It had been an agonizing three weeks for Minho.

He had yet to hear form Key, and each day that passed only made him more and more anxious. He was pretty sure Jinki was sick of him rambling on and on about what a perfect couple he and Key would be, and why hasn’t he contacted him yet. He thought to even contact the dancer first, but Jinki strongly advised against it.

“Key will contact you when he’s ready.”

If he’ll ever be ready.

Jinki didn’t say it, but Minho could tell by the expression on his face that he definitely had thought it.

The whole situation frustrated Minho more than anything.

He couldn’t understand why someone would not be excited about finding their soul mate. It was supposed to be one of the best moments of one’s life, aside from marrying said soul mate. It didn’t make sense to him.

Is it because of my looks?

He knew Key was a literal piece of heaven on Earth, but he had a fair share of admirers himself and he didn’t think that could really be the case. Bu then again, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and maybe he wasn’t Key’s type. Not that he would know since he couldn’t even talk to the guy to find out.

“Ahh!” He growled in irritation at his unhelpful trail of thoughts when he heard the soft ‘ding’ of his phone.

Who could be texting me now?

It was two in the morning on a Wednesday and he had to get up for work in a few hours, but here he was spending another sleepless night thinking about his love.

Curiosity getting the best of him, he groggily rolled over to glance at the lit up screen on his bed side table.

‘Hi’

That’s it? Who the hell would waste their time to send a simple salutation as this time?

“They must have the wrong number” he mumbled and slowly picked up his phone to shoot the person a quick reply.

‘I’m sorry, but I think you may have the wrong number.’

He stared at the device for a minute longer before assuming the person realized their mistake and was now bothering some other person at 2 o’clock in the morning.

He had just placed his phone back on the table and rolled over in a comfortable position, willing all thoughts of Key away, when his phone went off again.

Seriously?!

With more force this time he grabbed the phone again and sat up, all traces of sleep forgotten in his new vexation.

‘Is this not Choi Minho?’

What? So this person did have the right number. But he couldn’t remember giving his number to anyone new recently, unless…

“No…” It couldn’t be, could it?

Not wanting to get his hopes up, Minho tried to keep himself as casual as possible.

‘Yes it is. May I ask who’s this?’

The response this time took much longer. Minho was afraid that he was wrong after all and it was probably just some sleazy telemarketer who had gotten a hold of his number somehow and was trying to get some information out of him.

‘Um, it’s Key.’

Minho about dropped his phone as he got up to do a little dance upon his bed.

“It’s him, it’s him! Holy it’s HIM!”

He couldn’t believe it! Key; his soul mate; his one and only, was actually contacting him. It had taken him quite a while, but that didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that he apparently felt ready to at least take the first step, and Minho was grateful.

But what do I say?

Minho didn’t want to scare the other man off. He felt like he had to approach this in a calm and mature manner (despite the continuous screaming of his young lovesick mind).

‘Hello Key!’ 
‘It’s nice to hear from you. How are you?’

Good. Keep it basic Choi.

‘Are you always awake at this hour?’

Well…that was not the response he was expecting.

‘That’s kind of weird don’t you think?’

Ok, that was definitely not the response he was expecting. Maybe simple pleasantries were not in Key’s texting vocabulary.

‘Well you’re up at this hour too? So what does that say about you?’

He hoped he didn’t come off as too haughty, he was only teasing anyway. But if they were soul mates then they would have to be able to handle each other through all sorts of moods.

‘Wow, you got me there Mr. Choi. Didn’t think you’d have it in you’

At least he wasn’t offended.

‘Well if we got to know each other a little, then you would know more of what to expect.’

Minho smiled to himself as he sent it, the thought of getting to know Key as a person, both inside and out, made his heart swell in anticipation. He truly wanted nothing more.

‘What makes you think I would even want to?’

Despite the slightly harsh words, Minho had a feeling he wasn’t being serious. It seemed more like a little jibe to him, but also as something a bit more. A sort of defense mechanism maybe? He figured there had to be a deeper reason why Key had taken this long to contact him in the first place. His reluctance of finding his soul mate head been very clear from the start. Maybe he could try and begin to find out why.

‘But I’m your soul mate. Aren’t you at least a bit curious?’

He took a deep breath waiting for a response.

‘To be honest, no. In fact I’m probably the exact opposite.’

Ouch, ok so that hurt a bit more than Minho had expected. But he wasn’t about to give up now.

‘That can be…understandable, I guess. But do you mind telling me why?’

It took Key even longer to respond this time and Minho had thought he might have changed his mind and went to bed.

‘Doesn’t this whole thing scare you at all?’

So that’s the issue, Key was scared.

Of what though? Him personally? Or love in general? Had someone hurt him before? Minho couldn’t relate to any of these thoughts, because the fact that Key was the one meant to be with him erased all those fears. And he honestly wished Key would feel the same.

‘No, not at all.’ 
‘But if having a soul mate is something that really bothers you, why don’t we take it slow and just become friends first?’ 
‘You wouldn’t be scared to make a new friend, right?’

Minho mentally gave himself a pat on the back. That was a good way to handle it.

‘…are you always this cheesy? lol’ 
‘Well, I guess I could make some room in my social circle for one more…’

He also didn’t feel as if Key was one hundred percent convinced, nevertheless it was a start.

‘Do you have any plans this Saturday? Maybe we can hang out?’

He frankly had no idea what he would plan for Saturday. He didn’t know what Key liked or what he did for fun, aside from dancing. Given the circumstances though, he felt as if it were now or never.

‘I think I can schedule you in for that day. Just text me a time and place and we can meet up there.’

Minho was ecstatic!

‘Sounds good!’ 
‘But one more thing, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your real name? I feel kind of weird only knowing your stage name’

…

‘It’s Kibum’

Minho couldn’t help the wide smile that spread across his face.

“Kibum” he spoke out into the empty room.

‘Thank you, I really do appreciate you telling me’

Having been trusted enough to be given his real name made something inside Minho burst. He had already acknowledged the texting and meeting up were a start, but this made everything seem that much more real. He and Kibum were actually going to become friends, not just two strangers with a forced destiny. It was truly the beginning of something beautiful.

‘Ok, I can see you don’t do well without some sleep lol’ 
‘Get some rest lover boy’

Minho smiled at the sarcastic term of endearment.

‘You too, Kibum'

When no further response came, he took that as his queue to plug in his phone for the night, or technically morning, and try to get some sleep. But not before saving his new favorite contact in his phone.

Saturday could not come soon enough.

A/N: If I read over this chapter one more time I was going to delete the whole thing! So here, just take it! I'm not sure what it is, but it's yours!

And as always, thank you for reading ~ Comments and constructive criticism are appreciated <3