Twisted Games(Ryeji ver)

YEJI[CHAPTER 31]

"REI." MY HEART THUMPED WITH PANIC, EVEN THOUGH I
wasn't doing anything wrong. Not at that second, anyway. "I didn't know you were back in town."

"I-uh, yes," she stuttered, looking uncharacteristically flustered. "It was a last-minute decision. I wasn't supposed to be back until next week, but I had an emergency in the city and I needed to get back straight away. I was going to call you tomorrow after everything settled." Her eyes slid to her left, and I realized she wasn't alone. A petite, pretty woman with blonde bright hair stood next to her, her face red and her arms wrapped tight around her waist.

"Your Highness." She dipped into a small curtsy, her lips fixed in a strained smile.

"This is Liz." Rei's discomfort visibly increased. "She gave me a ride back to the city."

"Didn't realize future dukes needed to hitch rides." A blade of suspicion sharpened Ryujin's otherwise even tone. The playful, gentle Ryujin from earlier in the afternoon had disappeared, replaced by the stoic, composed bodyguard I knew so well.

"She was coming back to the city anyway, so it made sense." Rei's eyes flicked between me and Ryujin. Something didn't add up. If she had an emergency in the
city, why was she at a hotel on the outskirts of Athenberg this late at night?

Then again, I of all people wasn't going to question why she was here. The four of us stood in the hall, each eyeing the others
warily.

The elevator pinged in the distance, and the air conditioning hummed with anxiety. The tension was so thick I could slice through it with a fingernail.

"The hotel isn't in the city," Ryujin said. She hadn't moved a single inch since we ran into Rei and Liz. Liz looked at the ground while Rei ran a hand through her hair.

"I had a dinner meeting at the restaurant. And Rei was, uh, kind enough to wait while I finished. What are you doing here?" She addressed the last part to me, and I realized I hadn't answered her the first time she asked.

"I took a spa day. We were just leaving." I avoided looking at Ryujin, afraid the movement would somehow give away what we'd really been doing all afternoon.

What does a head turn mean in Eldorran? Oh, just that I fucked my bodyguard in a dozen different positions over the course of six hours.

"Of course. I didn't mean to hold you up." Rei stepped aside so I could pass, but before I could, Liz spoke up.

"Rei, wasn't there something you wanted to ask Her Highness?" She fixed her eyes on Rei, whose lips thinned as she stared back at her. Some unspoken communication passed between them before she turned to me.

"This wasn't how I wanted to do it," she said with a hint of apology. "But since we're here, I did have something to ask you. Please forgive me if I'm being presumptive, but, ah, would you like to be my date to Princess Sakura's wedding?" Ryujin finally moved, her body shifting closer to mine and her hand sliding toward the gun at her waistband.

"I..." Of all the things I'd expected Rei to ask, that hadn't been one of them. We'd exchanged a few polite texts after our date at the Royal Botanic Gardens, but we hadn't spoken in weeks and, to be honest, she hadn't crossed my mind again until now.

I also suspected she and Liz had a more complicated relationship than she let on, perhaps even a romantic one. She clearly hadn't wanted to ask me out, and she was staring at the floor again with a frown. But if they were together, why would she push her to go on a date with me?

"I was going to ask when I called you tomorrow," Reiadded. She smiled, and I glimpsed the old friendly, relaxed Rei again. "We'd mentioned meeting up after I returned, and since the wedding is coming up, I thought you might like to go together. Unless you already have a date..." Sakura and Chaeyeon's wedding was in a month, and they were due back this weekend for the final preparations. I was a bridesmaid along with Chaeyeon's sister and best friend from the U.S.

"I don't." I was expected to, but I hadn't even thought about it. I'd been too wrapped up in the Citizen Letters program, training, and Ryujin. I hesitated, debating, before I finally answered,

"I would be happy to be your date. Thank you for asking." Ryujin stiffened further next to me.

"Excellent." Rei cleared her throat. "Let's hash the details out later, shall we? I'm looking forward to it."

"Me, too."

"You'd make a lovely couple." There was something in
Liz's voice. A hint of warning, maybe? Or animosity mixed with sadness. I couldn't pinpoint it, but whatever it was, it made Rei flinch.

"Thank you." It took all my training not to inject a question mark at the end. What was I supposed to say to something like that?

Another awkward silence fell before I finally excused myself and left Rei and Liz standing in the hall, glaring at each other.
Ryujin waited until we were in the elevator before she said,

"They're fucking." The thought had crossed my mind, but it didn't make sense.

"You don't know that."

"Trust me. I can tell when people are fucking, and they are." We stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby. "If they are, why did she encourage him to ask me out?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're into group play." Ryujin didn't look at me. She was pissed. She didn't say it, but I could feel it, and I didn't have to guess what he was angry about.

"I had to say yes to the date," I said after we got in the car. "Everyone expects me to bring someone to Kura's wedding." Sunoo and Seoyeon had not forgotten about my husband search and kept bringing it up at every turn, but there wasn't much they could do with Rei gone. Now that she was back...More complications. Less time with Ryujin. Frustration curled in my stomach.

"I see," Ryujin said in a neutral tone, but there was nothing neutral about the danger emanating from her like heat off
sunbaked asphalt.

I hated that I couldn't bring Ryujin as my date and that we had to hide and sneak around, even though the only thing keeping us apart was a stupid accident of birth.

It was the twenty-first century, but we might as well be living in the eighteenth.

The frustration sharpened and stabbed at my insides. How did we go from our glorious, dreamy afternoon together to this so fast?

"You're still expected to marry soon." Ryujin made a right turn, her hands so tight on the wheel her knuckles turned white.

"Yes," I said quietly. The past few weeks had been our version of a honeymoon, one in which we could be together without worrying about the thunderclouds in the distance. But the storm had arrived, and it was about to rain all over our parade.

I was the crown princess, and she was my bodyguard. No matter how much it felt like forever, we would eventually have to part ways...unless I did something drastic. Something no one had ever done before. Like repeal the Royal Marriages Law.