Okay, so. Maybe Jeongguk isn't as smart as he thinks he is.

He may be a little stupid at times, like when he thought caterpillars were the male counterpart of butterflies or that time when he thought the Earth was flat because some guy on YouTube said so, but he's not entirely a moron. Not like this.

Yet there he is, in his dorm, shivering like a puppy in the rain just because he let his ego consume him once again.

He knows he shouldn't have left Lisa like that, not when their soul bond is in the process of being formed. But the thought of being her soulmate and the possibility of being hers feels unsettling. He has known this person as someone spoiled, selfish--a cheater.

He's believed in rumors spread about her and has said a few... shady comments about her and to be faced with the fact that they're soul-bonded is quite a shock. Like, imagine Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls being paired with Mojojojo. Yeah, that's what he feels.

Still, the lingering feeling of regret eats away his hubris. He's well aware of how much of a dick he was to her last night, how selfish he came off. But hey, he's confused alright?

So. Like any other normal person, he succumbs to the "yearnings of his heart" and dials Taehyung's number, waiting as the ringing finishes.

"Gguk, I'm literally just outside your bedroom," Taehyung's deep voice grumbles through the speaker. Jeongguk, despite his quivering state, rolls his eyes at this. "What do you want? More pain killers? Food? Water? A brain since yours can't seem to function properly?"

The younger cringes at his words.

As soon as he arrived home last night he told them about everything that happened. Instead of dinner, he got an earful from Seokjin about his selfishness and a lot more bull about his soulmate, etcetera, etcetera.

What stuck with him the most is the fact that he disregarded Lalisa's side--like him, she's also suffering from the pain of being away from her soulmate. If it weren't for Namjoon's gentle reminder, he wouldn't have even known. He admits he's a little apologetic, but hey, it takes two to tango. It's only fair.

God knows what she's feeling right now, so he skips all the pleasantries and heads straight to the point.

"I need Lisa's number," he mumbles. Taehyung asks him to repeat once again, and begrudgingly, he says, "Lisa's number. Lisa from Queen of Disaster. Lalisa, the bassist. I need her number."

"Well thank fucking God, it was about time you forget about your inflating pride. Stay there, I'll text it to you."

Soon enough, he finds himself struggling while trying to compose a decent message.

hi i'm jeongguk|

hi i'm|

hello it's me jeongguk|

hello it's me|

hello it's your soulmate hahahaaah|

hello it's your soulmate|

hello it's your soulmate what's up haha|

hello it's your soulmate what's up|

i can see you typing you know

10:28PM

"Shit," Jeongguk curses as soon as the message comes in.

forgive me

just wanted to say

something nice as a greeting

10:29PM

there's no need. i alr

know ur an ass so

head straight to the point

10:29PM

That hurt.

can we meet up?

10:30PM

i dunno. can we?

10:32PM

...

10:32PM

why would u need

to meet up w me

10:33PM

just... reasons

10:35PM

lol remember when

u hit my boob the other

day and u put the blame

on me

10:38PM

sorry

10:40PM

id prefer if u say it

in person tho

10:40PM

fine.

where do you

want to meet

10:41PM

anywhere

10:43PM

han river

10:43PM

omg you're so basic

are u a newbie to the industry

10:44PM

well im sorry

i don't know where else

10:45PM

that explains why u

have a lot of dating

scandals

10:46PM

hey im not saying anything

about the rumor where you apparently mistreat

your managers 🤐

10:46PM

ukiyo café. 11:30pm. see you.

10:55PM

Yep. Jeongguk is stupid.

It turns out the rock star isn't tardy. By the time 11PM came to, Lalisa is already waltzing in the said café with a laptop in her hand and a bag in the other. Similar to him, she's also dressed down in a pair sweats, a hoodie, and specs that they almost look identical.

If he were to take a picture of them right now and post it on his private Instagram, the caption would be: Just soulmate tingz! #twinning

(Which he won't do, by the way.)

Jeongguk feels that tug again--a strong, indescribable feeling as she nears him and it almost makes him want to run to her, but he composes himself and waits until she's standing in front of his table. As she gets closer and closer, the ache in his head dissipates until it crumbles to nothing but a distant throb.

"Hey," he tries to greet as naturally as he can, but it comes out in a squeak. Goddamnit. "Look, what happened earlier, I'm really sorr--"

"You're early," Lalisa interrupts with that teasing tone of hers. It's as if they didn't just have a spat (more like a silent spat, really) over text. "Are you that desperate to see me? Hmm?"

Now this triggers something in him. All the apologies forgotten, his nose flares. "Excuse me? Why would I--"

"Ah, should I just leave then?" She asks, but she's already settling into the opposite seat in front of him. Jeongguk grunts in reply, to which she snorts. "You're so easy to rile up, Jeon. That's why I always liked teasing you."

"You think you're so funny, huh?"

"Mmm, I do," she agrees and opens her laptop. "So, why'd you ask me to meet you here?"

Okay, straight to business, he sees. "Let's head straight to the point," he says and takes a sip of his iced Americano. "We're soulmates."

"Ugh, I know," Lalisa says with a groan, but her eyes are trained on her screen. "Sucks, right?"

He frowns. "...right. Anyway, I just have to make things clear. First, I don't like you. Second, you don't like me--"

"Who said that?"

Jeongguk clenches his jaw at being interrupted for the second time that night. "As I was saying, despite our differences, I think we can compromise."

"I'm listening."

He blatantly eyes her as she obnoxiously chews on a piece of gum and types away on her laptop. "Yeah, right... listening. So, we both know that we need to be near each other to avoid the awful side effects of this soulmate-ry. And for this, I suggest we should at least see each other for..." God, he can't believe he's saying this, "...a couple times a week. If our schedules allow it, of course."

She hums thoughtfully. "Like a date?"

"No, not a date. Just a meeting or two. We can just talk it out," he supplies. As much as he doesn't want to be near her, he has to do this or else his heart will quite literally suffer the consequences.

"Sounds tempting," she comments off-handedly. "And?"

"And what?"

"What else?"

"Uh." He quickly goes through the basic ground rules in his head. "I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do. The same rule applies to me, too. Basically, we should prioritize comfort first before anything else."

And then Lisa finally raises her eyes and stares at him--oh. Her eyes are so big and bright. "So you're saying, if I don't want to agree to this compromise of yours, it's fine?"

No. "Yes."

"Good." Lalisa stares at him, all the teasing and the funny atmosphere gone. "I don't want this, to be honest. I don't want to be near you at all. I don't like it."

Jeongguk attempts to not let his disappointment show. His brows furrow for half a second, confused, but he schools his face back into his usual blank expression. "F-fine. It's all good. Don't worry."

It's not fine.

She doesn't reply and continues to stare at him silently. When it gets too long and too awkward, he averts his gaze because Jesus, he can't keep staring at those eyes for so long. Not when she just rejected his offer--rejected him.

And then, she wheezes.

"I'm sorry it's just--" her words barely make sense with how hard she's laughing, "--your face. I can't keep acting serious if you look like that."

He finally looks back at her, who's currently throwing her head back against her seat. "What?"

"I'm just messing around!" Lalisa says through a bubble of laughter. "You should've seen how you looked like. God, I feel like I'm about to pee."

The hell? "You were just joking?"

"Duh?" She tries to sober up, but the shit-eating grin is still there. "Why would I ever let an opportunity like this pass? More time with you means more time to annoy you."

A rush of relief spreads through his body, and Jeongguk visibly relaxes his tight grip on the edge of the coffee table. "Oh, I, um. Thanks."

Lisa clears her throat and smiles at him. "Okay, now that everything's settled, come here." She pats the empty seat next to her, but he only stares at it. "Sit next to me. C'mon."

"And why would I do that?" They were sitting in a booth fit for four people. He doesn't understand the need to come closer to her when this seating arrangement is fine as it is.

"Because we're soulmates," she says as if it's the most obvious fact--which it is, but Jeongguk still has a hard time grasping it. "And in order to be soulmates, we need to strengthen our bond."

"Why would we need to strengthen our bond?" He asks with a raised eye brow. "I just told you I don't like you."

"To lessen the pain whenever we're apart from each other, of course!" She replies with an incredulous expression. "I know you hate me, but the stronger the bond, the lesser the pain. It's literally the number one rule in the Tales of the Heart."

"Jesus, you read that?" Tales of the Heart is one of the best selling books in Korea that contains all the information you need to know about soulmates. Jeongguk doesn't want to admit it, but he actually read the book a few years back. Just a few pages, though.

Okay, scratch that. He read everything.

Lisa scoffs at him as if he just said the most unbelievable thing ever. "Of course I do, I wanted to be prepared when I met my soulmate, but in the end it's just you, so, forget about it." She makes a show of looking at him up and down and tsks. "Now come here."

Knowing he has no other choice, Jeongguk sighs. "Fine. I know I said we have to be near each other, but touching isn't allowed, 'kay?" He sluggishly stands up and sits next to her. "There has to be ten inches between us, yeah? If I feel your skin against mine I'll leave."

Instead of agreeing with him, Lalisa intentionally pokes his cheek with a mischievous look in her face.

He gives her a really? look. "I just said you can't do that."

Again, she brushes the tip of her fingertip against the shell of his ear, emitting a unwarranted shiver from him. Fuck.

"Oops." She cackles as soon as she sees the embarrassed look on his face. "Ten inches. Yup, I get it. All good."

Jeongguk huffs and scoots away a tiny bit and takes out his phone. Thank God the café is nearly empty and no one is in here--

"Hey, Jeon, you know what else is ten inches long?"

"Lisa, shut up."

30 minutes later, and Jeongguk is still sitting by her side, scrolling on his phone like an automated bot and utterly bored out of his wits. His Americano has long disappeared, and his social media accounts have given him nothing but a headache.

So he finally breaks the ongoing silence and turns to his oh-so-entertaining company. "Are we just going to sit here and do nothing?"

Lisa continues scribbling notes on her notebook, but replies, "What do you mean nothing? You're literally breathing. That counts for something."

He ignores her and squints his eyes at the Google docs file on the screen. "What are you doing?"

"Writing lyrics."

"You can write?"

"And I can read too. Are you surprised?"

"No, I meant lyrics. I thought...?"

If Lisa is bothered, she doesn't show it. "Ah, that. Well, we actually do." She quickly minimizes the doc and faces him with renewed enthusiasm. "Anyway, do you want to eat something? They serve really good French toasts. Oh! Crepes as well!"

He finds himself refusing, partially full because of his coffee. "Thanks, I think I'm good though."

"You sure? Not even a crepe?"

"Yeah, not when you're acting like a creep." It doesn't make sense, but Jeongguk thinks it'll make do.

"Haha, dad jokes. Nice." She says with the most sarcastic tone he's ever heard. "Anyway, if we have nothing else to talk about, I think it's my time to go."

Her sudden announcement takes him aback. "That early?"

"If you want me to stay that bad you can just ask," she teases, and yet again Jeongguk finds himself fighting the urge of rolling his eyes. "C'mon. Convince me."

He scoffs and stares while she fixes her things. "Yeah, as if. I'd never beg for you to stay."

"Mmm, the feeling's mutual." Lisa agrees and scoops up all of her stuff on one hand. "See you around?"

Jeongguk doesn't bother saying anything and Lalisa leaves without another word, leaving him alone to his thoughts. A nagging feeling gnaws at his chest, but he learns to ignore it in favor of pocketing his phone.

Somehow... Lalisa isn't even that bad.

♡ scientists have proven that

the more time you spend with

your soulmate, the stronger

your bond gets. with a strong bond,

the side-effects of your budding

romance will lessen, which meant

less headaches, less sickness--

less pain. so, what are you

waiting for? go, change your

clothes and spend time with

your lovey-doves!

if you've read ukiyo on ao3 you'd get some of the references i put in here hahahahaha. anyway, i enjoyed writing this chapter a lot. their dynamic is so cute; jk is a grumpy little shit and lisa is an annoying little shit. the perfect match imo

next update is on july 6th!