Sunggyu sighs again, long and dreadful and looks at Woohyun who is sitting in front of him, drinking melon juice with an equally troubled look. He scrutinizes Woohyun quietly. The man looks exhausted tenfold, as if his soul has been out of him. He's getting thinner, losing appetite as more days pass. His face is visibly paler than before and there are dark circles clinging underneath his eyes.

     Sunggyu has a feeling that finding Woohyun's soulmate fiasco would be difficult, but he’d never expected this kind of hardship. As for now, they have tested a couple of students but none of them responded well (or terribly) with the potion so far, which means they haven’t made a single dent with their experiment.

     Truthfully, Sunggyu is losing all his will and wit and he knows Woohyun is even more so.

     Sunggyu clears his throat so that he gets Woohyun's attention. Woohyun's eyes twinkle tiredly as he looks up at him—boring into his eyes with indescribable emotion. Sunggyu swallows another nonexistent debris in his throat, feeling under the stare. “How are you feeling Woohyun? Are you in pain?” Sunggyu asks before he could think further.

     Woohyun's hand instantly goes up to his chest, like he's making sure for a second, then he purses his lips and shakes his head. “No, I’m not in pain right now.” 

     Sunggyu nods in agreement; he would be able to feel it if Woohyun did. Woohyun runs his eyes downward to the table and mutters in a quiet voice, “But, I don’t know. I feel like I got weaker lately. And it's cold too, especially here.” He points to his chest.

     Sunggyu tilts his head, dawning on the new information Woohyun gave. “Cold, you say?” He repeats, and Woohyun gives a small, ginger nod.

     Cold… That makes sense since the healing spell Sunggyu used on Woohyun before is made of ice cold wisps. And they have never left Woohyun's body.

     “Give me your hand.” Sunggyu says and Woohyun looks confused.

     “Here? Now?” He sounds bewildered at the request.

     “Yes.”

     “Why?”

     “Just,” Sunggyu sighs, “give it to me.” Sunggyu holds his hand out on the table. Woohyun stares at him for a long few seconds, he looks skeptical, but still puts his hand on Sunggyu's in the end; his cheeks grow a bit hot. They are in public space and Sunggyu is acting nonchalant, like this is a normal occurrence for them. His eyes are everywhere but Sunggyu.

     Sunggyu shudders at the coldness Woohyun's hand emitted. He looks around to examine the surrounding. The cafeteria is buzzing and bustling with students. Small spell should be sufficient for now. He doesn't want them to be drunk off his magic.

     “The heat is on.” Sunggyu chants the spell quietly so that his voice can only be heard by them. He draws his magic only an iota, only on the tip of his iceberg, just enough for Woohyun to be affected. 

     His magic suffuses up through his palm into Woohyun's. The warm water-like magic courses through Woohyun's thinning veins into his chest and Woohyun's skin breaks into goosebumps at the feel. The ice he has in his heart thaws out, melting out like a frozen lake under bright sunlight. And the ice clouded his eyes, dispersing into nothingness. 

     Woohyun instantly feels better as the new fresh batch pump of blood is gradually filling his ice cold cheeks, heating his body to normal temperature and returning the colour back into his skin.

     “Oh?” Woohyun gasps, feeling healthier than he has been the past few days.

     “Better?” Sunggyu muses, still holding Woohyun’s hand.

     “Eung.” Woohyun says, then giggles as a sudden wave of happiness and relief washes over him.

     His happiness seems to be contagious as Sunggyu’s mouth threatens to quirk upward into a smile too, and soon after small giggles escape his mouth, joining the non stop giggling Woohyun.

     “Why are you laughing?” Sunggyu asks between small laughs they share.

     “I don’t know. I’m just feeling happy.”

     “Happy?”

     “Euphoric. To be honest.” Woohyun quips back. Looking into Sunggyu’s eyes, then averts his eyes to their still joining hands. He doesn’t want to let go. Sunggyu is warm. And I’m cold. That’s why. He reasons with himself.

     Sunggyu’s eyes follow Woohyun’s gaze, then he picks his head back up. “Do you want me to let go?” 

     Woohyun looks up at him, the thinning laugh still evidence on his lips, “Can you hold me longer? I’m still cold.” That’s a lie. The ice has left his body the moment Sunggyu casted his spell.

     “Okay.” Sunggyu muses. Thankful that he’s the one on the receiving end of their connected feeling, otherwise Woohyun would’ve detected his mismatched heartbeat.

     Woohyun is smiling so wide Sunggyu thinks it’s worth it.

===

Later that evening, after another unfruitful day, they are back in their room. Having dinner together has been something of a custom for them. It’s nothing fancy, they will buy whatever one of them are feeling for the day, and eat in their room. Sometimes, they’d eat out, but Woohyun’s deteriorating condition is making it harder to do so lately. 

     “How does the soulmate thing gonna help me actually?” Woohyun asks suddenly. They are sprawling on their beds, respectively. Wrappers of burritos are still scattered on the table between their beds. It’s Woohyun’s pick today. They had sushi yesterday—Sunggyu’s pick.

     Usually Sunggyu would do the cleaning. He would do the Gone with the wind spell as Woohyun likes seeing the trash burst into specks of dust. But he’s full with food and now he’s sleepy, so he deems he will do the trick later.

     Sunggyu purses his lips, and turns to look at the other man who’s currently sprawling on his back, staring longingly at the ceiling. It’s somewhat melancholic, like he’s so far away that Sunggyu can’t reach him. He blinks away from him, mirroring his position, “It has something to do with connecting your link with your soulmate I think. I can’t recall its details.”

     Woohyun pushes his elbow up, propping his body into half turn position, facing the witch who’s gazing up at the ceiling with his thinking face on. “Link? Like the red string myth?” He pushes his tongue into his cheek, trying not to be amazed by the fact. Honestly he shouldn’t have been surprised anymore, he has encountered lots of incidents in the past weeks that if he told any of it to anyone, he would be called a liar, or insane. Yes, the latter would be more fitting. 

     Sunggyu stays unmoving, like a dead log in his bed, now even shutting his eyes closed, tethering into sleep mode but he makes the effort to answer Woohyun, “Sorta.” He mumbles.

     Woohyun whips his pillow at Sunggyu’s leg, “Hey don’t fall asleep. I’m trying to interrogate you here.”

     Sunggyu grunts. “What interrogation? You’re not a police, and I’m not a criminal either. I’ve done nothing wrong.” Sunggyu grumbles with his sleepy voice.

     “Technically, you’ve done me wrong.” Woohyun says smugly, then his eyebrow in triumph when he sees Sunggyu’s cheated expression. It’s a sore topic for both of them, but he won’t be Woohyun if he doesn't poke Sunggyu until he gives in. Plus, if he’s the one making the joke, then he’s allowed to laugh at his misery.

     “You won’t let me live until you get your answer isn’t it?” Sunggyu looks at him with one open eye.

     Woohyun’s smiles split wider, mischievously. “I’m glad we understand each other.”

     “I hate you.” Sunggyu says, without the heat in his words.

     “We both know you don't.” Woohyun chirps happily now that Sunggyu looks like he’s ready to tell him the rest of the information. (More like he’s forced to tell.)

     Sunggyu engraves a smal