Binding Force
“Yuanfen is the fate, chance or binding force that brings this person and other people or objects together.”
↠angst, soulmateAU, based on this AU i found on pinterest (obvi i made some changes huhu)↞
word count: 12.6 k OH MY GOD
↠oneshot↞
A/N: hi everyone! ive been working on this for a while and i finally brought myself to finish it! enjoy ^-^
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“And then let’s end the last hour in your dorm! How does that sound?”
“Perfect babe. Just perfect.”
In a few hours, Park Jimin was going to celebrate his 21st birthday and not only could he finally purchase alcohol legally and go to bars, he was going to be entering the long-awaited Yuanfen.
Yuanfen was a special moment in time for someone who was turning 21 because it meant the entire universe was going to freeze for 24 hours except for the birthday celebrant and their soulmate. The entire world was their oyster and excited was an understatement for Jimin and his girlfriend, Momo.
Jimin and Momo had been dating since Jimin’s sophomore year of high school while Momo was a freshman. They were close with each other’s families, they got accepted into the same university, and after dating for so long, they believed that they were meant to be. A lot of their friends believed it as well and no one could ever imagine them dating other people.
But, of course, they didn’t want to celebrate Jimin’s 21st birthday without their friends.
The university had a bar-like-lounge off-campus two blocks away from the main building that students frequented to and they all chipped in to rent one of the sections off to celebrate Jimin’s birthday there. Thankfully, his birthday landed on a friday and no one of their friends had a class on Saturday which meant they could drink till their hearts’ content.
“Something tells me Jungkook did something headass like make decorations of all the derp selfies I ever took.” Jimin held the door open for Momo and placed a hand on her lower back.
“I think you’re over exaggerating.” Momo grabbed onto Jimin’s hand and guided him through a section of tables, chairs, and clusters of people.
In a few more feet, Jimin could see photos of his head scrunched down until his chin reached his chest taped onto the wall and he stopped in his tracks. “Babe.” He sighed in defeat.
“What? I think you look handsome.” Momo gave him a peck on his cheek and pulled him by the hem of his shirt, leading him to the back room where all of the decorations were.
Once they stepped out of the walkway, streamers and confetti popped from either side of him and their friends, who were wearing homemade masks of Jimin’s derp selfies, all shouted at the same time, “Happy birthday, Jimin!”
↠↞
“Jungkook, you think you’re funny, huh?” Jimin ripped off the mask of his friend and put him into a headlock.
“Ow—ow! Hey! We all decided on this—even Momo!” Jungkook tapped out, constantly swatting at the sleeve of Jimin’s leather jacket.
“But whose big idea was it?”
“It was me and Jungkook’s.” You emerged from the side and attempted to help Jungkook who was still struggling to escape Jimin’s clutches. “Happy birthday!”
Jimin laughed and tossed Jungkook aside to wrap his arms around you. Jungkook, on the other hand, argued about how he let you off the hook instead of gathering you into a headlock. But you two weren’t listening.
“Where’s Taeyong?” Jimin asked.
“He’s buying another bottle of liquor just in case.” You emphasized the word ‘just’ as you fixed up his leather jacket. “I see you’re still enjoying my birthday present from last year.”
“Yes and thank you again. It goes well with a lot of my shirt.” Jimin show cased the white v-neck he wore underneath his leather jacket, striking poses as if there were paparazzi in the room.
“Y/n!” Momo jumped onto you, smothering you in a tight hug. “I fucking missed you! I haven’t seen you since midterms started.”
Momo was a dear friend of yours. You’ve known her since middle school and actually, you were the one who introduced her to your photography partner in yearbook back in freshman year. She profusely thanked you for introducing her to Jimin as the years went on and they were in a relationship. As a thank you, she introduced you to Lee Taeyong, a friend of hers from the dance team. This led to you and Taeyong dating since your sophomore year of high school.
The four of you were almost always together because Taeyong and Jimin became close friends through you and Momo. Your friendship only deepen because you all applied to the same university. There was complete trust between the four of you which meant that Momo didn’t mind if you hung out with Jimin and vise versa.
“After midterms, you and I need to go out and get a fucking drink together.” You gently spun her around, being cautious of her heels. “I hope you don’t mind if I steal her away from you for a bit, Jimin. She was mine first.”
Jimin smiled and gave you the ‘okay’. You walked towards a table, arm in arm with Momo, that carried all of the alcohol. It was going to be an amazing night, you could feel it in your bones.
/
Almost two hours had passed and within those two hours, Taeyong showed up with two more bottles of alcohol, Jungkook was already drunk and kissed Jimin on the cheek, twice, and Jimin was already five shots and multiple mixed drinks in.
Jimin was now sipping some water trying to sober up to be in the right mindset just in time for Yuanfen. He glanced around the room, satisfied that all of his friends were enjoying themselves.
Jungkook was trying to steal all of the snacks away from Seokjin, Taemin was pouring up another round of shots for Seulgi, Yoongi, and Namjoon, and You were sitting on Taeyong’s lap while Momo sat on yours. He was celebrating with a colorful group of friends that he wouldn’t for anything else in this world.
He found himself daydreaming about the full 24 hours he was going to have with Momo. The entire world around them was going to be put on pause and he was looking forward to wreak havoc on campus and certain parts of the entire dormitory with his soulmate.
“Baby.” Momo joined Jimin on the sofa and cuddled into his side, wrapping her arms around his torso. “Only five more minutes.”
Jimin kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulder. “Why don’t we leave early, hm?”
She tilted her head to place light kisses all over his neck. “I think you need to calm your hormones for five more minutes.”
He snickered at the feeling of Momo’s lips tickling his skin. “How can I calm down when you’re dressed so beautifully?”
It already seemed like the world stopped around them because no matter where they were, Jimin only had eyes for Momo. He didn’t mind the people around them. The only thing that mattered to him whenever he was spending time with his girlfriend was his girlfriend and his girlfriend only.
“You two only have a couple of minutes left, keep it PG, please?!” Seulgi faked her gag and shielded her eyes.
“Cut us some slack!” Momo yelled back with a smile over the loud music.
Jimin looked at his phone and watched as 11:58 PM turned into 11:59 PM. There were still a lot of people who were enjoying their drinks in the lounge and all of his friends were constantly checking their phones and watches, shooting quick glances at him and Momo with suggestive smiles on their faces.
The last minute felt like an eternity and Jimin placed a hand on Momo’s knee. On an impulse, he cupped her cheek and gazed into her eyes.
“I love you.” Jimin said breathlessly.
“I love you, Jimin.” Momo raised her chin, capturing his lips in between hers.
Once their lips touched and eyes fluttered closed, there was the sound of a wind chime ringing throughout Jimin’s head. Something inside of him rattled inside of his chest and that feeling only meant one thing: it was Yuanfen.
Jimin was almost too excited to open his eyes, but he knew he had to stop kissing Momo at some point. He extracted himself away from her face and slowly, he opened his eyes until snapping them wide open.
At first he thought this was apart of the entire process of entering Yuanfen; the birthday celebrant would enter first and after maybe after a few minutes, their soulmate would enter too. But two minutes passed and Momo had her lips protruding out and eyes were still closed.
“M-Momo?” Panic shot right through Jimin’s body and he instinctively reached out to grab her hand, but even after doing so, Momo remained still.
This wasn’t happening.
Momo and Jimin ultimately believed with their whole heart that they were soulmates. They were supposed to be leaving the lounge right about now to raid the school’s cafeteria of their cookie dough ice cream sandwiches.
There had to be some sort of mistake.
“Tae-Taeyong?!”
Jimin didn’t realize that the music of the lounge was also put on pause until another voice bled out into the atmosphere; it wasn’t Momo’s.
Like his entire world was moving in slow motion, Jimin turned his direction to where the voice came from and found you roughly holding Taeyong’s face in your hands. He was stuck in a mid-laugh type of expression with you still balancing on his thigh.
“Taeyong, what—?”
“Y/n.” He called out and at the speed of light, you darted your attention towards and he noticed a panicked look in your eye.
↠↞
What in the actual fuck was happening?
You were sitting on the lap of Taeyong, your boyfriend, whom you loved with all of your heart. He was just telling you a hilarious story that happened in his economic class and next thing you knew, there was a delicate ringing sound inside your head. Every movement and sound was put on pause, everything but you.
You waited for Taeyong to finish his story and it finally clicked that he was frozen. Why was he frozen? Why were you able to move your limbs to clutch his face? It took you awhile, but you found your voice and called out Taeyong’s name. He still wasn’t answering. There had to be something incredibly wrong because the silence was deafening until the urgent sound sound of your name was being dispatched from across the room. To your shock, you were staring into the desperate eyes of Park Jimin.
“What time is it?” Jimin asked quietly.
“Um—“ You reached into your back pocket for your phone and with a barely audible tone you said, “12:06 AM.”
“B-But Momo is—“ He frantically looked back and forth from you to Momo. “Is this really Yuanfen?”
You climbed off of Taeyong’s lap and took another look around the room. You even walked out into the bar area where the other booths and tables were. All of the patrons were stuck in time; some were even tilting their head back to down a shot.
“Everyone is fucking frozen, Jimin.” You walked back into the room and Jimin was pacing back and forth trying to get one of their friends’ attention.
“This doesn’t make sense.” Jimin sighed, roughly running a hand through his hair. “Yuanfen is for soulmates. Momo and I—We—“
You could tell Jimin was trying to find the right words to say without offending you. “I know, Jimin. I love Taeyong so much. He’s my boyfriend and he’s—“ You walked over to Taeyong who still didn’t budge. “We can’t really be… you know… right?”
How could you say it? It was one word, two syllables and saying it would only make you feel guilty.
Your chest was starting to feel tight and tears welled up in your eyes. There was a point in your relationship where you also gave the idea of being soulmates with Taeyong some deep thought. You two had a late night conversation about what you wanted to do when Taeyong turns 21. He wore a bright facial expression as you two talked and it was clear that he also believed that you were his soulmate. But now that whole idea was crumbling at your feet and the pieces were too small to pick up and put back together.
Park Jimin was not your soulmate. He couldn’t be.
“This is fucking crazy. There has to be a loophole in this.” Jimin sat back down and whipped his phone out.
You carefully sat down next to him to peer down at his phone. He was googling something about Yuanfen and if it was possible to get soulmates mixed up.
It was always easy to sit beside Jimin. There was never a time where you felt uncomfortable around him except now. You kept enough space in between the two of you and looking at him started to hurt.
“Nothing.” Jimin tossed his phone to the side and buried his face in his hands. “There has been no cases about people having the wrong soulmate, Apparently the people who thought they had a different soulmate ended up marrying the one who they were with on Yuanfen—”
“Stop, Jimin. Please.” You stood up and rubbed your temples.
Hearing the word marriage made you squirm. Marrying Jimin? No offense, but you wouldn’t. He was like a brother-in-law because you treated Momo like a sister.
Oh, god. Momo.
Momo was a sister to you and if she found out that you were Jimin’s soulmate and not her…
“What are we supposed to do, Jimin?” You walked over to Momo and gently tugged at a strand of her hair.
Jimin blew out a breath and stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Let’s go outside for now. We need some air.”
He walked out first and you were hesitant in following him, not wanting to leave Taeyong, but he was right. Being in that room was suffocating you and you need to get away from it.
↠↞
The outside was no different than the lounge; students who were walking were stuck in one spot and cars were stopped. The only thing that wasn’t frozen was the cold air and brushed against Jimin’s face. He looked around and took a deep breath. Was it wrong to wish that he was dreaming?
You were a great girl; excellent grades, passionate about the things you loved, and selfless. He was always inspired to continue his dream to become a doctor because even if being a lawyer was going to take years of education, you were determined to become one. Despite all of these things, Jimin was in love with Momo. He has been for years and it didn’t make sense to drop every single day he spent loving her just because the beholders of true love turned the hands of fate onto you.
“Why the fuck is it so cold? It was nothing like this this morning.” You emerged from the lounge, tugging at your sweater sleeves to cover your hands.
“Well, the sun is hiding.” Jimin watched his breath dissipate into thin air.
You chuckled and stood inches away from Jimin. “So… what did you two have planned besides the obvious.”
Jimin laughed because he knew what you meant by ‘the obvious’. “Uh, escaping onto the rooftops and lots of eating. Starting off with the cookie dough ice cream sandwiches from the cafeteria.”
“It’s freezing and you two were gonna eat ice cream?”
It did sound absurd but there was a reason. “Yeah, it’s uh-it’s her favorite flavor so…”
You nodded and kicked a stray rock onto the asphalt road.
“Do you want to go to the cafeteria? Hopefully there’s a stock on the orange creamsicles you like.” The offer Jimin made sort of came out on an impulse. He didn’t want to spend his birthday doing nothing and if you two avoided the whole being-each-other’s-soulmate a while longer, maybe doing things with you wouldn’t be so bad.
“Uh-yeah. Yeah, sure.” Jimin was a bit afraid you were going to reject the idea, but was relieved at your willingness to go.
↠↞
“At least it’s warm in here.” You wrapped up the fourth popsicle stick inside the napkin that contained the rest of the trash you two had.
The cafeteria was pretty much barren. There were only a few students who were having breakfast for dinner at different tables across the room. You were sitting across from each other on top of one of the empty tables. Thankfully there were still a lot of ice cream choices left inside of the freezer and you took advantage of the situation by taking handfuls of the orange creamsicles.
“You’re not hungry?” You questioned.
“Kind of. I thought the alcohol and all of those snacks you guys bought would’ve kept me full for a while.” Jimin leaned back on his hands and looked over to whatever the students were eating; cereal, french toast, and some were eating whatever what served during dinner.
“I could cook you something.” You tried to peer behind some of the counters to get a view of the kitchen. “Considering this ordeal, I can whip up something in the kitchen.”
“What is this? My birthday gift?” Jimin laughed it off because he knew you were way too busy to go out into the city to get him a birthday gift.
“It could be. If that’s what you really want.” You hopped off the table and trailed towards the kitchen.
Jimin let you walk off a couple of feet before silently following behind you. You’ve cooked for him a few times-mainly instant ramen or fried rice. Other times, you would bake cookies for Momo whenever you had time to go home during the weekends and she’d share with Jimin.
“I’ll take the food, but not as a gift.” He looked around the kitchen as you opened up cupboards, trying to find something decent to cook.
“How about pasta? Judging by some of the prepped ingredients, it seems like this was going to be tomorrow’s dinner.” You pulled out bowls of minced garlic and parsley. “Looks like shrimp linguine.”
Jimin gave you a thumbs up and propped himself on an empty counter space. There were student chefs still inside of the kitchen but they were mainly cleaning up pots and pans and taking back leftovers. The world was still silent besides the sounds of you opening the refrigerator and placing glass bowls on the counter, so he turned on some jazz music on a quiet volume to make the space feel cozier. You smiled at the familiar tune and turned on the stove to heat up water for pasta.
“I hope you don’t mind a simple white sauce. Alfredo would be best but I don’t know how to make that shit.” You confessed.
“You can make white sauce?” Jimin asked with a raised eyebrow.
You tossed a pinch of salt in his direction and smirked. “Watch me.”
↠↞
The early-early breakfast was honestly… lovely.
It’s been a while since you had a one on one meal with Jimin and you two shared a hefty conversation about how school was going for the both of you. The pasta you made turned out to be exquisite and he expressed how impressed he was about how well you were able to cook. You joked about making him garlic butter steak next time because it was your father’s favorite dish that you made for him, but you weren’t prepared for how quick Jimin agreed to try it.
Jimin complained about how much he wanted to perfect his cooking skills so he could stop spending a lot of money on pizza and burgers as a late night snack. Although you weren’t perfect yourself, you offered for him to shadow you if he ever also decided to visit his family on weekends. At some point, during dinner, some of the topics you two had touched up sounded a lot more friendlier than usual.
Casually inviting him over to your house to teach him how to cook the dishes you took pride in was already a red flag in treading rough waters. You’ve hung out with Jimin a lot especially with Momo, but the only time you two ever independently spent time together was in college; studying, sharing a snack during a one hour break in between classes.
Jimin washed the dishes you two used as well as whatever pots and pans you used to cook everything; you didn’t take a lot of the ingredients so it would go unnoticed.
“Do you think the time of day changes during Lover’s Day?” You joined Jimin outside, still pulling your sleeves own past your fingers.
“I’m pretty sure. Why?” Jimin watched you shield yourself from the cold. “Ah. Here.” He stripped himself of the leather jacket and handed it to you.
“No, Jimin. I’m fine, I swear.”
“At least wear it for now, we can head to my dorm to get you another jacket since it’s closer than yours.”
You stared at his jacket and gave it some thought.
Maybe up to his dorm won’t be too bad.
Well—
Okay, maybe it was bad.
Jimin’s roommate wasn’t in the dorm because he left early to go home for the weekend. You unzipped your combat boots and hopped on top of Jimin’s bed.
His dorm was neater than you remember. Even during the chaotic week of midterms, his desk was more put together than yours and your roommate put together. Despite random t-shirts and sweaters that were hanging over his bed frame, Jimin’s side of the room seemed so Jimin.
“Take your pick.” Jimin held his hand out to the portion of jackets and sweaters of his closet space.
“Hmm…” You stared at the section a little until a familiar navy blue and yellow cuffed varsity jacket caught your attention. “Oh my god, that’s our high school’s varsity!” With a beaming smile, you jumped off his bed and walked over to caress the fabric in between your fingers.
“Yeah, four years at that hellhole and I still can’t bring myself to toss it out.” Jimin retrieved the jacket from its hanger and handed it over for you to wear.
You chuckled and proceeded to remove his leather jacket to wear the other one. “Four years and I still question myself why I never bought one.”
Jimin’s mouth gaped. “What?! You’re serious? Whose jacket were you wearing during high school?”
“Uh, Tae...yong…” His name fell from your lips like stones. What a perfect time for you to mention his name.
“Oh.” Jimin said flatly. “Yeah, of course.”
This wasn’t good.
You needed to say something, anything, because you didn’t want to have a conversation about love and soulmates at that moment.
“I—uh, I had to repurchase a varsity three times.” Thankfully, Jimin quickly continued the conversation towards a different route.
“You spent a total of 75 dollars for the same jacket on three separate occasions?!” You asked in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Jimin chuckled and walked towards his bed with you following behind him. “During spring fest during my freshman and sophomore year, I spilled paint when I was helping out with the banners. And the third time was during a food fight the seniors were having when I was a junior and I got nailed with all sorts of food.”
Jimin continued his story with more details. Within the conversation, you made yourself comfortable, lying down on his bed while he sat cross legged at near your feet. While talking, you noticed that he played with the stray thread of your socks that stuck out by your ankles.
“I like your socks.” He commented.
“Thanks.” You stared at your yellow Winnie the Pooh socks. “There’s a store near the bistro that sells super cute stationery, hair accessories, and even socks.” You stuck one foot in the air and wiggled your toes inside the cloth.
Jimin took hold of your ankle and rested it on his knee and examined the chibi characters of Pooh and his friends. You held your breath and continually told yourself to fucking cool it. This wasn’t out of the ordinary. The only thing missing was Momo’s ankle resting on his other knee and Taeyong’s lap for your head to be resting on.
How were you supposed to adjust to this? What were the two of you going to tell Taeyong and Momo? You could already imagine the pained expression of your best friend and the absolute devastation of your boyfriend.
This was all a dream. You kept telling yourself this. It was a dream.
↠↞
Five minutes passed and Jimin could feel a slight numbing pain in his right shoulder. He wriggled around and slowly opened his eyes, unaware of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was slumping over a couple of inches away from your body while you dozed off. He could hear the faint sound of you breathing and it finally occurred to him exactly where he was.
Jimin had a clear view of a navy blue fabric and his arm. He realized that the navy blue fabric came from the jacket he let you borrow and that his arm slung over it.
In basic terms, he was cuddling you at your stomach area.
In a state of panic, Jimin gasped and reeled his arm back which prompted him to roll onto his back. But, he forgot that he was near the edge of his bed and rolling onto his back resulted in him landing flat onto the floor. The loud impact of his body and the floor caused you to flinch awake.
“Oh my god.” You rasped and sat up. “Oh my god!”
Jimin clawed at his sheet to get himself back on his feet and you scrambled up to assist him. “What happened?!”
“Well, I was just lying there and uh, I had that free falling dream. Right when I hit the ground in my dream, bam! My actual body exploded and I actually ended up on the ground here.” Jimin stammered and rubbed the back of his head.
You gave him a questionable stare before reaching out to check for any bumps on his head. “Jimin, you have a bump. Do you have any frozen items in your mini fridge?”
“No, sorry.” He winced touching the bump on the upper right part of his forehead. “But, the main fridge on this floor should have something.”
“Say no more. Let’s hurry to stop the swelling.” Instead of grabbing his leather jacket for Jimin to wear, you snatched a stray maroon sweater that hung off his bed.
Jimin lazily slid his shoes back on and was hastily tugged out of his room with your hand wrapped around his own.
“What time is it?” Jimin held a frozen hot pocket against the bump and blew on his cup of tea.
In the main gathering room of his floor of the dormitory, there was a living room with a large tv where most of the students gathered to play video games or watch netflix and a decent sized kitchen.
Students would normally label any food or drinks that belonged to them and sometimes there would be snacks that were labeled “for all” which was obviously for anybody who wanted it. There were boxes of instant coffee, hot chocolate, and teas that were meant for everybody and you brewed a cup of tea for each of you.
“It’s about,” you took a moment to check your phone. “9 am.”
Jimin choked on his tea. 9 am?! He swore only five minutes passed from when he woke up.
“Shit. I guess I didn’t realize how tired I was.” Jimin said, calming down from his fit of coughs.
“You and me both. It still feels like my feet are about to fall off from standing up majority of the night.” You strolled over to the couch where Jimin sat with your cup of tea in hand. Jimin noticed you were wearing a pair of his slides instead of your combat boots; probably from when you were rushing to leave his room.
“I bet.” Jimin chuckled. “How long did it take you guys to set up everything at the lounge?”
Jimin listened intently as you told stories about how there were many close calls where you and Jungkook almost ripped each other’s heads off. This was mainly because of the miscommunication on who had kept the derp pictures of Jimin and who held onto the money for alcohol and snacks.
Another hour had passed and Jimin spent laughing almost to the brink of tears with you. Everything felt natural, almost too natural. For a split second, Jimin forgot what Yuanfen was all about.
“Are you sure the bump is gone?”
Before he knew it, you two cleaned up and abandoned Jimin’s dorm to take a walk around campus.
The students from last night were still in the same position. The only things that changed were the weather and the time of day. You were a bit ignorant about Yuanfen, so Jimin took the time to explain some basics about the hidden holiday.
Yuanfen was a whole different world only to be seen through the eyes of the soulmates, so once the day is over, everything goes back to normal.
Once everything goes back to normal, the day restarts and the memories of other bystanders remain what they were prior to being frozen in time.
As for the soulmates, Jimin chose to omit that information.
“Yes, I’m sure! Let me just check again just to make sure.” You stepped in front of Jimin and gently felt around his forehead and then traced your fingers through his hair to feel around for any bumps you may have missed.
He wasn’t sure when he started, but Jimin found himself staring into your eyes. How was this even possible? How were you his soulmate and not Momo, his high school sweetheart? But maybe, even just for a couple of hours, he could possibly see what it’s like if you were his—
“You’re good to go, Jimin.” You poked the center of his head, capturing his attention.
“Oh, yeah, great. Thanks.” He smiled shyly.
↠↞
There was nothing like a crisp fall morning; cool breeze, crunchy burnt orange leaves, and warm drinks. Your walk around the campus turned into a complete turn around towards your dormitory to get a cup of coffee—you both were obviously in an area with coffee however, the idea of walking all the way back to Jimin’s dorm felt like a hassle.
“Sorry about the mess. Dahyun and I have been way too busy to clean.” You rushed from your door to tidy up as much as you could.
“Hey, it’s no problem. It’s fine. You saw my place.” Jimin lightly placed his hands on your shoulders to gently pulled you back.
You patted the back of his hands and walked over to a side table that carried a microwave, a keurig, and a rack for k-pods.
“There’s vanilla creamer in the mini fridge underneath my bed and feel free to grab a snack.” You handed Jimin his cup of medium roast. “We also have some ramen bowls underneath Dahyun’s bed. She won’t mind, trust me.”
The last meal you two shared was the pasta you made last night and now it was the next morning and you two were going to have another meal with another form of noodles.
Normal. Things were still feeling normal, nothing awkward. You were having an innocent breakfast with your best friend’s boyfriend when in fact, he’s actually your soulmate. Yeah. Perfectly normal.
You glanced up and soaked in the image of Jimin harmlessly mixing around his ramen.
Was Jimin cute? Of course. Was he smart? Yes. Funny? Also yes. Was he perfect boyfriend material? Yes—but maybe, maybe not for you.
How could you possibly get used to this? You couldn’t shake the thought of Momo being incredibly heart broken. And of course, how in the world were you going to tell Taeyong?! You loved him. What were things going to be like if you told him about this?
“So…” you started off softly. “What are we going to do?”
“About our plans for today?” Jimin asked innocently.
You laughed and sucked in a quiet breath. “Yeah. Yeah, what should we do?”
Jimin took a sip of his coffee and looked up to your ceiling in search of an answer.
“Oh!” He clapped his hands, scaring you a little. “Let’s go to the frat house and raid their kitchen!”
“Ooh, let’s do it! You know, I heard that they have a whole ass stash of ramen bowls and coffee.” You mentioned.
Jimin widened his eyes as he lifted his chopsticks into his mouth. “I wonder what else they got?”
As Jimin spewed out a few snack items that he was hoping the frat house would have, you felt yourself zoning out.
Jimin really is cute.
It was such a horrible thing for you to think of at this moment, but you always knew how cute he was but was he always this cute?
God, this was stupid. You were only having these thoughts because of stupid Yuanfen. This hidden holiday was messing up the wires in your head making you see Jimin in a whole new different light. This was probably a sign to try and see where things could go with him. It was a scary thought, but you did wonder.
“Y/n?”
“Huh? What?” You blinked out of your daze.
“What else do you think they have stashed there?”
Quick. Think fast. Pretend you were paying attention.
“Uh—uh, c-condoms?”
Great. Out of all things, y/n.
Jimin stared blankly at you with his mouth slightly open.
“Y-Yeah. Condoms. Those are, uh, those could possibly exist there.”
The air around you began to feel stale. Seriously, out of all the things you could’ve said—you just had to say condoms!
“So,” you coughed. “I also heard from Wonho that Hani and Suho have the Scholar’s Edition to the Pre-Med and Pre-Law class textbooks!”
Jimin’s eyes lit up and nearly choked on his coffee. “Those things almost cost as much as two classes!”
You gave him a big smile thinking about how it would be you two to get excited over textbooks.
“Exactly! So, while we’re at the frat house…”
“Y/n, isn’t that stealing?”
You paused for a brief second. “N-no. We’re just borrowing them. We’ll photocopy the pages and then we’ll just return them tonight.”
Jimin nodded his head in agreement and took the empty ramen bowls. “Sounds perfect.”
Noon came around in the blink of an eye and you two were trotting down campus towards the frat house. You’ve been to the house a few times, only to attend parties with Taeyong.
The frat house was honestly incredible. A large kitchen, arcade games, and a basketball court right out back. A lot of money was spent to make the house what it was and it was quite obvious.
There was a party last night and there were still people hanging around the stairs and on the main floor, not to mention people sitting on other people’s laps. You both weaved around the sea of students in search of Suho and Hani’s room. Jimin reminded you to slowly open the doors just in case you were to walk in a freeze frame of two people having sex; if only he told you that prior to entering the house.
“God, I just saw someone’s bare ass.” You closed one of the doors behind you and slid your back down the door.
“That bad?” Jimin asked.
“Not only did I see ass, I saw legs thrown over shoulders.” You shuddered and covered your face with your hands.
Jimin chucked and pulled you back up onto your feet. “Come on, shaky. You’ll survive.” He squished your cheeks together before giving you a little nudge to keep moving forward.
After carefully snooping around for fifteen minutes, the textbooks were found and now it was time to raid the kitchen. You were surprised at how neat the kitchen was considering how much people lived in the house. On top of the cabinets, packages of ramen bowls and other microwavable food were stacked neatly. You climbed on top of the counter to grab a decent amount to refill both you and Jimin’s dorm rooms. Honestly, you were kind of scared because you were pretty much stealing. You’ll be fine right?
“Oh hell yes, they have honey butter chips!”
You looked down and spotted Jimin rummaging through a cupboard. He pulled out four bags and smiled brightly.
“Did you get the goods?” Jimin grabbed a random reusable bag to stuff the snacks inside.
Still standing on the counter, you gently tossed the ramen and other foods towards Jimin who needed one more reusable bag. Jimin stood by the counter and stuck his hand out to help you get down.
Why were you so nervous?
Y/n, relax. He’s just trying to fucking help you.
You reached out to hold onto his hand. You crouched down to carefully place your feet one by one on the floor, but even with being careful, you still managed to misplace your foot.
“Whoa, I got you.” Jimin grabbed your waist and pulled you flush to his body.
Your face was way too close to his own and you made the terrible decision to lock eyes with Jimin. His eyes twinkled in the natural sunlight beaming through the window. A foreign look was glazed over his eyes and your breath was caught in your throat.
“I—Thanks, Jimin.” You pushed yourself away from him. He still had a hold on your hand and as you walked towards the bags of snacks, his fingers slipped gently out of your grasp.
What the fuck is happening?!
There was a hundred percent chance that you were blushing, so you examined the packaged goods to calm yourself for a few seconds.
“Shall we go to the library to photocopy the book?” Jimin spoke.
“Yeah, let’s.” You turned and found Jimin’s back facing you. He seemed to be interested in the colorful refrigerator magnets. “Jimin?”
↠↞
What am I doing? Why did I do that? Fuck.
Jimin stared at an empty spot on the white refrigerator door and covered the lower half of his face with his hand.
This has to be cheating right? Momo’s my girlfriend but in the end, y/n is my—
“Jimin?”
“Sorry, yeah. Let’s go.” Jimin squeezed his eyes shut for a second and turned back to you to hold the bags.
After the ordeal, there was an awkward tension between the two of you and this was the last thing Jimin needed. It was only the afternoon and he still had the rest of the day to spend with you. If he was a horrible person, he would’ve suggested to spend time individually but he was a good person. He didn’t have the heart to leave you on your own.
The library was pretty much empty of students, only the still bodies of the staff were present. The copy machine was located on the fourth floor and it was a ghost town. Not one single person was on the floor. How much more awkward could it get?
“I think I’m going to the first six chapters because this medical book has about,” Jimin stared at the table of contents. “Eleven chapters.”
“Ugh. This stupid book has twenty chapters. Do I really want to become a lawyer? The chapters are way too long.” You sunk down onto the floor.
Jimin chuckled and booted up the machine. “Tell me about it. This pre-med book is pretty small but it costs so much.”
The awkward tension was slowly melting as the two of you complained and told horror stories about each of your majors. Jimin ranted on about how he almost changed his major, but the idea of taking more classes to fulfill another major’s prerequisites.
“I know! I almost changed mine too!” Jimin listened to you and the sound of you angrily flipping through the pages of the pre-law book. “But I thought about how angry my mom was going to be so I chickened ou-ow! Jesus!”
Jimin whipped his head around and you were examining your index finger. He retreated to your side and once again, held your hand in his own.
“Paper cut?” He chuckled.
“Y-Yeah.” You muttered. “Books are evil—I’m going to sue this book.”
Jimin laughed loudly and carefully pulled you up from the floor. “Alright, you sue the book and let Dr. Park fix up your finger.”
It wasn’t his intention, really it wasn’t, but Jimin walked down the stairs with you with your hand still in his. But what made his heart beat a bit faster was the fact you didn’t let go, you held on tighter.
“Let’s see. There has to be a first aid kit here somewhere—excuse me.” Jimin jokingly spoke to the still body of a library staff member sitting behind the main desk. He quickly found the transparent box labeled first aid.
“Alright, they don’t have any hydrogen peroxide, so I’m going to have to use an alcohol swab.” Jimin rummaged through the box and pulled out an alcohol swab, a tissue, and a bandaid.
“O-Or we can just leave it as is. It’s just a papercut, it’ll heal in a jiffy!” Your tone of voice was a bit squeaky and you took a step back.
“Aw, is y/n afraid of the alcohol swab?” Jimin cooed. “Your paper cut started bleeding so we have to kill the germs. Just relax. You’ll be fine in Dr.Park’s care.”
Jimin guided you to an empty rolling chair and knelt down beside you. With the utmost care, Jimin cradled your finger and dabbed the paper cut with the swab. Instantly, your hand tensed up but you stayed silent so he looked up to find your eyes screwed shut and bottom lip tucked between your teeth. He wanted to smile at the adorable sight of you being afraid but he switched his focus back on your cut, forcing his blush to dissipate.
Get your shit together, Jimin.
“Alright, Ms. Y/n. We’re all done here however, you don’t have insurance with me so the total price of this is another cup of coffee.” Jimin folded down the yellow polka dotted bandage around your finger and you scoffed at his witty remark.
“Alright, that seems fair. We can head back to my dorm after we finish up here.”
Before heading to your dorm, you made sure to take a detour to the frat house to return the books in its rightful spot; Being able to copy pages from the book for free was one of the things Jimin was thankful for.
By the time four o’clock rolled around, Jimin had four ramen bowls and two cups of coffee sitting in his stomach. He slouched in his seat trying to not regret eating so much. You were rummaging around your mini fridge looking for something sweet to balance out the spicy-savory taste.
Instead of pulling out some sort of dessert, you offered Jimin a shot or two of whiskey that you found hiding in the small freezer section of your fridge. Jimin was probably going to at least regret this, but he agreed.
After grabbing two bottles of coke from the vending machine in the hallway, one or two shots turned into killing half of the bottle. Jimin poured another round of shots into the coffee mugs and flickered his gaze to you.
Your cheeks were visibly red and your face was glowing. Your eyes were halfway closed and mumbled something incoherent.
“Maybe we should stop here, y/n.” Jimin laughed.
“No, no, no, no. I’m fine. I’m sober, I swear.” You slurred.
“I beg to differ. You should lie down.” Jimin left his seat feeling a bit dizzy, but still did his best to take care of you first.
“One more shot, just one more.” You reached to grab your mug but Jimin intercepted.
“No, y/n, come on. Just sleep for a few hours.”
You reached for the hand that took your mug away and brought it up to your cheek. “Just one more. Please, Jimin? One more and I’ll go to bed.”
Maybe it was the alcohol, but Jimin started to feel warm. “F-Fine. Just one and then straight to bed.”
You happily rubbed your cheek against his hand and tanked the shot followed by the chaser. Even in your drunken state, you obliged to Jimin’s condition and wobbled over to your bed. You took the open ended side of your bed and laid flat on your stomach.
“Y/n, don’t sleep on your stomach.” Jimin shook you, but you let out a soft whine instead.
Jimin swallowed hard, trying to get a clear grasp of his vision since he was also drunk, but definitely not like you. He carefully rolled you over onto your back and then placed one arm beneath your neck and the other underneath your knees to scoot your back towards the end of the bed. Just in case you needed to throw up, he grabbed your trash can and placed it near your head side.
“Good gracious.” Jimin breathed. He took one of the chairs and stationed it near you so he could keep an eye on you for a while. He closed his eyes for a few seconds in search of relaxation but he heard you talking. “Hm?”
“Yuan…” you sighed.
Jimin scooted his chair closer to hear you better.
“Yuanfen…” you finally said while opening your eyes. “That’s chinese. Chinese for binding...force?”
“Yeah. Something like that…” Jimin chuckled and brushed a few hairs out of your eyes.
You laughed and stared blankly into Jimin’s eyes. “Ohhhhhhh, that’s why it’s the perfect name for this holiday-thingy. A force to bind soulmates.” You whispered. “Hey, Jimnim…”
Jimin snorted at the butchered version of his name. “Yes, y/n.”
“We’re soulmates.” A soft chuckle pushed past your lips. “Soul. Mates. Me. You.”
The mention of being soulmates almost sobered Jimin up in an instant. You were drunk out of your mind, blabbering about anything so he tried to not take anything seriously.
But you know what they say about drunken words…
“Mhm. Soulmates.” Jimin sadly repeated.
“I’m sorry, Jimnim. I know I’m not your type to be a soulmate.” You brought your hand up to cradle Jimin’s face, tracing his cheek. “But I’ll do my best okay? I have to make Jiminim happy.”
It almost felt like he couldn’t breathe. He had to keep telling himself that you were drunk. You were a drunk girl who had no idea what she was saying.
But honestly, your words cut him deep. Of course Jimin was disappointed about Momo, his girlfriend, not being his soulmate. He had thought about this day a million times over and he never would have imagined you in Momo’s place.
Jimin touched your hand that held his face and breathed in deeply. Your eyes were already seconds away from closing and Jimin smiled.
“I’ll do my best too.”
↠↞
You didn’t dare open your eyes. You were pretty much awake at this point, but even with your eyes closed, you felt the entire world spinning.
“Ugh, fuck me.” You finally gave in and cracked an eye open. It took you a few seconds to find the willpower to open your last eye and when you did, a wave of regret washed over you. “I drank last night, now this afternoon… I don’t ever want to drink again.”
Okay, that’s a lie.
After registering your surroundings, you cautiously tilted your head and found the fluff of Jimin’s black hair. He was sitting in a chair, hunched over at your side with his face stuffed in his arms and your hand was lost somewhere between his limbs.
The memories of you and Jimin sharing the whiskey you found came through in blurry pieces. You remembered venting to Jimin about how you wished you had ice cream in your fridge and then face planting onto your pillow; that’s all you could remember at the moment.
“Jimin… Jimin.” You rasped.
“Mmm, five more minutes.” Jimin grunted and shifted around in his seat without lifting his head.
“Jimin, get up, please. I have to use the bathroom.”
You waited and watched and Jimin’s shoulders rise and fall. He then sat up to rub his eyes and your hand was finally free.
“Can you walk?” Jimin questioned, already maneuvering around to help you sit up.
“Ugh.” Your stomach was not happy. “Yeah. Slowly though. The stupid bathroom is down the hall.”
Jimin helped you swing your legs down and you noticed him wince, probably also feeling sick from drinking.
“I got it, Jimin.”
“It’s alright. I have to make sure you make it safe.” Jimin brought you to your feet and supported your weight by throwing your arm over his shoulders. He put his arm around your waist, just like how he did at the frat house, and guided you to take small steps out of your room.
Your stomach was fluttering.
It’s the alcohol. It’s the fucking alcohol.
The whole time to the bathroom, using the bathroom, and then walking back, you were piecing together the puzzle pieces of the hazy interactions you made while wasted. The whiny conversation about how you wanted to drink one more shot became clear and you sort of remembered your failed attempts at saying Jimin’s name.
“I wonder where can we get some soup that’s not ramen soup base.” Jimin said.
You gave it some thought and then you remembered seeing instant miso soup packets at the frat house. As soon as you mentioned it, Jimin grabbed his varsity jacket to put on for you and then led you out of your dorm.
Walking outside seemed to be a bit difficult for you because you were still feeling dizzy after drinking a little more than what you originally planned. Jimin, on the other hand, looked a lot less miserable than what he did when you woke up from your nap. He did have a higher alcohol tolerance than you, but you still found it unfair that you were suffering alone.
“I hate drinking.” You complained.
Jimin snickered. “How are you feeling?”
“Like death.” You sighed. “I’m walking straight, right? It doesn’t feel like I’m even using my own legs to walk.”
Again, Jimin laughed and your stomach started to turn.
“You’re walking fine, but just for added security—”
The sudden touch of Jimin’s hand on your arm made you jump. He made you snake your arm around his to walk arm in arm to the frat house.
The alcohol in your stomach was really fucking with you and you desperately wanted to let go, but you enjoyed the warmth.
“The sunset is really pretty.” Jimin whispered and you couldn’t help but look at the profile of his face.
You could tell he was smiling by the way his cheek bone poked upward and all you could imagine was the way his eyes almost disappeared every time he smiled.
It was the warmth. You were enjoying the warmth.
The miso soup tasted like everything you’ve been missing in your life. The warmth of the soup sat happily inside of you instantly taking away the queasy feeling in your stomach.
Jimin finished his meal quickly and watched you eat with a small smile plastered on his face. He offered to make you more but you declined.
You were now watching his back as he washed the dishes. His body frame was completely different than Taeyong’s.
Taeyong was taller than Jimin, but you were still much shorter than the latter. Jimin went to gym whenever he had free time, giving him a little more muscle mass than your boyfriend. You didn’t mean to compare, but your mind continued to wander. You thought about Jimin’s hands and how they gently cradled yours; they were soft yet sturdy, making you feel weirdly comfortable when you held his hands.
Your thoughts broke once Jimin turned on his heel. The queasy feeling in your stomach returned when he looked at you.
“Feeling better?” Jimin strode towards you and your heart began to beat faster.
“Y-Yeah. I’m fine.”
What’s happening to me?
“So, what else is there to do?” He asked.
You gave it some thought.
“Have you been to the roof of the library?”
↠↞
Jimin stared in amazement looking over the campus. The purple-orange sky had begun to darken a bit with flecks of stars appearing on the canvas. He soaked up the evening air and looked off into the distance, realizing that the day was almost finished.
“Have a seat.” You lugged two wooden crates near the edge.
“This spot is unbelievable.” Jimin breathed. “Why didn’t you mention this place before?”
“I don’t know, I actually I don’t come here often. A friend of mine dragged me up here so she could paint the sunset.” You explained and Jimin nodded.
The world was so peaceful and quiet making Jimin’s thoughts roar even louder. If he didn’t talk about this situation with you, it would only get worse once time starts again.
He turned to you and felt his chest tighten at the sight of your hair messily falling in front of your face when the wind blew. With a thundering heart, he lifted his hands to carefully push your hair out of the way, making you look at him.
“I-I think we need to talk about us.” He finally said.
You let out a sigh and chewed on your bottom lip. “Y-You’re right.”
The thought of Taeyong and Momo being completely heartbroken over the news ripped Jimin’s heart into two. “What are we supposed to do…? Momo and I had a future planned and now…” He dropped his head into his hands knowing that everything that he and Momo dreamed of was now nothing but a hopeless wish.
“Jimin... “ You placed a hand on his shoulder. “If I could change things, I fucking would in a heart beat. I’m sorry that in the end… it’s me.”
He felt like a fucking jerk. Yes, he loved Momo. Yes, he had all these plans to marry her. But he didn’t need to smother it in your face to make it sound like you were a horrible candidate because after all, he was your soulmate too.
“No, don’t apologize. It’s no one’s fault.” Jimin explained. “You know y/n, truth be told, I really enjoyed today.”
He was now smiling thinking back to how simple the day was: eating, sleeping, gallivanting around the frat house, drinking again, sleeping some more, and now the day was ending with a breathtaking view. Studying with you in between classes was great, but it was nothing like this. It all seemed so different. Maybe because it was Yuanfen and the effects of the holiday was gnawing at his emotions or maybe it was because he held your hand for the first time, giving him new waves of emotions he never thought he’d feel before. Even if he was feeling guilty deep down, he was being honest. Jimin truly enjoyed the day with you.
“I don’t--I don’t know, maybe we don’t have to tell them?” You suggested. “We could just let everything happen on its own.”
Jimin tented his eyebrows a bit. “Could you really go back to normal after all of this?” His words came out as a whisper. “I don’t know if I could.”
“But we have to, don’t we? I don’t even know where to begin telling Taeyong about all of this.” Now it was your turn to bury your face in your hands. “My friendship with Momo is probably going to be ruined after this. I don’t know how to look in the eyes of my best friend and tell her that her boyfriend is my soulmate.”
The sudden urge to hug you bubbled inside of Jimin. He fought it, pushed it down inside of him, but it clawed its way back up. He stood up and took your hand, just like how he had done throughout the entire day, and enveloped you into his arms. His arms settled around your waist and he pressed his nose in the crook of your neck. It seemed like you hesitated at first, clutching the sleeves of his jacket, but your snaked your arms around his neck to return the hug.
“I know that everything is just so messed up right now and we’re just forced to deal with this reality. I know that I may not be your type of a soul mate…” Jimin sadly remembered how you drunkenly spoke to him before knocking out. “But I’ll do my best, okay? I have to make you happy.”
You abruptly reeled yourself back, hands resting on his shoulders, and gasped. “Did I--Did I say that to you? That sounds familiar that’s why.”
Jimin nodded his head. “You said it when you were drunk, but listen, I also would change things if I could. But I need you to know that whatever happens, I’m going to learn how to lo--” Jimin swallowed hard. “I’m going to learn how to love you. As a man, I’m going to do my best for you. You’re my soulmate, y/n. It may not be what we want, but we can’t escape this. I promise to make you happy.”
↠↞
The feeling that flowed inside of you was a mixture of shock, confusion, and happiness? You weren’t sure where that last emotion came from. Hearing everything that spewed out of Jimin’s house was painful but so beautiful to hear.
“What—” you whispered. “What brought this on?”
Jimin readjusted his hold on you, but still kept his hands on your waist. “I—I don’t know. I think it came from spending the day with you. It was different. We don’t usually spend time like this together.”
It was true, not to mention, holding hands with Jimin while hanging out together was far from normal. You had to admit, you also enjoyed spending time with him. He cared for you the entire time and always agreed with your plans even though it was his birthday. There were times where your heart was about to burst out of your chest and deep down you knew why, but how could you admit it?
“I also enjoyed today. Thank you for taking care of me, Jimin.” You looked into his eyes and noticed how they sparkled even without direct light.
“Anytime.” The smile Jimin gave you was so gentle. He could probably feel your hands shake on his shoulders from being nervous.
Was it selfish to want to savour this moment for a little longer?
After Yuanfen ends, how could things return back to normal? You needed to figure out a way to tell Taeyong. Would he still want to be with you and just fall out of love? The thought of that crushed you. You loved Taeyong so much, but he wasn’t your soulmate.
Jimin was.
Just like Jimin, you were going to learn how to love him. You were going to study his love language, learn what side of the bed he prefers to sleep on, and get to know his family. Somewhere deep inside of you scratched at your heart, begging you to realize that doing all of this was more of a want than an obligation.
You wanted to know more about Jimin on an intimate level. You wanted to plan a future with him. But the only hurdle in the way was the pain of having to tell Taeyong what happened.
“Y/n.”
You were so deep in thought, you didn’t realize you were still clinging onto Jimin who was also still holding you.
“Shit, sorry. I—”
“I know what I want as a birthday gift.” Jimin’s cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes shook as he stared into yours. He cleared his throat. “As a gift… can I kiss you?”
Were your ears deceiving you? Did Jimin just ask to kiss you? Sure you and Jimin were tossed into some fantasy world, but in this moment, were you dreaming?
“Wha-what?”
“I know. It’s a stupid request, but I was just thinking about how it would be to you know, kiss you.” The grip he had on your waist began to loosen, probably from wavering confidence. “If you don’t want to then—”
“N-No.” You held onto his shoulders a little tighter. “It’s alright. You can kiss me.”
Jimin raised his eyebrows. He was probably expecting you to refuse and you were honestly considering it, but you also thought about it at some point.
What would it be like to kiss Park Jimin?
A broken sputter of words spewed past his lips. “U-Uh—um, okay. Okay.” His hands left your waist to rest against the small of your back, pulling you closer to him.
The action subconsciously made you raise your hands to gently cup his cheeks. Your heart was pounding and your breathing was audibly jagged.
Jimin lowered his head, leaving a couple of inches of space between his lips and yours. You stared at the thickness of his lips and the desire to kiss him grew.
Just before he moved in closer, you met his eyes once more.
“Happy birthday, Jimin.”
Initially, the kiss was quick—a peck on the lips that lasted about a second of two. But Jimin didn’t stop there. He tilted his head to capture your lips again to give you a gentle kiss, shyly moving against yours. You didn’t fight it—you didn’t even hesitate to replicate his movements and laced your hands into his hair.
Jimin’s lips were soft and he continuously kept pulling you closer to him, but you didn’t mind it. You were immediately intoxicated and addicted to the taste of his lips.
This was a crime. You were both in relationships and here you were, kissing the boyfriend of your best friend. You had to stop...but…
I don’t want to.
↠↞
Instead of spending more time on the rooftop, Jimin suggested to retreat into the library to escape the freezing air. The library was a lot warmer than outside, but Jimin craved more warmth.
There were couches in the study area in the library, so without saying another word, he laid on the couch and pulled you in to have you flush against his chest. Was it his heartbeat that increased? Or was it yours?
Jimin took the liberty to set an alarm on his phone for 11:30 just in case you two fell asleep, which you both did. You probably drifted to sleep first because he caressed your back and you didn’t flinch one bit.
Bliss. Content. Peace. Guilt.
For once he thought, did today have to end?
The sky was now stained black with specks of stars fluttering around. The air was colder with a light breeze and the street lights were on, lighting the path of the sidewalk to the lounge.
Jimin stared at the tips of his shoes as he walked whilst have his fingers laced in between yours. He still hadn’t figured out what exactly he was going to tell Momo. This whole situation was going to ruin four relationships: his and Momo’s relationship, you and Taeyong’s, his friendship with Taeyong, and your longtime friendship with Momo. It’s not like he was going to instantly make you his girlfriend after the whole matter was settled, it would be too soon; you probably thought the same.
“Jimin, we’re here.” You spoke, not even hiding the sadness in your voice.
“I don’t…” Jimin whispered. “I can’t go in.”
Your hand was trembling in his and he thought it was because you were cold, but he noticed you wiping your eyes with your free hand.
“Hey…” He breathed, turning you to face him.
“I-I’m sorry.” You sniffled.
Jimin’s heart ached. He shared the same pain; he had to tell Momo about this, but he didn’t know how.
He ran a hand through your hair to take a good look at your face; your eyes were glossy and the tip of your nose was tinged pink. It was too soon to think you looked absolutely adorable, but he couldn’t help it.
“It’s okay.” Jimin mumbled. He cradled your face and leaned forward to kiss the tip of your nose then placed a kiss on your lips. It was a subconscious action that shocked Jimin as much as it did you. It was his turn to apologize and even with the sad look in your eyes, you smiled and repeated his words “it’s okay.”
Jimin gestured you to walk in first and he followed shortly. Everything in the lounge remained the same, obviously. The main area of the lounge was flooded with college students and as he walked further towards the back, his party decorations came into view and the first person he saw was Momo.
She was sitting perfectly still, eyes closed with her lips poked out just as he left her. He sat beside her and stroked her cheek. Tears welled up in his eyes and just before a tear could spill out, the sound of a choked back sob filled the air.
Jimin turned to find you sitting on Taeyong’s lap; he was stuck in mid-laugh, looking as happy as ever. Your face was buried in the crook of his neck with your arms were wrapped around him.
It hurt watching you—everything hurt. In a couple of minutes, Yuanfen was going to end and reality was going to begin. He turned to Momo and his heart sank to his stomach. He never imagined being in this position. Would it still be possible to work through this? Could he and Momo still be a couple?
In one minute, Jimin was going to have an answer.
There was a soft wind-chime-like sound that played in his head, just like the one he heard when Yuanfen started. His chest rattled and slowly, the music of the room grew louder and laughter began to spread into the air. In his peripherals, people started to move around but all Jimin could do was stare into his lap.
“Babe?”
For the first time, Momo’s voice broke his heart. The tears that previously faded sprung back into his eyes and Momo panicked.
“Babe, what’s wrong? What happened?” She gently touched his cheek and it felt so different. Sparks would fly at the slightest touch of her fingers, but now…
“H-Hey, Jimin.” Momo’s voice began to fade in his head. He settled his attention towards the other side of the room where you were.
It looked like you were still crying because Taeyong held onto your hands with a look of concern written all over his face. You turned your head and gave Jimin an unsettling look and tugged on Taeyong’s hand to lead him outside.
I guess we’re telling them afterall.
“Jimin.” Momo spoke. “Are you alright? You’re scaring me.”
What the hell was he supposed to say? He couldn’t just come right out and say “I’m sorry, but we’re not soulmates.” It seemed too cruel.
“And what happened? I swear it was Yuanfen, but I don’t remember a single thing.” There was concern in Momo’s voice and he couldn’t blame her. Afterall… she isn’t my…
“Momo.” Jimin said sternly. “Let’s go outside, we have to talk.”
This was it.
Somehow, the weather hadn’t changed but it was so much colder now.
As Jimin stepped out onto the sidewalk with Momo, he easily spotted you in the short distance even with your back turned to him. Jimin switched his attention to Taeyong who looked uneasy and heartbroken. He looked at Jimin with furrowed brows and sadness in his eyes before walking away. Your shoulders were slumped forward and instead of walking in the same direction as Taeyong, you went the opposite, walking past Momo and Jimin on the way,
“Y-Yn? What happ--” Momo tried to reach out for your hand, but Jimin grabbed her hand instead.
“Leave her.” He muttered.
“B-But, she looked like she was crying! Jimin, I have to go to her!”
Jimin squeezed Momo’s hand. He couldn’t look at her. The words couldn’t come out. Everything was crumbling at his feet.
“Jimin. Seriously. What is going on? You’re fucking scaring me.” Momo lashed out.
“We aren’t…” Jimin’s words were soft, almost inaudible.
“What?”
Jimin swallowed hard and looked Momo dead in the eyes. “You’re not my soulmate, Momo.”
A pained force laugh was pushed past between her lips as she took a step back. “Wha-What are you talking about, Jimin? What the fuck do you mean?!”
Silence. All he could offer her was silence.
“There has to be a mistake.” She was frantic. “M-Maybe there’s something about losing your memory after Yuanfen or soulmates getting mixed up or s-something.”
Jimin parted his lips to say something, anything, but nothing came out.
There were tears threatening to spill from Momo’s eyes as she approached him with caution. She clutched his face, her fingers so cold against his skin.
There was no warmth anymore.
“We’re high school sweethearts, Jimin. How can I not be your soulmate…?” Her voice shook as well as her hands.
“Momo, I’m sorry.” Jimin choked out. “I wish there was a mistake—I looked for loopholes, stories of people having the wrong soulmate, but…”
Slowly, Momo separated herself from Jimin’s body.
“Then who… who is your soulmate if it’s not me?” She managed to ask through her tears.
This is what Jimin dreaded—admitting that you were his soulmate to Momo.
“It’s…” Jimin breathed. “My soulmate is… y/n.”
The sound of your name made Momo lift her hand up to her mouth and all Jimin could do was endure the horror that settled in her eyes. He couldn’t reach out to hug her. He didn’t feel worthy of that.
“Y/n…?” She whimpered. “My best friend is my boyfriend’s soulmate? Is that why she was—” A loud sob interrupted her sentence.
He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to hurt her and he was damn sure you didn’t want any of this either.
Yuanfen was supposed to be magical. It was supposed to be a celebration of eternal love.
But it was all shit.
There was nothing magical about hurting Momo, seeing her cry knowing that he had no control over any of this.
Jimin had wondered if there was any way he and Mono could work through any of this and just by the look on her face, he knew the answer.
“Momo, I—”
“You spent Yuanfen with her and what? Did you two do anything?!” She spat.
He was at a loss for words. “We didn’t want this, okay?! She was in a happy and loving relationship with Taeyong and us too. This isn’t easy and I swear to you, Momo, I wish I could change this in a heartbeat but I can’t. I can’t do anything about this. I love you. How am I supposed to do this?”
Momo was wavering. She took a few more steps back and shook her head.
“How, you ask… well, Jimin,” She began. “Let me make it easier for you.”
Just like that, with tear filled eyes, Momo spun on her heel and walked away with Jimin’s heart broken on the pavement.
It was cold, so cold. He couldn’t feel his hands, his face—tears? Jimin touched his cheeks with his nimble fingers and felt the damp streaks on his face.
The hard part was over, right? Having to face Momo and tell her the truth, that was the hard part and now it was done. But he was still suffocating.
Jimin lost her. He lost his girlfriend. Sure he may have found his soulmate, but what good is it if his soulmate wasn’t his girlfriend? He spent years loving Momo and just like that, it was all done. There was nothing left.
“Jimin.”
He looked up from his feet to find you standing before him, hair disheveled and cheeks still stained with tears. You staggered forward but he was still close enough to catch you.
“I expected this.” You said quietly. “It was all expected, but why…”
Immediately, Jimin snaked his arms around your waist to embrace you. He felt and understood your pain.
“I know. I’m sorry.” He breathed near your ear.
“Yeah.” You sniffled and hugged him tighter. “I’m sorry, too.”
Jimin sighed and rubbed your lower back. He didn’t know what he wanted. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave you be for now or take your hand to his dorm to talk about things. It was all too much to take in.
Jimin had just spent an entire day with you, took a nap with you in the same bed, he even kissed you for God’s sake. Losing Momo now was for the best. It would’ve been too painful to force himself out of love and push her away in the future. It was like ripping off a bandaid, quick and—well, painful.
“What are we supposed to do now?” You questioned.
What were we supposed to do?
Everything was still fresh. He was sure that Taeyong and Momo both had a lot of questions to ask, but maybe now wasn’t a good time. He really didn’t know what to do.
Out of instinct, he reached to cup your face and placed a light kiss in between your eyebrows. Your eyes fluttered closed and it wasn’t the best time to be thinking about it, but Jimin had the sudden urge to kiss you properly on the lips.
Again, Jimin acted on instinct.
He traced your cheek with his finger and curled it to lift your chin to make eye contact with you. Your eyes were red with a dust of sadness. You weren’t pulling away and you were still hugging him. He had a feeling you knew what was going to happen next, so he didn’t hesitate.
Using his thumb, Jimin gently pulled beneath your bottom lip to part them about a centimeter’s distance. He watched you close your eyes once more and kissed you sweetly.
Jimin tasted the saltiness from your tears, your pain, your heart break. Mixed in with the cocktail of emotions was the slightest taste of happiness.
He slowly broke the kiss, already missing the intimate contact and once again, tugged you at your nape to bring your face to his chest. He stroked your hair and sighed.
“I don’t know what to do.” Jimin said. “I guess let’s just...go?” He reeled himself back and took your hand, leading you down the path.
Heartbroken as he was for his soulmate not being Momo, he was still happy it was someone he knew and that someone was you. The beholders of fate and love had decided that you were his soulmate.
Yuanfen was a binding force that linked two persons together in any relationship and in this case, it was a romantic one and that force bound you to him.
He had wished that maybe it was you who he had dated in high school. He wished that you were the one he introduced to his parents and brother. He wished he knew what your body liked and what made your toes curl in bliss. He thought it would’ve made this entire thing easier.
But that was the thing, love wasn’t easy. Love was an adventure filled with ups and downs, heartache and celebration. It wasn’t a one time thing, it was something to experience at many different times in one’s life.
Jimin was now this adventure with you and he was going to learn how to love you. He was going to experience every side of you and love each one completely. At least now he knew this was going to be a forever thing and it was all thanks to the thing that pained him in the first place.
Yuanfen.
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♡ rae jagi
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