Mine; Ryeji FF

Chapter 4: Winter Night.

Ryujin placed the bowl in the sink and started to wash up but Yeji quickly stopped her. Her hand lightly grazed Ryujin's hand causing her to take a step back, her chest became heavy. The blonde quickly took notice of the other's reaction so she also took a step back.

"I'm sorry, I just haven't had any interaction with people in a really long time.", Ryujin struggled to find the words. Yeji looked down, avoiding eye contact with the other.

"Sorry, I should keep my distance from you. I'll try not to make you uncomfortable again. I'll wash the bowl, you can take a seat on the couch. Make yourself at home", Yeji replied apologetically. Ryujin nodded and headed towards the couch.

Ryujin sat on the couch and started taking deep breaths to try to calm herself down. As soon as her chest felt lighter, she glanced at the book that had kept her as a prisoner. All the memories tied to that book caused her nothing but pain and fear, she felt as if she was reliving the past over and over again. The pained girl held her eyes shut, trying keep her mind off the emotions that came rushing back to her. Her eyes opened again and the book vanished from the table and was replaced with a cup of tea. The blonde noticed the uneasiness on Ryujin's face so she quickly hid the book under the fashion magazines scattered on the coffee table. Yeji took a seat far from the other girl on the couch.

"I guess I should properly introduce myself. I'm Yeji, 19 and I am fashion designer."

Ryujin looked over to Yeji and gave a polite smile.

"Shin Ryujin as you already know. I am- I mean was a soldier fighting for the United Kingdom. I'm 18 and I was trapped in a book for 100 years. yay~" she said as she gave a sarcastic thumbs up towards the end.

Yeji's jaw dropped from the sudden change in Ryujin's personality. Thousands of questions erupted in her head. So she IS a soldier but for the United Kingdom? and she's 18?! I'm older than her?! and she has a sense of humour?! they had sarcasm almost 80 years ago?!

"Uh.. Hello? Are you alright in there?!", Ryujin stared at Yeji who then quickly snapped back to reality.

"Oh yeah uh.. 2 questions. First question. United Kingdom? You fought for them?" Yeji asked, sipping her tea to rehydrate her dry throat.

"Yep, my parents migrated to the UK before I was 7 years old. We were poor, really poor. They would live the house to work hard labour everyday leaving me at house alone with my sister who was 5 years old at the time. My parents did somehow managed to earn enough money to send they both to school. We didn't know how to speak English at the time so we struggled a lot, didn't have any friends and bullied relentlessly every day", Ryujin took a sip of the tea, allowing the hot liquid run down her throat. She felt warm during the winter night, not knowing whether it was because of the warm beverage or due to the presence of another person, human interaction was something she been stripped of all these years.

"When my parents died, we were left to fend for ourselves on the streets. I quickly found some odd jobs to feed my sister and myself. I knew the streets was too much for my sister so I saved up enough money to send her back to some family back in South Korea. I stayed.", Yeji looked away, she felt an ache in her heart, feeling sympathetic towards Ryujin. The latter's eyes became glassy, holding back tears.

"How did you get into the book?", Yeji hesitated to ask. The other girl kept quiet, fighting the urge to recall the painful memories that haunted her everyday she was in the book. The blonde noticed the discomfort the question asked caused.

"It's okay, you don't need to answer it."

"I'll answer it in the future, Yeji.", Ryujin looked at the girl, smiling.

"Only if you're comfortable, Ryujin.", Yeji smiled back.

The air is filled with silence but it was a comfortable silence. Ryujin didn't know what came over her to share a bit about herself to a stranger whom she just met but she felt comfortable. Another reason she was happy was because the person that summoned her out of the book wasn't the man that caused pain and torture that she experienced for a long period of time.

"Yeji, how did you find the book?", as she took another sip from her mug.

"I was in my family's mansion looking at all the books on the shelf I've read when I was younger. Then I found your book, I noticed that I've never seen it before so I took it home and well here you are!"

"Thank you Yeji. Thank you for getting me out of the book. For saving me."