3-4-5

Love Samples

Minho blow-dried his hair for the first time in two weeks after shaving his untamed beard. He smiled at himself. He finally somewhat resembled himself. He sighed. The only thing that wasn't like his usual self were his clouded eyes, full of depressing thoughts. Squeezing his eyes shut, he bit his lip as hard as he could. As soon as he felt he couldn't bear the pain, he stopped and looked at himself in the mirror. The cloudiness was gone and seemed to have been replaced with a light fog. He smirked as he pulled up his collar. Now he looked more like him.

He stepped out of the gym change room and into the lobby, where he bid goodbye to the receptionist before heading outside. He winced at the sunlight shining down at him before being healed by the light breeze. Although it had been snowing a couple hours ago, it was back to being sunny, and the light layer of snow was currently melting. He grinned. I guess the weather decided to match my mood today, he smiled to himself. As he headed downtown, someone tapped his shoulder.

He whirled around to see a girl with a name tag that read 'Shin Ryujin'. He raised a brow. "Hi?" She cleared her throat. "Hello Mister, how's your day going?" She asked, smiling widely. Minho nodded slowly. "Uh, fine, I guess. Why?" She smiled. "Well, I work at Love Store over there," she pointed to a building behind her decorated in red hearts with a fifty-percent off sign. He folded his arms. "... Okay?" Ryujin held out a box full of bracelets and necklaces. "Would you like a free sample of our soulmate necklaces?" She blinked innocently.

He scrunched his brows before shaking his head. "Ah, sorry no," he said. Ryujin grabbed his shoulder as he started to walk away. "We give a hundred percent guarantee that it would work, and it's at 80% off!" She countered. Minho stopped. And eighty percent was actually a good deal for a hundred percent guarantee... "Plus, it'll get you a girlfriend. Better than hanging around single all day," she added. Minho frowned. "How did you know I was single?" He asked. Was it really that obvious? Ryujin laughed. "No taken man would be outside alone on Valentine's day, silly!" She grinned.

Minho paused. He pulled out his phone, and indeed, it was the fourteenth of February. He bit his lip. Ryujin smirked. "Plus, by now all the single people would be wearing these necklaces by now. We've had quite the sales this week," she said. Minho considered his options before whipping out a ten dollar bill. "Whatever. Take it," he grumbled. Ryujin handed him back eight dollars. "Pleasure doing business with you," she winked before walking away. Minho looked down at the bracelet blue heart bracelet with three empty slots. Ryujin had said they would reveal clues to him in order to meet his soulmate. He walked around town for the next few hours, not noticing his first slot slowly changing to the number three.

Lia walked out her apartment for something other than work for once. She smiled at seeing the trees starting to grow again. It had been a while since she had paid attention to nature. She sighed contently and headed straight to a grocery store. She walked along the roads, flabbergasted at the amount of couples out and about. What, did everyone just decide to get together today, or did the couples just decide to come out of their hiding place? She thought to herself. The couples once again reminded her of Baekhyeun. She sighed turned away. Maybe it was too early? Maybe she wasn't ready?

She shook her head stubbornly. No, it was never too early; she was going to have to do this some time, and the best time was now. She approached the grocery store, but was stopped by a tall man who tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me, Miss, how are you feeling today?" He asked. She read his name tag discreetly. 'Hwang Hyunjin'. Looking at his face, she realized he resembled her co-worker Yeji a lot. "Uh, I'm okay." She nodded slowly, breathing out through her nose. She was okay. She was okay to do anything. She was okay to shop, skydive, hell, she was even open to finding new love.

"Isn't it the perfect day to find new love?" Hyunjin asked her cheerily. Lia's breath hitched. How did he...? Hyunjin held out a box full of bracelets and necklaces in different colours. She noted that they were all shaped into hearts. "Would you like to buy a soulmate necklaces with a hundred percent guarantee at eighty percent off?" He held out the box. Lia's eyes widened. Need it or not, that was a pretty damn good deal. Hyunjin grinned. "If you look around, you'll see that most of the single people in town have already worn this bracelet, and a lot of them have found new partners already," he motioned to a muscly guy with a black heart bracelet similar to the ones in his box, walking up to a girl and hugging her from behind while the girl, who also had a bracelet on, hugged him back lovingly.

Lia bit her lip before sighing defeatedly. "Fine. I'll get it. How much?" She handed him two dollars for the necklace and headed to her destination. As she bought her groceries, she thought about what her soulmate would look like. Would he be handsome? She scoffed silently as she tossed a loaf of bread in her cart. Of course he'd be handsome. He needed to be just how she liked guys if he were her soulmate. She didn't want him to be too reserved, but she didn't want him to be clingy either. She wanted him to be perfect. As she exited the store, she saw Hyunjin hugging a short-haired girl, and they both seemed to be wearing bracelets. She looked down at her necklace. Maybe this was the way she could move on.