Chapter Text
Minhee stared at the ticking timer on her arm anxiously, she had 4 minutes to grab all of her groceries and get in her car and avoid meeting him.
It's not that she didn't want to meet him, she was just scared. She was scared not to live up to his expectations, scared to start a relationship without having something to give in the relationship and being a liability towards her soulmate.
Being fresh out of college, with enough money just to buy bread and milk whilst paying her rent monthly, a social life (let alone a relationship) did seem out of reach for her as she worked all day long and went back home just to sleep. In fact, the last time she saw her parents was before her graduation ceremony.
She looked around, hoping not to see anyone who'll catch her eye. The cashier gave her the change and Minhee speed walked out of the store with her groceries, managing to go unnoticed and safely getting back home to her safe little bubble.
Jihoon sighed, messing his brown hair and watching as the time got longer again. "I missed her again, how does that even happen six times in a row?"
"Do you think she's doing this on purpose?" Soonyoung questioned in a joking matter.
"C'mon Soonyoung, that makes no sense. Who on earth doesn't want to meet their soulmate?" Seungcheol countered, but his voice faltered when he turned to look at Jihoon, who looked deflated.
"Whatever. Let's just grab what we need and head out." Jihoon said monotonously and grabbed a shopping cart.
24 more hours, Jihoon sighed. Is he going to miss her again or will they finally meet?
Minhee stared at the glowing timer on her left arm as if it was the reason for world hunger. Why did she have to have a soulmate living so close to her?
Her train of thought was cut off when she went to open her apartment door, which had a big official note on it, meaning only one thing.
"Damn it." Minhee muttered. Her landlord was the least patient and nice person Minhee had ever met, and last month she gave her landlord the rent 2 weeks late due to her unplanned unemployment.
She ripped the note off and took it inside with her. The landlord was threatening to evict her if she didn't pay the rent on time this month and in a wonderful addition to that, she had raised the rent. Again.
Minhee opened her laptop and began searching for a workplace close enough to the apartment so that she wouldn't have to pay bus tickets and after calling numerous numbers, she finally found a workplace that responded immediately due to urgent need of staff and invited her to an interview even though she was inexperienced. The interview was scheduled to the next day, so Minhee was left stressed out for the next 24 hours. So stressed, she forgot to even check her timer.
Jihoon, however, anxiously watched it while running through his errands that day, hoping this time he'll finally get to meet her.
"I envy you, my timer says I still have a year to meet my soulmate. She's probably, like, all the way across the world. " whined Hansol while going through the music records at his studio.
"I was supposed to meet her already by now, I don't think there was ever a couple as unlucky as us. It's like we're going in circles. Every time the clock goes down to an hour, then back up to a day or even a month." Jihoon ranted, trying to fix a technical error on his computer's sound recorder.
Jihoon wasn't necessarily desperate to find his soulmate, he got along just fine on his own. There were times he was even scared of meeting them, but it mostly frustrated him that the universe seemed to play games with his timer, going all the way down then all the way back up like a yo-yo.
"This computer just does not want to get along today." Mingyu pointed out, "First it took literally an hour for it to start, another hour to open the editing program and now this."
"You're gonna give me bad luck, asshole." Jihoon slapped Mingyu's arm and tried hitting the computer case as a last resort, praying to every god out there for help.
"I don't think that's gonna work, hyung" Hansol chuckled as he watched his friend struggle.
"Goddamn it, my deadline is the first of the month." Jihoon exhaled and dropped his head onto the computer desk, ruffling his own hair in frustration.
"You should probably just buy a new computer, you've had this one for years now it's about time you upgrade." Hansol suggested and leaned against the impressive bookshelf that contained around 100 music records that Jihoon had collected over the years, each and every one of them as precious to him as diamonds.
"You just might be right. I can't afford this right now." Jihoon muttered and pulled on his hair, letting out a groan of annoyance.
Jihoon anxiously glanced at the timer again, an hour left. Maybe he was supposed to go buy a computer?
"Let's head out." Jihoon said with new strength and grabbed his coat, the two boys following suit.
Minhee paced outside of the store, she was 20 minutes early and a nervous wreck. The neon sign outside made it easy to spot, to Minhee's relief. The place looked run down, the bright blue walls were beginning to lose color from the outside and the windows were a bit dusty. Despite the abandoned look, Minhee liked it. It felt comfortable.
She bought a cup of coffee from the small coffee shop next door, which she never noticed before despite it being only a ten minutes walk from her apartment.
'5 minutes early is good, right?' Minhee thought to herself and entered the store with whatever confidence she had left in her body. The door bell rang, which drew the worker's attention.
"Hello."
Minhee turned to look at the voice that greeted her, a young man who was probably not that much older than her, yet seemed so much more condescending and mature than man her age are usually. His short black hair was hidden under a baseball cap and his eyes staring back at her through his boxy glasses.
"Hello, I am here for the job interview." she greeted him back. The man gave her a short nod and turned back to his book, that seemed to be a university research book.
"The manager is in the backroom." he instructed, not the least bit interested.
"Thank you." Minhee shortly nodded and hurried in.
The interview went better than expected, the manager was a kind old lady who was more than happy to accept Minhee for the job.
With the stress finally off her shoulders, her mind wandered to other things she could stress over. Therefor, she just had to check her timer. Minhee scolded herself for being so careless, she had exactly five seconds before she met him. She knew she couldn't get away this time, so she just casually looked around the store.
Just on time, the door bell rang and Minhee sneaked a glance at that direction. There were three boys there, but Minhee knew the exact same second he was the one.
He was shorter than the other two but perfect height for Minhee, who was a mere 1.55 meters. She took in his face for a good second before turning away, trying to buy herself more time.
Minhee was just out the door when Jihoon looked down at his wrist again, seeing his timer glimmering in red and the count going back up. Not thinking twice, the determined man left the store in a sprint. He looked left and right until his eyes found her. A second that felt like hours, Jihoon didn't even bother to be mindful while crossing the street. He wouldn't let her get away again, of that he was sure.
A tug at Minhee's wrist and then, two eyes meet another pair of eyes. They both felt all of their worries fly out the window that very second.
"I've finally found you." Jihoon let out a heavy breath, as if something's been blocking his lungs for the longest time.
Minhee was at a loss of words, but maybe that was fine, because her eyes were expressive enough for Jihoon to grab onto her and never let go.