To Rose, it had felt as though fate finally wanted her to meet her soulmate. Her plan had not been failproof. Attending Stray Kids' fan meeting would not give her any guarantee that Bang Chan would feel their bond. Just like he hadn't the first time she had seen him.

On the day that the tickets went on sale, Rose was nervous. Her best chance was to get a seat as close to the stage as possible, but just getting a ticket was going to be hard enough. Whether it was fate or pure luck, somehow, she managed to snag a floor seat.

The weeks leading up to the day Rose spent varying from excited, to nervous, to downright terrified. So much could go wrong, and even less could go right. She had imagined this day so many times over the past two years and now she wondered which of those scenarios will come true.

It was a few days before the fan meeting when something was delivered to Rose at work. It was a VIP backstage pass with a note.

Tell Wooyoung he owes me one. - Changbin

Now Rose didn't need to worry so much about catching Chan's attention during the show since she was now guaranteed to meet him and the others afterwards, but in a way that made her even more nervous.

When the day, she distracted herself from the thoughts of meeting her soulmate, to what she should wear. Even as she sat in her seat in the concert venue, she fiddled with the edges of her top and ran her hands over the material to smooth out the non-existent wrinkles.

It was a good thing that Wooyoung had asked for a favour from his friend because despite getting a floor seat Rose was nowhere near as close to the stage as she had hoped. It was also a relief because she hadn't wanted to distract her soulmate while he was on stage.

As the lights dimmed, Rose could hear her heart start to race. She took some measured breaths to calm herself, but when Bang Chan walked on stage, he took her breath away.

Wow, he looks good.

Her soulmate was sporting his new hair colour, silver, and was wearing dark skinny jeans with a white top and a pink jacket. Rose liked his look very much. However, the more she studied him the more she realised how different he looked, and it wasn't just the hair.

I saw him on Chan's room two weeks ago, how much weight has he lost? Seeing his fans in person after so long... he must have gone on a diet, especially for this.

Rose had personally watched as the members of ATEEZ had gone on diets for comebacks and performances. Unable to convince them that it wasn't needed, she instead kept a close eye on them to make sure they didn't go too far. It made her heart ache slightly that her soulmate had felt the need to do this for his fans.

After the initial performances, the first half of the fan meeting was a series of games. Their answers were generally cute, but a couple were more surprising, like Seungmin's. However, it was Changbin that caught her attention the most, other than her soulmate of course.

When the MC left, Stray Kids announced that they still had a lot left to show STAY, and it was time for a costume change. The theme of the fan meeting was a chocolate factory, which was fitting as it was the day before Valentines Day. The group's outfits, in the beginning, had fit this theme, cute and pink. Apparently, they decided to ditch this for the next part of the show.

She knew from the VCR that she needed to prepare herself, but nothing could have prepared Rose for her soulmate in a cropped shirt. Standing still, the bottom edge barely met the top of his trousers. When he moved, it would rise up just enough to tease STAY with a peek of bare skin. However, when he danced, they got more than just a peek. Rose barely managed to stop herself from swearing out loud at the sight.

Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised her, since she had watched the performance of WOLFGANG on Kingdom where Chan took his top off. Yet, he always acted so shy and embarrassed afterwards, that his body confidence on stage shocked her.

Since it was very unlikely that Chan would be stripping on this kind of stage, Rose thought that the cropped shirt would be the most that she would have to deal with that day. However, when they came back with new outfits to perform a cover of EXO's Call Me Baby, her jaw dropped.

While the cropped shirt had been loose and fluttered around as he danced, this new outfit consisted of a tight-fitting asymmetric cropped jacket. This time Chan didn't need to move an inch to show off his abs.

It's a good thing I'm not a jealous person. How do soulmates of Idols cope?

And then Chan sang 'baby girl'.

Oh my... I think I just died. Yep, I'm dead.

Unfortunately, they only did one song in those outfits before changing for the last part of the show.

After an emotional ending, Rose followed the instructions Changbin had sent her and after most of the audience had left, she showed her VIP pass to a member of staff. They took her to a room backstage that was empty apart from one member.

"Hi, Felix."

"Rose! It's nice to see you again. Did you enjoy the show?"

"It was awesome. You did well. I bet it was hard not to dance though, how are you feeling?"

"Thank you. It was so hard! I'm okay though."

"Do you know how long it will take to heal?"

"Not for certain. Weeks. Maybe months."

"I wish you a speedy recovery and if you ever need anything, let me know."

"Thank you."

"And you can call me Noona if you want."

"Thank you, Rose-Noona."

"How have you -"

They were interrupted by the arrival of the other members. Rose's eyes glanced over them all looking for one in particular, but Chan wasn't with them. Trying not to show her disappointment, she smiled and greeted the rest of the group.

"Hello!"

"Hello?"

They looked a little confused as they greeted her back until Changbin stepped forwards.

"This is Rose. She works with ATEEZ and is also our fan."

She could see them all relax a little after learning who she was, and Jisung stepped forwards with a friendly smile.

"STAY? Nice to meet you! Did you enjoy the show?"

"It was amazing. You all worked hard."

"Thank you!"

Felix spoke up from next to her.

"Where's Chan-Hyung?"

"Oh, he's right behind us."

Seungmin turned to look behind them at the door and as if he had heard them, Chan walked in.

Rose's heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She had been waiting for over two years for this moment, so it felt like a dream being in the same room as her soulmate.

She waited with bated breath for him to notice her. As they locked eyes, Rose felt almost euphoric. The feeling of hope she remembered from that first time she had seen him, stole her breath away once more. She had to restrain herself from reaching out but hoped that perhaps he would offer to shake her hand, knowing that touch would make the feeling stronger.

"Chan-Hyung, this is Rose-Noona, who works with ATEEZ."

"Oh, hey. Nice to meet you."

Chan gave her his usual friendly smile and a casual wave of his hand along with his greeting. He acted as if he were meeting just a random person and not the one with the missing piece of his soul.

For Rose, it felt like she was having deja-vu of that day two years ago, as she suddenly felt cold.

Does he not feel it too? Am I imagining it? Or worse, is he just ignoring it?

Rose was half confused and half heartbroken. This wasn't how she imagined them finally meeting, but she put on a brave face and made small talk with all the members.

"Well, I should go. Thank you for letting me say hello. You've made this STAY's dreams come true. Goodbye."

Rose was walking towards the door before she even finished talking, but she allowed herself one last look at her soulmate as she waved goodbye.

And then she left the room, Stray Kids, and her soulmate.