Oh shoot, I’m late for class.

Ever since Jeno turned 17, he began to experience what most people did when they were lucky enough to have a soulmate. He didn’t believe in it at first, especially since the concept was hard to grasp; until he began to hear thoughts in his head that definitely didn’t belong to him and only when he was in school. Being the smart boy that he was, Jeno eventually placed two and two together and came up with the only logical conclusion:

1. He had a soulmate.

2. His soulmate went to the same university as him.

Which was great, really, it narrowed things down to an extent. Except the students of NCT Academy were limitless in number, plus all he got in a day would be a few stray thoughts here and there, hardly anything concrete. Jeno wasn’t exactly in a hurry to meet his soulmate or anything, but it would be nice, especially since the thoughts were supposed to go away once they met. He wasn’t really keen on the fact that his soulmate heard histhoughts as well.

Most days, the random thoughts he received from his soulmate were pretty boring.

Just everyday stuff that even Jeno thought about, too. He figured that was fair, since his soulmate probably got his fair share of Jeno’s mundane thoughts. As a student who was aiming for top grades, his thoughts whenever he was in school consisted mainly of homework and school lessons. Sometimes, he did feel sorry for his soulmate, but then again. If he was ever going to spend forever with someone, it should be someone who understood him well, right?

At least the thoughts stopped whenever he was back home. Jeno didn’t think he would be comfortable with anybody hearing his more private thoughts, even if it were his soulmate, and his mind did tend to think about anything and everything once he was in the comfort of his bedroom. He was also sure he didn’t need to hear what went on with his soulmate all the time, too. The entire thing was just meant to help them find one another, after all.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Jeno has also gone an entire year without meeting his soulmate.

“Anything new today, Jeno?” His best friend, Renjun, asked him immediately upon seeing each other. Even if it was just the first week back in school, the two met up often enough during the break for the Chinese boy to be updated with things happening in Jeno’s life. Other than one instance wherein Jeno was at the city mall and he heard a distant whisper in his head, he had no luck with his soulmate, but he expected somethingto happen since they were back in school.

The brunette shrugged, “I heard him say he was late for class earlier.”

“That’s something,” the other boy noted without much enthusiasm. “Have you tried talking to him yet like I suggested?”

“How again, exactly?” Jeno questioned back. “We’ve been through this.”

They’ve talked about possibly communicating with his soulmate from the very start of Jeno hearing the thoughts in his head. Renjun said that whenever Jeno caught on to something, that he should try to focus on projecting his thoughts towards his soulmate and hope they can actually converse. Unfortunately, during the few times Jeno tried to do so, he got nothing in return and figured he would never really know when he was still within his soulmate’s range.

“It disappears way too quickly. I only ever get, like, one sentence max,” he continued with a small frown.

Renjun gave him the same disappointed stare he always gave whenever Jeno couldn’t come up with a decent update on his love life.

It wasn’t like Jeno didn’t want to meet his soulmate, though. Sure, he wasn’t in as much of a rush as most people are, but he did know that he wanted to meet the boy behind the random thoughts in his head eventually. From what he gathered, his soulmate was most likely older than him since last year the voice in his head would complain about choosing a major, something that only sophomores had to deal with.

I wonder if the studio is free.

Eventually, Jeno concluded his soulmate chose a music major.

Since his soulmate was a year older, the chances of them sharing a class was pretty slim unless Jeno decided to go for music, too. He still wasn’t sure. On one hand, the brunette did enjoy music and especially dancing a lot; it was something he did during his free time that just turned into a sort of passion. On the other hand, his family expected him to go the medicine route ever since he was in high school. He had the brains for it, after all.

Sometimes, he wanted to meet his soulmate just so he could ask for advice.

“I have another year to try and meet my soulmate,” Jeno eventually told Renjun as they made their way to their only shared class for the semester. “Maybe I’ll be lucky this time.”

“Do or do not, there is no try,” the blonde replied immediately.

“Nerd.”

“You’re the nerd, remember? I prefer the word geek.”

Before Jeno could think of a comeback for what Renjun just said, there was a very distinct voice in his head that didn’t belong to him. Apparently, his soulmate was worrying about whether he had enough time to run to his next class when it was all the way on the other side of campus. The flow of worried thoughts continued until Jeno had to block them out himself, a bubble of panic arising within him, his heart suddenly racing.

The voice he heard wasn’t familiar.

“Renjun,” he whispered, trying to will himself not to think about how much he was panicking; Jeno knew his soulmate—it had to be his soulmate, even if he wasn’t quite sure yet—would hear it, too. He pulled his friend inside their classroom quickly and made a beeline for the back seats. Normally, he chose the seats up front so he could listen better, but Jeno needed to be able to talk to Renjun properly.

The blonde looked at him, alarmed, “what? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I just heard something,” Jeno replied, trying to calm himself down.

“Your soulmate.”

“Yes, but—“ He paused, willing himself to listen to his thoughts again. After a moment of silence, Jeno picked up on the same voice. It was both deeper yet lighter than the voice he had grown used to over the year, which meant it definitely belonged to someone else, but that just didn’t make sense. He had just heard his soulmate earlier that day. Still, the new voice in his head was just as clear, if not clearer than ever.

Jeno blocked the thoughts out again, “but the voice is different. As in, I think it’s a different person.”

Oh, this must be my classroom.

He received a confused look in return.

“That’s not possible,” Renjun said, eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Or well, maybe it is, I don’t really know any soulmate specifics.”

Before the two could continue on the topic any further, the bell rang, and soon more students piled into the classroom, followed by their professor. Renjun gave him a look that said they were definitely going to talk about it some more later, while Jeno debated with himself about whether he actually heard what he thought he heard. He decided it was a topic for some other time; as much as he wanted to worry about the fate of his soulmate, he was in class, after all.

“I’m going to need a class assistant,” his chemistry professor was saying. That was usually Jeno’s cue to wait until the man called for volunteers, raise his arm, and get the position, which was exactly what he did. He needed all the extra points in class he could get. Eventually, he was asked to move his seat to the empty one up front, just so the teacher could interact with him better, which suited Jeno just fine.

Wow, that boy is really cute.

Focus, Jeno tried telling himself, but he knew it was a lost cause the moment he heard that voice in his head again. Compared to the first voice, it was clear that whoever this one was, he was just around the area since Jeno still received fairly frequent thoughts. Maybe they were even in the same room, but he wasn’t going to get his hopes up. He still needed a name and a face to match the voice, anyway.

Are you talking to me, soulmate?

The voice in his head seemed to be even clearer and louder than before, even if Jeno knew it was impossible to actually adjust the volume of one’s thoughts. Shortly after the mini heart attack that induced, Jeno was left thinking that Renjun’s little theory was apparently correct. It was just his luck that this soulmate of his was within the vicinity, even if the other boy was also thinking about other cute boys, which Jeno decided not to dwell on.

No, but you should focus as well, he tested, waiting only a few seconds before he got a quick reply.

Are you jealous? Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re stunning.

Maybe it was the fact that it was his soulmate talking to him or maybe it was just because Jeno wasn’t used to such blatant flirting; either way, the brunette was left nearly writing down the wrong thing on his notes. Jeno wasn’t sure how near they had to be and just how much they shared to each other, but he could have sworn that if his embarrassment was felt by his soulmate, then the smug feeling he got back belonged to nobody else.

When the bell rang again and class was dismissed, Jeno immediately scanned the area.

I really want to meet you, but I have to rush to my next class.

That was fair, Jeno had to admit, as he remembered what he picked up from earlier. The boy had to literally run to the other side if he wanted to make it in time, anyway. He understood that more than anybody, and was actually slightly pleased that his soulmate didn’t like being late, too. His musing was interrupted by Renjun tugging at his shirt sleeve impatiently.

“I saw your facial expressions earlier,” the other boy said immediately. “You talked to your soulmate, didn’t you? That also means I’m right, aren’t I? I know the answer to both is yes, but the real question is—“

“I don’t know who he is,” Jeno cut him off, earning another unamused stare. “He had to rush to class.”

The Chinese boy sighed, “and let me guess, your nerdy little heart is happy about that?”

“You bet.”

Thankfully, both boys had a free period next, which meant Jeno was able to discuss more theories with Renjun to pass time. The two holed themselves up in the library with soulmate books around them and random websites open on the library computer, trading information they got, and overall taking things way more seriously than they should have. Jeno liked it just fine, though, since trying to figure out the reason behind the two voices in his head made him forget about panicking over it.

“Oh, this seems promising,” Renjun said half an hour into reading a book that had an early record of soulmate thoughts. “This one guy had a total of four voices in his head. He even had it checked by a bunch of doctors, only to realize that the voices stopped with each doctor he visited. Turns out, all those doctors were his soulmate. Freaky, huh?”

“So multiple voices mean multiple soulmates?” Jeno asked, receiving a nod in return. “Were his soulmates also soulmates with each other?”

“At least two were, but the others were linked only to the first guy.”

So it was possible his soulmates only heard one voice in their head while Jeno was stuck with both of them? How did that even work? He knew he wouldn’t be able to choose just one; even just the thought of it left a weird pang in his chest. Which meant that Jeno had to hope that his soulmates also liked each other. Suddenly, he really wished he knew who they were already, so it would get rid of most of his concerns.

The rest of Jeno’s day went without any stray thoughts entering his head. Normally, he didn’t really keep track of it, but after the events earlier that day Jeno found himself blanking out just so he could listen for any voices. He heard nothing from either of his soulmates, which made him momentarily sad. Statistically, he knew he now had more chances of finding at least one of his soulmates compared to before, but the school remained too crowded to really tell.

He was ready to give up for the day, just as he decided to drop by the convenience store on the way home for some milk.

There’s so much cereal to choose from.

Jeno froze, nearly dropping the carton of milk he had in his hand.

It was the music major soulmate. Once again he wished he actually had a name to match the voice, but one’s name and other information usually couldn’t be transferred that way. Jeno found that bit odd when he first found out and tried to constantly chant his name in his head. If the thoughts were there so they could find each other, why would there suddenly be a rule against making the whole thing immensely easier?

Anyway, that aside, Jeno was pretty sure his soulmate—one of them at least—was in the same convenience store as he was.

Oh, he must be here.

Without giving it much thought, Jeno began to walk his way towards the cereal aisle, heart pounding in his chest. His soulmate had to still be there, right? They had just been thinking about which cereal to get