soy sauce [ryuna] ✩

ten

Yeji woke up with a start, jerking herself up and taking in her surroundings. She expected to wake up somewhere dark, but was surprised to feel the softness of a couch under her and to be in a very familiar living room. The black and red theme gave it all away.

She sighed and held her head, which hurt a little bit, but not enough to prevent her from doing her job.

A soft groan from a couple of feet away caught her attention, and she looked to see Chaeryeong lying on a couch as well. The younger was pushing hair away from her face as she sat up, disoriented until her gaze locked with Yeji's.

"Oh no," Chaeryeong whispered.

"'Oh no' is correct!" A preppy voice replied.

At the entryway of the living room stood Yuna, a grim look on her face. She uncrossed her arms as she stalked further into the sitting area, causing the older girls to jump to their feet with winces.

"Where's Ryujin?" Chaeryeong asked.

"Where do you think?" Yuna sarcastically said. "You won't find her, so you should leave."

"You're not even supposed to have her."

Yuna shrugged. "Well, I do. And you two lost. Ta-ta!" She gave a little wave.

"Yuna, you really don't want to go down this path," Yeji said. "Come on, kidnapping people? And for what reason? To continue some messed up legacy your grandad or great-grandad started decades ago?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Yeji frowned. "How would you even—"

"You don't understand, Yeji! Just because your family works for mine, and we're near the same age doesn't mean you understand what I'm going through!" Yuna shouted.

"If you'd just talk to someone—" Chaeryeong started.

"No!" Yuna yelled, stomping her foot. "I'm not going to jail! I'm going to be different! I'm not going to be like my brothers! Father will be proud of me!"

"Yuna, he's dead!"

Yuna stared at Yeji for a good minute, unfaltering. It was silent in the room as Yeji's last sentence hung in the air. Yuna then cut her eyes to Chaeryeong, who was watching her, before whirling around and storming out the room.

Yeji sighed in frustration before hiding her face in her hands. "Chaeryeong, please go follow her."

Chaeryeong nodded and walked out, rubbing the back of her head and mumbling about how hard Yuna hit her. Yeji stood in the room by herself for a few moments, trying to collect her thoughts. She could deal with Yuna's feelings later. The most important thing was finding Ryujin and getting her as far away from Yuna as possible.

But where could Ryujin be?

Ryujin wished she had been quiet and not pushed Yuna's buttons. Hours had passed, and she was sure she missed lunch as her stomach started to growl. She thought that Yuna would put Ryujin's well-being over her emotions, but she had to be real. Yuna was the reason she was down there in the first place.

Thump...thump...thump...

Ryujin wondered what her mom was doing. She then wondered if she could be able to get Yuna to text or call her mom to let her know Ryujin was fine, only to shake her head. The police could trace the call and Yuna would get arrested. And Yuna would be smart enough to know that.

She sighed, which quickly turned into an irritated groan.

A few minutes passed of just throwing the ball against the wall and Ryujin wondering when Yuna would come visit her, preferably with her dad or somebody else important. She somehow managed to throw the ball just short of the wall, to which it fell mid-air and bounced softly against the wall in front of her. She sat there and stared at the ball slowly rolling under the table. And then she heard a thump.

Wait, what?

Ryujin stilled, keeping her ears open for any sound made. No way. Yuna didn't make much noise when she visited. Ryujin wouldn't even know Yuna was coming until the younger opened the door.

A few moments of silence later, she heard another thump against the other side. Could it be? Someone was there to rescue her?

Ryujin shot up, running to the door and banging on it as hard as she could. Ignoring the pain she felt in her hands, Ryujin yelled and screamed as loud as she could, hoping the person on the other side could hear her.

"HELP! I'M IN HERE! PLEASE HELP ME!"

Ryujin felt her eyes prickle with unshed tears. Whether it was from her fists or the realization that she was so close to escaping, she wasn't sure.

She stopped yelling when she heard muffled noises and the sound of the door unlocking from the outside. She stepped away from the door, holding her hands together under her chin.

More muffled talking, and then the door opened. A relieved smile crossed Ryujin's face before it slowly slid off as a body was pushed inside, followed by Yuna. The person that was pushed in the room groaned, and it finally registered that the person was—

"Yeji?"

Ryujin fell to her knees to help Yeji up, who was completely unresponsive. The tears began to spill because 1) her friend was now in the same predicament as her, and 2) she wasn't getting out anytime soon.

"Your little friend needs to learn to stay in her place," Yuna said, bringing an aluminum bat from behind her back. "Both of them."

Both of them? Ryujin wiped the hair from Yeji's relaxed face, wondering what Yuna meant. Until she heard the sound of something heavy dragging against the floor in front of her, and lifted her gaze to see Chaeryeong being dragged by Yuna into the basement.

"Chaeryeong, too?" Ryujin sobbed, scrambling to get to her younger friend. She didn't move either.

"Yeahhhh," Yuna swung the bat back and forth, "her too. They just keep getting in the way of my plans! Talk to them when they wake up, please, sweetie? Bye!"

With a dazzling smile that made Ryujin sick to her stomach, Yuna closed the heavy door behind her, casting Ryujin and her unconscious friends in the dim room.

whoop whoop, long overdue!
i'm sorry for the sucky updating. hopefully it'll be better once i learn to juggle school and free time so i'm not stressing myself out. i hope everybody is doing well!💕