[One-shot] A Precious Name
Title: A Precious Name
Author: sylchunnie2
Beta: andie_kjj
Genre: Fluff, romance
Length: One-shot
Pairing: Yunho X Jaejoong
Summary: A Soulmate AU where everybody was born with the name of their soulmate written on their arm. Except it’s all just a bunch of BS.
A/N: This is my first fic after 3 years of hiatus. Hopefully my skill isn’t rusted yet. Please give your love and thoughts about it^^
a precious nameHe was 5 months old when he became an orphan. His parents passed away in a car accident. He was 5 months old when he was adopted into a new family and was given a new name, Kim Jaejoong.
Jaejoong was two years old when he tried to wash away the name on his left arm and then realized it will never came off. He cried a lot that day thinking that someone had doodle the words on his arm with permanent marker.
Jaejoong was four years old when he was finally able to read the words written on his arm. ‘Jung Yunho’. Then he went around bothering his parents with questions like, “What is a Jungyunho?” “Why is this thing on my arm?” His parents had calmly told him the story of soulmates and even shown their names on each other arms. Saying that the name belongs to his soulmate, the person who he will spend his life with forever just likes his mother and father. But the little boy just tilted his head in confusion and blinked his big eyes at his parents, “but why?” And the questions went on and on.
Jaejoong was seven years old when he finally accepted the idea of a soulmate. But he decided not to believe in that stupid writing on his arm.
Jaejoong was nine years old when he was jealous of someone for the first time. A new kid transferred to his school from Seoul and apparently that kid was the soulmate of one of the girl in his classroom. The two stick together all the time, they went everywhere together and one time when the girl fell down, her soulmate quickly picked her up and hugged her as she cried. Jaejoong stared at them in envy. Jaejoong was nine years old when he wished to meet his soulmate for the first time.
Jaejoong was ten years old when he dreamt of meeting his soulmate for the first time. His soulmate will come and swept him off his feet. They would get married and live happily together. He can’t wait to meet his soulmate!
Jaejoong was 18 years old when he decided that this whole soulmate thing is just a bunch of bull. How the hell would he be able to find his soulmate when there’s 7 billion people in the whole world! And do you know how many people have the name Yunho in Korea alone? Hundreds! He had met countless Jung Yunho in his life and none of them had his name written on their arms. None of them was his soulmate.
Jaejoong was 20 years old when he believed that he will never find his soulmate.
Jaejoong was 26 years old when he stopped looking and just gave up.
______ .______
“Good morning.”
The bell on the café door tingled when Jaejoong pulled the door open, dusting off the snow on his shoulders; he took off his coat and hang it in the closet by the door.
“Morning, boss,” his employees cheerfully chirped in unison.
Jaejoong smiled warmly at them. Sohee and Mina were students from Ehwa University, when they come to his café two months ago looking for part time jobs, Jaejoong had hired them. The two girls are doing a good job so far in their training however they kept giggling when they’re around the older guy and won’t stop looking at him with adoration in their eyes. They always teased him and playfully asked him out on dates, and he would always just laugh it off. His barista, Minhyuk would smile in amusement at their antics but he never made any comments. He’s a quiet guy and serious most of the time. And Jaejoong liked that he’s efficient at his job.
It had been five years since he moved to Seoul and two years since he opened this café, Angels Haven. It had always been a dream of his to open a bakery since he had fall in love with the wonderland of baking. His pastries always received great reviews from the people around him when he let them try his food. So when Yoochun, his roommate from university suggested to open a café together, he immediately jump into the idea. With Yoochun being in-charge of the management and Jaejoong in-charge of the kitchen, their café was able to established their name as the local favourite in the neighbourhood in just a few months of opening.
At the age of 30 and still no-soulmate, Jaejoong didn’t worry about that anymore. He is just content with his life at the moment.
“It’s snowing a lot today,” Jaejoong commented as he took off the wool beanie and earmuff off his head revealing short black hair that really stood out due to his fair porcelain skin.
“Boss, you’re so handsome,” Mina swooned and pretended to faint as Sohee supported her back, giggling uncontrollably.
Jaejoong played along and winked at the girls which caused them to scream in delight.
“Take it easy, girls. Today will probably be a slow day. I doubt people will come out much in this heavy snow.” The raven gets behind the counter and patted Minhyuk on his back before disappearing into the kitchen. He greeted his kitchen crew and started baking fresh pastries for the day.
_______.______
It was late in the evening, his staff had gone home and he was about to cleaned up before closing the café when the bell on the café door chimed. Jaejoong looked up from the counter as a tall man in long burgundy coat entered the café. The man was wearing charcoal grey suit with blue shirt and a matching tie underneath the coat, he looked like a model that just popped out of a fashion magazine; and Jaejoong can’t help but stare at the man.
“Are you still open?”
The deep voice pulled Jaejoong away from his trance and he quickly nodded at the man. ‘What? No, no we’re not open! Why did you say yes?’
“Oh, thank God. I was just walking around here when I smelled this amazing scent that I just had to stop by.” The Handsome Guy, the name that Jaejoong decided to give in his head, flash a smile at him and Jaejoong swear his heart had done a flip inside his chest.
‘What the heck? What is going on?’
Oblivious to Jaejoong’s inner turmoil, The Handsome Guy approached the counter and stopped right in front of the raven. And at the close distance Jaejoong now realized The Really Handsome Guy (so what if I changed his name, sue me!) is a few inches taller than him, his hair is auburn coloured and styled neatly, he has a mole on top of his lips which is quite sexy, and his eyes - crap! He had been staring too long!
Flustered, Jaejooong quickly averted his gaze away and cleared his throat loudly on purpose to avoid from feeling awkward. “Can I help you?” he used his most professional voice and willed himself not to gush out at The Really Handsome Guy.
But when he turned his gaze onto the guy again, the latter had a small smile on his handsome face, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I would love for you to help me,” he smoothly said before smiling playfully at the blushing raven.
‘Is he flirting with me? No way. Come on, Jaejoong. Get your mind out of the gutter.’
“Is there anything specific you want? I’m afraid there’s not much left since it’s late.”
“Well, I’m not really looking for anything specific but what is that amazing smell?” The taller guy looked around as if trying to find the source of the smell.
“Oh,” Jaejoong’s face brightened up as he remembered about the freshly baked cupcakes that he had pulled out of the oven and let rest on a table. He was trying to experiment with new flavours so it wasn’t meant to be sold. “-I’ve just made some cupcakes but it’s a new flavour that I was just trying to experiment on. We don’t know yet if it’ll taste good. You don’t want to have that.” He nervously babbled on.
The Really Handsome Guy unexpectedly said, “let me taste it then.”
“What?”
“Since you’re not sure about the taste, let me taste it and I’ll give you my opinion about it.”
“You wanna try my weird cupcakes?” Jaejoong asked incredulously.
The Really Handsome Guy chuckled and looked at Jaejoong right in his eyes, “Yes, I wanna try your cupcakes.” And he slyly winked at Jaejoong making the latter blushed.
‘Oh my gosh, that sounds so… Get your head out of the gutter, Kim Jaejoong!’
“Ok then. But you have to sign some forms clarifying that you willingly tried the cupcake of doom under your own choice and I am not to be blame for any of the side effects such as diarrhoea, fainting, lung cancer or death,” Jaejoong jokingly pulled out some scrape papers and started to scribble some nonsense on it.
The brunette laughed aloud at Jaejoong’s joke and Jaejoong decided he liked the sound of it.
“I agree to all of the condition above,” he grabbed the paper that Jaejoong had been scribbling on and drew a star with a J. next to it on the bottom of the paper. He smirked at Jaejoong before passing back the paper.
Jaejoong can’t help but giggled shyly. Somehow the awkwardness that he felt just now had gone and there’s this light atmosphere around them.
The raven curved a small smile at the other guy before heading back to the kitchen. He carefully arranged a pieces of the cupcakes on a tray, taking extra effort to make it look pretty then he headed out.
“Wow!” The Really Handsome Guy exclaimed and for a second Jaejoong thought the exclamation was meant for him because the latter’s almond orbs was looking right at him but he quickly dismissed the thought. ‘He was just excited about the cupcake,’ he thought.
Jaejoong gingerly placed the tray on the counter and motioned for the guy to pick one. Unconsciously, he brought his hands together as if praying when the latter took one of the cupcake. Jaejoong nervously watched his face for reactions as he took the first bite.
And the taller guy sinfully moans (which FYI, if Jaejoong hadn’t been so nervous about the cupcake he would totally comment on that). “This is really good,” he said between mouthfuls of cake.
Jaejoong sighed in relief and grinned brightly. “You like it?”
“So much. What’s in it?”
“Guess.” Jaejoong stare up at the taller guy in expectation, his body vibrating in excitement.
“Obviously chocolate is in it. But then there’s this smoky and salty taste that I had never thought I would find in a dessert. And the taste is not weird at all instead it helped to balance the sweetness and the richness of the chocolate. I’m not sure what it is but it feels familiar.”
“It’s bacon!”
“Bacon?”
“Yeah, it’s bacon chocolate cupcake. I thought everybody likes chocolate and everybody likes bacon so why not combined it to together, right! I’m so happy that you liked it.”
At the pure happiness and enthusiasm in Jaejoong’s doe eyes, the brunette can’t help but looked at him in adoration. “You’re really adorable,” he blurted out honestly.
The comment and the earnest looks in the stranger’s eyes fluttered his heart. What is going on? One moment he was this nervous wreck that had been caught staring at a stranger, the next moment he’s having this easy conversation with the same said stranger. And right now they’re just looking at each other’s eyes with stupid smiles on their faces and neither of them was saying anything.
What is this warm feeling? Could this be the moment that he had been waiting for?
He had been hearing stories about it, how people met their soulmate for the first time. Some said it was magical, some said they knew their soulmate as soon as they set their eyes on them, some said everything suddenly felt right in their life when they met their soulmates. And Jaejoong couldn’t help but thought, this moment between them is everything.
Unconsciously, his right hand rubbed against his left arm, right on the name hidden under the sleeve of his sweater. The brunette eyes shifted at the movement and he stared at Jaejoong’s left arm. His almond orbs suddenly filled with hope as if both of them had been thinking the same time the whole time.
‘Is he my soulmate?’
The brunette cleared his throat; he looked like he’s trying to compose himself. He took a deep breath before looking at Jaejoong in the eyes and sweetly smiled at the raven. Jaejoong heard the latter’s voice shook a little bit probably due to nervousness when he finally asked the question that both of them were dreaded of. “Can I know your name?”
‘Please. Please let it be my name on his arm.’ Jaejoong earnestly prayed for the first time in a long time. He sent out his prayer to whomever that’s listening. ‘Please, let me be happy.’
Jaejoong’s voice cracked a little when he said, “Jaejoong. Kim Jaejoong.” ‘Please let it be me.’
Silence.
“Ah,” a soft involuntary sound from the brunette and the slight dimness of hope from his face was enough to break Jaejoong’s heart.
‘It’s not me.’
Both of them were quiet. They looked at each other, disappointment and sadness in both of their eyes. It had felt right. They were so sure they were right. Everything had felt right. But fate was cruel.
“The cupcake was really delicious, Jaejoong.” The brunette smiled and tried to lighten up the atmosphere again. “You should put it on the menu. I’m sure lots of people will like it.”
Jaejoong manage to curve a small smile at Yunho’s effort. “I will. Thank you for being my guinea pig.”
“Anytime,” the taller guy smiled in earnest. “I should head home now. It’s getting late.”
“Ah, yes. I need to close the café.”
“I guess, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah.” Jaejoong doubt it. Now that The Really Handsome Guy But Sadly Not His Soulmate found out he’s not the one, he’ll never come again.
“Oh, I haven’t tell you my name. It’s Jung Yunho.” With one last nod, the brunette left.
‘Jung Yunho.’ He was the most perfect Jung Yunho he ever met and most definitely the right one. He can feel it. ‘But I’m not the right one for him.’
He can feel another piece of his heart broken that night.
______.______
The next day, Jaejoong was unmistakeably depressed. He arrived to work with his eyes puffed and red. When Yoochun asked him about it out of concern, he had lied that it was because of the cold weather. Yoochun who had worried that his friend might be down with fever insisted that Jaejoong took the off but the raven stubbornly refused, swore that he’s not sick.
The girls tried to cheer him up with their usual teasing but Jaejoong is just not in the mood of playing along. Even his kitchen crew stayed out of his way that day, afraid that they might upset him more.
At the end of the day, Jaejoong sent everyone home first. Yoochun volunteered to do the closing but Jaejoong just waved him off and told him to quickly go home and take care of his husband, Junsu and their two years old daughter. Yoochun had protested loudly before finally relenting.
The raven had a cloth in his hand and was about to wipe the counter when the sound of bell and a blast of cold air filled the café as the door was pulled open. He looked up and he can’t believe his eyes when Yunho walked in.
“Hi,” Yunho sheepishly smiled at him.
“You’re here, again.” Jaejoong looked at the man in disbelief. He was sure that he’ll never meet the guy again, but here he is standing there right in front of him. Today he’s wearing a brown long coat over a black suit and white shirt. Again looking like a model in a photoshoot. And he looked so perfect in Jaejoong’s eyes.
Suddenly he felt conscious about himself. He was not himself today, he don’t even remember what he put on this morning. A quick check and he groaned inwardly when he realized he had put on the ugly sweater that his cousin Changmin gave to him last year.
“Cute reindeer,” Yunho pointed at the picture of the reindeer on his blazing red sweater.
“No, not cute at all,” Jaejoong awkwardly put his arms around himself at an attempt to hide the abomination that he’s wearing. “My evil cousin gave it to me. I had never worn it before. I don’t know why I put it on. I was not thinking straight this morning because of-“ he managed to cut himself short before he started babbling all the unnecessary stuff like how much he drank soju last night and woke up feeling like he was hit by a bulldozer.
However judging from the timid look on Yunho’s face the latter probably understand what he didn’t say. “I was not in my right mind too this whole day.”
At the sudden confession, Jaejoong allowed his heart to flutter slightly. He kept quiet because it seems like Yunho had a lot more to say and he want to hear them.
Yunho looked out of sort. His face seems troubled. “Last night-“, he cleared his throat.
The raven’s heart was beating wildly. ‘He’s going to talk about last night.’
“-I’m not sure if I’m being weird here but,” he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “-it just felt, it felt right you know.”
‘I know,’ Jaejoong silently agreed.
“I really thought that it was fate that lead me to this cafe and when I saw you for the first time… when I saw you for the first time I thought you were breathtakingly beautiful. And when you speak, this might sound corny, but I love the sound of your voice and I just want to keep hearing it. I felt it! I could feel the sparks between us. This whole day, I just can’t stop thinking about you.” Yunho was breathless and wind up as he expressively vent out his frustration.
Jaejoong looked at him with a sad smile. “Me too,” he softly confessed.
The brunette looked determined in a second. “You know what? Screw this soulmate bullshit!”
Yunho grabbed Jaejoong’s hands and hold them tight in his. He could feel the smaller guy was trembling, an instinct of protectiveness came out of nowhere over this guy that he had just met yesterday; but he didn’t care anymore.
“Kim Jaejoong.”
At the sound of his name coming from Yunho’s mouth, Jaejoong looked up. The brunette was so close and Jaejoong can feel the intense gaze of his eyes on him. Jaejoong felt like he could stare into Yunho’s eyes forever and he just know that this man in front of him would let him do anything.
“Would you go out with me?”
Jaejoong let out the breath that he didn’t know he was holding. Not even noticing the tear rolling down his cheek, he vigorously nodded his head. “Yes!”
______.______
For Jaejoong, this was the warmest winter ever. For once in his life, he was really happy. He had his friends, his staff and a perfect boyfriend with him. His boyfriend was not just handsome but he was also mind-numbingly smart. One day Yunho came to the café during lunch hour, Sohee and Mina who was at the counter that day had yelp excitedly and shouted “Professor!” in unison. So that’s how the raven found out that his boyfriend is a lecturer at Ehwa. At first he didn’t like it because Ehwa is an all-girls university and he just knew that his boyfriend would have lots of secret admirers. He might have slyly asked some information from the girls (Yes, I made them my spies. Who cares?) but Yunho didn’t need to know that, right.
Both he and Yunho had gone out on countless dates. But most days they spent it together at the café, after closing time where they can have the whole place just for themselves. They met each other every day but even that doesn’t feel enough.
Spending every single day with Yunho had felt like dream and Jaejoong always had this constant fear. The fear that Yunho’s soulmate will suddenly appeared and took Yunho away from him. Lots of time when it was just the two of them at the end of the day, Jaejoong would sit there and listen to Yunho shared about his days or what happen in class when the raven would find himself lost in his thoughts. He would look at Yunho and a sudden thought would invade his head that he could lose Yunho at anytime. There will come a time when Yunho will leave him for his soulmate. No matter how many times the brunette promised him it will never happened, he’s still scared. How can he win against a soulmate? The person who had been created by destiny for Yunho. No, he could never win.
That’s why every moment he spent with Yunho was precious. He tried to remember and absorbed every single detail of the guy just in case he might be gone one day.
______.______
It was their two months anniversary and Jaejoong had planned a perfect day for their date. So far their relationship had been going so well with occasional fights and makeup kisses. Yes, I said it right, makeup kisses. No makeup sex. Mainly because he was not ready yet. It’s not that he didn’t want to have that kind of relationship with Yunho but he’s still wary of the uncertainty of their future together. They could never knew when their soulmates will appeared so both of them had agreed not to hurt each other by sharing the most sacred bond in a relationship.
Well, sexless life aside. He had an anniversary to celebrate with his handsome boyfriend first.
“Hey, babe.” Yunho was grinning from ear to ear when he greeted his boyfriend.
“Hey, you.” The smaller guy smirked and pulled Yunho down by the lapel of his jacket so that he can reach his face. Their lips met in a soft kiss and they smiled against the kiss.
“Happy two-months anniversary,” Jaejoong adorably glanced up at Yunho, one finger absentmindedly tracing his boyfriend’s firm, tight black t-shirt cladded chest.
Yunho chuckled slightly. “I can’t believe we’re celebrating a two months anniversary. Last time it was a one month anniversary, what next? A 100 days anniversary?” teased Yunho.
Jaejoong’s finger that had been tracing his boyfriend chest stopped, he pouted and punched the latter on the chest. “I hate you.”
“Aigoo, my baby is sulking.” Yunho cooed and pulled Jaejoong in his arms, “Just what should I do to make you happy again, my cupcake?”
Jaejoong tried to keep up the angry act but he failed as he immediately cringed and laughed at the nickname. “Oh my god! Did you just called me cupcake? That is so cheesy.”
“I thought you like my cheesiness.”
“You, my love, had been spending too much time with a certain greaseball.”
“By greaseball you mean your bestfriend in the whole world, Park Yoochun right?”
“Yes, yes it was my fault for being the bestfriend of the greaseball in the first place,” Jaejoong huffed and pinched the grinning Yunho on his cheeks.
“I thought we’re going to celebrate our anniversary?”
“Ah, yes!” Jaejoong clapped his hands out of excitement. “Since it’s the start of summer, let’s go to the beach!”
“The beach? Hmm I don’t know..” Yunho pretended to consider the suggestions.
“Hngg, let’s go to the beach. Please, love?”
“Hmm are we going swimmimg?”
“Yes!”
“So, you’ll wear a swimsuit?”
“Yeah, if we want to swim we have to wear a swimsuit. We can’t swim in jeans, rig-.” Jaejoong glared at his boyfriend when the taller guy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and even make a show of scanning Jaejoong’s body up and down.
“Yah, Jung Yunho!”
______.______
They ended up not swimming at the beach.
They were just walking along the beach with their hands intertwined and enjoying the sea breeze with Yunho occasionally tried to push Jaejoong towards the water. Which ended up with Jaejoong chasing after Yunho whilst shouting constant threats at his boyfriend. But Jaejoong could never catch up with Yunho’s longer legs so he stopped running and just stood there, catching his breath.
Unaware that he was being watched, the raven yelp indignantly when he was tackled onto the sand. The raven fell on his back with Yunho on top of him. Jaejoong tried to push the heavier man off but Yunho changed his strategy to tickling. Jaejoong was tortured by Yunho’s nimble fingers, tickling him mercilessly and he was tired of laughing. Yunho finally took pity of his boyfriend and stopped torturing him. He just laughed it off when Jaejoong hurled a handful of sand at his chest as a timid revenge.
He leaned down and pecked his boyfriend squarely on the lips before he got off the raven and lay on the sand next to him. Both of them had identical smiles on their faces.
Feeling hot and sweaty from all the running and the hot sun, Yunho sit up and took off his jacket revealing a short-sleeved black t-shirt. He folded it nicely and placed it next to him. He turned to his boyfriend and stretched out his hand at the raven. Jaejoong took the offered hand and used it as a leverage to pull himself up in sitting position.
“Is this the best two months anniversary or what?” Yunho’s childlike grin was so infectious that Jaejoong can’t help but beamed brightly at the brunette.
But then something caught the raven’s eyes. It was the writing on Yunho’s arm.
At that moment Jaejoong felt like he was the stupidest person ever. They had been together for two months and he just realized that he had never asked Yunho what’s the name of his soulmate. And throughout winter as both of them had been wearing long-sleeved sweaters most of the time, he had totally forgotten to ask Yunho to show his arm.
He was right all along.
The first night they met, it was unmistakably the moment for them. It really did felt right because there, written on Yunho’s arm was Han Jaejun, the name that he had before he was adopted.
It was him all along! It was his name on Yunho’s arm! Someone must have heard his prayer that night.
“Babe, what’s wrong?”
Jaejoong was pulled back to reality when he heard the concern in Yunho’s voice.
“Did something happen? Why are you crying? Baby, were you mad at me?”
Huh? He didn’t even realized that he had been crying but when he touched his cheeks indeed they were wet from tears.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Yunho was really worried now. He cupped Jaejoong’s face and wiped away the tears with his thumb.
And Jaejoong… Jaejoong was too overwhelmed to say anything instead he launched himself into Yunho’s arms and hugged the brunette tightly. All of his worries about losing Yunho, no more. Because Yunho belong to him.
Suddenly everything just clicked inside his head and he can’t help the happy laughter that bubbled out from his chest despite the tears still rolling down his cheeks. He almost looked crazy, crying and laughing at the same time but he doesn’t care. He’s truly happy.
Jaejoong looked at his boyfriend’s bewildered face and kissed him hard. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Yunho had said breathlessly.
‘Well it turned out this whole soulmate thing wasn’t just some kind of bullshit after all,’ Jaejoong thought as he closed his eyes and kissed his boyfriend again.
end
27th February 2017
Sylchunnie
Author: sylchunnie2
Beta: andie_kjj
Genre: Fluff, romance
Length: One-shot
Pairing: Yunho X Jaejoong
Summary: A Soulmate AU where everybody was born with the name of their soulmate written on their arm. Except it’s all just a bunch of BS.
A/N: This is my first fic after 3 years of hiatus. Hopefully my skill isn’t rusted yet. Please give your love and thoughts about it^^
a precious nameHe was 5 months old when he became an orphan. His parents passed away in a car accident. He was 5 months old when he was adopted into a new family and was given a new name, Kim Jaejoong.
Jaejoong was two years old when he tried to wash away the name on his left arm and then realized it will never came off. He cried a lot that day thinking that someone had doodle the words on his arm with permanent marker.
Jaejoong was four years old when he was finally able to read the words written on his arm. ‘Jung Yunho’. Then he went around bothering his parents with questions like, “What is a Jungyunho?” “Why is this thing on my arm?” His parents had calmly told him the story of soulmates and even shown their names on each other arms. Saying that the name belongs to his soulmate, the person who he will spend his life with forever just likes his mother and father. But the little boy just tilted his head in confusion and blinked his big eyes at his parents, “but why?” And the questions went on and on.
Jaejoong was seven years old when he finally accepted the idea of a soulmate. But he decided not to believe in that stupid writing on his arm.
Jaejoong was nine years old when he was jealous of someone for the first time. A new kid transferred to his school from Seoul and apparently that kid was the soulmate of one of the girl in his classroom. The two stick together all the time, they went everywhere together and one time when the girl fell down, her soulmate quickly picked her up and hugged her as she cried. Jaejoong stared at them in envy. Jaejoong was nine years old when he wished to meet his soulmate for the first time.
Jaejoong was ten years old when he dreamt of meeting his soulmate for the first time. His soulmate will come and swept him off his feet. They would get married and live happily together. He can’t wait to meet his soulmate!
Jaejoong was 18 years old when he decided that this whole soulmate thing is just a bunch of bull. How the hell would he be able to find his soulmate when there’s 7 billion people in the whole world! And do you know how many people have the name Yunho in Korea alone? Hundreds! He had met countless Jung Yunho in his life and none of them had his name written on their arms. None of them was his soulmate.
Jaejoong was 20 years old when he believed that he will never find his soulmate.
Jaejoong was 26 years old when he stopped looking and just gave up.
______ .______
“Good morning.”
The bell on the café door tingled when Jaejoong pulled the door open, dusting off the snow on his shoulders; he took off his coat and hang it in the closet by the door.
“Morning, boss,” his employees cheerfully chirped in unison.
Jaejoong smiled warmly at them. Sohee and Mina were students from Ehwa University, when they come to his café two months ago looking for part time jobs, Jaejoong had hired them. The two girls are doing a good job so far in their training however they kept giggling when they’re around the older guy and won’t stop looking at him with adoration in their eyes. They always teased him and playfully asked him out on dates, and he would always just laugh it off. His barista, Minhyuk would smile in amusement at their antics but he never made any comments. He’s a quiet guy and serious most of the time. And Jaejoong liked that he’s efficient at his job.
It had been five years since he moved to Seoul and two years since he opened this café, Angels Haven. It had always been a dream of his to open a bakery since he had fall in love with the wonderland of baking. His pastries always received great reviews from the people around him when he let them try his food. So when Yoochun, his roommate from university suggested to open a café together, he immediately jump into the idea. With Yoochun being in-charge of the management and Jaejoong in-charge of the kitchen, their café was able to established their name as the local favourite in the neighbourhood in just a few months of opening.
At the age of 30 and still no-soulmate, Jaejoong didn’t worry about that anymore. He is just content with his life at the moment.
“It’s snowing a lot today,” Jaejoong commented as he took off the wool beanie and earmuff off his head revealing short black hair that really stood out due to his fair porcelain skin.
“Boss, you’re so handsome,” Mina swooned and pretended to faint as Sohee supported her back, giggling uncontrollably.
Jaejoong played along and winked at the girls which caused them to scream in delight.
“Take it easy, girls. Today will probably be a slow day. I doubt people will come out much in this heavy snow.” The raven gets behind the counter and patted Minhyuk on his back before disappearing into the kitchen. He greeted his kitchen crew and started baking fresh pastries for the day.
_______.______
It was late in the evening, his staff had gone home and he was about to cleaned up before closing the café when the bell on the café door chimed. Jaejoong looked up from the counter as a tall man in long burgundy coat entered the café. The man was wearing charcoal grey suit with blue shirt and a matching tie underneath the coat, he looked like a model that just popped out of a fashion magazine; and Jaejoong can’t help but stare at the man.
“Are you still open?”
The deep voice pulled Jaejoong away from his trance and he quickly nodded at the man. ‘What? No, no we’re not open! Why did you say yes?’
“Oh, thank God. I was just walking around here when I smelled this amazing scent that I just had to stop by.” The Handsome Guy, the name that Jaejoong decided to give in his head, flash a smile at him and Jaejoong swear his heart had done a flip inside his chest.
‘What the heck? What is going on?’
Oblivious to Jaejoong’s inner turmoil, The Handsome Guy approached the counter and stopped right in front of the raven. And at the close distance Jaejoong now realized The Really Handsome Guy (so what if I changed his name, sue me!) is a few inches taller than him, his hair is auburn coloured and styled neatly, he has a mole on top of his lips which is quite sexy, and his eyes - crap! He had been staring too long!
Flustered, Jaejooong quickly averted his gaze away and cleared his throat loudly on purpose to avoid from feeling awkward. “Can I help you?” he used his most professional voice and willed himself not to gush out at The Really Handsome Guy.
But when he turned his gaze onto the guy again, the latter had a small smile on his handsome face, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I would love for you to help me,” he smoothly said before smiling playfully at the blushing raven.
‘Is he flirting with me? No way. Come on, Jaejoong. Get your mind out of the gutter.’
“Is there anything specific you want? I’m afraid there’s not much left since it’s late.”
“Well, I’m not really looking for anything specific but what is that amazing smell?” The taller guy looked around as if trying to find the source of the smell.
“Oh,” Jaejoong’s face brightened up as he remembered about the freshly baked cupcakes that he had pulled out of the oven and let rest on a table. He was trying to experiment with new flavours so it wasn’t meant to be sold. “-I’ve just made some cupcakes but it’s a new flavour that I was just trying to experiment on. We don’t know yet if it’ll taste good. You don’t want to have that.” He nervously babbled on.
The Really Handsome Guy unexpectedly said, “let me taste it then.”
“What?”
“Since you’re not sure about the taste, let me taste it and I’ll give you my opinion about it.”
“You wanna try my weird cupcakes?” Jaejoong asked incredulously.
The Really Handsome Guy chuckled and looked at Jaejoong right in his eyes, “Yes, I wanna try your cupcakes.” And he slyly winked at Jaejoong making the latter blushed.
‘Oh my gosh, that sounds so… Get your head out of the gutter, Kim Jaejoong!’
“Ok then. But you have to sign some forms clarifying that you willingly tried the cupcake of doom under your own choice and I am not to be blame for any of the side effects such as diarrhoea, fainting, lung cancer or death,” Jaejoong jokingly pulled out some scrape papers and started to scribble some nonsense on it.
The brunette laughed aloud at Jaejoong’s joke and Jaejoong decided he liked the sound of it.
“I agree to all of the condition above,” he grabbed the paper that Jaejoong had been scribbling on and drew a star with a J. next to it on the bottom of the paper. He smirked at Jaejoong before passing back the paper.
Jaejoong can’t help but giggled shyly. Somehow the awkwardness that he felt just now had gone and there’s this light atmosphere around them.
The raven curved a small smile at the other guy before heading back to the kitchen. He carefully arranged a pieces of the cupcakes on a tray, taking extra effort to make it look pretty then he headed out.
“Wow!” The Really Handsome Guy exclaimed and for a second Jaejoong thought the exclamation was meant for him because the latter’s almond orbs was looking right at him but he quickly dismissed the thought. ‘He was just excited about the cupcake,’ he thought.
Jaejoong gingerly placed the tray on the counter and motioned for the guy to pick one. Unconsciously, he brought his hands together as if praying when the latter took one of the cupcake. Jaejoong nervously watched his face for reactions as he took the first bite.
And the taller guy sinfully moans (which FYI, if Jaejoong hadn’t been so nervous about the cupcake he would totally comment on that). “This is really good,” he said between mouthfuls of cake.
Jaejoong sighed in relief and grinned brightly. “You like it?”
“So much. What’s in it?”
“Guess.” Jaejoong stare up at the taller guy in expectation, his body vibrating in excitement.
“Obviously chocolate is in it. But then there’s this smoky and salty taste that I had never thought I would find in a dessert. And the taste is not weird at all instead it helped to balance the sweetness and the richness of the chocolate. I’m not sure what it is but it feels familiar.”
“It’s bacon!”
“Bacon?”
“Yeah, it’s bacon chocolate cupcake. I thought everybody likes chocolate and everybody likes bacon so why not combined it to together, right! I’m so happy that you liked it.”
At the pure happiness and enthusiasm in Jaejoong’s doe eyes, the brunette can’t help but looked at him in adoration. “You’re really adorable,” he blurted out honestly.
The comment and the earnest looks in the stranger’s eyes fluttered his heart. What is going on? One moment he was this nervous wreck that had been caught staring at a stranger, the next moment he’s having this easy conversation with the same said stranger. And right now they’re just looking at each other’s eyes with stupid smiles on their faces and neither of them was saying anything.
What is this warm feeling? Could this be the moment that he had been waiting for?
He had been hearing stories about it, how people met their soulmate for the first time. Some said it was magical, some said they knew their soulmate as soon as they set their eyes on them, some said everything suddenly felt right in their life when they met their soulmates. And Jaejoong couldn’t help but thought, this moment between them is everything.
Unconsciously, his right hand rubbed against his left arm, right on the name hidden under the sleeve of his sweater. The brunette eyes shifted at the movement and he stared at Jaejoong’s left arm. His almond orbs suddenly filled with hope as if both of them had been thinking the same time the whole time.
‘Is he my soulmate?’
The brunette cleared his throat; he looked like he’s trying to compose himself. He took a deep breath before looking at Jaejoong in the eyes and sweetly smiled at the raven. Jaejoong heard the latter’s voice shook a little bit probably due to nervousness when he finally asked the question that both of them were dreaded of. “Can I know your name?”
‘Please. Please let it be my name on his arm.’ Jaejoong earnestly prayed for the first time in a long time. He sent out his prayer to whomever that’s listening. ‘Please, let me be happy.’
Jaejoong’s voice cracked a little when he said, “Jaejoong. Kim Jaejoong.” ‘Please let it be me.’
Silence.
“Ah,” a soft involuntary sound from the brunette and the slight dimness of hope from his face was enough to break Jaejoong’s heart.
‘It’s not me.’
Both of them were quiet. They looked at each other, disappointment and sadness in both of their eyes. It had felt right. They were so sure they were right. Everything had felt right. But fate was cruel.
“The cupcake was really delicious, Jaejoong.” The brunette smiled and tried to lighten up the atmosphere again. “You should put it on the menu. I’m sure lots of people will like it.”
Jaejoong manage to curve a small smile at Yunho’s effort. “I will. Thank you for being my guinea pig.”
“Anytime,” the taller guy smiled in earnest. “I should head home now. It’s getting late.”
“Ah, yes. I need to close the café.”
“I guess, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah.” Jaejoong doubt it. Now that The Really Handsome Guy But Sadly Not His Soulmate found out he’s not the one, he’ll never come again.
“Oh, I haven’t tell you my name. It’s Jung Yunho.” With one last nod, the brunette left.
‘Jung Yunho.’ He was the most perfect Jung Yunho he ever met and most definitely the right one. He can feel it. ‘But I’m not the right one for him.’
He can feel another piece of his heart broken that night.
______.______
The next day, Jaejoong was unmistakeably depressed. He arrived to work with his eyes puffed and red. When Yoochun asked him about it out of concern, he had lied that it was because of the cold weather. Yoochun who had worried that his friend might be down with fever insisted that Jaejoong took the off but the raven stubbornly refused, swore that he’s not sick.
The girls tried to cheer him up with their usual teasing but Jaejoong is just not in the mood of playing along. Even his kitchen crew stayed out of his way that day, afraid that they might upset him more.
At the end of the day, Jaejoong sent everyone home first. Yoochun volunteered to do the closing but Jaejoong just waved him off and told him to quickly go home and take care of his husband, Junsu and their two years old daughter. Yoochun had protested loudly before finally relenting.
The raven had a cloth in his hand and was about to wipe the counter when the sound of bell and a blast of cold air filled the café as the door was pulled open. He looked up and he can’t believe his eyes when Yunho walked in.
“Hi,” Yunho sheepishly smiled at him.
“You’re here, again.” Jaejoong looked at the man in disbelief. He was sure that he’ll never meet the guy again, but here he is standing there right in front of him. Today he’s wearing a brown long coat over a black suit and white shirt. Again looking like a model in a photoshoot. And he looked so perfect in Jaejoong’s eyes.
Suddenly he felt conscious about himself. He was not himself today, he don’t even remember what he put on this morning. A quick check and he groaned inwardly when he realized he had put on the ugly sweater that his cousin Changmin gave to him last year.
“Cute reindeer,” Yunho pointed at the picture of the reindeer on his blazing red sweater.
“No, not cute at all,” Jaejoong awkwardly put his arms around himself at an attempt to hide the abomination that he’s wearing. “My evil cousin gave it to me. I had never worn it before. I don’t know why I put it on. I was not thinking straight this morning because of-“ he managed to cut himself short before he started babbling all the unnecessary stuff like how much he drank soju last night and woke up feeling like he was hit by a bulldozer.
However judging from the timid look on Yunho’s face the latter probably understand what he didn’t say. “I was not in my right mind too this whole day.”
At the sudden confession, Jaejoong allowed his heart to flutter slightly. He kept quiet because it seems like Yunho had a lot more to say and he want to hear them.
Yunho looked out of sort. His face seems troubled. “Last night-“, he cleared his throat.
The raven’s heart was beating wildly. ‘He’s going to talk about last night.’
“-I’m not sure if I’m being weird here but,” he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “-it just felt, it felt right you know.”
‘I know,’ Jaejoong silently agreed.
“I really thought that it was fate that lead me to this cafe and when I saw you for the first time… when I saw you for the first time I thought you were breathtakingly beautiful. And when you speak, this might sound corny, but I love the sound of your voice and I just want to keep hearing it. I felt it! I could feel the sparks between us. This whole day, I just can’t stop thinking about you.” Yunho was breathless and wind up as he expressively vent out his frustration.
Jaejoong looked at him with a sad smile. “Me too,” he softly confessed.
The brunette looked determined in a second. “You know what? Screw this soulmate bullshit!”
Yunho grabbed Jaejoong’s hands and hold them tight in his. He could feel the smaller guy was trembling, an instinct of protectiveness came out of nowhere over this guy that he had just met yesterday; but he didn’t care anymore.
“Kim Jaejoong.”
At the sound of his name coming from Yunho’s mouth, Jaejoong looked up. The brunette was so close and Jaejoong can feel the intense gaze of his eyes on him. Jaejoong felt like he could stare into Yunho’s eyes forever and he just know that this man in front of him would let him do anything.
“Would you go out with me?”
Jaejoong let out the breath that he didn’t know he was holding. Not even noticing the tear rolling down his cheek, he vigorously nodded his head. “Yes!”
______.______
For Jaejoong, this was the warmest winter ever. For once in his life, he was really happy. He had his friends, his staff and a perfect boyfriend with him. His boyfriend was not just handsome but he was also mind-numbingly smart. One day Yunho came to the café during lunch hour, Sohee and Mina who was at the counter that day had yelp excitedly and shouted “Professor!” in unison. So that’s how the raven found out that his boyfriend is a lecturer at Ehwa. At first he didn’t like it because Ehwa is an all-girls university and he just knew that his boyfriend would have lots of secret admirers. He might have slyly asked some information from the girls (Yes, I made them my spies. Who cares?) but Yunho didn’t need to know that, right.
Both he and Yunho had gone out on countless dates. But most days they spent it together at the café, after closing time where they can have the whole place just for themselves. They met each other every day but even that doesn’t feel enough.
Spending every single day with Yunho had felt like dream and Jaejoong always had this constant fear. The fear that Yunho’s soulmate will suddenly appeared and took Yunho away from him. Lots of time when it was just the two of them at the end of the day, Jaejoong would sit there and listen to Yunho shared about his days or what happen in class when the raven would find himself lost in his thoughts. He would look at Yunho and a sudden thought would invade his head that he could lose Yunho at anytime. There will come a time when Yunho will leave him for his soulmate. No matter how many times the brunette promised him it will never happened, he’s still scared. How can he win against a soulmate? The person who had been created by destiny for Yunho. No, he could never win.
That’s why every moment he spent with Yunho was precious. He tried to remember and absorbed every single detail of the guy just in case he might be gone one day.
______.______
It was their two months anniversary and Jaejoong had planned a perfect day for their date. So far their relationship had been going so well with occasional fights and makeup kisses. Yes, I said it right, makeup kisses. No makeup sex. Mainly because he was not ready yet. It’s not that he didn’t want to have that kind of relationship with Yunho but he’s still wary of the uncertainty of their future together. They could never knew when their soulmates will appeared so both of them had agreed not to hurt each other by sharing the most sacred bond in a relationship.
Well, sexless life aside. He had an anniversary to celebrate with his handsome boyfriend first.
“Hey, babe.” Yunho was grinning from ear to ear when he greeted his boyfriend.
“Hey, you.” The smaller guy smirked and pulled Yunho down by the lapel of his jacket so that he can reach his face. Their lips met in a soft kiss and they smiled against the kiss.
“Happy two-months anniversary,” Jaejoong adorably glanced up at Yunho, one finger absentmindedly tracing his boyfriend’s firm, tight black t-shirt cladded chest.
Yunho chuckled slightly. “I can’t believe we’re celebrating a two months anniversary. Last time it was a one month anniversary, what next? A 100 days anniversary?” teased Yunho.
Jaejoong’s finger that had been tracing his boyfriend chest stopped, he pouted and punched the latter on the chest. “I hate you.”
“Aigoo, my baby is sulking.” Yunho cooed and pulled Jaejoong in his arms, “Just what should I do to make you happy again, my cupcake?”
Jaejoong tried to keep up the angry act but he failed as he immediately cringed and laughed at the nickname. “Oh my god! Did you just called me cupcake? That is so cheesy.”
“I thought you like my cheesiness.”
“You, my love, had been spending too much time with a certain greaseball.”
“By greaseball you mean your bestfriend in the whole world, Park Yoochun right?”
“Yes, yes it was my fault for being the bestfriend of the greaseball in the first place,” Jaejoong huffed and pinched the grinning Yunho on his cheeks.
“I thought we’re going to celebrate our anniversary?”
“Ah, yes!” Jaejoong clapped his hands out of excitement. “Since it’s the start of summer, let’s go to the beach!”
“The beach? Hmm I don’t know..” Yunho pretended to consider the suggestions.
“Hngg, let’s go to the beach. Please, love?”
“Hmm are we going swimmimg?”
“Yes!”
“So, you’ll wear a swimsuit?”
“Yeah, if we want to swim we have to wear a swimsuit. We can’t swim in jeans, rig-.” Jaejoong glared at his boyfriend when the taller guy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and even make a show of scanning Jaejoong’s body up and down.
“Yah, Jung Yunho!”
______.______
They ended up not swimming at the beach.
They were just walking along the beach with their hands intertwined and enjoying the sea breeze with Yunho occasionally tried to push Jaejoong towards the water. Which ended up with Jaejoong chasing after Yunho whilst shouting constant threats at his boyfriend. But Jaejoong could never catch up with Yunho’s longer legs so he stopped running and just stood there, catching his breath.
Unaware that he was being watched, the raven yelp indignantly when he was tackled onto the sand. The raven fell on his back with Yunho on top of him. Jaejoong tried to push the heavier man off but Yunho changed his strategy to tickling. Jaejoong was tortured by Yunho’s nimble fingers, tickling him mercilessly and he was tired of laughing. Yunho finally took pity of his boyfriend and stopped torturing him. He just laughed it off when Jaejoong hurled a handful of sand at his chest as a timid revenge.
He leaned down and pecked his boyfriend squarely on the lips before he got off the raven and lay on the sand next to him. Both of them had identical smiles on their faces.
Feeling hot and sweaty from all the running and the hot sun, Yunho sit up and took off his jacket revealing a short-sleeved black t-shirt. He folded it nicely and placed it next to him. He turned to his boyfriend and stretched out his hand at the raven. Jaejoong took the offered hand and used it as a leverage to pull himself up in sitting position.
“Is this the best two months anniversary or what?” Yunho’s childlike grin was so infectious that Jaejoong can’t help but beamed brightly at the brunette.
But then something caught the raven’s eyes. It was the writing on Yunho’s arm.
At that moment Jaejoong felt like he was the stupidest person ever. They had been together for two months and he just realized that he had never asked Yunho what’s the name of his soulmate. And throughout winter as both of them had been wearing long-sleeved sweaters most of the time, he had totally forgotten to ask Yunho to show his arm.
He was right all along.
The first night they met, it was unmistakably the moment for them. It really did felt right because there, written on Yunho’s arm was Han Jaejun, the name that he had before he was adopted.
It was him all along! It was his name on Yunho’s arm! Someone must have heard his prayer that night.
“Babe, what’s wrong?”
Jaejoong was pulled back to reality when he heard the concern in Yunho’s voice.
“Did something happen? Why are you crying? Baby, were you mad at me?”
Huh? He didn’t even realized that he had been crying but when he touched his cheeks indeed they were wet from tears.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Yunho was really worried now. He cupped Jaejoong’s face and wiped away the tears with his thumb.
And Jaejoong… Jaejoong was too overwhelmed to say anything instead he launched himself into Yunho’s arms and hugged the brunette tightly. All of his worries about losing Yunho, no more. Because Yunho belong to him.
Suddenly everything just clicked inside his head and he can’t help the happy laughter that bubbled out from his chest despite the tears still rolling down his cheeks. He almost looked crazy, crying and laughing at the same time but he doesn’t care. He’s truly happy.
Jaejoong looked at his boyfriend’s bewildered face and kissed him hard. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Yunho had said breathlessly.
‘Well it turned out this whole soulmate thing wasn’t just some kind of bullshit after all,’ Jaejoong thought as he closed his eyes and kissed his boyfriend again.
end
27th February 2017
Sylchunnie