We were ships in the night, night, night.

You tap on your desk already exhausted by the monotone voice of the video editing lecturer. Your mind drifts off daydreaming about owning your own film production company, but right now you need to concentrate on passing your third-year finals.

Lui Mei is working on her fashion design mood board for a project. The assessments and assignments workload is getting heavier. Libraries and media centers are already full with even the 4th year graduating class.

Recently you saw a very stressed-out Dylan a few days ago. The both of you couldn't even hang out that much, but you do stay in contact, such as texting. He wanted to spend more time with you, but being swamped with work doesn't allow that.

Sana started a study group, and you all will meet up this afternoon in the library to compare media notes.

After class, you decided to head with a crowd of students, to the dorms. You enjoy the chilly breezy afternoon, and the fresh air calms you from the hectic day you've endured.

In your dorm room, you decided to eat some leftover ramen noodles. After a light snack, you jump on your bed intending to relax with your laptop indulging in some BTS mv's, catching up on the RunBts episodes, and watching cute, hilarious videos of your bias Jin, he makes you happy with his unique windshield laugh.

https://youtu.be/_OD528EEA94

https://youtu.be/lVDBsGm02ak

https://youtu.be/m5Jg4wEb0S4

Without anyone's knowledge, you secretly indulge in V's out worldly beauty. You can't understand why you're so hung up on "V's" handsome visuals. How could someone be so mesmerizing? You feel secretly embarrassed because of this obsession. If your friends find out, they'll be teased endlessly.

https://youtu.be/EM1yJXJslNs

You shockingly came to the realization that you have been in fact, becoming an ARMY. Jin and Suga are your full biases and V is the official bias wrecker. He wrecked your world. You even surprised yourself by researching fun facts about him.

You came to find out that he is very kind, artistic, a little weird, and innocent.

As if, maybe he secretly hooks up with girls, who knows, handsome guys like him could be players.

You remember finding out that he was regarded as the most visually attractive member of the group and loved photography. He is one of the lead vocalists with a deep velvet, sultry voice almost jazzy, and R&B. He has many international fans in China, Korea, and Japan.

He loves Gucci clothing and hats. He's like a fashionista. You also read articles about how close the maknae bond is and his fangirls and boys, and how they checked him out at awards and music shows.

Your heart almost stopped when you read about his encounter with Sasaeng fans, how they followed him and scared him. ARMY was livid. When it comes to protecting their boys, they'll turn into savage queens.

https://youtu.be/p8LciaWz3BM

https://youtu.be/TQkrEFyxn8o

https://youtu.be/CZKe4DT1hdE

You also came to know that V acknowledges the Soulbound system, but like his bandmate  Suga, he doesn't want to be forced to love someone, he wants to find love on his own. He doesn't want to meet her now.

You can relate to him; he feels like most of the population likes their freedom. You completely agree with him. He is too young for a soulmate, and you believe idols should worry about soulmate stuff when they reach 30. You know that some companies have a dating ban on idols when they are under 25. Once they reach that age, they can date with permission.

You even came across the drama he acted in and wow, he even got an acting award for his role.

You realize that you fell deeply into the rabbit hole called BTS. You don't belong to yourself anymore.

If your mom finds out you wouldn't hear the end of it.

You listen to his solo songs from their Wings Tour in Seoul in February and even add all of them onto your playlist with your favorite girl band Blackpink.

You forgot your schoolwork on the desk. For now, your assignments can take a back seat, and you will instead wait until study time with your friends.

You jumped as you heard noises outside the dorm room. You quickly closed all the Youtube tabs and articles. Lui Mei barged in with hands filled with project materials.

Her hair is sticking out in different directions. Her eyes are dull with exasperation and exhaustion.

"Urgh. I'm so dead, and the due date is tomorrow afternoon how did I miss it in my diary!" She groans.

You watch with amused eyes at your friend who just plopped down on the floor."I told you, and Dahyun spent too much time streaming BTS music videos. That's where obsession can lead you." You shake your head, disregarding the fact that you were doing so not too long ago.

"Oh Yunru you must sympathize with me..it's difficult to concentrate when Jimin kills me every time he posts a hot pic. When you Jimin you can never Jimout!" She shouts excitedly but ends in a dreamy sigh. You just laugh.

"I feel you. Anything I can help with copying and pasting," you stare into the distance thoughts racing in your mind. Lui Mei jumps up and down squealing with delight.

"Can you help me organize the mood board in sections and color code my images..." you look at her with a grin and nod your head.

...

It took you both two hours to complete the mood board with all the decorations.

Lui Mei happily hugs you in appreciation." You are my best friend...now we can go to the library. I'll buy us dinner later," you shake your head at her low use of grammar. Only Liu Mei.

You raise your eyebrow and wag a finger in front of Lui Mei's face." you better have enough 'cause I want a full dessert also," You state. You worked hard with her on the project she better gives you a full-on meal.

"Ok anything you want, come on, grab your bag...Sana already sends us text messages."

You hurriedly brush your hair and grab your cream-white coat just in case the weather becomes more relaxed, you lock the dorm and follow Lui Mei out into the hallway. Sana and Dahyun are already waiting in the foyer for you.

"Why so late?... We must hurry or else the good seats will be gone." Sana says with impatience, her folded arms expressing her slight annoyance.

You both apologize humbly and rush out of the dorm building. The girls arrived at the library within 5 minutes. Personally, the library is one of your favorite places. Before you were so into the BTS, you used just to come and relax with a great book in one of the corners with Dylan always tagging along.

Sana looks around for a great study place. Someone ended up calling her name and waving fanatically at you girls to come over. It's one of Sana's classmates in photography. He also joined the group. Dylan and another guy were sitting with him.
LuiMei speaks with a frown.

"Who are they?" While following Sana and Dayun to where the guys are seated.

Dylan saw you, and he shot up to embrace you warmly. Everyone exchanged greetings. One guy whose name is Tao's eyes were continually sneaking glances at you. You don't notice as you smile while organizing your study material on the table.

"Stop drooling on my best friend..you creep" Dylan pushes Tao's shoulders harshly. Deep annoyance showed on his face.
Tao smirks at Dylan's jealous tone.."You said she's your best friend  so.." He trails off.

"Stop discussing Yunru, she's not interested," Liu Mei speaks in a disgusted tone. You overhear your name, but before you can hear any more, Sana gains everyone's attention.

"Ok guys let's concentrate on our major media law...let's compare notes,"

Dahyun looks at Lui Mei's notebook "Mei I just see 5% of the notes where's the rest.." Liu Mei blushes in embarrassment.

You snicker softly "it's with Jimin-" Dylan wiggles his eyebrows. "Did you indulge yourself again by daydreaming in class?"

"Sorry guys ...he gave me a brain meltdown yesterday during Vlive.." Liu Mei apologizes, but you know better than she doesn't regret that her mind turns off work and turns on BTS.

You girls just laugh and giggle by themselves. You understand Lui Mei's antics entirely. On the other hand, Tao and then another guy named Minho looked confused until Dylan explains who Jimin is.

"Are you girls also obsessed with that South Korean boy band?" Tao asks, confused. Audible gasps are heard from you, Sana, Liu Mei, and Dayun.

"Excuse me!  They are not just a boy band, they are lifesavers!" Dayun states loudly, disregarding that you are all in a library gaining looks from other students.

"You won't understand...they are Greek gods," Sana smiles.
Minho pulls a face "They're not that handsome...my sisters are also obsessed with them...they even want to move to S.Korea just to meet them..." He rolls his eyes. You can tell he is jealous that its gains a lot of girls' attention.

"I want to meet them also- " Liu Mei confirms. You began losing interest while the group discussed the band for a few minutes. Tao just gives you love eyes, but you ignore him while taking notes from Sana's notepad. Dylan smiles victoriously.

Dylan takes out his phone and starts texting. You hear a text notification coming from your phone and open the message, and it's from Annoyer aka Dylan. You look at him, confused. He gestures with his eyes to read it.

'Are you free tonight...want to go out?'

'Sorry had to work on my assignment.'

You text back. Dylan looks down, disappointed.

'Common on Yunru we've never hung out for ages lets go to Happy Valley Amusement park...please...just to relax before our finals'

You pout not wanting to go anywhere. You look up into Dyl's expectant eyes and sigh.

'Ok but as friends and no talking about the soulmate nonsense..ok?'

'Alright...well have a blast.'

'You going to pay for everything..from the food tickets...'

Dylan gives you a happy thumbs up. You just shake your head as long as you don't come back too late. You will have to provide an all-nighter for that assignment. You groan at the thought.

...

It's already 6 pm. You all greet each other and scheduled another study session for the next two days. Today most of the group had half a day.

"Hey, Liu Mei doesn't wait up for Yunru, because we will be going on a date-," Dylan gives a cheeky smile. You smack his arm. "Ouch,"

You quickly change his wording. "It's not ...just the best friends' outing," you roll your eyes at Dylan who rubs his arm where you smacked him. Liu Mei pouts.

"It's a date when your other best friend isn't invited," Sana and Dayun chuckle.

"Sorry two's a pair, but three's a crowd," Dylan shrugs with a smile.

Lui Mei whines. "I'll just go to the dorm and feel sorry for myself for not enjoying the rides and candy floss." Liu Mei stares in the distance with want.

"I thought you have a Vlive date with Jimin's adorable self." Sana giggles at Liu Mei's over-exaggeration. Lui Mei squeals with hearty eyes "Oh yes...Yunru you and Dylan can go on your date...I have a sexy man waiting for me..."

"It's not a date!!!" You shout, sighing after. Lui Mei gives a dramatic hand gesture "Whatever..." Dylan rolls his eyes.

"Mei we can go on our lunch date tomorrow ok?" You tell her with a small smile. Before she can respond to you, Dylan grabs your wrist and walks out of the library to the parking lot.

Dylan brought his Hyundai i20, so both of you can go straight to the amusement park. You feel the excitement bubble inside of you. You recall your family visiting the park with Mei and her older brother ( who is studying for his graduate degree in the USA, he got a scholarship at the University of California to further his studies in Entertainment Law.)

And like always you and Dylan bicker and fight over the radio. You won, of course. You arrive at the Park in half an hour. Dylan bought the tickets, and you kept dragging him everywhere for different rides. There weren't a lot of people because it was during the week.

Dylan even won you a giant panda bear at the shooter stand. He bought you both chicken chips, big smoothies, and candy floss.

The fatigue slowly starts getting to you. "Let's relax a bit...my feet are killing me now," You groan.

You decide to rest on a bench under a big tree. Dylan looked at you with pure affection. He takes the bear, your drink, and places it on the bench beside him. Your mind runs with confusion. You look at him curiously when he sighs and takes your hand in his.

He clears his throat. "Yunru I seriously need to tell you something.." it seems that he is struggling to articulate whatever he wants to convey to you.

"What's it, Dyl?" You ask him still extremely confused as to what is happening.

"I love you Yunru" Your eyes widen as what he says renders you speechless.

" Dylan ..you know it's impossible -" You begin.

Dylan interrupts you quickly " I know what the System says...but Yunru we can decide our fate...I can't help it if I love you whether you are my soulmate or not...I will always love you," his voice leaks with determination and seriousness.

"Dylan, you know that I love you too, but we will only hurt ourselves if we give in to this forbidden love. I'm afraid that when we meet our soulmates, the love that we think we have for each other will instantly vanish to love for our mates passionately. I don't want us to get hurt like that." You inform him with a defeated voice.

The frustration on Dylan's face is prominent. "I don't care ...it's you I want Yunru I'll never be able to bear it if you belong to someone else. I'll be everything you need. I can't lose you." He states.

"Dylan I do love you, but I'm not sure if it's platonic or romantic cause I've never dated before or fallen in love, let's wait and see if we receive our soul marks then we can discuss this" You are exasperated.

You both know it's impossible to date now. It's illegal if you are not registered as part of the Tarnished community. 

Dylan's eyes started to tear up. He jolts up from the bench and looks down at your shocked expression.

"I don't care...you are mine Yunru since I confessed when we've been 11 years old. " With that said, he pulls you up and takes you into his arms. You look into his eyes, unsure of what exactly is happening. Dylan gazes intensely into your eyes with renewed determination, and he kisses you softly on the lips.

You gasp in surprise, and that allows him to capture your lips once again. You don't know what comes over you, but you kiss him back.

Dylan embraces you tightly around your waist. You don't know what it was, but aren't you supposed to feel sparks?

You awkwardly remove yourselves from the embrace and look at each other. Dylan's smile grows, and you giggle. You hit him on the chest.

"Don't get weird on me now...it wasn't the first time we kissed Yun?" Dylan laughs, raising an eyebrow. You groan at that. "Augh Dylan ..this will complicate things further."

Dylan just shrugs. "Ok let's wait until we receive our soul marks, if we match I'll be the happiest guy in the world but-" then his eyes sadden. You nod your head in understanding.

"-If we are not destined for each other we will always love each other but as best friends, because soul bounding makes sure that you'll never have any romantic feelings for another," You tell him.

"You do know there are three soul-bounding degrees," He looks at you.

"There are more types!!!" You shout in surprise. As if there weren't enough. This soulmate topic is really like a compulsory subject.

"Yes, Yunru...you never went to the  Soulbound classes. It's the passionate love with a red-gold string - romantic love,  The protector- loves blue string -you'll only want to be your soulmate's protector and look after him/her well-being,  Than the platonic love a yellow string which indicates that you'll never be more than friends.  In the latter two types, you must prove to the System that you can live without each other, and after evaluation, you can only date a Tarnished member, not another person's soulmate. " Dylan explained with a nod.

You pull a face "So if we have the red gold string, you destined to have passionate feelings for your soulmates," Dylan shrugs. "More or less, we are more in tune with our feelings, our moods. We can feel what they are feeling emotionally. We literally can not love anyone else. It will always be them," You wince at the thought of being controlled by your emotions. No freedom.

"That's why I hate this soulmate stuff! Can you take me home now please" After hearing that, your wish now more than ever is to be classified as a Tarnished or just be mated to Dylan which you can't even comprehend.

They take their stuff and walk silently to the exit.
Dylan stands in front of you, which you overlook as you are deep in thought. "Yunru promise me that if we are not soulmates and we have the blue or yellow string with our soulmates, we would marry each other?"

Your face turns solemn "The system controls everything, will we even be allowed, would they pair us themselves with other members of the Tarnished? I hate this so much," you start crying "I want to be in control of my happiness. What if I have the red gold string with him and he hates me at first sight?"

"Then we reject them and be there for each other, but a red gold string is more complicated cause your emotions are bound to his. You literally cannot get away from each other, you might die or wither away in heartache," Dylan says with seriousness. He hugs you in comfort when he saw you widen your eyes.

...

The ride back was silent both of you thinking about what conspired tonight. You can't deal with it now.  Lui Mei's birthday will be in two weeks and then Dylan's another week later. Your birthday will be after the finals in a month. That is the only thing that makes you happy, no stress during exam time.

Luckily it was before 10 pm. The dorms are still open. You wave goodbye to Dylan and rush into your dorm's hallway. Lui Mei is always on her laptop,

She looks up when you push the door open. "Hi, Yunru ...how was the date... I love your plush panda can I sleep with it for tonight? It's so cute!" She runs over to your bed where you placed your panda plushie.

"Very eventful," You laugh. With that, you tell Lui Mei everything that happens except when you kissed  Dylan. You can't deal with a crazy friend right now.

Thank you for all the reads, votes, and comments. Please stay safe and healthy. I💜you