New York City
The United States of America
October 2117
“Why did you call me at five in the goddamn
morning, Hwang?” Ansel groaned. The Korean sitting across Ansel shushed him,
taking a large drink from his first cup of coffee. “This is on my only rest
day. Fucking be happy I decided to blow my morning on you,” the brunet
complained. Shushing him yet again, Jae Hwang pressed a finger across the
other’s lips and gave a glare.
“Shut up, asshole. Where the hell is
Marion?”
“Either she’s on her way or she doesn’t
give a shit.” The other answered dryly. “Which I shouldn’t have done.”
“Keep complaining and I’ll stop paying for
your coffee,” Jae snapped. Ansel merely raised his brow and stood up, taking
the dollar bills which poked out of the other’s wallet. “Go order me another
latte.”
“Sure, Prince.” Ansel slinked off to the
front of the counter and proceeded to order, Jae tapping his foot on the floor
over and over. Ansel soon came back with two large coffees and a tray of lot of
pastries, he slumping back into the chair and proceeding to shovel food into
his mouth.
“You eat like a pig.”
“I’m starving. Sue me.” Ansel
took a drink from his coffee after eating, leaning back into his seat and
watching as Jae ran a hand through his blonde hair in frustration. “Keep doing
that and you’re going to ruin your hair.”
“I don’t care.” This made the spectacled
male blink, giving the other a weird look. “Something’s going to happen today
and the anticipation is going to kill me.”
“You make no sense,” Ansel grumbled. His
phone gave a ring and he glanced at the screen, seeing a text from Marion.
“Marion will arrive soon. Kyle didn’t wake her up for the fifth time this
week.” That resulted to a snort from Jae, who still had his suspicions about
his friend’s Soul Mate.
Soul Mate.
That was the reason why Jae chose to call
Ansel Free and Marion Salazar to the local Starbucks on that morning.
He had felt the strange tinkling on his
skin – it suddenly struck him around three in the morning while he was catching
up with the primetime Korean Dramas. One moment he was reacting madly to the
series finale, and then the next he wanted to claw his neck out.
A weird burning sensation had overcome him
in that moment, wrapping around his neck. Jae did everything he could to remove
the feeling, from wrapping a cold towel around to even applying ice.
But Gong Jae-Hwang wasn’t stupid. He knew
what was happening.
He had heard the stories since he was
younger. He heard how his mother had been able to find her father, how his
friends around town managed to find their significant other without a single
heartbreak. One of the common signs, he was told, was the strange burning
feeling where that same tattoo was located.
For Jae, it was a heart that crawled to the
front of his neck.
Knowing that his friends were most likely
asleep (especially Ansel, who treasured his sleep very much), Jae instead
plugged in his earphones, blasted his music and proceeded to research more
about the concept of Soul Mates for the rest of the night.
Finally, five in the morning struck and the
burn turned into an itch that had to be scratched. He called the first person
on his list – Ansel Free – demanding that the director-to-be meet him in their
favorite Starbucks at exactly eight in the morning.
To his surprise, Ansel was already there
with a cup of coffee and exhausted-looking eyes.
“Don’t shit me. So you’re telling me that
you expect to meet your ideal lady by the end of the morning,” the other
repeated after Jae explained it all to him. The blonde nodded and Ansel gave
him a dubious look. I swear to every deity out there, if you dragged me out for
nothing there will be hell to pay.”
“I’m already paying for your fucking
drinks, Free.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ansel shut his eyes and took
another drink, Jae huffing angrily at the lack of support from the other male.
“You suck, I didn’t even sleep.”
“And whose fault was that?” Jae was nearly
about to launch back when a curly-haired female entered the shop, bearing
sunglasses and wearing a knee-length cream-colored trench coat. “Marion’s here.
Make her order more coffee,” Asnel moaned into the table.
Marion stopped by the table and glanced at
the figure of the sleep-deprived Ansel and the irritable Jae. “…do you need
more coffee?”
Ansel gave a guttural groan from his end of
the table, Marion immediately ordering as soon as she sped off to the counter.
When she came back, Jae banged his fists on the table and gave a frustrated
growl.
“I’ll just get out. Feels like shit in
here,” the model grumbled, snatching his coat from the back of his chair and
soon walking out with his coffee. Staring after him, Marion took the Korean’s
chair and proceeded to prod Ansel’s shoulder. The latter glanced up at her
tiredly.
“Is everyone with an incoming Soul Mate
this cranky?” he grumbled. Marion gave a teasing smile of her own.
“Aww. Baby Ansel will grow up soon,” she
teased, to which the male flashed the middle finger and resumed burying his
face into the wooden table.
Outside, Jae paced around the area,
drinking his coffee and unable to calm himself down. The more the minutes
ticked by, the more his irritation grew and he felt like storming back home and
cooping up in his room to obsess over his favorite bands and idols. It was if
Ansel’s own irritation leaked onto him and stained every hopeful expectation he
had for that morning.
In his own stewing thoughts, Jae didn’t
mention as a girl came closer and closer, rushing amongst the crowd and shoving
into him. The man let off an oof as
his coffee tumbled, splashing all over his front and soaking deeply into his
favorite grey shirt. Jae’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth in preparation
to yell, but to his chagrin, the girl had rushed off.
“Fucking – this is my favorite shirt!” he
ranted angrily, jerking hands into his pockets in order to find a tissue or a
handkerchief to wipe off the worst of it. Just when Jae was about to lose hope
and cover up with his coat, a pair of warm hands attacked his chest, wiping all
over the brown spot. “The fuck–?”
“I am so, so sorry,” the girl in front of
him apologized. “Shit, I keep telling Niella to watch where she’s going,” the
girl started, moving to a rant about how careless and klutzy the other was.
Jae, however, was hearing none of it.
He felt his whole body engulfed in flame
and he swallowed, trying to focus on the rest of the world and on the girl who
was trying to clean up his mess. Holy
shit. Holy shit thank the gods this isn’t a cliché because I would have wanted
to murder the one who got this dirty –
“–are you okay? Shit, please don’t be mad,”
the girl exhaled. Jae blinked and looked at her, finally registering the
appearance of the girl who attempted to help him out.
Thick, medium-length hair tied into a ponytail
couldn’t hide her face at all. Jae blinked and found himself looking into a
pair of dark eyes which curved up in a way similar to his own.
“New York is looking strangely racially
diverse this morning,” he muttered offhandedly. The girl blinked and Jae wanted
to kick himself for the awkward first words. Fuck. “I mean, a black girl made me spill my coffee and now an
Asian, such as myself, is helping me clean it up.” Said Asian girl gave an
awkward laugh.
“Yeah, that’s me. Resident Asian. Even if
you are, too,” she added hastily with a laugh of her own. Upon hearing it, he
swore he felt his annoyance levels move lower and lower until it was just
barely there. “Uh…Rayne Ho. In case you
wanted to know who the girl wiping at your chest is.”
“Oh. Sorry, rude of me.” Jae managed a
small smile and extended his free hand. “Gong Jae-Hwang. But shit, call me
Jae.”
They shook hands.
Jae immediately wanted to burst at the
skin-to-skin contact, feeling his lungs constrict. His grip around her hand
tightened and Rayne must have noticed, because they stopped mid-shake and ended
up looking at each other with wide, shocked eyes.
It was Rayne who let go a full minute
later, her cheeks dusted with pink.
“So that…that was a thing,” she managed to
say. Jae gave a short laugh.
“Do you want to get some coffee with me
inside? I have a few friends.”
“I was actually planning to apply as a
barista,” Rayne explained. Jae’s eyes fell onto the manila folder which rested
inside her bag. “But…when I’m done, maybe I can join?” she asked, sounding
hopeful, definitely sincere.
Pleased, Jae buttoned up his coat. Rayne
noticed and her face fell, “Crap – it’s on the collar of your coat too,” she
groaned. Jae noticed a few drops of coffee stain, but decided to let it pass
for the moment.
“Not important. Let’s get some drinks,” he
said, saying nothing more as his hand took Rayne’s and held on tightly.
Neither of them said a word - and neither of them let go of the other.
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