It had been about a week since Baekhyun had hit his head. A week since Baekhyun had learned that Kyungsoo was his soulmate. 

In that week, the four of them had been able to bond and talked a lot to one another. Baekhyun had learned that Jongin didn’t want to hurt Baekhyun. But he thought it was unfair for Kyungsoo to carry a burden that wasn’t even his to begin with, which Baekhyun understood perfectly. Kyungsoo was willing to conceal the truth and take the blame if it meant that Baekhyun wouldn’t get hurt. The latter was truly a sweetheart. 

They now sat in the living room, watching the credits of a movie they had all just watched together.

“What did you think of the movie?” Kyungsoo asked as Baekhyun lay on his chest. 

Baekhyun shrugged, “I don’t know. It was ok.” He responded. 

Kyungsoo chuckled and rubbed his hair softly. “How’s your head?” 

Baekhyun let out a snicker, “I told you 100 times, I’m fine now.” 

“Ready to enter the real world tomorrow?” Kyungsoo asked. 

The doctor had already said that it was fine for Baekhyun to head to work that week. So they decided to leave tomorrow. They would love to stay there longer, but they needed to go back to their daily lives. Baekhyun wasn’t too sad though, he knew that he could see Kyungsoo whenever he wanted…their strings were connected after all. Also, he was excited to continue recording gameplays. 

Baekhyun nodded, “Yeah, I think so.” He answered as he sent a smile towards Kyungsoo. 

Kyungsoo smiled just as wide and placed a kiss on his forehead. He slowly leaned into his ear and whispered, “You want me to leave you alone with Chanyeol now?” 

Baekhyun nodded. Last night, Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo to do him the favor of leading Jongin away from Chanyeol so he could talk privately with the latter. Kyungsoo gladly agreed. 

Kyungsoo grabbed the remote and turned off the tv, “Jongin, can you help me with something upstairs?” He asked as he turned to face them.  

Jongin looked up at him from laying on Chanyeol’s lap. “Yeah, what is it?” He responded as he stood up. 

“Just come, I’ll show you when we get there.” 

Baekhyun sat up and off of Kyungsoo’s chest. Kyungsoo caressed Baekhyun’s chin then stood up. Jongin followed Kyungsoo up the stairs as he let go of Chanyeol’s hand slowly. Chanyeol looked after him and went back to blowing on his warm drink. The mug filled with hot chocolate was held firmly in his hands. 

Baekhyun bit his bottom lip. He hadn’t really talked to Chanyeol ever since he had the blowout on him a couple of days ago. He talked to him a bit, but he could tell he had hurt Chanyeol’s feelings. He wanted to apologize, he just didn’t know how. 

He slowly scooted over next to Chanyeol on the sofa and let out a sigh, “So…” 

Chanyeol looked over at him, his eyes lifting from his mug of hot chocolate. “So?” 

“You knew this whole time that I tore the string?” 

Chanyeol nodded as he looked down at the steam emanating upwards. “I knew.” 

Baekhyun bit his bottom lip, “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Chanyeol shrugged. “You were devastated. I didn’t want to pry into that.” 

Baekhyun looked ahead out the window at the birds that were flying off into the sunset. He could understand that. 

“Why did you act like you didn’t know?” Baekhyun asked, his gaze still fixed outside.

“What do you mean?” 

“Sometimes you would tell me to follow my string.” 

Chanyeol sighed. He twisted his mouth to the side as he thought. He knew the answer to the question, but saying it out loud made him seem selfish. 

“I—I wanted you to tell me. It frustrated me that you felt like you couldn’t trust me.” 

“I do trust you.” Baekhyun corrected. “I was ashamed.” He said. “It felt so shameful to have a torn string. I had to look at it everyday thinking my soulmate didn’t want me.” 

“I’m sorry Baekhyun.” Chanyeol said. 

“You don’t have to apologize….” Baekhyun looked into his eyes, “I should apologize to you.” 

Chnayeol raised an eyebrow, “For?” 

“Yelling at you.” 

Chanyeol let out a scoff as he shook his head. “I already forgot about that.” He answered with a smile on his face. “I was just relieved you were ok.” He bumped his shoulder into his, “And even more relieved you’re fine now.” 

Baekhyun grinned wide at him. “I’m really happy now.”

Chanyeol sent him a teasing grin and bounced in his seat, “So…when were you gonna tell me you made a youtube account? Huh?” 

Baekhyun laughed as he threw himself back onto the sofa. He grabbed a cushion and placed it over his face in embarrassment.  

“Apologize for that!” Chanyeol exclaimed playfully. “I want to know everything!” 

Baekhyun straightened up and placed the cushion on his lap, “Alright, well it began when…” 

***

“You need help with…your suitcase?” Jongin questioned. 

“No actually, Baekhyun just wanted to talk to Chanyeol alone.” Kyungsoo told him with a small scoff. 

Jongin let out a laugh, his eyes crinkling “You could have just said that.” 

“Yeah, but he didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“So…” Jongin began, “How are you gonna tell your family?” 

Kyungsoo’s smile quickly faded and he slumped onto the bed. He knew his parents would hate it. They would definitely protest everything about this. “I have no idea.” Kyungsoo answered as he thought. He hated how his parents would never support him in this. “How did you tell yours?” He asked Jongin. 

The latter let out a sigh as he sat next to Kyungsoo on the bed. “I haven’t” He answered as he shook his head. “They would be really angry. They wouldn’t talk to me.” 

Kyungsoo wasn’t even surprised by that answer. He knew that it was risky to tell his family about this. They would never accept it, he knew that for sure. The most they would do is tolerate it. 

“Does Chanyeol know?” 

“Nope, I can’t tell him that my parents wouldn’t like him or that they would disown me. It’ll destroy him.” 

Kyungsoo nodded slowly in understanding. He had promised Baekhyun that there would be no more secrets between them. So he would be honest about everything now. He would tell his parents eventually and tell Baekhyun exactly how it went. 

Jongin shoved him playfully, “Don’t think about that right now. It’s scary, but we’ll focus on it when the time comes.” 

Kyungsoo nodded, pushing the thoughts away. “Yeah, you think they’re done talking?” 

Jongin shrugged, “Maybe.” 

Kyungsoo looked down at his wrist and followed the string that led out of the closed door. He knew for a fact that Baekhyun was at the other end of it, the string wrapped tightly around the latter’s wrist.  The thought of it made him smile. He was finally whole again. 

Jongin noticed the smile and immediately felt a huge wave of euphoria swell up in his chest. “I’m happy for you.” 

Kyungsoo looked up at him. 

“I’m really happy.” Jongin said once again, a wide smile spreading across his face.  

Kyungsoo grinned wide, “I’m happy too.” 

Jongin wanted to ask what Kyungsoo would do if his parents rejected Baekhyun. But deep down he knew the answer already. He knew because he would do the same thing. 

“Should we start putting the suitcases in the car?” Kyungsoo asked. 

Jongin nodded, “Yeah, we can start.” 

***

They shut the door of the trunk once everything was packed. 

“You got everything?” Kyungsoo asked Chanyeol as the latter patted the trunk to make sure it was closed securely. 

“Yeah, we’re good.” 

This trip had made them much closer than they thought it would. Kyungsoo thinks it’s because of the day when Baekhyun went missing, Chanyeol was willing to do anything to find him. Kyungsoo was extremely grateful to have someone like Chanyeol looking after Baekhyun.

Chanyeol felt the same way towards Kyungsoo. When he found out that Kyungsoo was willing to sacrifice his own happiness and lie about the string just to make Baekhyun happy was when he realized that Kyungsoo was the right one for Baekhyun. 

Jongin was in the driver’s side of the car, waiting for the three of them to get inside of the car. He was happy that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol got along. Kyungsoo was his best friend and Chanyeol was his soulmate. Them being friends meant a lot. 

“Hey Jongin…” He heard a small whisper from behind him. Baekhyun had just sat in the backseat right behind him. 

Jongin turned around, a black snapback on his head. He gave him a small smile, “Hey.” He responded. 

Baekhyun sent him a shy smile, “I already apologized to Kyungsoo, but I wanted to apologize to you too.” 

Jongin raised an eyebrow, “For what?” 

“For…” He trailed off and bit his bottom lip, “Yelling and being a complete .” 

“Ah…” Jonign nodded in understanding. 

“I was always under the impression that Kyungsoo tore it. So I…anyways, it was awful. Regardless, I shouldn’t have treated him like that.” 

Jongin smiled and looked down, pondering whether or not he should tell Baekhyun what was on his mind. “You know…I kind of disliked you a little bit.” 

Baekhyun gulped, “I don’t blame you.” 

“You tore my best friend's string. And he loved you beyond words. That day when he came to me crying I was so…angry at you.” He chuckled. “I didn’t even know who you were, but still…”  

Baekhyun stayed silent. He understood Jongin’s frustration. He would be just as angry if Jongin tore Chanyeol’s string. 

“But,” 

That word had Baekhyun perking up. 

“Kyungsoo loves you beyond words. And after Chanyeol told me that you didn’t know you tore it, I got a new perspective on you.” 

Baekhyun listened intently, waiting for Jongin to finish. 

“I realized you loved him too. Even after it all. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have been so devastated when you found the torn string.” He let out a light giggle and looked up at the ceiling of the car, “And the way you looked at Kyungsoo…” 

“What do you mean?” 

“At the Korean barbeque…your eyes would shine whenever you looked at him. And I realized that you weren’t a bad person. That you must have had a good reason for tearing it.” 

“If I would have known it was me that tore it, I would have done everything in my power to win Kyungsoo over.” 

Jongin looked over at him, “I know that now. And I’m glad it was you. I’m happy for both of you.” He told him sincerely, a genuine smile on his face. “But, having your strings tied together again is only the beginning.”

Baekhyun nodded, “And I’m ready for whatever comes next. I’ll tackle any challenge head on.” Little did he know at the time how much weight Jongin’s words would carry.

“Ready?” Chanyeol asked as he sat in the front seat of the car. 

“Everything’s packed.” Kyungsoo added as he sat next to Baekhyun, shutting the door. 

“Yeah, back to our regular lives.” Jongin said as he turned back around and started the car.

Baekhyun’s hand traveled to Kyungsoo’s and squeezed it. 

Kyungsoo turned to look at him, Baekhyun immediately went in for the kiss. Kyungsoo smiled into the kiss, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand. 

When they parted, Baekhyun said, “Not all regular. A couple of things have changed.” He looked down at their strings that were now attached. 

“Yeah, you’re a YouTuber now.” Chanyeol teased. 

They all let out a laugh, “Just because I made one video doesn’t mean I’m a YouTuber.” 

“Yeah, but you’re on the route to it.” Chanyeol said as he turned to look at him. 

Baekhyun smiled and looked back at the lake house that was now getting smaller and smaller as Jongin continued to drive. 

They would soon be entering back into the real world. But Baekhyun felt confident that he could handle whatever life threw at him. After all, he now had his soulmate by his side.