In just the span of a few hours that day, Jeongin went from dutifully listening in class to getting his mind derailed every few minutes. Both cases were caused by his soulmate, except now it was harder to keep his thoughts focused on what was happening in class. His earlier goal of memorizing all his syllabi for the semester went ignored as well. He actually had a name and face to go with his worries, now.

Every time he tried to stare at the whiteboard, he would instead end up with Hyunjin’s smiling face infiltrating his thoughts.

Even when Jeongin would busy himself by thinking of something, anything else, little bits of what happened during lunch time would make itself present in his head until he eventually just gave up. There was no way he was going to get over meeting his soulmate that quickly, apparently. It didn’t help that he could still feel a sort of phantom touch from when his cheek was pinched; a gesture that would normally make him shove Seungmin off if the other boy did it, but for some reason, he was powerless to stop Hyunjin.

It was just because the other boy caught him off-guard.

Right?

At least his classes that day ended without seeing the older boy again, as they were probably still at the arcade. Seungmin eventually caught up to them, too, so there was nothing left for Jeongin to do except head back to the dorm. He was technically still invited, but he also wasn’t sure how to get to the arcade exactly, which was a good enough excuse. Hopefully they’d be okay with him not going.

“You look like you’re in some kind of crisis,” Jisung greeted the moment Jeongin returned to their shared dorm. Things didn’t go quite as bad as he thought it would, if Jeongin had to be honest. Meeting his soulmate made him a nervous wreck, but nothing embarrassing happened—he hoped, anyway—in the hour or so they spent before Hyunjin left with the rest. He didn’t know what facial expression he must have had for Jisung to comment such, though.

Maybe he just looked troubled overall, which wasn’t exactly wrong.

When the younger boy took some time to reply, Jisung continued, “I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but we are roommates after all. I’d help if I could.”

“It’s not that,” Jeongin quickly began to say, dumping his stuff by his table before climbing up to his bed, so he was level with the other. He glanced at Jisung to find the older boy still staring at him expectantly from his side of the room, yet free of judgment. It made him feel a little bit better as he continued, although still cautious as he tried to start with his problem. Go big or go home, he figured in the end.

“Jisung, do you believe in soulmates?”

There was barely a pause before the orange haired boy grinned and nodded.

“Of course!” He said brightly, while the weight Jeongin had on his chest lifted immediately at that. Jisung continued, leaning forward from his bed now, much more interested than before. “My parents used to tell me how they met and fell in love; my mother could see this thing called the red string of fate. They could have been lying to me, but I love the story regardless. So yeah, I believe in soulmates. Do you have love problems already, Jeongin?”

“I don’t have love problems,” Jeongin was quick to explain, although there was a traitorous voice at the back of his head that said that technically, it was. At least, it was supposed to be. He was old enough to know that while he knew that Hyunjin was his soulmate, that didn’t mean he was in love. Slightly attracted, maybe. A little more than just slightly, maybe.

Jisung merely grinned wider, “sure, as if soulmates and love don’t go hand in hand. What’s the problem, then?”

“I’m not sure if it’s a problem to begin with,” the younger boy finally said, as if coming to the realization himself. Meeting one’s soulmate was the opposite of a problem. Still, there was only so much he could tell the other boy, after all, even if Jisung did appear to believe in the red string of fate as well. They just met a few days ago; Jeongin didn’t feel like opening up that part of himself just yet. “I mean, it’s definitely not. Actually, it’s a little complicated.”