When Rose had lost her job, she had advertised herself for work as well as reached out to the contacts she had made over the past two years in case something came up at their companies. Yet, she was still shocked when JYP Entertainment called her to invite her for an interview.

Rose had a feeling that one of her new friends may have had something to do with her getting an interview. However, it wasn't an opportunity she could pass up. If other companies had the same stance on soulmates working in rival companies, then JYP may be the only place she could work with Idols.

"This job will involve working with our group Stray Kids. Their comeback is days away and for various reasons we need a new staff member. The position is a little bit of everything for now. You'll mostly be like a personal assistant for the group, making sure they have everything they need, helping out the makeup artists and stylists. Do you think this is something you would be good at?"

"Yes. My last job was similar. Although I was mainly the makeup artist's assistant, I helped the other staff when needed."

"You were there two years? We already contacted them for a reference, and they had nothing but good things to say. Hard-working and dedicated. Why did you leave that job?"

"The truth? They fired me because they found out that my soulmate works at another entertainment company. They were worried about loyalty."

"I see. Well, our contracts are such that we wouldn't share those concerns. None of our employees would take the risk of breaking their contracts. You understand?"

"I do."

"Good. We'll be in touch once we've made our decision, most likely by the end of the day as we will need you to start straight away."

"Thank you."

Rose wasn't expecting to be abused as soon as she stepped into the hallway.

"Noona! How did it go?"

The sight of Changbin's smiling face brought a smile to her own face.

"Hello, Changbin. How did you know I was here?"

"It's one of my superpowers. Come on, I want to show you something."

The rapper grabbed her wrist and started leading her through the building until they stopped outside a door.

"What are we doing?"

"This is Chan-Hyung's studio. You can say no, but he would really like to talk to you."

Rose hoped Changbin didn't notice how her body stiffened at the mention of Stray Kids' leader.

"Oh? Why would he want to talk to me?"

"We both know why, Noona. I know your first meeting must have been upsetting, but can you give him a second chance?"

"You know?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Since the fan meeting. After you left, Chan went looking for you. He didn't find you, but when I found him, he told me that he had just met his soulmate."

"So, he knows?"

She pointed towards the closed door and Changbin gave her a small nod. Rose took a deep breath as she tried to process what the new information she had learnt meant.

"Will you talk to him?"

The answer was always going to be yes. At the very least Rose needed the closure, the confrontation that she never got to have the last time that they met.

"Okay. I need to talk to him anyway."

"Great. Did you want me to go in with you?"

"I got this. Thanks, Changbinnie. I'll see you later."

"Y-you're welcome, Noona. Bye."

Changbin walked away as Rose turned to the door. The rapper stopped partway down the hallway and turned back to watch as she entered the room.

Although she knocked, Chan had his headphones on and was busy working when she opened the door. Rose kept hold of the door handle as if it were her lifeline. She wasn't sure how she felt being face to face with this Idol once again. While a slither of hope was starting to rise within her, the way he had spoken to her before replayed in her mind.

Once she had regained control of herself, Rose stepped into the room so that she could close the door. She was sure that neither of them would want anyone to overhear their conversation and according to Changbin, his leader was expecting her.

As Chan still hadn't noticed her presence in his studio, too emersed in his music, Rose waved her arm in an effort to catch his attention. It worked. The Idol caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and when he turned to look the sight of Rose standing there made him jump. He fumbled about as he tried to pause the music that was playing, took his headphones off, and stood up.

"You came. Uh, I mean, hello. Thank you for agreeing to speak with me."

"No need to thank me. I wanted to speak to you too."

"Come in and have a seat."

Chan stepped towards her, and Rose knew the moment that he felt their connection. He didn't hide his reaction this time as he stared at her with wide eyes.

She held up her hand as if she was asking for a high five, which he hesitated to return.

Please.

When their hands touched, Rose almost cried out in relief. She had truly begun to believe that she had imagined everything that she was just another crazy fan who wanted her Idol to be her soulmate. Finally, she had confirmation that this Idol was her soulmate, the only problem was that she thought she would be happier with that knowledge.

As she had felt it twice before, granted that it wouldn't have been as strong as with skin-to-skin contact, Rose was able to stand her ground as the feeling of hope that their soulmate bond provided washed over her. However, Chan had a different experience. When the feeling that the bond provided hit him it was overwhelming, and he felt his knees buckle. His hand slipped away from her as he knelt down.

Perhaps if he hadn't tried to ignore the bond last time it would be affecting him so badly now.

However, the feeling itself took his breath away and he found himself looking up at Rose in awe.

Rose held out her hand to help him stand again.

"Are you okay? It's a bit overpowering the first time you feel it, right?"

As he accepted her hand and stood up, the feeling hit him again and he couldn't decide whether he wanted to push her away or hold her closer.

It was Rose that broke their physical connection first. Holding her soulmate's hand was making her head spin and she stepped away, taking a seat on the sofa while she tried to focus on the conversation she wanted to have with Chan.

Chan stood for a moment as he processed the loss of contact with his soulmate. It hadn't been at all what he had expected and now he couldn't believe that he had ever been so afraid of meeting his soulmate. He was starting to think that he had been wrong about everything, and he only hoped that it wasn't too late to fix things.

The Idol joined Rose on the sofa rather than sitting back in his desk chair, wanting to be closer to his soulmate. He tried to remember what he had wanted to say, but before he could apologise, she spoke first.

"I guess that means that you can feel it. You see, I wasn't sure after our last meeting."

There was a hint of bitterness behind her words that made Chan's chest ache with guilt.

"I'm really sorry about that. I panicked and decided to ignore what I was feeling. There's no excuse, but I would like to explain why I reacted that way."

"Yes. An explanation would be nice."

As Chan told her what he had told Changbin after the fan meeting, Rose felt her walls falter. While she had heard rumours that years ago Idols weren't allowed to be with their soulmates, it didn't affect many of the recent generation Idols. She hadn't considered how the Idol had grown up as a trainee in the industry since he was young.

"This doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to. We can just be friends, or I can leave and come back in a few years before the sickness starts. It's up to you."

Chan was taken aback by Rose's words. He didn't want any of that.

"What do you want?"

"Just knowing that I have found my soulmate is enough for me. I want you to be happy."

"I don't want you to leave."

"Then I won't."

"I think we should get to know each other first?"

"I agree. That's a good idea. I was here for a job interview, but I won't take it if you're not comfortable with me working here."

"You should take it. It will be easier to get to know one another if we both work at the same place."

What Chan didn't say was that he had been the one to make sure she got an interview in the first place.

"If I get the job, I'll be working closely with your group. Other than Changbin and Felix, do the others know about me?"

"No, I haven't told them anything yet."

"Are you going to? I just want to know how to introduce myself to them."

"I - I'll introduce you to them, as my soulmate."

"If you're sure?"

"Yeah, they'll have to know eventually anyway, right?"

"Right."

For some reason, Chan's words hurt Rose. He might not have meant it that way, but it sounded as if he didn't want his group members to know about her and was only introducing her that way because he had to.

Inside, Chan was kicking himself. It seemed like everything he said came out wrong. He had never been so nervous around someone before. He didn't think things could get any more complicated.

At least if shes working here I'll have plenty of opportunities to make things right.