。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

The sun rays seep through the blinds, lighting up the dark room. Mingyu’s eyelids flutter open, blinking a few times. He groans and turns to his right side looking at the window. It’s Saturday, which means no classes and work – which also means one more day until his hangout with Jeon Wonwoo. Mingyu groans tiresomely, rubbing his face as he yawns. His legs are tangled with the sheets, laying lazily in a wrinkled t-shirt and boxers. He swings his legs from the bed, sitting up as his feet hits the warmth of the carpet below.

The tall giant stretches his body as it aches. Mingyu looks across the room to where his study table is. The piles of paper are still incomplete, but most are done. The tall giant had stayed up at 4:30AM, and that was his limit. He couldn’t stay up any longer, and jumped into bed.

He rubs his face one last time before standing up and exiting his cold room.

Walking out, his feet hits the cold tiles. Even after years of the daily routine, he still can’t get used to the cold tiles every morning. With each step, he leaps quickly to the bathroom just down the hall. He finally reaches the bathroom, feet under a rug just near the sink. Per usual – he washes his face and brushes his teeth. Styling his hair into a decent hairstyle, he walks out and yawns again.

He walks into the kitchen, taking out old cornflakes and a glass bowl. He shakes the contents into the bowl before pouring the milk and he takes out a spoon from the draw. Mingyu walks with the bowl in his hand and heads to the living room.

Entering the living room, he slumps down onto the couch while being careful not to spill the milk. He turns on the television and munches away on the cornflakes, lifelessly watching some children’s cartoon show. As he chews away on his cereal, his eyes lay on the spot beside him where his phone lays. With one hand carrying the bowl, he picks up his phone and turns it on. He sees a notification from Jeonghan and opens it immediately.

Jeonghan

hey mingyu 9:46PM

sorry for not replying before. It’s just been a little rough lately. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back at work properly soon. 9:46PM

Mingyu knows it hasn’t been “a little rough”. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he wants to help. Jeonghan was a precious friend that treated him well; he just wanted to help him out too.

Let’s meet up 9:42PM

I’m not letting you reject me 9:42PM

Meet me at the park near work in 20 mins 9:43PM

No excuses otherwise im going to your apartment to drag your out 9:43PM

Mingyu finishes off his breakfast and leaves his bowl on the low coffee table. He enters his room again, changing into new clothes that he fishes out of his closet. Throwing on a plain black t-shirt and cardigan along with a pair of denim jeans, he walks out to the living room again to pick up his phone. Shoving the phone in his jean pocket, he walks to the door where he had dropped his stuff from the previous night. He picks up his wallet and keys on the floor and exits his apartment, locking the door.

Exiting the apartment building, he still hadn’t received a reply back from his friend. With no buses servicing within the hour,  he opts to take a taxi. He stands on the side of the road until a cab slows down beside him. He enters the cab, directing the cab driver his destination.

It’s quite a long ride, a little different from when he takes the bus. The bus has a little more of a “free” feeling since it’s bigger and when he gets on the bus; there are barely any passengers to disturb him. The taxi is a little more humid and stuffy.

Arriving at the side of the park, the tall giant pays his fees and exits the cab. Walking on the cement path, it leads the way into the park. Mingyu strolls through to the nearest bench of the entrance to the park in hopes that Jeonghan comes and sees him there.

As much as he had been thinking of his crush a lot, he had been very worried about his long-haired friend. His friend hadn’t been going to work, calling in sick. Mingyu recalls back to the time when the glossy black haired male asked for Jeonghan that one day. The tall giant knew that male had something to do with what was bringing Jeonghan down.

Mingyu looks down at the time on his phone reading 10:04AM. The tall male checks into his phone to see that Jeonghan had read his messages without replying. He decides to sit back and wait. He looks around. There are barely any children playing in at the park equipment (not that Mingyu was getting old, but he blames it on the technology), there a few people with earphones plugged in jogging, and there’s an elderly couple a few benches away enjoying the view like Mingyu was. It’s fairly quiet; only the bird’s chirping and pounding of runners shoes on the cement path passing by to be heard. Approximately five minutes later, Mingyu sees a figure in the distance entering the park. Mingyu thinks that it’s his friend…or maybe not?

The tall male squints his eyes at the figure; unsure of whom he is looking at. The other figure surely is at the same height as Jeonghan, same feminine facial features as Jeonghan, same body structure as Jeonghan-

“Hey Mingyu”

The male sat next to Mingyu, avoiding eye contact. Mingyu inspected the other male closely. It was definitely Jeonghan. He sounded like Jeonghan. The only thing that was different was…

“Uh wow. I like your hair” Mingyu compliments.

Jeonghan had cut his angel, prince-like hair. It wasn’t like the taller male didn’t like it. Jeonghan had cut his hair into a bob and dyed it black – it suited the other male well.

“Really? T-thanks, I guess. I just thought I needed something fresh, you know?” Jeonghan says as he runs his fingers through his short lengthened hair.

“Oh, well it looks really good on you”

“Thanks”

They sit in silence for a while, enjoying the scenery while they can. Mingyu knows very well that his friend probably didn’t want to talk to him about what was going on. He didn’t want to force the other male to tell him, but with the days he was missing, he still wanted to talk to him.

“Look Jeonghan, I’ll get straight to the point. I know you don’t really want to talk about it, but I thought I – or at least one of the other guys – have the right to know. The boys at the store and I… we’re all worried, you know? We’re just worried about you and your health, Jeonghan – I want to help”

Jeonghan, still avoiding eye contact, sighs and tucks a lock of his hair behind his ear.

“I-I’m sorry, Mingyu. I really am. It’s just…sorry, it’s a little difficult”

“It’s okay, just take your time”

The atmosphere is bathed in silence again, Mingyu waiting for the other male to speak up. He hears Jeonghan take in a deep breath, and exhales exaggeratedly.

“I broke up with my soulmate”

Mingyu stiffens and his eyes widen. He looks over at Jeonghan, and he can see from his side profile that he’s tearing up, tears ready to fall from his eyes. The tall giant quickly wraps his arms around the other male, and Jeonghan sobs. Jeonghan buries his face in the taller male’s chest. Mingyu can hear Jeonghan whimpering and a wet substance felt upon his chest; the cotton fabric of Mingyu’s t-shirt collecting Jeonghan’s tears. Jeonghan sobs hard, starts to hiccup, teardrops that seem to be never-ending. Mingyu whispers sweet and comforting words into his ear, rubbing his back and telling him that everything was going to be okay. They stay like that for a while; Jeonghan sobbing into Mingyu’s chest while the latter has his arms wrapped tightly around the smaller male.  The tall giant is thankful to those who walk or run by without batting an eyelash or look at them weirdly.

It was definitely strange; very much out of the ordinary. Jeonghan had broken up with his soulmate. “Is that even possible?” Mingyu questions in his head.

A soulmate was person that you were to be bound with for life. The rain soulmate system was something that not many people knew the origins of, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Many people still choose to disbelieve the system, but it was practically already proven to be true – there was no other explanation to the sporadic rain that people would see randomly. A soulmate was someone that was meant to be your everything through perfections and flaws. A soulmate was someone that you stuck with through thick and thin. A soulmate was meant to be someone that was chosen by the system for you; someone to stay with forever no matter what. As much as Mingyu knew, the system was supposed to be something that chose your life partner, meaning that no matter what, you wouldn’t be separated from your partner officially; which meant you weren’t supposed to break up with your soulmate.

Jeonghan starts to calm down, pulling away from Mingyu’s chest as he wipes his eyes with his cardigan sleeve. He sniffles as the tall giant gently pats his back.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry, I g-got your shirt w-wet” Jeonghan looks down at Mingyu’s chest sorrowfully

“Don’t worry about it. My shirt isn’t the issue here. It’s okay; everything’s going to be fine”

It takes a few moments more for Jeonghan to fully calm down and for the tears to stop falling. Mingyu’s pretty sure that they had been sitting there for more than half an hour; not that he minded.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Jeonghan wipes his eyes for the last time before letting out a shaky breath.

“W-we fought…again”

“Again?”

The smaller of the two sighs. “Yeah…again. We’ve been having fighting for a while. It’s just…so complicated.”

“How long have you guys been fighting for?”

“I-I don’t know… maybe for a month now?”

A month. That was absolutely insane.

Jeonghan continues “It’s just…my fault. I’m so stupid, Mingyu! So, so stupid! I hate myself so much! It was all my fault! I don’t know why I was like that. It wasn’t Seungcheol’s fault at all. I’m so...”

Jeonghan starts to tear up again, and Mingyu takes his own cardigan sleeves to wipe his tears.

“It’s okay. Just tell me what happened; just take your time”

Jeonghan takes in a deep breath and exhales.

“I-I was so stupid. I’m such a ing . I got jealous. I was jealous Mingyu, and I had no reason to be. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I was…so stupid.”

It’s silent for a while, and Mingyu let’s Jeonghan figure it all out in his head before he continues.

“I found…photos of Seungcheol and his ex. I-I don’t know what came over me. Seungcheol had told me before that he had exes and I said that I was fine with that. I really was, seriously. Seungcheol is my soulmate and I was supposed to trust him. But seeing those photos…I don’t know what came over me. Seeing those two so happy together…it made me insecure and I took all my insecurities out on Seungcheol. I’m so dumb. Seungcheol deserves so much more. He doesn’t deserve some little like me. We were fine until I went along and messed it all up. I shouted at him, asking why he still had the photos. He said he had forgotten about them in the first place but I kept on pushing on the argument and didn’t let Seungcheol explain himself. I started ignoring him and then we just…we lost it”

Mingyu recalls back to when he had his discussion with Seungkwan, where he was also insecure about being with his soulmate. The tall giant thought that if that was what having a soulmate was like, he       wouldn’t mind staying single.

Jeonghan whimpers and starts to cry again while Mingyu tries his best to hush him and calm him down.

“So then… what’s happening now? Don’t you want to fix it with him or…”

“I can’t. There’s no way he’d want me back. I was…wondering if I could move in with you…”

Mingyu was taken back “With me? I-I mean I’m okay with that but are you sure?”

“I’m…not sure. But I’m certain he doesn’t want to see me after I was the one that broke up with him.”

“No, it doesn’t matter about what you think of what he thinks; I’m asking if you actually want to break up with him”

Jeonghan stays silent. He then looks up at the tall giant with puppy eyes, pouting his lips. Mingyu figures that maybe his friend needs time to figure himself out. Mingyu sighs.

“Fine. Look, you can stay at my apartment for a while, but only if you promise me you’ll talk to him and figure it all out with him, okay?”

“Thankyou, Mingyu! I just…I just need time”

Mingyu and Jeonghan step on to the bus together to the tall giant’s apartment. The drive there is silent. Mingyu looks out the window with his earphones plugged in. He glances at Jeonghan from time to time just to see if he’s alright. At one moment, he sees Jeonghan staring at photos that he and a glossy black haired male were in together. Mingyu can’t do much but feel sympathy for him. He turns his attention back to the bus window, watching things pass by.

Arriving at the bus stop, Mingyu leads Jeonghan to the apartment building. He punches in the code and the glass slides open for them. After entering the elevator, they still stand in silence. An elevator makes a chime sound and the doors glide open. They step in front of Mingyu’s apartment door and Mingyu fishes out his keys from his coat pocket. After unlocking the door, he welcomes his friend inside.

“Come sit down, I’ll get you something to drink”

While his bob haired friend settled down on the couch, Mingyu enters the kitchen fetching glasses of water for the both of them. Coming back from the kitchen, Mingyu walks into the living room to see that Jeonghan had the television, lifelessly watching the news anchor on the screen chat away.

Mingyu hands out the glass to his friend, “here”

“Thanks”

Mingyu sits down next to Jeonghan and they both sit like that for a while, sipping on their cups of water.  The taller of the two decides to speak up.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry or anything, but how come I never knew that you had a soulmate?”

Jeonghan stops sipping on his water and just shrugs “You never asked”

“Good point” Mingyu thinks. “Okay, so if you’re planning on staying here, you have to bring over your stuff. Do you really just plan on avoiding Seungcheol?”

“I-I’m not avoiding him, I’m just giving myself time to think” Jeonghan says before sipping on his cup and avoids meeting eyes with Mingyu

“Riiight… well, whatever happens from here, just make sure you talk with him about it again, okay?”

“I promise”

And so, they discuss when Jeonghan would bring over his stuff from his and Seungcheol’s apartment to Mingyu’s. Jeonghan just planned on bringing a duffle bag of clothes along with his backpack of books for his studies. They organised for the bob haired male to sleep on the couch and to study on the coffee table; the living room to basically be his room. Jeonghan even offers to pay part of the rent, but Mingyu declines saying that it wasn’t like the male was going to live there forever anyway.

“I don’t have a spare key so you have to tell me when you’re going out just in case I leave as well or something”

“That’s fine. Is it okay if you come with me to get my stuff in the morning? Seungcheol usually has work in the morning on Sundays so I was thinking maybe we could go by then”

Mingyu was about to accept Jeonghan’s request until he had realised something. The taller male looks at Jeonghan as the other male gives him a questionable gaze. He then avoids the shorter male’s eyes.

“Uh, Mingyu? What’s wrong?”

“U-um, well you… I’m kind of busy tomorrow…”

“Busy? You don’t have work tomorrow though…?”

“N-not with work but…”

Mingyu begins to stutter more and he can feel himself starting to sweat.

“Kim Mingyu, what is going on?”

Mingyu ends up not being able to avoid Jeonghan’s piercing glare, and he gives in with a sigh.

“I-I’m just… hanging out with someone tomorrow”

“‘Hanging out’? With who?”

“With…a friend”

“A ‘friend’?” Jeonghan squints his eyes at the taller

“Y-yes…?”

“Mingyu, did you really think you could lie to me? Sweetie, you can tell me about your date; I won’t judge you”

Mingyu starts to get flustered “W-what are you talking about?!”

“What? Why else would you be so embarrassed about it? The last time you told me you got a girlfriend, your face looked like a bucket of lava had been thrown on it.” Jeonghan starts to laugh his off; an obnoxious laugh resonating in Mingyu’s ears while his face starts to heat up from embarrassment.

“Shut up ok? I’d just like to clarify that it’s not a date; we’re just hanging out. All I did was ask him to grab coffee with me”

“Ooh a potential boyfriend. I see how it is. Well, I’m going to take a shower; I kind of forgot to take one this morning. I’m going to borrow your clothes for now, okay?”

“It’s not a date!”

“Whatever you say, my dear!”

And with that, the bathroom door shuts behind Jeonghan, and Mingyu just breathes out with a huff.

Mingyu gets up from the couch and walks to his room to put his coat away. As he walks in, he gazes upon the anemone flowers sitting in a vase upon the windowsill.

The tall male walks out of his room again and knocks on the bathroom door where he can hear the water running.

“Hey, Jeonghan! I’m going to go out for a bit. I’ll be back within an hour or two, okay?”

The sound of running water suddenly stops, and he can hear his friend’s muffled voice from the inside.

“What?!” The muffles voice calls

“I said I’m going out and I’ll be back within at least an hour!”

“Okay!”

Mingyu grabs his keys that were left on the coffee table and heads out, locking the door behind him.

He heads out of the apartment once again, closing the door behind him. After going out of the apartment building, he waits on the side of the road again for about fifteen minutes before a taxi spots him and pulls up beside him. The tall giant directs his destination to the driver and they drive down to a familiar street. He pays his fees and thanks the taxi driver before exiting the cab.

He walks down a familiar cement path before stopping at a certain flower store. Mingyu opens the glass door and it squeaks as it opens. Looking inside, he wonders if Joshua is working during this time.

“Hello?” Mingyu calls out into the empty flower store.

“Mingyu? Is that you?”

The tall giant’s previous question is answered as he sees a certain orange haired male appear from the back room.

“Oh, Mingyu! Hey there! It’s nice to see you again. Another batch of flowers for another pretty lady?” Joshua asks as he’s carrying a bouquet of flowers and setting them in a vase on display.

Mingyu blushes at Joshua’s question “…something like that”, he mumbles.

“Oh, really now?” Even with Mingyu mumbling, Joshua still managed to hear him.

“Well, anything you were looking for in particular?”

“What do you suggest?”

“We actually have these new red carnations delivered to us this morning” Joshua says as he walks to the bouquet of red flowers.

“They look great. I’ll take them”

“Sure thing! Actually, I’m quite busy at the moment so I’ll bring them to the back to have another employee fancy it up with decorative wrapping and ribbon and bring it out for you”

“That’s fine”

Joshua gives an eye smile and disappears into the backroom. While he waits for the flowers, he waits for his bouquet of flowers to be “fancied up” – as Joshua had said – he looks around the store. Mingyu is always in awe when he visits the store – even though he had only been there twice (three times by now). Whenever Mingyu had visited his sister, he always bought flowers from another store near his apartment, but after being so fond of his new acquaintance, he felt the need to come here.

There were flower arrangements displayed all over the place, filling the store with colour; as if the store was the canvas and the flowers were the paint.

“Hey, are you the one that ordered th-”

The voice that Mingyu hears suddenly stops and he spins around. He freezes.

Jeon Wonwoo is there in front of him who – Mingyu notes – looks gorgeous with an apron on. He was wearing a white button up shirt, sleeves rolled up, and his glossy black hair shined beneath the dim lighting. He was at such a perfect height for Mingyu to want to wrap his arms around him and place his chin on top of Wonwoo’s head.

“Mingyu?” the sharp eyed male is just as confused as him.

“W-Wonwoo? I didn’t know you worked here”

“Well, you do now” Wonwoo smiles. Mingyu smiles back. The tall giant was trying to contain himself from squealing out and hugging the other man – key word: trying.

“Well, uh, it’s nice to see you again” Wonwoo holds out the large bouquet over the counter.

“Yeah, me too” Mingyu reaches his arms out and reaches hold of the bouquet.

“So…I hope you’re ready for our date tomorrow. Well, I’m sure you are since those are obviously for me” Wonwoo says calmly, smirking as he leans over the counter.

Mingyu becomes flustered, red creeping upon his cheeks, forehead beginning to sweat. 

“W-what? How did you know?!” the tall giant hugs the bouquet to his chest.

This time it was Wonwoo’s turn to be flustered. “W-what? Those are actually for me? I-I was just joking…”

Mingyu realises his mistake and immediately shuts up his mouth. He can feel his own face burning – as Jeonghan mentioned – as if a bucket of lava was thrown on it. The tall giant just wishes the ground would swallow him up, or hide away and dig a hole and lie in there to die – he was internally dying from embarrassment.

Wonwoo starts to blush as well with knowing the fact that a cute guy was planning to give him flowers from his own flower shop.

Silence filled the atmosphere of the small cosy flower store, and Mingyu felt like they had been standing still for centuries. The flustered tall giant breaks the silence by shoving the bouquet into Wonwoo’s chest and arms.

Mingyu – still as red as a tomato – squeezes his eyes shut, nails digging the skin on his palms. Mingyu grabs out his wallet and grabs a few notes and slams it on the counter, not caring about the fact that he gave more than the actual price of the bouquet. He takes in a deep breath.

“I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM. I’M LEAVING NOW, SEE YOU TOMORROW. BYE!”

And with that, he runs out the store, shoving his way out the door.

Wonwoo is still standing still, arms wrapped around the bouquet of red carnations that he had arranged himself. He’s still blushing, and smiles to himself.

“I do like them”

Meanwhile, Mingyu is still running from the store, not daring to stop or look back. He’s panting so hard that he feels like his lungs could burst. He keeps running until he stops at a street light pole that he nearly runs into. He leans down, hands on his knees and breathes heavily, trying to calm his racing heart. Mingyu smiles to himself.

Mingyu finally arrives at his apartment; inserting the key into the keyhole and slamming open the door. The door hits against the wall loudly, startling Jeonghan who’s in Mingyu’s white t-shirt that’s way too big for him and sweatpants that barely holds up on his waist. He’s lazing on the couch with a packet of barbecue flavoured chips in one hand with the TV remote in the other.

Mingyu leans his back against the door, and slides down slowly until he’s on the ground, covering his face with his hands and screams.

“What the , Mingyu?!”

“”

“Ew, no thanks”

Mingyu lifts his head from his palms. He rolls his eyes, but he’s still smiling. Jeonghan was prepared to have a comeback fight with his friend, but his friend’s overly joyed expression is creeping him out.

“What the happened to you, you weirdo?”

Mingyu stands up from his spot and walks over to the couch and plops backwards on the seat. He sighs exaggeratedly while leaning his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder, still smiling madly.

“You’re in’ weird and scaring me right now. What happened? Where did you go?”

Mingyu rolls his eyes again but still smiling. He’s smiling so much that his jaw was starting to hurt. “I went to visit a certain cute guy”

“But you’re sitting with him right now..?”

The tall giant just lightly punches his friend in the shoulder.

“Shut up. I’m talking about the person I’m hanging out with tomorrow”

Jeonghan stops rubbing his shoulder from the area Mingyu hit and his eyes lighten up with interest.

“Oh! You mean your date?”

“ you, I already said it’s not a date. I like him but-”

“AWWW” Jeonghan interrupts him “THAT’S CUTE”

“Shut the up! Let me finish! I like him but…I don’t think I can ask him out”

“What? Why not?”

Mingyu doesn’t particularly like talking or thinking about this topic. Ever since meeting the mesmerising male, he always had doubt lingering within him. He then thinks about how Jeonghan was finally able to tell him about his problems. Maybe he could find comfort within the other too.

“I don’t want to fall hard for him and then find out he’s not my soulmate”

Jeonghan, not knowing how to reply at the statement, falls silent. They both stare mindlessly at the screen in front of them, only the voices and sounds from the television to be heard.

“…that hasn’t stopped you before”

Mingyu sighs, “I know. I just… really like him. I don’t know. I haven’t even talked to him that much is what also freaks me out. Like, all I did was look at his face once and I started falling; which is kind of hypocritical since all my relationships ended with everyone saying that my looks are better than who I am”

Jeonghan wraps an arm around Mingyu and rubs his shoulder.

“Mingyu, it’s hard, but you should just go for it. Think about it: if you’re only starting to worry if he’s your soulmate or not now, maybe there’s a chance that he is your soulmate..? I don’t know for sure, but if you genuinely like him, I’m sure the system didn’t have you thinking about him so much if you weren’t his soulmate”

Maybe Jeonghan was right; just maybe. It wasn’t certain, but maybe he could give it a try.

Mingyu sighs and Jeonghan continues to rub his shoulder in comfort.

“I guess we both have a love crisis, huh?” Jeonghan mumbles while giving a sad smile, watching the screen in front of them.

Mingyu looks up at Jeonghan, then forward towards the television and sadly smiles with him. “Yeah, I guess we do”

A/N: awkward moment when ur cousin is interested in ur fanfic and ends up proof-reading a chapter for you...yeah, it just happened.

also i swEaR i was supposed to update earlier...but it's the 17th today... :'^)