Colors || Lee Jeno

Chapter 8 | "lose him"

It had been a whole week now and she still hadn't said anything to anyone. She was being very careful not to mention any colors, even though she almost slipped up a few times when they all went shopping.

She had tried to use Hendery's office to look up the NCT profiles but he caught her snooping around so she had to lie about looking for some new game codes instead.

She'd continued to hang out with Xiaojun, and with each passing day the guilt continued to eat her up inside knowing that she'd have to hurt someone she cared so deeply about.

To clear her head, she decided to go on a walk with Lucas. Bring her best friend, he knew something was up but he didn't know what so of course he agreed.

"Did you see that guy in that red leather jacket? It was so cool looking, remind me to have Ten take me shopping this weekend." Hyewon said as she walked down the street with Lucas.

"Ooh yeah, I want to go check out this knife harness I saw the other- wait a minute." He came to a halt, grabbing her arm. "Did you just say... red?"

Hyewon's eyes widened in panic as she realized her mistake. Of course Lucas would catch onto that, he couldn't see color yet.

"Uh... maybe?"

"Oh my god, you can see color!" He exclaimed, crushing her in a hug. "That's so exciting, congrats Hye! Does Xiaojun know?"

"Um, not exactly."

"Oh I can't wait to see his face when you tell him, let's go right now." He grabbed her hand and began dragging her quickly down the street.

"Uh, Lucas I don't know about-"

"No shut up, you're the first younger member to see color, this is a big deal!" He exclaimed, not slowing his pace.

"Wait, Lucas-"

"Xiaojun is going to freak out! Omg what if he can see color too?" Her best friend continued excitedly.

"I don't think so, look, I-"

"Its only a matter of time. If you can see it, that means your soulmates!" He sighed. "I'm so happy for you guys, he's going to be so happy!"

"Lucas, stop!" She ripped her hand out of his grip and planted her feet, halting his steps. "Xiaojun isn't going to be seeing color, and he's definitely not going to be happy about this."

"What do you mean?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"I can see colors.... but it's not with Xiaojun." She said slowly, wincing internally as she saw Lucas' shocked expression.

"If not him, then who?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" He exclaimed. "How do you not know? How can you be sure it's not Xiaojun?"

"You know how some people are instant soulmates and some are gradual?" She asked, seeing him nod. "And how Jun and I always just hoped we were gradual?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, it turns out my soulmate was not gradual." She mumbled, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Okay, you need to tell me everything right now." He said, grabbing her wrist and taking a seat on a bench on a nearby park. "So where and when did this happen?"

"At the truce ball."

"Wait, so you've been able to see color for over a week and you didn't even tell me?" He exclaimed. "What we're you going to do, keep it hidden forever?"

"I don't know what I was going to do! I was scared. I wanted to at least figure out who the guy was before I told everyone." She sighed. "Those damn masks, all I could see were his eyes."

"So it was like... instant?"

"Yeah. We made eye contact for a split second and then boom, everyone was in color." She nodded. "I know he had it too because he looked stunned and started looking around like mad. I was trying to find him but we got swallowed up in the crowd."

"Yeah not to mention that Xiaojun was with you for basically the whole time." He agreed with a sigh.

"Exactly, I didn't want to be like 'hello random dude, this is my boyfriend also did you happen to see soulmate colors when we made eye contact as well or was that just me?'" She replied with a sarcastic groan. "What am I supposed to do? How do I find this guy? How do I tell Xiaojun?"

"Look, if Xiaojun isn't your soulmate, that also means you're not his. There's someone out there for him just like this mystery man for you." Lucas said with a reassuring smile. "He'll understand. He wants you to be happy, and I'm sure he wants his own chance to find his soulmate."

"I know, it just... I hate hurting him." She said with a sad sigh. "I don't want to lose him in my life."

"He's gonna be hurting, but I know how much you love each other. He'll be okay and you definitely won't lose him. He cares about you too much. He just... won't be in your life in the same way that he's been for these past few months."

"Thanks Lucas, I needed to hear that." She smiled at him, standing up and facing him. "I'll tell him right when we get home."

"That's a good idea." He replied, also rising from his seat. "I'll be waiting in your room to talk after. Everything is gonna be alright."

"Yeah." She sighed out nervously. "Let's go home."

They linked arms with smiles on their faces, Hyewon forcing away the nervous shake in her muscles as she walked back to their base.