Warning: Very long one shot
Length: 42 MS word pages, 19320 words

 

Black Gem

 

 “Congratulations, it’s green.”

Mr and Mrs Oh’s parents sighed in relief, turning to each other and giving a huge bear hug. The doctor smiled knowingly and continued rattling for a few moments on the condition of their newborn baby child after the initial check-ups, of which the couple hardly paid attention to.

Everyone knew the significance of the colours.

At birth, every baby will be taken to the specially allotted room in the hospital where they will be given the first jewel of their life. The ministry held strict rules with regards to the disbursements of these jewels, otherwise known as soulmate gems. Every citizen will be entitled to only one per lifetime.

Once lost, there is no use requesting for another. The state will not bless one with a second soulmate gem unlike identity cards or passports. Even with money or power, no one has been known to have been allowed a second soulmate gem after losing their first.

The soulmate gem, as the name suggests, serves to bring one to their soulmate. The very fact that one is not careful enough to guard the gem suggests that he will not be worthy of meeting his soulmate. He will not be worthy of happiness.

The gems are originally transparent when unclaimed by a single individual. However at the hospital, doctors will allocate a single gem for each newborn, coding the DNA of the child into the gem.

At once, the gem will start to change it’s colour to signal the status of the newborn.

Most gems will turn green, which signifies that the newborn still has yet to meet his soulmate. Their fated one is somewhere out there, just that fate has not deemed it time for them to meet.

As the child grows older, the gems will start to lose it’s greenish shade and start to take on a more yellowish orange glow. At this point, most people will start getting excited as it signifies that the fated time to meet their soulmate is arriving.

Some gems turn don’t turn orange until a long long time later. Mr Oh’s brother for example, is already 45 years old and his gem is still green. This only means that the fated time to meet his soulmate has yet to arrive.

The gems usually turn orange from a range of a month to half a year before the actual date of the meeting.

Everyone has only that one chance to find out who their other half will be. One will not know when or where the meeting will happen, but when it does, it is said that it cannot quite be missed.

The magnetic attraction, the sudden awareness and heat that rises from within one’s body...these were just common descriptions of what one particularly feels at the point of meeting. The moment your eyes fall on your soulmate, your gem immediately glows red and heats up and that is how you will know who, is your soulmate.

It doesn’t go smoothly for everyone though. Some meetings are unfortunately arranged by fate at crowded spaces with many people. Maybe you were just a passenger on the bus and you met eyes with a passer-by walking outside on the road. When your gem turned red, there was no way of knowing which passer-by it was, how to get back to her, and who she was.

And just like that, gone was the chance to find happiness.

At times like these, the gems will turn from red to black because it would have fulfilled it’s purpose and it would generally be useless from that point onwards. Gems will remain red for people who manage to find their other half. This was why the black gem was synonym for ultimate unhappiness and misfortune.

Some people have it harder though. Some babies had black gems from the birth, and it would signify that these are the unfortunate ones with no luck in finding happiness or a soulmate for the rest of their lives.

It wasn’t uncommon for people with black gems to develop depression.

However if a gem changes colour from green to black without going through orange and red, it would only mean one thing: a tragic incident had happened and your soulmate has now passed.

With all that, one could see why it was such a joy for Mr and Mrs Oh to find out that their baby son had been blessed with a green gem.

The nurse pushed their little baby boy in gingerly and the couple perked up. Mr Oh rushed toward his newborn son and glowed with pride as his eyes set on his son’s adorable sleeping face, as well as the burning green gem that was hanging off his son’s ankle.

“Let me see him.” Mrs Oh gestured, craning her neck weakly, tired out from the tedious childbirth process. Mr Oh carried their baby boy with utmost care and caution, settling him into his mother’s arms. “Oh my baby.” Mrs Oh whispered tenderly, pressing a light kiss on her son’s forehead.

The nurse broke into a gentle smile, reminded that these moments were reasons why she took up the tough job in the first place. “Any idea what to name your son, Mr and Mrs Oh?” she inquired with a grin.

The couple looked at each other and smiled knowingly, having agreed on the name earlier. Mrs Oh nuzzled her son’s cheek with her nose and sighed happily. “Sehun. His name will be Oh Sehun.”

 

 

 

 

 

“MOMMY!!!! DADDY!!!”

Mrs Oh jerked at the cry of her son, and the pancake she was flipping fell with a splat on the floor. She winced inwardly, wasting no time as she rushed up the stairs worriedly.

She could hear her husband stumbling out of bed as well, knocking down a few things along the way. The two of them arrived in front of Sehun’s door at the same time, her husband sending her a half worried and half annoyed look. “What does that boy want now?” he rubbed his temples tiredly.

“Sehun?” Mrs Oh crossed the room in a few steps, heaving an inaudible sigh of relief when she saw her beloved boy in one piece and in no obvious pain, sitting on his bed. The wailing and tears aside, he looked completely fine. “Tell mommy what’s wrong?”

Sehun sniffled, rubbing his nose furiously as he tried to calm himself enough to tell his parents what happened. His bottom lip wobbled as he looked up at his mother and father, ing his hand out to show them what had disturbed him in the first place.

“IT’S STILL GREEN MOMMY!” Sehun wailed. “WHY IS IT STILL GREEN?”

Mr Oh bit back a curse and sighed tiredly to himself. So this was it? Damn, he only slept for 4 hours and to be awakened because of this...

He regretted telling his 5 year old boy about the soulmate gems this early. The curious boy had been pestering them everyday on the gem he had to wear around his neck. He had questions about it every single day that Mr Oh couldn’t stand it.

Why did he have to wear the gems everyday? Why must he tell his parents once the gem turns orange? Why will the gem change colour? Why must he hide the gem in his clothes and why couldn’t he show it to other people?

Goodness.

Mr Oh thought that by quenching the boy’s curiosity, the questions would stop but oh how wrong he was. Once Sehun knew about the purpose of the gems and the fact on soulmates, he wouldn’t stop asking when his gem would turn orange and ultimately red. He was just bursting with excitement to meet his soulmate, and Mr Oh didn’t know if he had the energy to keep up with his son, especially if fate arranged Sehun to only meet his soulmate during his twenties.

Did that mean he had to answer Sehun’s incessant questions for another twenty years? He felt faint.

“It’s not the time for you to meet her yet, Sehun.” Mr Oh sighed softly. “What did I tell you? You cannot rush these things right? You have to wait patiently for it to happen.”

Sehun nodded obediently and sniffled. “Okay Daddy.”

Mr Oh warmed at the sight of his adorable son. “Good boy. Why don’t you go brush your teeth and get ready for sch-“

“So when is it going to change colour, Daddy?”Sehun interrupted, gripping the jewel in his hand. “What time?”

Mrs Oh bit back an amused laugh as Mr Oh looked over at her with utmost irritation. Her husband wasn’t a morning person, apparently.

“I don’t think your jewel is going to change it’s colour today, Sehun.” Mrs Oh patted her son’s head gently. “Didn’t you hear daddy? You must wait patiently.”

“Oh okay.” Sehun nodded, seemingly considering his mother’s words. He looked up with bright eyes. “So is it going to change colour tomorrow?”

His parents looked at each other and sighed at the same time. “Sehun, both your mom and I don’t know when your jewel is going to change colour.” Mr Oh explained as patiently as he could. “Don’t you remember the story on how your mom and I met? Nobody knows when you will get to meet her, so you must wait patiently till it happens.”

Sehun blinked and clapped his hands happily. “Tell me the story again Daddy!” he requested. “Pwease?”

“Sehun, you’ve heard the story at least thirty times by now-” Mr Oh raked his fingers through his hair in anguish. Mrs Oh touched his arm gently and shook her head, offering a small smile. She pulled Sehun onto her lap and rocked them side to side.

“Of course Daddy will tell you the story again.” Mrs Oh raised her brows at her husband warningly. “Right babe?”

Mr Oh sighed for the umpteenth time that morning and settled onto the bed with his wife and son. “Alright alright.” He ruffled Sehun’s hair. Sehun beamed brightly and cheered, clapping his hands in excitement.

Mr Oh smiled softly, thinking back on his fond memories. “Well, that year when we met, I was twenty two-”

“And Mommy was twenty!” Sehun raised his hands as if answering a question. Mrs Oh chuckled in amusement while her husband pinched Sehun’s cheek affectionately. “Yup, your mom was twenty. I was working as a barista-, I mean a coffee maker,” he corrected for the sake of his son. “At a cafe, working part time hours, when your mom visited the cafe with her friends.”

The story was so familiar with the Oh family that even Sehun could recite everything word for word (maybe except the word barista. Little Sehun didn’t know the bigger words yet).

Sehun’s mom had been visiting the cafe with her friends and they chatted and gossiped excitedly amongst themselves as girls did. It was quite known that the cafe which Mr Oh worked at had quite a few cute baristas, which was why the cafe saw more female customers than males.

Despite two of her friends already finding their soulmates, it didn’t mean they couldn’t ogle at a few eye-candies every now and then. Sehun’s mom’s gem had turned yellow three months before, and she was more than excited every time she went out, not to mention jumpy every time she met eyes with a male stranger.

The funny thing was that when she and her friends entered the cafe, Mr Oh had just stepped out for his lunch break. The girls chatted and giggled but Sehun’s mom couldn’t find it in herself to pay attention. Her eyes kept darting to the door and she felt strangely queasy. A good kind of queasy.

Oh the other hand Mr Oh had just stepped into a nearby convenience store to grab a bowl of instant noodles for his lunch when the feeling hit him. It struck him in the chest first, a fiery warmth that spread rapidly through is limbs. He stood at the door for a good two minutes before the cashier called out to him, wondering what was wrong.

He immediately put down his cup noodles despite already paying for it, rushing back to the cafe once more. If you asked him why he did that, he wouldn’t know either. He just HAD to.

The familiar cold rock that was nestled in his shirt against his chest, started to grow warm and his hand went to clutch it through his shirt. Could it be...?

He flung the door open with such strength that more than a few heads turned. “Welcome to Happiness caf-” his colleague called out habitually but faltered. “Eh? Didn’t you go for lunch?”

Mr Oh heard none of that, because at that moment, his eyes fell on the girl standing in the middle of the cafe, clutching her chest with the same expression he wore. They stepped towards each other hesitantly, pulling their necklaces from their clothes.

Red. Burning red. The stones almost scalded their skin as it glowed with passion.

Mr Oh rubbed the back of his neck and broke into a sheepish smile. “I’m glad.” Were the first two words he ever uttered to his soulmate, his future wife, his significant other.

When she asked why, he broke into a large grin. “You’re much much prettier than I imagined.” He blurted.

Oh the flattery. Was that a move he was trying to make on her? Not that he needed to when she was his all along...especially coupled with that adorable smile on his face.

...

“And that was how I met your mother.” Mr Oh finished with a goofy grin. He ruffled his son’s head once more. “Happy now, kiddo? Go brush your teeth and get ready for school.” He patted his son’s back.

“Yes Daddy!” Sehun dashed off to the toilet.

Mr Oh stretched and a yawn escaped his lips. “Still tired huh.” Mrs Oh rubbed his back fondly. “Go catch another hour of sleep. I’ll call you up again later and have pancakes ready for breakfast.”

Mr Oh leaned down to peck his wife’s lips with a twinkle in his eye. “I love you, you know?”

Slapping his chest lightly, Mrs Oh leaned into his touch. “I know.”

 

 

 

 

It happened when Sehun was 11 years old.

At that point, most of his classmates still had green gems. Only one girl in Sehun’s class had a red gem, but only because she already met her soulmate, who turned out to be her neighbour.

Everyday, Sehun looked forward to the day when his gem would change colour and he would meet her. Despite knowing that who fate arranged for him couldn’t be changed, he still didn’t stop wondering how she looked like. Where she lived. What flavour ice cream she loved.

Sehun’s best friend, Kai, attended the same class as he did and the two of them were neighbours. They liked to speculate on when they would meet their soulmates, dreaming of the things they could do together and even agreeing on double dates when they both found their other halves.

“Did you hear? Kyungsoo from the next class met his soulmate yesterday!” Sehun whispered in awe. “He’s really lucky isn’t he?”

Kai shrugged, not very impressed. “It’s not a very lucky event as you call it.” He raised his brows. “Don’t you see? It’s actually a misfortune to meet your soulmate so early.”

Sehun blinked in confusion, not understanding. All his 6 years of life since he found out about soulmates at the age of 5, he had been looking forward to meeting his soulmate, pinning for the faceless girl without fail every single day.

“When you meet your soulmate, what must you do?” Kai gestured, waving his hands about expressively. “You must spend time with her. When you get older, you must take her out on dates. Call her. Text her.” Kai shook his head.

“I could do without all that now.” Kai dismissed the matter. “Imagine if you meet your soulmate now. You can’t go home to play Xbox because she’ll want to play with you. When you get your phone, you must call her to report your whereabouts and not to mention spend a large portion of your allowance on dates.” Kai wrinkled his nose in annoyance. “From my interpretation, it’s best to meet your soulmate later in life.”

Oh Kim Jong In, how fast you have matured.

“So you don’t want to meet her?” Sehun scratched his head, unable to grasp the concept.

“It’s not that I don’t want to meet her,” Kai explained. “I don’t want her to come into my life so soon. Maybe when I’m forty or something.” He shrugged. “Maybe then I’ll have time to entertain another female presence in my life.”

Wise beyond his age, definitely.

Sehun considered this for a few moments and thought about sacrificing his time with his Xbox. He agreed that it wasn’t such a pleasant thought.

However he thought back to the familiar story on how his parents met and he couldn’t wait for that magical moment to descent upon himself as well.

“I think I’d still prefer to meet her as soon as possible.” Sehun finally decided, as if it made any difference. The meeting was all up to fate.

Kai shook his head. “You are not a smart man, Oh Sehun.”

Sehun bumped his shoulders with his best friend and teased. “I’ll bet that when you meet your soulmate, you’ll be a hundred percent whipped.” He wagged his finger. “And when the time comes, I’ll be laughing.”

“You wish.” Kai stuck out his tongue childishly.

 

-----

 

“What happened to Chanyeol?” Sehun murmured as he sat down at lunch with his friends. The said guy was sitting at the end of the table, looking terribly moody. This was unlike his usual character, of which Chanyeol was known to be loud and cheerful hence the nickname “Happy Virus”.

“His soulmate.” Baekhyun explained. Sehun and Kai nodded in immediate understanding.

The thing about the soulmates are that amongst the billions of people in the world, only the two of you have this peculiar connection. Some connections are stronger than others, but it is definitely there.

On some days, Sehun too felt the connection with his soulmate. It made him terribly pleased to know that despite not having met her, she was somewhere out there.

When she felt tired or upset, Sehun could feel it too. It was definitely in smaller waves than what she would feel personally, but it was there. Likewise, when Sehun felt a particularly strong emotion, his soulmate would be able to feel it as well.

This connection extends beyond mere feelings, but physically as well. Not mere things like pricking your finger with a needle of course, because then their individual lives would be disrupted constantly.

Sehun remembered one time when he was seven, he felt a sudden sharp pain at both his knees and he felt tears welling to his eyes despite not being one to easily cry. He ran to his mother immediately and she explained that it might have been because of his soulmate.

The most possible reason would be that she had, perhaps, fallen down somewhere. Because the level of physical pain was much higher than a mere prick of the needle, Sehun was able to feel it as well. If he could feel the non-existent gash at his knees, he couldn’t imagine what it was like for her.

He made it a point to be extra careful after that, despite being an overly active and playful child. He didn’t want to hurt himself unnecessarily, not because of the pain it would bring him, but he didn’t want his soulmate to experience it as well.

It was also how he deduced that perhaps 16^th of June was a special date to his soulmate because she was always exceptionally cheerful and happy on that date every single year. 14th of May would be something sad because he felt the overwhelming melancholy on that date, every year, ever since a few years ago.

His soulmate must be feeling rather normal today because he didn’t feel any exceptional difference from the usual, which he was glad for.

Sehun looked over at Chanyeol who was still gloomy, rejecting lunch, just wanting to sulk the lunch period away. Kai snorted. “ to be him now.”

 

----

 

“Wanna play soccer, guys?” Suho popped his head from the door. He was a senior from a year above, but Suho was still friendly and nice to his juniors, never once putting on airs.

“Definitely.” Kai perked up, packing up his bag. He glanced at Sehun. “I told my mom I’d be going home at 4. You can hitch a ride with us when she comes to fetch me.”

“Thanks.” Sehun nodded, grinning. Kai was rude, straightforward, solemn for the most part, but he was still an awesome best friend to have that understood Sehun’s mind most of the times.

The boys joined the rest of their friends at the field, the twelve of them splitting into two groups to compete against each other. There were few friends that came from China, but the twelve of them hit off really well and even liked to call themselves aliens from another planet called EXO.

The imagination of 11 year old boys, really.

The game started off with Lay managing to snatch the ball before Kyungsoo, and he dribbled the ball skilfully, dodging as Baekhyun tried to snatch it back. There were yells throughout the field as all twelve of them tried to shout at their team mates, and it was quite the noisy soccer match.

A few girls their age gathered at the sidelines, supporting their respective eye candies. It was known that the boys were rather cute and most girls in school had their own favourites from the twelve. Some even more than one eye candy.

The ball rolled out of boundary and the goal keeper for Sehun’s team, Chanyeol, quickly ran to grab it back. He put the ball on the ground and eyed the situation on field.

Tao was trying to block Sehun but the former was a little blur sometimes. Sehun pretended to go left and Tao immediately followed, not realizing when Sehun darted off in the opposite direction. Sehun ran near the goalpost and signalled for Chanyeol to do a far kick.

Chanyeol gave a nod.

With an impressive sweep from his dandy long legs, the ball sailed from one end of the field to the other, heading to Sehun with an impressive speed. The ball neared Sehun and he gulped. It was too high for him to use his legs, and he could only use his chest to stop the ball as professional players do.

Deciding to try the trick for the first time, Sehun puffed out his chest and the ball collided into him with a loud thud. The speed and strength of Chanyeol’s kick was definitely out of Sehun’s expectations, because the ball knocked Sehun onto the ground and he groaned, more out of embarrassment than anything.

“Dude, you okay?” Xiumin ran to him, helping the maknae up. “Chanyeol, that was too hard a kick!”

“I’m so sorry!” Chanyeol waved his hands frantically, dashing over from his end of the field. “I’m so so so sorry Sehun! Are you okay?”

Sehun brushed the grass off his shirt and nodded. Besides a little hurt to his ego, nothing was hurt, really. “I’m fine.” He muttered, blushing. “Let’s carry on with the game guys.” He gestured, wanting everyone to forget about his fail.

The boys nodded and went to take their respective positions on the field. Kai lingered around Sehun and shot his best friend a smirk. “Need some practice there, Hun.”

“Shut up Kai.” Sehun muttered. He brushed the dirt off his knees, idly gauging if his shoelaces needed another round of tying when it hit him.

This was unlike any level of pain he had ever experienced.

It happened so quickly without any signal, when suddenly his chest heaved in extreme stabs of shocking pain. Sehun felt all the air escape from his lungs and he crumpled to the ground.

Sehun reached to his chest and clutched his shirt tightly. His right lung hurt the most, as if a herd of elephants just stampeded over it. “K-Kai.” He managed to croak.

Kai snickered. “What’s that Hu-” he turned around when his name was called. His eyes widened at the sight of Sehun on the ground and he immediately paled. “SEHUN!” he yelled, crossing to his best friend in two large strides. “Dude what happened? Oh Sehun!”

“Kai.” Sehun groaned, taking short breaths while trying to divert his attention from the pain. It was unbearable, tears were already streaming down his cheeks and he could feel his energy draining from him at astounding speed.

“OH MY GOSH WHAT HAPPENED!” Luhan gaped. The boys grew worried and crowded around their maknae before Suho instructed for everyone to make space for Sehun and for Kris to run for the teachers.

“Where are you hurt, stupid?” Kai wiped his eyes furiously. “You said you were fine!”

“I don’t know.” Sehun whispered weakly. Black spots started to appear in his vision. The pain was not easily expressed in mere words because of the pure magnitude. If Sehun had to describe it, he could only use one word: death. It felt like death.

It didn’t take long before the black spots grew, covering the whole of his vision as Sehun lost consciousness.

The last thing he heard was Chanyeol’s panicked shriek, “OH NO I KILLED HIM!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eyelids slowly flickered.

White. All he could see was the white, white ceiling.

Sehun slowly blinked, regaining his consciousness. After a few more moments of getting used to the light and figuring out where he was, Sehun slowly sat up. His body felt slightly sore from the sudden attack, but now he seemed fine.

Sehun patted his chest up and down and twisted his body. Everything seemed normal.

He wondered what caused the sudden pain previously. He was absolutely sure that it wasn’t caused by Chanyeol’s power ball. Even if it was quite the hard kick, it wasn’t enough to cause such shocks.

The pain he felt just now wasn’t from a surface abrasion. It felt like his insides were tearing apart, like his organs were on fire. He couldn’t breathe at all. Even when he tried taking deep breaths, the air wouldn’t enter his lungs.

Why did that happen? He had always been healthy and this sudden condition came without warning. It didn’t make sense. Unless...Sehun remembered Chanyeol’s gloomy mood earlier that afternoon because his feelings were affected by his soulmate.

Unless....

Sehun scrambled to reach into his shirt, pulling the familiar weight into his palms. His fingers opened gingerly to reveal the gem nestled in his palm.

Sehun blinked, taking a while to process the sight before his eyes. He didn’t even recognize his necklace for quite sometime.

His thumb rubbed at the gem once. Twice.

Sehun shook his head, eyes wide as the truth finally dawned on him. The gem that was originally bright green, the gem he had eyed every single night in bed, that gem...it was black. Black as the night sky.

It couldn’t be. No way.

Sehun rubbed his eyes and blinked at the stone but it still remained the same colour. He felt a surge of pain through his chest, but this time not physical pain, rather emotional pain.

A cry so filled with remorse escaped his lips, so rough and raw with pain that Sehun could barely recognize it came from him. It all made sense, why the pain had came so suddenly and why it happened even though Sehun wasn’t hurt.

Death, it had felt like death.

Mr and Mrs Oh, who were discussing the situation with the doctor outside, quickly tumbled into the round at the cries of their son. “Sehun!” Mrs Oh flew to him. “My baby are you alright? Is it still hurting?”

Sehun clutched his mother’s arm, his fingers turning white. “Tell me it doesn’t mean what I think it means, mommy.” His other hand shook as he held his necklace out. “Something must have gone wrong right? This necklace isn’t mine. It got swapped-”

“Sehun.” Mr Oh murmured in a low voice. Sehun stopped, his eyes meeting his father’s grieving eyes. He understood.

A sob broke and soon Sehun was shivering as cries shook his entire body. “She’s dead. I can’t believe she left me before I even met her!” he wailed. “What am I to do now Daddy? What am I to do?”

Mrs Oh hugged her son, patting his head soothingly as she swallowed the tears of her own. “I wish we could do something too Sehun. I wish we could.”

 

-----

 

 

Sehun didn’t attend school for a whole week and refused to meet anyone. He wrote a letter to Chanyeol saying that it wasn’t his fault, but that was all that the boys heard from Sehun since the incident.

No one in school knew what happened to Sehun and they were beginning to worry. Kai visited Sehun’s house every single day after school to pass notes and homework, as well as to check up on his best friend, but every day Sehun refused all company.

Mrs Oh grew increasingly worried for her son’s health and mental condition because it didn’t seem like an 11 year old could handle the cruel truth. Especially when Sehun had practically looked forward to meeting his soulmate all his life.

On this day, Kai arrived at the Oh’s house once more. Mrs Oh smiled weakly at the boy and welcomed him. “What happened to him, exactly Omonim?” Kai asked. He sighed and rubbed his neck. “I miss him. I want to help him, Omonim.”

Mrs Oh nodded. “Go up and see if he accepts visitors. I doubt Sehun would resist all outside contact for so long.”

Kai scrambled up the stairs and came to Sehun’s room. The door was closed, as it was for the past week. Kai belatedly realized he had never seen Sehun’s door closed in all the years they were friends.

“Sehun?” Kai knocked on the door. “You there?”

“Go away Kai. I don’t want to see you.”

Kai sighed and twisted his lips. 11 year old Kai wasn’t good with words, nor was he an unusually open person. He wasn’t like Chanyeol, who knew what to say in this circumstances. “I’m coming in.” He announced, twisting the doorknob.

The sight of Sehun shocked him slightly. His best friend had always been cheerful and silly but seeing Sehun crouched in the corner of the room with tear stains on his cheek was a difficult sight to swallow.

“Sehun.” Kai repeated, moving over slowly. “Are you okay? What happened? Why haven’t you been to school? Are you dreadfully sick?” he asked worriedly. “Was that why you suddenly fainted the other day-“ he faltered when Sehun held out something in his closed palm.

Kai reached over hesitantly and Sehun plopped the item onto Kai’s hands. Kai blinked curiously at the object before finally realizing what the black gem meant. Shock passed through his eyes, but it slowly turned to sympathy and grieve.

“Sehun.” Kai sat down next to his best friend, not knowing what to say. He never expected this to happen to anyone he knew.

Together, side by side, the two eleven year olds leaned against each other while grieving the loss of a girl that could have been a part of their lives.

 

 

 

 

 

“GUYS GUYS! My stone turned orange yesterday!” Chen announced with excitement. “Oh my goodness!!!”

The EXO boys cheered.

Several years have passed since Sehun’s gem turned black and Kai was the only one who knew the truth. A peculiar medical condition was what was described to the rest of the class when Sehun resumed his lessons at school.

He didn’t want to tell anyone else about the black gem because he knew that would only earn him sympathetic looks. He didn’t need that in his life and he wanted to continue life as normal as he could. Without her.

It was curious how he could grieve so badly for a girl he never met before, but he did. He felt the loss daily, not feeling anymore connection to that special someone out there. He never had mood swings anymore, he couldn’t feel her emotions any longer.

Sehun tried to put it behind him since it was a fact that couldn’t be changed: he would be lonely for the rest of his life. However it wasn’t easy when people around him started to meet their soulmates, getting attached and attaining happiness. All that and he knew he wasn’t going to get that.

Several other boys within EXO met their soulmates within the years. Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Suho all met their soulmates. And soon to be, Chen.

“You alright?” Kai murmured in a low voice that was only meant for Sehun’s ears. Sehun gave his friend a firm, cheerful smile to signal he was okay.

Kai himself was too, awaiting the arrival of the fated meeting with his soulmate. His gem had turned orange two months prior, which mean that the meeting could be any time soon.

Kai kept telling Sehun that he didn’t want to meet his soulmate that soon. They were, afterall, only 16. He said he wanted more alone time before his life was disrupted with an incessantly yakking girl.

Sehun could only smile bitterly. He wished he knew what his girl was like.

He had tried to find the identity of his soulmate after he finally accepted her death. His parents helped as well, looking through newspapers and sources to find out if there were any fatal accidents on the afternoon of 5th October for a girl around Sehun’s age. He wanted to pay respects to his soulmate even if they couldn’t meet.

However all leads turned to nothing and Sehun couldn’t find out anything at all.

His thoughts were intruded by Chen’s excited chatter. “She can appear any time now.” He beamed excitedly. “I can’t wait!!” he exclaimed.

“Damn.” Xiumin muttered. “My gem’s still that sickening green colour.”

“Mine too.” Chanyeol sighed. “And my soulmate is always bad tempered too.” He wrinkled his nose.

Tao slung his arm around Sehun’s shoulder and grinned crookedly. “It’s okay! At least we have each other! Green gems unite!” he pumped his fists.

Sehun could only fake a smile, as he did all the other times.

The boys grew rowdy as conversation continued. One thing led to another and soon the topic on soulmates turned into which movie they were going to watch. (Strange, I know)

They decided on the Transformers and Suho was to help them get the tickets. Kai tapped on Sehun’s shoulder. “Dude, I’ll pop over to the washroom for a bit. Tell the others if they ask.”

Sehun nodded and Kai grinned, jogging off.

Sehun didn’t think much of it as he continued fooling around with his other hyungs. Once Baekhyun started imitating Tao, Sehun almost completely forget about Kai’s absence.

“Yehet!” Sehun grinned foolishly, winking at Luhan.

Everyone burst into laughter at the jokes Sehun made. A few moments later, Suho checked his watch and announced that it was time to get into the cinema. The eleven of them stood around, waiting while Suho distributed the tickets, when Sehun suddenly remembered Kai.

He frowned and looked around. “Wait, Kai isn’t back from the toilet.”

“Huh? Oh yeah.” Lay blinked. “He’s been gone for...almost half an hour.”

Something felt off. Sehun immediately dialled Kai’s number, where the latter picked up after a tad too many rings. “Hello?” Kai sounded distracted.

“Dude where are you? We’re going in. The movie’s starting.” Sehun frowned. “Are you having a diarrhoea or something?”

“No it’s nothing. Uhm. I’ll be back now.” And then he hung up. Strange.

The remaining EXO boys waited around for Kai, munching on popcorn even before they entered the cinema. Kai soon turned up with an odd expression on his face, walking with unstable steps.

“Where were you dude? You took such a long time!” Sehun raised his brows. His eyes widened when he realized Kai wasn’t alone. In fact, a cute looking girl that only reached Kai’s shoulders was following behind him.

“Uhm guys.” Kai stopped in front of the curious eleven pairs of eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. His face started turning slightly pink, which was saying a lot since Kai was known to have the darkest skin. “I uh..well...you see...uhmm...” he mumbled some things that weren’t audible.

“What’s that you said?” Chen blinked.

“Red.” Kai muttered. “It turned red.”

Eyes widened all around. Everyone knew what that meant: Kai found his soulmate.

“Is it her?” Tao whispered in awe at the girl hiding behind Kai’s back.

“Uhm yeah.” Kai moved to the side to reveal the cute girl with bangs. “Her name is Lee Minhee, she’s 16, same age as us, and...yes. She’s the one.”

Minhee blushed pink and waved awkwardly at the eleven pairs of curious eyes. “Hello. I’m Minhee.” She bit her lip in embarrassment. She glanced at Kai hesitatingly and he turned even redder. “Uh so...the movie...”

“Oh right.” Minhee nodded, flustered. “Your movie is starting. Shoo.” She nudged him. “You should go now. It was nice meeting you guys.” She waved at the boys, before whispering in a much softer and gentler tone. “And it was nice meeting you.” She smiled at Kai.

The two of them stared at each other longer than necessary, soft smiles forming on their lips. Baekhyun couldn’t help the giggles, which snapped Minhee out of her daze. “I’ll be going now. Bye!” she turned around to go.

Kai’s hand shot out with lightning speed to grab her arm, and the two reconnected their gaze. “I’ll, uh, call you?” he looked at her imploringly.

Minhee blushed pink and gave a cute nod. “Okay. I’ll be waiting.” And then she sped off with hurried steps.

After she was gone for a safe amount of distance, Kai was thrown into the middle of the circle.

“Congratulations!”

“Kai she said she will be waiting man!”

“You sure you still want to watch the movie, Kai? It seems you want to just follow her home from your lovesick look!”

“Hey! He has to watch the movie! I paid for the tickets!”

(Anyone can guess who was the last one.)

Sehun thumped Kai’s back and smiled genuinely. “Congrats man.” He grinned. “It seems the time for whipped Kim Jong In has come.”

“I’m not whipped! I only just met her.” Kai blabbered, a first sign of his feelings since Kim Jong In NEVER lost his cool.

Sehun gave him a smirk before Kai was bombarded with even more comments and questions by the other boys. Where did you meet? How did it feel like? How did you know?

Sehun sighed softly, following the rest of the gang. He hated to admit it but he felt a tad bit of envy.

Just a tad though. Just a tad.

 

 

 

 

 

It turned out that Sehun was completely right. And not to mention that he completely enjoyed the whole “I told you so” thing afterwards.

Minhee was a bubbly, cheerful girl that was innocent and shy at times, a complete opposite to the moody, straightforward and sometimes rude Kai, but they clicked. It could be said that the attraction started the moment their eyes met, because the two were very much in love after that.

When teased, Kai would splutter adoringly in a manner that was absolutely not him. “Who said anything about love?” he questioned with a fake frown.

Oh Kai, everyone knew about it so why hide huh?

Despite the newfound addition to his life, Kai made it a point to put Sehun as one of his top priorities because he didn’t want to be one of those guys that started ignoring their friends once he got attached. And especially since he was the only one who knew about Sehun’s black gem, Kai was especially cautious around Sehun when mentioning Minhee because he didn’t want to appear as if he was bragging.

Only he was able to experience even a portion of what Sehun went through those years ago. He knew a part of Oh Sehun died that day, together with the latter’s soulmate, and it could never be recovered.

However, he was still afterall, a man in love. It was the honeymoon period for goodness sakes, and Kai went absolutely dreamy eyed whenever Minhee was mentioned. He didn’t bring up the topic of Minhee often, but he could be seen texting her secretly or excusing himself once in a while to give her a call. Aww, that sweetie.

Sehun could sense Kai was particularly avoiding the topic of Minhee around him, even though Sehun brought her up a few times.

“How’s it going with your soulmate man?” Sehun would ask. “You never told me about your first date two days ago. How did it go?”

Kai cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Uhm nothing much happened. We just went for a movie and dinner and that’s it.”

Sehun waited a few beats, expecting Kai to elaborate but nothing came. He knew Kai wasn’t the kind to blabber, but he didn’t expect this little words either. “That’s it? Aren’t you going to tell me more? Like how you feel about her or any first impressions? How you two are getting along?”

Biting his lip, Kai let out a short breath. “There’s nothing much to talk about-”

“Yah Kim Jong In, are you holding back because you know I don’t have a soulmate?” Sehun suddenly demanded. Kai froze, blinking profusely. “I..I...”

“If that’s the case, I want you to know that yes, I am devastated by her passing. I still am till this very day. Every few moments she pops into my mind.” Sehun admitted, something he never told anyone. “But if you’re afraid that bringing up your soulmate will affect my feelings due to the lack of mine, you’re dreadfully wrong.”

Sehun left his hand on Kai’s shoulder. “You’re my best friend, Kai. I don’t want to miss out on a single moment in  your life and I want you to be there for all of mine as well.” He gave a small smile. “So tell me,” he gave Kai a look. “How was your date?”

Kai returned Sehun’s long look, the corners of his lips twitching up. He chuckled softly and nodded. “It was great.” He murmured. “Beyond my expectations, really. I never thought I’d be the kind to like the bubbly chatterbox kind but...she complements me. I feel comfortable with her.” He sighed contently. “It’s just the first date but...I think we have potential.”

Sehun broke into a wide grin. “What did I tell you? You’re going to be whipped Kim Jong In!” he snickered and bumped Kai’s shoulders. “I KNEW IT!”

Kai turned red and gave Sehun a frown. “Yah! I’m not going to be whipped!”

“Says the one with your couple selca as your wallpaper just five days after meeting her~~” Sehun sang.

Embarrassed was an underestimation of what Kai felt, really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon it was time for the boys to hit college.

A few of their hyungs were already enrolled in various colleges, providing them with frightening yet interesting stories from college and dorm life. Kai and Sehun were both enrolled in the same Seoul National University, together with Minhee as well.

Kai was effectively whipped by that point, his relationship with Minhee going strong as ever. Although, he still didn’t want to admit being whipped even though both him and Sehun knew the truth. It was just a little banter between the best friends.

The inseparable best friends were both taking Sports Management and even shared a room in their dorm. Best friends forever yo.

“You should come to breakfast with us.” Kai raised his brows at Sehun. Sehun buried his face in his pillow and snored.

Kai kicked his best friend’s feet. “Yah. Don’t fake that. I know you well enough to know you’re not sleeping.”

Sehun sighed internally and flopped over to peer at Kai irritably. “I’m not sleeping yet. I could be if you leave me alone.”

Kai was trying to convince Sehun to go to breakfast with him, Minhee and Minhee’s best friend. Minhee was also sharing a double room dorm with her best friend and Kai was trying to..well, he wanted his best friend to meet his girlfriend’s best friend. Not such a bad thought right?

“I played Dota till 5am this morning Kai.” Sehun yawned for effect. “I’m not up to wake up till noon.” He wrinkled his nose and pointed to his eye bags. “I don’t want to scare girls away with this.”

Kai grumbled under his breath and finally relented. “Alright alright. At least remember her best friend’s name when I finally introduce you okay? You’re so bad with names.” He smacked Sehun’s . “Her name is Kim Sunmi. Remember?”

Sehun grunted.

Kai shook his head and put on his shoes to leave. He shot one last glance at his roomie. “What’s her name again?” he tested.

“Kim Sunmi.” Sehun groaned.

Smirking, Kai left. Sehun muttered under his breath and curled up into bed once more, quickly dosing off and promptly forgetting the name he just uttered. He was, after all, bad with names.

 

-----

 

Sehun was shocked out of his sleep.

His hand shot to his tummy which felt a sudden flash of pain as if something hot scalded it. It disappeared as quickly as it came, but it was enough to wake him up from his nap.

He groaned and checked the clock, absolutely disgruntled to find that it was only 10am, an hour after Kai left. Talk about sleeping to noon.

 

 

 

 

 

[11:02, 10/09/14] Kkamjong: Dude I’m going out on a movie date with Minhee. You can settle your own lunch right?

[11:03, 10/09/14] You: If my memory serves me right, you were having breakfast with Minhee and the best friend. So did you just abandon the poor girl or...

[11:04, 10/09/14] Kkamjong: Or my best friend is dumb. Of course we didn’t abandon her. A little accident occurred during breakfast and she split coffee down the front of her shirt so she had to go back to change. This left Minhee and I alone. Happy with the explanation now?

[11:04, 10/09/14] Kkamjong: And for thinking bad of me, I’m not going to buy you the pretzels you wanted from the mall. >:(

[11:05, 10/09/14] You: NOOOOO YOU EVIL MAN!!!

Sehun sighed and finally crawled out of bed. He wasn’t able to sleep after being jerked out of his nap before and now he had to get lunch himself. He hated eating alone.

He thought back to what happened to Minhee’s best friend during breakfast: coffee split down her shirt. It did feel exactly like that when he was jerked out of his sleep.

Maybe he had been dreaming about coffee which explained the odd occurrence. “Nah, I don’t even like coffee.” Sehun wrinkled his nose.

 

 

 

 

 

Not wanting to look like a loser eating alone in the cafeteria (honestly it didn’t look like a loser  but Sehun had high self-esteem issues), Sehun bought a roll of kimbap to go and went to explore the cultural and activity booths that were set up in the hall for the new enrolments.

Both Kai and him were actually quite proficient in dancing, and they actually formed a duo dancing unit during their middle school days, winning a few teen competitions. Sehun had every intention of looking for a dance group to join because he absolutely missed the scent of perspiration and thrill that came with dancing.

The hall was bustling with many students that weaved about the different booths, and many seniors were stationed to promote their various student clubs and societies.

Sehun sauntered about, his eyes darting from booth to booth, trying hard to take everything in. He wished Kai was with him but knew that if his soulmate was still alive, he would like some private soulmate time as well.

Starting as a freshie in college was definitely exciting.

Sehun raised his brows at the cosplaying club and blinked when a member dressed as Naruto bounced up to him, asking if he read mangas. “Er..nope sorry.” He quickly darted away. Not that he didn’t read mangas (he loved them. Books with pictures, who didn’t?), but he liked being himself for most of the times instead of posing as someone else.

He passed by a Chess club, a Symphonic Orchestra club, a environmental society (what did they do there, grow plants?), and never found anything much that interested him. He had to say he was very bad with directions because he went a few rounds but still never managed to find the dance society to register his name with.

“Hi! Would you like to join the math club?”

Sehun spun around at the voice, slightly startled. A fair-skinned girl with round eyes beamed up at him. He noticed that her eyes looked intelligent and sharp and he liked that she had long fringe swept to the side such that it didn’t conceal her features.

He always never really understood why girls paid so much attention to makeup and all that but chose to cover half their face with their hair.

“Pardon?” Sehun coughed, realizing that the pause dragged on a little too long that it was teetering on awkward.

“Math club?” The girl repeated, pointing at the booth behind her.

The automatic grimace must have been pretty obvious because the girl laughed immediately. “Math club isn’t that bad, I assure you.” She chuckled. Sehun noticed she had a really nice laugh.

“For you perhaps.” Sehun rubbed the back of his neck. “I at math or anything to do with numbers. To avoid overspending, I used to only bring 5000 won our everyday because I had no idea how to count how much was my expenditure.” He had no idea why he added that last part. What a loser, he blushed.

She didn’t think the same way apparently, because she laughed away, her eyes twinkling when she smiled. “You can join the math club even if you’re not good at it!” she assured. “Some of the better seniors help the others and have private tutoring sessions. You can think of it as a....a free tutoring session!” she grinned at him. “Can’t say no to free stuff right?”

Sehun couldn’t help the smile that graced his lips. “You drive a hard bargain.” He teased. “Maybe you should go for debate society since you’re so good at persuasion.”

The girl snorted once as she laughed. Sehun found it endearing and fresh. “What matters most is whether this persuasion is working.” She raised her brows. “So is it?”

Sehun bit his lip. Math....was not something he wanted to spend afternoons doing. Especially not out of his own voluntary action. “To be honest I’m just here because I want to find the dance society.” He admitted sheepishly. “And I’m kind of lost in this big hall.”

“Seems like math skills aren’t the only thing you lack huh.” The girl chuckled, walking back to the booth to retrieve the map of the exhibition hall. “You also lack directional skills.”

“Nobody’s perfect.” Sehun protested. He winked at her and flicked his hair dramatically. “Maybe that’s why I was blessed with extra good looks and physique as a compensation.”

He managed to make her laugh once more and he prided himself in it. “Alright alright I can see that you’re not interested in the club. Won’t hold it against you, not many people are.” She muttered, and Sehun could sense slight disappointment in her tone. She checked the map for a few moments before pointing to the right.

“I think the dance society booth is around there. Check out for the booth with most people crowded in front of it, I think that’s why you missed it before.” She offered.

Offering a genuine friendly smile, Sehun nodded. “Thanks a lot. My name is Sehun by the way.” He offered his hand, which she accepted. “Sunmi.” She grinned. “Kim Sunmi.”

She reached for one of their Math club flyers and shoved it in his hand. “As an act of gratitude, wouldn’t you promote our club to your friends?”

Sehun nodded and pocketed the slip of paper. “Sure thing. But don’t expect me to appear though.” He warned. The girl, Sunmi, wrinkled her nose at him cutely and pretended to huff. “Oh I’d be scandalized if you turned up.”

She gave a final smile before turning her attention to her newest victim, channelling all her energy in promoting her beloved club. Sehun watched her for a few more seconds before dragging his feet off to sign up for dance.

He was oddly aware of the weight of the flyer in his pocket.

 

-----

 

“What are you looking at?” Kai peered at Sehun curiously after coming out of the shower. Sehun was caught staring at a piece of paper with a thoughtful expression on his face, which really heightened Kai’s curiosity. He snatched the paper from his best friend’s hands and scanned it quickly.

“The Math Club?” Kai’s face contorted. He felt the same way about math as Sehun did, often failing in his math classes. “You’re thinking of joining the Math Club?”

Sehun snatched it back and straightened out the creases. “Do you want to? Join it with me, I mean.” He shrugged. “It might be fun.”

Kai stared at Sehun for a few minutes, dumbfounded. “You’re bewitched aren’t you?” he asked blatantly. “You’re not the Sehun I always knew. Math, dude! You’re talking about math! You’re positively crazy.” He shook his head.

Sehun stared at the flyer for a few moments more before sighing and crumpling it into a ball. “You’re right. I’m crazy.” He muttered. He couldn’t believe he actually considered joining the said club. Goodness. Was it just so he could see her again?

Sehun shook his head. Well he did need help in math....

“Anyway if I haven’t told you before, Minhee’s best friend is in the Math Club as well.” Kai’s voice was muffled as he dried his hair with the towel. “Maybe if you go you’ll meet her.”

“Oh.” Sehun murmured, disinterested.”Maybe.”

Kai turned, eying his best friend with narrowed eyes. “From your voice I can tell you have already forgotten her name. I repeated her name to you so many times dude!”

Sehun puffed out his chest. “I remember!” he protested, fibbing along the way. “Do you think I’m so dumb that I can’t remember three characters?” Well yes, because he could only remember Minhee’s best friend’s surname was Kim and other than that, blank.

Kai snorted. He didn’t believe a word Sehun said. “Well since you’re so smart, I’m not going to remind you. Next time when I introduce you to her for real, I’m going to leave you waddling in a pool of awkwardness as you try to cough out her name.” He warned.

“I told you I remember!” Sehun lied, huffing. Kai would slip up some time. He was sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Sunmi.

Strange that he couldn’t remember the name Kai mentioned even though it was repeated a few dozen times, but he could remember this name after just once.

The said girl was sitting at the end of a row of the lecture theatre, reading a book leisurely while waiting for the other students to stream in and for the lecture to start. Sehun bit back a smile at the coincidence.

He had decided to take a module out of his home faculty and decided that Sociology sounded quite interesting. He never once expected her to be there as well, which was just as well because he knew not a single other soul in the entire lecture hall.

“So you like words as well as numbers. Should have known.”

Sunmi jumped, shooting her gaze up in surprise. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, but her lips quickly quirked into a smile. “It’s you!” she laughed softly. “Should have known, from the sarcasm.”

Sehun grinned and slipped into the seat next to hers. “The name is Sehun, if you have already forgotten. You can call me Sehun the great if it rocks your boat.”

“I remember.” Sunmi hummed. “Both you and your big ego.” She teased.

It made him feel more happy than appropriate that she remembered his name. Strange, really, because it shouldn’t come as a surprise. It wasn’t anything to do with Sehun, but Sunmi looked like the type to not forget a  single bit of information presented to her in the 24 hours a day because she was just so intellectual.

“I didn’t know you were majoring in Sociology.” Sehun commented, although Sunmi did look like she would be good at it. She looked like she would be good at everything, really. “I’m not actually.” Sunmi shook her head. “I’m in a double degree programme for both Chemical Engineering and Statistics. Math, you know.”

Sehun positively gagged. “I never thought you were the Sociology kind of guy either.” Sunmi clicked her tongue.

“I’m not. I’m in sports management.” Sehun straightened his shoulders, flashing her a killer smile. Sunmi snorted. “To fit the hunk image right? What did I expect?”

The two of them laughed softly and smiled at each other. Just then, the lecture tapped on the mike and started talking, cutting them off from further conversation.

But both were glad that they had each other. Not that they would admit it of course.

 

-----

 

Two hours later found Sehun and Sunmi in the cafeteria, grabbing their lunch. Kai was out on a date with Minhee (again), and Sunmi said her roomie was out with her boyfriend so that left the two of them together. Lonely souls.

Despite their differences, where one of them clearly loved fun and the other preferred serious reading on a Saturday afternoon, the two of them clicked.

Sehun’s humour and wit worked extra hard as he tried to make as many jokes as possible, making Sunmi laugh almost every other sentence. He just liked hearing her cute giggles.

The impressive thing about the intellectual lady was that she had the wit to make applause-worthy comebacks every single time Sehun said something. They might be different, but they got along well together, that couldn’t be denied.

When it came to the end of their lunch, Sehun was surprisingly reluctant to see her go. He wanted to be around her for a bit longer. He asked if she had any lessons after, hoping that she didn’t and they could pop over to the cafe near their school for desserts or something.

“I don’t have lessons but it’s the first orientation session for Math Club.” Sunmi told him, hugging her laptop. “You can come if you want to you know?” she asked jokingly, knowing he would say no.

Sehun gave her an exaggerated grimace. “Hmm well I knew it. I must get going now, it was nice seeing you Sehun.” Sunmi beamed at him. “Sit together next lecture?”

“Sure.” Sehun stared at her lips. He decided he liked her smile as much as the sound of her laugh. Now he really didn’t want to leave.

Sunmi gave him an awkward wave and turned to leave. She walked on a few steps before realizing that she wasn’t alone; Sehun was walking along side with her. She blinked in surprise and stared at him for a moment. “Aren’t you going back to the dorm? It’s the other way.” She pointed, thinking that he lost his way again.

“Uh. No I’m walking this way. I’m going to grab a drink from the vending machine. There’s one somewhere ahead.” He fibbed. No, he had no idea where the vending machines were located. The campus was huge how would he know?

Sunmi didn’t consider that, but she did think of something else. “But I thought there are vending machines in the lounges at the dorms.” She pointed out.

Crap. Sehun rubbed the back of his neck as he quickly thought of a comeback. “There’s this particular flavour I want that’s out of stock back at the boys’ dorm.” He quickly covered up.

Sunmi smiled in amusement. “Must be some nice flavour if you’re willing to walk so far to get it.”

Hell yeah, if it existed. Sehun sighed softly to himself and wondered what the hell he was doing.

 They walked on together towards the clubroom where the orientation session was to be held. Along the way, Sehun savoured every minute of their interaction and idly wondered where Sunmi had been all his life. They should definitely have met earlier because they really got along.

His thoughts were disturbed when a tall, rather dashing guy stopped in his tracks to say hi to Sunmi. They talked for a few moments with Sehun waiting impatiently at the side for them to finish.

He looked the guy from top to toe and secretly scoffed. Not that good looking anyways, and that guy had a nasal voice, he observed. A very irritating voice if he could say so himself.

When Sunmi was FINALLY done talking to her friend (which wasn’t very long at all), Sehun was already bouncing with irritation. Something flared at his chest when he considered the possibility of that guy being romantically related to Sunmi.

He hadn’t considered this but...what if Sunmi already had a soulmate?

Not that it was his business or anything but...well a girl as fine as her had to have a good man. He would be the judge of that guy’s character if she ever had one, he decided.

“So..who is that?” Sehun tried to ask as casually as possible. He was dying to know what colour her gem was, but it wasn’t something you could ask so casually in a random conversation. He was so desperate to know that he even felt a little suffocated.

Sunmi twisted her lip. “Hm that’s just a senior from camp. I’m not very close to him.”

Sehun immediately let out a long breath, the weird feeling in his chest immediately disappearing. It was as if he could suddenly breathe freely again. “Oh I see.” He murmured happily.

He noticed Sunmi looking a little uncomfortable, and he stopped, raising his brows. “Is anything wrong? You look a little green.”

Sunmi took a deep breath and let it out with . She smiled at him and shook her head. “I’m fine now. I just didn’t know why I felt a little suffocated back there. Must have been the heat.”

“Hm.” Sehun frowned in concern. “Maybe you should go back to rest and skip this orientation thin-“ he trailed off at her look and guffawed. “Oh yes miss perfect I know you won’t miss Math Club for whatever reasons. Don’t roll your eyes so much, maybe they would stay in that awkward position for the rest of your life.” He flicked her forehead.

He faltered slightly after he did that. He never did it with any of his female friends and he didn’t initiate physical contact ever, even if just a short, brief one.

Sunmi didn’t notice. “Oh there’s no scientific proof for that, Sehun. If you ever want to bring up an argument, always give evidence.” She wagged her finger.

She stopped in front of a door and lingered. “So...I’m here. Thanks for walking with me and hope you find that vending machine soon.” She teased.

She entered the room where a bunch of chairs were arranged in a circle and a few other members where there, sitting. It was basically an interaction session with the other Math Club members to get to know each other better.

She saw a nice looking girl a decided to sit down next to her, offering a friendly smile. The girl however, looked distracted at what was behind Sunmi, and the next moment, Sunmi heard the scraping sound of the chair against the floor beside her.

She snapped her head around, and to her utter surprise, Sehun sat down next to her. Her jaw dropped ever so slightly and she gaped for a good few moments. “Sehun?” she squeaked. “What are you doing here? It’s the Math Club orientation session.” She reminded as though he forgot. “The Math Club.” She emphasized.

Sehun avoided her eyes and buried his face in his hands. “I know. I must be crazy.” He groaned.

He peeked out at her through his fingers and chuckled behind his hands. “So it’s your responsibility to make sure I don’t regret, okay?”

Sunmi still looked shell-shocked while the females in the room were positively swooning. After calming herself down, Sunmi looked like she was struggling to keep the wide grin from her lips.

“You’re not going to regret.” She promised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After several weeks, it was apparent that Sehun wasn’t one of the prized Math Club members that could be sent to Math Olympiad competitions. Fluffing and pretending did him no use any longer and everyone knew his math skills. Or the lack of.

He was quite the worst member in the entire club, honestly. There were other weaker members but still they were above average.

It didn’t take long for the president of the math club to instruct Sehun to pick one of the more experienced seniors to tutor him.

“Please?” Sehun pleaded.

Sunmi frowned and shook her head. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but I’m not exactly qualified to tutor you.” She pointed out. She was a first-year like him and had no experience either. “Besides, there are other more experienced seniors around here that can help you with your math.”

“Like Lee Gura for example.” Sunmi pointed to a nerdy girl that was completely focused on her sums.

Sehun shuddered. He turned to face Sunmi and put on the best pout he could master. “But Sunmi...I only want you.” He whined.

Sunmi pinked considerably and Sehun noticed a few heads turning at his comment. He quickly realized how wrong it sounded and cleared his throat in embarrassment. “I mean, as my tutor. I want you as my tutor.” He clarified.

“You and I meet for sociology as well, so we can study both math and sociology together.” He bargained. “Study partners.” He nudged her with his elbow, noting how the area of contact immediately heated up. “Hm?”

Sunmi sighed and looked at him once more and Sehun pouted some more. She narrowed her eyes. “You do know that pouting makes you look gay right?”

“But it’s working?” Sehun murmured, amused.

Sunmi closed her eyes and her body sagged, relenting. “Yes alright.”

“YOU’RE THE BEST!” Sehun cheered unflinchingly, while throwing his arms around her for a big teddy bear hug.

 

-----

 

“You’re studying a whole lot these days.” Kai observed as Sehun packed up his books for a “study session” once more. Fifth consecutive day of the week.

Sehun avoided Kai’s pointed stare as he fiddled with arranging his books. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Kai twisted his lips. “It is. But coming from you....it’s strange.” He commented. “So who’s the girl?”

Sehun blinked, snapping his head toward Kai in shock. “What made you think there’s a girl?” his voice was uptight.

“You just gave me an example of why.” Kai smirked drily. “Who is it? I can’t believe you made friends without me. Come on, tell me. I’m your best friend, I deserve to know.”

Sehun sighed and raked his fingers through his head, finally relenting. Well yes, Kai was his best friend. They never kept anything from each other. “She’s just this girl I met at the fair. She’s just tutoring math, honest.” He raised both his hands up innocently.

Kai blinked for a moment before he finally connected the dots. “So that’s why you even considered joining Math Club!” he clapped his hands. “Are you sure you’re only studying? I highly doubt you have the stamina to read for 5 hours straight every single day.” He muttered suspiciously.

Sehun puffed his chest indignantly. “Hey! It’s true okay?” It was. Sunmi had the flair of simply turning things into magic. He never lost concentration throughout the time she tutored him, except for a few when he dazed off, just staring at her lips forming the words.

He picked up his bag and headed for the door with Kai following straight behind. “Does she have soulmate yet?” Kai asked quietly.

Sehun halted, his fingers digging into the door handle. “I...haven’t asked her about it yet.” He murmured guiltily.

Kai sighed and patted Sehun’s shoulder. “If she does, don’t go too close to her. If she hasn’t met him yet...don’t get too close either. You don’t want to spoil things between them. I trust you know what to do.”

Sehun gave a nod and darted out of the door as quickly as possible. The conversation was suffocating him.

 

-----

 

It made him think though. Did Sunmi have a soulmate yet?

Not that it matters but...he would really like to know. Of course, he reasoned to himself, if she already had a soulmate he would then force himself to distance himself from her because he didn’t want her soulmate to be jealous or anything.

But if she was still single...

The thought made Sehun smile. Maybe he could linger around her for a little while longer.

However he still didn’t know if she had met her soulmate yet, and he was determined to find out. Which was why, after four intensive hours of math drilling later, Sehun finally tried popped the curious question while Sunmi and him were chilling at a cafe.

“So uh, what are your plans for the weekend?”  Sehun asked casually, sipping on his straw a little too deliberately.

Sunmi didn’t notice. She tapped her chin as she counted the things she had to do. “Hm, I have to finish that Sociology assignment that was given out yesterday...and I have to revise the few lectures I missed plus-“

“So you’re not intending to go out?” Sehun asked interestedly. “No...date with your boyfriend or whoever...”

Sunmi dipped her head, in what Sehun imagined as adorable shyness. “I d-don’t have a boyfriend.”

Sehun’s mood brightened, but he was surprised to find that a small part of him felt traumatized. He had no idea why. That didn’t seem to make sense but Sehun thought the feeling didn’t come from him.

He had no idea why he could feel it.

“You...haven’t met your soulmate yet?” Sehun pushed his distracting thoughts aside and focused on the issue at hand. He was surprised that with that question, a surge of grief rushed through him and he blinked.

Where did that come from? He most certainly didn’t imagine that up.

“I...uh haven’t.” Sunmi played with her fingers, still not looking up. Sehun took a few moments before realizing the strange emotions that he could feel might have come from Sunmi.

Which was utterly impossible and not to mention strange. Why would he be able to feel her emotions when they weren’t connected? His soulmate was dead.

There was no such thing as a second soulmate in life, was there?

Whether or not the grief and the trauma originated from Sunmi, what mattered the most at that moment was that 1. YES SHE WAS STILL GREEN! And 2. She looked seriously upset.

Sehun moved closer to her and lowered his head to look at her face. “Hey hey. What’s wrong?” he tipped her head up by her chin. “You don’t need to look so sad. Many people haven’t met their soulmates yet too. 19 isn’t too late.”

Sunmi forced a smile. “Well when I see how sweet my roommate and her soulmate are...sometimes it’s just hard to deal with it.” She admitted.

Boy could Sehun understand. Kai didn’t show his affections much but he and Minhee were very much in love. Sometimes Sehun couldn’t help but feel envious especially with the fact that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of that for the rest of his life.

“I understand.” He patted her head. “But it’s okay.” For you. “Because he will appear some time soon.”

He held out a pinky and beamed at her. “Promise me that when your gem turns orange, you’ll tell me?”

Sunmi considered this for a while before laughing softly. “Likewise.” She hooked her pinky with his.

Sehun smiled even larger. Even if it didn’t change his status as a single man for the rest of his life, it did feel better to have some warning beforehand so that he could distance himself from Sunmi when the time came.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Why must I tag along?” Sehun whined. “I don’t mind going to the amusement park but this seems like a double date. I don’t even know the girl for goodness sakes.”

“It’s not a double date, silly.” Kai murmured while checking his hair in the mirror. “We’ve been putting off this meeting for too long. I want my best friend to meet Minhee’s best friend, is it that hard?”

Sehun sighed. He didn’t mind meeting the girl but just..maybe a short hi would have been enough. A whole day at the amusement park with the loveliest couple? No. Not unless the other girl was Sunmi.

“After all when Minhee and I get married you’re going to be the groomsman while she’s going to be the bridesmaid. It’s good to get to know each other early so it won’t be awkward.” Kai further persuaded.

Sehun’s eyes widened. “Are you already thinking of marriage? That’s...fast.” he blurted. Kai smirked and shook his head. “Obviously not now, but Minhee and I got to get married someday. My groomsman is definitely you.” He winked. “And besides, you like the amusement park. I’ll treat you popcorn.” He grinned.

“Did you think that I, Oh Sehun, would be tempted by mere popcorn?” Sehun huffed in displeasure.

Kai laughed. “Oh definitely.”

-----

Kai was right.

Sehun found himself munching on the yellow snack with a grimace while standing in front of the Lotte World gates. He wasn’t that interested in meeting Minhee’s best friend though. If he had the choice, he would have chosen to join Sunmi on their study date.

He tapped his feet impatiently, causing Kai to shoot him a warning look. After what felt like a thousand years of waiting, Minhee finally appeared. “Jong In!” she beamed, running up to Kai with shining eyes.

Kai broke into a gentle smile as he pulled her to his side, kissing the top of her head. “Hey you.” He murmured affectionately. He removed his attention from his soulmate with much difficulty and nodded at Minhee’s best friend. “Hey.”

“Hi Kai.” She looked amused at the couple’s display of affection. Her eyes trailed over to the guy standing beside her best friend’s boyfriend, and her eyes widened immediately. Jaws dropping, she gaped at him, totally not expecting the scenario. “Sehun?”

Sehun wore a similar expression, his heart skipping a beat at the sight of her. “Sunmi!” he was sure his eyes lit up like a lightbulb just then. “Why are you...” he looked between Minhee and Sunmi, his gaze darting to and fro a couple times. “Oh my god!”

“Indeed.” Sunmi laughed at the coincidence. “I never expected Kai’s best friend to be you.” She smiled, shaking her head in disbelief.

Sehun nodded, suddenly feeling ten times better than before. He was going to Lotte world with Sunmi. Hell yeah!

Kai and Minhee watched the exchange with newfound curiosity. “You two know each other?” they echoed in unison.

Sehun grinned back at Kai cheekily. The latter eyed the familiarity between Sunmi and Sehun, meeting Sehun’s eyes. And then he realized.

Sunmi was that girl, the Math Club girl. Holy .

-----

“I’m so glad it’s you, honestly.” Sehun heaved a dramatic sigh of relief. “I can’t imagine spending the whole day with a girl I don’t know.”

Sunmi laughed and nudged his shoulders. “Well then, you owe me one.”

Sehun’s eyes widened and he gaped at her. “Well hello, I’m the one gracing you with my presence today.” He gestured to himself grandly. “Everyone wants a piece of this hot bod and you’re the lucky girl today. Must have been good karma.” He winked.

Sunmi burst into laughter and shoved him. “You at flirting, Sehun.”

Offended, Sehun grabbed Sunmi’s arm as she tried to escape from him. “Yah! You’re insulting my manliness! I’m the GOD of flirting okay?” he huffed. “How can you say that? You broke my heart. Now I have to have yours.”

“OH GOSH!” Sunmi crumbled into peals of laughter. “That was the worst pick up line I’ve ever-“

“Do you have a sunburn? Or are you always this hot?” Sehun pretended to gape. Sunmi stifled her laugh. “Sehun, I’ve always been fair-“

“Do you know where I stay?” Sehun kept up quickly.

Sunmi frowned. “You stay at the dorm with-“

“Nope I stay in your heart.” Sehun winked, inwardly cheering when Sunmi giggled again. “Can I follow you home? Because  my Dad always told me to follow my dreams.”

“What’s so funny?” Kai raised his brow, having finally returned from buying drinks. Sehun shrugged, sending a wink in Sunmi’s direction as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. “Secret.” Sehun stuck out his tongue childishly.

He pulled Sunmi by the wrist. “We’ll be taking the merry-go-round now. Meet you guys here again three hours later.” He announced grandly. Sunmi blinked, not having any chance to react before she was dragged off by the enthusiastic Sehun.

She looked back at Minhee who was at a loss. “Why are you hesitating? Come on!” Sehun slung his arm around Sunmi’s shoulders, causing her to forget everything she wanted to say.

When she opened to protest, she caught sight of Sehun’s bright smile and decided it didn’t matter. “Let’s go for the roller coaster after that.”

Sehun’s grin widened and he pulled her closer. “Whatever you want.”

-----

Kai was worried. Very very worried.

The look Sehun had in his eyes when he looked at Sunmi was a look he had never seen, in all 19 years he had known Sehun. He was very aware of that look, because it was the exact look he had in his eyes when he looked at Minhee.

However who was Minhee? She was his soulmate.

But who was Sunmi? Definitely not Sehun’s soulmate.

Kai knew that it was normal to crush on someone even when that person wasn’t your soulmate, because that’s how people are. However the fact was that no matter how much one seemed to like their crush, it would dim in comparison to the raging passion one would feel for their soulmate.

Kai knew of people around them that dated people before they met their soulmate. However whatever feelings they had for their dates would diminish upon meeting their soulmate.

What Kai was worried about was that Sehun had no soulmate. So maybe Sehun falls in love with Sunmi, they date. And then?

What would happen when Sunmi finally meets her soulmate? What would happen to Sehun then?

He didn’t want to believe it, but watching Sehun, it was clear. Sehun was falling for Sunmi. Fast. Hard.

He sighed softly as he watched Sehun ruffle Sunmi’s hair affectionately while laughing together with her. They looked perfect together.

But maybe not in this world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Be careful.”

Sehun sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. “I told you Kai, nothing will go wrong, I’m fine-“

“No you are not.” Kai insisted. “Even if you’re alright now, how about when Sunmi’s soulmate decides to appear in her life? You will definitely not be alright then.”

Sehun swallowed. “Kai-“

“You’re falling in love with her, Sehun.” Kai groaned frustratedly. “You’re getting too attached. What are you going to do-”

“I’m not falling in love.” Sehun insisted, more of a conviction to himself than an actual fact.

“Not yet, but soon.” Kai commented knowingly. “Control yourself. Avoid her. Do whatever you have to do, because I don’t want to see you hurt again. Please.”

Sehun tightened his fists and bit his lip. “Alright.”

-----

Even so, he couldn’t take it.

He tried to tell himself to stay away, rationalizing with Kai’s voice in his head, but when he saw her stepping down from a bus that day, he couldn’t. He couldn’t stay away.

“Hey.” Sehun tapped her shoulder.

“Hey Sehun.” Sunmi murmured lethargically. He was immediately attracted to the dark circles under her eyes and not to mention the redness of them. She had been crying.

The realization hit him harder than it should have and he stopped in his tracks. “Hey. What’s wrong?” he found himself cradling her face with his hands before he could stop himself. “Where did you come from? Did something happen?”

Sunmi sniffled and shook her head, forcing a smile. “It’s not a big deal, Sehun. I’m fine now so...”

He gazed at her for a moment before grabbing her hand. “Come with me.” He interlocked their fingers. She stared at their fingers in slight awe, distracted enough for him to successfully pull her away to a corner in the yard.

He sat her down on the bench and gazed at her wordlessly for a few moments, before reaching to take her hand. “Hey, you know I’m here for you right? What’s wrong? Where did you come from?” he frowned. “Don’t lie to me that there’s nothing wrong because I can tell you’re upset. In fact I can feel you.”

The last part was 100% correct. He felt the grief radiating from her in strong waves.

“It’s nothing much really.” Sunmi wiped at her eyes embarrassedly. “It happened so long ago, when I was 8, but it still affects me every year. Today is my grandmother’s death anniversary.” She murmured.

Sehun’s hands tightened around hers, nodding at her to go on. “When I was young, my grandmother brought me up most of the times because my parents were at work so I was really close with her. I still remember the day when it happened. I waited at the kindergarten for hours and hours for her to turn up to take me home, but no one came.”

Sehun bit his lip and sighed, knowing what was coming. “No one picked up the phone at home and I could only wait. It wasn’t until my parents came to pick  me up after that I knew, my grandmother had a heart attack. A fatal one.”

A tear trailed down her cheek. “It happened a long time ago but it doesn’t make her someone I treasure less. I still miss her somedays. May 14^th has always been a sensitive date.” She confessed. She wiped at her cheek and blushed embarrassedly. “I’m stupid aren’t I? Wasting tears on this when I should be studying for that mid term test...”

“Come here.” Sehun guided her head to his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back soothingly. At Sehun’s warmth and gentleness, Sunmi felt her barriers crushing down and tears leaked out of her eyes. She sobbed into Sehun’s shoulder while he held her, every minute of the way.

At that very moment, seeing Sunmi’s tearful expression and being very aware of the defensiveness and protectiveness that rose within him, Sehun knew.

He was in love with Sunmi, every sense of the word. Soulmate or not, he was utterly utterly in love with her.

-----

Sehun paced around in his room, his mind in a whirl. He couldn’t deny it any longer.

Sehun never thought that he would fall for anyone else other than his soulmate, but then again he had never considered moving on from the loss of her.

He loved her, so so much, even before meeting her. It pained him that he didn’t even have a chance to know her name, and that “her” was the only thing he could use to label her in his mind.

He always thought people with black gems were doomed to a life of loneliness, and it was apparently so. He didn’t know anyone around him with black gems that managed to find another person to love.

Was he going against the rules? The rules didn’t state anything about falling in love if you had a black gem. So if your soulmate passed on....what should one do?

Sehun only ever grieved her loss, but now he realized a whole lifetime of grief wasn’t how he wanted to spend his life. Sure, she would always hold a special place in his heart, but he couldn’t deny that Sunmi too held an equally special place now.

The realization hit him so hard that he almost wanted to rush out of his room right then, grab a loudspeaker and to announce it to the world. His whole body, whole being was tingling with excitement.

The one thing that was holding him back was that Sunmi still hadn’t met her soulmate. This meant that even if he confessed, even if she liked him back, even if they started dating and fate was nice enough to give them a couple years together....once her gem turned to orange and then to red, everything she felt with him would be nothing compared to her real soulmate.

There were people who dated others before meeting their soulmates, but Sehun knew Sunmi wasn’t one of those people. She was a one-man-in-her-entire-life kind of girl.

The magnitude of what he felt for her was beyond what he felt for his soulmate when she was alive. Perhaps it was because he had been rather young before, and perhaps it was because he only loved the imagery he created of her in his mind since he hadn’t actually met her..the truth was that Sehun knew he was in danger of giving more of his heart to Sunmi than what was left after his soulmate passed.

And if one day Sunmi had to leave him for her own happiness....he really wasn’t sure if he would make it out alive.

 

 

 

 

 

The next few weeks were a struggle between the brain and heart. Some days, Sehun made it a point to avoid Sunmi as best as he could, but others, he sought her out because he missed her too badly.

Kai was adamant about Sehun avoiding Sunmi at all costs, because he didn’t want his best friend hurt. However when his girlfriend, Minhee, pleaded for the four of them to have lunch together, he really couldn’t say no.

That was how the four of them were found sitting together at one table, having the most tensed lunch Kai had. The worst thing was that he had to put up a front as if nothing was wrong because Minhee had completely no idea what was going on.

Minhee was chatting animatedly with Sunmi, while Sehun was just out rightly staring at Sunmi with a soft affectionate smile. Kai nudged Sehun, hissing under his breath for the latter to stop what he was doing. What an embarrassment really!

Sehun was too engrossed at watching Sunmi chew to notice anything, which made Kai want to grab his hair in annoyance. GOSH. How dense! “SEHUN!” he growled.

All three others at the table jumped in surprise, and Kai immediately knew he lost control. “What happened?” Minhee blinked. “Why did you shout?”

Kai rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “No I just wanted to ask Sehun if I could have some of his kimchi.” He reached over and stuffed a few pieces in his mouth. Sehun gazed at him inquiringly and Kai whispered fiercely under his breath. “You were staring you idiot.”

Sehun harrumphed, shrugging as if it was no big deal. “It happens. When you’re in love.”

Kai winced. “Yes I know. But I wish you could use more effort to make yourself un-love her.” He hissed back. Sehun didn’t comment, just chewing on his rice thoughtfully.

“What are the two of you talking about?” Sunmi looked at them curiously.

Sehun shook his head. “Nope I was just trying to persuade Kai to join the Math Club as well but you know him, he’s lazy and dumb. He doesn’t want to.” He snickered at Kai who was appalled at the accusations thrown in his way.

Sunmi’s eyes lighted up at the mention of Math Club. “Are you sure you don’t want to join, Kai?” she beamed at him. “I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds you can ask Sehun! There are math pop quizzes and it’s really fun, and you’ll actually find some use for the math concepts you learnt in real life! Which is totally amazing because....”

Sehun didn’t take in anything else after that because he was too focused on staring at her face. Gosh, he loved when she went into one of her passionate intellectual bursts. She was so adorable.

His eyes narrowed down to a tiny microscopic crumb at the corner of her lip, that was absolutely invisible to anyone unless you were looking hard enough. His thumb reached out to brush it away out of instinct.

The moment his thumb came into contact with her bottom lip, a shiver passed down his spine and he swallowed, aware of how much he wanted to kiss her and hoping feverishly that he wasn’t showing on his face.

Sunmi stopped talking, her cheeks taking on a pleasant shade of pink. “W-whaa?”

“There was a crumb.” Sehun cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes. “You can continue talking.” He gestured.

Kai mentally smacked himself and inwardly sighed. There was no helping was there? His friend was beyond hope.

“Actually, erm I’m done.” Sunmi muttered sheepishly, keeping her eyes to her rice as well.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Sehun that her finger went to touch the side of her lip where his thumb had been noticed ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 16^th, Sehun decided to take action. It was Sunmi’s birthday and ironically, it was also one of the dates where Sehun had kept note of when he was 11. His soulmate’s mood was always happy on that date.

Sunmi had gone home for a birthday dinner with her family, which left the entire afternoon for Sehun to prepare himself for what he was about to do that night. Kai tried to dissuade him off it more than ten times daily but Sehun just wouldn’t budge.

He had decided, and he would do it.

At 10:30 sharp, the Kim family car rolled back into their driveway and everyone got off. Sehun hid behind a tree, watching intently for that short few moments where Sunmi got off the car and into the house.

He thought his heart stopped beating when he saw her; she looked absolutely beautiful. In her simple white flowy dress and small diamond hair clip, she looked like a goddess. It only affirmed what he wanted to do a few hours later.

He waited outside the house for a good two hours more, waiting till all the lights went out and everything seemed relatively quiet. Only then, did Sehun finally start ascending the walls.

Intruding a girl’s room in the middle of the night wasn’t exactly what was approved by parents, but he doubted that Sunmi’s parents would let him near her either if they knew what he was going to do. The girl had a life with her soulmate in front of her and Sehun wasn’t just going to complicate things.

He didn’t care though, he wanted to grab hold of any chance he had with her even if it only lasted a few days.

With much difficulty, Sehun finally scaled the walls and stopped outside Sunmi’s bedroom’s windows. Whoever wrote the books about boys climbing walls to meet their girlfriends clearly never did so themselves. It definitely wasn’t easy.

Sehun could see Sunmi laying on her bed, typing away on her phone, presumably replying her numerous birthday messages. He bit his lip, taking a deep breath, before giving the window a firm knock.

----

Sunmi frowned, trying to come up with a decent reply to her birthday messages when she heard the knock. For a moment she froze, wondering where the sound came from, when it came again. This time louder.

Her eyes shot the source of the noise and she literally, yes I meant literally, fell out of bed. She landed on her with a loud thud, which caused Sehun to scrape at the windows frantically lest she was hurt. “Are you okay?” she could see him mouth.

Sunmi got up quickly with as much dignity as she could muster and threw the windows open. “Are you crazy?” she whispered, aware that her family was now asleep. “What are you doing here?”

Sehun climbed through the window and landed with a soft thud. He grinned his signature goofy smile which she had grown to love and held out a small bouquet of roses. “Happy birthday, Sunmi.” His voice was sincere, and full of warmth.

Sunmi felt many things at once. Touched, definitely, but also definitely elated and flattered. This was the first time a boy scaled a wall just to wish her a happy birthday. And not to mention, she was very much embarrassed to be standing in her loose, baggy pullover as well as her pyjamas shorts. How very underdressed.

“You didn’t have to do this.” Sunmi took the bouquet, softening. “How long did you wait outside?” she asked curiously.

Sehun just shrugged mysteriously, not wanting to tell her the truth. Two hours before she reached home and two hours after. That sounded like a stalker didn’t it.

“So how was your birthday celebration today?” he asked, settling down on her bed. She took a seat beside him and started telling about her day, gasping and gesturing wildly at some of the surprises from her friends.

The more she talked, the closer they got. Their bodies seemed to gravitate towards each other till their shoulders touched and she leaned against him subconsciously.

“So what was the best and biggest surprise today?” Sehun murmured, gazing at her softly.

Sunmi bit her lip as she considered. “Well I don’t want to boost your ego...but it would definitely be yours.” She smiled. “I never in a thousand years expected that and it’s really sweet. Thank you.” She looked up to meet his eyes.

It was that moment that the mood changed. Both of them fell silent, just staring at each other wordlessly as if taking in the sight as best as they could. Sehun’s gaze fell to her lips and he found he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

Her eyes fluttered close instinctively and Sehun felt a gush of blood to his head. God, she was so beautiful. He leaned closer, pressing his lips to hers.

If there was any more appropriate way to describe how it felt, it was this: home. It literally felt like home, really. Her lips felt like something he had been missing throughout his life all this while, so familiar yet not at all, so sweet and delectable.

His hands moved to cradle her face as he nibbled on her bottom lip, sighing in content. He could kiss her till morning if he wanted to. He placed a million small flutter kisses around her cheeks, and then moved back to her lips with a contented sigh.

Sunmi couldn’t help but lean towards him, her brain ceasing to work as emotions took over. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

She kissed him back timidly, inexperienced and tentative. However his sigh of content made her lose all sort of inhibitions and she kissed him back wholeheartedly, raking her fingers through his hair.

Gosh she loved him so much. If only he was her soulmate, then everything would be perfect...

Her eyes snapped right opened and she jerked back in alarm. Realization hit her and her hands flew to her lips, hiding a gasp. “No!” she gaped, her eyes large. “No no no no nooo-”

“Hey hey hey.” Sehun tried to bring her back to him but she struggled away. He grasped her shoulders to make her look at him. “Don’t freak out. Please?”

Sunmi squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “No you don’t understand, you can’t...your soulmate....”

“No YOU don’t understand.” Sehun held on to Sunmi’s face, begging her to listen with his eyes. “That’s the whole reason why I came tonight. I thought about this every single day, every single second. And I realize I can’t fight it, that’s why I’m going to face it.”

Sunmi swallowed, squeezing her eyes further. She wished her ears had valves too to close them up because she didn’t want to listen to any of the words that Sehun had to say. She didn’t want to know what the sincere, longing look in his eyes meant.

“Hey please look at me, please?” Sehun pleaded, cupping her face. With their struggle, the two of them had somehow sunk onto the ground with Sunmi on Sehun’s lap. Sunmi couldn’t help but open her eyes at Sehun’s tone, but she immediately regretted.

She couldn’t control herself when he looked at her like she was the only woman he loved. She couldn’t handle it, she didn’t have that much tolerance.

“I know that someday, fate will arrange for you to meet your soulmate. I know that when that happens, whatever that has happened before that will seem unimportant, every emotion you have felt will dull in comparison to what you feel for your soulmate.” Sehun whispered. “I know that, I know that very well.”

“But you and I know something has been going on between us right?” Sehun gazed at her imploringly hoping for her to agree. “You can’t possibly deny that. We are attracted to each other, or you wouldn’t have kissed me back.”

“I didn’t...” Sunmi murmured weakly. It was strange seeing miss intellectual lose her ability to speak.

“You did.” Sehun smiled. “You kissed me back. Right here.” He pointed to his lips. Sunmi blushed and squeezed her eyes shut again, covering her face with her hands. “Shut up I don’t want to listen-”

“Okay okay no teasing.” Sehun bit down a smile. “So as I was saying, it’s undeniable. We are attracted to each other. At least for me, I am really really really attracted to you.”

Sunmi sighed. “Sehun...”

“Wait please listen to me.” Sehun grabbed her hands. “I’m saying that I know that you will leave once your gem turns red, I know. But what I’m saying is that I don’t care.”

Sehun sighed. “I’ve fallen too deep to resist, Sunmi. If I can be with you for one day, I’ll have it. One hour, I’ll have it. I’ll take whatever I can.” He gazed at her pleadingly. “I know that when it’s time for you to leave me, I’ll hurt so badly but I don’t care. I love you, Sunmi. Please.”

Sunmi gasped, her eyes widening in surprise.

“NO!” Sunmi pulled away from him sharply, her heart pounding. “You can’t love me, I can’t be with you. I can’t. I’m sorry I really can’t.” She turned to the corner of the room and hugged herself, closing her eyes while taking large breaths.

Oh my god, she nearly lost it. Her body betrayed her, her cheeks blushed out of their own accord. How could she forget the rationale she held on to every single day for the past years? It was her way of survival, she couldn’t give way to her heart.

Sehun tried to reach for her but she escaped his grasp, refusing to look at him. Was he wrong? Did he misread anything?

He thought they had a connection, a connection that was so much stronger than anything he had ever experienced. Sometimes he didn’t know if it was an illusion or not, but he could feel her emotions without her telling him. Maybe that was why he thought they had a connection, stronger than others.

“I love you.” Sehun whispered. “I really really do. Please give me a chance.”

Sunmi closed her eyes tighter. The words made her heart flutter and she willed it to stop beating so quickly. “I’m sorry Sehun. Please just go.”

Sehun’s heart sank, a feeling of disappointment flooding his entire being. Sunmi could almost feel his disappointment and it made her feel more guilty, but she didn’t want to waver after making her decision.

Gazing at her with a heavy heart, Sehun took a step back. “I..I understand.” He muttered weakly. No he didn’t, he didn’t understand. He was sure she felt something for him because he thought there was no mistaking for it. He was willing to risk his heart to pursue her, knowing that when the day came for her to leave him he would be in a total wreck, but he didn’t care because he loved her enough.

Was he not important enough for her to do the same?

Sunmi felt a tear roll down her cheek at the tone in his words and she squeezed her eyes tighter, willing herself not to move an inch. She wanted to run to him to apologize, to tell him her feelings but she couldn’t. She couldn’t risk it.

Sehun stared at Sunmi’s cold back for a long while before finally making a move to the window. He gazed at her longingly with regret and disappointment, the tension thick in the air as his emotions radiated between them.

As he crawled out of the window and balanced himself against the window sill, he called out to her again. “Sorry to have interrupted your night, Sunmi. Happy birthday.”

How could he say that to her when she was so mean to him? His tone was sincere, honest, and completely full of love. How could he still be so lovingly warm to her after what she did?

Sunmi clutched herself tighter and let out a sob. “Wait.” Her voice was sharp. “Don’t go yet.”

Sehun froze, his fingers gripping the window sill tightly as hope rose within him.

“I...I have a confession to make.” Sunmi slowly opened her eyes and stared at the wall in front of her since she couldn’t bear looking at him.

“I can’t accept your feelings...not because I have none for you. I lied.” Sunmi whispered. Sehun’s eyes widened and he climbed back up the window sill, listening intently. He tried to tame the wild emotions that wanted to scream within him as he considered the possibility of her loving him back, trying to concentrate on her soft breathless words.

“I can’t accept your feelings, or let anyone near me because..” Sunmi bit her lip. “Because it’s my defence system. I have to protect myself or else I’ll get hurt.”

Sunmi sighed. “I know you say that you’ll let me go when I find my soulmate, but have you considered what happens if you find yours before that happens? What would happen if it were me to have to let you go?”

Sehun wanted to open his mouth to argue. There wouldn’t be one of those days, because he didn’t have a soulmate any longer. She wasn’t around anymore.

“I’m touched that you love me enough to be willing to risk that heartbreak, but it’s also because I love you too much that I know if I were to live through that heartbreak, I wouldn’t survive.” Sunmi whispered. “Because there wouldn’t be a day where we were both married with our separate spouses and we would look back on our teenage fling with amused smiles on our faces.”

“I can’t get married, Sehun.” Sunmi’s voice was a raw whisper of pain. “I can’t find happiness in love. I love you, and you may say you love me now, but isn’t that all temporary? When you have to leave me, what’s left of me? I don’t think I can stand watching you get married and have kids with your soulmate while I live my life alone, plastering a smile on my face as if everything is alright. I don’t think I can do that.”

Sehun’s feet plopped on the wooden floors of Sunmi’s bedroom softly as he climbed back into her room, his eyes wide with confusion. “What do you mean you can’t find happiness?”

Sunmi sniffled, wiping her tears with the back of her hand roughly. “When I was 11. On 30^th October 2005, I was in an accident. A nearly fatal accident.” She confessed. “I was standing at the side of the road waiting for my dad to come fetch me after school, I remember it was 3pm. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky.”

30^th October 2005, a day he would never forget. Sehun recalled the day he played soccer with the EXO boys when he was 11 and Chanyeol thought he killed him. He winced at the memory of what he considered the toughest day of his life.

“I was just reading a book while I waited, not doing anything much and minding my own business,” Sunmi swallowed. “When a truck suddenly swerved in my direction. He was drunk, he didn’t see me. And he ran me over.”

Sehun took a sharp intake of breath, his eyes widening. How could she not have told him that before.

“The entire truck ran over my before he crashed into the walls of my school.” Sunmi shivered at the memory. “I was lucky to have been so small sized that I fitted under his truck, but that didn’t prevent the truck from hauling me with it and puncturing my lungs.”

No way. Sehun thought back to that piercing pain he felt in his chest before he passed out on the soccer field that fateful day.

“I was still lying under the truck when passerbys tried to pull be out.” Sunmi recalled, biting her lip. “I couldn’t register much around me, because the pain was overwhelming. It was the most horrific and painful experience in my life, it still is. There was no way of describing what the pain felt like except for one word: death.”

The description him hard. It was..exactly how he felt.

Sunmi took a deep breath before carrying on. “I was in a coma for more than two months. The doctor said I stopped breathing for almost two minutes, and they were almost about to declare me dead. It was a miracle I survived because I definitely crossed the gates of death. I didn’t know how I made it back.”

Sunmi wringed her fingers and sighed. “But that’s not the point. What the point is, Sehun, is that with that accident that caused me to be technically dead for that two minutes...it changed my fate.” She shook her head regretfully. “My gem turned black, because I died. I have no idea whether my soulmate is dead or alive, but even if he is alive, he would have thought I was dead.”

“How can I find him? I can’t.” Sunmi’s voice was full of pain. “The gem was supposed to bring me to him but now it can’t. I can’t ever find my happiness ever, so you see why I can’t be with you? You still stand a chance at happiness, but not with me. I can’t stand watching you leave so don’t give me any hope. Just live your life with whoever that lucky girl is, and I will watch from the sidelines, giving you my blessings.”

Sunmi let out a huge breath after her little speech. She never told anyone what happened to her, and only Minhee and her family knew. Even her relatives had no idea.

She kept this secret in her heart for 8 full years, bearing the burden herself. When she was young, she believed that she could still find her soulmate even if her gem turned black. However when she got older, she knew better. How could she know it was him? The world was huge, where could he be?

She really hoped Sehun understood her point of view and still remained friends with her after this because she really really liked him. She fiddled with her fingers for a long time, listening to the silence of the night and slowly turning insecure.

She desperately searched her memory of the past few minutes of when Sehun last made a noise, but she couldn’t remember. What if he wasn’t around anymore? The last time he made any noise was a long time ago, what if he already left?

Had she just poured her heart out to thin air?

Before she could turn around to ascertain the fact, two strong arms came to wrap themselves around her thin waist and she found herself being pressed against a sturdy wide chest. Sehun didn’t speak, burying his face in the crook of her neck, his hug tightening as he took deep breaths.

Sunmi didn’t understand. His reaction puzzled her. Why did he look even more affected than her when it was her past she just described, and not his?

To her horror, she felt moisture at the back of her neck and she belatedly realized where it came from.

Sehun was crying. The cheerful, playful, strong-willed guy she had fallen in love with; he was crying.

“Sehun?” her voice shook, startled and concerned.

She wanted to turn around but he held her in place, not letting her move an inch.  “It’s you. I can’t believe it’s you.” He whispered coarsely, breathing heavily.

Sunmi strained her neck to look at him. “What are you talking about?”

His gaze was full of love and warmth and a whole bunch of other emotions she could not identify. “On 30^th October 2015, 3pm, I was playing soccer with my friends. Unexpectedly, I felt a sharp pain to my chest that felt like death, causing me to lose consciousness and faint.”

Not being able to adapt so quickly to the change in topic, Sunmi struggled to understand. The only thing she could make out of it was the date he mentioned, which was the date of her accident so many years back.

“When I woke up, I wanted to die all over again. I wanted to die for real.” Sehun continued. “I was crushed beyond belief, because it was then that my gem turned black. I thought my soulmate died and I would never get to see her again.”

Sunmi’s eyes widened at what he was suggesting and snapped her head to him in disbelief.

“I thought it was strange, that your birthday fell on 16^th June, a day where my soulmate always felt exceptionally happy when I could still feel her emotions in the past.” Sehun carried on. “And 14^th May was a day she always felt utter sadness.”

He took note of the days she felt happy and sad, she realized. Sunmi throat clogged up unknowingly.

“On the Chuseok when we were 8, did you feel anything?” he probed.

Sunmi thought hard as she recalled what happened so many years back. “Yeah, I suddenly started coughing so badly and almost had to be taken to the hospital...” she eyed him, blinking. “You had something to do with that?”

Sehun rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “That was the day I found out that I was allergic to seafood.”

The weight of the truth finally settled upon the both of them as they gazed at each other wordlessly. No further explanations was necessary because they could see it now. Why they could feel each other even when they weren’t near. Why they felt a connection even when they didn’t speak.

When their gems turned black 9 years ago, it cut off the connections between them, effectively causing them to think that they had lost each other for good. But the gem wasn’t their only point of connection, because they were connected to each other.

When they finally met in college, their connection started to strengthen once again. From the first moment Kai mentioned her name to him, it was the start of his unconscious awareness for this girl he was meant to meet.

Even if not knowing who she really was and what she meant to him, he fell for her, hard and fast.

It was like it was meant to be.

“So you think we can throw away the necklaces now?” Sehun smiled softly, his hand reaching for hers and tangling their fingers together. Sunmi raised her brows curiously at his statement.

“We didn’t need them to find each other anyway.” Sehun grinned. “We’re more powerful than that.”

Sunmi smiled back, nodding.

-----

“Sehun, you need to go before my parents wake up.” Sunmi whispered urgently. “They’re not going to be happy finding a boy in my bed.” She warned.

Sehun had stayed the night despite her numerous protests, and before your dirty little mind jumped to inappropriate conclusions, they just slept on the bed.

It was a whole new feeling altogether, waking up in his arms, knowing for sure that this was the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. Sehun was a cuddler in his sleep but she didn’t mind being plastered up against him.

“Five more minutes.” Sehun mumbled sleepily, burying his face in her hair and snored.

“My mom’s an early riser, you have to leave now.” Sunmi whacked his arm lightly and nudged him hard. “Wake up please?” she kissed the bottom of his chin.

His lips twisted up in a smirk and he pulled her face up to his. “I don’t mind waking up like that every morning.” He murmured, pressing his lips to her for a full kiss. Sunmi sighed blissfully and sagged into his touch, almost wanting to succumb and just let her mother find them both tangled in the sheets together.

Sehun finally pulled away after much determination and stretched, claiming with a large boyish smile that it was the best sleep he had ever had in his life. He put on his shoes hurriedly when there were sounds coming from the rest of the house which signalled that Sunmi’s mom had already woken up which gave him even lesser time to make his escape.

“See you in fifteen minutes.” Sehun pressed another kiss to her lips before he climbed the window again.

Sunmi waved dreamily, watching him go with a soft smile and melting in a puddle of utmost bliss. “I love you.” She whispered.

The morning routine of brushing her teeth and washing her face came and went in a blur because all she could think of was the night prior, his confessions and their revelations.

He had been ready to suffer heartbreak despite thinking that she would have to leave him, because he loved her too much. She was insistent on not being with him because she knew she wouldn’t survive if he left.

All that seemed unnecessary since now they belonged together. No one was going anywhere.

“SUNMI!” a loud shriek from the other side of the door made her jerk from her thoughts, and before she could answer, the door flung open to reveal her very confused mother. “There’s a boy downstairs wanting to see you and claiming that he bought breakfast for all of us.”

“He said his name is Oh Sehun and....” her mother was in disbelief. “And he claimed to be your soulmate?” she voice rose. “What in the world is happening Sunmi?”

Sunmi laughed softly when she realized what Sehun meant by seeing her in fifteen minutes. That boy really didn’t waste any time.

She smiled softly at her mother, her eyes twinkling with unshed tears. “It’s him, mom. I found him.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for reading!

I’m sorry it turned out so long :/ I had wanted to break it into two parts but I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of it.

Hoped you guys enjoyed it and sorry I took such a long time to post this as well. It turned out much lengthier than I expected and I got much busier this semester as well.

Fighting to those having exams and finals soon! :)