...Ding!
...Ding!
...Ding!
"How long do you plan on ignoring her messages?" Lia asked.
"I don't want to look at any of them," Yuna said looking somewhat panicked.
Yeji chimed in, "What even happened between you two? I remember you guys were fin-" Yeji covered her mouth realizing what just had slipped.
Yuna glared at Yeji. "You what?"
There was a shameful look on Yeji face as she diverted her eyes down. Yeji quickly pointed. "It was Lia's idea!"
"Was not!" Lia protested and pouted at Yeji.
Yeji gave up. "Okay, okay, it was my idea." Yeji sighed. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I was- am still a little skeptical of that girl."
"Aww unnie, I do appreciate your concern, but I can handle dates on my own here."
Lia's eyebrows lifted by what had just come out of Yuna's mouth. Yeji was a little shocked too and said, "A date you say?"
Yuna's face began starting to flush red. He covered her cheeks with both her hands. "I-I mean hangout! It wasn't date!"
Yeji started rubbing her chin thinking aloud, "You know, we did lose sight of you two when we got to the festival. If you don't mind me asking, what did you two do?"
Yuna hesitated a little bit scratching the side of her face with her index finger. "Do you really wanna know?"
Lia and Yeji nodded.
Yuna reluctantly told the girls the stages of her "date" and didn't spare any details because they were her best friends after all. There were a variety of reactions and expressions coming from both of the girls. Lia seemed to be enjoying it like it was a drama while Yeji seemed to be cringing from the cheesiness of the date.
"That was SO cute!" Lia exclaimed.
"And gross!" Yeji added.
Yuna seemed a little embarrassed sharing her time with Ryujin. "So yeah, that's what happened."
"How come you left? It seems like you were having a good time." Lia was curious.
Yuna replied, "I honestly was. It was one of the most fun and happy I've been in a while besides when I'm with you guys."
Lia smiled thinking how cute that sounded.
Yeji also grinned because it put her at ease knowing her friend was at least very happy with the person she was spending time with.
Yuna continued, "I just-- there's just a seed of doubt in the back of my mind that history will repeat itself and I don't know if I want to go through that again. I was lucky enough to have you guys come along and save me."
"And if things go south, we'll be there again." Yeji reassured.
"Of course. We'll always be here for you Yuna." Lia agreed.
Yuna brought her two friends for a close hug. "Thank you guys."
Yeji and Lia returned the hugged.
"But I don't think I'll risk it. If I can survive this long without her then I can continue to live like that forever right?"
Yeji wholeheartedly agreed while Lia had an unsure look on her face.
︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵
"So that's what happened."
"That 100% lines up with what she told me," Lia said with her phone to her ear.
"I just don't know what went wrong. We were having such a good time," Ryujin responded.
Lia fell silent letting Ryujin talk and think things out.
"...She's still not completely over what I did to her huh?" Ryujin proposed.
Lia took a deep and long sigh. "I won't lie to you, you should have seen her when Yeji and I came into her life. She wasn't... in the best of conditions."
"That bad?" Lia could hear Ryujin shuffling through the phone, most likely cause she felt guilty.
"I should probably tell you this since she's just ghosting you but she told Yeji and I that if she can live this long without you then she can continue to live without you." Lia informed.
Ryujin slumped in her bed. She didn't want to hear such harsh words come her way but she knew some of it was warranted because of what she did. Though to hear that someone doesn't want you in their life struck a needle in Ryujin's heart. It felt awful to know Yuna chose to leave Ryujin out of her life. There was a flurry of depressing emotions swirling inside Ryujin but all she could vocalize was a heavy sigh right now.
"Are you okay?" Lia spoke up in response.
"It just... sucks. Cause as stupid and out of nowhere as this sounds, I really did come back to make things right. None of what I did overseas felt right without her by my side. I couldn't live a dream feeling guilty like I did something wrong to get there."
Lia once again was silent to let Ryujin vent out her feelings.
"I'm really trying my best to amend for what I did wrong-" There was a small break in Ryujin's voice, "-everyday that I was out there I felt awful. There were days I couldn't sleep right, I would mess up at practices, I just... felt completely lost. I felt and still feel like an awful person."
Lia frowned hearing Ryujin break down through the phone. "You're not an awful person okay? Just cause you did something wrong in the past doesn't make you an awful person now. Look at reality right now, you're back here trying to make things right. I know you have good in you Ryujin."
"But-"
"No, I don't wanna hear it." Lia sighed. "Look, if we defined a person based on one wrong thing they did, everyone would be horrible people. You have a chance to fix what you did and you're trying to, so that's worth something. Deep down, I know you also believe you're a good person. You're in a tough spot right now that's all."
Ryujin started to calm down and stabilize her breathing.
"Plus, I wouldn't have befriended you while I was overseas if I thought you were a bad person." Lia said and smiled.
"...Thank you unnie. You always know how to help." Ryujin wiped her tears.
"Anytime. Now then, do you need anything? I can probably stop by for a bit."
"I'm okay for now. I just don't know what to do or what I can do at the moment." Ryujin confessed.
Lia thought aloud, "What if she did something instead?"
"Wait, what?"
"I dunno, we're just talking about how you should do something but if she did something then it fixes a lot of problems. If she initiated, then that would mean she genuinely wants to do something," Lia explained.