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JO SAERA, the school's ordinary. she plugged in her earphones as soon as she heard her friends talking about soulmates, and sighed. she was the least interested to find out about her soulmate in her friend group consisting of five — herself, youngjae, kyla, jacob and siyeon.
youngjae noticed saera had her earphones plugged in and took them out immediately, " sae! stop that, you're so rude." he faked a cry as saera snatched her earphones back from the blonde.
" i don't want to listen to your conversation on soulmates. i'm not interested," she replied flatly. siyeon's eyebrows furrowed. " aren't you at least a bit curious to find out who your soulmate is, saera?".
saera shook her head and continued sipping on her chocolate milk. " boomer," kyla whispered to the others, loud enough for saera to hear. saera hit kyla on her shoulder lightly. " shut up! it's not like that, i'm just... well... not very fond of this love topic? ".
kyla hummed and nodded. " but you know sooner or later you have to find your soulmate right? ".
jacob smiled, resting his chin on his palm. " it's not a must, actually."
" exactly," saera agreed, smiling back at the boy who had earned groans from the other three. " thank you, jacob, you're an angel! ".
" far from that," youngjae gagged, faking a vomit.
that's when siyeon slammed on the table, gasping ever so suddenly. the others looked at her, confused, as she frantically stood up, holding her tray.
" i forgot! i wanted to buy a couple of pens from the bookshop and there's only five minutes left till break ends! " she cries. saera glanced at the clock, her eyes widening. she picked up her carton of milk, " let's go then. we'll wait for you outside."
the group disposed their food in their respective places and headed to the bookshop. saera and youngjae waited outside together while the other three went in to check the stationeries out. saera had her earphones plugged in. she had her playlist on shuffle mix, so she couldn't control which song was playing or not.
youngjae looked at her, her gaze fixed on the ground. " do you just listen to music because you want to find your soulmate faster? ". he chuckled upon seeing her flustered reaction.
" no! stop that! " she cries, and youngjae just laughs. " okay, okay. dweeb."
" i just like music," she replies, not quite reassuring the male. he squints and she plays along by squinting back, both of them laughing. then, the other three came out of the bookshop.
kyla held her plastic bag up high, waving it. " yay! new pens!".
" you bought one of every brand," jacob rolled his eyes playfully, holding his new tie in hand. " i lost mine over the break so i got a new one."
" neat. everybody ready? we're kinda late for class," saera stated as the others just chuckled.
" yeah, let's go! ".
" why do you keep singing baby? ".
saera stopped at her tracks at the mention of the song ' baby '. her eyes widened. she knew damn well that it was playing from her portable music player at that very moment. hesitantly, she glanced back to see two boys outside of the bookshop. a brown-haired boy, his hand cupped around his mouth as he begins to blurt out the lyrics in utter confusion. meanwhile, his friend— a taller, hazelnut brown-haired, laughing at how idiotic the shorter had seemed.
" when i was thirt-," the shorter one starts, covering his mouth as muffled lyrics continue to buzz out. " i met my first lov- I CAN'T STOP SINGING! HYUNJAE, HELP."
the taller, supposedly hyunjae, looked at him, his face filled with both terror and amusement.
" your soulmate must be nearby," he smirked at the shorter, as the shorther hissed back at him, slapping his arm angrily.
" are you ridiculous? THERE WAS NOBODY THAT COMPARED TO MY-," the shorter covered his mouth again in an attempt to stop the forced singing while hyunjae burst out laughing.
saera couldn't believe what she was hearing. she quickly and discreetly paused the music player before turning back and going on her feet.
" god, finally! " she heard their last echoes. " dude, that was so weird."
" maybe you did have a soulmate that was nearby! and they listened to justin bieber! ".
" no way in fucking hell am i going to accept the fact that i have a soulmate, let alone if they listen to that trashy imbecile."
by then, saera was still running off to class, shaking off any thoughts that seemed too impossible to be real. then again, she didn't doubt what she just saw— a boy who seemed to have been singing the song she was listening to by force. they were indeed in a 10-metre radius as well.
" holy heck," she thought. " was that really my soulmate? ".
