Mine; Ryeji FF

Chapter 11: Help.

The fashion unlocked the door to her apartment, exhausted from the stress filled day at work. Her boss, Jisu, informed her that the deadline for her upcoming design had been pushed forward but she was struggling to come with an idea, she also had to find a model to wear the outfit that she design. Everything is out of her control, she was undoubtedly stressed. The tired woman walked into her penthouse to see the dark haired girl on the balcony, smoking.

Yeji took off her black high top converses and placed it beside the door. She walked to the balcony and stood beside the smoker.

"How's your day today?" Ryujin asked, exhaling the smoke and looked at the visibly fatigued woman next to her.

"It was okay, how's your day?", the designer said emotionlessly, also lighting up a cigarette. The other girl noticed something wrong by the tone of her voice.

"I was walking past a school when a little girl fell behind me, I carried her to the convenience store and bandaged her up. She is a very cute little gir—.", Ryujin immediately stopped when she sees Yeji's face crumpled up.

"Are you sure you had an "okay" day?", Ryujin asked the melancholic girl beside her.

"..."

"Yeji? Are you sure you're okay?."

"..."

"You don't seem okay, talk to m—."

"Just stop talking.", she snapped, aggravated by the repeated questions.

"..."

Ryujin was taken back by the hostile atmosphere the other created, so she decided it best if she left her alone. Taking a last puff of the cigarette, she walked back into the apartment and into her room.

Shit, I shouldn't lash out at her. Yeji sighed, finishing her smoking session and walking back into the penthouse. She washed up for the night and gets into bed.
Her body refused to let the fashion designer fall asleep, her mind feels burdened with her actions toward the dark haired girl. Yeji got out of bed and walked towards the guest bedroom. The restless woman knocked on the door lightly, moments later Ryujin opened the door.

"Hmm?", Ryujin opened the door slightly.

Getting ready to apologise to her, she saw a pillow and blanket on the floor and the bed still neatly made.

"Have you been sleeping on the floor?", Yeji inquired about the discovery.

"Uh, yeah. I couldn't sleep in the bed, sleeping on the floor helps me sleep. I'm used to it.", Ryujin said as she scratched her nape.

"I'm not sure if it's good for your back."

"And smoking is not good for our health but are we going to do anything about it?"

"No"

"Right"

Silence filled the air, both girls avoiding eye contact.

"Hey, I honestly want to apologise for snapping at you out there.", Yeji finally finded the words.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have kept pestering you about it.", the other girl smiled, flashing her dimples.

"But, I still want to know what happened today. You seem really stressed and I don't like stressed Yeji, it makes me stress and when I'm stressed, I don't sleep.", Ryujin quickly spoke as if she was a rapper.

Yeji smiled at the rapper's rambles so she walks into the room, sitting on the edge of the untouched bed, Ryujin sat beside her with a comfortable distance between the two. With the dim off white tone filling up the room, the fashion designer is noticed glimmers of sparkles in the other's eyes. Her eyes holds universes that I want to explore.

"I feel as if I'm losing control. I've always been capable of tight deadlines and overwhelming workloads but for some reason, I'm feeling overwhelmed. Typically, I like working under pressure but now, I don't think I can handle it.", the fashion designer, now visibly frustrated, buried her face into her hands.

Ryujin hummed in response, she had been noticing a change in the other girl during the week. How she had been eating less, coming home later, waking up earlier but now she understood the cause of the problem.

"Hmm, you're being dragged through hell right now. Have you asked anyone for help? Is there anything I can do to help?", she empathised with Yeji.

The cat eyed girl lifted her heavy head off her tired hands. "No, there is nothing you could do to help with me. I just.. I'm just tired.", her eyes became glossy, filling up with tears.

"You have to ask for help Yeji. I hate seeing you like this.", the worried friend looked over to the frustrated person.

"I hate asking for help, they'll think I'm incapable of my work.. they'll think i'm weak.", her tears started running down her cheek.

"You're wrong, they won't think that you're incapable. You can't just think that your boss or your co workers would just assume that you are coming dependent. I think they'd be more than happy to assist you considering you're one of the best designers in their company.", Ryujin replied, passing a tissue to the crying girl beside her. Yeji smiled in response.

"Look, you can't get through life thinking that you have to be independent. Sure it's good to be independent but when it gets tough and you feel like there is no solution to your problems, you need to ask around, get other people's perspective, then you'll find the solution."

Yeji looks toward Ryujin, still with tears in her eyes.

"Life is full of ups and downs, you can fall down when you get up or get up when you fall down. Asking for help when you're down doesn't mean your weak, we all need to be helped at some point in our lives."

Yeji felt as if the whole world was on her shoulders, the weight increasingly bearing down on her. With those words, the weight was slowly lighter. Who knew that the words of someone from a different era could relief the pressure she had been holding not just from work, but also from her past.

"Now tell me Miss Yeji, is there anything I could do to help.", Ryujin stood up, holding her right arm in front of her torso, imitating a butler awaiting instructions from their master.

Laughing from the sudden gesture, Yeji wiped her soaked cheeks with her crumpled tissues. The previously tearful woman felt a strange emotion bottling up inside her, a light and airy sensation spreading throughout her body.

"I want you to be my model, you'll be perfect."

"Your wish is my command."