"Do you believe in soulmates?"

Jieqiong chuckled at Yoojung's cheesy question.

"Why the sudden question?"

They were sitting in the courtyard waiting for the bell to ring. A cackle could be heard from the group of girls across from them. Jieqiong rolled her eyes.

"I don't think I do. Sorry, Yoojung."

Yoojung's gaze drifts and Jieqiong pretends she just didn't see Yoojung give a longing look to the Kim Doyeon. AKA, Jung Chaeyeon's best friend. 

Ugh, Chaeyeon. Jieqiong thought.

"Why not unnie?"

"Feelings are overrated, kid."

Yoojung pouted. "That is so sad, unnie. It'd be funny if someone ended up proving you wrong." Jieqiong gagged, but deep down she was panicking.

 

"I think I'm in love with her." 

Jieqiong was, for the lack of words, shook, at Yoojung's confession.

"But you don't even know her!"

Yoojung huffed. "Remember when we talked about soulmates the other day?"

Jieqiong couldn't contain her shock anymore. "So you think she is your soulmate?"

"No!" Yoojung exclaimed. Jieqiong raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I'm not sure... it's a really weird feeling I get when I see her..."

Jieqiong didn't reply. She was too conflicted on how to feel about her precious best friend falling in love with probably the school's second meanest girl. First being Jung Chaeyeon. But, that was what they were in this lifetime...

Just then the classroom door opened and in walked the devils. Jieqiong avoided Chaeyeon's seemingly pointed gaze at her. Yoojung just gawked.

"Snap out of it!" Jieqiong whispered to a blushing Yoojung.

"Unnie, you never told me what your problem with Jung Chaeyeon is." Jieqiong blinked. If only she knew.

"I've got no problem with her." Yoojung gave her a knowing look while crossing her arms. Jieqiong sighed.

"They're just mean people, Yoojung. Forget about them, forget about her." Jieqiong turned around to face the board.

"I wish I could." Yoojung sighed.

 

Jieqiong was shoved against the wall in the locker room. She kept still, but her gaze was fierce. She ignored the finger tracing her clenched jaw.

"It's exhausting hating you" She finally said. The tension was too thick. Where are our classmates when you need them to diffuse an escalating moment?

"I wish I could hate you."

Jieqiong faltered. "Get away from me, Chaeyeon." She pushed her aside and hurried to gather her clothes. Jieqiong jumped at Chaeyeon slamming her locker door.

"How long are you going to keep up this charade?" Chaeyeon questioned. Jieqiong avoided answering. Chaeyeon took a step towards her, but stopped when the doors of the locker room opened. Chaeyeon grabbed her stuffed and whizzed by a confused Yoojung.

"What's she in a hurry for?" Jieqiong shrugged.

"Probably planning world domination." 

 

A weekly occurence. Some of the boys would tease Yoojung and ask for her lunch money. So cliché, Yoojung thought. She just wanted to squeeze into her locker and hide when she saw them rounding the corner.

Yoojung instead shoved her head in the locker and groaned, holding out ten bucks for the guys to just grab and leave. She waited for someone to take it, but she heard an unfamiliar cough. She looked up to see Doyeon blocking her from the boys, arms crossed.

"Move along." The guys rolled their eyes at her and left. Just like that. What the heck. Yoojung scrambled to get up, but before she could, Doyeon was halfway down the hall.

"You're drooling."

"Huh?" Jieqiong eyed Yoojung suspiciously. 

"What's with you? Those guys bother you again?"

"No..." Yoojung muttered. Jieqiong just decided to stop her questions right there.

 

"Chaeyeon unnie?" Said girl turned her attention to Doyeon. "What do you think about Choi Yoojung?"

Panic seemed to flash across Chaeyeon's face. Hoping Doyeon didnt't catch it, she looked away. She did.

"She's a freak." Doyeon frowned, Chaeyeon cringed.

"I think she's cute. There's something about her though, can't really pinpoint it..." Chaeyeon decided to dig a bigger hole for herself.

"If anyone is friends with Zhou Jieqiong, it makes them a freak, too." Doyeon couldn't ignore the odd feeling of anger bubbling inside of her.

"I have no idea what your problem with Zhou Jieqiong is but it really isn't fair to drag Yoojung into it." She slammed her book and got up, leaving a very anxious Chaeyeon behind in the library.

 

"What don't you understand about the rules?" Jieqiong was frustrated at Chaeyeon's increasing visits. 

Chaeyeon ignored her question. "Doyeon's started." Jieqiong's eyes widened. "Please don't tell me Yoojung has, too."

Jieqiong awkwardly chuckled, panic coursing through her body. "She has." Chaeyeon facepalmed.

"We don't have enough time now!" Chaeyeon exclaimed. Jieqiong had a pensive look.

"Look, I'll deal with them. You just focus on what we have to do." Chaeyeon nodded.

Jieqiong didn't give Chaeyeon another look. "Now, leave."

"This would be a hell of a lot easier if we actually hated each other." She quipped back as she turned to leave.

"Well, I hope this is all worth it." Jieqiong murmured to herself.

 

Doyeon woke up in the middle of the night in a sweat. Flashes of her too realistic dream going through her mind. The details were fuzzy, but one thing stood out the most. Her dream was about Yoojung. But, not the kind that was all happy and fluffy. No, this dream had Doyeon shuddering from how much it spooked her.

She was standing at what looked like some royal banquet, dressed in an outfit that can be from the 1800s or something, searching for Yoojung. Weirdly enough, she saw Chaeyeon across the room, talking to Zhou Jieqiong. In her dream, she felt a magnetic pull. Her feet took her to the kitchen in the big castle. She felt her heart beat faster when a short girl came into her vision. She knew it was Yoojung. But when Yoojung turned around, Doyeon frowned. Yoojung did not look pleased. The dream took a dark turn and the next thing she knows, Yoojung is being taken by the castle guards. Doyeon wanted to scream, but she woke up instead.

Doyeon tried to calm her breath. Why was the dream so vivid? She put her face in her hands. I don't even know her she thought. A couple more minutes passed and she decided to blame her freaky dream on all the sugar she had before bed. 

 

Jieqiong and Yoojung were eating lunch quietly. Both in deep thought about similar things.

"You eat sandwiches with both pinkies out, such a princess." Yoojung joked. Jieqiong choked on her food. '"You okay?"

Jieqiong gulped down her whole water bottle in one go. Yoojung eyed her weirdly. "Unnie, you've been kind of ansty since the other day. What's going on?" Jieqiong bitterly chuckled in her head. She sighed.

"I don't think you'd believe me even if I told you." Yoojung raised an eyebrow.

"Try me." Jieqiong took a deep breath.

"We're victims of a reincarnation curse." Yoojung squinted her eyes at her unnie, seemingly contemplating this outrageous revelation. She then burst out into laughter. 

"Oh, yeah? Please go on."

Jieqiong sighed inwardly. I'm still letting her know even if she thinks I'm joking...

"I was a princess in my first life, along with Kim Doyeon and Jung Chaeyeon, but they were from other families." Yoojung nodded eagerly in fake excitement.

"Is that so? And who was I?" Jieqiong gave her an unamused look. "Wait, don't tell me. I was a servant!" Jieqiong's eyes widened. 

"Are you serious? Even in a past life, I was a loser?" She scoffed.

"Actually, you were the princess' maid." Yoojung's eyebrows creased at the specific detail.

"Who? Yours?"

Jieqiong hesitated.

"Kim Doyeon's."

Yoojung thought hard about all of this and came to a conclusion. "Unnie, you've been watching way too many fantasy shows." She punched Jieqiong's shoulder and laughed over this crazy story.

Oh sweetie, I wish it was just that. Jieqiong thought.

 

Like clockwork, the guys came to take Yoojung's money. But surprise! Doyeon to the rescue again. This time, Yoojung was determined to talk to Doyeon.

Yoojung taped Doyeon's back and she froze. "Thanks." Yoojung said, shyly.

"Yeah."

That's it? Yoojung thought. Alright, better than nothing.

She was halfway down the empty hallway when she heard a crash against the lockers. Yoojung whipped her head around. She gasped and rushed over.

"Doyeon?! Doyeon!"

Princess! Princess, please wake up immediately!

"Maid?" Yoojung froze. Did she hear what she thought she heard?

It is Princess Chaeyeon. We must leave the castle immediately.

"Princess?" Okay, Yoojung thought. She was definitely not hearing things. Jieqiong's story flooded her mind and she could not believe the coincidences.

Was Jieqiong unnie being for real? But how can this be... What does this all mean? I guess this could explain my weird feelings towards Doyeon. DOYEON.

Yoojung snapped back into the situation at hand, Doyeon still muttering what seems to be nonsense. Just in time, Yoojung spotted Jieqiong turning the corner, her eyes popping out of her sockets at the sight in front of her.

"Holy crap, what happened?!" Jieqiong got on the ground next to Yoojung.

"She's not even unconscious! I don't even know what's going on!"

Jieqiong looked like she had an inkling of an idea. Suddenly, Doyeon screamed.

"Princess!"

Yoojung was overwhelmed, but caught Jieqiong's smirk. "How can you be smirking in this situation?!"

"Do you believe me now?" Yoojung scoffed at Jieqiong's unwavering smugness. It then dawned on her that Jieqiong's story might be true.

"I swear to god if this is some elaborate joke you two planned to convince me to believe that crazy story of yours, I will beat you up."

They picked Doyeon up and headed to where Jieqiong was leading them.

 

Never in Yoojung's life would she have found herself in an underground cave of some sort with her best friend, a semi-unconscious girl that she has feelings for, and her best friend, that is a sworn enemy of Jieqiong's.

Adding to the weirdness, as soon as they set down Doyeon on what looks like a concrete table, Jieqiong rushed into Chaeyeon's arms. Yoojung was in utter disbelief.

"Does someone mind telling me what the hell is going on here?!" Yoojung was dizzy and quite frankly, fed up with all the secrets. Chaeyeon eyed Yoojung and Jieqiong turned to face her.

"We're going to break the curse, so we can be together." Yoojung felt faint. How was she suppose to take in all this new information?

"Look," Yoojung's ears perked at the Chaeyeon addressing her. "We're sorry we couldn't tell you guys sooner. It's very dangerous to interact while we have this curse looming over us."

Yoojung took a deep breath. So, my whole life is the cliché plot for a fantasy show? 

Chaeyeon continued her explanation. "We couldn't let you guys know about your past lives until we knew for sure how to break this curse."

Jieqiong pitched in. "What's stronger than the curse is the love we have for each other. You and Doyeon, me and Chaeyeon."

Questions still flooded Yoojung's mind, but they were cut short. A dark cloud started rising from the ground, engulfing their feet. Panic was written all over their faces. 

"We need to do it, now!"

 

After that moment, everything was a blur. There was screaming, crying, chanting and then total silence. Silence followed by a huge weight being lifted off of everyone's shoulders. Doyeon came to and sat up, rubbing her head.

"What the hell happened?" Just then, memories of their past lives came flooding back. How princess Doyeon fell for her maid, Yoojung. How Jieqiong ended up falling in love with another princess, Chaeyeon, instead of the prince she was to wed. And the curse their fathers, the kings, put upon the four girls. All the good and all the bad.

They stood there, still reeling from everthing they remembered. "Finally." Chaeyeon mutters, pulling them all into a group hug. "It took me centuries to figure this out."

Doyeon grabbed Yoojung's hand and squeezed, noticing the tears falling from the latter's eyes. She chuckled and grinned.

"Talk about an epic love story, am I right?"