UN 

Kibum groans when he enters the apartment complex. He takes the stairs up the four floors before he has to put down the bags of groceries so he can find the key. It takes a little fumbling before he gets the door open and he holds the door open with his foot while he collects the bags of groceries he had previously sat down before he stumbles into his apartment and the door slams shut behind him. He doesn’t even get to say anything before a muffled voice sounds from the living room. He rolls his eyes and continues into the kitchen, ignoring the other man on the couch.

Kibum slowly starts to put the groceries away while he hums the children’s song that has been stuck in his head for the past hour or two. Warm hands curl around his midsection and a body presses closer to his back before he feels the feverish forehead resting against his neck. The smile that spreads on his lips can’t be helped and he pats a hand softly.

“Go to sleep,” he tells the other man and is met with a muffled whine and a groan that sounds like it disagrees. “Your fever hasn’t gone down yet, babe.” The person behind him just buries deeper into his neck as if to hide. Kibum turns around in his hold and puts his hands on either side of the man’s cheeks before he softly kisses his lips. “Jinki, baby, go back to sleep.”

Jinki squints at him as if opening his eyes takes too much energy and Kibum just chuckles a little before he presses his lips to Jinki’s warm forehead. Jinki reluctantly returns to the couch when Kibum promises to bring food and cuddles as soon as he’s done with putting the groceries away.

Kibum returns to his task and when he finally closes the refrigerator he has hummed Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star about 20 times and it’s still stuck in his head. He warms a soup for Jinki despite knowing that the other man is not going to eat much of it. Jinki jerks out of his sleep when Kibum places himself on the couch beside him. Kibum runs his hand over the blanket before he gestures to the soup. Jinki just reaches a weak hand towards Kibum and Kibum takes it without questioning it.

“You should eat something,” he says and Jinki shakes his head, only to squeeze his eyes shut and press two fingers against his maxillary sinuses to ease the pain. Kibum intertwines their fingers and the back of Jinki’s hand that sports the words hey come back here scarred into his skin. Jinki coughs and buries his head into the pillow in a pathetic groan and Kibum smiles at him as he gives his hand a final squeeze before he gets up. “If you’re not going to eat, at least get some sleep. I love you.”

Jinki grabs his elbow when he gets up and Kibum turns to look at him.

“Sing for me,” he croaks and ends up in another cough and Kibum raises an eyebrow.

“You have a headache,” he says because Jinki always has a horrible headache whenever he has sinusitis. Jinki just looks at him and Kibum ends up sitting down on the couch again. The only song he can remember in the moment is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and so he sings that softly until Jinki has fallen asleep. Kibum shakes his head fondly at his fiancé before he leaves the living room so he can shower.

Jinki and Kibum met 10 years ago when they were still in high school. Kibum was in his junior year and had just transferred to his new school. His classmates had been interested in the new boy so he hadn’t really had time to be lonely yet but even with all the things going on, he had found himself staring at the building across his during class instead of paying attention. At that time, he hadn’t known that Jinki sat in a classroom, bored out of his mind, and stared towards Kibum.

They hadn’t met on school grounds, however. Kibum had been walking the puppy he had finally begged his parents to buy when he had collided with the senior and the dog had run off down the street. Kibum had automatically exclaimed “!” before realizing that he had lost the dog and then afterwards added 'Hey! Come back here!'. He had stumbled back on his feet but only when he had tried to run after the dog, had he realized that he couldn’t leave the young man in front of him.

“I know you,” the stranger had exclaimed after what seemed like a minute or two.

The pain as the words burned into the skin between his fourth and fifth rib had been enough for Kibum to realize that it was no accident that they were now standing in front of each other. They were looking at each other, Kibum only now really looking at the other. It felt like a magic bubble captured them for hours but when a scream had brought the two teenagers back it had only been 30 seconds and Kibum’s puppy had been hit by a bicycle.

Kibum wraps a towel around his waist and turns to grab the hair dryer off of the bathroom counter. i know you moves with the action and Kibum catches sight of it in the mirror. It’s not often that he stops to look at the words these days. They’ve been there for so long that he doesn’t need the reminder that he really belongs to Jinki anymore. They still make him proud and he smiles to his reflection. At one point he had been annoyed with the fact that they had been burned into his skin on his chest while Jinki could flaunt his so easily. That was until Jinki had sat him down and showed him how close to his heart the words had been etched. Ever since then Kibum has appreciated the words on his chest.

Kibum only gets to turn on the hair dryer before he hears Jinki cough from the living room again. The other man has sinusitis at least once every year and the doctors haven’t been able to figure out why. Kibum wishes he could make it better but he can’t. He knows and Jinki knows but at the end of the day, Jinki appreciates it as long as Kibum is there to cuddle him. Kibum dries his hair and when he turns the hair dryer off he finds Jinki in the doorway.

“Me too,” the other man says quietly and Kibum shakes his head fondly. He directs the hair dryer towards Jinki and Jinki puts his hands up in defense. “Not that.”

Kibum laughs a little before he puts it down on the countertop and goes to place his hands on Jinki’s shoulders.

“Come, you can shower tomorrow. You can barely stand on your feet.”

With those words he steers Jinki out of the bathroom and into the bedroom and tugs him into bed. Jinki looks at him absolutely defeated and Kibum kisses his forehead and ignores his silent pleas for company. Kibum has things he needs to finish before tomorrow. He grabs his bathrobe before he leaves the bedroom.

The towel is exchanged with the bathrobe and Kibum finds himself sipping a bowl of the soup he had cooked earlier reheated while he looks through his social media accounts on his computer. He drops his spoon when he sees a pregnancy announcement on Facebook and grabs his phone so he can call Nicole and scold her for not telling him but letting him see on Facebook. She laughs at him and asks him when he’s going to actually get married to Jinki and he scoffs at her and says goodbye. Kibum knows she means well but they have an entire life to get married in, he isn’t rushing Jinki.

When the small clock on his computer shows 9.53 PM he closes it and yawns. Jinki isn’t sleeping when Kibum slips back into the bedroom and he fumbles with Kibum’s bathrobe before Kibum even realizes what’s going on. He can’t help but chuckle when he sees the top of Jinki’s hair sticking out from under the blanket and his hand trying to find the knot that holds his bathrobe together. He grabs Jinki’s hand and squeezes it once, twice before he puts it back on the bed. Jinki whines silently at the loss of contact.

“I’m coming baby, I just need to find my pajamas,” he whispers and Jinki’s hand flops on the mattress in disagreement. “Jinki…” Kibum says and Jinki flops his hand once again. Kibum gives up after that and sheds his bathrobe so he can climb in beside Jinki. Jinki immediately snuggles close to Kibum and Kibum gets comfortable around Jinki. “If I’m sick tomorrow, I’m blaming you.”

Kibum wakes up to a hand around his waist and Jinki snuggled so close Kibum can barely breathe. He wriggles a little and tries to get out of his grip but Jinki only tightens it. His alarm is blaring from his phone on the nightstand and Kibum tries to reach it but Jinki prevents that as well. A full minute of struggling later Kibum sighs and turns around in his hold.

“Jinki, you need to let me go to work,” he deadpans. Jinki groans a little in his sleep and Kibum rolls his eyes before he pokes Jinki in the side. The other man releases Kibum a little in sleepy annoyance but it’s enough for Kibum to wiggle free and get off of the bed. Jinki opens his eyes slowly at the loss of the warm body he’s been holding onto and Kibum sends him a smirk. Jinki still has a slight fever so he stays home but Kibum hasn’t contracted the virus overnight so he hurries into the bathroom so he can get ready for the day.

He is eating breakfast when Jinki slips into the kitchen to place a quick kiss on his lips before he takes the newspaper from Kibum and reminds him of the time.

“Save some animals today,” Jinki says, voice still hoarse with sleep and Kibum, much more awake because of his morning coffee, kisses Jinki’s lips again and whispers ‘I will’ before he leaves the kitchen to Jinki. He grabs his trench coat from the coat rack and slips on his shoes before he lets the door slam behind him.

Kibum is in a wonderful mood until he opens the door to the apartment complex and steps outside. The skies are dark and foreboding with rain. Kibum prays it won’t begin until he’s safe inside the clinic. He takes two steps at a time as he hurries down underground to find the subway. The crowd of people is just as bad as usual and Kibum groans as he presses into the train. It takes him 25 minutes to get downtown and as he exits the train he realizes it’s pouring rain. Kibum hopes his trench coat shelters him a little as he leaves the underground station. It doesn’t. He’s soaked within seconds and the morning he had spent with Jinki is no longer in his mind. The day simply cannot get any worse. The receptionist turns around to look at him as he enters the clinic.

“Good morning Dr. Kim.”

The girl sends him a shy smile.

“Good morning Eunseo,” he says and tries not to bite at her. He nods towards the staff room and she nods in understanding. His doctor’s coat is for once closed so as to not reveal his bare chest underneath. He doesn’t like the feeling of the fabric against his chest. It scratches in an uncomfortable way and makes him feel exposed. Kibum looks down to make sure he has covered his chest completely before he looks in the small mirror above the sink and sighs.

When he emerges from the staff room Eunseo is talking to a young woman who seems very distressed with the cat in the cage at her feet. Joohyun steps outside her examination room and greets him with a small nod in passing before she ends up at the front desk so she can talk to the woman as well.

4 hours into his day Kibum has already had a plethora of different patients, some small, others large and a few with a fear of vets so strong that he’d had to ask Changkyun to help him. He’s on his way to the staff room when Eunseo calls out for him. Kibum massages his temples quickly to get rid of the headache that has slowly developed. There’s a person behind the desk that immediately makes Kibum’s heart beat a little faster and he can’t help the smile that stretches his lips wide. He wasn’t expecting the other man to show up at all. It makes the past 4 hours seem less horrible and he can’t stop himself when he rounds the desk so he can press his lips against Jinki’s in a delicate kiss.

“I thought you were sick,” Kibum says and Jinki shrugs a little, smile etched onto his lips as well.

“Being away from you made me weaker, I’m fine. Besides I thought you could use some nice lunch considering the one you made this morning must’ve become wet.”

Kibum grabs his hand and intertwines their fingers as he slowly leads Jinki with him back to the staff room so he can eat in peace.

“Thank you,” he says gratefully. Jinki’s eyes are glistening with love and Kibum is certain that he, himself, looks like a lovesick fool to anyone that watches him. He’s always been bad at hiding his affection for the other man and if he’s honest, he doesn’t really want to either. Kibum knows that not everybody is fond of same- couples but Kibum doesn’t care because Jinki is his and he is proud of it. Nobody has a more beautiful soulmate than him.

Joohyun lifts her hand in a lazy wave when she sees Jinki before she turns back to her lunch as they enter the staff room. Kibum and Jinki sit down at the table and he slowly starts unpacking the food Jinki has brought him when Changkyun comes in and looks at the three of them.

“Dr. Kim?” he says and Kibum lifts his head to look at him.

“Yes?”

“There are a father and a daughter with a snake and they seem to need immediate help. I think it’s respiratory problems, but I’m not sure.”

Kibum gets up from his chair when Joohyun stops him.

“Eat, I’ll take it. I’m almost done anyway.”

She gathers her lunch, throws out her trash and follows Changkyun out again. Kibum just looks at the closing door before he sighs. He knows more about reptiles than Joohyun does, but he also trusts her to do her job well. He’s been working with her ever since he became a vet. Jinki taps his shoulder and hands him a pair of chopsticks.

“Eat,” he says with a glint in his eyes. Kibum has a feeling that Jinki knows he’s going to love whatever dish he is eating. He isn’t wrong.

“Oh wow, this is amazing!” Kibum says when he swallows and he turns to look at Jinki.

“Nah,” Jinki says and sends him a soft smile. Kibum turns back to his lunch and takes another bite. Jinki is being too humble but there’s no way Kibum can convince him on that. Jinki is a wonderful chef and Kibum knows he’s appreciated at the restaurant but he also knows that Jinki rarely experiments with the dishes. When he does, however, it’s usually for Kibum only and Kibum enjoys that to the fullest.

They get interrupted when Joohyun comes back into the staff room.

“Kibum, I need your help with the snake,” she says. Kibum swallows and gets up from his chair. Jinki sends him a smile and kisses him quickly.

“I’ll see you later baby,” he says before he leaves the two veterinarians to their job. Kibum smiles as he follows Joohyun back to the examination room so he can take a look at the snake with respiratory problems. A small girl gently pets the scales of the small ball python that lies on the towel. A tall man Kibum assumes is her father turns around to look at Joohyun. Kibum smiles to the small girl when he stands on the other side of the table.

“What’s its name?” he asks and the girl looks up so she has eye contact with him.

“Dangun,” she answers confidently. “Can you help him, Sir?” she adds after her father taps her shoulder. Kibum nods before he takes a look at the snake. He spends some time examining the small reptile before he looks up to address her father.

“How warm is his enclosure typically?”

The man blinks and Kibum feels a strange tingling in his fingertips. The silence seems deafening without being all that suffocating and it ends when the girl tugs on her father’s shirt and whines.

“Oh, uhm …” he says and Kibum feels a strange burn on his left ankle. “It’s about 25 degrees overall and about 30 degrees in his basking spot.”

Kibum tries to ignore the burning feeling on his ankle as best as he can. It’s not a soulmate, he has a soulmate already and he can’t have more. There’s just simply no way. He’s never heard of anyone having more than one soulmate, that’s an absurd thought. So of course, it wasn’t the words burning into his skin. He’s pulled from his thoughts when the girl talks again.

“Is he going to die, Sir?”

She sounds calm despite her words and Kibum blinks a little.

“No, sweetie. He has pneumonia. I’ll give you some pills you have to put in his food and then he’ll be fine.”

He can’t get his mind off of the strange burning sensation when the girl talks again.

“He’s my first snake! Dad says I can’t play with Seondeok, so he bought me Dangun instead! He’s named after the first king; did you know that?”

She speaks with such enthusiasm that Kibum almost finds himself getting interested as well, but then her father interrupts her.

“Yoojin, put Dangun back in his enclosure,” he says and Kibum notices just how handsome the man actually is. It’s not that he was blind to it before but now he really takes a look at him. Then he shakes his head because he’s engaged and in love with Jinki and he doesn’t have another soulmate. It’s ridiculous and his mind is playing tricks on him for sure.

He watches them leave the examination room and talk to Eunseo and then he hurries back into the staff room, flops down on the couch and lifts his pants enough to uncover his left ankle and watches as the words oh uhm it’s about 25 degrees overall and about 30 degrees in his basking spot form a band on his skin. He swears and lets go of his pants again and the words disappear behind the fabric. It can’t be true. Kibum already has a soulmate. He’s been with Jinki for 10 years, nobody he’s ever known has had more than one soulmate. He’s never been told stories about two soulmates. So this makes absolutely no sense.

Kibum touches his chest over the fabric unconsciously and then he bolts into the staff toilet so he can open his coat and stare at the i know you that sits confidently between his fourth and fifth rib. Kibum slowly lets his fingers run over the scars on his chest before he turns to look at his feet. No, he can’t have another soulmate.

When he exits the toilet there is already another patient waiting for him.

Kibum can’t focus the rest of the day, his mind is constantly returning to the words on his ankle. He shouldn’t care much about it because he’s engaged to Jinki and he’s never going to meet the tall father again. What if it was just a glitch, fate missing the fact that he already has a soulmate. The marks will surely fade away and disappear, not stay as clear as Jinki’s words. Because Jinki is his soulmate, the right soulmate, his true soulmate. Kibum barely notices the light rain or the wind as he finds his way through busy streets and it isn’t until he enters his apartment that he realizes that his hair is damp.

Jinki greets him in the hallway, laughs at the sight and kisses his lips and Kibum feels like a stranger. It scares him and Jinki immediately picks up on it. Kibum almost wants to cry when Jinki gently places a wet strand of hair behind his ear.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asks and Kibum shakes his head no before he walks passed Jinki and into the bathroom.

“I’ll take a shower,” he says loudly before he closes the door behind him. The words are still there, shining red on his ankle as he undresses. He can’t let Jinki see them. He’s not sure what would happen if Jinki did see but Kibum doesn’t want him to when he’s fairly sure it’s a mistake. He sighs before he turns on the water and steps inside. When he leaves the bathroom he makes sure he’s wearing his pajamas and a pair of socks. Jinki raises an eyebrow as soon as he eyes Kibum from the kitchen.

“Pajamas already?” he asks and Kibum nods.

“I’m tired,” he says and Jinki lets the argument die. Kibum places himself in a kitchen chair and looks towards the food Jinki has in the oven. There’s silence between them before Jinki places himself on a chair next to Kibum and looks at him.

“Are you okay?”

He places his hand on Kibum’s shoulder and caresses it in soothing circles.

“Huh?” Kibum asks and turns his attention from his ankle to his fiancé.

“Are you okay, baby?” Jinki asks again and lets go of his shoulder, only to grab his hand. His thumb traces soothing circles on Kibum’s hand and Kibum easily recognizes the scarring of his own words. It makes him feel guilty and he almost pulls away. Jinki lets go of his hand before Kibum gets to pull away, however.

“I’m fine, it was just a hard day at work,” Kibum says and feels even worse for lying to his fiancé. Jinki doesn’t question him. When Kibum crawls into bed that night he doesn’t remove his socks and he doesn’t curl up to Jinki like he would on a normal day.

Kibum avoids Jinki the next day. He can feel the other man’s frustration from across their apartment and he is punished by the weather when he leaves for work. He still hasn’t taken his socks off in front of Jinki and he doesn’t want to take them off and be reminded of the mistake that is written on his ankle. He doesn’t understand why he is subject to fate’s cruel game. If it had been Jinki he could probably understand because Jinki is such an amazing person that it’s only fair if more people were to love him. But Kibum? Kibum doesn’t deserve more than one soulmate. The only thing it’s causing him is stress; stress he doesn’t need and stress that’s slowly tearing his relationship apart.

He doesn’t answer Jinki’s texts when the other man tells him he’ll be at work when Kibum arrives home and he doesn’t talk a lot to his coworkers during their few breaks. It feels like the world is crashing down upon his shoulders and Kibum just wants to hide. Somewhere deep inside he knows that he needs to tell Jinki, that he can’t hide the words on his ankle forever and that fate – now that they have already set him up with someone else – will lead him to bump into him again and again. Still, he doesn’t want to subject Jinki to the pain that comes with another soulmate.

He sighs when he gets off work and the rain is still pouring down outside. Joohyun pats his shoulder as she walks passed him and wishes him a nice afternoon. There’s nothing nice about the afternoon however as Kibum runs through the rain. He enters the bank and looks around. He's wary for no reason because he won't run into the other man yet he still has a feeling that he's close - a feeling Kibum doesn't like. He doesn’t meet him. The woman that helps him with his broken password sends him a smile as if she can feel his nervousness.

The rain is still pouring when he leaves the bank and as he locks himself into the apartment, the dreaded feeling of panic that enters him slowly every time he thinks about having another soulmate has almost transformed into one of annoyance. That is until he sees the note from Jinki besides the plate of sliced tarte tatin and is reminded that despite his overwhelming love towards Jinki there is someone out there who is also