ℐ 𝓈ℯ𝒶𝓇𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝓂𝒾𝒹𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝒸𝓇ℴ𝓌𝒹 ℴ𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉ℴ 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓎ℴ𝓊, ℴ𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉ℴ 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝒻ℴ𝓇 𝓎ℴ𝓊.

But Iʼm not sure
if youʼre still
out there, somewhere.

ー・ー

They say, when you meet your soulmate's gaze with the same compassion in your eyes, you'll see all the hues you've been missing all your life. They say it starts with a small flicker, a spark of emotions all contained in a speck of white light ignited in your heart, and a flash of recognition- an acknowledgement that somehow, you'll know that you have found each other.

Others say that they feel a faint tug in each others' hearts as they pass by each other, eyes meeting in a brief moment, then suddenly realizing that their once monotonous world had suddenly become rose-coloured. Some say that they dream of hearing distinct voices, their inner desires of finding their other halves that remains rooted in their mind the moment they wake up. And when their line of sight meets, they recall those voices, and would wake upon the moment that their vision would be blinded with the sudden rain of unknown hues.

However, there was one thing common in these stories. The moment their eyes fall upon each other, they'd recognize each other, acting upon the song of the heart. There was acknowledgement, and the acceptance that they are made to love and live for each other until the end of their lifetime.

Imagine, all your life you've only seen red, the color of blood, anger, and passion. It's utterly inconvenient, right? And then, the next thing you knew, your eyes are suddenly filled with different shades and a new pallet, because you found yourself and each other in a random stranger.

Romantic.

But to a certain Jue Viole Grace, he wasn't having any bit of it. It's not that he doesn't believe in the magic it brings- heck, he's surrounded by proofs of it no matter where he decides to hide. In the streets, in the city, in school, and even in a haven he calls home. It's that he can't accept being predestined to someone who might not even want him. He doesn't want his heart being dictated by some unknown divine force to beat for a stranger that might cast him away for someone obviously better than him.

The reason for his utter hatred?

You see, once upon a time, Jue Viole Grace could see the world at a single hue, same as everyone else the moment they were born in this sickeningly sweet world. However, everything changed when he became one of the few special people who could see two colors at an early age. People who had a quick glimpse of their soulmates once or twice in their childhood, but never more than a fraction of a second. Resulted because they were either too young to be aware of the wonders of finding their soulmates, or aren't interested at all. People called 'Irregulars'.

There is a downside to this, though. Since they could see two colors, their eyes become heterochromatic. And in this world, people who had unrequited love, a 'right-love-at-a-wrong-time' setting, and plainly people who haven't met their soulmates in this lifetime are quite common. So at some point, they will be led to a conclusion that somehow, their other halves never accepted them wholely, since the magic only works when your gazes meet with the same thirst of affection.

"... I just don't understand them, you know? People who'd choose to make their world revolve around people who can't even see their worth. I mean, why waste their time looking for someone uncertain when they could just, I don't know, get laid or something," his companion's voice suddenly registered to him, snapping Viole away from his train of thoughts, choking on his cup of caramel macchiato.

"What?" the bluenet asked nonchalantly, as if he had not just said something so vulgar out of nowherel, which made Viole glare at him with his heterochromatic eyes.

"You keep saying that, but you're actually waiting for someone to take you away from this meaningless life." Viole glared again when the other decided to retaliate. "Don't deny it, Khun Aguero Agnes. I know how your mind works. You, just like me, hate the fact that your life has been dictated the moment you were born."

Khun Aguero Agnes is Jue Viole Grace's soulmate. Viole is fucking aware of that because he still remembered how the clear golden hue in his left eye turned dim and cobalt blue the moment he met this insufferable man. Apparently, Aguero was also one of these anti-divine intervention enthusiasts, since they got along so well it scared him. So sad that he doesn't have one ounce of shit when it comes to actually finding his other half, or Viole's mindset wouldn't be this messed up.

"Hey Viole." Surprisingly, the name left a strange bitterness off of Khun's tongue, but he had long gotten used to it. It's been four years since they met, after all.

"What?" Viole snapped, still irritated.

"If we grow old enough and still hadn't found something to quell this hatred, will you marry me?"

Viole swore he almost dropped the cup if it wasn't for it being a vintage collection. Priceless, and definitely irreplaceable. "Talk to me again when you miraculously make me see colors, asshole."

Aguero just laughed at him, while there he was, clenching his hands as if it was his heart, trying to keep it from pounding so loudly, afraid that the insensitive bastard might hear it.

'Iʼm so fucking whipped.'

ー・ー

Oh, did I mention that Jue Viole Grace was the café owner? AXIS, a perfect place for budding romance and a nest for plausible soulmates. He inherited it, so there were a lot of setbacks if he were to succumb to his ultimate hatred for his soulmate related dilemma. Might as well earn bucks than wasting business hours sulking.

When he was still a protégé, he was tasked with coming up with a new interior concept, and he asked himself; what should he choose and why wouldn't it be garden themed? There, he met Khun Aguero Agnes, who was a major in anything related to interior design, and apparently he was up for a test-run. How he does it when he could only see shades of blue, Viole never knew, but it wasn't so bad. What was worse though, was that ever since that day, it became the bluenet's routine to hang out every once in a while, and every single time all he talks about was how he never liked this soulmate shit and how great would it be to be able to love freely.

"Viole!" the clinking of chimes caught his ears, signalling the arrival of the reason of his dilemma. Viole was so not ready for this so early in the morning.

"Don't you have something else to kill time with other than annoying me, Aguero?" his sharp tongue almost automatically formulated those words, but it doesn't necessarily mean that he meant it. (Who knows? Maybe he's internally happy that his insensitive soulmate had the heart to remember him.)

Aguero disregarded his snarky remark, getting used to it. "Is it true?"

"What is?"

"That your name was the Twenty-fifth Bam?"

Viole stopped wiping the counter, then looked at the blue haired man that spoke almost eagerly. "What do you mean 'was'? It's still my name, just that only qualified people are allowed to remember." He flipped his long brown hair sassily. "Where have you even heard that from?"

"Shibisu, mainly. Sometimes Endorsi and Wangnan slips up, and Rak isn't that much help 'cause all he does is call everyone a colored turtle. Probably flaunting the fact that he had already met his soulmate, damn gator."

"Well, what do you want to know?" The name sure brought a lot of memories back to him. Aguero must have had questions, but he thinks he already told him quite a lot about his life in the past years. "Before Jinsung took me in I was from an orphanage. There was a Rachel, whom I thought was the kindest person I met until she wasn't. She was the one who named me Bam, since the parents who maybe abandoned me or left me in this world never named me. Then after a certain incident- I think it was a charity event or something of that sort- I got these for eyes."

He pointed at the bicolored orbs.

"She started being distant, then discretely encouraging the other kids to bully me. I escaped the place, and the rest is history."

Aguero sat on his usual seat by the counter with his chin rested on the back of his palm. "One more question. Can I call you Bam?"

Viole smirked at him. "It depends. Are you qualified?"

"I'm wounded, love. After all these years, how could you say that?" The former feigned an offended look, dramatically placing his hand on his chest.

"Cheeky bastard." the brunet flicked his forehead before paying attention to another foreign object beside on the countertop. It was a flower, with foreign shades of blue and some other color he has no time to think about.

"Like it? The flower's apparently called Violet, even though it's blue. There's also a relative shade called purple," Aguero started, smiling when he saw the other's confusion. "I'm planning to finally start adding more color to this fairy garden that's not just twigs and leaves."

"Viole! Stop flirting with Khun already and get inside here or Ehwa will start burning this whole kitchen and the café along with it!"

"Oh my God, not Yeon! Wangnan, I will fucking obliterate you if anything happens to my kitchen!" Trying so hard to hide his flustered state, he signed Aguero to do whatever he wanted after putting the flower on a glass vase, then ran for his life towards the back. Unaware that this day marked the beginning of something he wouldn't trade for the world.

ー

There was a time when Viole asked the bluenet why he's still single despite his claims to never having interest in finding his soulmate (a.k.a him). I mean, it's not that uncommon for people to just start randomly pairing up due to the loneliness, even though it never lasts.

"What do you expect me to do? Just shamelessly bed anyone like my manwhore of a father?" he replied, to which the brunet just shrugged. "I may be a bitch, but I'm not such a douche. Besides, there is someone I'm looking for, and I think I already found them. I guess I'm just waiting for the right timing. I'm not going to let that person venture anywhere."

That moment became a constant reminder to Viole that he had no chance from the start. Someone was crazy enough to start a war with destiny and had Aguero, who wasn't his/her soulmate, head-over-heels. How could he compete with that? There is a fine line between love and hate, and Viole couldn't risk their friendship for such a short-term acknowledgement.

"Viole," a guy with all hues of blinding gold, Wangnan, called him out of his trance. It was early noon, and business was slow, so all the brunet did was play with the flower's petals, like some forlorn lover.

He hummed in response, still blanked out.

"Are you sure Khun doesn't know your situation? I mean, all you do is flirt with each other and it's making me sick."

Oh. He forgot Wangnan was aware of his internal struggles, along with several others like Jinsung, Hwaryun, probably Rak, and Yuri. When there's Yuri, there's Evan and Urek. And he shouldn't forget Shibisu. Damn, Isu.

"He doesn't, and we're definitely not flirting," he said, waving his hand. "He's waiting for someone, Wangnan. And that someone will never be me."

"But-"

Their conversation was cut short when the regal Aguero, followed by Rak and Shibisu who were carrying boxes entered the door, seemingly bickering about something.

"I told you, pink is always in style!"

"Shut up, turtle! White is the most dominant!"

"How about gold? It always goes with everything?"

"You have no sense of style, so shut yer trap!"

"If you're going to start kicking each others' ass, don't even take another step in AXIS," Viole threatened, completely disregarding Wangnan and their past conversation.

The three immediately straightened up, but still glared at each other. Shibisu instantly dropped his box on a random table the ran towards the brunet, screaming his head off. "Bam my baby! Come to daddy-"

Viole ducked under the counter, making Shibisu crash onto the counter, hitting his gut. He approached Rak and Aguero then helped place the boxes somewhere convenient. "What's in these?"

"Just artificial stuff," the bluenet mumbled. "Oh, and faerie lights."

"We were arguing about what color should we choose for AXIS." Rak crossed his arms haughtily. "And these dumb turtles just never listen. Tell me, Black Turtle. Isn't white a perfect color for the nest?"

Viole tilted his head in confusion. "Aren't lights supposed to be white?"

"See? Black Turtle totally gets it!" Rak cackled to which Shibisu and Aguero rolled their eyes at.

"You both don't get it," Shibisu said, sitting comfortably on the countertop. It wasn't allowed, but it's break time so who cares? "AXIS is supposed to be a garden, and a haven for love interests. Therefore, with faerie lights, this place should feel magical. White is too plain and bland."

"Well I'm sorry for being colorblind," Viole said sarcastically. Although Shibisu wasn't technically wrong, he still hates his guts for being a hopeless romantic. Perks of having requited love.

"So, how do you plan to compromise?"

"We're thinking of letting the owner choose," Aguero said, smirking and clearly making fun of his situation. "We already narrowed down the shapes, but we need the approval of the master if we want to combine the colors. Which is Rak's purpose here. Shibisu is just being extra."

"Rude!"

Viole's tongue clicked in annoyance, but he still carefully selected colors he could remember the description he was taught in his childhood. "How about pink and gold?"

Wangnan clapped his hands like the child he is, while Rak looked at the brunet like he was impressed. "Are you sure you're not polychromatic?"

"Get out."

Laughter echoed around AXIS. They set a schedule for their beautification- the hour before night shift begins until the café closes.

"This better rake in mounts of cash, or I'm reinstating your employment fee."

They bid goodbye an hour later to get everything ready for tomorrow. Before they all went their separate ways, Viole found something strange today.

"Shibisu, did you change your usual outfit? Since when did your tracksuit became purple?"

The three glanced at each other, then to Viole.

"It is purple, right?"

to be continued.