The next few weeks, she actually enjoyed being in the same class with Daniel. His energy and brightness made the class more bearable. He also managed to open up to her and Chaeyeon was able to slowly open up to him as well. They often studied together for business tests or assignments at the library. Chaeyeon started to feel more comfortable around Daniel, therefore, her choice of words were less filtered around him.

 

“You uncultured swine, Kang Daniel, you don’t put milk in before cereal!”

 

“Godcess Chaeyeon, I know you’re powerful and all, but you can’t tell me what to do with my cereal!”

 

“Fine, be as much of a peasant as you wish.”

 

They laughed to themselves as quietly as possible, trying not to be too loud in the library. So much for a productive studying hangout.

 

When she finished laughing, Chaeyeon stared at Daniel, only to stare at the bomber jacket he was wearing. It seemed so familiar to her, so she decided to inquire Daniel about it.

 

“Have I seen you wear that jacket before?”

 

Daniel shook his head. “No, but I did borrow it from my roommate, Seongwoo hyung. I don’t know why he never wears it anymore. He stopped wearing it after one day,” He shrugged his shoulders before continuing, “It’d be a waste if he just never wore it ever again, so I decided to continue its lifespan.”

 

Chaeyeon nodded in response and then went back to organizing her notes.

 

Daniel suddenly stood up and walked away from the table. Chaeyeon looked up to see where  he headed off to. He was probably grabbing a book, or saying hi to one of his friends. It was something he usually does, since Daniel had many friends due to his bright pink hair.

 

Indeed, he was greeting his friend, but specifically someone Chaeyeon recognized. It was the cafe boy she avoided. He was there, in all his glory and handsomeness. His outfit screamed boyfriend material. She widened her eyes and immediately started to pack up her stuff on instinct. She always felt like running away whenever she saw him. It was silly, and she had no idea why she always felt that way. It was as if her body always chose flight instead of fight whenever it came to him.

 

Chaeyeon successfully packed all her things and scurried her way out.

 

“Hey, where are you going, Godcess?” Daniel yelled, earning looks from other students.

 

Chaeyeon quickly muttered, “I’ll text you later, Niel,” and bolted straight out of the library.

Seongwoo, who was talking to Daniel, witnessed his soulmate pass by again. It was such an unexpected encounter, that he didn’t even realize it was her until she left. Her flowing hair had given it away. She was always in such a hurry whenever he met her.

 

He had expected the girl to come to the classes the following weeks, but even looking around the class 3 or 4 times, he couldn’t find her at all. Nonetheless, Seongwoo felt disappointed again. ‘Is she skipping classes? Or is she perhaps sick? I hope that’s not the case. I don’t want my soulmate to be dying before I actually get to say hi.’ He thought.

 

Seongwoo felt a little bummed out, but at least, he made a new friend from that class. It was his partner, Hwang Minhyun. They got along well. They weren’t super close, but definitely had a fun time completing the project together.

 

After Daniel waved goodbye to the girl rushing out of the library, Seongwoo shook his shoulders once again.

 

“Where did you meet her? How do you know her? How does she know you?” Seongwoo fired questions at the pink haired boy.

 

Daniel was definitely way too overwhelmed, but still managed to answer, “She’s in one of my classes. We got pretty close in no time, why do you ask-”

 

Daniel gasped. “Is it because you like her? What about your soulmate, hyung?”

 

“Niel… She is my soulmate.”

 

Daniel gasped even louder this time. “Oh my god… So it’s her...”

 

“Can you please help me get to know her? At least say ‘hi’? I doubt she remembers me, but please help a bro out.”

 

“Of course, hyung! I’ll be like, your wingman.”

 

“Whatever you wish. For the first time, I actually ran out of ways to approach her.”

 

“What if I gave you her number?”

“Yeah, no. That’s just creepy. I wouldn’t want a random person texting me saying ‘Hey, you spilled coffee on me once! You’re my soulmate, let’s date!’” Seongwoo snorted.

 

Daniel nodded in response. “You’re right. I’ll think of a way. You can count on me.”

 

With that, they packed up for the day, and Daniel tried to think of as many plans as possible to set the two soulmates up together, but to no avail.

 

He decided to text Chaeyeon to check up on her.

 

From: Apeach

sooooo why’d you leave so quickly

From: Godcess

just saw someone i didn’t want to see

From: Apeach

who???

From: Godcess

the guy you were talking to

 

Now this was striked curiosity in Daniel.

 

From: Apeach

seongwoo hyung? my roommate?

From: Godcess

that’s your roommate?

From: Apeach

yea, what happened with him?

From: Godcess

omg it’s embarassing

don’t tell him this please

i was late one day

basically, i spilled coffee all over him

and then I CALLED HIM HANDSOME AFGJHS

LIKE JUNG CHAEYEON, WYD YOU’RE CRAZY

you know how i’m always careful with my words

but with him, i completely malfunctioned

From: Apeach

oooh, i sense the godcess has a crush

From: Godcesss

i admit he’s handsome but that’s it

i will never talk to him ever again

even if he lives with you

From: Apeach

whatever you say

(sipping tea sticker)

 

This text conversation definitely urged Daniel to think of more ways to get the two people together.

 

Obviously, he tried to set them up blindly, pretending he was going to meet them at the same place, and then not showing up. It failed, with Chaeyeon running away yet again, texting Daniel an excuse for her absence. Seongwoo was left with only a glimpse of a runaway soulmate once again. (He admits she looks pretty running away, her hair getting blown by the way leaves Seongwoo breathless).

 

Daniel also tried directly getting Chaeyeon to come over to his dorm, but failed because she was so persistent on not going, every time. (Seongwoo was disappointed but not surprised part 250718.)

 

By the third try, getting Seongwoo to come to their usual library hangouts was a complete disaster. Daniel was bad hiding the secret plan, that Chaeyeon accidentally read his text messages, seeing that Seongwoo was coming over.

 

“Daniel… you know I don’t want to meet him… Why are you pushing this meeting so much?” She asked, frustration in her voice.

 

He couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. “Because you two are soulmates, dammit, Chaeyeon.”

 

Chaeyeon gave the most bewildered look ever to Daniel. “But he hasn’t said the words on my tattoo to me. How are you so sure about this?”

 

“You never gave him a chance to talk.”

 

“If we were soulmates, then so what? Let fate do its own work. You aren’t fate, Daniel. I’m going home early today. Sorry. Tell Seongwoo not to bother coming.” Chaeyeon sighed and started putting her materials in her bag.

 

Daniel sighed and put his head down on the table. He felt frustrated with himself and fate. Why won’t they just meet and date already?

 

After that, Chaeyeon and Daniel barely talked. Daniel was bummed out as well. He felt like he lost a friend and he was the cause behind it. He was unsure on how to fix it, so he left their friendship the way it was; asking for help only for academic purposes.

 

Seongwoo felt bad for putting Daniel in such a horrible situation, but he couldn’t help but feel even more disappointed. He felt as if his own soulmate didn’t want to meet him, hearing Daniel repeat the words Chaeyeon spoke to him. Seongwoo had given up trying to chase after Chaeyeon at this point, and would let the work of the stars take over.

 

On the other hand, Chaeyeon was rather bothered by what she said. She definitely felt guilty for lashing out on Daniel, although she did prove a point. She, too, felt even more conscious over her words once again, as she felt as if she was at fault for ruining their friendship. Even more, she kept thinking about Daniel’s words.

 

‘Is Seongwoo really my soulmate?’

‘I should’ve given him a chance to talk, shouldn’t I?’

‘I’ll talk to him the next time I see him.’

These thoughts kept running through Chaeyeon’s head after that day.

 

She once saw Seongwoo pass by her through the hallways and she smiled at him. To her dismay, Seongwoo paid no attention, and gave her no reaction. It was as if he never saw her. (Truthfully, he didn’t see her at all. He was reviewing material mentally for a test). Chaeyeon obviously felt disappointed as well.

 

While all of this was happening, Minhyun was witnessing three of his younger friends extremely upset these days. Not knowing there was something had happened between the three of them, he invited all three to meet up with him so that he could cheer them up. ‘Meeting new people is always refreshing’ was the reason he used to get all three to agree. He didn’t tell them who exactly they were meeting.

 

How did Minhyun get to know Daniel? Through Seongwoo, of course. He came over to their dorm once to work on the project and claimed that Daniel was like a hyper samoyed dog and to call him whenever Daniel needed anything. The pink haired boy did call Minhyun, saying he wanted to meet up with Minhyun for a cheer up session, which inspired Minhyun to invite all 3 of them.

 

Since Chaeyeon was his cousin, he wanted to catch up with her, so she agreed to meet up with him earlier so that they could have a nice one-on-one cousin talk before the others arrived.

 

The day came by and the two cousins were seated across each other, talking, at the same cafe Chaeyeon and Seongwoo bumped into each other.

 

“So… did you meet your soulmate yet, Chaeyeon?” Minhyun asked.

 

Chaeyeon fidgeted with her fingers, “Kinda? Not really? It’s complicated…”

 

“Tell me all about it. I’m all ears. You know I won’t ever judge.”

 

Chaeyeon proceeded to tell Minhyun the whole story, up to where Daniel and her fought. It was then, that Minhyun realized why all three of them seemed so upset recently.

 

She continued, with her head down, “And I just feel so bad nowadays… I feel like I shouldn’t have snapped at Daniel like that. And I should’ve given Seongwoo a chance to talk. He could possibly be my soulmate, trying to reach out to me constantly. But I’m always running. He just… he just makes me go into panic mode all the time. My body gets so jumpy and alert. He’s so handsome too, it’s unfair. He always seems so calm and so cool… I just-”

 

“What did you just say?”

 

Chaeyeon stopped mid-sentence, hearing the words she’s been waiting to hear her whole lifetime. She immediately looked up and saw Seongwoo standing right in front of her, with Daniel behind him.

 

She stuttered, “Y-You really are my s-soulmate…”

 

Seongwoo, with wide eyes, suddenly broke into a wide eyesmile and offered out his hand. Chaeyeon, who was flustered, still took his hand while standing up slowly. She was pulled closer to Seongwoo. He got too excited that he pulled her up a little too strongly, causing her to be closer to him than normal. Her breath hitched from how the distance between them suddenly became smaller.

 

“Jung Chaeyeon, finally.”

 

“Sorry, Seongwoo…”

 

“But can you say that part again? Where I was ‘so cool’?”

 

She laughed and hit his shoulder playfully. “In your dreams.”

 

“Then was I dreaming just a few minutes ago when you said it? Kiss me if I’m wrong.”

 

Daniel let out some coughs, interrupting the couple, “You guys are cute and all but seriously, do that somewhere else- Mmph!” His mouth was covered by Minhyun.

 

“Please proceed with the wedding.”

 

All four of them laughed, as the tension between the 3 younger ones were lifted. Chaeyeon and Daniel made up, as the both of them said their apologies. Laughs and new memories were made on this day, and the four of them have grown close since.

 

Near the end of that day, Seongwoo approached Chaeyeon separately.

 

“You know, miss soulmate, for compensation for that t-shirt, how about you make it up by going for coffee some day?”

 

Chaeyeon let out a soft chuckle and nodded. “Sounds good, mister soulmate.”

 

---

 

BONUS

 

“You know, if you were a vegetable, you’d be a cutecumber.” Seongwoo said to Chaeyeon, staring at her with loving eyes.

 

“And if you were a fruit, you’d be a fineapple.” Chaeyeon said back, with a warm smile.

 

Minhyun said, from behind the bush, “They put that cheesecake to shame. They’re way too cheesy.”

 

“If they ever get married, I bet they’ll have to constantly call the insect control center because they’ll attract so many ants from how sweet they are.” Daniel said, beside Minhyun.

 

“What are we even doing? This is their first year anniversary date. Can I just go home?” Daniel sighed.

 

Minhyun shook his head, “No, I gotta make sure everything goes smoothly. Sewoon should be coming in anytime now for the music.”

 

“Wait, why is Sewoon playing careless whisper on the saxophone?”

 

“Oh my god, is he getting on one knee?”

 

“No, he just bent down to fart.”

 

“Wait, seriously?”

 

“God, no, he’s proposing, you dumber.”