CHOSEN - The System Never Lies (Minsung FF)

ONE

2320.10.07, friday

Today I'm going to talk to her.

Han Jisung removed the fog from the bathroom mirror with a towel, staring into his own dark brown eyes through the still dimmish glass surface. Today was the day. He was going to talk to the girl from the grocery store. He had to! For almost three weeks he has seen her every day on his way to university but has been too shy to ask her on a date.

"Jisung, this time, don't back down."
His reflection didn't answer, it just stared back at him, with wet hair and determination in its eyes.

Back in his room the boy walked to his closet. One door was partly open, a pile of hoodies prevented it from closing properly. Yeah, maybe he should declutter his closet some time soon. Since autumn has already started to reach out its rainy and chilly fingers, not often but often enough, it would actually be a great time to change his summer wardrobe into a warmer one for winter.

"It's not that cold for the beginning of October, right?", he mumbled to himself while choosing an outfit that hopefully would impress his grocery store crush. After deciding that a black cap and his favorite leather jacket would be enough to keep him warm but still make him look cool he left, only to meet one of his roommates in the kitchen.

Chan poured some milk into his cereals and looked up when Jisung entered.
"Your hair is still damp, don't catch a cold, mate." He pointed at his bowl. "You want some, too?" A dark curl hung into his eyes but he didn't seem to be bothered by it. Sometimes Jisung envied his older friend for the natural curls, otherwise Chan by himself had told him several times how hard and time-consuming it was to take care of this type of hair.

Jisung shook his head. "No thanks. I'm gonna eat later with Minho."
The younger one was about to rush to the door but Chan held him back. "You can't leave this house without eating or at least drinking something. Here, I made coffee."
Not sure if coffee was able to replace a well-balanced meal Jisung let Chan do what he insisted on. After pouring some of the hot, dark liquid into Jisungs favorite to-go-cup and not forgetting to add some sugar and soy milk he gave it to the younger, who impatiently waited next to the door, hand already on the doorknob.
"Thank s Chan, have a nice day!"

In front of the building a guy in a denim jacket kicked a pebble around and looked up when Jisung opened the door. His jet black hair shone in the first sun rays of the early morning.

"Dude, one day I'll die here while waiting for you, your always too late!"
"I'm sorry Min Min."
Lee Minho squinched up his face. "Don't call me that. Or do you want to die??"
The two best friends began to bicker and started their walk to the university.

On their way they passed the grocery store. As always Jisung stopped in front of it to admire the young woman who had started working as a cashier some weeks ago. Not in a creepy way. Just - she was so damn beautiful!
Minho pushed his friend towards the entrance. "Come on, Jisungie! You know it's kind of your last chance. If you don't talk to her today, forget talking to her at all."
Before the younger had time to hesitate, he was pushed next to the cash desk where the beautiful girl talked to an old lady while putting groceries in a big back for her. Her long, wavy hair fell over her shoulders, her dark eyes made Jisung's legs feel wobbly.

After the old lady had left, the cashier looked at the boy in front of the desk.
"Hi, what can I do for you?"
A little helpless Jisung glanced over to his best friend, who unfortunately started acting like he didn't even know his best friend of six years.
"Uhm, yeah hi", shyly he looked back at the girl but still had no clue what to say. Without thinking he grabbed the first thing he saw on the cash desk. "I'd like to buy these, please."

Strawberry lollipops? Really??

Behind his back he could hear Minho chuckle. Jisung took a mental note to kill his friend for this after uni while the cashier scanned the sweets. After he had paid, the young woman wished him a nice day and Jisung really wanted nothing more than to leave the store, but Minho was right. Today was his last chance to ask this girl out.
He took a deep breath. Now or never.
"H-hey, I really like your smile and you are so kind every time I come here, so I wondered if you... if I can get your number?"

Did he just stutter? The boy felt heat creeping up his neck. This was way too far out of his comfort zone. 
The girl smiled warmly. "Oh thank you! I really appreciate that and you seem like a very kind person, too, but-" she held up her left arm. Around her wrist Jisung could recognize a thin, emerald green line. Shit. Why didn't he check on that earlier? She was already chosen.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't think about that. I'm very sorry for bothering you."Jisung dashed out of the store as fast as possible since he wasn't able to vanish into thin air. Minho already waited for him, leaning against a street light pole.
"And?"

"Bro, she's already chosen. I totally forgot to check on that earlier."
"No way! She's pretty young to be chosen. How old is she, 19, maybe 18?"
"I think so. Man, I can't go back in there ever again!"
Minho gave him a pat on the back. "Don't be embarrassed, Ji. At least you tried. And bought us some sweets."
Jisung sighted and nodded. He shared the candy with his best friend as they continued their way to university.

Jisung couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the grocery store girl was already chosen. Sometimes he had difficulties understanding the system they lived in.

Usually you get chosen with 22, but sometimes the system paired you up with someone younger than that. 18 was the minimum. Nobody could be chosen before attaining full age. But the cases where people were chosen that young were pretty rare.
Jisung himself would be chosen before turning 22.
A month ago, only a week before turning twenty, he had received a letter, which announced that he would be invited to this year's choosing ceremony. Sometimes he caught himself counting the days until the event would take place and he would finally find out with whom the system paired him up. He would finally get to know the person he was destined to share the rest of his life with.

Usually your match lived in the same city or at least in the same province as you. Only sometimes people would have to move to another city, far away from their hometown. This had happened to Minho's parents, his mother had to move to the capital city because the system had decided it. Now she lived on the other end of the country, far away from the rest of her family. Jisung really hoped that his match would not live that far from here. He couldn't imagine leaving all this behind, his parents, his friends and roommates, his university, his daily life.

Meanwhile the two young men had arrived at their university's campus and Minho said goodbye to head to his faculty. The system had chosen physics for him. It somehow fit Minho, he has been the best in science back in school, but Jisung knew that his best friend would give everything he had just to be able to dance all day long. Minho was a great dancer, he was able to learn new choreographies within a few hours and even choreographed performances by himself. Some of them he even performed at school festivals. The university also had a dance major, every time they passed the studios the younger could feel his best friend's heartache.
For Jisung himself the system had chosen art. He was not sure why, he never felt that talented in painting or other creative stuff like that, but the system never lied. What the system said was fact.

Jisung shook his head to get rid of all these thoughts and started making his way to his first class of the day.