????? ?????

NINETEEN.

Wait. Um...the last part? What...?

"Are you giving anything to him?" Nadia asked, curiosity seeping into her voice.

"Wait, let's rewind a bit..."

"Oh." She scoffed. "Dude. It's been a month since he saw you. And nagas are naturally very possessive of their mates—and then he sees you as some artist who happens to have matched with you, and they also have...you guys haven't slept together, have you? There's only one possible outcome from this."

"Oh..." Y/n had not considered it one bit. Not at all. Didn't Aruna say he wouldn't be able to make it to Valentines? What, did he really just kill his sister off verbally and chose to fly back?

"Oh, and Nagas mate for like, really long. Could go up to several hours."

Nadia looked meaningfully at him, and Y/n didn't like how there seemed to be an ulterior motive gleaming in her eyes.

Oh god. Y/n didn't even want to think of it. Like yes, he wanted to think of it—but no, he really didn't want to be all flustered right now.

"I have loads of goodies," Nadia deftly switched the topic, when she saw how Y/n  You can even give it to even acquaintances."

"You still have that look on your face."

"Aruna is more jealous than you know," She murmured. "A lot more jealous. He probably hates the idea of you being perceived as a couple with someone else—which is why I say, good luck to walking tomorrow."

"What?" This time, Y/n ignored the last few words she was saying, "hold on. What are you even—"

Nadia's eyes widened, looking scandalized. "It's all over Instagram!" She exclaimed, "that cute grocery store couple. Aira showed it to me. It's trending. Then I was like, holy shit, I know them! I sent it to you, have you not checked your phone?"

Speaking of which, he hadn't. But as he turned his phone on, a barrage of notifications greeted him.

Mostly missed calls from his close friends, and posts tagging him on Instagram. Seriously, what the fuck. "Nadia," He deadpanned, "I've known Caspian for a wonderful span of one month."

"Point is, though it's obvious that you really aren't cheating on Aruna or you don't have feelings for him, it's the thought. The implication. It's the thought that oh, maybe he's better suited for my lover than me, because they matched you. And now it's a matter of who you choose. Who you decide to choose ultimately."

"...I see." Y/n softened.

"You have met Jin and Caspian. Both matched with you. And you're in a relationship with Aruna, whom you also matched with. And..." Nadia sighed. "I know these things get messy. From the video, there was—there was some sort of easy going atmosphere. A tension, Y/n. Maybe you don't think so, but the tension between you two in the grocery store was legitimate."

...Tension? Was that really evident? Was the whole soulmate thing really...

No. It was too messy to begin with, between Y/n and Caspian. First, there was the fact that Y/n's first crush was Caspian's brother. But with Caspian, yes, he felt light. He felt...but it all boiled down to platonic feelings.

"Nadia," Y/n dragged out her name slowly, "You do know Caspian is going to find me. And kill me." He added. "He doesn't have a single smidge of feelings towards me. It's all negative."

"He won't," Nadia dismissed, "Look, if he really wanted to kill you, he would have done so a long time ago. To put it bluntly, you have been annoying him for a whole week. Aira, Morren and I were surprised you didn't get shipped out in a body bag." She shuddered, "That would have been a nightmare to clear up,"