Lu Han moved to Seoul from Beijing a month ago. He took Korean as an elective not because he’s particularly fond of the language but because it’s the more appealing option. He has been learning Korean for over two years now and he thinks he’s proficient, but he lacks practice. So with the encouragement of his Korean professor, he decided to venture to unknown territory to make use of what he has learned.

                He was hesitant at first, being shy around people and having to be away from the familiar scares him. He has lost count of how many times he has thought of backing out. But an offer for advance studies from a prestigious school cemented his decision. He realizes that the need to learn more is stronger than wanting to stay in his comfort zone.

                The flight to Seoul was uneventful, though he admits that he was a bit scared (okay, maybe scared less) of flying alone. It was a short flight, barely two hours but Lu Han still closes his eyes tight not wanting to think of how high above ground he was or how far the drop is to the earth below if something bad was to happen.

                Settling down wasn’t as nerve-wracking as the flight. He was able to easily find the apartment that was recommended to him. It was a two bedroom flat, not that big but the living room and the kitchen area is fairly spacious for two people to navigate around. He only brought a few things with him, mostly clothes and some books. He’d just buy all the other essentials later.

                Lu Han found out that his roommate is also a student of the same university he’s attending. Do Kyung Soo is a bit quiet but Lu Han prefers quiet than awkward random conversations. And his flatmate makes the best kimchi spaghetti not that, he has tried someone else’s kimchi spaghetti. But anyone who’s able to cook decently for him is jjang since he can only make ramyeon.

                Speaking of food, he remembers that he needs to buy a few of his own rather than leeching off his roommate. He was on his way to the nearest corner store to buy essentials when he spied a somewhat familiar head of chestnut colored hair. He doesn’t know what made him follow the guy but it feels like his feet has a mind of its own. It’s odd to think that he might know this particular person when he’s just been staying in Seoul for a couple of weeks. Stupid as it is, he still followed his instincts.

                The boy went inside a second-hand bookshop and Lu Han feels like he’s been here before. Almost like déjà vu. He shakes his head and decided to take a peek at how the boy looks like. For some reason, he’s hesitant to go inside the shop. There’s no particular reason for it, he just felt like he shouldn’t come in.

                The boy is talking to the shop clerk. All he sees are small teeth and pink gums and slits for eyes. He smiles, he can’t help it. The boy takes a package and bows to the clerk. Lu Han runs toward the convenient store scared to be spotted by the boy. But the urge of wanting to see the boy again is stronger so he immediately went back to the front of the second-hand shop but the boy was no longer there.

                A few days later Lu Han finds himself face to face with the same boy with the small teeth, pink gums and pretty eye smile.

~O~

                “What is wrong with that request Yi Fan? I’m not asking you to do something illegal. It’s not like you’d have a hard time devising a chance meeting. And you’re the one who said that they’d eventually meet coz that’s how everything is supposed to be… I’m just asking you to make it sooner…” Yi Xing glares at the man on the screen. They bicker most of the time because Yi Xing is hasty and, as everyone would probably have known by now, Yi Fan is an .

                “There’s a schedule for that. Everything happens in its own Time…” a long sigh can be heard on the speaker.

                “Then tell Time to hurry…”  Yi Xing whined. It’s really hard trying to persuade Yi Fan to stop being so overdramatic. Not everything has to be based on schedule (or the recent drama that Tao has influenced him to watch).  “Has Tao shown you that Korean drama he’s been talking about?”

                “What? The one where the man died while playing the piano for the blind girl? That already happened. I can’t repeat scenarios, it’s boring…”

                “No… That… The one where the guy’s a barista… I want that to happen for these two… And wait… What do you mean you can’t repeat scenarios? You mean—”

                “I mean what? I never meant anything… What are you thinking about?” Yi Xing knows Yi Fan very well. He’s stalling. He mentioned something really important. And Yi Xing knows there isn’t a way for him to have Yi Fan spill the information. He needs Chen to do some research for him.

                “Fine… I’ll just have Tao hurry it up for me… He works for me now anyway… So since Fate did say everything happens in its own Time. I’ll just have a Time Master do things for me. Thank you for giving me that specific information, Yi Fan. Annyeong~”

                Before Yi Fan can even protest Yi Xing ended the video conversation. Tao’s not yet good at time manipulation, but he was born with the ability. His family is born to aid the Fates. It just so happened that Tao is interning for him. Yi Xing smiles his dimpled smile. This is getting good.

                Chen is standing near the glass board that they have set up for meetings like this. Being a matchmaker isn’t easy. They need details, specifics and evil scheming. That’s why Yi Xing chose Chen. If there was a mind more fit for scheming, it’s Chen’s. Chen was once a weather guardian, he got bored of just watching the weather changes and decided he wanted action. He hasn’t shown much considering he was just hired and matchmaking request where scarce, well really close to none. Now is his turn to impress.

                “12? Are you sure it’s 12? That’s more than a cats’ lifespan…” Tao looks through the data printed out for them by Chen. Is it really possible for two people to be that unfortunate? So this would be their 12^th meeting and if nothing still happens, he’s going to make Yi Fan stop watching tragic love stories. This is just too much for two people to bear? Why can’t they be together?

“Focus Tao, we’re doing an analysis… You can cry over your unfortunate hero and heroine later…” Chen clicks his tongue. He has more. It’s not easy to get information from Past. He demands a lot of things.

                “So, he did use the dying guy and blind girl thing…” Yi Xing scans the pile of paper in front of him. This only confirms that Yi Fan gets, maybe not all but a few of his ideas from dramas. And he always claims he was creative. He should be sued for copyright infringement.

                “And a few more drama clichés… He did the college!au, the bestfriends!au… the rich boy x poor girl!au…”

                “Ewwww, did he just do age play? Where did he get this idea?” Tao scrunches his nose in disgust as he flings the paper he was holding away. Tao abhors these type of things. Oh, wait does Yi Fan have a shota ?

                “Hey! Careful with the material… That information’s hard to come by… and besides aren’t you the one who introduced Yi Fan to fanfiction?” Chen collects and straightens the papers that Tao discarded. He doesn’t want to go and get information from Yi Fan’s assistant again. Bai Xian’s a bit creepy at times.

                “Who told you that?!” Tao retaliates.

                “Everybody up there knows your fascination over idol fiction, Tao…”

                “People, focus please… Let’s get back to the planning. So he hasn’t done the barista!au, right? So we could still do that? Chen, you said that you’ve found the baozi?”

                “Yep, we finally have a name for the baozi. It’s Kim Min Seok. He’s a university student, studying architecture…”

                “I see Yi Fan has a pattern for the boy… Diligent, doesn’t look his age, quiet…” Yi Xing trails off.

                “And short… That’s kinda like an essential requirement for him…” Tao looks at the file again. “That’s sad… Maybe we should ask Yi Fan to make him tall for once… In another life perhaps…” he sniffs. Yi Xing sometimes questions the resume that Tao submitted.

                “His height is of no concern to us, Tao… I’d pity his love life more if I were you…” Chen takes out another file. This time the name written in front of the file is that of their client, Handsome, Manly China Man. “This one though is more interesting…”

                Tao raises an eyebrow. Chen is still busy scanning the data. When it seems like Chen is not going to fill them in with any added information. The younger of his assistants let out an exasperated sigh before facing his co-worker. “Are we going to get an explanation for that or is this one top secret?”

                Chen shrugs, “He knows…”  And that’s that. Tao’s mouths a ‘what the f?’ at Yi Xing but he decided to not give Tao an answer.

                So he knows but he’s still unaware, Yi Xing thinks. It’s an easy task but it’s getting complicated.