Colors || Lee Jeno

Chapter 7 | "a mistake"

Thank god she was wearing a mask or else everyone would've seen her jaw literally drop. She felt on the verge of tears, extremely overwhelmed as she took a look around. It was all so beautiful.

She quickly looked back at the mystery man, seeing the pure shock and awe written all over his face as well. It took a moment of him staring around before his eyes landed on her again. Hyewon was so enthralled by the colors around her that she almost forgot what this meant.

He was her soulmate.

She watched as he took a step towards her, trying to discreetly move through the crowd when suddenly everyone broke into applause. The announcements has ended and the gangs started leaving.

As everyone started shifting around, she lost sight of the boy. As discreetly as possible, she searched for him, scanning over everyone she could in hopes of finding him but it was no use.

"Let's go guys, come on." Kun said.

She wanted to protest. To say no and force them to stay but what would she tell them. With a sigh, she hung her head, feeling Xiaojun put a hand on her shoulder and lead her out of the room.

Hyewon was silent for the entire car ride home, just staring down at the hem of her dress. All the boys left her alone, knowing that these sort of things often freaked her out a bit, but in reality she was just obsessing over the color of her dress.

The moment she got home, she told the boys that she was going to sleep and bolted to her room. She quickly locked the door and then threw open her closet. Immediately her vision was bombarded with an array of colors, so much more beautiful than she had even dreamed of.

She tried on outfit after outfit, finally agreeing that red was definitely her color, although deep blues and purples were in her top choices as well.

After finally settling down a bit from her color high, she took a member to process everything. She's been praying for colors for so long and she just got them with.... A total stranger.

How am I gonna find him? He's a mafia guy... an NCT mafia guy that's really bad... but I still need to find him since he's my colors right?

She sighed to herself. Finally she had her colors but her job was far from done, and now she was about to go on a wild goose chase, attempting to hunt down a member of the most dangerous gang in the country all because he was her soulmate.

Wait. My soulmate. That guy... he's my soulmate... so that means...

She flopped back onto her bed. In all the excitement and confusion she didn't even think about Xiaojun. What the hell was she supposed to tell him?

Her once euphoric color high was now plummeting into despair as she realized the gravity of the situation. She did like Xiaojun a lot but he obviously wasn't the one for her. It broke her heart to think about that but what else could she do? He wasn't her soulmate and she wasn't his either....

She let out a groan, burying her head into her pillow out of frustration. She knew she had to tell him, but what would she even say when she didn't know the guy yet?

She just shook her head, deciding that she'd sleep on it before figuring out when and how to tell Xiaojun.

- - -

It had been two days since the truce meeting and Hyewon still hadn't said anything. She decided that she'd tell everyone once she actually figured out who the guy was. How she was going to do that? She had no clue.

Now she was on another date with Xiaojun. He'd been noticing her being distant recently, but she didn't want to say anything without thoroughly thinking it through, so when he asked her on a date, she just had to say yes.

I wonder what his name is? I wonder when I'll find him? I wonder if things will be easier with him...

She tried to brush off the thought and just focus on their lunch date. She knew what she was doing was wrong and she needed to just rip the bandage right off but with so much uncertainty, she just didn't know.

"Xiaojun...." She trailed off as their waiter passed them again.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"That waiter is creeping me out." She mumbled, shifting uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?"

"He keeps staring at me and brushing his hand on my shoulder every time he walks past."

Xiaojun just rolled his eyes, brushing it off with a sigh.

"Ah don't worry about it, you're just being paranoid, I'm sure it's a mistake."

She didn't respond, just nodded her head and continued with their meal.

Once she found out that Xiaojun wasn't her soulmate, she started to see the cracks in their relationship that shouldn't have been there if he was really her colors. Like how he never stood up for her and often brushed off anything she said and disregarded it. She ignored those red flags before because she so badly wanted it to be him.

It was a common thing. The color curse. How can you pretend everything is perfect with someone when you know they're not your soulmate? Apparently, it was very common in couples that went through this.

"Ouch." She mumbled, sitting up straighter when she felt pain shooting through her back.

"What's wrong this time?"

"Just some bruises from the mission last night. I got ambushed by some guy and he threw me against a wall."

"You should've been paying closer attention so he didn't ambush you." Xiaojun sighed out.

"Oh..." she said softly. "yeah I know it was a mistake. Now my back is killing me."

"You'll be fine, injuries are just part of the mafia."

"Yeah, you're right..."

She just rested her chin in her hand with a frustrated sigh.

This goddamn color curse...

Now all the little imperfections of her relationship were sticking out to her like a sore thumb. She still loved him, and in her heart she knew she was very attached to Xiaojun, but when perfection was out there for her, how could she not chase it? It just made her realize that she needed to find that guy. And fast.