i wanted to be your tomorrow, so i lived today

The first time you ran into Kanghyun, it was a complete act of destiny. In fact, if you had waited even 5 more minutes to decide to head to the roof of the science building, you would have missed him. Alas, it seemed like the red strings of fate had other plans for the two of you.

You had forced yourself out of bed at what felt like an ungodly hour (it was only 9:30 pm) and made your way to the rooftops with your backpack and your small telescope. It was late September, which meant that you had bundled yourself up in the warmest jacket you could find, even if said jacket had sleeves that went far past your fingertips.

As you burst through the double doors that would take you onto the roof, you were surprised to find that there was somebody else already up here. He was sitting on a blanket, notebook, and pencil in hand as he bobbed his head along with a silent melody. Moving closer, you noticed that he was wearing earbuds, just slightly obscured by his brown hair. 

He didn’t notice as you moved closer until you placed yourself on the ground a few feet from him. The concrete was cold, making you shiver as you swung your backpack off of your shoulder and onto the ground. You could feel the eyes of the boy on you as you began setting up your telescope and pulled out your tablet to begin taking notes.

There were a few minutes of silence, the only sounds filling the roof were those of a pencil scratching on paper, a telescope shifting its position, and the soft ambiance of nature and a college campus. It wasn’t until you shivered once again under the breeze that the man finally spoke up.

“Would you like to sit on my blanket? I can’t help but notice that you’re shivering and I can only imagine how uncomfortable and cold the concrete must be,” his voice was soft, and for a moment you thought that you had imagined it. But when you looked up and saw his soft brown eyes looking at you questioningly through the darkness, you realized that you had indeed heard him and that he was absolutely talking to you.

“Oh, thank you,” you said, before sliding your set up over and placing yourself lightly on the flannel blanket that was sprawled out. You sent him a small smile before you went back to looking into the telescope. The stars you were supposed to be looking for were a bit trickier to find than you were expecting, and you groaned as you looked back at your tablet, searching for where the stars were supposed to be tonight.

“What are you looking for tonight?” The boy asked, taking one of his earbuds out as he shifted to get a look at your tablet. You scooched it a little closer to him, showing him the list of stars that you were supposed to be observing and the one you were trying to find: Regulus.

The boy smiled happily to himself as he read the words, before looking at your telescope as if waiting for permission. You gave a nod, scooting over so he could come a bit closer and peer into the lens. You could smell a soft scent of cologne coming off of him, and you felt yourself smile as you breathed it in, the scent relaxing your muscles as he fidgeted with the position of the telescope. Finally, he pulled away, grinning.

“There. That should be it.” You raised an eyebrow, before looking into the lens and seeing the brightly shining orb which represented Regulus. You looked at him, your eyes sparkling impossibly through the dark.

“Thank you so much. Are you an astronomy major too?” You asked. He shook his head, chuckling as he moved back to where he had been sitting previously. 

“No, I’m actually a music major. I just really love the stars. It’s a special interest, I guess you could call it. My name is Kanghyun.” He held out his hand and you took it, reveling in the softness of his palm and the blistered tips of his fingers. 

“My name is Y/N. If you’re not an astronomy major, what brings you to the roof on such a cold night?” you asked. Kanghyun motioned down to the notebook that was sitting in his lap, giving you a small smile.

“I’m actually writing a song for my band right now. The stars are my biggest inspiration, so I come up here to write,” he explained. Your eyes widened slightly in excitement at his words.

“That’s really cool! Has your band played around campus? Maybe I’ve heard you guys!” you asked. Kanghyun smiled as he shook his head.

“We haven’t played on campus yet, but we have played a few times at the bar downtown. You should definitely come sometime, the more the merrier,” Kanghyun said, thankful for the night sky that covered the blush resting on his cheeks. You nodded enthusiastically, before turning back to your telescope to begin working on your project. Kanghyun sat beside you, humming melodies and jotting down notes and lyrics. It was a peaceful atmosphere, one that surprised both of you considering you were practically strangers.

Once the moon was high in the sky and the loud noises of the campus below began to dwindle, you and Kanghyun bid goodbye to one another, heading to your respective dorms with a hazy and fuzzy mind.

The second time you met Kanghyun, was on purpose. Your friend, Goeun, had revealed to you that she often saw Kanghyun head to the cafe after their music class. Normally, you wouldn’t have done anything with that info, but you wanted to get Kanghyun’s thoughts on your paper so far, considering he seemed to like the stars.

 So you headed to the cafe on campus and, sure enough, found Kanghyun sitting at a table with his notebook out and headphones in. You tapped him lightly on the shoulder, trying your best to not startle him, before smiling and sitting down across from him.

“Hi! Sorry for bothering you, but I wanted to know if you could read my essay so far? I have to turn it in at the end of the week and I really need a proofreader,” you explained, trying to calm your beating heart before it came right out of your chest,

“Oh, of course!” Kanghyun said, a small smile slipping onto his face as you let out a relieved sigh and slid your laptop over to him so he could read your paper. You watched with fascination as Kanghyun read the lines on your laptop, making you smile when you noticed how his eyebrows furrowed slightly in concentration and he began to bite his lip a little.

Finally, his head shot up and he gave you an approving smile.

“It’s really good, Y/N. I noted some grammatical stuff and where I think the words could flow a little better, but overall, I think that it gets your point across well,” Kanghyun advised. You nodded, listening intently to his notes as he pointed things out to you, making notes on what to fix and what to revise.

You had barely noticed that an hour had gone by until Kanghyun’s phone began to ring. He looked at the caller ID, then the time, before practically jumping out of his chair.

“Oh my gosh, I’m gonna be let to practice. I have to go, I’m so sorry!” Kanghyun explained, rushing to gather his things. You stood up as well, reaching out to take his arm and pause him for a moment. He looked at your hand, then at you, with a look of confusion.

“Can I have your number? In case I need more advice or something?” you asked, avoiding contact as you held your phone out cautiously with the other hand. Kanghyun looked at you, before smiling warmly and nodding. He typed away his phone number, before handing the device back to you and waving a rushed goodbye.

You stood there for a moment, almost in shock that you had actually succeeded in getting the cute music majors number, before shaking yourself out of it and heading back to your own dorm.

The third time you met Kanghyun, it was at the bar in town that he had told you his band played at. You had been texting each other for weeks after you had met at the cafe and finally, Kanghyun had told you (after countless pestering from you) that he and his band were going to be playing and that you should come to watch.

So there you stood amongst the fairly large crowd, a drink in your hand as you waited for the concert to start. A few people around you took to chatting and you gladly joined, before pausing once you heard the crowd begin to lull as the lights on the stage flicker on.

Cheers suddenly erupted from all around as 5 boys walked on stage, the only one you recognized being Kanghyun as he walked to the right side of the stage to get his guitar set up and plugged in. He looked so much different than the Kanghyun you were used to, with his hair all rustled up, his black button-up showing a bit of his chest as a metal chain rested around his neck.

You felt your cheeks heat up as Kanghyun scanned the crowd, making eye contact with you, before smiling gently at you. The singer, a tall boy with brown hair that you think was Yonghoon, was speaking but you were too busy staring in awe at Kanghyun.

As they began the concert, playing a song that you remember being titled Aurora, you couldn’t take your eyes off of the music major boy that was in front of you. He was completely in his element, the shy and introverted persona melting away to reveal a cocky and confident guitarist. His golden skin shined in the light and he would smirk occasionally as he played, taking the breath straight from your lungs.

They played a few more songs, each one more breathtaking than last when finally Kanghyun approached his own microphone with a small smile. He took a moment to catch his breath, basking in the glow and happiness that filled the stage of the bar.

“This next song is something I’ve been working on for a while. It was inspired by a girl that I met recently and I didn’t want to play it until she could be here to listen to it. I hope that she likes it as much as I like her. Here’s Regulus,” Kanghyun said, his eyes lingering on you. You felt yourself freeze as you tried to comprehend what Kanghyun had just said, but your thoughts were quickly interrupted as the song began.

Your eyes were glued to Kanghyun as the simple melody began, the words ringing clear in your ears as you finally began to piece together that the song was about you. 

Kanghyun had written a song about you.

When the song was finally over, you were beaming. The crowd was going crazy but you were just smiling like an idiot at Kanghyun as the group said their goodbyes and headed off stage. You weaved through the crowd before stumbling upon the group behind the stage, packing away their equipment.

“Y/N?” You looked up as your name was said, your eyes locking with Kanghyun who had stood up from his guitar case, eyebrows furrowed. You looked at him, before rushing forward and pressing your lips to his.

You felt him mumble in surprise, but you didn’t let go as you wrapped your arms around his neck, smiling against his lips when he weaved his hands around your waist to pull you closer.

As you pulled away, eyes sparkling from how happy you were, Kanghyun smiled at you.

“I take it you like the song?” You rolled your eyes, before pulling him back into a kiss. Kanghyun kissed you back, ignoring the way his bandmates whistled and clapped from around him. Right now, in his universe, it was only him and you; his Regulus.

-

Feed stray cats.

You woke up to that sentence etched onto the skin of your forearm in black ink, the same black ink that was etched onto the palm of your hands, your thighs, even your bicep when your soulmate began to write on you.

You couldn’t really complain. In the grand scheme of things, your soulmate was pretty tame when it came to the things that he scribbled onto himself. They more often than not were reminders for little things throughout the day or week, and you honestly found it kind of endearing. You liked staring at his handwriting as you ran a thumb over it, memorizing the way he wrote every single letter.

You tore your attention away from the sentence, forcing yourself to get out of bed and get ready for class. Whoever was on the other end of this connection was presumably going through the same struggle, considering you had more than once had a reminder about homework or a study group on your arm, though any details that might reveal his identity were carefully smudged out. You know, because the universe hates making things easy.

An hour later you were sliding into your seat in the lecture hall, eyes barely open as you sipped your coffee and hoped that your teacher wouldn’t put you to sleep with his monotonous voice.

“You got stray cats now?” You looked up quickly at the voice of your friend, Mingyu. You rolled your eyes at his joke, pointing at the writing on your forearm.

“Does that look like my handwriting to you?” He leaned forward, examining the sentence with almost comical focus, before pulling back and crossing his arms.

“You’re right. Your handwriting is at least ten times worse than that.” You shoved him, letting yourself smile at his laugh as you pulled out a pen and your notebook. 

“Any closer to finding who’s writing all those reminders?” Mingyu asked once he stopped laughing. You sighed and shook your head, letting your chin drop into your palm.

“Not even a little bit. They are so generic, it could be literally anyone on campus!” you exclaimed. Mingyu rolled his eyes at your dramatics, before leaning back in his own seat.

“Well, you’re bound to find out about it one day, right? That’s kind of how the whole soulmate thing works?” You grumbled his own words back to him mockingly, joining in when he began to chuckle at you.

“Alright class, let’s get started!” You inwardly groaned as your teacher began to lecture, already losing your attention within the first few minutes. It didn’t take long before your pen was brought to your skin, tracing small flowers and patterns in an attempt to keep yourself occupied. When the lecture was finally over, you looked at your masterpiece and smiled to yourself. You hoped your soulmate liked flowers.

Wonwoo had to admit that he hadn’t always been the biggest fan of flowers. Sure, they were pretty, but it never saw the appeal in them. That was until his soulmate marking appeared and he found out that the person on the other end loved drawing flowers. He would look down and watch as his forearm or thigh came to life with different flowers, from roses to tulips, all filled in with various shapes and patterns. Since then, he found himself smiling whenever he passed a flower shop, hoping that one day he would be able to give his soulmate real flowers that matched the drawings she gifted him every day.

“I see your soulmate was bored today,” Jihoon commented as Wonwoo plopped onto the couch in their apartment. Wonwoo looked at today’s drawing and smiled.

“I guess so. I just can’t believe that with a large piece of work like this, I still can’t find her. How hard is it to find someone with something like this on their forearm?”

“Pretty hard, I guess. What’s that on your other arm?” Jihoon asked, tilting his head so he could read it. Wonwoo sat up quickly at Jihoon’s comment, remembering that he needed to go outside and feed the cats that lived on their street. 

“I’ll be right back.” Wonwoo walked out of their apartment and down the stairs, before turning to walk out the back and into the alley behind their building. Sure enough, the two kittens that he had named Mac and Kili were lurking by the door, waiting for him.

“Sorry for the wait, guys. It’s been a busy week,” Wonwoo explained, though he knew the cats probably didn’t understand him. Regardless of their comprehension, the two animals came up to him and rubbed against his ankles, causing him to grin as he bent down and lightly scratched behind their ears.

“Here you go.” Wonwoo placed the food down in the alleyway, watching as the two scrawny cats began to immediately eat up the leftover fish that he had saved from dinner last night. He watched them eat for a moment, before heading back inside with content in his heart. He was halfway up the stairs when his phone vibrated in his back pocket.

Mingyu: Is it okay if my friend joins us for dinner tonight?

Wonwoo stared at the text for a moment, internally debating, before finally replying that, yes it would be alright. Usually, he would have said no, but Mingyu and Jihoon had been on his case about meeting some new people and he figured there was no better time to start than now. 

Wonwoo chuckled to himself as he joked that maybe this friend might even be his soulmate.

“I really don’t want to intrude,” you said as Mingyu led you up the stairs towards the apartment. You don’t know why you were still arguing with him at this point, but you couldn’t quell the anxiousness that was beginning to bubble in your chest. These were Mingyu’s friends, and you really didn’t want to be the awkward fourth wheel.

“You’re not intruding. Now stop trying to get out of this and act like you're not so nervous,” Mingyu teased. You frowned at him as you pulled your sweatshirt closer to your body, hoping to make yourself as small as possible while Mingyu knocked on the door.

The door creaked open and you were greeted with a man, who you recognized as Jihoon, smiling at you kindly.

“Hey. You must be Y/N. Come on in, dinners almost ready,” Jihoon said, before stepping aside and allowing Mingyu and you to enter. The apartment was cozy, but the first thing that caught your eye when you walked in wasn’t the crowded living room, but the tall man that stood in the kitchen, taking some fried chicken and sides out of a plastic bag.

“Oh, hey. Hope you like chicken, Jihoon and I were too lazy to cook so we went with the easy option,” he joked. You assumed this must have been Wonwoo, Jihoon’s roommate, so you just smiled and nodded. He smiled back at you, before continuing to pull things out and place them on the breakfast bar, along with some plates and utensils.

“Alright, help yourselves. We can eat in the living room, since we have no dining area,” Jihoon laughed. You and Mingyu chuckled, grabbing and fixing your own plates before heading to the living room and getting comfortable. 

As the four of you sat and ate, you found yourself relaxing bit by bit. Jihoon and Wonwoo were both nice and made sure to include you in conversation so you wouldn’t feel left out. They told you some stories about Mingyu that had you snorting in laughter, much to Mingyu’s displeasure. You kept talking even when your plates were empty and your stomachs full.

“Hey, Wonwoo, where you going?” Mingyu asked as Wonwoo stood up and put two pieces of chicken on a paper towel. Wonwoo grabbed his key off the hook by the door, waving Mingyu off.

“Don’t worry about it. Just keep talking.”

“Oh, you going to say hi to Mac and Kili?” You looked at Wonwoo with an eyebrow raised, your interest piqued at the names that were brought up. Wonwoo smiled and nodded, and for some reason you found yourself standing up and shuffling your way over to him.

“Mind if I come with you? Anyone with names like that I’ve got to meet,” you said. Wonwoo looked at you for a moment, before nodding and holding the door open to you. You gave him a bashful smile as you stepped out into the hallway and waited for him to lock the door, before leading you down the few flights of stairs until they were on the ground floor. You watched curiously as, instead of heading out the front, Wonwoo turned the opposite direction and headed towards a large metal door at the back of the building.

He opened it and stepped out, taking in the fresh air as you slipped out after him. He held the chicken in his hand, before calling out for Mac and Kili. You looked around, wondering what was going to pop out before your heart melted at the sight of two cats bounding down the alleyway and towards you both. One was black and the other one was a calico, but both were scrawny and sweet enough that they came up to the two of you and rubbed against your ankles.

“I see you just rub against anyone nowadays,” Wonwoo teased the kittens, before bending down and setting the chicken down. The kittens immediately walked over, mewling happily as they began to sink their small fangs into the food and gulp it down. Wonwoo stood back up and you smiled at him.

“So, you feed strays in your spare time?” you teased lightly. You saw a small bit of red dusted on his cheeks as he nodded, sticking his hands in his hoodie pocket.

“I’ve been feeding them at least twice a day for about a year now. Honestly, I should just adopt them at this point.”

“How do you remember to feed them? I can’t imagine it’s easy to remember with school and whatnot,” you asked. Wonwoo shrugged, before rolling up his left hoodie sleeve.

“I write it down when I think I might be too busy to remember. I do that with a lot of things, actually.” As soon as you saw the writing on his forearm, in blank ink and neat handwriting, your heart stopped. You felt your lungs stop functioning and your mind short-circuited. Wonwoo noticed your silence, looking over at you with a worried expression as you rolled up your own sleeve to reveal identical writing.

It was Wonwoo’s turn to be awestruck, as he moved his arm closer to yours to observe the writing. It was undeniably the same, and you and Wonwoo just slowly looked up at each other, before bursting into laughter.

“So, you’re the one who’s been leaving flower drawings all over my arms and legs,” Wonwoo jokingly accused. You let out a loud laugh, before pointing a finger at him.

“And you’re the one who keeps writing reminders all over!” Wonwoo laughs as he nodded, his eyes glittering with happiness. You both just stood there, looking at each other, hearts racing and minds running as you both tried to comprehend that your soulmate, the one you were forever meant to be with, was standing in front of you right now.

“Well, now I will know which stray cats are getting fed.”

“Now I will know who makes such beautiful drawings when she gets bored.” It was your turn to get embarrassed, but you didn’t have much time to revel in it as Wonwoo pulled you in for a hesitant hug. You wrapped your arms around him instantly and melted into his grasp. It felt so good to be hugged by him, like coming home after a long time.