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The tall male is starting to re-think his choice of friends. Seungkwan was currently rubbing in his face all afternoon about the fact that he had finally found his soulmate.

“You know, I always thought my soulmate would be a girl, but I don’t mind because THIS GUY IS SUPER CUTE” Seungkwan states for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

Just yesterday, Seungkwan was at the library, studying for his next exam – which was what he would be doing if it weren’t for the fact that his new favourite drama series had released a new episode online. There was no way he could resist. Whenever he was “researching”, he always somehow found his mouse being dragged to the top of the screen and clicking a new tab, only to type in the website that provided him with his dramas.

He soon found that watching the new episode was a mistake. Halfway through the episode, his favourite character had died. That was it. The only reason he had watched the drama in the first place had just died. Seungkwan slams the space bar button to pause to the video, and tried to hold back his tears but his efforts were futile. With silent sobs, Seungkwan let the tears fall from his eyes. The window next to him that was providing the light from the sun was darkening and soon enough raindrops were starting to pour down.

Just great. The universe just had to be cruel enough to add rain to his crying. The rain just made his mood worse; adding fuel to the fire. The soulmate stuff was annoying to Seungkwan. It was like the universe was mocking him.

“Uh, are you okay there?” a worried voice asks from next to Seungkwan.

Seungkwan looks up from his laptop screen to see… young Leonardo DiCaprio?

“Um, excuse me? Hello..?” the stranger waves his hand in front of Seungkwan’s face.

Suddenly, the sun is out again as Seungkwan wipes his tears. The stranger suddenly has a dumbfounded face as he stares outside the window. Seungkwan looks up from his wet sleeves to see the stranger’s face again – he was grinning. This time it was Seungkwan’s turn to be dumbfounded. The stranger simply keeps smiling and hands Seungkwan a packet of tissues from his pocket.

“I’m okay, thanks”, Seungkwan sniffles.

“Cool. Want to go on a date? It might cheer you up even more”

The teary male was bewildered. Was this guy insane? Why was he suddenly asking him out when he hardly knew him?

But along the questions that filled his head, somewhere in his mind, a voice told him to accept the invitation.

“Okay”

Mingyu drags out his sighs as he listens to Seungkwan drabble on about the “young Leonardo DiCarprio” duple ganger whose name was Hansolo or Ham or something. Mingyu wasn’t really paying attention. He continues to scroll through his Facebook feed, scrolling past pictures of his friends and videos of cats.

“Hey, does that mean our whole circle of friends soulmate’s are guys?” Soonyoung asks, poking his head out at the far end of an aisle that he was cleaning up at.

Seungkwan shrugs, “there’s still Mingyu left. Speaking of which, how’s the hot stranger? Any luck?”

He was contemplating whether he should tell his friends about the night before or not. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his friends or anything (in fact, he could say that he loved them) but he felt that it wasn’t the right time. So, Mingyu simply pouted and shrugged.

“Aw, don’t worry, you’ll find him someday”

Yeah, someday.

It continued to pour. The sounds of the raindrops hitting the glass window resonated within the cosy bookstore. It was calming and perfect – not too quiet, not too loud (besides the loud mouth working on duty next to him) – just the way Mingyu liked it. He didn’t mind the loud noises of his friends – it was more fun that way. The day proceeded with price tagging books, arranging shelves and sitting in boredom while scrolling through social media on the shop’s computer while his co-workers screwed around.

Soon enough, their long-haired friend entered through the entrance of the book store.

“Why look who it is – are you ok?” Seungkwan questions as Jeonghan keeps walking to the back room. His shoulders are slumped with his bag hanging off of his left shoulder. The angel’s hair is no longer the hair of an angel’s as it looks messy and dishevelled. He had dark circles under his eyes so dark that he looked like he hadn’t slept in years while his eyes were swollen, puffy and red.

Jeonghan doesn’t answer Seungkwan’s question and ignores the questionable stares that his co-workers are giving him.

He walks into the back room and slams the door. The employees don’t do anything but stare at the white wooden door.

“Uh…” Soonyoung starts. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Let’s just give him some time”

The two other employees just nod, and carry on with their work. They unanimously decide to avoid the back room for a while, not wanting to disturb their friend. Soon after, a burst of cold wind from outside enters the store along with a customer. The customer was very small and of questionable age, along with purple locks of hair that stood out from his dark coat. Despite his cute state (Mingyu had to admit), he looked fairly grumpy. His eyes looked tired and his eyebrows were furrowed. Mingyu was just hoping it wasn’t another one of those customers that complained for no apparent reason.  

“Welcome to SVT Bookstore!”

“Hi. I was just wondering where the physics text books are”

As much as the small customer looked like a high school student, or perhaps even an elementary student, he wouldn’t be since all the students were still in school. “Must be a physics major”

“Third aisle from the left, second top shelf”

The small customer mumbled a thanks, and stumbled his way to the aisle that Mingyu had directed him to.

Minutes had passed and the small customer hadn’t appeared from out of the aisle yet. “Maybe he was a customer that just stood and read at the store and probably already left. Fantastic.”

That was the thought that Mingyu had stuck to until he heard the crashing of books. Mingyu immediately stood up from his stool and walked to where the sound had come from. Mingyu found himself at the third aisle from the left, where he the sight before him was the previous small purple haired customer on the ground rubbing his head with books surrounding him. The tall giant looked up to see where the books had fallen from – the second top shelf.

“Are you okay there?”  Mingyu asks as he holds his hand out in front of the small customer. The purple haired male grumbles and swears under his breath.

“I’m fine” the elementary-looking customer swats Mingyu’s hand away and proceeds to pick up the fallen books. He tries to jump up to place the books back in place. Mingyu thinks it’s cute how eager he is to put it back.

“Uh, do you need help?” Mingyu asks worryingly.

The small male stops jumping and huffs “Yes please”

Mingyu simply takes the books from his hands and easily reached his arm to put the books back in place.

“, you’re a ing giant”

Mingyu just chuckles. “I get that a lot. So… you said you needed a physics book?” The smaller male nods.

“Which one?”

“Physics Volume 3”

“Uh… you know you can download textbooks these days right?”

The small purple haired customer frowns, and sighs. “I… I just realised”

“So…do you still want to buy it or…?”

“Maybe I should just buy it. It might save me from a computer virus”

“True”, Mingyu grabs the book with the blue coloured spine with the white bold text of “Physics Volume 3”.

Mingyu makes his way to the counter with the small male following close behind. He scans the book’s barcode and places it into a paper bag. The small male hands the amount needed for the textbook while Mingyu types into the computer to receive the receipt.

“Here you go”, Mingyu hands the paper bag over the counter.

“Uh thanks…sorry for being grumpy and stuff before”

“It’s okay. We all have bad days, don’t we?”

The smaller male’s eyes soften with pursed lips. “Yeah, I guess. Especially when your professor tells you that a textbook that costs more than the amount in your wallet is needed.”

Mingyu sighs, “I know how you feel”

“Thanks again for helping me out back there…” the customer looks at the taller male’s name tag on his chest “…Mingyu”

“No problem at all…”

“Jihoon. Lee Jihoon”

Mingyu grins, “No problem at all, Jihoon”

The first thing that Mingyu noticed about the smaller male was the faded purple hair that was fading away into a greyish colour. It was cute on the small customer. But what Mingyu notices more is the way Jihoon’s soft eyes turn sharp as his pursed lips turn upwards into a soft smile. The contrast of the soft smile from the pursed lips was quite a change, and something that suited the smaller male. It was something that Mingyu was familiar with – but it wasn’t him.

“Thanks for shopping at SVT Bookstore. Have a nice day, Jihoon”

“Thanks again. I hope you have a nice day too”

Jihoon exits the book store with the paper bag in his left hand.

After Jihoon walks out the door, Mingyu sees a piece of paper fall from the customer’s jacket pocket. Mingyu doesn’t really want to bother with it, in hopes that it was something unimportant. But in being the nice person he is and is known for, Mingyu tells Seungkwan who’s staring at his phone (probably stalking his soulmate’s Instagram) to mind the store as he runs outside the store. He picks up a small rectangular piece of paper. It seemed to be a bus ticket. He looked left to the direction that Jihoon had walked. Luckily Mingyu was tall enough to see the purple haired customer amongst all the passers-by. 

“Jihoon! Jihoon, wait!”

The purple haired male seemed to not have heard Mingyu’s calls as he kept walking. The tall giant weaved and stumbled through the crowd, and was able to catch up to the smaller male. He tapped Jihoon’s shoulder and when the shorter turned around, he was clearly confused to why he was there.  Mingyu breathed heavily from the running as he held out the ticket to Jihoon.

“You dropped something again”

Jihoon looks at the paper and quirks up his eyebrow.

“Um… that’s not mine”

Mingyu freezes. What?

“What?”

“I said that’s not mine”

Mingyu looks at the ticket then back at Jihoon.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t even take the bus”

Aside the noise of the busy streets, an awkward silence filled the atmosphere around them.

“Oh…well then. Uh, nice to meet you again…I guess”

Jihoon giggles. “It’s nice to meet you again too, Mingyu. Now will you excuse me, I should be leaving”

Mingyu is at the usual bus stop again, waiting for his ride home. The weather this evening has calmed down, no rain to be seen this night. Despite the fact that there was no rain, it was still as cold as ice. Mingyu huffs and mist can be seen escaping his mouth. He rubs his freezing hands together and shoves them into his pockets. He feels something in his right pocket and pulls it out.

It was the bus ticket that he had picked up that afternoon which had come out of nowhere. He slid his thumb across the rectangular paper, examining it properly. It was strange.

Mingyu walks back into the store with the ticket in his hand. The bell chimes as he opens the door, and Seungkwan looks up from his phone.

“Hey, there you are. I thought you ditched work like someone we know- what’s that?” Mingyu’s co-worker asks, raising his eyebrow at the item in Mingyu’s hand.

“A bus ticket. I thought it was the customer’s bus ticket so I went to give it back to him, but apparently it wasn’t his”, Mingyu states as he walks back to the counter.

Seungkwan grabs the ticket from his friend’s hand and analyses it closely. Seungkwan raises his eyebrow again. Mingyu was just as confused by looking at his expression.

“What? What is it?”

“Well, I was going to say ‘good job on stealing someone’s bus ticket’ but I guess it doesn’t matter anyway”, Seungkwan hands the bus ticket back. “This was a bus ticket printed back in 2011. I don’t know why someone would have something like that for so long but there are some weird people out there I guess”

Mingyu is baffled at what Seungkwan had said. He takes the ticket and inspects it. Just as Seungkwan claimed, there was the date printed in black ink on the ticket: ’11.04.11’

Mingyu stares at the ticket, and then his eyes lead to the rubbish bin next to the bus stop. He eyes the bin for a while, contemplating whether to throw away the ticket or not since he had no use for it. Just as he was going to walk to the bin, his bus finally arrived. The bus stopped to a halt, and the doors slid open. People were exiting the bus, and Mingyu scurried on board. The bus doors closed, and the bus’ engine started up again, driving away from the previous location.

Mingyu sat down at the back seat, and as usual, he took out his earphones and plugged them into his ears. He selected his song and sat back. He looked out the window, seeing all the things passing by in a blur – people walking on the path, passing cars, the empty park, the trees swaying in the wind, small stores preparing for closing and the illuminating traffic lights. The only thing that seemed to stay the same was the dark night sky. No clouds were to be seen that night, only the shining stars to be put on display. It had been raining so much that Mingyu had actually started to miss the rain.

The bus finally arrives at the bus stop near Mingyu’s apartment, and he hops off the bus. Taking a five minute walk down the path to the apartment building, he punches in the code on the keypad and enters the building. A flush of warmth is felt upon his skin in contrast to the chilly weather outside. He walks up to the elevator and presses the up button. When the elevator doors welcome him inside, he clicks the button that leads him to the seventh floor. Mingyu taps on the railing to the music still plugged into his ears as the elevator lifts him up to his floor.

The elevator doors slide open and Mingyu walks to his apartment door. 078 is the number that is read on the door. The tall giant pulls out his key and opens the door, being welcomed home by the silence of the warm apartment. He takes off his coat, hanging it on the hook beside the door while slipping off his shoes. He’s too lazy to line up his shoes and immediately walks straight to his room. He drops his bag onto the floor as he flops face down onto the bed. Mingyu sighs. It was just another usual day; a boring routine. He looked up and out the window, where his anemone flowers were placed in a small glass vase that his mum had gave to him when he was packing to move into the apartment. It had been 3 years since he left and moved from home, studying hard in university. The flowers were placed on sitting on the window sill. He heard the crackle of thunder, and suddenly it was raining lightly, raindrops hitting against the window.

“So much for clear weather”

The familiar sound of the pattering rain above him was bringing deja vu. His curiosity in the stranger hadn’t left his head, but it was affecting his work and wasn’t seeing any signs of the male anymore. It was time to let go.  

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