Kang Hani sticks out like a sore thumb as she struts into the headquarters, even if she feels uncomfortable in her dress, she does her best to not let that discomfort show. Silently greeting the employees she walks past on her way to the elevators. She knows, the gossip mill will start the second the door shut behind her, but she really couldn't care less as she's really ever at the company. Unlike what was expected of the Kang daughter, Hani choose to stray away from the business world, going into psychology. At the young age of 25, she's proud to introduce herself as an psychologist as she's earned her credentials.

 

She lets her mask back into place when the elevator doors slide open on the executive floor, she politely greets the secretaries, internally rolling her eyes at the looks she gets from one of the assistants before she lets herself into the acting chief editors office.

 

The male behind the desk looks up from the documents, beaming at the birthday girl. He's quick on his feet, meeting her half way with a tight hug.

 

"Happy Birthday." Jihoon wishes, kissing her hair and tightening his arms around her,

 

The lady in his arms hums, reciprocating his action to tighten her hold on him,

 

"You look beautiful." Jihoon mumbles, Hani hums not letting him go, not that the editor minds.

 

The two are interrupted with a knock on the door, however the pair doesn't separate even as the head secretary pops her head inside.

 

"They're here." The lady informs them, smiling at Hani before shutting the door behind her.

 

"Are you prepared?" Jihoon asks, grabbing his jacket to wrap it around his companion as they exit the office.

 

"As ready as I can be." Hani mumbles, slipping her hands through the jacket as they wait for the elevator.

 

"I'm sorry, Hanna can be extremely demanding when she wants." Jihoon frowns, interlacing their fingers as they enter the elevator,

 

"It's not your fault. I know my cousin. She's freaking stubborn and listens to no one." Hani says, "Did she use her death glare on you?" She tries to tease, but the shudder from the male gives her the answer causing her to wince.

 

"Kang Hanna is scary and no one can say anything against her, not even her soulmate." Jihoon sighs while Hani tenses, glancing at the bracelet covering her wrist before moving to glance at the watch covering Jihoon's wrist.

 

Noticing her gaze falling on their covered wrists, Jihoon lightly squeezes her fingers, getting her to look at him.

 

"I'm sorry." Hani mumbles, trying to run off as the elevator doors slide open,

 

"It's not our fault." Jihoon tries to assure her, leading her through the busy lobby. Hani does her best to ignore the heated looks on her interlaced fingers, reminding her that Jihoon and her wi-

"You'll do well." Jihoon snaps her out of her thoughts, reminding her off the reason she was forced to make an appearance at the HQ.

 

"Show up, follow the script. That's all." That's all Hanna said when she informed her about this interview.

---

Walking past the occupied conference room, Hani gives Jihoon a questioning look as the chief editor walks past his meeting room. "I'm dropping you off first." He smiles, popping his head into the room to inform the staff about the slight delay.

Hani gives him an appreciative smile as he leads them through another set of doors and they're greeted with the familiar smell of the cafe but it's accompanied by commands from the directors to help get a somber setting for their highly anticipated interview. An interview that's going to be led by Hani, an interview that was forced into her schedule by her tenacious cousin.

 

The usual appearance of the cafe has been changed with a few tables pushed together to create a longer table to include multiple seats. Concluding it's most likely an idol group, Hani looks around for more hints on who the artists might be when she feels the familiar touch back on her hand. She smiles at him, but the male looks slightly flustered.

 

"So, I asked the writers for the questions." Jihoon starts, scratching the back of his neck as he contemplated his next words, gulping at the demanding look on Hani's face,

 

"Theresnotone." He quickly mumbles, though the gasp and absolute look of horror on her face lets him know she understood him.

 

"Hanna told them not to worry as you would take care of it." Jihoon adds, trying to calm her by rubbing her arms, not caring about the glances the staff throw them.

 

Taking a deep, calming breath, Hani attempts to call her cousin, but to none's surprise, the call goes directly to voicemail. She tries a few more times, while Jihoon asks the writer to come up with some questions, as the artists have already arrived and are almost ready to begin.

 

Hani slumps into Jihoon's chest once the writer leave them to come up with a game plan, Jihoon keeps a tight hold on her waist, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

 

"What is wrong with Hanna? Why would she do this?" Hani whines, while Jihoon pointedly ignores the looks thrown at their covered wrists. It's not a company secret that the chief editor hasn't begun moving forward.

 

"I wish I knew." Jihoon says, continuing to comfort her as the artists are led inside. Jihoon nods to acknowledge them, tapping Hani to inform her about the arrival, but the lady burrows her head into his chest.

 

"They're here, baby." Jihoon softly whispers, pecking her forehead at the puppy look she gives him,

 

"Do you have to go?" She pouts, staring up at him,

 

"I'll be back as soon as my meeting ends. We'll even go on a bubble tea date after, okay?" He tries to persuade her, but the lady is still reluctant to let him go.

 

"Babe trust me when I say, you're going to love the group you're interviewing." He assures her, smiling brightly as she squeezes him once before dropping her arms and stepping away.

 

"I'll take your word for it. But hurry back." She frowns, kissing his cheek while he leaves her with another kiss on her forehead. A make up artist is quick to take his spot and quickly retouches make-up while a writer hands a small list of questions.

---

Hani takes a few deep breathes to center herself before facing the artists, but all her calmness and composure flies out the window as her eyes land on Chen. She discreetly pinches herself, wanting to assure her it's not a dream and she's actually standing in front of Chen. The person she's labeled the best voice in the entire universe. The same Chen, whose CDs make up a majority of her shelves, along with his album posters spread around her room.

"E-e- excuse me." She mumbles, hurrying to crouch down behind the counter to compose herself and her thumping heart. She can't believe she gets to interview her favorite singer. She never thought she would gets the chance to interview him as her brothers made sure to always be discreet about their schedules if Chen or his group was involved due to Hani's obsession with the male. She sends her best friends multiple texts and would have stayed behind the counter internally squealing had it not been for the director calling for a start on the interview.

She puts on her best professional smile, setting her eyes on Chen as she carefully walks through the wires and cameras. The director asks them to get comfortable before they can begin filming as the few of the members are still having their audios set up.

"Hello. I'm Chen." The singer introduces, extending an arm towards Hani. The lady looks at him with glassy wide-eyes before a smile starts to blossom on her face,

"I. I-I know." She shyly stutters, quickly shaking his hand. She clears as she feels her cheeks burn up at the slight contact.

"Hani. I'm Kang Hani." She internally applauds herself for getting through the introduction without stuttering. The singer kindly chuckles at her reaction before moving aside for his other members to introduce themselves.

"Baekhyun." Baekhyun smirks, thinking he'll also get the shy reaction, but the lady pulls on her professional smile, nodding as she shakes his hand. The other members slightly tease their droopy eyed singer, who loudly complains about the lack of reactions from their interviewer.

The rest of the members try to get the same reaction as Chen, but fail as Hani gives them a polite smile and bow before moving to the next member. Sehun narrows his eyes at her before looking at Chen.

"Do you have a crush on my Hyung?" The youngest of the group asks,

"Excuse me?" Hani chuckles,

"Chen Hyung?" Hani blushes, hearing the loud laughter from said male. She looks at her feet, hearing the leader scold the youngest while Baekhyun makes a teasing remark.

"Hello, sorry about them. I'm the leader, Suho." Hani clears , turning her gaze to meet the leaders. However, the minute their eyes meet, a soft chime silences the room. She doesn't recognize the note, but Suho seems to as he brightly smiles at her. However, the chime keeps ringing in her ears with burning eyes she looks at her covered wrist, while Suho seems to be pulled into a huddle by s. The rest of the cafe watches awkwardly as Hani stands on the side while Suho is being mandhandled to reveal his wrist. The gasps serve as evidence of the fact that the numbers on their leaders wrist have started moving forward now.

---

"OMG." Someone squeals before a woman runs out from the kitchen towards the frozen Hani, glaring at her wrist. Two more ladies follow after the first, though they follow after at a slower pace sharing sympathetic smiles as they look at their best friend.

 

"Congrats on your soulmate, baby cousin." The first lady yells, squeezing Hani into a hug.

 

"Hanna." The red-haired lady gently warns, but the former doesn't' care as she hugs her cousin.

 

"I'm happy you've found your soulmate. Come on, Nayoung and Hani have heard the chime and are now moving forward." Hanna teases, ignoring the glares the three throw at her.

 

"No, thank you. I'm fine." Bomi politely smiles, hugging her best friend. Though it's not a congrats hug, but rather a sympathetic hug to comfort Hani, as the psychologist isn't teh most enthusiastic about meeting her soulmate.

 

"My turn." The tallest of the four chirps, pushing past Bomi to wrap her arms around the birthday girl.

 

However, the hug is interrupted as the cafe is once again silenced with another chime. Hani and Nayoung pull away to see their best friend wide-eyed as she stares at the tall male.

 

The tall artist is quickly unclasping the watch on his wrist, while Bomi works on removing her bracelet. The two soulmates share a look as they see their numbers increase with each passing second, rather than the familiar countdown.

 

"This is why you call each other your soulmates." An unfamiliar voice sounds through the cafe, Hanna beams at the sight of her eldest cousin making his way through the crowd.

 

"Hani." Her older brother and the CEO of World Today!, Kang Haneul calls, but his sister is throwing daggers at her best friend's soulmate,

 

"Kang Hani." Hanuel raises his voice, startling everyone at his somewhat scolding tone,

 

"Oppa? What are you doing here?" His younger sister asks, finally noticing her brother's presence,

 

"Hanna texted me." He gives her a small smile, "I understand what just happened, but they're here for work." Hanuel tells Hani,

 

Before turning to Hanna to ask, "Shouldn't you be at Dr. Song's?"

 

"My appointment isn't until after noon." Hanna informs them,

 

Hani frowns, looking over at her cousin, "Then why did you ask me to interview them?" The icy tone scaring them,

 

"Well, it's your birthday and I thought what better present than meeting Chen. And look on the bright side, not only did you meet your favorite singer, but also your soulmate. It's a good present for your birth... day." Hanna falters, noting her cousin's darkening expression,

 

"Kang Hani, you're not only wasting your time, but also the artist's time. We're not their only schedule." Hanuel reminds her, snapping her out of her anger as she does her best to regain some sort of professional tone.

 

"I'll see you later, baby sis and Director Choi, I want any and all clips of the last 10 minutes on my desk. And If there's any of this information is leaked to the public, it won't end well. Understood." Haneul warns the staffs, having caught a few phones recording the scene. The CEO hugs his sister first, before heading to pull a chirpy Hanna off a flustered Suho as the lady exchanges numbers with him.

 

"Apologies for the minor delay, we can get started." Hani states, looking between the artists and staff, signaling for group to take their seats. Though she panics at the sight of her best friends walking away. "Bom, Na, where are you going?" She asks,

 

"Just behind the counter." Nayoung answers, while Bomi is trying her best to discreetly hide behind her tall friend to avoid looking at another tall person.

 

"Stay with me. Please." Hani pleads.

 

The director is quick to agree, setting up chair slightly behind Hani's seat, to ensure their faces won't be captured. However, the seating arrangement puts Bomi directly in sight of the tall member, which Hani notices and is quick to move her chair to hinder Bomi's view from her soulmate. The tall male deflates at the glare on Hani's face, while s share concering looks as Hani has not once looked at her soulmate either.

 

"Starting in 5."

 

"Wrists." Bomi voices,

 

"3"

 

The artists manage to cover their wrist just before recording starts.