Roman was excited. Ever since that announcement about the original theater production, Roman couldn't help but think about it all the time. He got distracted a lot, thinking about the plot lines of his first original play. The professor never said it should be a musical, but obviously he's making it a musical, because who could live without ever hearing his wonderful singing voice?

It was almost midnight and Roman was still hunched on his desk, writing ideas and creating scenes. He had always liked writing romantic or heroic tropes, be it poems or stories. Princes and knights saving damsels, fighting evil and dying an honorable death. Or perhaps, little scenes with romantic gestures where the hero would woo the girl and they would fall madly in love with each other. What people don't expect though, is that Roman loves stories where the villain turns good and be the hero. He thought the most noble deed anyone could do is to own up to their mistakes and change themselves for the better.

Roman had been at his desk for six hours. His shoulders felt like it was made out of concrete; heavy and stiff. His fingers were jellies; weakly holding a pen and dancing across the paper in an erratic pattern. His eyes sting from the bright white light of his desk lamp. Roman ignored his discomfort and continued his writing, imagination still running wild.

'I should maybe start writing at least one scene. What good are ideas if I don't use it? Which one though?' Roman paused for a moment. 'Oh, that part at the near-ending is a good one.'

'How should that scene start? Oh, I know...

~~~

"You took a bullet for me." the villain stared at her as she gasped for a breath that didn't quite reach her lungs. "That was a stupid move."

She wished he had something to say. An excuse. She wished she had had a plan, but she had done it out of instinct.

She wished he had something to say. A witty comment. Something smart. But every word she wanted to say died on her lips. Everything hurts.

The villain stepped closer, looming over her. For a second, everything was silent. Nothing moves, the wind holds its breath, the birds didn't sing their happy songs. The villain scooped her up and leaned her over the large tree behind them.

"Why did you have to be so stupid?" the villain said, desperation dripping from the words. "Stay with me. Don't you dare leave me. Please. If you stay, I promise-I promise I will tell you everything. I promise I'll be better. Just... please don't go."

"I'm not going anywhere." she said. Her breaths were getting shorter...'

~~~

'I think that's good for now.' Roman thought, satisfied with what he had worked on for now.

Roman would never admit it, but he would often imagine himself being the hero who people adore. Well, one person would be enough for him. Roman have always wanted someone who he can protect and shower with gifts and kisses. Someone who doesn't demand anything from him. Someone who he can love.

Suddenly, Roman felt a dull pain at the back of his head, like someone had punched him at the back of the head. He ignored it in favor of writing more ideas. He felt another pain, more intense this time. Roman threw his pen on his desk in frustration. Why can't he just work in peace?! He held his head in his hands, closing his eyes, waiting for the pain to go away. After the pain had receded, he opened his eyes and was greeted by an unusual sight.

"¡Qué mierda! Where am I?!" Roman exclaimed in his surprise upon finding that he was no longer in his bedroom. He found himself seated on a bed with extremely soft sheets and heavy blanket. Roman didn't do anything for a little while, just looking around without thinking.

He stayed on the bed for about ten minutes before he started processing his situation. 'Am I dreaming?' He looked around him again, now choosing to internalize his thoughts. 'I don't think I like this dream. I want to go back. How do I go back?' Roman looked around some more without leaving the bed. The first thing he noticed was that everything was dark. By that meaning whoever decided to decorate this place has a dark aesthetic. That's not the right word, but Roman didn't care.

'Wow... even the pillow smells edgy.' Roman stood from his perch on the bed. He walked over to the bookshelf to the left of the bed, taking a closer look at the book collection. They were mostly poetry books, dated and modern. There are some other things too, three or four books about linguistics and two other books about space. 'An emo nerd. That's a weird combination.'

Roman dropped one of the books he was holding, so he bent down to pick it up. He almost instantly felt that something was off. He couldn't place it. Something was off and he didn't know what. 'Wait...' Of course. Usually, when he bend down to pick something up, the distance from his head to the floor was longer. 'Am I shorter? I'm shorter.' Roman told himself after reaching the conclusion then immediately back-paddled "¡Qué mierda!I'm shorter! How in las tierra is that even possible?!"

Roman paced back and forth in the small, dark bedroom, thinking about how he had gotten himself into this nonsense situation. He wished his nerdy friend was here to help him think. Logan would have known what is happening. 'Think. How can this happen? What did I do? What did I do to the universe that it does this to me. Oh... the universe- oh... oh no. No, no, nononono! This is not happening!'

Of course it's the hour . Of course the universe loves to mock him. Of course the universe would know the one thing he hated most. And Of course the universe decided to give him that one thing that he hated most; a soulmate.

'What time is it now?' He took the phone at the bedside table to look at the time. When he saw the lock screen picture he froze. 'Uuuuumm...' he furrowed his brows and pursed his lips, thinking hard while staring at the picture. 'That's-that's Remy. The Russian dude in my class?' The picture was of Remy and another guy (who Roman thinks is super cute and immediately shoves the thought away) standing back-to-back looking straight at the camera, both having a neutral expression.

Roman would agree if someone said Remy was an attractive guy. Perfectly mussed auburn hair framing an oval face with ungodly jawline, sunglasses covering half his face which gives a mysterious vibe (until he talks, that is) and the classic 't-shirt, leather jacket and jeans' combo that he usually goes for. Yes. Remy is positively hot . However, Roman was unsure about having him as a soulmate though. He looked down at himself—technically it's his soulmate—and back at the picture.

Roman looked at the time once again. 'I still have thirty minutes. Why can't this just end right now?' He walked out of the bedroom to find the bathroom. He marched in and faced the mirror. 'Oh, I knew it was impossible for Remy guy to be my soulmate.' was Roman's first thought upon seeing the reflection in the mirror. His second thought was... well, it took time for him to form another thought. A pretty long time.

Roman could see the resemblance between his soulmate and Remy. They are undoubtedly related. Pale complexion making the skin look smooth and milky, striking steel grey eyes that pops against the soft-purple dyed hair, chocolate brown hair peeking at the roots. Noticeable cheekbones and killer jawline, subtle muscles framing the thin body perfectly. Roman dared to lift the loose black t-shirt to peek, revealing the same pale, milky skin. He stared at the mirror once again and noticed the dark under-eye bags.

Roman couldn't help but think that this person was enchantingly beautiful. He immediately shook his head, as if by doing that he could banish the thought out of his head. No! This can't happen, it's not possible. Roman hates soulmates and nothing will change that. He doesn't need a soulmate, because soulmates are not true love. He is not going to fall into that trap. He furrowed his brows while still staring at the mirror and leaving the bathroom with a sour mood.

'Everything sucks.' Roman stomps back into the bedroom. He didn't know what to do. He never wanted this. He still didn't want this. So, he decided to write a note.

Roman walked the short distance from the door to the desk at the corner of the room and angrily wrote a note.

Roman Cascales.

I never wanted this, still don't want this. Don't look for me.

If you ever see me, walk the other way.

He left the note, written on a post it, on the desk and sat on the bed again. He scrunched his face in annoyance. Why did the universe, or whatever being or force that created the universe decided that it was a good idea for soulmates to be a thing? Everything is a lie. Many people are trapped in loveless relationships just because they're soulmates. Other people take advantage of their soulmate status to manipulate their match for their gain. Roman wanted to give a long lecture to whoever make soulmates an actual concept and maybe give them some murder charges for those whose life was taken because of that concept—literally and figuratively. Many people have had their lives ruined because of soulmates.

Roman looked at the phone once again to look at the time. He realized that the other boy in the picture was his soulmate. The realization made him want to punch something and just burst with red hot anger. 'Ten more minutes. Just ten more minutes, hold on Roman.' Roman tried to cool himself down.

When he felt a familiar pain at the back of his head, he embraced it. He wanted this to end right now.

Roman launched himself to the bed. His chest rising up and down quickly. He screamed into his pillow to muffle the sound and clutching the material of his thick blanket tightly in contained anger. His excitement from an hour ago was forgotten.

In the morning, before he left the apartment, he found a note on his desk.

Virgil Dudnickov (19)

Not much to say about me.

With the additional of email address and phone number, there was nothing else written. After reading the note, Roman left his apartment in a foul mood.

**********

Thank you for reading! I am very sorry this chapter came out later than I intended. My relatives came over for a week so I had to put this whole thing on hold for a few days.

As always, leave a comment. I would love to know what you think about everything.
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Roman's vocab (please tell me if I made any mistakes with these):

¡Qué mierda!
[What the fuck!]

Las tierra
[The world; the Earth]