Chapter 4

You watched as the thin man paced back and forth in the corridor of the apartment complex. His tan skin illuminated every time he passed by a ray of light coming through the concrete breezeway.

Is this considered “normal, everyday,” celebrity clothes? You wondered as you looked him up and down. Donned in a tropical shirt that obviously looked expensive and name brand, black chokers around his neck, tight white jeans and loafers that looked at the very least limited edition. His mask, dad hat and sunglasses did nothing to hide his celebrity status. He was about as “incognito” as a neon sign in Vegas.

Whether it was looking down at your old converses, rolling and unrolling the sleeves of your striped shirt, or playing with the straps of your overalls, you tried to distract yourself from everything except looking at him.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. It looked so soft you wanted to just reach up and touch it.

WAIT. Get it together. You cannot get attached. Cut it out!

As he paced down to the end of the corridor, he turned around and stared you down. “Who are they to you?” he asked.

Chapter 3:

The café was bustling. People moving in and out almost as if they were their own tide, trying to get to their next destination. Many babbled on the phone. Telling their boss their soulmate is sick, calling soulmates to tell them when they’ll be home, it all made you sick. You knew you hated the idea of soulmates, you knew what was coming since you were little. You had prepared yourself for this possibility. This probability. The feeling of it though. The thoughts of not being wanted floating in your brain and heart were like an anchor weighing you down in your seat. However, the rejection that seeped into your pores seemed all too familiar. You had lived this before, it had hurt like hell the first time. But this? This was worse. You guessed that’s what happens when it’s your own soulmate.

***

“She still won’t come out baby,” he said after plopping down on the couch. “I don’t know why you send me to ask if she won’t even come out for you.”

“I swear, I’m going to rip them apart when I see them. How dare they?!” She roared, smashing balled fists into the coffee table.

“Ok, Hulk. Let’s not break the mahogany,” he whispered as he grabbed her hands to hold in his.

“It shouldn’t have been like this,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“I know, but it’ll get better,” he reassured, wiping her tears with his thumbs. “We’ll make her better, I promise.”

***

When you finally made your way out of the room you were sure to do so extremely early in the morning. As you crept through the door, it’s creak sounding like a siren in your head, every step past their bedroom was quiet and precise. You knew every floorboard that creaked and made sure to avoid them. You felt like a treasure seeker in a sense, trying to make it past sleeping monsters to get to the glorious treasure, which in this case was food. When you finally made it to the kitchen, it seeming like the light at the end of a tunnel, you stopped dead in your tracks seeing an all too familiar back standing in front of the stove.

“Sit,” was all you heard. You obeyed without question. Quietly pulling up a bar stool and jumping to get on. You wrapped your legs around the bars and scooted up to the counter. It was a habit of sorts, you knew full well that your thighs and butt were too thick – too much you thought – to keep you upon the small seat for very long.

“Umm…” you whispered. You didn’t know what words to say. You hadn’t really talked since the incident and if you were really honest with yourself, you wanted to keep it that way.

“We’ve been worried sick,” he said as he brought a plate towards you. You could smell they soy sauce and beef smell wafting off the plate sitting in front of you. It was enough to make your mouth drool and your stomach growl at the same time. “Go ahead, you haven’t eaten in days.”

You didn’t need to be told twice as you dug in, savoring the flavor on your tongue. There was a quiet and awkward silence that fell between you. For minutes, neither one of you wanted to pop the bubble. This was the first time you had been in such close proximity to each other in almost three years. He just sat on the bar stool beside you watching you eat. But you could only stand the bubble of silence so long before you felt the urge to pop it.

“How did you know I’d be up this early?” you wondered aloud. You couldn’t even face him, the weirdness between you too great. After a moment of silence, you looked from the corner of your eye to see him walking down the hall towards the bathroom. As you saw him duck in and out, you quickly turned back to your plate almost giving yourself whiplash in the process. You finished your plate of food in silence.

As you braced yourself to get up, a hand held you in place. He grabbed your wrists and pulled the first aid box he had brought from the bathroom over to sit in his lap. The next few moments were spent with you staring at his face as he cleaned and put ointment on your wrists. “The longest you’ve gone without food is three and a half days, you were bound to come out eventually. You’d also try to avoid us so leaving in the morning was the best bet.”

“Huh?” You asked.

“You asked me how I knew, I’m just answering,” Yixing said smiling and looking up at you. It almost felt like old times.

“Oh, um ok,” you slid off the bar stool leaning your hand on his shoulder to find balance. “I gotta go to work now.”

“Take these and wrap it around your wrists,” he stressed as he threw 2 bandanas at you. “I know you probably don’t want to be reminded all day. If you cover it up, it’ll be like it never even happened.”

“Ah, thanks Xing,” you mumbled as you did as he said. You put your shoes on and exited the door. When you were out in the hallway, you stopped hearing feet come up behind you. Arms wrapped around your neck as a warmth spread behind your back.

“Everything is going to be ok,” Yixing said as he squeezed tighter. “I promise. We’ll take care of you,” he said as he placed a kiss to the back of your head. You stayed like that for a couple of seconds until his hands released.

“Kay, bye!” You ran down the stairs without looking behind you, your face heating up from the embarrassment.

***

Work was slow at best. Jongdae coddled you like a baby, and the staff members acted awkwardly towards you. There was also something different. Two really buff guys stood at the entrance to your work all day. When you asked Jongdae, he had said that the studio had just gotten better security while you were gone, but something about it seemed fishy. You didn’t really care though, you couldn’t wait to get home and lay down. Tired of everyone that day treating you like you were easily breakable glass.

Chapter 2:

“Why won’t you meet him? Come on~ I really like him,” you try to whine through the phone. You hated whining to try and get your way, but most times it worked.

“No, I’ll meet him sometime later. I don’t want to… Now stop asking me!!!” she yelled quickly hanging up the phone so you couldn’t protest anymore. You knew she was angry because she rarely yelled at you, but you had no inkling why.

You had just wanted her to meet your boyfriend, and she had been putting it off for six months. Excuse after excuse, and you were really getting annoyed. I like him though, what the hell is your problem. Can’t you just meet a guy I like. Maybe she was trying to insinuate that you shouldn’t date anyone that wasn’t your soulmate. She knew what your “soulmates” were though, she knew that the likelihood of you meeting them and having them was into the negatives when it came to chances. So why is she so adamant about not meeting him?

You looked up from your phone to try and see him through the crowd immediately spotting the man who really resembled a lost puppy on the street. He was wearing an oversize navy blue and gray color block cardigan with a pink white ombre shirt, gray jeans and plain white tennis shoes. His hair was parted to the side and stopped right before an extremely large scarf enveloped his neck. You had joked about that scarf while you were shopping one day, saying it was cute because he looked fluffy and warm in it. You never expected to see it around his neck today.

You were clad no differently yourself. You wore black straight leg jeans to try and hide the size of your hips (which didn’t really work because you are mostly hips and thighs), black ankle boots, a white sweater, matching burgundy beanie and scarf, with a black and white plaid coat on top. You were the matching cozy winter couple.

You giggled as snow began to fall which caused the man, who was still looking for you even though you were five feet from him, to become frantic. You giggled once more as you leaned forward and grabbed his arm.

“Yixing~!!!”

“Oh? _________!”

                                                                                        ~ * ~

You looked up and saw him and for a moment he looked just like he did back then, but your eyes adjusted. He seemed to be calling your name, trying to get your attention probably, but you weren’t paying attention, you just brushed past him and went out the door of the building, quickly hailing a taxi to take you anywhere. You didn’t care, you just needed to get as far away as possible.

                                                                                    ~ * ~

“Where are they Jongdae?” Yixing said as he burst into the studio. He had tried to run after her, but she had already hopped in the taxi and was most likely on her way home. At least he hoped.

He walked in to see Jongdae, two very stunned men, and a woman and another man were talking very loudly asking each other questions.

“Xing! Did you catch her? Is she ok?” Jongdae ran up to him as he walked in.

“She took off, I don’t know where she’s going,” Yixing said as he looked to the two men at the back of the room. One of them had snapped out of it and was walking towards him, while the other stood still in his place.

“What do you mean she took off? Where is she?” the man asked. At least, it was worded as a question but sounded more like a command.

“I don’t know, but it’s none of your business. You’ve done enough,” Yixing growled at the man. He usually wouldn’t be so angry or bold, but this guy just got under his skin and he knew exactly why.

“None of our-” he scoffed, “She’s our soulmate!”

“She’s not your anything!” Yixing yelled back, not noticing the other man had come up beside them. “She is ours and we’re not gonna lose her to the likes of you.”

Jongdae tried to grab Yixing and pull him back. He had never seen the man angry before and truthfully, it was kind of scary. “Xing, I don’t know what’s going on ,but you need to cool it-” Jongdae said but was quickly cut off with Chanyeol grabbing the now furious Jongin and practically dragging him out the door.

“And you. You don’t even want her. I can see it in your eyes,” Yixing said before Chanyeol could get Kai all the way out. “Don’t you dare come near her if you can’t even stand seeing her name on your wrist.”

                                                                                        ~*~

“Ma’am, you need to get off,” the man said as he stopped in front of the beach. “We’ve come all the way to Busan from Seoul, and I need to get home.”

After you paid the man and thanked him you practically slid out of the taxi and onto the ground. You didn’t know where to go at that point. You just wandered for a while, still dazed at what had happened. You found yourself plopped down on a bench in front of a large apartment building. You had followed a couple of people to the spot and sat down to watch the event unfold in front of you. There were a few dozen people standing outside the apartment building yelling and holding signs. You assumed it was a protest, though you weren’t positive. The voices kept jumbling together making them incoherent.

You reached in your pocket for your phone, only to realize you had left it on top of the cables in the studio. Great. Just perfect. She is going to kill me.

You walked toward the crowd thinking that one of them might know where the closest bus stop was. As you walked closer, you started to understand what they were saying and you fell to your knees.

“Chanyeol, Kai! I’m your soulmate!”

“I have the tattoos look!”

“It’s me! I can totally see them right here!”

“Move lady! We’re trying to see them here! You’re in the way!” One guy said as he grabbed your wrist and pushed you out of the way. The newly formed marks on your skin were still sore, so you let out a yelp as you were practically pulled out of the way.

You walked around trying to find a way to get to a bus station and as far away from the building as a possible. A black BMW coupe screeched to a halt as you came around the backside of the building. The windows were almost pitch black, and when a man stepped out of the passenger side, you turned to try and escape but he had come up and grabbed your wrist to try and stop you.

You let out a yelp and pulled away, “Why is everyone trying to grab my wrists! It hurts!”

“Who grabbed you?!” Jongin yelled.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” you mocked back.

“Jongin…” Chanyeol growled as he exited the car, trying to calm down his soulmate.

“Not my business? I’m your soulmate!” Jongin yelled back.

“You don’t know that!” You yelled back both trying to get him off your back, and to attempt to convince yourself of what you knew was a lie.

Jongin sighed as he pinched his temple, “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be… Just come inside and let’s talk.”

“That’s not a good idea Jongin,” Chanyeol whispered as he came up beside his lover.

“She needs to rest,” Jongin insisted, “And we all need to figure this out. Please… just come inside and clean up ok? Let’s uhm… put some ointment on that.” He gestured to your wrists which you were now holding with your hands to try and soothe the ache.

The apartment was just as you pictured for two rich male celebrities. Sleek light gray walls with high end amenities, dark hardwood floors and floor to ceiling widows that overlooked the Busan skyline. The first floor seemed to house the dining room, kitchen and entertainment system, while the second floor looked to hold a dance studio on an open balcony and a closed off room. You could tell there was a third floor, but you couldn’t quite tell what it was used for. Probably the bedroom, you thought.

“The bathroom is in that corner,” Jongin explained. “We’ll just sit here and wait for you to get done.” Jongin said as he took a seat at an extremely long dining room table. You didn’t know why two men would need such a long table, but you also figured it was none of your business. I’m the mistake, I shouldn’t question what they do. It’s not my business.

You finished washing your wrists and just stared at the new “tattoos” that formed earlier that day. Once you turned off the water, you heard the men talking amongst themselves.

“What are you expecting to happen?” Chanyeol wondered.

“I don’t know,” Jongin deadpanned.

“You’re wrong if you think I’m going to accept this,” Chanyeol warned. “She’s going to ruin everything.”

“She’s our soulmate, Chan,” Jongin emphasized. “She can’t ruin it, she’s a part of it.”

“She’s not for us. She’ll never be a part of us. I’m never going to accept something like this. Have you seen her? What would we do with her?” Chanyeol almost pleadingly begged. “No. I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to be a part of anything like that.”

You tried to quickly make it to the door without them seeing you but right when you opened it, the ding of the alarm went off. Both turned to look at you. No one said a word but both pairs of eyes looking at you seemed to speak volumes. One begging you to stay, the other begging you to leave; maybe for your sake, maybe for his, you couldn’t tell. But you knew, the latter was right. You didn’t belong.

“Listen,” you began, “I know how disappointing it must be for your second soulmate to be someone like me. I don’t know you guys, but he’s right. I don’t belong here. It’s not you guys, it’s me. I’m the mistake. It’s just best if we leave it at this. Goodbye.”

You closed the door behind you as you tried not to cry. You didn’t know them, they shouldn’t have meant that much, but why did it hurt so bad?

                                                                                   ~*~