The bed felt spacious when you woke up, the space that Kyungsoo had occupied last night empty.

A note from him sat on your bedside table, saying that he needed to leave early for work and he didn’t want to wake you up. He also reminded you to take your medicine before leaving for class, and your first one wasn’t until a few hours from now.

Tuesday mornings were free for you, but you always left your place before lunch time and you made it a habit to walk around town before heading to work because you knew that if you stayed in bed for a little longer, you wouldn’t want to get up for the rest of the day.

Greeting Mrs. Song, the pretty woman who owned your favorite bakery, had been a routine on days when you only had afternoon classes. She recently got married, her husband having the same good looks that she had, and you thought about how visually blessed their future children must be.

She smiled at you the moment you entered the shop, ordering her barista on duty to prepare your usual, a medium vanilla soy latte with three shots of expresso, while you picked out the pastry you wanted to pair it with.

There usually wasn’t a lot people at the bakery during this time, the limbo period between breakfast and lunch, so the odds that the last corn muffin on display would be chosen by you and some guy who had a mole on his left thumb was highly unlikely, but happened anyway, since the universe was funny like that.

What was even funnier was that the hand was attached to the same guy you hoped you wouldn’t bump into today.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun apologized as his wooden tong bumped into yours while he was reaching for the muffin. “You can have it, I can get something el—” He stopped midsentence when he saw who you were. “Oh. It’s you.”

“It’s me,” you smiled. “Baekhyun, right?” He nodded. “You can have the muffin. You look like you really love it. I’ll just get a cinnamon roll.”

Picking the cinnamon roll on the second shelf, you left Baekhyun there and made your way to the cashier with your tray. Baekhyun followed, rather hastily, with his muffin.

Mrs. Song was waiting for you at the counter with your coffee and a warm smile, just like she always did when you visited her shop. She was just a little over thirty, but her youthful beauty made it look like she was way younger than you. You hoped to age as gracefully as she did, but it was kind of a reach since you weren’t exactly the best in taking care of yourself.

“I see you’ve made a new friend,” she said as she typed in your purchase on the register. She looked over your shoulder, and you realized who she was talking about.

You glanced at Baekhyun behind you, who was smiling sweetly at Mrs. Song.

“Oh, he’s not my friend. He’s more of an acquaintance. He’s friends with Chanyeol, though.”

“That hurt, you know,” Baekhyun joked. “We could be friends if you gave it a shot.”

You looked at him. “We literally just met last night.”

“I’m just saying,” he smiled cheekily.

Mrs. Song giggled at you and Baekhyun’s playful banter, handing your receipt along with your coffee. You thanked her and went to sit at the farthest side of the shop, hoping that Baekhyun would leave you alone because frankly, you weren’t ready for him. You needed time to grasp the reality of the situation, and even though you knew that you couldn’t avoid him forever, now just wasn’t the perfect time to face it head-on. You had to compose yourself first and think of how you were going to handle your relationship with him.

Of course, you never got what you wanted. Baekhyun set his tray on the table and sat in front of you. You looked at him settling on his seat while you sipped your coffee, trying to figure out what he was trying to accomplish.

“You know, you could ask if that seat is taken,” you said as you set down your cup.

“Is this seat taken?”

“No.”

“Okay. Good.” He picked up his muffin and bit into it, small crumbs falling from where he held the pastry. He said nothing after that, but his eyes seemed to be smiling as he looked at you.

Fine, you thought. Life wouldn’t let me breathe even if I wanted to, so might as well face it.

Cutting into your cinnamon roll, you asked, “You’re new here, aren’t you? I come to this place twice a week and I’ve just seen you here today. I haven’t seen you before last night, either, and it’s a small town.”

“Yep,” he replied and then wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin. “I moved here about a month ago, but I started working at the radio station last week.”

Baekhyun then told you that he had moved here because he had to look after his stepbrother who was still in high school since their parents passed away. He had visited before, though they were just brief dinner dates with his family because his previous job demanded too much from him, making it hard for him to see them frequently.

He conversed with you like an old friend, confusing you as to where he got the confidence to be this familiar with a stranger. It should’ve made you like him less, being all casual even though the two of you just met last night at Chanyeol’s party, but it didn’t. You wondered if this was one of the signs Minseok told you about, Baekhyun being comfortable with you despite the fact that you were mere acquaintances, two people who met through a mutual friend.

“What about you? What’s your story?” He asked as he sipped his iced Americano.

“We literally just met.”

“And that’s literally the second time you’ve said that to me today, and it’s not even noon,” he laughed. “Come on. I told you mine.”

It was supposed to be annoying, how at ease he acted around you, but something told you that he was normally like this, unfazed by the awkwardness between strangers.

Eventually, you gave in and told him the same boring story you told Minseok when he also asked you about your life, but leaving the part where you suffered from a disorder which was the reason why last night had been a mess.

It wasn’t because you wanted to intentionally withhold that information—although that was what you exactly did—but because it didn’t seem like something that should be in a conversation before noon, and also because he would find out sooner or later when he witnesses one of the many unspectacular moments that came with your condition, now that he was practically a part of your life.

“It sounds peaceful. The life here, I mean,” he said. “I wish I moved in sooner. The Big City is always chaotic, people rushing everywhere like they were running out of time. It burned me out without me even noticing it.”

“This town can get tiring too, but maybe not as much as where you’re from.”

“Still, it’s better.”

“Yeah, it’s not that good for everyone,” you said pensively as you played with the remnants of the cinnamon roll’s frosting on your plate with a fork.

“Why is that? You sounded okay, though.”

You sighed, knowing that this conversation would end up in the direction you didn’t want to tread into. That was when you told him about the accident, quickly rolling it off your tongue so that your mind wouldn’t catch up to the painful memory of recalling possibly the worst night of your life.

It had been a while since you had to talk about it, Baekhyun being the first person you had to explain it to after meeting Junmyeon for the first time three months ago. It never was a pleasant time for you, reliving that horrible moment in your life, but it was inevitable. It was part of your life story, no matter how many times you tried to leave it out, it always bubbled up towards the surface, and you weren’t a deep person to begin with, anyway.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun said after you finished narrating.

It was the standard comment, people giving you their pity after hearing about the accident. You were used to it by now, but that didn’t mean it got easier for you.

“It’s okay,” you sighed. “I mean, I had to give up on a lot of things after it, but I guess I gained a lot as well.”

Yeah, like being a burden to your friends, a on of medication, and meeting two doctors, your subconscious jeered at you.

Luckily, your phone’s alarm went off, signaling that you should be walking to class by now, cutting off your conversation with Baekhyun before you got into more miserable matters.

“I guess that’s your cue to leave?” Baekhyun asked with a small smile.

“Yeah, sorry,” you said as you tapped your phone to stop its ringing. “I kind of need to put bread on my table and make sure I don’t live off instant noodles.”

“It was nice talking to you, really. I’m not ting. You’re fun to be with.”

“Well, if that’s how you really feel, we’re having karaoke night after dinner,” you told him before finishing off your coffee. You wondered where your sudden burst of confidence came from. “You can come. Chanyeol’s probably going to invite you, anyway, based on my hunch.”

Baekhyun laughed. “Sure. I could use a couple more friends in my new town.”

“Oh, I doubt you have trouble making friends from the way you run your mouth,” you countered, earning another chuckle from him.

“I guess I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“You’ll see me alright,” you nodded.

—

Karaoke night was a tradition that occurred once a month among your group of friends. You only hoped that nothing would happen this time like what occurred at Chanyeol’s party yesterday, pleading to yourself to keep it together even just for one night.

Jongin suggested that this time, each of you would invite at least one other person that wasn’t in your group, joking that it would be nice to see some new faces because he always got to see you, Chanyeol, and Kyungsoo even after the three of you graduated university.

You invited Joohyun, Junmyeon’s receptionist, as she was probably the only person you considered as a friend outside of your circle. As you had predicted, Chanyeol brought Baekhyun, while Jongin and Kyungsoo invited two guys they worked with at the theatre company. Later on, you learned that their names were Jongdae and Yixing.

Joohyun still hadn’t arrived because of the workload she had back at the clinic, but she had promised that she would go straight to the karaoke bar right after she finished. You were really looking forward to hanging out with her tonight, mainly because you felt like you had been spending too much time with boys for most of your life. It wasn’t like you were uncomfortable about your current set of friends; you just thought that it would be refreshing to have another girl in the mix and Joohyun had been nothing but nice to you since you started going to the clinic.

Baekhyun started where he had left off earlier that day, being as talkative as ever. You knew more about him, the longer the two of you immersed in each other’s stories.

Before getting the job as the production director for Chanyeol’s weekday primetime program at the radio station, he was a music producer for a well-known company in the Big City. He didn’t brag about it, though. He talked about it as if creating music for some of the big names in the industry was just like any other job, like there was nothing special about it.

“You know, for a loud mouth, you’re really humble,” you teased.

Baekhyun snorted before taking a chug of his beer. “I take pride in what do, or what I did, whatever, because I love it. I probably love music more than life itself. I just see no point in being boastful about my work. I mean, it should speak for itself.”

“Honestly, you’re way too down-to-earth. It’s almost unbelievable.” He almost spit out what he was drinking from laughing. “I’m serious. I bet you have a bunch of other talents you’re too shy to show. I bet you can sing decently too.”

He did have that look in him, the performer’s glow you often saw whenever Chanyeol played a million different instruments or when Jongin danced his heart out or in how Kyungsoo perfectly absorbed a character when he was acting. As if right on cue, Chanyeol handed Baekhyun a microphone, telling him that the song he had reserved was up next.

Baekhyun gave you a knowing look before he started singing.

However, decent wasn’t the right word to describe his voice.

You weren’t sure what adjective to use, which was odd since you basically ate adjectives three times a day from being a Literature teacher.

His voice was powerful but calming, like how strong waves broke near the shoreline and kissed the sand tenderly before rolling back into the ocean. You hadn’t been to heaven yet you were positive that Baekhyun’s voice flawlessly captured that of an angel’s. You thought of the tune he was humming when you first saw him in The Dream and how it sounded like a lullaby to calm the storms inside of you.

That was when you realized that it would be impossible not to fall for him, how The Dream was not giving you a chance to turn your back and shield yourself behind your doubts and worries, and maybe it was time for you to stop doing that and just trust the process.

Baekhyun finished the song, earning applause and praise from everyone.

“So, what can’t you do? Did you hoard everything when god was giving out talents?” You kidded, soliciting laughter from the other guys.

“I’m starting to think you have a crush on me,” Baekhyun answered. You hoped your face wasn’t as red as you felt it was. “I think you’ve reached your quota for compliments tonight.”

“I agree,” you nodded, playing into the jest. “I think I’ll go back to hating you now.”

“For ’s sake, the two of you have been flirting at each other like a couple of college kids the entire night,” Kyungsoo butted in, teasingly rolling his eyes in false irritation. “Where’s Joohyun, anyway? Is she still coming? The beer’s almost gone.”

Just as Minseok had said, life has always been a dirty player, but now you recognized that part of its deceitful nature is largely attributed to its impeccable timing.

Joohyun hesitantly opened the door to the room, smiling shyly as she entered. “Hi. Sorry for being unbelievably late. My boss dumped a lot of paperwork on me.”

You stood up to greet her and usher her in, realizing a heartbeat too late what was happening.

The room was dead quiet except for the faint feedback from the karaoke machine’s sound system. You were standing right in front of Joohyun but her gaze was far from you, her eyes settling on the person at the back of the room where the rest of the guys were. You turned back, noticing that Chanyeol, for the first time in all of his twenty-five years, was speechless, his stare boring through Joohyun’s.

The two of them just stared at each other while a silent understanding washed over the group: they had just met their soulmates.

From behind you, you heard Baekhyun whisper to himself, “It’s like magic.”

Indeed, it was. It was like a plot written by the most peculiar author, how three pairs of soulmates were in the same place at the same time: Kyungsoo and Jongin, you and Baekhyun, and now, Chanyeol and Joohyun.

It was like a story unfolding right in front of your eyes and you were one of the characters.

Baekhyun was already looking at you before your eyes met his, as if the two of you were silently asking each other what magic has The Dream in store for both of you.