Falling in love with your soulmate is predetermined. Like a rush of tingles that run down your spine, like a river that flows smoothly and steadily in the right path. This is Jung Jaehyun to you - expert street racer and your destined soulmate.
COLO...
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"Chief Curator? Y/N?"
"Mark?" You turn your head at the voice you've grown so fond of.
It's Mark Lee, indeed. You take big but elegant strides in your heels (you weren't going to clown yourself in this office pencil skirt look even though you were over the moon to see him) and pull him in for a big hug, tears collecting at the corners of your eyes.
"I missed you," you mumble. Mark laughs hesitantly, pulling himself away from you. He looks at you with a worried expression. "Is Hyuck doing well?"
"How did you know of-"
"Tell him I said hi, and that I missed him too."
"You hit your head this morning. You definitely did," he mumbles as he walks away.
You couldn't seem to care how delusional you might have seemed towards Mark, but the very thought of still having them in your world left you unhinged.
Seoul Museum Of Art is getting ready for its big public opening and the walls have beautiful modern artwork hung on display. You are holding onto a writing pad with a piece of paper clipped onto it. Unticked check boxes being ticked as you check each of the art pieces to ensure their safety.
Mark - the assistant curator - brings a sheet and he glances at you, worriedly, "Here's the distinguished guests' art pieces. The author, Haruki's given that-" He points to a beautiful stroke of blue paint with splattered marks of black paint around. "And golfer, Moon Taeil's donated this one, right here." A painting of mall bubbles that slowly ascend to large ones is hung on the wall and you gape at it.
"It's beautiful."
"Yeah," he mumbles. "I managed to persuade him after so many meetings, no thanks to my chief curator who disappeared into thin air for a week together."
You lost a week, that's all. You look at Mark and you're sickeningly reminded of the alternate universe. The world where your Jaehyun existed. The world where you were beyond happy and the world that turned you to a beyond devastated stage.
"That's the list of the people I need to convince to donate their priced artwork," you stretch your hand for Mark to give the sheet. He nods and hands it over. Your eyes scan the list Mark gives you and it stops at a name highlighted in fluorescent green.
"Jung Jaehyun?"
"Yeah," he tells you, absent-mindedly. "He's that Formula One racer. Last time I spoke to him, he was quite willing to give his collection." Mark shows you the collection of paintings Jaehyun possesses and your heartunges, breath caught in your air passage. It's a collection of paintings of your birth flower - one that slowly drifts from monochrome to an explosion of colors.
You rush to the corner, take your beige overcoat and rush out through the door. Mark's gaze focusses on your movements and he's not that quick to shout, "It's raining. Take an umbrella. And," he stretches the syllable when he hears you swear out loud from outside the museum. "You didn't. I did warn you."
Rain pellets hit you strongly and you groan. The Jaehyun in this world still exists. He doesn't fade away with the alternate universe. Your bangs stick to your forehead annoyingly and you take heavy steps as the material of boots absorb water.
And then, it's like a scene straight out of a movie. A black umbrella covers your vision as a man runs from behind to shelter you from the rain. He's a lot taller than you and your body turns to look at the man.
"Jaehyun?"
He is surprised at the fact that you knew his name, but his gaze is warm, just like the Jaehyun you knew of. He takes a step closer to let the umbrella cover you from the falling droplets.
"You know me? Do you watch Formula One?"
"Of sorts," you smile. "I know you quite well."
Jaehyun is smiling wide. His lips tugging upwards and your heart beats quicker. Just like it did the first time you met him in that dirty alley by the parking lot, and you know this for sure, that even if you didn't have a soulmate Mark or were defined soulmates, your heart still beats a little quicker, your pulse rapid, for this beautiful man before you.
"Is it weird that I feel like I know you too?"
"Smooth pick up line, lover boy," you giggle, but you know he isn't lying. Cyan's words repeat in your head over and over again as your fingers tug at your overcoat, bringing it closer to your chest.
If it's meant to be, it will be.
Jaehyun's eyes glisten. The same stars you had grown so familiar with - the galaxy that lies behind those orbs.
"If it worked, do you mind grabbing dinner with me later tonight?"
"If you agree to donate those paintings for the exhibition?"
"You work for Seoul Museum Of Art?" He lifts the umbrella slightly, pulling you behind him when a car moves past at a good speed, splashing the water by the sides.
"Yeah."
"I came by to give my approval for the exhibition," he tells you. He looks at you, eyes fixated at your being and trying to peep into your soul. "So-"
"I would have loved to grab dinner with you even if you had said no."
"I knew it," he fist bumps the air and the umbrella jerks upwards, the rain hitting your shoulders. Jaehyun looks apologetic as he pulls you closer, his fingers brushing the bare skin exposed the crook of your neck, sending the same tingle you had felt in the alternate universe.
You look at the man you had fallen so in love with and you are given another opportunity with. Your eyes move around and see the old woman you had grown so familiar with by the pole, smiling at you before turning away and walking.
"It feels like some weird fate. To meet you here, today." Jaehyun's eccentric and over the moon as he walks with you down the pavement. Your gaze falls on the dark, almost monochromatic clouds that pour down heavily and you smile, as you mumble under your breath, barely audible to anyone but yourself.
