[FIC] Soulmates: Selene

Title: Soulmates: Selene
Characters: Eunhyuk, Jo Kwon, SJ, 2AM, OC
Rating: PG
Chaptercount: 1/22
Summary: One unexpected yet scheduled meeting brings with it the start of so much more.
A/N: The first story I wrote with Super Junior in it lol. I was a bit of a fan at that time and Hyukjae was the first member of Super Junior I knew. I gradually learned more about them as I wrote this story so if some things don't add up at all, don't blame me lol. Not going to give the other chapters a different A/N as I'm posting all this up in one go & I don't have inspiration for 20 A/Ns LOL.

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“Excuse me?”

They turned around surprised upon hearing the voice. It was not often that one could hear English being spoken in this country and it was even more rare for people to talk to them in general. They obviously looked like foreigners, so they both wondered what the reasons of this person could have been to approach them. When they looked into a young man’s eyes, they were a little surprised, yet neither of them forgot to be polite.

“Eh, yes?” Afreya said, smiling politely and bowing her head a bit in what they had made their western substitute of a real bow. It was hard to forget about what they had learned and what they were so used to doing, so they had just made it a little less explicit.

“Can we help you with something?” Selene added to her friend’s words, showing him the same head-bow. She studied his face in the few seconds she had before he started talking, noticing that he as well had a few Asian features, one of them being the slightly smaller and very dark eyes. His expression was quite shy, as if he wasn’t sure if it was okay to simply walk up to people and ask them a question.

“Do you.. Speak other language?” he tried to ask them. Well, that cleared up the question about why he would try talking to them. He had probably hoped that they really were foreigners and spoke some Asian language, preferably one he could speak as well. Selene couldn’t help smiling a little when she thought of that, shortly looking at her friend, only to see that Afreya was looking at her as well.

The two had been friends ever since primary school. In the third grade, they had ended up in the same class, almost immediately becoming best friends, which hadn’t changed since. Having spent such a decent amount of time together made them very alike, so it was no surprise that they were both thinking about the same thing. The chuckle they tried to hide with a cough was the perfect proof of their similar thinking.

“Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, French, German,..” Yet again Afreya was the first to talk, immediately followed by Selene who added: “You name it, we speak it.” There was a short silence, before both at the same time said: “Probably.”

The young man looked at them like they had gone crazy, but quickly fixed his expression so that it became a polite smile. He seemed to be at a loss of words, staring at them for a while without saying anything. They just politely waited for him to regain control over his mind again, which happened a few moments later. A shock seemed to go through him and he softly shook his head as if to wake himself up.

“You both speak all those languages?” he asked, making it obvious exactly what he had been so surprised about earlier. It took them a few seconds to realise he had switched to speaking Korean. Selene couldn’t help smiling a little again, shaking her head.

“No. It’s more like, I speak half, she speaks the other half. We’re interpreters.” she explained to him, using Korean as well. His mouth formed an ‘o’ without sound, making both of them softly chuckle again. “But is there something you want to know?” Selene then went on. Afreya stayed out of the conversation a little more, since Korean wasn’t one of her strongest languages. Apart from Japanese, the Asian languages were more Selene’s thing, while Afreya concentrated on European languages. English was the only other language they were both fluent in.

“Ah right. I’m trying to find the information centre, but there are no signs whatsoever around here. I was wondering if maybe you knew where to find it or if you could tell me how to ask someone else in English?” The young man immediately looked much more sure of himself the moment he was able to speak a language he knew.

“What do you need from the information centre?” Selene immediately asked. “Because if it’s information, I recommend you to ask me. It took us half a week to find the damn thing as well, but they only provide you with lots of stupid folders for all kinds of great activities, while being completely oblivious to the fact that we might have a busy schedule and just want to know a damn address.” Her words were accompanied with a sour expression, but merely moments later her smile reappeared again. “If you have to meet someone there, however, we are willing to guide you. Just following someone’s instructions will probably get you lost in this maze.”

The young man eyed the both of them, hesitating a little before answering as if he was debating with himself about taking their offer or declining it. Selene thought that a very strange thing, since there was nothing he could do wrong by just letting them lead him to the information office. It wasn’t like they would suddenly rob him or take him all the way around the city just to leave him in some tiny alley. At least she hoped they didn’t look like that kind of people to him. Finally he seemed to take a decision and his smile reappeared.

“That would be very kind of you.” he said, still speaking Korean. “I would really appreciate that, but only if you don’t have any urgent appointments to attend to, of course.” His words made Selene think about their busy schedule, but she decided to just sacrifice a little part of her free lunch time to help this kind-looking young man. She quickly turned to Afreya to talk about the matter at hand and their limited time. After a quick discussion in Japanese, they came to an agreement, turning to the young man again.

“We’ll bring you to the information centre. That much time we are able to spare, it’s not that far.” Selene said with a friendly smile. She then motioned to his luggage. “Maybe we can help you by carrying something. You seem to have brought a lot.” He seemed to be taken aback by her sudden comment about his belongings, but regained himself only seconds later and nodded a little.

“That’s very kind of you.” he said, handing her one of his bags. When she took it, she decided he must have given her the lightest one of all, because it weighed almost nothing. She immediately handed the bag to Afreya, reaching out her hand to take a second one from the young man. He was obviously surprised by this action, but did give her a second bag, although hesitantly. The bag was noticeably heavier than the first one, which made her smile. Without further nonsense, she started to walk, putting her arm through Afreya’s as she did so, so that they walked quite close to each other. The young man walked along with them, but it must have been obvious to others that they didn’t know one another, because he kept a polite distance.

“So what brings you here?” Selene tried to keep up the conversation. The young man turned his head to look at her, making her feel a little uncomfortable. He seemed to think about everything he was going to say before actually saying it. It made her feel uncomfortable and anxious. The smile he gave her merely seconds later, made the annoyed feeling disappear, but she still thought him a little weird. Thinking about him made her realize she didn’t even know his name yet, but she decided to keep that question for a later time.

“I’m here on vacation.” he said, genuinely smiling as if he really enjoyed that idea.

“What would someone from Korea go on vacation to Germany for, where it’s even worse weather than at home?” Afreya asked in Japanese. Selene looked at her friend with a frown, motioning her to shut up. It wasn’t a very nice thing to say, so she was happy the young man didn’t appear to have understood. Right when she wanted to give a nice reply, he talked himself.

“What did she say?” Selene couldn’t help rolling her eyes at Afreya before answering him.

“She wondered what brought you here, since it’s not like the weather here is better than in Korea. Neither is there anything special going on here as far as we know.” she explained in the most polite way she could manage. The young man only smiled at her words.

“Does she understand Korean?” he asked. When she nodded, he directed his words to Afreya. “I just came here to see a different country and explore a bit of the European world. I didn’t really have a specific reason for coming to this country, it just turned out to be Germany and not France or something.” During his explanation he seemed to open up a little towards them, showing them a more relaxed side of himself, which made them get more relaxed as well.

“What exactly does he need at the information centre?” Afreya suddenly asked. Selene immediately gave her friend another reprimanding look because of the bold question, but as expected the young man had heard it and wanted her to translate it, so she did.

“Afreya, curious as she is, was asking what you needed at the information centre. If you think that too much of an intruding question, you of course do not have to answer this.” she said, trying to be as neutral and un-pushing as possible. He immediately waved away her worries, smiling brightly.

“Oh it’s not much, I just needed the number of the hotel I’m staying at and possibly some directions to it as well.” he explained. It was obvious that he was feeling more comfortable as time passed. “Because I was given directions when I arrived, but I couldn’t find it at all. Which probably is because of my great understanding of the German language.” He added the right amount of sarcasm to his last words, making them chuckle.

“Where are you staying at exactly?” Selene asked on, letting her own curiosity out as well, since he was giving honest and immediate answers. The name of the hotel he tried saying, however, didn’t sound anything like a name she had heard before. Without thinking she blurted out a very impolite and sudden ‘What?’ that made him laugh a little embarrassed. His embarrassed expression was so cute she had to hold back an adoring squeal.

“Yah, my German isn’t that good as you can hear.” he said, still as embarrassed as before. “I have it written down somewhere, wait..” He immediately started to search his pockets, in an unsuccessful attempt to find what was probably a little paper. After a few minutes of searching, he suddenly hit his own forehead and took out his GSM, quickly moving through the options. When he found what he was looking for, he showed her the screen, which had the name of a hotel on it. The moment she read it, she stopped walking and started laughing softly. Her two companions stared at her in surprise, probably thinking she was crazy.

“That’s where we’re staying as well.” she said, grinning a bit still. “And we’re walking in the exact opposite direction at the moment.” The two, who now at least understood the situation, couldn’t help but laugh a little as well at the silliness of the situation.

After a little while of hesitating and the young man’s acceptation of their offer to let them guide him to the hotel, they turned around and walked back the same way they had come. The rest of the conversation was about the coincidence of him staying in the same hotel as them. Selene was even brave enough to ask a bit more about his vacation, how long he was staying, what he planned on doing and stuff like that. He sometimes hesitated, but in the end answered all her questions.

Of course he also asked them the same things, so she answered as detailed as she could be, without revealing too much. They had been given the assignment to meet a celebrity in the hotel they were staying at to give him or her a short explanation of the country and help that person with every possible need. They did not know the name of this celebrity, nor any other information. They were told to meet him or her at 3 PM in one of the hotel rooms and from then on they would have to work it out by themselves.

Only because they did not know the identity of this celebrity, did they both come. If they had at least been given the language he or she spoke, only one of them could have gone and the other one could have taken another assignment, that would have given them a bit more income. Luckily this assignment was well-paid and the full trip had been paid as well by whoever had ordered them to Germany. However, they had been ordered not to mention anything about their assignment to anyone, so it was hard to be as honest as possible without revealing anything.

When they finally reached the hotel, the two girls realized they had already spent quite a lot of time with this young man and their appointment was only about forty minutes away. That’s why they led him to the reception, reassuring him that the woman was very skilled in speaking English before preparing to leave to their room. The young man stopped them by raising his voice.

“Well, maybe we’ll bump into each other again. Thanks so much for your help. I hope I can see you again before leaving..” he said. Without thinking, Afreya replied with “Our room is number 098, ninth floor.”, immediately blushing after saying so. She slapped a hand over her mouth, stared at the young man a few moments, before quickly turning to her friend and giving her a desperate look, silently asking for help. Selene quickly acted, smiling politely at the young man, nodding a goodbye and dragging her friend away. Behind her she could hear him reply ‘Simmens’ to the receptionist’s question about his name. Once in the elevator, both girls burst out in unprofessional giggles.

“He was so cute!” Afreya said, chuckling and blushing a little.

“Yes! And did you see his smile? It was to die for!” Selene added. They giggled even louder, covering their faces with their hands.

“Oh I hope we will see him again. I can’t believe I actually blurted out our room number. Oh God. I bet he has the most amazing body ever. Did you see those arm muscles? Dragging all those bags, he must have a lot of strength.” Afreya freaked about it some more and Selene couldn’t help thinking about him either. He had been so kind, yet at the same time a little reserved, without being insulting. As Afreya had very bluntly mentioned, he did not look bad at all and on top of that he was nice and funny. Even though they had been all admiring and giggly in the elevator, once the doors opened, their faces were straight again and they calmly walked out into the hallway.

“Okay, so we got about thirty minutes before we got to meet this person. Do you want to take a shower first?” Afreya asked her friend, but Selene shook her head.

“I’ll just throw some water in my face and brush a comb through my hair.” she replied, casually pushing her hair back behind her ear. She was still smiling a little sheepishly. “I showered this morning and it’s not like we did a lot of tiring things.”

They arrived at their room and both girls immediately went to their own business. Selene quickly went to freshen up, while Afreya changed into a more comfortable jeans. They finished by inspecting each other’s looks and nodding approvingly. In a silent agreement, Afreya started getting together the papers they would need to explain some things to the celebrity, while Selene quickly checked the right room number they would have to go to in the mail that was sent to her. Even though they were going to meet a famous celebrity, they were not nervous at all, as they had done it a few times before already. That’s why they set off to room 022 with a confident walk.

Out of sportive thinking, they decided to take the stairs, so it took them a little longer to get where they were supposed to be. Slightly out of breath, they finally reached the second floor, but didn’t have to walk far to find room 022. They paused in front of the door a moment to catch their breaths, but then Afreya politely knocked. There was a tense moment of silence before they could hear someone approaching. When the door opened, they both stared in surprise at the person eyeing them.

“Well, I’d say you found my room pretty fast.” The young man from before said in Korean, smiling politely, yet obviously being at a loss of words about their sudden appearance at his room. “What brings you here?” he finally managed to ask them, trying to keep up the polite conversation. There was no cooperation from the girls who just stared at him. How could they have gotten the wrong room number? Selene had checked it twice just to be extra sure. Did this person give them the wrong information? Maybe they should go to the reception and ask if the hotel knew anything.

“Ehm.. I’m sorry, mister Simmens..” Selene finally managed to say. In her confusion she had turned to very formal speech and she was using the name she had heard him say to the receptionist earlier. “..but we were told to meet someone here in this room. We were supposed to help this person with what he or she was going to do on his or her vacation.” The young man’s expression turned surprised as he looked from one girl to the other. In the end, he took a step back and motioned them to come in. A little unsure and confused, they walked into the room, which turned out to be more like a small apartment than just a room. The young man closed the door behind them, before walking them to the couch in what was probably sort of the living room.

“I am this person you are supposed to meet, apparently.” he said, turning back to look at them. He motioned them to sit down, but they were still too stunned to really do much. To be polite, he couldn’t sit down either before they did, so the three of them were awkwardly standing in front of the couch, looking at one another. Selene was trying her best to find something to say, but ‘I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you, but you don’t look famous at all.’ probably wasn’t the best thing to say at that very moment.

“Mister Simmens..” she finally managed to say, only to be interrupted by him before being able to say anything. “Please, my name is Lee Hyukjae. You can just call me Hyukjae.” Well, at least that name sounded much more Korean than Simmens had done, but it still didn’t ring any bells. How in the world was she going to tell this oh so famous Korean celebrity that she had never heard of him before? He seemed to notice her hesitation, because he started to explain some more. “You might not know me by my real name. My stage name is Eunhyuk.”

Before Selene could admit she didn’t know that name either, Afreya suddenly let out a high-pitched sound, immediately clasping a hand over her mouth and bowing a few times in the hard-to-lose Japanese politeness they had been raised to show. Hyukjae tried to stop her, but she still managed to bow five more times before standing up straight again. Her eyes were pointed at the ground, a little blush colouring her cheeks. It was only after a little while that she managed to say something again.

“Super Junior’s Eunhyuk?” she asked, shyly lifting her head to look at the young man with obvious interest. The latter seemed to understand her, even though she had spoken English, but his group name probably sounded familiar enough to him. He nodded, unable to hide a little smile.

“Have you heard of us?” he asked, genuine surprise sounding through in his voice. Afreya nodded and slowly a little flame started lighting up Selene’s memories as well.

“Super Junior? The thirteen people band?” she asked, still using Korean. Hyukjae nodded again, making her gasp for air. Suddenly she realized that she should have recognised him, seeing that she had seen him on some Korean programs a lot lately, but he looked so different in real. And if she was very honest with herself, he just looked so normal that she had never expected him to be the famous superstar he turned out to be.