woojin was still conscious, and the pain in his head continued even when he was knocked out. when he opened his eyes again, all he saw was white. he looked around, hoping to find a clue as to what was happening, but all there is is white. nothing else.

until the white suddenly faded into something else.

he was now in his previous high school. again. the first time where he met park woon. the same dream he had recently.

"no!!!" he groaned, holding his head. it hurts even more now, seeing his past memories.

"i'm woojin. what's your name?" 

"... why should i tell you?"

"fine then. i'm gonna call you weak boy,"

"don't call me that! i'm woon. park woon," 

"why did you help me back then?" 

"well, i got reminded of myself when i saw you. so i decided to save you," 

"let's protect each other from now on. i predict someone's gonna come beat me up soon,"

the two bumped fists on the bus, but this time, the plot started to twist. woon's fist slowly opened, and held woojin's fist. his smile slowly turned into a wicked smirk, sending shivers down his spine.

he wanted bang chan to be at his side now, to give him reassurance and protection. he wanted bang chan to shield him from all this bull, to save him from his past.

"woojin-ah, long time no see. i missed you a lot. i had such a hard time adjusting to life without you," their surroundings had all froze. it was just park woon and woojin now.

"w-what do you want," woojin stuttered, shivering. he winced when park woon tightened his grip on his fist.

"what do i want? of course, i want to reconcile with you, my love,"

"my love?!" woojin exclaimed. was he crazy? woojin had never and would never love him, for what he did to him, no, never! he will never love someone who betrayed him for popularity! someone who made his life miserable as heck!

"yes, my dear woojin-ie. i had deeply loved you ever since this fist bump. i want to be with you forever,"

woojin had never felt so much hatred and disgust in his life.

"i'm very sure you still have some feelings for me. we went through so much, after all. we're soulmates, too. look," park woon then released woojin's fist, and showed his palm to him. it was the soulmate sign, with woojin's chinese zodiac and star sign, along with his birthdate.

at this point, woojin didn't care if it was true or not. he just wanted bang chan to be here. he strongly believed bang chan was his right soulmate. all his worries and struggles were washed away once he got closer to bang chan. no one had ever made him feel this way. definitely not park woon.

"see for yourself. my chinese zodiac, star sign and birthdate should be there too," park woon smirked, waiting for woojin to do as he said.

woojin did so, and sure. it was park woon's. everything.

but woojin saw something different. the soulmate sign loudly screamed bang chan. the numbers and pictures of the zodiacs were glitching between park woon's and bang chan's.

his head was hurting twice than before. park woon must've played with some ancient tool that manipulates dreams. how he managed to get ahold of that, he had no idea, but he knew one thing.

the tool was no use to someone who had already met their soulmate. woojin wasn't sure why it worked this far on him, but he believed in his instincts. he believed in bang chan.

"park woon. wake up. i'm not your soulmate. you don't love me. it's time to stop," woojin sternly said, glaring intently into his eyes.

"oho, really? how about this, then?" park woon then forced woojin down on the bus seat and kissed him roughly.

woojin's palm then started flashing wildly, and even had a burning sensation. great, now his hand was in pain too. he managed to push park woon off him, and checked his hand.

park woon's signs and stuff were gone. bang chan's sign was there instead, and it glowed so brightly it lit up the whole bus.

woojin took park woon's hand to check if his own signs were there. sure enough, it had disappeared, and his palm was empty.

"see for yourself, park woon! forget about me! find your real soulmate! please let me out of this dream!" he shouted, the pain was getting unbearable.

park woon, who was now baffled and confused, sat listlessly. "how... how can this be?"

"let me go, please! it hurts..."

the bus slowly morphed into the white space again, and woojin fainted again, but his consciousness was still there. he rushed to open his eyes, and found himself in his own house.

"bang chan! chan! chan!" he shouted, panting. he sat up, looking for bang chan urgently.

"yes, i'm here! i'm here! are you okay? what happened?" bang chan asked frantically, not forgetting to pull woojin in his embrace.

"chan-ie... look," woojin pulled away from the hug and lifted up his palm to let bang chan see the soulmate sign.

"yes... i've already saw it. it was burning into my hand," bang chan chuckled, showing woojin the sign on his palm too.

"this is great... bang chan," woojin smiled, hugging bang chan again.

"kim woojin. i-i... thank you for existing. i appreciate you a lot," bang chan was almost in tears.

"a-and... i love you. very much,"

-

[a/u: happy ending? nawh dawg. it's not gonna end yet! this chapter kinda , imo. felt like i rushed through it. i'll talk more about the soulmate stuff in the next chapter, like how park woon got the ancient tool and more info about it! lmk if there are any errors. thanks for reading. hearts for you ♡]