CHAELISA One-shots

Soulmates

Chaeyoung had a strange relationship with routines. She loved that she had control over the simplest things in life, like how she always drank black coffee in the morning instead of bothering with choosing something else, how she avoided frat parties, alcohol or human contact in general for the sake of a quiet night doodling on her sketch book. It made her feel comfortable and brought her little to no problems. And problems are not something you want when you're a college kid trying to survive a semester full of paperwork and dreadful deadlines.

But Chaeyoung's little routine also made her college life pretty boring. Because you know who hates routines? Chaeyoung's two best friends, Jisoo and Jenny. Jisoo was the athletic kid who could get any guy she desired. Except that she desired no guy at all. Her heart belonged to Jenny, the younger, yet unbelievably smart kid with a talent for anything engineering or animal related. The happy couple loved new experiences and Chaeyoung was a part of quite a few of them. She'd join in whenever her life felt more boring than usual. But for the most part, Chaeyoung always ended up in her dorm, alone. Her roommate, Tzuyu, was adventurous and wild as your average college kid, only tons ten. Chaeyoung had times where she wouldn't see Tzuyu for a bunch of full weeks in a row. Tzuyu simply was never there. Chaeyoung liked the peace and quiet and had moments where she hated it. Not that she'd change that about her life though. Because you know, comfortable habits.

In that morning though, the most unlikely thing happened. Chaeyoung woke up on that Thursday morning with the need of breaking the habit, out of her own free will. It was certainly a weird sensation and Chaeyoung couldn't possibly explain to you why she was feeling that way. It felt mystical of sorts, like the forces of the universe were guiding her towards something. Whatever that might be, because Chaeyoung had absolutely no idea. Alas, she decided to follow that gut feeling and see where it took her. Just like that. What could possibly go wrong?

With that in mind, the Anything-Can-Happen-Thursday began. It began right then and there, in Chaeyoung's dorm as she got out of bed and picked a pair of ripped dark jeans that were lost in the depths of her closet but magically found their way into a visible shelf and a black leather jacket over a pink tank top, instead of the usual all pink outfit. The only thing that Chaeyoung would never change for something else, are her black combat boots. Chaeyoung allowed herself one quick look in the mirror. The dark of her jeans matched her eyes and suddenly Chaeyoung wondered why didn't she wear black more. She applied zero makeup, combed her pink hair with her hands until it looked decent enough to be in public, grabbed her keys and headed out.

Chaeyoung was always in what she called the 'power-saving' mode, but college was so close to her dorm that it was more troubling driving there than walking, so walking it was. Chaeyoung always stopped halfway at the same coffee shop to get her daily dose of caffeine, but didn't even look inside as she passed the establishment and entered a nicely decorated one on the next block without even really thinking about it.

There was a line to the counter. Not that Chaeyoung cared, she still had half an hour before her first period, so she took her rightful place as the last in line and for some odd reason no one else came in, leaving Chaeyoung to be the last one to get her order. Again, not that she cared.

She distracted herself by using her phone, only looking up once in a while to make sure she'd walk towards the counter as people were leaving with their orders.

Until it was her turn.

"I'm so sorry for the long wait." Chaeyoung, who was focused on playing among us was jolted back to reality by a sweet yet raspy female voice that was clearly talking to her. When Chaeyoung looked up, she realized that at some point she had stopped walking and still had a few steps in until she could reach the barista that stood in front of her.