Chapter VI - Last All Night, In Bed

If you were to ask me, it was her eyes that slayed me. One look and I was already hers, cut up and bloody. They were deep and black with barely a hint of brown. Clear but at the same time clouded with an infinite darkness. I was already lost in them, consumed by them. And the more I looked, the more they told me. The more they told me, the more I saw of her.

The real Yuna…

Strong but scared…

Full but empty…

Lovely… but lonely…

Like all she knew was failure despite herself.

The girl full of contradictions.

Thus I found myself here alone with her now, watching her longingly as she walked around my bedroom. She wasn’t looking at anything, really. Just meandering about whichever which way she pleased. With every step, her heels clicked and clacked against the hardwood floor. It made my chest tighten with excitement as I watched her long legs and curved hips dance and sway. What killed me even more was her posture, upright and astute. The kind of stance a trained dancer or a rich noble would have. It made her all the more alluring.

“Are you just going to sit there and stare, unnie?” she asked, her attention currently occupied with my bookshelf. “And here I thought you wanted to have ‘alone time’ with me.”

“What can I say?” I said in a matter of fact tone. “You’re kinda addicting to watch.”

“Unnie~!” She stopped in place with the most awkward looking smile on her face. A mixture of embarrassed and flattered. It was definitely my aesthetic. “How do you come up with those so fast?”

“Hmm, I wonder…” I began to postulate. “How am I this amazing?”

“Oh, here we go,” she rolled her eyes but still smiled all the while. She moved on to my collection of stuffed animals and plushies that were stacked in a neat pile.

“Maybe I’ve memorized all the romantic one liners from every love story ever?”

“I would imagine that would be time consuming. Also, how would you not die from a brain aneurysm doing that?”

“Oh, true. I might be possessed by some love starved ghost who could only move on to the after life fulfilling my wish.”

Yuna took a moment to think about this one. “No, no. I’m pretty sure it’s just you in that adorable body of yours.”

She blushed after a moment, only realizing now she said more than she meant to. I might use that to my advantage someday.

“How would you know?” I continued on, pretending not to have caught her mistake. “Can you see ghosts?”

She paused again. This time for dramatic effect before turning suddenly to face me. “Possibly…’

I raised an eyebrow. “...Really?”

Yuna looked at me, raising an eyebrow with disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? This isn’t some Saturday night drama on the TV!”

“Awww, man~! Lame. Sure would make life more interesting.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Her eyes glazed over at the statement before turning normal again.

“But seriously, if you really want to know… It’s easy. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Oh? Really?” Yuna found a large stuffed bunny within the pile. She was currently hugging it while humming the question and tilting her head.

“Yup~! You see, what you don’t realize is that I’m a romance geniu-! GAH!”

The large bunny flew at my head causing me to fall backward onto my bed.

“HAHAHA~! Sure, unnie~! Whatever you say.”

“Hehehe~!” I giggled, sitting upright. “What!? It’s possible!”

“Oh, I think it's possible. I think it's a little too plausible. Maybe you’re so good because you’re actually a player?”

“Whoa, whoa! Now, hold on a second.” I raised my hands in defence. “I’m actually a good girl. All innocent and whatnot. That I can definitely promise.”

“Uh-huh…”

Why does everyone assume I’m up to no good? Sure, I was actually up to no good but still! Cut a girl some slack!

Yuna reached an L-shaped glass desk that hugged the corner of my room, next to my window. At night, I had a lovely view of the night sky whenever I played on my computer. Or at least what I could see of it past the three monitors. The displays were showing a cool 3D graphics demo that came with the video card to show off its rendering capabilities. Next to the displays mounted on the wall was the computer tower itself, with a tempered glass casing. In its entirety, it was like an industrial art display mixed of glass, LEDs, and liquid cooling.

I liked to think that it was possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever created.

“What's this app for?” Yuna asked, pointing at a tablet on a charging stand atop my computer desk. Currently, it was showing a large color wheel and brightness settings, which a couple of presets at the bottom.

“Tap on one of the squares if you want, whichever color you like.”

Looking confused, she followed my suggestion and tapped one of the blue presets.

Inlaid lighting and strip lights around my room slowly shifted from a normal white into a blue hue. Even the LEDs in my computer, keyboard, and mouse all took on a blue ripple effect.

“Wah~!? That's so cool.”

“I just finished installing everything over break,” I explained. I then motioned to the computer tower, keyboard, and mouse. “The lighting in there took awhile to get all synced up. It was a annoying to install but I'm happy with the results.”

“Wait,” Yuna looked at me raising an eyebrow. “You did all of this? By yourself?”

“Mmhmm.”

“How’d you do that?” She poked at the tempered glass cautiously. Inside, the RGB fans spun and their lights reflected off the white coolant liquid. “You sure your not some computer engineer?”

“Ah, sorry. Let me explain.” I waved my hands. This seems to happen a lot when I tell people I built my own computer. “I didn't sodder the parts together or anything like that. Like I didn't make them all by hand. That would truly be insane. No, I just buy the parts online and put the pieces together.”

“Ah, I see. Still though. That's impressive. I mean, you still have to make sure that everything fits together and that everything works.”

“Yeah… that part gets kinda tricky. But, trust me, it's a lot easier than it sounds.”

“Maybe you can show me sometime?”

Wow. If that wasn't a hint, I don't know what was. Still, I wanted to play it cool.

“Sure, sure. I charge people though. But, tell you what, I'll give you a discount because you're so pretty.”

Or not.

I swear. I'm a terrible person, aren't i?

Yuna snorted at that one.

“Maybe a little too much?” I admitted, emphasizing the sentence with a hand gesture. “Just a little?”

“Just a bit.”

“Ah, well. Too late now.”

“Isn't it always.”

There was more beneath that statement but I didn't want to push the issue. Yuna started fidgeting during the sudden silence. pursed to the side, showing nervousness. I found it adorable.

“Bring that over here, will you? Let me show you what else it can do.”

“Sure “

Yuna lifted the tablet off the charging dock and sat next to me. As she did, I took off my heels and folded my feet under me. My feet were killing me and I liked crawling into this soft bed. She did the same, handing me the tablet at the same time.

I was missing this closeness. Now that she was next to me I never wanted to leave her side.

“Feet hurt too?” I asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah.”

“Hmmm. Sorry I don't have like a magical spell or something to help that. Not a mage.”

“Hehe, thanks. I'll be fine,” she shrugged before pointing at the tablet excitedly. “So, what are you going to show me?”

“Well,” I started, switching the app interface to the custom settings. “Is your favorite color blue?”

“Yeah…” She started to eye me suspiciously. “How did you know that? You sure you aren't a wizard or something?”

“Yes, I'm sure.”

“Because it wouldn't be the first time you've lied to me today.”

“That's not-” I was about to protest but I thought better of it. “Yeah, I guess you're right. But still I figured that was the case since it was the color you chose from the app. I mean, sure, the odds were slim but it was a pretty good guess.”

“Ah, I see,” she nodded her head, her eyes looking away as if to think back to our conversation. “Remind me to never make you mad. I feel like you’d come up with something awful.”

“That's true. But you’re so pretty that I could never get mad at you. Ow~!”

Yuna grabbed the stuffed bunny from before and smacked me in the head with it. Still though, she was laughing.

“You know you enjoy it,” I smirked before finishing my edits. “So then, these lights could be further customize to strobe or flicker as such…”

Immediately, the blue lights that engulfed the room started to slowly blink in and out of existence.

“Or,” I continued. “You can mix in colors and have things fade in and out.”

Now the lights stayed on, morphing from blue to white to yellow to white to blue again. Almost like a chameleon adapting its skin, the room slowly changed from spectrums of blue and yellow.

“Is your favorite color yellow?” asked Yuna.

I nodded my head.

“I’ll remember that,” Yuna grinned, looking at me satisfied. She leaned in closer and started poking at some of the colors. As she did, the colors and hues would add or subtract themselves from the light show.

The questions continued on like that for a while. Real life affirming questions that really challenged the mind.

Ranging from the logical...

“Strawberry or chocolate ice cream?”

“I like mint though.”

Philosophical…

“If a tree falls in a forest and it lands on a duck, does it's quack count as making a noise?”

“Do ducks even live in a forest?”

Or just nonsensical...

“If you were traveling in a canoe upstream and the wheels fall off, how much is that doggie in the window?”

“It depends on the color of the sun that day.”

You know. A normal “getting to know someone” questionnaire. We stayed away from topics about school and stuff, neither of us wanted to talk about it. This weekend was about escaping that reality and making a new one for ourselves.

The most important stuff, however, were the things that weren't said. The stuff only said in silence.

Letting my hand rest on her knee just a little too long.

Or her grabbing my hand just a little too tightly.

Hold and release. Push and pull.

As we had these teasing conversations, she and I started to lean in closer and closer.

And she didn't mind at all. Not even as our bodies started to ache with sleepiness and we found ourselves lying next to each other. Handing the tablet back and forth as we started playing games and taking turns. I'd win one. She’d win another. Back and forth just like that. And while one was holding the device, the other would find a new thing to play with.

The skin on my arm.

Her soft, black hair.

Removing an earring.

Twirling the ribbon around her neck.

This was the kind of thing that I could get used to.

My phone vibrated with a message from Sowon.

Eunbi was resting up in the guest room and she was just making sure the last of the guests were gone. I replied with a thanks and showed Yuna the message.

“Mmmm, Yerin unnie?” She broke the silence with that sultry voice, now breathless and heavy with fatigue. Her head was inches away from mine, close enough to smell her shampoo or perfume. I wasn't sure which it was but I wasn't going to forget it.

“Yes, I was hoping you would stay the night.”

“Hehehe~! Not to sound like that type of girl but I assumed that was a given,” she laughed, sinking into a more comfortable position next to me. One of her arms were around my waist while the other played with my hair.  “But that wasn't what I was going to ask. Not that I wasn't going to eventually.”

“Hmm, I guess I'm just greedy.”

“So am I.” She pulled me closer. Automatically, our legs became entangled and she looked at me deeply. “But, a thought did just occur to me.”

“Mmhmm?”

Her face changed then, tensing up a bit as her brow furrowed again. Worried and scared about what I may think of her. As if she suddenly realized something and regretted her decision.

Scared of messing up.

Scared of failure.

“N-nothing… Actually. Nevermind.” She dug her head into the crook of my neck. The abrupt turn around left a thick blanket of awkwardness in the air. “Forget about it.”

Ah. There it was. The question! The ultimate question! The question that's been on her mind since the moment we met. In the confusion, in the excitement, in the insanity, that question has been written on her face the entire time we were talking… But she was just not strong enough to ask it.

Why me?

A simple and complex question. Filled to the brim with so much unsaid that the weight of it was encumbering. Answered incorrectly and it's game over.

“It's because we are both alike,” I answered, relieving her if having to ask it. “I think so, anyway.”

The warm air disappeared from my shoulder, as if she were holding her breath.

“I don't know how to explain it,” I continued. “I see you... Like when I really see you… and I see what I used to be. Or at least what I ran away from.”

She remained silent but nodded her head.

“I don't think I've ever met someone like that. Its…”

“Weird…” she completed my sentence. “Same…”

“It shouldn't make sense. But it just… does.”

“Mmm,” she hummed in agreement. “Yeah… it's like I see what I can be… Like I’m looking at my future self in the mirror… But shorter."

“Hehe, true,” I let out a sigh before talking again. “We’d make a terrible pair though.”

“Just… awful.” I felt her lips curl up into a smile against my bare shoulder. “Even what you did for Sowon unnie there. I can't imagine you being that nice without having some ulterior motive.”

“I can be, if I wanted to.”

“But you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Liar.”

“...Yes, I am.”

I relented with a sigh that she found funny.

“But…” She paused for a moment, trying to find the words. “If I'm going to be terrible, I wouldn't mind tagging along with you.”

I lifted her chin so she’d look at me.

“Fine by me. Dragging you down with me seems fun.”

Her forehead rested on mine, her eyes beginning to shut.

“Good to know,” she whispered. “I've already messed up... more than a life times worth.”

I smiled, closing my eyes in the process.

“Don't let your pretty little head worry about that anymore. I'll just pick up the-!”

I paused, suddenly feeling her hand resting on the back of my head.

Just for three seconds.

Three long seconds that teased me to eternity.

Three.

“Unnie?”

Two.

“Yeah?”

One...

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

Hmm. Well then.

“Make me.”

Hehehe... Man that one was a fun to write. Hope you guys enjoyed yourselves with this YeJu heavy chapter. We are close to the end of the "Party Arc" so to speak and will move on to some other things. Can't wait to explore these characters more.