The answer was immediate. Just a couple of minutes after sending the message, the boy replied telling him he had the entire afternoon free. After that, Yoongi sent him the location of the meeting place and the time.

It seemed quite surreal that he was here, in a coffee shop, waiting for his soul mate to arrive. The act itself wasn't surreal, but the fact that he was the one starring in it.

He had grown up surrounded by people who made the perfect match and people who made their own decisions, even if they did not include their soulmate. He had become one of the last, deciding that only he was the master of his destiny, that no one could impose on him who he should spend the rest of his existence with.

Oh, how wrong he was! Everything he thought he knew had fallen apart like a house of cards in recent weeks, leaving him confused and ashamed at how little he knew about something that accompanied him for practically his entire life.

If three years ago someone had told him he was going to end up in this situation, he would have laughed in his face. He probably would have told him he would reject his other half in no time at all, as if it were a mere bureaucratic procedure in which you sign and you have everything solved. From this perspective, he sounded quite presumptuous and despotic, and Yoongi winced mentally at this.

The sound of a bell brought him out of his thoughts. He glanced toward the entrance just in time to see a tall, slightly tanned young man enter. It was Jungkook, dressed in tight black jeans, brown boots, a white shirt, and a red zip-up jacket. His dark hair was combed to one side, exposing part of his forehead and giving him a carefree and casual air.

After looking around and finding the place where Yoongi was sitting, the boy walked over to the table. Yoongi didn't want to admit it, but he was nervous, and he could feel that Jungkook was too. They both knew that this was a defining moment.

"Hello, Yoongi-ssi." Jungkook greeted him with a slight bow.

"Hello, Jungkook." He replied with a barely appreciable smile. He didn't want to be too nice from the start and give the boy hope, but he didn't want him to feel uncomfortable either.

After the boy sat down, a server came to take their order: a coffee for Yoongi, for a change, and hot chocolate for Jungkook. Without a drink within reach, Yoongi had no choice but to intertwine his fingers on the table so as not to reveal his nervousness. Jungkook, meanwhile, was dedicated to looking around, and Yoongi did not know if it was his way of hiding that he was nervous or if he was really interested in the site's decoration. Maybe it was both.

"Yoongi-ssi." Suddenly Jungkook started. "Jimin Hyung told me you weren't interested in this soulmate thing, so I thank you for inviting me."

Wow, the kid wasn't beating around the bush.

"You don't have to thank me for anything. It's something I had to do at some point." He replied with a shrug, shrugging it off.

"I know, but you could have passed me off. It wouldn't have been very nice. Not nice, actually, but it would have been your decision." Jungkook said with a grimace as he played with the fabric of the jacket between his fingers. "So thank you, Yoongi-ssi." The boy finished.

"Hyung."

Jungkook blinked several times without understanding. "Sorry?"

"Call me Hyung." Yoongi clarified. He appreciated that people were polite and didn't take too much trust, but every time he heard his name come out of Jungkook's lips accompanied by that honorific, his hair stood on end and an unpleasant sensation took place in his stomach. "Don't get it wrong. It's just that it seems too formal for this situation." Yoongi made sure his gaze expressed that he was being sincere.

Jungkook replied with a simple "Okay, Hyung" while a slight blush tinged his cheeks. Yoongi didn't know for sure the reason for the blush, but he found it fucking adorable. At that moment the server arrived with their drinks, allowing each one to focus on organizing their thoughts.

All those things he had said he was going to say to his soulmate once he found them ran through his mind again. If he could, he would laugh. It was easier said than done, and if you add to that the fact that Jungkook, his soul mate, his other half, his fated soul, had saved his life, it was almost mission impossible to spit out those sharp and final words. But what else could he say to him in this situation? Surely the boy expected something more from him, as happened in those soap operas where the two people met and decided that they would spend the rest of their lives together with just five minutes of conversation.

"I'm sorry," Yoongi said after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Why?" Jungkook asked with his head cocked, his big brown eyes looking at him curiously. For an instant, Yoongi remembered his dog, Holly.

"For this whole situation," Yoongi said as he gestured with one hand between them. "You probably expected something else. Something similar to what they say on TV about couples with a nice meeting and a happy ending. But the truth is, I don't think I can offer you something like that."

That had turned out much better than he had thought, and Yoongi gave himself a mental pat in celebration. Putting that aside, he was slightly concerned about the boy's silence. Not that he expected the boy to jump out of his seat in outrage or to say whatever rudeness came to mind; he didn't seem like the type of person to do something like that. But his silence had him on edge. Even more so because of the way he was frowning and staring at his drink as if it had done him the worst offence in the world.

"That's absolute bullshit, Hyung." Jungkook blurted out when he finally deigned to look at Yoongi again. The boy was still frowning, and his gaze was filled with something very similar to indignation, although Yoongi believed he saw something else in it, but he didn't know exactly what.

To say that Jungkook surprised him at such a comment was an understatement. But maybe Yoongi deserved it, after all. Until now, he hadn't had the slightest intention of being nice by rejecting his other half. Despite everything, his face remained expressionless, as if he had not heard what the young man had said, or as if he cared little. Inside, it was the opposite. It was as if a weight had settled on his chest, and Yoongi didn't know if it was disappointment, rejection, or something else.

"Those programs do nothing but distort reality." Jungkook continued. And Yoongi no longer knew if his previous words had been directed at him or what he had said about soap operas and TV shows.

"Is that why you think they are absolute bullshit?" He asked with his head slightly tilted, curious, expectant. He wanted to make sure that his words were referring to that and not the fact that Yoongi couldn't offer him a relationship.

"You are right. With that kind of content, all they do is fool people and make them believe that when they meet their soul mate, it will all be fireworks and they will fall madly in love with each other. That is not how it works."

Of all the possible answers Jungkook could've given him, this was not one that was expected, and Yoongi was curious to know what Jungkook meant by the last thing he said. It was unlikely that the boy had gone through the same, or something similar, to what had happened to him, but Yoongi wanted to know the reason for that though.

"Love is not something forced," Jungkook replied as if he had heard his thoughts. The boy had gone from looking at Yoongi to the people walking down the street through the large windows of the cafeteria. Yoongi couldn't stop looking at Jungkook, now under another lens.

Part of him was surprised and fascinated that someone else had the same opinion on the subject, while the other part suspected that perhaps he was doing it to look good with him, to gain his trust, although not even his own mind seemed to believe it.

"Do you believe in soulmates, Jungkook?" Yoongi didn't know how, but the question had left his lips long before his mind could process it.

The boy turned his attention to him and nodded.

That we have these gems with us is proof enough to show that soulmates exist. It would be useless to carry something like this with you throughout your life if it didn't fulfil its purpose." The boy then touched his gem through the fabric of the shirt, searching for the right words to explain his thoughts. "I think there really is that person with whom you can share a special bond, although it doesn't have to be in romantic terms. They can be friends or even part of your family."

Yoongi just silently nodded. The boy spoke confidently, as if he knew that his words carried the truth. This boy, Jungkook, was really interesting, and in that certain respect, he reminded him of Namjoon when he rambled on about the origin of the world or the future of humanity as if he were a philosopher. Jungkook spoke as if he were ten years older, as if he had experienced firsthand the strange connections made by the universe.

"Have you never wanted to meet your soulmate, Yoongi Hyung?" The boy asked with curiosity and hope in his eyes.

"When I was little. Over time, I saw things that people did that made little sense to me. They hurt those who wanted them in favour of leaving with their soulmates, and I didn't understand how they could do such a thing." He didn't know why he was telling Jungkook this, but once the tap was turned on, it was impossible to turn it off again. 

"After seeing something like that, I refused to meet my soulmate. For a while things went well: I found someone who thought the same as me and with whom I connected. Neither of us had ever met our respective soul mates, but we didn't care because we had each other."

Yoongi took a drink of the coffee that had already cooled down. Jungkook waited patiently for him to continue.

"Unfortunately, he met his soulmate." He continued as he ran a finger over the edge of the coffeepot. "I didn't know until he told me himself. He couldn't refuse her, said he was curious to know what the person who had been,"assigned" was like. But then that curiosity turned into something else, I guess, and that's how he ended up breaking up with me to go with her."

"I'm sorry."

"Do not be sorry," Yoongi said, still with the lump in his throat. Despite the time, he still had a hard time talking about it. "I would have liked to know from the beginning that he had met his soulmate, but I can't blame him for what he did either. At least he had the decency to tell me before he left with her instead of cheating on me, not everyone would have done it."

After such a confession, the two of them fell silent again. Around him the cafeteria was more alive than ever since at that time of the afternoon it was the rush hour, but it seemed that there was a bubble around his table that silenced all those sounds.

"Yoongi Hyung." The aforementioned looked up to meet Jungkook's gaze. "Let me change your opinion about soulmates."

Yoongi could only blink several times until the words settled in his head.

"I've always wanted to meet my soulmate, and I think it's something everyone should be able to experience. I'm sorry you had to go through all that, but I would like... " 

The boy paused for a breath. "I'd like you to give this a chance, us. It doesn't have to be romantic!" The young man hastened to clarify. "We can start from scratch, without pressure and expectations. We can go at whatever pace you set, Hyung."

The boy finished speaking. His face was red as a tomato, and he had his lower lip between his teeth, nervous and expectant at Yoongi's response. Without taking these details into account, Yoongi would have been able to tell it from its gem, which seemed to have turned into a second heart that would not stop beating and quivering. This reaction could be from his own heart since he had not expected this proposal by the young man. He thought that after hearing his story, the boy would lose interest and understand that it was a lost cause to get something from him as a soulmate; he had nothing to offer. But Jungkook had surprised him again, and his heart, damn it, even his mind, was screaming at him to accept that this opportunity would never be presented to him again.

Perhaps he had lost his remaining sanity, but Yoongi found himself unable to refuse what Jungkook had offered him. It was too tempting, and he was curious what the difference was between having a relationship, whatever it was, with your soulmate and anyone else. He didn't want to hold back, and Jungkook will go his own way. Each had made it clear what they wanted from the other. He just hoped this was the right decision and that he didn't end up regretting it.

"We could try." He answered after a few minutes of silence. It was only two minutes, but it seemed like many more until he answered. He was nervous, as if he had confessed his feelings to the boy.

"Really?" Jungkook asked with his big brown eyes full of hope.

"We could start as friends." He offered as he nibbled on his lower lip and grabbed his coffee mug, just to have something to do with them.

The few doubts he might still have regarding his decision were dispelled, at least for the moment, when the young man smiled from ear to ear, his eyes lighting up as if the formation of a universe were taking place in them, reminding him of that first meeting in the one whose paths met.

Yoongi saw the stars in his eyes again, the same ones that lit up the sky at night, and for the first time, he wanted to fly to reach them.

This story belongs to @nometoloko on AO3. I'm just her translator. 

Well, that was exceptional. I love writing this chap. They finally met, and it only took 42 chapters for that. For those who might not have guessed, this is gonna be a long-ass story. IDK how many chapters exactly but definitely over sixty. Hope you like it. I'm probably gonna update once more. Let's see. I'm also confirming Jun's soulmate is a female.