Chapter Text
'Just try to live your life happily with your soulmate, okay?'
Huening Kai's whole world crashed down as soon as he finished reading Soobin's letter. Tears keep on falling. He falls to the ground, trying to deny reality. The boy shakes his head as he crumples the letter.
'Soobin hyung is just joking, right?'
'He promised not to avoid me again...'
"No! Soobin hyung can't do this to me!" Kai shouts, startling the still dazed Yeonjun.
At the same time, Beomgyu and Taehyun rush into the ward seeing the scene. Beomgyu immediately goes to Huening Kai. Beomgyu hugs the younger boy, trying to comfort him. Taehyun looks at Yeonjun carefully.
"Are you... Okay?" Taehyun asks the older boy.
Yeonjun looks down at the question. He just feels numb right now. His feelings was rejected and his crush had left him forever.
'Please be happy for me.'
Yeonjun chuckles at the irony of Soobin's words.
"How can I be happy when you left me?..." Yeonjun mumbles, which only Taehyun caught it.
"Yeonjun hyung..." Taehyun tries to comfort Yeonjun, but the older just shakes his head.
Yeonjun keeps the letter in his bag pack then walks out of the ward.
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Beomgyu and Taehyun bring Huening Kai back to his house when the boy had calmed down. Lea and Bahiyyih are on high alert when they saw their brother's teary face. Beomgyu and Taehyun told the sisters a little about the situation. Beomgyu keeps on apologizing until the two have to go home.
In the bedroom, Huening Kai continues on crying with face burried in his pillow. Today, he lost his best friend and first love. He didn't know how his life suddenly become like this.
'Since when did everything goes wrong?'
He rather his hyung lost his memory but still be there than remembers everything and left.
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Yeonjun gulps down the alcohol from his cup for the nth time. He already finished two bottles of soju.
The old lady who is the owner of the stall looks at the drunken boy worriedly, "Young man, I think you should stop drinking now. You are already drunk."
Yeonjun shakes his head sluggishly, "It's okay, ahjumma. I still can handle it..."
Yeonjun's phone the rings so the boy accept the call without looking at the contact name.
"Choi Yeonjun where are you right now?!"
Yeonjun laughs as he heard his best friend's voice, "Wooyoungie~" He then hiccups.
"What the hell? Are you drunk?? F*ck! Yewon noona is going to kill me!--"
"Yeonjun, this is San. Where are you?"
Yeonjun continue laughing at his friends' babbling. He doesn't really hear them. His mind is too hazy to digest any sorts of complicated conversations. He suddenly feels a little sleepy...
It seems like Wooyoung snatches the phone from San, "Hey Yeonjun, stop laughing! Where the f*ck are you right now??"
"Wooyoungie~ Soobin left me..." The boy suddenly sobs, still feeling sleepy.
"What?? Yeonjun, what are you talking about?"
Yeonjun cries and hiccups as he talks, "I'm okay with him rejecting me but why... Why did he left??"
"Jun..."
"Sannie, am I not worth to be loved?"
"Yeonjun listen! Everyone deserves to be loved! Including you!" Wooyoung decides to console his brokenhearted best friend first.
Yeonjun laughs humourlessly, "Good joke, Youngie."
"Choi Yeonjun! I never joke about this matter--"
Yeonjun doesn't catch Wooyoung's words as he passed out from the drunkness.
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Huening Kai wakes up to the sound of his alarm. It's been almost a year since Soobin's gone. Everyone are distancing themselves. Beomgyu and Taehyun are busy with their senior year while Yeonjun is nowhere to be found after the high school graduation.
When he goes downstairs, he hears his parents arguing loudly again. They already told the children about their divorce this weekend. He sighs,
"Guess not all soulmates are meant to be together forever..."
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Yeonjun catches his breath as he finishes dancing in the midnight. Whenever Yeonjun is stressed, he finds some relief in dancing. The boy is stressing over the fashion week project where this time he needs to tell a story through his creations.
He goes through his phone to see if there is any new messages from his friends.
There's none, good. That means it's not that late yet.
Yeonjun exits his messenger only to see his home where a photo of him and Soobin is in display. He reminiscent of the time where they took the picture...
○●◇Flashback◇●○
The two boys are enjoying themselves getting on the rides in the fun fair. Their last ride is the Ferris wheel.
Soobin gasps at the beautiful scenery under him. The lights from the booths makes it look like stars shining from below them. Yeonjun closes him eyes tightly due to fear of heights. Their ride are all transparent except for the seats. Soobin smiles at his hyung's reaction.
"I thought you're the one who wants to ride this Ferris wheel?" Soobin said teasingly.
"Y-yes... Because it looks romantic in dramas..." Yeonjun mumbles to himself.
"What is it, hyung? I can't hear you."
"I said I thought it's exciting but now I just feel overwhelmed." Yeonjun said, still closing his eyes.
Soobin looks at his hyung endearingly. He finds his hyung cute... The younger one holds the other's hand securely.
"Hyung it's not scary, it's beautiful. The sceneries are breath-taking."
"R-really??"
Soobin rubs his hyung's hands making Yeonjun relaxes.
"Yeah hyung, we can see our school from here."
Yeonjun gapes in amazement, "Our school is far from here!"
Soobin laughs, "That's why I said the view is spectacular, hyung."
Yeonjun tightens Soobin's hand on his grip, making the other blush.
"Promise to hold my hand when I open my eyes?"
"Always, hyung."
Yeonjun grips Soobin's hand as he slowly opens his eyes. Soobin continue on rubbing his hyung's knuckles with his thumb.
Yeonjun's eyes brightens as he looks at the view in front of him. The light below them shine brightly like stars.
Soobin smiles at Yeonjun's reaction, "It's beautiful right, hyung?"
Yeonjun looks at Soobin, just in time to see fireworks behind the other boy. Soobin's handsome features are highlighted by the fireworks.
"Yeah... So beautiful..." Yeonjun said as he gazes lovingly at the other boy.
Soobin blushes even harder at Yeonjun's intense stare. He looks everywhere but not at his hyung. His eyes then lands on his forgotten phone on the seat.
"Hyung, why don't we take a selfie?"
"You mean here? Right now?"
Soobin nods.
"Sure, why not?"
The two of them smiles at the camera with the fireworks as a background behind them.
○●◇End of Flashback◇●○
Yeonjun chuckles as he looks at the picture longingly. It's been almost two years since Soobin's disappearence.
After his drunk episode, Yeonjun had been trying to search for his crush. In the end he gave up and tried to move on but he can't. He tried to date many girls and guys to mend his heart but he doesn't click with any of them. Lastly, he accepts his fate and just let himself living in the memories but at the same time continue with his life. Yeonjun choose to stay in South Korea to pursue his studies, majoring in fashion and textile design and minor in dancing.
His phone rings. Yeonjun looks at his phone to see a text from San asking where he is. He looks at the time to see it almost one in the morning. He should go home now.
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○●◇A year later◇●○
Huening Kai is excited for his first day in the university. Being a student at Jeju National University is a new chapter for him.
His parents finally divorced last year and the siblings are reluctant to separate from each other so the three of them settle in their old house while both parents went their separate ways. Thankfully, Lea is already a model so they still have income. Their parents also give them monthly allowance.
Kai decided he wants to be independent and moved on from memories with his childhood friend so he applied to universities away from Seoul. His sisters support his decision wholeheartedly. Kai double-majored in business and music composition because he had promised to inherit his father's company with the condition that he can still study music.
Today is the first day of the orientation week. Each freshman will assigned to one senior. The pair of students will be together until the end of the week. While the boy wait to be assigned, Kai earns many new acquaintances.
"Huening Kamal Kai!"
Huening Kai walks towards a girl who shouts his name.
"Hello, are you my assigned senior?"
"Yes, I am but for business major only. For music major, you are assigned to Choi Yeonjun."
Kai's smile drops as he hears the name. But there's no way Yeonjun is here, right? For God's sake, he travels to Jeju to forget everything and start a new life! Now what's the point if the person he's been avoiding is here?!
'No... It can't be... It must be another Choi Yeonjun...'
"There he is."
Huening Kai looks up and immediately looks down again.
He can't believe fate is playing with both of them again.
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"So how are you, Kai?"
"I'm... Alright..."
"That's good to know."
"..."
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Huening Kai gotta admit that he actually finds Yeonjun attractive. Yeonjun thinks so too, he finds Kai adorable. Well of course, they are soulmates after all. They can't ignore the magnetic pull towards each other. But the thought of dating the older seems so wrong and weird to Kai... He also discovers that he is attracted to girls and the only guy he's attracted to is Yeonjun.
Yeonjun likes Kai, but his love for Soobin is deeper. Kai had developed many of Soobin's habit because they are childhood friends so when Kai did the same habits, Yeonjun is reminded of Soobin all over again.
The two tried to avoid each other after the orientation week, but failed because of their strong soulmate connection. The two will cross paths during the dance club because obviously both joined in. To further worsen their situation, both of them have the same circle of friends.
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"Kai yah..."
"Hm?"
"Do you want... to try dating?"
✷✷✷✷✷
It's their first date and Kai is waiting for Yeonjun to show up. Kai can't deny that he is a bit nervous because this is his first ever date in his whole life. But he doesn't feel giddy and excited like what his sisters described when they have their first date.
"Hey, sorry! Did you wait for a long time?" Yeonjun said as soon as he arrives.
"No, I only arrived five minutes earlier. Let's go?"
"Yeah."
The two walks into the movie theater. The two choose a horror movie because romance are too cliché for them. Yeonjun purchases their as snacks while Kai buys their ticket.
"I'm sorry sir, the only seats available are the couples' seats. Do you still want to proceed?"
Kai blinks his eyes, contemplating.
"The couples' seats price are 30% lower than usual seats."
"I'll take them."
'I just hope Yeonjun hyung is okay with it...' Kai thought.
Kai waits for Yeonjun after he finishes the purchase.
"You done? That was fast." Yeonjun comments.
"Well... They only have couple seats left... Are you okay with that?" Kai asks awkwardly.
Yeonjun hums, "Yeah, it's not like we are strangers."
"Ha ha yeah... Alright let's go in." Kai hides his awkwardness by laughing.
The two settle down on their couple seats which is a loveseat. Around them, there are countless of affectionate couples who choose the same seat as them, which makes the two feel more out of the place.
Yeonjun clears his throat and whispers to Kai, "What's with all these couples? This is a horror movie, not romance for God's sake!"
"I know right..." Kai replies back.
The movie starts, stopping them from whispering to each other. Throughout the movie, both of them are jumpy and on alert every time scary scenes appear. As the ending is getting near, the scariest scene appears, making Kai dolphin-screams throughout the cinema.
"What the hell??"
"Ouch my ears!"
"Who screams like a dolphin here??"
"Can't deny that those screams are scarier than the movie..."
In the end, both of them are kicked out of the cinema due to the complaints.
"I'm sorry for getting us kicked out of the cinema..."
"Nahhhh I'm getting bored anyway. THE MOVIE HERE SUCKS!!" Yeonjun shouts the last statement.
Yeonjun then grabs Kai's hand and run away from the cinema before the security guard catches them.
"Where are we going, hyung?!"
"To the bowling alley!"
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Both of them really confident with their bowling skills that they start to provoked each other before the game. Let's just say both are not really skillful in bowling, most of their scores are gutters. The two still enjoy their time bowling together even though both didn't get high scores at all. It's getting redundant when Kai suggests for a bet. The first one to get a strike will be treated lunch by the loser.
The ever so competitive and food-lover Yeonjun cannot pass this opportunity so easily. But he makes more mistakes when he is fired up, which gives Kai a whole new entertainment. Through hardships and effort, Yeonjun finally scores a strike. He is so excited that he starts twerking. Huening Kai who watches his hyung being silly, laughs loudly.
Throughout the day, both have fun but they can't ignore that the date feels like their usual hangout.
"Hyung, I don't think this works for us. I don't feel the excitement of being on a date at all. I feel like I'm hanging out with my silly older brother."
"I'm actually think the same. And hey! I'm not silly! I'm fabulous!" Yeonjun flips his non-existent long hair.
Both starts to laugh at each other's silliness.
"So friends?"
Yeonjun shakes his head, "No, brothers."
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The two continue to hang out together as friends or brothers for months. Now that they tried dating each other and it didn't work, they know that the attraction that they feel are fake. Both are more relaxed with each other. Even after Yeonjun graduated, they still keep in contact and hang out together.
Huening Kai is now on his third year double-majoring in business and music composition. This year he have to take musical theater class to complete his major in music composition. Kai is okay with creating musical songs but he is not one for acting in musicals. He should've take this class on his first year but he decides to take other subjects first. In the end, he still needs to complete this course to graduate. So being a thick-skinned he is, he just register the course with other first year students.
When he goes to the class that morning, he is glad that he is not the only senior student there. There are also repeated students. The class begins as normal with theory studies first. The other half time of the class, the lecturer asks them to paired up to recreate any scenes of their liking from what they learn today. Kai groans, he hates group tasks especially when he doesn't know anyone in the class.
"Hello."
Kai looks up from his seat to see a girl. The girl looks familiar... She resembles someone Kai knows but who?
Kai points at himself, "Are you talking to me?"
The girl smiles, "Yeah, you're a senior student, right? I see that you don't have partner yet. There are odd number of freshmen so I don't have a partner too. So why don't we be one?"
"Uh... Sure."
"Great! I'm Choi Hisoo, a first year musical student."
"I'm Huening Kai, third year, music composition."
"Okay Kai sunbae (senior), what scene do you like from today's class? For me, I like..."
Hisoo continues to talk about her favourite scene and Kai just listens. Kai doesn't know why but he likes to listen to this girl. She makes boring scenes interesting which Kai finds entertaining. Kai also likes the girl's voice, it is a honey like voice with a hint of mellowness.
A voice that he longs for to sing his songs...
The two agrees to act on Hisoo's favourite scene. Huening Kai is awkward because it's his first time acting while Hisoo acts flawlessly on the scene.
The two earns an A for their first task.
Later on, every time there are partner or group tasks, Kai and Hisoo are always together. Kai also improved in acting because of Hisoo's guidance. Huening Kai can't help but admire Hisoo. She loves to be a musical actress and she works hard to understand her character and storylines.
That is true passion.
It's rare to find people as passionate as Hisoo and Kai is so amazed of her. He didn't even realize that he had been filling his heart with the certain freshman.
✷✷✷✷✷
It's the time of the month again, where Kai and Yeonjun hangout together. Huening Kai had been quiet all day which is not normal!
Yeonjun decides to have a talk with his favourite dongsaeng (little brother) before their movie night, "Kai are you okay? Is there any problem with your studies?"
"Huh? Uh... No hyung. Everything's fine."
Yeonjun raises his eyebrow, "Then why are you always staring at empty spaces and being quiet all day? You are not like usual."
"Uh.... If I tell you, please don't laugh at me, okay?"
"No promises."
Kai sighs but decide to tell his hyung anyway.
"There's this girl from my theater class. Hyung, she is just... So amazing. She's talented in acting and singing and she knows how to use that for her advantage. She really shines brightly on the stage."
"Sounds like you're in love."
Kai is flustered because of Yeonjun's remarks, "N-no I don't! I just... Admire her... So much..."
Yeonjun rolls his eyes at Kai's obliviousness, "Okay then what's the problem?"
"You know about how picky I am to choose singers to sing my written songs?"
Yeonjun pouts, "Of course, you wouldn't even let me sing one."
Kai releases his breath, "Well... I think I found my singer."
"What?! Really?? Then that's great! Wait... Is it the girl?"
"Yeah... I don't know how to ask her..."
"Why? Are you shy? But you're never shy with people before!"
"I know... I just don't know why I'm always shy with her."
Yeonjun blinks 'innocently', "Well maybe you act different because you like her?"
Huening Kai furrows his eyebrows, thinking deeply.
"But is this okay? I mean... She must have her own soulmate..."
"Well you never know until you ask. Just be honest and ask her. Gosh, I can't believe my baby brother is growing up..." Yeonjun wipes his fake tears.
Kai laughs at his hyung's silly antics, "Maybe I should?..."
Yeonjun nods happily, "That's the spirit!"
✷✷✷✷✷
It's the end of the musical theater class when Kai decides to brave himself and approaches Hisoo.
"Hey Hisoo, can I talk to you for a bit?"
"Of course, sunbae!"
The two walks to the garden of their university where there are less people there at this time.
"So what is this about, sunbae?"
Kai takes a deep breath and said, "Hisoo, you know about my last project which is to produce a song, right?"
Hisoo's eyes brightens, "Of course I know about it! You've been complaining about not finding the perfect singer for your song. Have you found your singer??"
Kai nods timidly.
"Woahhh.... Who??"
Kai blurts it quickly, "... it'syou..."
"Can you repeat that, sunbae? I can't hear you."
"I... it's you... I want you to be my singer..."
The moment Hisoo sings the first verse, Kai knows that she is the one for him.
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"Yeonjun hyung."
"Hm?"
"I think I have a crush on my own junior."
"You finally admitted it! Our Hueningie has finally grown up~"
"Aishh this hyung, don't ruffle my hair!"
"Kai, why don't we cut our string of fate?"
"Hyung..."
"Think about it, Kai. By cutting the string, we both can love our significant other wholeheartedly without any interruption of fate."
"Do you still love Soobin hyung, Yeonjun hyung?"
"I am and always be."
"...alright let's do this."
✷✷✷✷✷
A month later, Huening Kai and Yeonjun finally cut their string of fate with the help of Beomgyu.
"Gyu hyung..."
"Yeah Kai?"
"Uh... Is your sister still single?"
Beomgyu thinks for awhile, "From what I can see, yes she is. She doesn't even have a soulmate."
"What? How can that be? I thought everyone has their own soulmates?" Yeonjun asks, bewildered.
"That's not true, actually. Only 90% of the population on the Earth have their own soulmates. For Hisoo's case, our family are blessed with talent to help people find their soulmates but the last son/daughter of every family is cursed to have no soulmate. Soobin hyung is the same."
Both Kai and Yeonjun are silent, still overwhelmed with this information.
"Beomgyu hyung, I know this is too sudden but I really like your sister..."
Beomgyu smirks, "Uh-huh. Tell me something I don't know."
Yeonjun laughs along with Beomgyu while Kai pouts.
"On the serious note, I know you are a good person. You better treat Bobae well or else..." Beomgyu makes a cut throat gesture.
Kai gulps then nods, "Of course, hyung."
Yeonjun blinks, "Wait... Who's Bobae?"
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After that, the three boys catch up with each other while eat dinner. Beomgyu tells them about how he is now the big boss of his family's business and about Taehyun who still studying overseas. Yeonjun tells them about his progress in creating his name in the fashion industry. Kai talks about how he will enherit his father's company after graduate. They also retold back memories during their school days.
Kai smiles, "This has been fun. Why don't we hangout again another time?"
"Of course, next time with Taehyunnie!"
"And Soobin..."
✷✷✷✷✷
Three years had passed and life goes well for everyone. Yeonjun is busy with his fashion career, Kai goes back to Hawaii to manage his company, he and Hisoo are engaged already, Taehyun was back two years ago and now handling his family's company. Beomgyu had been expanding his family's business and improved it more.
Let's just say all is well for everyone.
The one fateful night, Yeonjun receives a message from Beomgyu.
From : BG
Time : Now
Soobin hyung is back home. He will go to the reunion this weekend.
Replied : Noted, thanks Gyu.