Jeonghan was not in a good mood. There was no way he was going to win this contest if Jisoo wasn't talking to him anymore. Seungkwan was getting closer to kissing Hansol everyday, and Jeonghan was getting nowhere. 

But really, that wasn't why Jeonghan was mad. He'd fucked things up with Jisoo. 

Yes, Jeonghan's main intention was to kiss Jisoo to see if he could find his soulmate. There were feelings involved but not genuine feelings like what he had felt for Mingyu once before. With Jisoo, it was really like, "Oh, hey. You're hot, let's kiss." 

Jeonghan really regretted taking things in that direction. 

He found himself actually wanting to get to know Jisoo. He was developing said genuine feelings the more he figured Jisoo out. 

Yes, he still wanted to win that contest, but if Jisoo really turned out to be his soulmate, that would leave him in a better place that he'd first anticipated. Which meant that if Jeonghan was going to get anywhere with the younger male, he'd need to patch up whatever relationship it was they had. 

That left one question. Why was Jisoo so set on not kissing Jeonghan? 

If Jisoo already had a soulmate, his eyes would be colored. If he'd lost his soulmate or was born without one, he'd have the White Ring. So either Jisoo was wearing eye contacts to hide whatever option it was, or he really didn't have a soulmate and just doesn't want one. There was another theory Jeonghan had as well. He'd need to get Jisoo to fall for him first. The dark-haired male must be a sentimental kind of person which meant that love came first before anything else. 

It exhausted Jeonghan to think about it. But even so, he was still going to try his best to both win the contest and end up with Jisoo as his soulmate. 

Jeonghan impatiently tapped the table as he waited for Wonwoo to show up. They'd meet up in the library where Wonwoo supposedly worked and spend an hour or so adding any additional notes to what used to be Jisoo's notebook. It irritated Jeonghan to see the notebook in Wonwoo's hands each time they met up. It just reminded him how much of  a dumbass he was to screw things up with Jisoo.

A few minutes late, Jeonghan finally spotted Wonwoo coming through the front doors of the library. The black-haired male stopped to talk to the small orange-haired male at the front desk for a minute before making his way to the table where Jeonghan. 

Wonwoo isn't so bad, Jeonghan decided. He used to have a biased opinion on Wonwoo for a bit since Mingyu was so infatuated with him, but after meeting up a couple of times, Jeonghan established that he wouldn't mind having Wonwoo as a friend.  Wonwoo, on the other hand, seemed to want nothing to with him, but Jeonghan's discovered that that's how he is with basically everyone. 

"Look, today has been complete shit," Wonwoo said when he sat down. "Please don't make it worse."

Jeonghan wanted to be offended, but ended up shrugging off the unsaid accusation of being a pain in the ass. It was mostly true anyways. Jeonghan wasn't known to be a goody-two-shoes.

"Yes, sir," Jeonghan said, earning himself a glare from the male in front of him. 

They spent the next 15 minutes exchanging questions and answers. Jeonghan had been thinking about how he was going to talk to Jisoo--what with the younger male avoiding him everywhere he went--when he saw Jisoo and Mingyu walking into the library from the corner of his eye. 

Wow, this is going to be a lot easier than I expected, Jeonghan thought. 

Wonwoo must have seen where he was looking because he turned and as soon as he caught sight of Mingyu, he stiffened and his face seemed to settle into a permanent scowl.  The black-haired male mumbled something incoherent under his breath. 

Jeonghan wondered how his best friend managed to piss off Wonwoo this time.

 He turned his attention back to the other two. They hadn't noticed them immediately, but when they did, Jisoo's face began to look a lot like Wonwoo's scowl and Mingyu's face creased with worry. Jeonghan gave an awkward, half-hearted wave to which Jisoo completely ignored. He leaned over and said something to Mingyu, then they made their way to the opposite side of the library. 

"This is a disaster," Jeonghan heard Wonwoo mutter. Jeonghan found himself nodding in agreement, but he wasn't about to give up hope. 

"Think we could finish this up later?" Jeonghan asked. He stood up without waiting for a response.  

"Yeah," Wonwoo said, gathering his things together. He stood as well, but right as it looked like he was about to walk away, he told Jeonghan, "By the way, you should probably apologize to Jisoo. That might be a good start." Then he left. 

Jeonghan was dumbfounded. It was like Wonwoo read his mind, but of course, that would be impossible. Jisoo must have told him what happened between them. Huh. Wonwoo might have a soft place in his heart after all if he actually cared. 

With his original mission in mind, Jeonghan crossed the library to where he'd seen the other two go. He found them quickly sitting at one of the middle tables beside a study group. Jisoo had his back to him. Mingyu saw him, said something to Jisoo then got up and left. Jeonghan made a mental note to thank the turquoise-haired male later.

"Hey," Jeonghan said as he sat in Mingyu's seat. Jisoo was looking down at his phone and didn't bother to look up when Jeonghan spoke. 

"I wanted to say I'm sorry," Jeonghan said with as much sincerity as possible. He really was sorry, he just hoped Jisoo would understand that. 

"Sorry for what?" Jisoo said still not looking up from his phone. 

Jeonghan coughed awkwardly. He hadn't realized how intimidating Jisoo could be sometimes. "I'm sorry for not considering your feelings," he said. "I'll be honest, I still want that kiss, so I was hoping we could try again." He realized how that sounded. "I'm not saying this just because I don't want to lose the contest. I'm saying this because I actually like you, and I was hoping we could try again as friends then work our way up to more."

Jisoo lifted his head and their eyes met. "I already told you we aren't soulmates."

"My feelings are real," Jeonghan said. He'd always be a little confused whenever Jisoo made that statement. "Forget soulmates. What if I said I just wanted to be with you anyway?"

Jeonghan watched the other male gulp. It was definitely a sign that the blonde was getting somewhere. 

"If you forgive me, meet me out by the river Wednesday night, ok?" Jeonghan said gently. He smiled, got up, and left, leaving the dark-haired male stunned. 

--------------------

a/n: i think i enjoy writing jihan's story a little too much lmao