when wooyoung opened his eyes, he was at the moon goddess' cloud palace. it was just as beautiful as he remembered and he took in a deep breath, inhaling the natural scent of the cold breeze up here.

wooyoung knocked twice on the gate before it opened itself to wooyoung, the fellow creatures living in the palace greeting him as he went by. none of them seemed to be phased with wooyoung being here, which seemed weird to the moon dust. did the moon goddess already know that he was arriving?

"wooyoung-ah," the moon goddess greeted him. wooyoung immediately bowed, a faint smile on his face as she led him into her room. the palace was peaceful and tranquil, just like the choi castle down on earth.

wooyoung's mind wandered off to the prince. how was he feeling? was he still mad at wooyoung? probably, and wooyoung didn't blame him. san had all the right to be mad at him. he didn't tell him for so long and for san to find it out through the moon goddess? among all of wooyoung's plan of telling san, that was certainly not one of them.

the moon goddess rarely made contact with humans, let alone royalty. she once expressed her dislike towards certain royalties in other parts of the world, saying that she was annoyed with how they think they could easily twist their fate just because they were above everyone else. so when san told wooyoung that the moon goddess personally informed him that wooyoung was his soulmate, wooyoung was surprised, to say the least, that the moon goddess would break her own rules just to tell san that.

"i assume you're here to talk about your red string?" the moon goddess asked, sitting on her throne at the head of the long table and motioning wooyoung to sit down on one of the chairs adorned with purple velvet, reminding wooyoung painfully of the royal purple everywhere in the choi castle. wooyoung sat down, nodding, "yes, ma'am. i just—i thought we're not supposed to have a soulmate at all."

the moon goddess hummed, confirming wooyoung's thoughts. wooyoung sighed, "then why am i connected to the crown prince of south korea by the red string of fate? i-i don't understand. i never saw our names on the book either."

"it was a suggestion from the other gods, including Aphrodite, who treasures you a lot, i'm sure you know." yes, Aphrodite was the one that blessed him with magic. it was funny, since it was usually Hecate who blessed the sorcerers. wooyoung was an exception, but he knew why Aphrodite liked him a lot. she was in love with his great-grandfather, and had therefore been protecting and loving the jung's for many generations. wooyoung was the lucky one for generations to have been blessed by Aphrodite's magic, earning him the right of a place in the magic academy as well as gifted with out-of-the-worldly beauty.

"they believed that moon dusts should be given a chance, too, to be given a chance to fall in love as well. i was against it, as you always know i would be against these matters, but i had to follow the results of the vote, or else that wouldn't be democracy. so you, along with all the moon dusts around the world, had magically found yourselves with a red string attached to you one morning three weeks ago." the moon goddess sipped from her wine. she blinked once and scrunched her face up in disgust. "you don't seem satisfied with my answer, wooyoung-ah."

wooyoung gulped, contemplating whether or not to be straightforward with the goddess. see, the logical answer would be no, just get it over with so the goddess doesn't get mad at him. but he already got san angry, so it wouldn't really hurt too much if wooyoung pissed another person off.

only difference was that the moon goddess could actually kill him off whenever, but that's another matter for future wooyoung to worry about.

"no, i'm not," wooyoung replied, looking straight at the goddess. panic was starting to form in his stomach, the fear for his life started to kick in. but the moon goddess only smiled and nodded, silently telling him to go on and continue talking. "why—why choi san? it could've been anyone but him. i'm in no way complaining about having a soulmate, but it could've been anyone. just-just think of the inconveniences that could've been avoided if we weren't soulmates, if his soulmate was one of the princesses in the castle right now. it just—it just had to be me, didn't it?"

the moon goddess chuckled. she puts down her glass of wine on the table and plucked a piece of green grape off its stem and into her mouth. her eyes glowed up, making wooyoung wonder if those grapes were really, really good to the point where a goddess would be surprised. the moon goddess must've saw wooyoung's expression, handing a grape to him. wooyoung widened his eyes. it wasn't just every day a goddess offers you food. "eat. it'll make you feel better." she said, placing the grape in wooyoung's palm. wooyoung nodded, eating it and widened his eyes as well.

the grape had got to be from heaven, or Mt. Olympus, or wherever all the gods live. it was scrumptious, making wooyoung want to savour every single lingering taste of it on his taste buds. "Dionysus grew these himself. you could probably grow the same down there with your chlorokinesis. you really are the best of us, wooyoung-ah."

wooyoung shook his head quickly, swallowed the grape and started blabbering, "ma'am, you really are exaggerating. and-and i couldn't grow these out of nothing. i'll need the seed of it and i doubt Dionysus would be so kind-hearted as to gifting me one. or even exchanging it for something i have. also, i'm anything but good. i-"

wooyoung stopped himself before he could show his true emotions towards the san soulmate thing. he didn't want to reveal his feelings to the moon goddess. the moon goddess looked at him, her smile unwavering as she whispered, "you've hurt him, haven't you?"

wooyoung nodded, head hung low and decided against saying anything. the moon goddess sighed, "wooyoung-ah. why did you come here? knowing you, you wouldn't just be asking why san is your soulmate. that's done. it couldn't be undone. you know that, wooyoung-ah."

"i do, ma'am, which is why i'm suggesting this." wooyoung drew in a deep breath. he had a purpose to come up here. he should offer it on the table before he cowered away again. "is it possible for you to change his soulmate to someone else?"

the moon goddess raised an eyebrow, her silver eyes glimmering, "are you sure about this, wooyoung-ah? i've—i've seen the two you interact. my cat, bastet, have been down to the kingdom lately and she reported back to me about all the times you've spent with him. even i could tell that you're in love, wooyoung-ah, and although humans often depict me as a soulless, stoic figure, i feel. i really do. i can see how happy, how relaxed you are when you're with him. and i would want nothing more but happiness for you. you truly are one of my favourites, not only because you're so powerful and so perfect for a moon dust, but also because of your unique personality. the selflessness you have, the compassion you have for everyone else, the love you have for anyone. i mean it when i say that you are the best of us. blessed with my powers, Demeter and Dionysus' chlorokinesis, Hecate's magic of the mist, and Aphrodite's beauty — they all love you, and they would only want the best for you."

"i appreciate that, ma'am, i really do." wooyoung smiled, a tear escaping his eyes unknowingly. he reached up to wipe it away, but more poured out of his eyes as he erupted into a series of sobs. "b-but san deserves someone better than me, some-someone people will look up to and acknowledge as the partner of the crown prince. that person isn't me. it'll never be me."

the moon goddess looked at wooyoung to see if there's any sign of hesitation, but she could tell that the moon dust had set his mind already. the moon goddess sighed, standing up from her throne and walked over to wooyoung, placing a kiss on his hair. "i'll see what i can do. it's time you go back down, wooyoung-ah. they're worried about you." she whispered. with a little sprinkle of actual moon dust, wooyoung's eyes were closed again and when he woke up, —

he was in his bedroom, tears flowing out of his eyes nonstop as his pillow was already semi-wet from the tears.

wooyoung allowed himself to cry, allowed himself to break down and curled into a ball, clutching onto his pillow as he yelled out, cried out, until he couldn't anymore. his heart hurts so much. his head hurts so much. his love—his love for san hurts so much.

but wooyoung knew that it was the right thing to do. there was no other way.

—

a/n: i rly said lets speed through this book. also sorry for the late update i fell asleep pretty early last night ahahaha