。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Glossy hair, sharp eyes, soft smile.

His heart rate increasing; everything else was slowing down. The traffic lights were illuminating, the traffic sounds were muffled. Budump, budump, budump – his heart beat only to be heard, he felt like his heart would jump out of his chest. There was a stinging pain; as if his heart had finally got what it was yearning for. Yearning for? It sounded weird to Mingyu. It was weird that this was what he wanted – to see him again. To see a person he barely knew but admired. How much more cruel could the universe be? Just when he was about to give up on him –

“Hi”

Mingyu clutches tightly onto his umbrella. That deep voice made the back of his hairs raise. Without trying to be more awkward than he was, he walks over to the bench, sitting next to the stranger. They sat in silence for a while, Mingyu trying to calm his pounding heart. It was so loud that he was afraid that the stranger could hear it. It’s comforting – the silence between them; only the sound of tires screeching against the concrete road is heard.  The more he sits still, the more his heart rate is going back to its normal speed. The tall giant finally decides to speak up.

“Um…how have you been?”

The stranger looks at the taller and then looks straight ahead. “I’ve been okay”

Mingyu is a little worried, and seemed like his feelings of worry had been shown on his face because the mysterious stranger starts to laugh.

 “I’m fine, really this time”, the stranger gives his genuine soft smile. Mingyu loves it so much he would take a photo, frame it and place it on his wall – but that would be creepy. Mingyu just smiles back.

“That’s good to know”

Another comforting silence is spread within the atmosphere around them. Mingyu starts to think of all sorts of questions, words to choose carefully from his head – he didn’t want to give off some sort of wrong impression.

“Uh…so d-do you come here often?” , Mingyu thinks. You sound like you’re a try-hard hitting on him and you stuttered. Good job -

“I guess you could say that”, the stranger cuts Mingyu’s thoughts. “Or was that a question to flirt with me?”

Mingyu’s cheeks flushed a bright red colour, and he starts to panic. Mingyu actually genuinely meant to ask if he had come here often. He didn’t in any means to give off an impression to be hitting on him.

The mysterious stranger giggles. “I was just kidding, relax”

Mingyu lets out his breath that he didn’t realise that he was holding in. “Um…I don’t want to come off as the flirty type or anything, but I’m Kim Mingyu. W-what’s your name?”

Mingyu arrives back at his apartment around 7:36PM, and he feels like he could sleep for all eternity. He jams his key into the key hole, unlocking and opening the door. He closes the door shut after getting inside and slipping out of his shoes and coat. Hanging the coat onto the hook, he doesn’t bother lining up his shoes – per usual. He lies back down on the couch, letting out a sigh.

What a night, he thinks.

Mingyu closes his eyes, falling into the abyss of dreamland.

Water. Mingyu wakes up. He’s still lying on the couch, but there’s the sound of rain. He sits up. His apartment is flooded. He looks around to see all of his belongings floating around in his apartment. He’s in panic. Sitting up, he swings his legs off the couch and into the water. The water level is steadily rising. Up his legs, up to his stomach, and up to his neck. The water is filling up quick. He sits still, taking one deep breath before he’s submerged entirely in the water. The dark figure at the door is just standing there, watching it all happen. The clock on his living room wall stops ticking. The sound of pouring rain stops.  

Mingyu wakes up in a gasp. He chokes on air, and starts to cough sporadically. He’s drowned in cold sweat, his body trembling slightly. Mingyu’s face heats up and tears start to trickle from his eyes. He wipes them off quickly as he runs to the bathroom. Turning on the tap, Mingyu splashes a handful of water on his face, breathing heavily. He starts hyperventilating, and steadies his breath in order to calm down. 

It was strange. He hadn’t had a nightmare since he was a child. But as much as Mingyu believed it was a nightmare, a part of him thought it wasn’t much of a nightmare at all. It was calm, not so much scary. It made him panic, but made him feel at peace. It was very strange.

Mingyu walks into his bedroom and sees his digital alarm clock, reading 7:03AM. He seemed have woken up the time he usually wakes up at through habit. He changes his sweaty clothes into a change of new ones, not having much time for a shower.

After organising his backpack and having plain old corn flakes for breakfast, he grabs his wallet and keys and exits his apartment, not forgetting his umbrella.

The weather hasn’t gotten any better. It’s always cold in the morning, and pours during the night. Mingyu looks up to the sky. It’s light blue, a few clouds spread across the sky, but he knows that it will be covered with grey soon.

He makes his way down the bus stop and waits for his bus to arrive. After getting onto the bus, he’s driven to the bus stop near his university and work place. As usual, he attends his classes, not really paying attention to what his professor was saying.

As much as he promised his younger sister that he was going to study hard, he wasn’t as certain anymore. When first entering the university as a freshman, he was ecstatic. He was ecstatic to learn and do what he was interested in most – psychology. The freshman was excited and motivated; working hard in everything he was given. Slowly, his motivation started to deteriorate, and more work just kept on piling up. He lost his motivation and determination. He wanted to believe that he would exceed as a psychologist, working with the minds of other people, but he couldn’t do it anymore. He wasn’t attending classes to do well anymore; he attended classes enough to just pass. He just ended up getting more and more tired. Mingyu ended up with more dark circles, taking frequent naps and consumed more caffeine than usual. He absolutely still hates high school and doesn’t miss it one bit, although he wishes it was as easy as his teenage days back then.

After hours of flicking his pen around and scribbling down notes he didn’t really read, the dreadful classes ended. He looks at the time on his phone, 3:32PM.

He stumbles down the pathway to the bookstore, weaving his way through the passers-by. A wet substance is felt upon his face. He looks up to see the sky painted grey – just like he had predicted. Not being bothered to open his umbrella up, he quickly runs to the bookstore just six blocks away.

Upon entering the store, the small entrance bell chimes and Mingyu makes it in time before the rain starts to pour over the street. Mingyu is greeted by a bored Boo Seungkwan sitting at the counter, eyes pin pointed at his phone screen again. Mingyu merely nods as he walks to the back room to see Seokmin and Soonyoung tagging price tags onto the new stock of books. He looks at the hooks where his apron is next Jeonghan’s.

“Hey, is Jeonghan in today?” Mingyu asks as he throws his bag onto the floor and put his aprons on.

“No…he called in sick today” Soonyoung says, reaching for another novel in the pile of books.

“Again? That’s the fourth time this week” Mingyu ties a knot of the apron strings securely behind him.

Seokmin shrugs in response. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Mingyu is worried; very worried. Jeonghan had worked at the book store before he did. When he had first entered the store as a new employee seven months ago, the long-haired male was the first one to greet him. Jeonghan was the one who helped him through training; showed him the ropes on how the store worked. The long haired male was always quite cheerful. He was always smiling, showing off his perfect locks as he pushed back his hair behind his ear.

At first glance, you would have thought he was an elegant princess, but he was just as dorky as his other co-workers. Sometimes when Jeonghan was working at the counter, he would get flirty customers that were after his looks. He would lightly brush them off with an angelic smile, saying that he was sorry that he wasn’t interested, but that he was flattered by their compliments. But that doesn’t mean that Jeonghan was easy going.

One time a complete that was probably also a university student, had also flirted with Jeonghan when he working on stocking up the shelves. But the male had touched Jeonghan. Before Mingyu could step in to do anything, the long-haired male knocked out the male with one swift punch to his face, knocking him down to the ground. It resulted in Jeonghan getting scolded by the manager and a broken bloodied nose. Jeonghan had been suspended from work for one week, which obviously wasn’t very fair, but due to strict rules, the manager sent Jeonghan home. When Mingyu asked if Jeonghan was okay and apologised that he couldn’t do anything, Jeonghan just smiled saying that he was okay. Just like that, he brushed the situation off his shoulders. After that incident, all assumptions that Jeonghan was secretly some sort of runaway princess of a rich country was thrown out the window. He was attractive and tough.

As much as Mingyu was close with the others, Jeonghan was held as one of the closest to him. So seeing and knowing that the angelic male was in a bad situation, he wanted to help. He followed the  others in giving him space, but it had been the fourth time this week, and the ninth time within two weeks that he had not shown up to work. The days that Jeonghan did show up, he looked disastrous. His haired was pointing at all sort of directions, dark circles so identifiable that it could probably be seen from a mile away, and his usual angelic, bright smile was not put up for display.

The tall giant noted to himself to call up his friend after he got out of work. Mingyu currently found himself stocking up all the shelves with the newly arrived books. As usual, the store barely had any customers, and Seokmin was screwing around with Soonyoung, sticking price stickers on each other’s faces. The only thing out of the ordinary was an absent Jeonghan and an awfully quiet Boo Seungkwan.

Seungkwan sat on a tall wooden stool, leaning against the counter. One hand on under his chin supporting is head, while the other hand was busy scrolling through his phone. There was a 99.9% probability that he was stalking his soulmate. He goes to walk behind the counter, seating himself on the empty stool beside his co-worker. Casually, he leans to the left, getting a view of Seungkwan’s screen. He reads the white capital lettering on top of the screen.

VERNON.HANSOL17

“Who’s that?” 

“My soulmate” Seungkwan replies blankly as he continues to scroll through his soulmate’s page.

“That’s a little creepy, Seungkwan”

The brunet sighs. “I know. It’s just… I’m not sure”

“What?” Mingyu perks up, looking confused.

“I’m not sure…about the whole soulmate thing anymore. Like, I know how I was really eager to find my soulmate and everything. Hell, I was even jealous of Seokmin and Soonyoung when I found out that they were together. They’re just so perfect for each other”

There was a pause. Mingyu could see how Seungkwan stared straight at his phone, not paying attention to the photos, but to contemplate what he was going to say.

“It’s just…now…I-I know that I like him; love him even, but…it’s kind of…I don’t know…restricting?”

“Restricting?” Mingyu quirks up his eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Seungkwan stays silent again, choosing his words carefully. He sighs again, “I’m n-not sure on how to exactly say it, but it’s just that…a few days ago Hansol and I went on a date, but then these random girls came up to him and they started hitting on him. He rejected them and everything, but I can’t help but feel…I don’t know… insecure?”

“Insecure? Why would you feel insecure? You said that he rejected them”

Seungkwan switches off his phone and sets on the counter in front of him. “I know, but that’s the thing – he’s so perfect. I feel like I don’t deserve him. He’s just so, so perfect. He’s in music major and knows how to compose music. He’s an underground rapper with over thousands of followers. He’s good-looking that I could stare at him all day if I could. Almost every single girl is probably after him. His voice is dripping with honey – it’s just so captivating. I love it when he laughs at my lame jokes – when he laughs I feel like I had gotten punched in the stomach. His mother is American and his dad’s Korean. He moved to Korea from America when he was five. Don’t even get me started on how attractive he is when he speaks in English – I have absolutely no clue what he’s saying when he does, but it’s just so amazing.” 

Seungkwan takes in a deep breath, then huff out his breath. He chuckles a little, but it’s not a happy one – his chuckle is empty; no means for happiness.

“Sorry about that, Mingyu. I should stop now”

“No, it’s okay. But…I don’t think you should be saying that you don’t deserve him”

It was now Mingyu’s turn to choose his words carefully.

“I’m just saying you shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that. You guys are soulmates for a reason. You should talk to him about it. The universe wouldn’t be cruel enough to make this whole soulmate system thing and put you together with someone who didn’t love you. That’s why you should talk to him about it – I’m sure he loves you a lot too. I’m sure he’ll make you feel better since he’s your soulmate and everything.”

Seungkwan isn’t fully convinced. “But what if the system is cruel? What if the system is mocking me by putting me with this perfect human being who should be someone who is just as perfect? What if the system put me by accident with someone who deserves so much more than someone like me? I just feel like I don’t even deserve a soulmate; I’m nothing. I’m not amazing at all; I’m so boring.”

“Seungkwan, you know that isn’t true.” Mingyu rubs Seungkwan’s back as he sees that his friend has tears forming in his eyes. “You’re absolutely amazing, Seungkwan. You always work hard and make everyone smile, even with your lame jokes. You should know better than anyone else that not everyone is perfect, and that you don’t have to be perfect either. Hansol probably loves you for who you are. If anything, you’re probably perfect in his eyes – he is your soulmate after all. There’s nothing to be insecure about. Just talk it over with him. I’m sure he’ll make you feel better.”

Seungkwan sniffles as he wipes his tears with his sleeve. He then smiles, “Thanks, Mingyu. I guess…I’ll talk to him…”

Mingyu smiles back, “No worries. Tell me how it goes”

Seungkwan and Mingyu sit at the counter, waiting for any customers to enter the store. As no people come by the store, they are both called to the back room to grab a basket of the newly arrived books and are told by Seokmin and Soonyoung to stock up the shelves. As they quietly placed the books in the alphabetical order of the author’s names, the tall giant looked outside the store’s glass window. It was still raining, but it wasn’t a heavy pour. The rain was lightly sprinkling on the road and pathway, hitting against the window lightly.

After his shift was over, he went to the back room to return his apron and grabbed his belongings. Saying good bye to his friends, he takes his leave out in the rainy weather. Mingyu opens up his black umbrella and holds it up above his head as he made his way to the bus stop. On the way, he sees a certain orange-haired male in the distance sweeping leaves at the front of the flower store.

“Hey, Joshua!” Mingyu greets.

The cat-eyed male turns around and a smile spreads across his face.

“Hey there, Mingyu! How are you?”

“I’ve been well. I just wanted to thank you for the bouquet yesterday.”

Joshua just giggles. “It’s nothing really. Who were they for? A special someone?” the orange-haired male asks, wiggling his eyebrows and giving Mingyu a smirk.

Mingyu laughs. “Yeah, it was someone very special – they were for my little sister”

Joshua stops smirking, and puts on a genuine smile. “Aww, that’s nice. I hope she liked them!”

I hope so too – Mingyu doesn’t manage to say it out loud. He just smiles and nods.

“Do you need help closing up?”

Joshua frantically waves his hand “No, no, no, it’s fine! You’ve already been so nice to me! I’ll be fine on my own. I’m pretty much done here anyway.  Thankyou though”

“Oh, that’s cool. I’ll see you later then?”

“Come by anytime!”

Mingyu continues his path down to the bus stop again – the bus stop which he had met Wonwoo the night before. He had tiny little hope in him that the raven haired male would be there again – but he wasn’t.

Mingyu sighs as he closes his umbrella, stepping under the bus stop shelter. Although he’s a little upset, he smiles, because he knows he doesn’t have to give up on looking for him. He knows he’ll meet him again.

A/N: a total of 3097 words. eee I feel bad 'cause it's been awhile since the last update and it's such a short chapter. Next update will hopefully be within four days. If I'm unlucky, it might take a week or two especially since school is ing H E L L ://////////

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