Kyungsoo’s first thought upon waking was that this bed was overwhelmingly comfortable; dangerously so, in fact. He had no intention of moving, snuggled between the comforters and Jongin’s bare chest. Oh. Right. Jongin. , in bed. Still asleep, a hand thrown over his eyes. How cute. Kyungsoo shifted closer, resting his cheek on Jongin’s pec, his eyes fluttering to a close when the alarm on his phone went off.
    “,” he bolted upright, scrambling for his phone (and knocking his hip bone on the corner of the nightstand - that would leave a nasty bruise, he knew it). He looked at the time, letting out a string of curses. There was no way he’d make it to work on time, not when he had to cross all of Seoul and back. He couldn’t risk showing up without his uniform. So he pulled on his rumpled clothes, nearly falling -first on the floor. Jongin had woken up with the racket, peering at Kyungsoo with eyes still puffy from his sleep. His hair was sticking up adorably, and Kyungsoo wanted to go back to bed and pat it down, to caress Jongin’s cheek until they fell asleep again. But he couldn’t, so he pulled on his socks and ran downstairs.

    He did, in fact, arrive to work almost two hours late. He hoped to slip in unnoticed, but it was a completely unreasonable hope, considering he’d missed three days of work and was now late. Jaehwan cornered him first, bread knife in hand.
    “Where the hell have you been?” Jaehwan asked, waving the knife in Kyungsoo’s face.
    “Can you point that somewhere else before you hurt someone,” Kyungsoo snapped, trying to push past him.
    “Not until you answer my question,” he hissed. Kyungsoo gave him the dirtiest look he could muster, folding his arms across his chest.
    “I fell into my closet and ended up in Narnia where a leopard-”
    “It was a lion,” Jaehwan interrupted.
    “Where a leopard decided it wanted to show me the whole continent on a five-star cruise ship. Only just got back yesterday,” Kyungsoo finished, glaring at him.
    “ you, I was worried,” Jaehwan spat.
    “I’m fine, now move,” Kyungsoo pushed past him, going to his work station.
    The sight of the peppers, the ones he’d mixed up just last week, shocked him. Waxy and bright and yellow and green and red, stark against the brushed steel of the table. He would definitely grow these at home. It seemed a shame to him, actually, to have to cut them now, but he did anyway, marveling in the even, minute cubes building up on the cutting board. It engrossed him, the rhythm of cutting, until he’d forgotten that he’d been so nervous.
    That was, until Jeongsuk called him to the office. Kyungsoo was officially ed.
    He bowed deeply as soon as he reached the door, bowing twice more before Jeongsuk asked him to sit.
    “Welcome back, Mr. Do,” he said with a smile, resting his elbows on the desk. Kyungsoo swallowed hard. Jeongsuk’s nonchalance was throwing him off.
    “Th-thank you?” He stuttered.
    “You were out for-” Jeongsuk paused, looking down at the paper on his desk, “three days, and you were late today.” Then nothing else. Kyungsoo could feel the sweat seeping into his uniform shirt.
    “I’m very sorry, Mr. Jo, it won’t happen again,” Kyungsoo murmured, bowing; but when he sat back up, Jeongsuk was still giving him a curious look.
    “Why were you out?”
    “S-sorry?”
    “You’ve never missed work like this, and we tried contacting you but we couldn’t. We were worried. Were you alright?” Jeongsuk asked. Kyungsoo was stunned into silence.
    “Y-yes, I was fine, Mr. Jo,” Kyungsoo said at last. Jeongsuk sat back.
    “Well, that’s good to hear. But I’ll still need to know why you were out,” he said.
    “Because I-” Kyungsoo paused. This was the first time he was going to say it. To speak the words into existence, “Because I met my soulmate.” Oh, that felt amazing. Jeongsuk’s face lit up.
    “Congratulations, Kyungsoo,” he said, standing up. “Really, this is incredible! I’m so happy for you.” And then he pulled Kyungsoo into a hug. Kyungsoo sputtered out a thank you.
    “I know I should’ve called it in, Mr. Jo, but it was so overwhelming-”
    “Oh, I know, Kyungsoo. It’s fine, don’t worry. We can talk more about it when you get back,” Jeongsuk sat back down.
    “G-get back? From…” Kyungsoo stared at him.
    “From your leave. All persons who meet their soulmate are entitled to four weeks of vacation for the purpose of strengthening the relationship,” said Jeongsuk, beaming up at Kyungsoo.
    “Oh.”
    “Now go home, Kyungsoo. Relax. Go fall in love,” said Jeongsuk, standing up to give Kyungsoo a pat on the shoulder. Kyungsoo was still in shock, letting his boss lead him out of the office, standing at the door awkwardly when Jeongsuk continued on his way.

The train ride home was one long hour and half trip of processing just what Jeongsuk had told him. Four weeks off. He’d never even dreamed of having that much time off. But it was perfect. Then his thoughts turned to Jongin. He couldn’t think of him without his ears turning red. So caught up in his memory of the night before that he nearly missed his stop. Even the dreary streets and dingy apartment weren’t enough to dampen his mood. That was, until he pulled out his phone to call Jongin and realized he didn’t have his number. . How could he forget? His heart sank, and for a split second he wanted to scream, but no, he would figure it out. So he scrolled through his contact list until he found the person he was looking for.
    “Jongdae, I need to ask you something-”
    “Good morning Kyungsoo,” Jongdae chirped. Kyungsoo let out an exasperated sigh. He really didn’t want to hear what Jongdae would say.
    “Do you, by any chance, happen to have Jongin’s phone number?”
    Silence. Kyungsoo looked at his phone, thinking the call had disconnected, but no, Jongdae was still there.
    “Hello?” A sharp inhalation.
    “Oh, I heard you. But of all the monumentally stupid things you’ve ever done, Do Kyungsoo-”
    “Yes, Jongdae. I know. Do you have his number?”
    “You literally went home with him last night!” Jongdae screeched.
    “I know that-”
    “I cannot believe you right now, Kyungsoo-”
    “Can you just text me his number-”
    “Were you two ing? That’s the only valid excuse for this-” Kyungsoo hung up on him then, sitting on the floor next to his bed. A few minutes passed, and still no text from Jongdae. Tears pricked his eyes, and he sniffled, feeling overwhelmingly useless. Why couldn’t he just have remembered? That should’ve been the first thing he did, the most basic- The vibration of his phone interrupted his thoughts. A number flashed on the screen, one Kyungsoo didn’t know, so he let it ring, getting ready to indulge in his pity fest when the realization smacked him. He practically tackled the phone, swearing when it didn’t respond to his thumb at first.
    “He