The next few days were very painful for Hendery, the young man feeling like his heart was being squeezed. Though he hated it, he knew that it had something to do with his soul mate he had never met. The feeling of sadness was almost overwhelming, and he was glad that he had those days off, so he could just sleep or stare at his ring in peace and ignore the calls and texts he received from his friends and family. He knew they were only concerned, by he didn't feel like socializing with anyone, so avoided them. 

Wincing when he got yet another text message, Hendery's finger hovered over the keyboard on his phone with a sigh. He knew he couldn't ignore a text from Chittaphon, one of his best friends and the one person he knew he could rely on to not judge him for having these seemingly irrational feelings. Opening the text, he smiled softly as he read it. 

'Good morning, baby;
I know you're not feeling good right now, but it'll get better. Your soulmate isn't dead, since you still have your ring. Just remember that...and also remember that we love you. Try to have a nice day at work, okay? I'll talk to you later, if you feel like it. I love you. Bye, baby.'

Staring at the text after he read it, Hendery finally sat up in his bed, knowing Chittaphon was right. His soulmate was simply going through a hard time or something and he was feeling that through the ring. Sighing deeply, he opened a blank text to reply to his friend. 

'Good morning, gege.
Thank you for your kind words. I know you're right and that this will be okay. It's just that I haven't felt like talking to anyone about it.' Hitting send, he got a response almost immediately. 

'Well, you do know that if you're feeling like this, that will effect your soulmate, too. It'll make them feel bad, too. You don't want to drag them down, too. I'm just being honest with you, baby.' 

Grabbing his work clothes, he walked into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day. He knew Chittaphon was right, and also knew that he needed to change his own outlook if he was going to have a good day at work. pasting a smile on his face, he hyper music to play on his phone while he showered and dressed quickly. 

Hurrying out to his car, he got in and drove to the small cafe he worked at. Smiling at his boss, Kun, he clocked in and began serving the growing line behind the counter. With the fast pace, he felt his dark mood lifting to cheerful instead. He wasn't going to let something like a soulmate ring keep him down, knowing he couldn't do anything about it. 

At 8:30, he went on his first short break, making himself a hot latte and putting cream cheese on a toasted bagel before finding his spot by the window to sit. He sat in this same spot every day he was at work, finding comfort in the routine of it. 

When everything was right, he was happy. That was one reason he had been so troubled by the soulmate ring and feelings he had gotten from it. Chancing a quick glance at the ring, he noticed that it had gone back to a dark red, the color it was usually at. He had read books about soulmate rings, knowing that a black ring meant that your soulmate was either sick or going through something else tough, and when it was red, they were angry or turbulent in some other way. He often wondered about his soulmate, worried about why his ring was never a light color, but always something dark and gloomy. He knew that his soulmate's ring wasn't dark, in general, but that Chittaphon had been right in saying that being in a dark mood would drag his soulmate down, too. Frowning, he knew he was worrying about someone he couldn't actually help right now, except for possibly bringing their mood back up with his own increasingly good one. He would try anything he could do to help his soulmate be happy, until the day he could do it in person. 

Glancing at his watch, he noticed that his break was nearly over, standing to take his plate and cup to the trash. On his way over, he felt a shiver run down his spine, and a strange sensation in his heart. Thinking it must simply be the caffeine in his system, he brushed it off and went back to work. 

About five minutes later, he nearly dropped the hot cup he was handing to a customer. Apologizing to the disgruntled woman, he tried to calm his nerves again as he focus