Taemin was laying down in the nurse’s office, that much he knew without having to open his eyes. He’d been here many times before when he pretended to be sick so he could skip class and take a nap and he recognized the thin sheet that covered him and the firm bed beneath him. What he didn’t know was who was sitting beside him and he was afraid to find out.

  At first he couldn’t think of why he might be in there since he didn’t remember faking sick but slowly the horror of lunch came back to him and his eyes flew open, the sudden need to flee returning.

  A hand grabbed his and he looked to see who was next to him and he tensed as his eyes met Jonghyun’s again. He yanked his hand away and his face scrunched into a mixture of disgust and fear.

  “What are you doing here?” He demanded angrily

  Jonghyun’s eyes had opened wide in shock and he said, “You fainted … I was worried so I asked if I could stay here until you woke up and they said yes.”

  “Who the hell is they and why would they say yes? Class should have already started and I don’t want you here, I don’t even know you.”

  “I- … it was the nurse and I’m not sure but one of the ladies from the office and well I think they let me stay once Jongin and I told them…”

  “Told them what?” Taemin prayed he wouldn’t say that ridiculous word because no, he wasn’t

  “That, that you’re my soulmate. That we made eye contact and the world kind of like exploded and then there was some weird feeling and then the world was in color and you got scared and fainted.”

  “We are not soulmates! I don’t want a soulmate and I sure as hell don’t want you as one! And I didn’t get scared because I saw some colors, I freaked out because I knew that just looking at you that you would believe nonsense and say some stupid like that we belong together or something.”

  Taemin threw the sheet off of him and climbed out of the bed. He noticed that someone had taken off his shoes when he felt the cold linoleum floor through his socks and he vaguely registered that his socks were an ugly burnt orange color.

  “This is insane…” Jonghyun whispered and Taemin turned to see him staring down at his hand that was still resting where Taemin’s had been “I finally get to meet my soulmate and he’s in denial?”   

  “I’m not in denial. I don’t believe in soulmates and there’s also one drastic and extremely important clerical error in this whole situation, I am not gay.”

  Jonghyun stood up and shook his head, “You don’t believe in soulmates? That’s like not believing in sunlight! You can’t just deny the existence of this, of soulmates, of me. You say that you’re not gay but you don’t have a choice. We are born this way and obviously we were born for each other-“

  “No! Shut up! I don’t care what you say. I am not gay and I don’t belong to anyone. Let me kill that little hope you have of being with ‘your other half,” Taemin sneered, anger swelling up inside of him, walking closer to the boy until he stood right in front of him, feeling the heat from his body, “I don’t know you but I already know that I don’t like you, that I never will, and that even if I believed in soulmates, the idea of being with you disgusts me. So leave. Me. The hell. Alone.”

  Taemin could see the hurt in Jonghyun’s eyes but he couldn’t care less as he shoved his feet into his shoes, grabbed his bag and stormed out of the nurse’s office.

  He looked around the main office for a bit before walking up to the AP’s desk and asking to use her phone to call his mom because he wasn’t feeling good. Before he could finish dialing he heard someone call out to him and saw that it was Nurse Kim

  “Oh Taemin dear, you’re awake! I was beginning to worry when you’d wake up. I heard that that happens sometimes to soulmates when the first met, overwhelmed by it all they faint, but I’ve never had a student come in because of that.”

  “I’m sorry correct you Nurse Kim but I wasn’t overwhelmed and I don’t have a soulmate.”

  “That young man told a very different story.” Nurse Kim said looking at Taemin with doubt.

  “Well that guy is crazy. I just met him and he shouldn’t have been allowed to sit by my side.”

  Nurse Kim paused and looked like she was contemplating something before saying, “You just met him?” Taemin nodded, “and when you guys made eye contact what happened? The world ... exploded? It was painful and bright? And then when you opened your eyes you saw colors?”

  “I-“ Taemin stopped himself from yelling. He took a deep breath before responding, “Nurse Kim, I apologize but I disagree with this whole destined partners thing that society accepts as a norm and I’d rather not talk about it anymore. I don’t feel good and I just want to call my mom to pick me up.”

  Taemin excused himself and called his mom, telling her he had a migraine and wanted to go home. Within 20 mins he was seated in the car, feigning blistering pain so that his mom wouldn’t ask him anything and just take him home.

 As soon as he got home he rushed to his room for escape. He shut his blinds, hating the light shining through and crawled into the comfort of his bed. He wanted to forget that today had ever happen but he could still see these damn colors, vibrating around him, lighting up his world, reminding him of it all.

  He groaned in despair before pushing his head under his pillow and squeezing his eyes shut tight, desperately needing sleep to encase him. The last thing he pictured in his mind before it all went dark once again was those sad brown eyes filled with endless broken dreams that chilled him to his center…