Color Me Rainbow || MEANIE ✔

-26 || mingyu-

They were alone. Seungchol had needed to take a phone call and not too long after, Jihoon needed to use the restroom.

Wonwoo hadn't said much of anything to Mingyu all night. The weight of guilt Mingyu developed from the start was starting to get a bit heavy.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Wonwoo looked over at him. "What for this time?" he said dryly.

That comment hurt more than it probably should have. "The kiss, the article, dragging you into this. I wish I'd gone about this a different way."

And it was true. There were plenty of ways he could have gone about it, but he let the idea of losing the bet and having Wonwoo as a soulmate flood his brain. Once he has his mind set on something, he doesn't typically back out of it.

"You already apologized for the kiss and the article was my doing," the older replied. "I was the one who initiated the kiss that night, remember?" Now he was playing with the sleeves of his hoodie and staring down at his half-eaten food
on the table.

"Why did you?" Mingyu asked. He'd wanted to know the answer to that question since it happened but didn't want to break any of the rules by asking.

Wonwoo looked away. Mingyu could swear he saw a slight blush. "It was your birthday. I felt bad that I forgot it," he said in a mumble. "It was the only thing I could think to do at the time."

Mingyu pursed his lips to stop from smiling. He was actually getting somewhere with the male next to him. Usually, he seemed confident and ready to smack Mingyu upside the head if he did something wrong. It was obvious he still didn't want to be here, but he also seemed nervous . . . and shy?

Mingyu leaned forward to get a better look at Wonwoo's face. "Can I ask you one more question?" he asked.

Wonwoo sighed. "Go for it."

"Do you regret it?"

The other male slowly looked up, meeting Mingyu's eyes. They stared at each other in silence for a while before Wonwoo simply said, "No."

"No," Mingyu repeated like he was expecting the answer but really wasn't. The gears clicked into place, and he gave Wonwoo a look of suspicion and hope. "Wait, what do you mean 'No'? Are you being serious?"

The elder was beginning to look like he wanted to whack some sense into Mingyu, but he also looked amused and relieved. Wonwoo shook his head and disn't bother with a response.

Mingyu was about to protest, but shut his mouth when he saw Jihoon walking back to the table. Jihoon sat at the table and looked back and forth between the other two silent males. "I feel as if I missed something," he said.

Mingyu glanced at Wonwoo who just shook his head and said, "You didn't miss anything." Jihoon went with it without digging for any extra details.

The mixed signals were really starting to mess with Mingyu's head.

Seungcheol came back a few moments later with an apologetic look on his face. "Hey, Jihoon, we've gotta go," he started then turned to the other two, "Sorry guys, something came up." He reached into his back pocket, pulled out some cash and set it on the table. "That should cover everything."

"What are you doing?" Jihoon asked as he stood up to follow after his boyfriend. Seungcheol responded with something Mingyu couldn't hear. Jihoon said, "We'll call you guys." And they were gone.

Now, they were alone again.

Mingyu watched Wonwoo, unsure of what was going to happen next. Was he going to reject him again or was it going to be something different this time?

"Apparently, my mom saw the video," was what came out of the dark-haired male's mouth first.

Mingyu paused at this. He thought that Mrs. Jeon already knew. He figured that maybe she'd said something to Wonwoo and that's why Wonwoo had no interest in him. He was afraid of what she had told her son.

"Is that a bad thing?" Mingyu asked.

"She knows we're soulmates, too," Wonwoo added.

"What did she say?"

"Do you want to go get some ice cream?" Wonwoo suddenly suggested. Though confused, Mingyu agreed, mentally preparing himself for official heartbreak. If Wonwoo came out and said that his family was against their relationship, Mingyu would accept that. He wasn't going to ruin his soulmate's own relationship with his family even if it meant that Wonwoo wouldn't be his.

He followed Wonwoo to the locker room at the front of the restaurant. They were required to lock their phones in the lockers as this was a private place. It didn't stop people from bringing their smart watches inside though.

They made their way to the small grocery store a couple of buildings down. The warm breeze blew in their hair as they walked with only a few inches of space between them. Mingyu wanted to reach for Wonwoo's hand but didn't.

It wasn't until they each had their own mini tubs of ice cream that Wonwoo finally answered the question.

"She said I should give you a chance," Wonwoo told him, "if I like you."

Mingyu let go of the breath he'd been holding. Not what he was expecting but it was a huge improvement from the alternative. His face started to warm and his heart fluttered. "And do you like me?"

Wonwoo let his most recent bite melt in his mouth before he responded. "I think I do," he declared.

The younger male almost choked on his ice cream. "You do? Really?"

"Nobody can know," the other said. "Not yet."

"Are you sure?" he asked before he really let the idea of Wonwoo actually liking him settle in.

"I don't know. You're actually kind of annoying," Wonwoo said.

Mingyu couldn't tell if he was being serious or not but he didn't have the room to be offended. "Is that a yeah?"

Wonwoo turned and gave him a kind of half smile. "Yeah. But I swear to God, say anything to anyone without talking to me first and I'm taking one of your fingers."

Mingyu didn't need time to think to agree. He smiled back. "I won't say anything, I promise."

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a/n: .... i promise i know how long three days are. apologies for such a late upload....