a/n: Just another note to remind you that chapters 37-40 are new today, if you missed the earlier updates.

Jong Kook wakes slowly the next morning and groggily rolls over in bed to throw his arm around Charity. There'd been some sleeping the night before, but not much. As soon as he'd kissed her, it was like a switch had flipped in Charity. She'd wriggled out of his grasp and to her feet. For an instant, he was sure he was about to get screamed at, but instead, she'd reached down to grab his wrist, hauling him up as well. Dragging him across the apartment, she'd hip checked the door to his room open and pulled him inside.

Whether it was the alcohol or just the way Charity is, Jong Kook didn't know, but she was absolutely single-minded for the rest of the night. Her eyes stayed hazed over long past the time the soju should have burned off. Every time he'd finally drift to sleep, she'd creep back across the bed to nudge him awake again. She was borderline aggressive, but not overly so. Any weirdness that might have existed in such a situation evaporated almost instantly, as they got caught up in each other and caught up in just not thinking.

Opening his mouth to say good morning, he's shocked to find Charity isn't actually sprawled out beside him where she'd been all night. Instead, he's greeted with an empty bed, her half long gone cold. He rolls back onto his back and stares up at the ceiling, exhaling sharply. An unwelcome thought starts niggling at the back of his mind, and he fights back flashes of memory and images of the night before to put his finger on it, but it isn't easy. Suddenly, he remembers. He's meeting Hannah today. To talk.

He sits up and leans back against the headboard, sheet dropping to his waist. He flushes slightly, even though he's alone, to realize he's still entirely , then shrugs. It's not like Charity hadn't seen him before. And now there's nothing at all left to hide. He flushes even more deeply, remembering. Nothing at all left to hide.

He grabs a cup of water from beside the bed, one he doesn't remember placing there, and takes a deep drink. Everything is different now. How can he tell Hannah they're soulmates when there's clearly something going on with Charity? How can he tell Charity he's going to go ahead with telling Hannah after last night? He groans, dropping his face into his hands. This decision he's been struggling with has suddenly been taken out of his hands, and he's the one who took it away. He can't remember what made him kiss Charity the night before. He just wanted to, so he did. And now... now what? Now he's got Charity and not Hannah. He wants to be annoyed with himself, be angry with himself, even, but he feels a tinge of relief around the edges of his thoughts, that the stress of figuring out how to tell Hannah what he did is gone.

Just as the relief is taking hold and starting to spread, his heart sinks. Now he's got Charity and not Hannah. Thinking back on all Ji Min has told him, he knows that if it's not Hannah, it's no one for him. What had she said, that others would pass by in his life, but none would stay? That in the end, it's just him on his own if it's not him with his soulmate. Although Hannah doesn't feel quite right, there's certainly no guarantee she'd keep feeling that way. In fact, if he had just it up and told her, he knows she'd likely be just perfect for him. Everything about her is perfect for him. So what if, at this moment, his heart isn't jumping at the thought of seeing her later? That would come. That would come if he had just been a man and done what he'd said he'd do. And now, now he can't. Now he has Charity. And he has to admit to himself, that's not really a bad thing, either. They get along. Charity is prickly where Hannah is bubbly and friendly, but they're both quite smart. Charity is not the healthy eating, gym-going partner Hannah would be, but she's welcoming and comforting at home. And while he hasn't allowed himself to think much about what Hannah would be like in bed, Charity is... he in a deep breath. Well. Charity sure is.

But Hannah would be a partner forever. Charity is just a partner for now.

Steeling himself for the day with a heavy sigh, he finally swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands. Grabbing his phone from the bedside table, he sends a quick message to Hannah to ask her wher