Yein quickly gathered her senses and got up from the ground where she had been sitting. This was no time for thinking. She had to find the person who had bumped into her. But looking around, she realized that he had already escaped, there was no use in going around and asking if anyone saw him, for she didn’t even know what he looked like herself. The only physical feature of his that stood out to her in the moment was his height. He was extremely tall, and also wearing a large amount of black. He had a beanie on, too, stamped with the word "bulletproof" in large bold print.

She decided to take a shorter route home, and to her luck, around the corner was the man with the beanie. He had just slipped into an antique shop when she saw him, and knowing he was in there, she took her time to walk, still suffering from the pain of her fall. Peering through the glass door, she could see the beanie poking out from behind the countertop. Her only thought was that he must’ve worked there. However, the door rang when she opened it, and at the sound the man with the beanie dropped the items he had in his hands and bolted past her out the door.

“Hey! Wait! I need to speak with you!” She tried to call him back, but upon observing the two bags of jewelry and money on the floor, she realized he was not a very good person at all.

To think the man who could possibly be her soulmate was a criminal scared Yein. Her ideal man would’ve been someone an awful lot like Taehyung, but Sujeong had already claimed him. Yein wasn’t jealous though, Sujeong and Taehyung fit together like chocolate and strawberries. Hurriedly heading out the door to get away from the crime scene, Yein had nearly tripped over a small pouch on the floor. Yein didn’t want to touch anything for fear of being suspected, so she grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and picked it up.

The dark navy pouch was tiny, made to carry small jewelry. How she had almost tripped over it, she didn’t know. In a corner was a J, probably the initial of a name. And nothing seemed to be inside other than a ring. Why the red-beanie man had decided to keep the ring separate from the other pieces of jewelry confused her.

What could possibly be so important about this ring?

But remembering what position she’d be in if she were caught in the store right now brought her back to her senses and she quickly left the antique shop and headed home. Maybe hoping to see if the red-beanie man might still be nearby. Although the chances of that were very slim.

However afraid she might be of him, Yein was still looking for answers. But she sighed, it was pointless to try and look for him now. It was late and from checking the amount of missed calls on her phone, Sujeong was definitely worried, and possibly furious. Back at her apartment after the incident, Yein confessed to getting injured and losing track of time after a demand for an explanation from Sujeong as to why she was gone so long.

-

“You got hurt? How? What happened?” Sujeong’s angry expression immediately changed to concern.

“Well, I just bumped into someone and fell. But Sujeong, when I bumped into him something strange happened,” at this, questions of what happened and if the person did something to her were being continuously thrown at her.

“No! No, it’s nothing like that; he didn’t do anything to me,” Yein waved her arms in an attempt to calm them down. “When I was falling, nothing was no longer just black and white, I don’t know what happened but the world was suddenly brighter and -- and . . . I don’t know how to explain it but . . . What’s color like?”

Sujeong gasped, “Oh my God, Yein, can you see colors now? You met your soulmate? Is he nice? Handsome? What’s he like?”

Taehyung glanced over at Sujeong before speaking, “Wait, so what happened?”

“No, I can’t see colors. I think I saw them for a moment, but then they faded away and I was back to grey,” Yein sighed. “I think the person I bumped into was my soulmate but we didn’t officially meet so the colors disappeared. But I’m not even sure that what I saw was colors so let’s just forget about that for now. I just want to shower and sleep.” Yein forced a yawn to convince them.

“Well, ok. We’ll talk tomorrow then. Goodnight,” Taehyung also threw in a small goodnight after Sujeong finished talking that Yein responded with a wave. She knew that Sujeong didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t common for someone to have their colors disappear the moment after they got them. From Sujeong’s perspective, it was quite depressing and it was that thought, Yein hoped, that would keep her best friend from bothering her for the rest of the night. Yein’s perspective, however, was more indifferent, as stated before, she didn’t mind the drabness of the world. Although, that experience she had earlier was slightly changing her mind.

Just to make sure that Sujeong wouldn’t burst into her room later, Yein quietly sneaked into the hallway and peered out into their living room. It was empty though, and so was the kitchen. She was confused for a moment before she heard the strums of Sujeong’s guitar from out on the balcony. They were sharing both a lounge chair with her guitar in their laps: Sujeong was teaching Taehyung how to play another one of her favorite songs as she positioned his fingers to play the right chords.

Yein stayed in place for a moment, watching as her best friend laughed and had fun with her soulmate. She smiled, glad to see that even though the pair had only met earlier that day, they were already pretty close for strangers. Throughout the day, there was not one thing Yein could find about Taehyung that she disliked. He was charming, funny, caring, attentive, and the best person for Sujeong Yein could ever ask for.