You & I

II.i Yoonjin

February is coming to a close and Jin will soon be starting his final year at university. He was ready for the new academic year. He had a productive break and he was confident in the courses that he has taken up this year. Yet, he still felt an inescapable bubble of anxiety in his stomach whenever he allowed himself to think about school starting again. Truth be told, Seokjin was worried that this year would come to pass and he would emerge with nothing to show for it. Or rather, no one to show for it. 

Jin had always been relatively laidback about the idea of finding his soulmates. Sure, he was excited to experience true love, but as an introvert, the idea of actively searching for his matches sounded exhausting. Thus, he had been happy to wait until the day when a sweet handsome guy or beautiful girl would tap on his shoulder and melt his heart with just a grin. Had been. Because that day never came. Not yet at least. Towards the end of last semester Jin had started to grow restless. He started to hope every stranger he met could be one of his soulmates which had led to a few awkward encounters.

But who could blame him? A large majority of the population will meet their soulmates in university. Statistically, the chances of meeting your soulmates when you enter the workforce are so low that it could take several more years to encounter them. Jin doesn't want to wait several more years. Jin is already longing for a companion to ease the lonely hole in his heart at the ripe age of 23, how could he last another indefinite number of years without a soulmate?

He huffs a woeful sigh and falls back onto his bed. The soft mattress hits him with a force that momentarily steals his breath away as if to halt him in his lamenting. Tonight he will surrender this fight if only because it's much too tiring to yearn for his elusive soulmates.

....

A few weeks into university had Jin thinking that strategically completing most of his required courses last year was a bad idea. He should be thrilled to have this much free time to himself without having to stress about assignments, projects and exams, but he just couldn't relax. All this free time was making him restless. That's what led him to take up a cooking class. 

It's something that Jin often thought of doing over the past few years, not that Jin didn't know how to cook; he was an excellent home cook. Rather, he just thoroughly enjoyed learning new recipes and trying new food. Thus, it was with a slight bounce in his step that Jin made his way into the large kitchen on one of his off days.

He was immediately greeted by the warm hearty scent of freshly-baked bread that had him involuntarily offering up a small smile to the busy room. A few people returned his gaze with lightly awed expressions as he scanned the benches for an empty space. It was no secret to him that other people found him attractive. In his early teenage years he had always responded shyly to his friends' teasings and old women's praises of his good-looks. By now, however, he had learned to take people's potentially awkward reactions in his stride. 

Finally spotting an empty stool, Jin made his way to the back of the room, not missing how the boy at the other end of the bench quickly averted his cat-like eyes when Jin glanced his way. It had become apparent after his first couple of classes that most people came here in pairs, often leaving Jin to cook by himself. Nonetheless, Jin had a few experiences cooking and making uncomfortable small talk with strangers during his classes. Needless to say, he usually preferred cooking alone. Luckily, the strangers very rarely returned for a second class.

Expecting the same of his new partner, Jin volunteered a polite smile to the stranger and introduced himself despite the fact that the boy was still staring down at the empty workbench. "Hello, I'm Kim Seokjin. I guess we will be cooking together today."

"Min Yoongi," the stranger succinctly replied, belatedly raising his head to acknowledge Jin at last. 

Seeing Yoongi's face properly for the first time, Jin had to stop himself from letting his jaw unhinge, though his enlarged eyes probably revealed what he was thinking. Yoongi was beautiful. His choppy inky fringe brushed the milky skin just below his eyebrows, drawing Jin's eyes to Yoongi's hooded ones. Below them, Jin noticed Yoongi had a cute button nose that complemented his rounded pink lips. Everything about his face was so soft, entirely at odds with the curt introduction and sharp gaze with which he addressed Jin.

Jin took his seat as Yoongi turned to once again regard the granite workbench. Jin took the time before the instructor arrived to wonder why he felt so dazed. Was he really so lonely that he became giddy in the presence of an attractive stranger? He started to feel nervous. He really didn't feel like having another embarrassing encounter with a stranger who he wished could be his soulmate.

That's why he was pleasantly surprised with how easily he and Yoongi fell into a comfortable pace while cooking. It had quickly become apparent to Jin that Yoongi was no amateur cook himself. On top of that, it seemed as though Yoongi and Jin shared a similar style when it came to cooking. Jin found himself actually enjoying cooking alongside Yoongi, their dish smoothly coming together. 

At one point, Yoongi accidentally dropped a spoon into the the dough mixture with a wet smack, and rather than feeling that familiar frustration seize his muscles, Jin felt so at ease that he actually let out his classic windshield wiper laugh that he usually tried to hide in public. He didn't have time to let the embarrassment surface though, because in the next second he was entranced by the gummy smile that broke through Yoongi's serious expression.

Jin had been in such high spirits that a heavy disappointment settled in his heart at the end of the instructor's debrief despite the success of their excellent dish. The thought that he might never see Yoongi again made him mournful. Yet, he couldn't muster up the courage to ask the boy for his number. Yoongi's cold introduction had made it clear that he wasn't here to make friends. 

But hey, he's good at cooking so maybe he'd be up for another class unlike the other strangers that Jin had been partnered with in the past. Jin consoled himself with this thought as he packed up his things. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little colder after Yoongi disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

hello! I am back :) I hope you all had a great mothers' day or just a great week depending on where you're from. Mine was spent cooking for my wonderful mom 🥰After that I had an essay to write and other stuff happened but I had been wanting to write the next chapter of this book for so long. I really like this chapter, I think its cute hehe. Hopefully you guys enjoyed reading it. 

Here's a note going forward: I'm trying to follow the Korean system and everything accurately but sometimes it's a little confusing to me. For example, while doing research for this chapter I found out that Koreans start their school year in March. Also, Korean ages are very difficult to understand for me personally 😅but I found out that Koreans start university at 20. I struggled a little to decide what age Jin should be but I just decided to go with 23 to make everything simple and match up nicely since this is a xfemalereader fanfic.

For anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about, Korean men have around 2 years of compulsory military conscription which they have to complete before the age of 28 if I'm not wrong. Most of them do their service after 1 or 2 years of university but that would make Jin 25 in this story and it would make writing in the younger guys pretty difficult. 

I know some people would just tell me to omit it and not worry about it, but it's just that I'm a little bit of a perfectionist haha. So for the sake of this story, since it is set in the future (reference prologue I.ii where the teacher talks about the 21st century as the past), let's just say that compulsory military service has been abolished. Usually I would write facts like this into the story but I just couldn't find a smooth way to do it. If I find a way to explain it within the later parts of the story I will add it there and delete this note but yeah.

Another thing, I will be publishing the first chapter of a new book soon. It's called Ghosted and its a paranormal au taehyungxreader fic. It would make me very happy if you could check it out and give it some love 😖

Ok sorry that authors note got long. Love you guys ❤️Also thank you for the votes, it really means a lot that people enjoy my writing.