on any of their surroundings. This park remained dull next to Yeji, and this sunset could only dream of matching her crush's beauty. "Did you lose something? I can help you look around."

"No, I just... " Yeji pauses, takes a moment to smile at her recollections. "There are some vague memories trapped inside my mind, many of which I think I neglected soon after we stopped talking. I haven't been here in a while, so I guess I hoped to refresh my memory. But now that I'm here, especially with you, I remember it all too well."

"If I'm being honest, I have no idea what you're getting at."

"Us." Ryujin waits for a punchline so she can get rid of the heat she feels in her cheeks but Yeji never delivers one. "If I remember them, surely you do. We spent a lot of time here. During hide and seek, we spent forever looking for you until Lia finally found you in that tunnel under there, chomping on the ice from your lemonade. Even the slide you're on, we'd take off our shoes and slide down in our socks. After we met Yuna, she enjoyed that too." Yeji aims at the swings. "While we swung, we used to stand on the seats and jump off. Across the mulch over there, you'd tease Chaeryeong and stop her from climbing the monkey bars, somehow convincing me to sit on them with you so that way she couldn't use them."

"That last one I remember very well." Ryujin laughs at the memory, understands what the latter meant now. Many of the memories she had with Yeji were kept hidden away, hidden to ease her pain of the separation of friendship she forced upon them. She supposes Yeji unconsciously did the same. "Is there any particular reason you didn't recognize me at first?"

"I recognized you, but I didn't know it was you. We hadn't spoken in say three or four years, right?" The brunette sighs. "I think after our fallout I tucked a lot of our memories away."

She pauses, looks at Ryujin, waiting for an answer to her statement that undeniably implies a question. However, it's still one that the youngest couldn't answer for her. Not yet. Thus, it remains a mystery for now. Someday soon, she hopes to learn the reason.

"Though your hair color really did throw me off. I guess going from a dark color to light color can make a difference."

"Wait, really??" Her last few words make the pink-haired girl wildly self-conscious. Ryujin pulls a chunk of her hair forward, inspects the texture and color. She dyed it after a competition with Heejin and Hyunjin versus her and Jiu. Losers of the game had to dye their hair a wild color, hence why Jiu's hair is currently purple and Ryujin's is pink. "What's wrong with it? Did I make a bad decision??"