the soulmate factory ✦ j.sc | ✔

ten

The next morning, you slept in on a Tuesday for the first time in a while and didn't put on your red jumpsuit after getting out of bed. Instead, you shuffled out to your kitchen and made yourself breakfast, which you slowly enjoyed with a cup of tea. After taking your sweet time in a nice hot shower, you got into a t-shirt and pants, and sat on your couch to start sending in applications to new jobs. As you typed on your laptop, you'd catch the occasional flash of the red loop around your pinky finger, but instead of filling you with you dread or apprehension, it now made you smile a bit, and push on with your task, knowing you had someone right there in your corner just on the other end of that string.

After a couple hours of filling out applications, searching through more prospective job listings, and finding a few new ones that had been posted since you and Sungchan looked yesterday, you deemed that to be plenty for your first morning of job hunting. It was nearly lunchtime, and you hadn't left your apartment yet. Looking outside, you saw that it was sunny, with a few passing clouds creating occasional patches of shadow, and breezes gently rustled the leaves on the trees. A perfectly lovely day.

Gathering up a couple books, you packed a light going-out bag, then headed out. As you passed your bus stop, you thought of the regulars on your morning commute, and wondered if they noticed your disappearance this morning, and if they thought anything of it, like you thought of the primary school teacher sometimes. You hoped the sisters got to school okay, and that the elderly couple liked Sungchan's exhibit, and even that the office workers who you had never spoken to had good days at work—not too terribly stressful.

As you had just arrived at your destination and picked out the perfect spot to read, your phone buzzed with a text.

[sungchan: done!]

[sungchan: with a satisfied customer, might i add]

[you: oh good! i'm done with my applications for the morning too! out reading right now]

You sent your location, then took your book out as there was another buzz.

[sungchan: omw :) ]

You were so caught up in the chapter you were reading that you didn't realize Sungchan had arrived until he set his bag down next to you. You jumped a little bit, closing the book on your thumb as you clutched your hand over your heart, which was now beating wildly out of rhythm.

"Sorry, didn't mean to give you a scare." Sungchan didn't look that sorry, as he had a clearly amused smirk on his face as he looked down at you. "I did call your name."

"It's alright, sorry I didn't hear you." You waved off his apology, then nodded to the spot beside you for him to sit down. "Lovely day out, huh?"

"It is," he agreed, stretching out his long legs as he settled in against the large tree trunk. He reached into his bag, and you looked with intrigue at what book he was going to read for today.

You perked up with interest as you recognized the cover immediately. "Oh, I've been wanting to read that book! I love that author. Just haven't picked it up yet."

"Yeah it uhm—" he cleared his throat awkwardly. "It was the book you were looking at when we met. The one you dropped."

"You..."

"I didn't know how long it was going to be until the next time I saw you, so I went back and bought it. You know, sort of hoping I could learn something about you in the meantime."

"And in the meantime, I was scheming to undo our string..." You muttered, eyes falling to your lap.

"Which you, no offense, failed at," he clicked his tongue and elbowed you teasingly. "I'll speedread so you can borrow it after me, okay?"

"No, read it right! That author's so good, you'll miss stuff!"

"I'll read it carefully! Just also super fast."

"Those are literally antonyms when it comes to reading!" You insisted.

"You've never seen me speedread then."

You smacked your open book over your face, despite knowing that he was joking. "Oh my god..."