‘Byun Baekhyun, I swear to God if you upload that picture…’

Mei lunged at Baekhyun to steal his phone away before he could post the terrible picture on his Instagram.

He laughed, the hand holding his phone stretching up while the other pushed her away. ‘Nu uh! This is quality material, I have to…’

Knowing him, he wasn’t joking. And Mei could, under no circumstances, let him post that horrible, horrible picture. Especially since her crush was one of Baekhyun’s close friends and would no doubt see it.

Getting desperate, Mei called on her super powers and started tearing up, big, fat dollops of water gathering rapidly in her eyes. ‘Baekhyun…’ Her voice was properly hoarse.

His eyes widened in alarm as he stared down at her and Mei took advantage of his momentary lapse, jumping up to snatch the phone out of his hands.

‘Aha!’ she yelled, running off with the cellphone, tapping quickly to remove the picture from existence.

‘That’s cheating!’ Baekhyun whined, running after her but Mei had already accomplished what she’d set out to.

‘All is fair in love and war.’ She smiled sweetly at him.

‘This isn’t war.’ Baekhyun made a rueful face because he’d lost precious blackmail material on his friend.

Mei didn’t say anything about love because Baekhyun was, as of now, unaware of her rapidly blooming crush on one Do Kyungsoo, of the rich honey voice. She suppressed a dreamy sigh at the thought of his beautiful, beautiful voice and rolled her eyes. ‘Whatever.’

‘I’m going to put a password on my gallery, so you can’t go around deleting things…’ Baekhyun muttered, browsing through his gallery.

‘I can crack your passwords in a minute, Byun. Go right ahead.’ She smiled smugly. Being childhood friends gave her the edge of knowing him like the back of her hand; she could guess his passwords or pin-codes with at least ninety five percent accuracy.

Baekhyun pouted in response, no doubt thinking along the same lines. Mei glanced at his face, then took pity on him. Throwing an arm around his shoulder, she dragged him down until their faces were squished together.

‘What are you doing?’ The words came out muffled through his smushed lips.

‘Ready?’ She didn’t give him a chance to respond, bringing up her own cellphone and snapping a selfie, posing cutely while Baekhyun looked like a cute, squishy puppy. ‘There!’

‘Hey, no fair.’ He straightened, grabbing her phone and angling the camera so they both looked good. The camera shuttered.

‘Delete the other one,’ he demanded.

Mei glanced up at him from beneath her lashes, smiling mischievously. Baekhyun read her intention on her face and grabbed at her phone but she made a dash for it, ducking out of reach. ‘Mei!’ he yelled, running after her. ‘Delete it right now…’

‘Too late!’ she threw over her shoulder, already pressing the post button in her app. ‘Aha!’

‘You !’ Baekhyun thumped her shoulder irritably, trying to slip past her.

‘You still love me...’ she singsonged, clinging to his arm.

‘No, I don’t.’ he denied, trying to push her off. She puckered her lips, making kissy sounds. He turned around, huffing and started heading towards the kitchen. She dug her feet in the carpet, so he had to exert more force to drag her along but that didn’t deter him.

There was silence as she enjoyed the free ride since Baekhyun had really nice and comfortable shoulders that she was taking full advantage of, resting her head on the back of his neck and using her arms to cling properly.

Well versed in her habits, Baekhyun let her stick to his back until they were near the dining table, then shook her off like a leaf before heading to the fridge. As he worked on making them snacks, she hummed, browsing her gallery.

The picture she’d posted was definitely silly, but it was also very cute and she thought it really reflected their close friendship. Still, Baekhyun was being somewhat quiet, so she decided she should apologize.

‘Hey…’ she called.

‘Mm?’ He was busy tasting whatever he’d whipped up, eyes closed and frowning thoughtfully.

‘You’re not mad, are you?’ They were both rather impulsive and things sometimes escalated; so, she’d made a rule to apologize as soon as she realized her mistake. He did the same.

Opening one eye, he looked at her for a moment, letting her stew before shaking his head. ‘Nah, it’s cool.’ He flashed her a charming smile. ‘Not like I have a Do Kyungsoo to impress or anything.’

Mei choked on the water she’d been in the process of swallowing, coughing as it went down the wrong pipe. Baekhyun laughed, coming over to thump her back.

‘How?’ she croaked out, eyes watering.

Baekhyun simply raised a brow in response. ‘I’m your best friend, of course I’d notice.’

She could only stare at him, appalled. She thought she’d been so careful, especially since Baekhyun made it a mission to embarrass her in front of her crushes. She had a long and painful history to testify to that fact.

‘So… should I tag him in the picture I just posted?’

She frowned. She’d deleted the incriminating picture, she was sure.

‘Oh, I have more than one.’ Baekhyun smiled graciously, holding up his cellphone so she could see the picture. Her face was so round, she looked like a boiled egg. An unattractive, boiled egg.

‘Don’t you dare…’ she began but he cut her off. ‘There, done!’

She threw a cushion at his head before pouncing on his back again.

………………………………

The horrible picture garnered her a ‘Mei looks so cute’ from Do Kyungsoo, so she forgave Baekhyun but only after he bought her a large bar of chocolate as apology.

She had to anyway, since he was her ride to the fair that was being held in the nearby park. They’d been planning to go for a while now since it’d be chance for both to spend some time outside of university together.

And maybe she could run into someone, fall into the arms of her shining knight and finally find her happily ever after.

Baekhyun snorted into his drink at that. Mei ignored him.

‘I don’t get why you’re so obsessed with the whole soulmate thing.’ Baekhyun said after he’d stopped laughing.

‘You don’t understand.’ Mei pouted in response. None of her friends did.

‘Enlighten me.’ he said exaggeratedly, clearly mocking her.

Mei stared at him sulkily before sighing and stirring her milkshake to distract herself. Being well-versed in her habits, Baekhyun waited patiently.

‘Mom and Dad met through dreams…’ she mumbled after a while. Baekhyun opened his mouth but Mei overrode him. ‘I know, I know, you don’t think it has anything to do with being soulmates and that maybe they just told it as a nighttime story but…’ She sighed again. ‘I just want there to be someone who’s mine, you know?’ She looked at him, pleading for understanding. ‘Someone’s who is so attuned to me that we don’t need words between us, who can see through my lies when I say, ‘I’m fine,’ and just understand me. I… know it’s foolish but I just want to live happily ever after with him.’

She was blushing profusely by the time she ended because these were her secret most thoughts, things she only put down in her journal.

There was a long silence and Mei was beginning to feel nervous when he sighed, placing his cup on the table and pulling her into his side. Her head found his shoulder instinctively and she leaned into his warmth, comforted by the arm wrapped around her.

‘You, Mei, are far too precious for this world.’ he muttered, sounding like he was both frustrated and amused.

She blushed harder, turning her face to bury into his jacket. ‘Stop. Please.’

He laughed, shaking his head. ‘Seriously though. Just how many romantic fairytales did you read growing up? Eh?’

‘So…’ he began after a while, when she’d settled down and was sipping on her milkshake again. ‘You really think your parents found each other in their dreams?’

‘Dad doesn’t believe it, but Mom is sure she’d seen his face when she’d prayed, on the night of the full moon, to be shown who her soulmate was – she still has that painting. And Dad said he had this sudden revelation, just as he was about to go into battle, of her name. One of his course mates witnessed the entire thing. My dad wrote my mom’s name in the sand while they were taking cover from the shelling… and when the friend asked who it was, he replied it was his wife.’

Baekhyun had never heard this before, so he was looking properly awed. ‘You’re not making that up, are you?’ he asked.

Mei shook her head. ‘They started dreaming about each other soon afterwards and Mom is sure they met several times. Dad thinks it was probably a coincidence.’

‘Okay… so that’s why you believe that there is some truth to the whole soulmate deal?’

‘Yeah.’ She laughed a little ruefully. ‘I sound crazy, don’t I?’

Baekhyun shook his head, smiling fondly. ‘Believe it or not, you sound a lot crazier when you start fangirling over Luhan.’

Mei flicked his forehead. ‘Keep Luhan out of this.’

‘Could it be that he’s your soulmate?’ Baekhyun mock-gasped, clearly making fun of her.

‘Har har har de har!’ Mei responded maturely.

‘Or is it JB?’ he teased, giggling when she hit his shoulder.

‘Or perhaps…’ He cast her a glance that told her she wasn’t going to like this one at all. ‘Could it be… Kyungsoo?’

Mei threw her cup at his face and left in a huff, his cackling following her out.

He caught her up a few minutes later, having paid for their drinks and obviously there to apologize. She turned her nose in the air, sniffing snobbishly but she couldn’t stay mad at him for longer than a few minutes. And when he offered her another chocolate as compensation, she forgave him completely. Besides, she’d and embarrassed him enough for crushing on Taeyeon, their senior.

Of course, she also had been the one to comfort him when the relationship had ended but that was beside the point.

‘I hear there’s going to be a fortune-teller at the fair. Maybe they can help you find your soulmate.’

Mei made a face. ‘I may believe in soulmates Baek but even I know the fortunetelling business is hoax. They just con people.’

He shrugged. ‘Just saying.’

……………………………………

A/N

Hello everyone :) I hope you guys enjoyed the beginning of this new story. This will be fluff as well, with some angst thrown in for kicks. Also, this in nothing like the soulmate aus I've read so far. Just so we're clear, even I'm not sure what exactly this verse is. I'll just elaborate a little bit.

AU: There's no single deal with the soulmates, it's more of a cultural thing and everyone finds their soulmate in a different manner, which is why people are skeptical about it's authenticity. There are also few outward markers that identfy soulmate couples, so people believe it's all subjective. However, soulmates do exist and each couple is different from the rest; only people who've found their other half can tell the difference between a normal connection and that between soulmates. And that's about it. Since everyone believes differently, no one can agree on a sure fire way of finding their soulmate, leaving people as easy targets to get conned. 

The Baekhyun here will be vastly different from the vampire we met in Bite Me - except he's just as smooth, when he wants to be. He's just very insecure, is all. 

Do leave your comments and thoughts for me. I love hearing from the readers. And make a New Year Resolution to support EXO OT9, combined and separately. Also support those they love - YAS TO JENKAI! Congratulations bbs :3 Have a great year ahead. 

Until later, then. Happy new year.  

Byeyeyeye