celestial strings | h.js

five.

"I don't like asking for help," you pointed out honestly, causing him to laugh.

"I know. I learned it the hard way," he muttered to himself, faintly throwing a smile your way but you weren't paying attention to him.

"What about you? I'm sure there are plenty of juicy drama circling a high school?" you asked after clicking your tongue in mild annoyance, turning the topic on him quickly.

"I'm not a very big rumor person so I don't know anything about that," Jisung said with an innocent shake of his head. He then slammed a fist to his palm upon thinking of what happened during lunch, and suddenly his excitement spiked. "Oh, my friends told me they saw us together this morning and they asked me about you!"

Your eyes widened in amusement as you looked over at him. You fidgeted your fingers and asked, "What did you say? You didn't say anything stupid, right?"

"Of course not! Why would I do that–wait, hold on," Jisung paused with squinted eyes. He looked at you, a weak finger pointing up at the sky then at you. "Why do you care if I said something stupid? That's not like you."

You stared at him innocently. "What if you spill my secret?"

His jaw slowly dropped as he processed your words. The light came back into his eyes and he made a noise of acknowledgment, a silly grin appearing on his lips as he laughed out the embarrassment. He initially thought you cared because you might have fancied one of his all very attractive friends, and somehow the thought didn't sit well with him. But then he remembered: you have never met any of them before, so how could you?

"You should have some faith in me. I might talk a lot but I never reveal any classified information!" He patted his chest to emphasize how trustworthy he was, a move that did nothing to convince you but he thought it was cool so he did it anyway. "But really, though, I didn't say anything. They just kind of guessed who you were and I never responded."

You huffed out a laugh. "What does it look like we are? We're friends."

"My friend Hyunjin saw you brush my hair and he thought it was evidence for something more intimidate," he said. "He was all up my ass about it. He even guessed if we're soulmates, and then Seungmin had a whole pessimistic debate with Felix and it's just all messy!"

You laughed in bewilderment, not so much at what Seungmin and Felix were debating about but more so at what his friend had suggested you two to be. Soulmates were not a foreign concept to magic-wielders; the concept itself came from one of your kind and anonymously traveled over to the fictional world of the normal people. But to think that you and Jisung were predestined to be meet each other and, on some sense, like each other was not plausible to you.

Besides, non-magic wielders having a magic-wielder as a soulmate was very rare, if it even happens at all.

Jisung had looked at you weirdly when you laughed. He waited for you to explain what about it you thought was funny, and you gave him a quick shrug.

"I think I would know if we're soulmates, Jisung," you said, slapping a hand to your hip and shaking your head. "Ahh, soulmates... that is hilarious. I will never understand why you people make such a big deal out of it."

Jisung tilted his head to the side. His opinion on soulmates has always been neutral. It was certainly a romantic idea; to have one special person created just for you. Truth be told, Jisung secretly yearned for a love similar to the ideals that soulmates hold—a bond so strong that two people can feel each other constantly, an understanding so special that two people can tell what the other is feeling without the need for words.

A conditioned unconditional love that lasts across time and space.

It was a great ideal because it wasn't real, and that it rarely happens. Jisung would love to experience it if he was given the chance. But the idea of soulmates just didn't feel real enough for him to make a big deal out it. It could be true, but so far he hasn't been shown evidence that it was.