“So, what should we cook?” you asked, looking through a thick cookbook.

“Ramen noodles?” Kris suggested.

You turned around just to raise an eyebrow at him, trying to understand whether he actually was serious or not.

“Okay, not ramen I guess.” Kris muttered as he stood next to you, looking at the recipes over your shoulder.

“How ‘bout this? Doesn’t look too complicated.” you stated as you gestured to a recipe for pasta with some kind of tuna sauce.

“Fine.” Kris sighed. “Whatever we cook I’ll probably end up burning it…” he mumbled to himself.

“Let’s see what we need.” You slowly started reading of the ingredients on the list and for each thing you said out loud, said thing would appear on the bench right in front of you.
“You know, I could get used to this alien kind of life.” you nodded.

“Don’t be fooled.” Kris scoffed. “It’s not quite this easy anywhere on this planet. This room is special.”

“So what, you have to go to the store just like humans?” you asked as you took out a saucepan and filled it with water.

“No. We write a list of what we need, send it through a machine and within a few minutes, depending on how much you have written on the list, you get your groceries.” Kris explained.

“But doesn’t it ever get horribly wrong? Like you’ve ordered one kind of pasta and then you get another?” you questioned while turning on the stove, making sure it actually started.

“You’ve clearly been spending too much time with Kyungsoo if you think some “pasta mix-up” is “horribly wrong”.” Kris stated with raised eyebrows.

“Pasta’s important.” you mumbled quietly as you kept reading through the recipe.

The cooking went on pretty much without any accidents. Except for when Kris cut himself on the jar of canned tuna right after he had said he should do it because you were only going to cut yourself and ended up standing on the side with his thumb in a Band-Aid, while watching you cook.

“You know, Kris… If I end up choosing you, don’t expect this to happen every day. I won’t be the kind of wife that just lets you chill while I do all the cooking.” you stated as you poured the pasta in to a colander.

Kris chuckled slightly at your words. “Don’t worry…” it almost sounded as if he wanted to say something more but chose not to. You glanced over your shoulder to look at him. “Hey, what’s up?”

“What? No. Nothing.” he hurried to shake his head. “It smells delicious.”

“Thank you.” you smiled happily. “I will brag to Kyungsoo about this later.”

The two of you sat down at the table and started eating in silence. You could still see that Kris wasn’t really present, as if there was something he was thinking about. You were about to ask him again just as he opened his mouth.

“Have you thought of who to pick?”

You gave him a look, but he was looking down at his food so he didn’t see you.  “Of course I have. Isn’t that the point of all of this? Though I’m trying to not think too much about it until I’ve spent the time with everyone.”

Kris nodded. “Do I have a chance?” he asked, eyes still glued on his food.

You paused your eating. “What are you talking about? Kris, look at me.” Kris slowly looked up at you. “Why wouldn’t you have a chance?” you asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“Well…” Kris shrugged, directing his eyes towards his food once again. “There’s lots of reasons really. I know you don’t like me very much.” he stated.

You just looked at him quietly for a couple of seconds, until he looked back up at you again. “You’re being stupid.” you stated. “I like you just as much as the others.” as you said the sentence you slammed your fork down on your plate. “Gosh, I don’t want to do this.”

“What? Wait, calm down.” Kris rambled as you hid your face in your hands. He got up from his chair and walked over to stand next to you.

“I don’t want to choose.” you stated.

Kris stayed quiet at first as he slowly pulled his hand along your back in soothing motions. “I know you don’t want to, but you have to.”

“Honestly, I’d rather choose no one at all.”

“I understand…” was all Kris answered as he kept trying to comfort you.

“Is that an option?” you asked, not really because you were considering it, but just because you wanted to know.

“…I guess so… But that means you’d always be alone. Well, not alone alone but you wouldn’t ever have a true partner.”

“Well… I like cats so I think I’ll be fine.”

---------

“You’ve been waiting for this moment, am I right?” was the first thing Tao said as he entered the magical room.

You gave him a look but couldn’t help but smile at him as well. “Of course I have.” you stated as you let him engulf you in a quick hug.

“I’m guessing you can guess what’s on the agenda.” Tao asked as he let you go.

You raised an eyebrow. ”No…?”

“Well that’s just it. I’m obviously not the one for you if you don’t even know me well enough to know what’s currently in my head.” Tao exclaimed dramatically and you were happy to finally have someone being easy going despite the current situation. “I’ll give you one guess but that’s it. If you get it wrong I will just back right out of this whole soul mate thing and you’ll have one less alien to choose from.”

You just chuckled at him since you realized he wasn’t being serious. “Okay… Let me guess… Shopping?”

The look that came upon Tao’s face was satisfied to say the least. “You do know me after all.”

“I was kind of hoping on a martial arts lesson, Tao. A proper one.”

Tao tilted his head while thinking. “Hmm…I guess you’re just going to have to pick me then so that you can get that lesson.” he smiled teasingly.

“Fine, let’s go shopping.” and with that, the room turned in to a mall. Well, a smaller mall with maybe 10 stores at most, but still a mall. “So, is this an expensive mall?” you asked casually as you took Tao’s arm.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to a mall that appeared out of nowhere. We don’t have stores quite like the ones on earth here.” he explained as the two of you started strolling around the now huge room. “Would you like to look at clothes? Maybe dress it up a little extra for the remaining of the dates.” he suggested.

“Sounds good.” you nodded.

“Well come on then!”

-----------

“I like this one. What do you think?”

Tao just shook his head. “Nope, it’s not flattering for your figure.”

“What do you mean by that?” you questioned, trying to sound as offended as you possibly could.

“I mean, that it’s a pure crime to hide any little bit of that gorgeous body of yours under a dress that might as well could belong in a store that sells tents.” 

You just gave him a look that said ‘Whaaaat?’

“I’m telling you you’ve got a stunning body. See, I can be cheesy too.”

You rolled your eyes as you turned back to the changing room but couldn’t deny that Tao pretty much had gotten you to blush with his compliment.
You put on the next dress. It was red and a bit more fitting and it was the kind that could be worn at most occasions. It was formal yet casual and you could wear it to a classy birthday party or to a normal day at school.

“Now this is what I’m talking about.” Tao smiled as you stepped back outside. “The others will thank me. “
 It appeared you didn’t have to pay for anything in this magic mall that was actually a magic room and so you just kept the dress on and the two of you simply left the store.
As Tao kept blabbering on about a bunch of stuff, you started to wonder if he was really as cool about the whole only one soul mate thing as he appeared to be.   

“Tao, aren’t you worried about us all getting separated?” you spoke up at last. He lost the happy expression on his face and turned serious.   

“I try not to think about it.” he confessed in a quiet voice. “But to be honest, it breaks my heart. I know the twelve of us living together in one small apartment was far from perfect but I liked it. It felt like a home.” he shrugged, still with a sad expression.

“I know.” you nodded, kind of regretting you had brought the mood down. “It was really a family.” you both stayed quiet for a moment.

“No, this won’t do. I refuse to let us sulk at this moment when we could be having so much fun! We can’t let an opportunity of free shopping pass. Come on, I want new pants!” Tao suddenly exclaimed as he grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards a store that seemed to focus on clothes for males.

“Now these make my thighs look damn good. Not that I’d say it’s the pants that do it…It’s all natural baby.” Tao blabbered while looking at himself in the mirror.   

You just smiled at his silliness and nodded. “They sure look good on you.”

Tao glanced at you. “You think I should take these?” you nodded again. “Great, I’ll just wear these for the rest of the day.”

“We’ll look really fancy together. You in your new leather pants and me in my new dress.” you smiled as you got up and left the store together with Tao.

“That’s the point, darling. We look fabulous together and you know it. Plus, you know I’m a good kisser.” Tao pointed out and you didn’t have to be reminded of the small kiss you had shared a while back. Wow, time flew really fast…

“That was just a peck. I don’t know if you’re actually a good kisser.” you stated.

“Pssh, of course I am. You want proof or what?” Tao raised an eyebrow to challenge you.

You blushed slightly and shook your head. “I’m sure you’re a good kisser, but it wouldn’t be fair if I kissed you but not the others. Besides, you’ve already tasted my lips more than any of the others.”

“Really?” Tao raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Yep.” you nodded your head. “You were the only one who forced yourself onto me that much.”

Tao’s smug face fell and you couldn’t hold back your laughter. “Don’t laugh at me.” he whined.

“I’m sorry, you’re just so funny. Now tell me, where have you gotten all the kissing practice to turn you in to an amazing kisser? Is that what you and Kris have been doing inside my guestroom?” you asked.

“NO! Wha-Why- What makes you think that?!” Tao exclaimed with cheeks that were growing read.

You just laughed at him. Tao sure knew how to make you happy.