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He looked so beautiful under the tall, orange coloured lights, in the middle of an empty Bunnings parking lot at the dead of night but all that Minghao saw was the beauty in his best friend - his soulmate. How he dazzled under the lights, even though he could see for a brief moment his pimples, hidden acne scars - he also saw the sparkle in his eyes and the mischievous smile the man always had - the same one he would give to Minghao and it made him feel special, like he was the only one in the world, the only one who understood his soul mate the way he did and it made him realise something….
Many of the adults around him said that this time of his life, his early twenties, were the best and most freeing moment of his life. However, they failed to tell him it would also be daunting, for all that freedom, there was so much unknown.
Would he fail his next exam? Would he be fired from his tutoring gig?
His current unknown was more difficult to receive a dichotomous answer to: Would his best friend be sick of him?
Now, "soulmate" would make one think that he was infatuated with Wonwoo; however, he wasn’t. And yes - it makes it sound like he is in denial but he has always seen the older as a companion, a sort of guardian who always took care of and looked out for him whether he recognised it or not. He was also someone who had greater belief in Minghao than he had in himself.
The uncertainty of his 20s and Minghao's current predicament had all started with a driver’s license.
Most people on their 16th birthday attempted and passed their learners test, which both boys easily achieved; however, Minghao was slower than Wonwoo to get his needed 120 hours of supervised driving and move onto his P’s. He still remembers the day Wonwoo pulled up in front of his house, red P plates stuck on both ends of the car, and Minghao joined him for a Macca’s run.
Tonight was a night for a similar celebration since he finally also got his P’s, just short of his 21st birthday and almost two years after Wonwoo. Now they were in university, both of them at their dream institution - the University of Sydney. This allowed them to stay in their home state and to still live in close proximity to one another as they had done their whole lives, only living a couple of houses apart. Despite the close distance the boys lived to one another, university had seen their lives drawn in opposite directions, with Wonwoo pursuing a degree in medicine whilst Minghao was studying architecture. Minghao had told himself that it would only be natural if they drifted apart in this new phase in their life and, although they were still stuck to one another during their first semester, he couldn't help but feeling sad as he noticed them beginning to drift apart at the start of their second.
Wonwoo would come over less and less to Minghao’s to study, Minghao would not catch Wonwoo as often as he used to see him in the architecture department and even when he went to the medical department he would always seem to miss his hyung. Minghao put it down to the older being busy but this changed when he saw Wonwoo’s social media posts, out partying or with his new friends. Minghao reluctantly began to reconsider his relationship with Wonwoo because, although he knew he still cared and enjoyed the older’s company, maybe Wonwoo didn’t reciprocate. It was clear he was going on a lot of road trips and doing things with others he had suggested to the younger in the past and the fact that Minghao couldn't drive or was busy studying meant that Wonwoo was doing them with others.
Minghao thought that Wonwoo saw him as part of his youth and, now that he had entered adulthood, Minghao and his lack of a driver’s license were being left behind in his past. The younger was determined to prove himself to his best friend (are they? He didn’t know anymore) and finally get off his L’s. The only good thing that came out of Wonwoo’s lack of presence in his life was the spare time to accumulate more hours of driving with his parent’s supervision.
Sometimes he’d message Wonwoo and not receive a response till a week later, a vast difference to the less than two hour response the older would have given him previously. Wonwoo, the kind man he was, would always apologise, saying that he was busy or in the middle of something. It made Minghao feel further isolated from the older who was clearly living life and to a certain extent he felt selfish for how he was trying to still belong in Wonwoo's life. Minghao decided to focus on driving and when he was only 15 hours away, he decided to cement the lack of communication with Wonwoo and not contact the older until he passed. He hired a driving instructor to help him get familiar with the different test routes and see if there were aspects of his driving he needed to fix as he knew driving with his parents made him a slightly lax driver.
His resolve to not contact Wonwoo broke the night before his exam. At this point it had been two and a half weeks since he had last contacted the older. Minghao did not realise how underprepared he was to take his test with his instructor citing numerous driving problems he needed to correct, nothing that was dangerous but things they were nitpicky with. The younger had thick skin and took on all the criticisms the instructor gave him and tried to improve on those critiques. It all came to a head though in his last driving session on the day before the exam where the instructor had told him bluntly that he thought Minghao wouldn’t pass because he hadn't fixed the problems he'd identified.
Minghao was despondent. Maybe he wasn’t truly prepared to get his license. To become the person he needed to become so that Wonwoo would notice him again, would care for him again, would stay with him again. However, Wonwoo was the only person he knew who could comfort him - ironic seeing what had led him to this situation. He looked down at the name on his screen and contemplated whether he should do it, but his own selfish desire got the better of him and he pressed the phone icon. He was honestly expecting the dial tone to continue for the usual minute before it became a missed call, but to his own surprise it stopped by the second ring.
“Hello Haohao” a raspy voice on the other end uttered, catching Minghao off guard because he could not believe how long it had been since he had last heard the older’s voice, albeit more tired than he was used to hearing it.
“Oh did I catch you at a bad time?” the younger muttered, not even expecting the call to go on for this long.
“No I was just at a party and you know me, I get tired easily, what’s up?” the older said with a light chuckle which warmed Minghao’s heart.
For a moment, Minghao hesitated in revealing the truth but he knew he greatly needed to hear words of reassurance from Wonwoo, “I..um…I am doing my driver's test tomorrow but my instructor said I’m not going to pass….”
“Nonsense Minghao! I know we haven’t seen one another in a while but I need you to know you are always amazing and you will pass! Once you put your mind onto something, you always do well no matter how difficult it is for you. Don’t listen to your instructor and listen to me - I believe in you and I know you will pass,” Wonwoo said in a comforting manner which gave Minghao that reassurance he so missed, bringing a light smile to his lips.
“Thank you hyung, that’s calmed me down. I think the pressure just got the better of me!” Minghao cheerily replied, feeling a weight lifted of his shoulders.
“No worries I will be waiting for you to come by tomorrow night….it’s time for me to call in a raincheck on my McFlurry,” Wonwoo said cheekily causing Minghao to laugh, “Of course hyung.”
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It was now Minghao’s turn to do Wonwoo the honour of picking him up after taking the car out of his family’s driveway and rolling down the 10 metres to Wonwoo’s home at midnight. The older man had left his home after kissing his mother goodnight at the front door and waving at Minghao. This made Minghao realise that for all the "growing up" Wonwoo had gone through the past two years, he was still the same boy Minghao knew who'd kiss his mother on the cheek before leaving the house when he'd first met him.
Wonwoo did not ask any questions, only connecting his phone to the car and playing their shared playlist last updated eight months ago, with both men preferring ballads, which created the perfect for the mood of driving at such a time at night. Both men glanced at one another and smiled.
The drive to Macca’s was relatively quick with Minghao pulling up into the drive-thru and ordering McFlurry's for the both of them, his being Oreos whilst Wonwoo’s is Maltesers, their favourite thing to have from the place since they were young.
After ordering, they drive down a street to the ghost-like carpark of Bunnings, a big green and imposing building but the first place the boys went when Wonwoo got his license two years ago. So this building still held a certain level of nostalgia despite both men having no reason for being at Bunnings, either day or night.
“You know Wonwoo, I was scared, I was scared that if I wasn’t as cool or mature as your friends from class, then maybe you wouldn't have time for me anymore” the younger says as he scrapes the bottom of his McFlurry, feeling thankful for Wonwoo, his soul mate, his best friend.
“HaoHao, always know I am here for you, no matter what happens I’m here for you as long as this world spins and we go around the giant glowing star, I am your WonWon and you are my HaoHao and we will never be apart! Like the moon and the stars! I am your moon and you are my star!”
Wonwoo exclaims this loudly into the empty parking lot, his voice sounding loud as he spun whilst he talked but to Minghao he knew this declaration was as much as it was said out loud, it was something only meant for the younger to understand as he watched Wonwoo continue to spin under the light post.
Minghao came to the realisation, that at that moment in time, at that moment where Wonwoo spun under the orange lights, at the moment where Wonwoo’s eyes met him after spinning around, no matter what the world threw at him, Wonwoo would always be there to help him support him and if he was broken, Wonwoo would be there to pick up the pieces to put Minghao together again.
This was something Minghao would do in a heartbeat for Wonwoo too and even though they did not share a romantic love for one another they were soul mates. Soul mates are only simply defined as love and the love Minghao and Wonwoo share with one another is stronger than romantic love or brotherly love and it does not have a definite label to it - it is something the two men know they share and they know that no matter what happens in the world they would be at one another’s sides and that was enough for them.
At that moment, in the Bunnings parking lot as Minghao held his empty McFlurry cup and his eyes met with Wonwoo’s they smiled at one another, under the dim, orange lights at 1am after a Macca’s run.
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