before you / jung jaehyun

six

[ 4th january, 2018, 5:30pm ]

"dude," jaehyun started the conversation. his bestfriend, jungwoo, was slotting coins to start the laundry machine. meanwhile, jaehyun was resting his chin on the palm of his hands, ontop of his laundry basket, daydreaming of things.

jungwoo threw all his clothes into the machine and pressed — wash. before leaning back on the others, waiting for his friend to continue talking. "what?" he asked, folding his arms.

"i came across this tumblr post where they say that you'll meet your soulmate at the age of 21," jaehyun smiled, his dimples showing. "what about it? you're still single," jungwoo rolled his eyes, jaehyun groaned, finally getting ready to put his laundry in the machine.

"for your information, im turning 21 soon. in fact, i am 21. and i just want to know who the hell im going to fall in love with," he giggled, still daydreaming of his soulmate even when inserting his clothes in the machine. when he finally inserted the coins, the machine started doing its job.

"i dont know man, you probably already met her. or youre gonna meet her soon," jungwoo shrugged. "how do i know if its her, though," jaehyun asked a genuine question he wanted to know the answer to. jungwoo pursed his lips, looks at his bestfriend and patted him on the back saying, "you'll know,"

since the washing of their laundry takes up about 20 minutes, the two of them decided to walk around the street finding snacks, or maybe ice cream. and right when they were about to go out of the store, jaehyun noticed someone familiar walking in.

he raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl walking past by him. her eyes looking down on the floor, jaehyun was having a hard time trying to look at her. but he knew — he just knew that he knew her.

"okay now cupid. not every girl you bump into is going to definitely be your soulmate so stop staring at girls now, youre just being a creep at this point," jungwoo laughed, looking at the direction jaehyun's looking at. his eyes widened, looking at the girl he was staring at.

he sighed, wrapping his arms around his shoulder, "you staring at her for a bit too long. you know her?" he asked his friend a question. jaehyun hummed, his eyebrow making an arc, thinking too hard. "i think i do,"

and at that point, something took over him. his feet was moving, not towards the door— but right towards the girl. in what dimension was he in? to have such confidence to do such a thing? his hand reaching out to touch her shoulder, she turned before he could even touch her.

"oh— wow, jaehyun!" the girl was shocked, to see a familiar face in the mart, standing so close to her. jaehyun jumped back a little, he was caught off guard. and in that moment, when he saw her face, he remembered all of the times the girl went to the cafe he worked at.

"kang aeri!" jaehyun let out a soft laugh, genuinely happy to see her. aeri looked at him with eyes that had just finished crying. everytime jaehyun met her, she was always sad, hurt— heartbroken. today was one of those days.

jungwoo stood in between them, he was still thinking. "oh my god! isnt aeri the girl you said that kept coming to the cafe, who couldnt stop crying?" jungwoo blurted out, before looking at aeri and going — "he said it in a good way, dont worry," he chuckled.

aeri adjusted her hair back behind her ear. "you uh— want to catch up sometime? we havent really, uh, you know, like– talk. for quite some time," jaehyun mumbled upon his words, trying to get the right words out. the girl just smiled and nodded.

and with that, jaehyun wrote down his number and gave it to the girl. that day— they texted each other.

—