IN THIS ORBIT,

"Do you believe in soulmates?"

Heeseung laid on Juwon's bed, making snow (bed sheet?) angels as she reorganized her shelf of books. The girl glanced at him. He was staring at the wall with no expression on his face — clearly, he was speaking his mind without thinking.

"That's random," Juwon said, turning her attention back to her books. "I've never thought of it actually. No, I don't."

"You're boring," Heeseung said. "Of course soulmates are real."

"You're the one who asked me, princess!"

"But there was obviously a correct answer. You chose the wrong one." Juwon rolled her eyes, deciding it was best to ignore him. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Don't ignore me." He sat up, watching her continue to organize her shelves with her back facing him. "You're being mean again."

"Me?" Juwon turned around, putting a hand on her chest as she scoffed and pretended to be offended. "Mean? I am not. You just crave attention twenty-four-seven and right now, I'm busy."

"Your books can wait," he mumbled, laying back down. "They'll always be there." He paused and sighed, "I won't always be here, you know."

"You should join the drama club," Juwon said. "You'd be a great main lead for a Shakespeare play, as much as I hate him. I'd even be willing to sit through it just for you."

Heeseung frowned. "You aren't paying attention," he said.

"Of course I'm paying attention," she said, glancing at him. "It's you who's talking."

Heeseung forced himself to hide the smile that formed on his face because she was looking but the moment she looked away, he wasn't able to contain it. "Whatever," he said, burying his face in her pillow.

"Aw, is the princess flustered?" Juwon teased him.

"Shut up."

Juwon laughed and went back to organizing her books, leaving Heeseung bored. He sat up again and got off the bed, walking towards her closet and opening a plastic box in the corner out of pure boredom. His eyes lit up when he was met with the faces of stuffed animals and immediately took them out, holding them in his arms until he couldn't hold any more. Then he walked back to her bed and threw himself face first. "You didn't tell me you had stuffies," he said, his voice muffled.

She turned around, finally realizing that he'd gone snooping again. "Of course I do," she said. "What kind of person do you think I am."

"You don't even pay attention to me. I think you're many thi— ow!" Heeseung held the back of his head where Juwon had hit him with a pillow. "See? You are mean!"

"I had every right to hit you," she said. "Keep calling me mean and I'll throw you out the window, Lee."

"Whatever." Heeseung focused on the stuffed animals in his arms, making them sit up. Once they looked decent, he threw himself on them, only to fix them once again. He repeated this cycle for a while, seeing this as a way to kill the boredom. However, that didn't last for long. He went back to staring at the ceiling as Juwon talked to herself over books she'd read ages ago. "Juwon," he called her name, sighing.

"What?" she replied, not bothering to look at him.

"I don't believe in soulmates either," he confessed. "I just thought the concept of them was nice. I mean, the idea of there being another person out there that completes the other half of your soul is cool, don't you think?" Juwon was quiet, listening but not facing him. Heeseung didn't really care if she was paying attention, though. He just wanted to talk in order to fill the silence. (He was never a fan of the quiet. Being left alone with his thoughts for too long never lead him anywhere... good, per say. That's why he talked, even if no one in particular was listening.)

"You know the red thread theory?" he started. "Wait, of course you do. Anyway, the red thread connects you to your soulmate and bounds your fates together. Isn't that cool? And your soulmate doesn't even have to be a romantic partner — it could literally be your cat or— or the check-out guy at a bookstore." Heeseung sat up, "Imagine having your soulmate be a check-out guy." She hummed and he laid back down, continuing. "I read somewhere online that you could meet your soulmate in one life and never meet them again. Isn't that sad?"

"It is." Juwon sat down on the floor, her attention now on Heeseung. He didn't notice, as he now found the ceiling more interesting than his surroundings. "You believe in reincarnation?" she asked.

"No," he said. "That's cool too, though. I also read online that after someone dies, it takes forty-nine days for them to be born again — rebirth, they called it." Heeseung continued to talk for a while and Juwon listened, forgetting about her books completely. She'd always stuck closely to her beliefs but now that he'd brought up the topics, she wanted to rethink it all over again.

"Juwon," he called after he'd finished talking.

"Yes, Heeseung?"

He sat up, looking at her seriously. "If soulmates existed in this orbit, do you think we would have been soulmates?" he asked.

Juwon found it difficult to answer his question despite the answer being so clear to her — yes. They'd lived most of their lives with each other and have gone through so much together, it would be impossible for them not to be. Soulmates didn't exist but if they did, Juwon was positive he would've been hers.

"I think so," she said.

"Do you think soulmates exist in other universes?"

"Yes."

"Then maybe do you think in a different universe, we're already soulmates?"

"Yes," she responded (a little to quickly). "I mean, they have to exist somewhere, don't they?"

Heeseung giggled and laid back down. "Yeah," he said. "I think that's why we're so close, right?"

"What else could explain it?" she said, getting up from the floor. "Just don't think about it too much, princess. We don't want you losing the remainder of your brain cells, do we?"

"Ugh, how dare you," Heeseung scoffed. "I'll have you know I was a straight A student all throughout highschool." She laughed. She was about to respond by reminding him of all the tutoring sessions he received throughout highschool, but she decided to let him have this one.

Heeseung turned in her bed, letting his head hang off the bed as he held one of her stuffed sloths in his arms (their name was Skittles). Juwon had gone back to talking to herself and he chose to watch, finding it entertaining — probably because to him, she was upside down. "Juwon."

"Hm?" She looked at him, smiling slightly when she saw the position he was in.

"You're still pretty from this angle."

• • •

seung the rat 🐀

juju tf away from me 👽
HEESEUNG ISTG