Four years ago.

I'm fantasizing about a guy I met four years ago.

Sure he's my soulmate, but four years.

That's a whole presidential term right there.

I pushed off the counter and turned to Shelly.

"Am I crazy?"

Her head turned my way, eyebrows rose in amusement.

"Well I'm waiting for you to prove otherwise if that helps." She broke into her signature lopsided grin.

"Should've known you wouldn't have been any help then."

I fixed my visor and glanced around the place.

It was pretty quiet for it to be McDonald's. The only person here was an older gentleman who came this early to read the newspaper.

I glanced back at Shelly who was already looking at me.

"What?" I looked down in confusion, wondering if maybe some ketchup was on my shirt.

"Nothing, I just like watching you freak out."

I bit back a comment as the door swung open, a man stepping in hastily. Here comes the morning Rush hour.

Great.

I smiled as he walked up to my cash register. "Good morning, what can I get you today and is it for here or to go?"

The man looked at the menu, scowling deeply. If he scowled any harder, the bottom half of his face would come off. Then he looked at me, smiling patiently, and lost some of the edge.

"To go. I'll take a large coffee, five sugars and five creams. Along with 2 apple pies and a yogurt parfait," He paused and I looked up in confusion. "Also good morning to you too."

If it was even possible for my smile to get bigger, it did. Which also made him smile big.

"Will that be all for today? Yes? Here's your receipt and wait for your number to be called." Handing him the receipt, you smiled at the next customer. There were now long lines with both you and Shelly. You hope she was right about there not being a ketchup stain.

2 and a half hours later and it was 7:30. Shelly and I decided to take a little break before the next burst comes. The first one is always the workers and they are usually in bad moods. The next are the mom's, teens who are late to school, and people who are fortunate not to have any plans. Grabbing a cup from behind, I walked to the drink suspenser and got some water. Shelly was following behind and we both sat in a booth together.

"Are you still looking for other jobs?" Turning to Shelly's voice, I looked at her in confusion.

"(Y/n) you're honestly deaf. I said are you still looking for other jobs. Are you?" She took a sip of water and waited for my response.

"Yea, actually I got some offers. A lot are overseas though." Jobs have been calling left to right asking for me to come and help. It was nice but I really wasn't sure if I was ready to leave this place. It was here that I met him.

"What exactly is it that you do?" 

I laughed. "Shelly, you know what I do." 

Of course I knew she really didn't, but I was hoping that her know it all attitude would kick in.

"No (y/n) I really don't."

I almost choked on my water. How am I supposed to answer her without really answering her. I looked at her and she was staring me down.

"I help people fix problems or create solutions for them." Hopefully that would be vague enough for her.

"So an engineer? You could've just said that." She rolled her eyes and laughed. 

Smiling nervously I nodded. "Yea, I could have."

"Will you accept any offers?" 

"I don't know. I like it here." She scoffed. 

"You moved here to Cali from (your hometown). Cali jumpstarts careers. Doesn't mean you have to stay here. Just because this is where you started, doesn't mean this is where you'll stay. Literally and metaphorically." 

I stared into my cup. She was probably right. Maybe I should take an offer there. But it's not just the fact that I like it here. What if he comes back. Back to LA's beaches. Back to me.

"Shelly...." I trailed off, not sure if I wanted to tell her.

"What? Hey you okay?" She placed her elbows on the table and leaned closer.

"I feel like after almost a year of working together we're close right?" I brushed my hair back with my hand and then dropped it on my lap.

"Of course, sometimes it feels like I see you more than my roommate." She sat back nonchalantly.

"Close enough for you to keep a secret?"

She suddenly leaned across the table. "Secret? I don't know. Maybe we should hang out first to get that close." There was a twinkle in her eye and a grin came to my face.

"You're on. You always said we should go shopping together. I'm down."

"Let's go today then! After work. We'll be done in 3 hours with this shift." Shelly looked excited and honestly I was too. She was one of the few people I really liked working with, even if we did have our differences.

Just as I was about to answer, John yelled at us to get back to work. Mumbling under our breath we begrudgingly got up and walked back to the counters. Just as the second burst came in.

"Is this for here or to go?" 

                                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

"(Y/n) hurry up!" Shelly ran ahead of me and I was a few steps behind her.

"I'm coming! But unlike you I'm not going to jump over a dog!" 

We were chasing after each other, hurrying to get to Q. It had only been 2 hours, but it honestly felt like we've been friends forever. Shelly and I had so many things more in common than we originally thought, plus we both agreed that our friends we had now were not the best.

I heard her laugh as she came to a stop. She was completely out of breath but still had the air to gloat. 

"I won. Now give me $10." 

Reaching inside my purse, I pulled out a 10. "Here." I stood above her, waiting for her to straighten out and catch her breath.

"How are you not out of breath? We just ran across the whole mall."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I didn't go full out. Plus I exercise a lot." I stuck my nose in the air and give her a haughty look. "I'm just better than you."

"Ewww, you sound just like my roommate." She snatched the $10 and pushed my shoulder playfully. 

As we walked inside, the AC hit our faces. Sighs of content left both our mouths and soon we were headed to the clearance section of racks. 

"I'm happy someone actually likes shopping in the clearance section with me. All my friends hated shopping in these sections. Complained that it was just leftovers. Got to the point that I didn't even want to shop anymore."

Picking up a shirt, I checked the price. "I hate people like that. I know my limits, so shopping in the clearance section is not a problem for me," I handed the shirt to her, "you'd look cute in this."

"You always have the cutest outfits though. You never would've thought it was clearance section stuff." She took the shirt from my hand, "Oh I do like this. Try this skirt, it would look amazing on you." She handed me a plaid mini skirt with belts and chains. 

"I love your style," we said at the same time. We both looked at each other and laughed. Continuing to shop and goof off we finally bought our stuff and left the store. It was fun hanging out with Shelly, she felt the realest out of my friends here. 5 years and I finally found the one person I mesh well with.

"Let's go get some pretzels. I've been smelling them this whole time and it's heaven," I dragged her with me to the nearest Auntie Anne's. 

"Girl you read my mind." She patted her stomach and looked at me with that signature grin. We arrived at the store and fell in line beside a group of teens.

I watched as Shelly moved in front of me to pick something out. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail and she looked like the perfect cheerleader. Besides the fact that she can be such a diva at times. 

She turned around and rose an eyebrow. "(Y/n). I know I'm cute but stop staring, people will think we're together and I don't want to date you. I'd rather date myself."

Whoop there it is.

"And just when I thought we were getting along great." I moved beside her and searched the menu. Pretzel bites or a full pretzel. Which has more carbs, cause that's the one I want.

Looking beside me, I asked a random girl. "Which do you think has more carbs, pretzel bites or full pretzel?" 

She turned toward me and laughed. "Weird question but okay." She uncrossed her arms and looked at the menu. 

When she uncrossed her arms I saw what was on her sweatshirt. It was a type of vest that said BTS. They sound familiar. I angled my head to see the back of her sweatshirt. They were all members of the band. Then I got to one name in particular. 

J-Hope.

I froze. Isn't that? Wait what?

"I'd say the pretzel bites. I don't know why, just seems like it." She turned to me and I put a smile back on my face. 

"Thanks! That's the one I'm getting then." 

I went to give my order, but I still couldn't get his name out of my head.

Before Shelly and I went to find a place to sit, I had to know about that girl's sweatshirt. Is he famous or something? 

The group of teens were now sitting under a tree talking with one another. I told Shelly that I'd find her in a few and walked over. As I approached, I saw one of the boys nudge the girl in the arm. She looked at me and smiled.

"Hey I wanted to talk to you." Her words surprised me but it didn't stop me all the same.

"Good, because I wanted to talk to you too." I paused in front of her and smiled.

"Do you always smile?" My smile only grew bigger when she asked. People always ask if I smile or tell me that I'm always smiling.

"Yea, an RBF for me only exists when I drink." Her friends started to snicker and I shrugged my shoulders.

Her face took on more of a serious look after I made that comment and it made me falter a little bit. "Do you know BTS? You met them four years ago?"

 My smile dropped. "Actually I came to ask you a question similar to that. But what do you mean I met them four years ago, let alone how would you know that?" For some reason I felt as if something big was about to be explained to me.

"BTS are a kpop band. Four years ago you met them when you were playing with a group of kids on LA's beaches. Since then, everyone thinks you and Jhope are soulmates."

I stumbled backwards, almost dropping my pretzels and bags. Thankfully, Shelly appeared by my side helping me catch my balance.

Gathering my thoughts together I asked the one question in my mind, "Who is Jhope?"

The girl and a couple of her friends looked at me in shock. "He's only a member of the biggest band around right now. And you met him."

"I know I met him, but I didn't know him. That was the only time I ever met or talked to the dude. Heck for all I know Jhope is his real name." I started pacing back and forth. I was never able to stand in one spot for long.

Shelly stood in place a confused look on her face. "Who is Jhope?"

"His name is Jung Hoseok." One of the girls friend's spoke up. I took a glance at her and noticed that she had a streak of blue in her brown hair.

"Well then who is Jung Hoseok? I'd like to know." Shelly crossed her arms and looked at me. "Specifically, who is he to you?"

I stopped pacing and ran my hand through my hair. I pulled out my necklace from my shirt and stared at it wistfully. "He's my soulmate."

AHAHAHAHA I freaking finally finished the first chapter for this and I'm in loveeeeeeee with myself because I've been on a role with the updating.

Honestly, not many people read this book anyway. Probably cause there's nothing to read. But I really like Shelly so far. I wasn't sure whether to leave her as coworker or make her an actual friend and in the end it just turned out like this sooooo....

Thanks for reading, and I feel like I can actually update my book now once a week or so. It's possible.

Comment on what you think and hype this book up because Jhope deserves so much love

Academicdork 💖