Clarification : In this universe, everyone is born a with a spirit animal and the spirit can only be seen to eyes on certain occasions.

Chaewon adored Eunbi. She looked up to the older girl in every aspect, but on some occasion she felt like murdering the girl who was currently dragging her across the sea of people rushing out the train station. Her hag cousin decided it was a great idea to set her up on a blind date which Chaewon had strongly refused but the persistent woman resorted on blackmailing using one of her embarrassing photo so she had no choice but to go along with the plan. God knows just how much she wanted to strangle Kwon Eunbi at the moment.

“Are you still mad at me?” Eunbi asked her when they reached a less crowded corner in the train station. “You think?” Chaewon questioned the older girl making the cheetah spirit that was hovering over shoulder growl softly. Seeing the not so pleasant expression, Eunbi put on her acting lesson to good, looking all pity to gain some sympathy - her rabbit spirit drooping an ear for extra effect. “You look disgusti-”

Chaewon’s insult was cut short as she saw both Eunbi and her spirit perked up looking to the side. “Oh! She’s here!”

Born with a great eyesight, Chaewon easily spotted a girl probably around the same age as her walking towards them, her eyes wandered aimlessly searching for something. Chaewon was awestruck as their gaze met and didn’t even realized when she was already there, side hugging Eunbi.

The oldest introduced the newly arrived as her favourite junior, Kim Minjoo who was a part of her dance crew. Neither the two moved from from their spot and just settled with a shy smile to a small nod then finally exchanged bows. It alerted Eunbi of the said awkward atmosphere when Minjoo step back to muffle her sneeze.

Once.

Twice.

“I guess my job here is done, have fun you two!” Eunbi took her cue to leave the two newly acquainted pair to sort it out on their own.

It didn’t take long for Chaewon and Minjoo to start conversing and drop the formality. Chaewon thought the 45 minutes train ride would be unbearable but turned out, the younger girl was very good at keeping the conversation going. To be frank, she was slightly disappointed when Minjoo chose to leave a seat in between them but later concluded it was understandable since they just met, also the awkward incident earlier.

“Minjoo can I ask something?” A short nod from came in response, “Are you perhaps a fox?” When Minjoo did not answer, Chaewon thought she crossed line by asking something so personal thus she apologized for being rude. The white fox spirit who had been chilling on Minjoo’s head simply tap her pat a few times to bring the girl back from her frozen state. Minjoo glanced at her spirit for the unusual act and then it clicked-

“No no! It’s fine, I-I’m just shocked. Uhhh how d-did you know?”

A stammering Kim Minjoo? Cute

Chaewon smiled, “Intuition, I guess?”

“I'm an arctic fox actually, you're the first person who guess it right. So I was truly shocked! People would often mistake me as frog due to the slight resemblance to the said animal. I mean no offense but just because I looked like pepe the frog doesn't mean my spirit animal is a frog though I- wait, sorry I'm rambling again. But seriously, how did you know? Tell me”

A flustered Kim Minjoo? Adorable.

The girl with cheetah spirit chuckled at the cute sight before her, “Don’t worry, it was fun listening to you. “Oh! Now that you say that, I can totally see the resemblance,” she paused to see Minjoo narrowed her eyes pointedly at Chaewon soon after she huffed in disapproval.

There’s that fox expression. Pretty.

“I’m kidding. Hmm, I would say mainly because of the warmth you radiates everytime you talk. Your voice is very soothing and that draws people in to listen. So I thought of two possibilities as your spirit animal, the red panda or the fox just from what I read. But you don’t emit out a distinct scent of trees nor are you feisty like most who have red panda as their spirit so I guess you’re not one. While fox have a calm demeanour like you yet tends to be a little cheeky when-” by the time Chaewon stopped explaining midway, they had arrived at the restaurant.

The place wasn’t anything fancy but it was packed with customers. Thankfully, mastermind of the blind date, Eunbi conveniently made a reservation beforehand. The pair followed the waiter with Minjoo tailing behind Chaewon closely to avoid bumping onto an oncoming waitress carrying a tray of dishes.

Once they settled down, Minjoo reached out for a pack of tissues in her bag, gently dabbing her runny nose. The cheetah watched with concern, “You okay?” the younger girl merely explained perhaps it was due to the pollen from the flower shop they walked passed by. Chaewon wasn’t quite convinced but she dismissed it with a small nod.

Minjoo then looked at Chaewon in expectant for her to continue where she left off outside. In return, the older girl raised an eyebrow, confusion written on her face. Playing along with the act, Minjoo quirked her eyebrows up and down a few times with sly smirk forming on her lips. “Is that your way of flirting with me, Miss Kim?” Minjoo flinched. “What? No! I- I- I just wanted you to continue where you stop earlier. Yes that!”

Chaewon’s expressionless face made Minjoo gulped feeling nervous.

Silence took over the table but it didn’t last long when the both of them burst into laughter on how silly they must have looked like. “Are you sure? Might be a little boring though” the younger girl shook her head assuring that it was interesting how Chaewon knew a lot about the characteristic of a person based on their spirit animal.

Hence they spent the rest of their lunch chatting away about all sorts of topics. At some time Minjoo would lead the conversation whereas Chaewon would settle quietly just listening to her calming voice.

I wonder how heavenly she would sound like when singing, she thought to herself.

Streetlamps flickering on, darkness slowly seeping into the day and reddish hue from the sunset began to paint the sky the moment they stepped out of the place. Standing idly a few steps away from the entrance, both girls refused to look at other. They were back to that awkward tension similar to the one in the train station despite the lively late lunch they had. Eventually, Minjoo suggested for them to walk over to the playground just across the road so they could watch the sun set. In which Chaewon gladly agreed to.

The pair sat on the swings, busking in the lovely ambient watching the sky between the buildings turned purplish now as the sun slowly set.

“KIM CHAEWON!”

Unfortunately, their tranquility was short-lived as they heard a generic yell of Chaewon’s name. The pair turned into the direction to see two figures crossing the road strutting over to the swings where they were seated.

Despite her sight being slightly deteriorated thanks to the approaching night, she could perceived that protruding lips of the hardly noticeable taller figure from miles away. Chaewon sighed watching how she happily dragged her partner who looked like a lost puppy.

“Yena unnie what oomph-” Before long Chaewon was tackled into a bear hug making them both tumbled into the gound, surprising Minjoo. “Yah! YOU DUMB DUCK!”

During the time where they were engrossed in their world -wrestling on the ground- Yuri approached to greet the other who was still sitting on the swing. Minjoo and her were in the same class, although they’re not very close still they helped each other with assignments once in a while. “Minjoo hey, are you two on a date? Eunbi unnie?”

Minjoo nodded curtly feeling bashful as someone she knew caught her on a blind date, and to top it the person seemed to know her date as well.

“That hag really managed to convinced Chae to go on a date. She was talking about how she knew someone who will be a perfect match for that radish for nearly two months. Didn’t expect that to be you though”

“Small world huh” Minjoo shifted her eyes to the two squabbling kids on the dirt and just stood up awkwardly. Sensing as if they’re causing too much ruckus, Yuri heaved a sigh only to have her spirit appeared out of thin air. Minjoo observed in amazement how the spirit in a puppy form let out a series of barks successfully garnered the duo’s attention.

“Cut it out dorks! Yena unnie don’t you think it’s rude to tackle someone’s date into the ground without introducing yourself first?” Yuri offered a hand to help them stand. “Naah we know each other already, right Minjoo?” The arctic fox smiled, she explained that Yena would sometimes drop by the dance studio to pester Chaeyeon, another dancer to help her out with assignments then it would escalate into a random dance battle every time. Eventually Yena came over to the studio frequent enough to be dubbed as the honourary member of the dance crew.

Yena took the chance to brag about how she basically raised Chaewon since she was in her diapers which the younger then retaliated on how she was forced to be with her. “Don’t believe her, Minjoo! When we’re younger, this annoying creature just wouldn’t stop following me around. And I don’t have a choice!” “Yah! ungrateful kid- I fed you during lunch, protect you from those good for nothing bullies, I’m practically your mom, Chaewonnie”

“Did you just disregard my omma who gave birth to me, you insolent duck!” At the mention of the word duck from Chaewon’s dramatic exclamation, Yuri watched Yena’s duck spirit jumped down from its owner’s head to join Yuri’s puppy who had been sitting on her shoulder, aware of another brawl was going to take place. Her gaze fell onto Chaewon’s cheetah which was on all four, growling towards Yena and instantly the older girl is pulled into a deadly headlock.

While the chaotic duo returned to their banter, Yuri filled Minjoo in on how they met.

When Chaewon was in elementary school, the school had a system of assigning an emotional support partner to students who had a trouble socializing. She was a cheetah, so Chaewon was a part of the program the minute her spirit was written onto the admission documents the day she enrolled into the school. However instead of receiving an emotional dog partner, she was stuck with an annoying duck Choi Yena.

“You're beyond shy Chaewon-ah, so we thought someone like Yena could help” as one of her teachers said.

Of course due to her nature of being shy and timid, she ignored latter. But the persistent Choi Yena who was older than her by a year, someone smaller than her at the time somehow singlehandedly took down two boys who were bothering her, “They should’ve pick someone with their size. I beat cancer last year, these two pricks are nothing for the almighty Yena” the words that managed to earn Chaewon’s trust. Although Chaewon would be quite a tsundere around Yena, she was always thankful to the duck for being her saviour.

It didn’t take long for the inseparable duo to make up with each other. The two couples eventually went to the cinema to catch the latest Disney movie, on full expense of Chaewon’s wallet; poor girl got tricked by her emotional support partner.

They parted ways after the movie end as it was approaching Yuri’s curfew.

“I’m sorry about Yena unnie, it must be too much for you” truthfully Minjoo was delighted that yulyen decided to crash their blind date - turning it into a sudden double date in a short amount of time. She got to witness the many expressions of Chaewon in one night;

How Chaewon looked over Yuri and Yena with a proud grin but would fake a gag whenever they’re being disgustingly sweet to each other in front of her.

How Chaewon would leaned over to rub her cheek with Yena briefly, her eyes would turned into crescent moon - she looked extremely cute and soft.

How Chaewon scrunched up her boopable nose in disgust when they pulled her into a group hug for way too long.

How Chaewon’s pout when the couple said they had to leave, reminded her of a sad cub she saw on TV weeks ago.

All thanks to them. Perhaps Kim Minjoo was truly smitten with the girl standing next to her at the intersection of busy street bustling with cars. Perhaps she had become greedy to know everything about the girl in a single day. But she can’t possibly uttered all that to Chaewon, it’s too embarrassing and if she did, she might as well bury herself into the ground later.

“I’ve seen her getting chase around the studio for interrupting our dance practice, so today is not that bad really. I had a lot of fun” Minjoo joked while Chaewon smiled in relieve. The younger girl then offered to treat her ice cream next time since she paid for the tickets earlier, Chaewon happily agreed in which they exchanged numbers. A second date, yes! “So umm,” Chaewon trailed off accompanied by her index finger moved upwards; scratching the scar above her lips lightly.

There it is again. A habit that Minjoo noticed the older girl would do in times of awkwardness succumbing her. Minjoo chuckled, “Thank you for today,Chaewon unnie” she pulled the latter into a hug. She took a deep breath, deliberately inhaling Chaewon’s scent but she could feel her airways constricting slowly, parched the next second, heat rising up to her face. 

They pulled away for a moment before Chaewon pulled her into a second hug, a tight one, much to her surprise. Minjoo melted in the girl’s embrace, who was she to deny such fluttering action despite her body struggling against an ordeal the longer they’re glued together. By the time they pulled away, Minjoo was desperately gasping for air to get into her lungs, red flare spreading across her right cheek like a wild fire.

‘! She’s the one! This is certainly not how I pictured myself meeting my soulmate’ Minjoo thought.

The scene before Chaewon shocked her, “Min-minjoo, your f-face” her eyes filled with panic when Minjoo who was still within her arms staggered, almost dropping to her knees. “Oh god” something at the corner of her eyes caught her attention. Rashes began to form on Minjoo’s arms, particularly worse on the spot her fingers brushed on the skin. Instinctively Chae retracted her hands, terrified of how she was burning the poor girl with her touch. Her sudden act caused the younger girl to lean onto her for support. Chaewon carefully guide Minjoo to sit on a bench near where they were standing.

The cheetah couldn’t formulate any words at the sight before her. Chaewon wasn’t stupid, she knew Minjoo was having some sort of allergic reaction. She’d seen that a lot, but she is the triggering factor in this situation? So when she heard Min mumbled ‘bag’ under her breath, she was aware the girl was referring to her medication. Rummaging through the bag in a haste, Chae picked up a small translucent black pouch which contain an EpiPen in it. Without much thought, she hand it over to Minjoo before taking a couple of steps back furthering the distance between them.

Chaewon called the ambulance while waiting for the drug to kick in hence she stood there, merely watching how Minjoo tried to catch her breath really broke her heart. Whenever their eyes met, Min never failed to shot her bright smile - only add to her guilt since the younger girl got into that state because of her. The rest of the night spent with Minjoo resting on the hospital bed while Chaewon dozed off on the small bench outside the room.

A light tap on the shoulder woke Chaewon up from her slumber. She tilted her head to see the nurse who just left Minjoo’s ward gesturing her to enter the room. Soon after the nurse walked away, Chae peeked her head between the ajar door hesitating to step inside. Her eyes sharp, taking in the details inside as if searching for any predator in vicinity before her soften gaze landed on the frail person sitting on the bed in the middle of the room.

“Chaewon unnie, it’s alright. Here.” Minjoo tapped the empty space beside her ushering the older girl to enter the room. Chaewon stepped aside to block the entrance, she looked at Minjoo again, only this time a smile ever so brightly warm directed towards her with the sunlight from the window illuminating her pale face; Chaewon was awestruck.

For the first time, she could finally see a faint white fox spirit curled up into its fluffy tail on Minjoo’s shoulder. It’s cute just like Minjoo.

Should I close the door? Maybe I should let it open to circulate the air in case she’s having another reaction. 

All sorts of thought played out in Chaewon’s mind not until Minjoo informed her that the doctor gave her the anti-allergic injection and she should be fine without any relapse for at least a week. Chae sported an unsure expression but with another reassuring nod from Min, she made her way closer.

Minjoo let out a soft smile at the timid Chaewon at the edge of her feet. She kept on moving her lip yet not a single word came out. “I didn’t get the chance to ask you yesterday, what’s your spirit animal unnie? A cat?” Chaewon shook her head cluelessly. “No?” “Why does it sound like you’re questioning your own spirit?”

She shook her head again told the younger girl she has a cheetah as her spirit animal. “A cheetah? I have a cat allergy and now that just proves cat of all breed and size are a danger to me, except you.”

Chaewon was dumbfounded, suddenly everything came together like a perfect fit of puzzle. The soft sneeze at the station, Minjoo’s runny nose, how her face turned beet red after their first hug (Chaewon thought she was blushing which is half true) all of the allergy symptoms started when they’re in close proximity. “Wait, what do you mean except me? I almost killed you Minjoo!” “That’s the whole point unnie.” Minjoo raised her right arm to show Chaewon a newly formed symbol - a small diamond shape situated in the middle of an unfinished circle with a star connected to one end - on her wrist.

The older girl did the same but she was checking both her arm simultaneously, indeed the same symbol was on her left wrist. “D-does this mean… you- I- we-” “We’re soulmate yes.” Minjoo finished her words. Chae was a bit skeptical of the whole thing especially with Min’s allergy for cats but the younger girl reassured her that she would ultimately be immune to her cheetah scent now.

“So the ice cream date, can we go once I got discharged in the evening?”

“You just spent the whole night at a hospital, maybe not today.”

“But I’m feeling a lot better now”

“No! You need to rest Minjoo” Chaewon growled and looked at the younger girl menacingly while flexing her fangs in hope to intimidate her soulmate however in Minjoo’s eyes, she looked nothing more like an overgrown cat purring in dissatisfaction rather than a cheetah.

“What’s the rush, we can always go next time. Besides, I’m bound to you for a lifetime remember. Let’s take baby steps”

Minjoo always thought she would find her soulmate in the midst of great danger with each other like the majority of earth population. She never thought she would find her trying to kill her unintentionally but one thing for sure, Minjoo wouldn’t mind going through it again as long as it’s with Chaewon and only Kim Chaewon.

A/N : Helloooo it’s been a while, I apologize for any errors as this isn’t proofread (proofread who?) and thank you so much for reading!

Special thanks and shout out to the legendary Ginny41 (STAN TALENT, STAN GINNY41), GimletRue and toyota_hiichan for helping me out with ideas and outline for this fic. No seriously, read their fics if you haven’t. Thanks again :D

Let’s keep holding on and stand by IZONE no matter what!