Final

They say that our soul mark is where a part of you ends, and a part of me begins.

“It must be nice,” Seulgi hears Seungwan yell next to her ear and she turns to give her best friend a questioning look. It’s a Friday night and they’re hanging out in a club by the bar for nearly an hour now, casually sipping their drinks while lazily observing their surroundings.

“What do you mean?” she responds above all the noise.

Seungwan inclines her head towards her left where the bartender is currently ignoring a bunch of people that are very obviously trying to flirt with him and Seulgi huffs out a laugh. She wonders why they even bother trying when, with the bartender’s sleeves rolled up, the red soul mark that stretches up from his wrist to his elbows is unmistakeable.

“It must be nice,” Seungwan repeats and Seulgi just shakes her head in amusement. She can tell that her best friend is already daydreaming about all sorts of scenarios in her head.

Seulgi used to dream about those too. About romantic first meetings with a faceless partner that the universe apparently assigned to her. Her supposed other half, someone who fits her perfectly. Her soulmate.

She’s older now, though. She doesn’t dream about those anymore. She’s old enough to distinguish reality from the hundreds of movies made about the heart fluttering feeling of meeting your soulmate for the first time; she knows that waiting for an event that has no guarantee of happening anytime soon is just a waste of time. She’s happy with her life right now, it doesn’t really matter if she meets her soulmate or not.

A tap on her shoulder interrupts her musings and she turns around curiously, expecting a random guy (or a girl, if she’s lucky) to ask her for a dance or maybe even an offer to buy her a drink, only to be met by a literal slap in the face.

The sound echoes throughout the entire club because the DJ picked the perfect moment to pause the music so now half the people around are staring at her and this stranger (a very very pretty stranger, Seulgi finds herself thinking) that just slapped her in the face.

“What the hell is your problem? Who are you?” she exclaims at the girl in total bewilderment, her hand flying to hold her stinging left cheek.

Awkward silence greets her question and she doesn’t even register what’s going on at first until she hears Seungwan gasp while motioning at the stranger and she finally notices the glowing mark that’s snaking up the girl’s right hand. A mark that is, without a doubt, also blooming on her left cheek at this exact same moment.

A soul mark.

Crap.

She doesn’t know which one of them is more surprised and they end up standing there gaping at each other like fishes out of the water. After a while, the girl shakes her head, giving Seulgi a defiant look before stomping out of the club, the crowd parting before her like a sea.

It takes a few more minutes before their audience disperses themselves. She’s pretty sure she saw a guy filming the entire scene from her peripheral vision earlier so she makes a mental note to confront him later because she really doesn’t want to become an internet meme.

She used to dream of different scenarios on how she’ll meet her soulmate.

This? This is definitely not one of those.

“This is ridiculous!” Seungwan yells from her side and Seulgi slumps against the bar, ignoring some stares that are directed at her and motions for the bartender to give her their strongest drink.

Ridiculous sums this entire situation up quite well, she thinks.

“So what are you planning to do?” Seungwan asks her the next day, when they’re both sobered up and free from the hazy and slightly suffocating atmosphere of the club. They’re in their shared apartment right above the cafe that Seungwan’s parents own where Seulgi gets to stay for free, perks of being the childhood friend and being practically part of the family.

“I don’t know, am I supposed to do something?” she replies absentmindedly as she rummages through the fridge for some milk to go with her cereal.

“Seulgi, she’s your soulmate,” Seungwan points out unhelpfully from her position by the dining table, two bowls already placed neatly beside each other.

“She seems to hate my guts though,” she mutters, shrugging her shoulders as she sits beside her roommate, “Which doesn’t make sense, now that I think of it, because I don’t even know who she is.”

“What? You don’t know who she is?” Seungwan exclaims, immediately grabbing and typing rapidly on her phone.

“Should I?”

“Her name is Bae Joohyun. She studies in our uni too, she’s a senior though and she’s very popular because she looks like this,” Seungwan tells her in one breathe while shoving her phone up Seulgi’s face, “That’s her. She’s even a regular at our coffee shop, how can you not know her?”

Seulgi gazes at the picture of the same pretty girl from last night, sans the murderous glare, that’s displayed on Seungwan’s phone before shrugging again.

“She seems to know you though?” Seungwan continues, “I mean, there’s a sea of people in the club last night but she went straight for you.”

Seulgi sighs tiredly at the memory, absently rubbing her left cheek where she knows her new soul mark is. She hasn’t had a chance to actually look at it yet because she’s been avoiding looking at her face since she got home last night.

“Maybe she mistook me for someone else?” she suggests.

Seungwan gives her a doubtful look before digging into her food and Seulgi just rubs her temples because this whole situation is troublesome and she’s pretty sure the universe hates her. She’s hungry, though, so she’ll deal with all of this later.

Swirls.

Her soul mark is composed of beautiful vine-like swirls that start from her left ear, blooming to her cheek and disappearing behind her neck.

It’s very elegant.

It’s also glaringly pink.

She groans loudly, knocking her forehead lightly against the mirror, hands gripping the sink in frustration.

“Seul? Are you okay?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that my soul mark is pink?” she whines and Seungwan lets out a hearty laugh before opening the bathroom door to take a peek at her face.

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

“I should’ve worn a sleeveless shirt last night, then the mark would’ve been on my shoulder when she tapped me,” she groans again, “This will be hard to hide.”

“It’s in your face, Seulgi. And it’s pink. Impossible might be the right word to use.”

Yup. The universe definitely hates her.

She should’ve listened to Seungwan when she said that Joohyun is a regular at the cafe.

In her defense, it’s a Sunday so she expects most of their student customers to be out and about enjoying their weekend. She’s hanging out by the counter waiting for Seungwan’s baking shift to be over, which isn’t for another hour, when the door chimes and Bae Joohyun in the flesh comes striding in.

And wow. She really is gorgeous, Seulgi thinks. The bad lighting of the club and Seungwan’s blurry picture did her no justice at all.

Joohyun doesn’t notice Seulgi right away but when she does, she freezes in place, mouth parting in a gasp that Seulgi can’t hear. They both stay frozen for what feels like forever, staring at each other, and Seulgi resists the sudden urge to touch her soul mark.

“Hey,” she greets to distract herself. And also because she doesn’t know what else to say. It’s not like she can just openly ask the girl, Hi! Care to tell me why you slapped me the other night? And, oh! Apparently, we’re soulmates, nice to meet you!

She watches as Joohyun stands there, looking like she’s having an internal battle with herself, and her gaze focuses on the girl’s right hand that’s currently covered by her oversized sweater. She can already imagine the swirls that probably mirror the ones on her own face right now.

In the end, Joohyun approaches her slowly until she’s sitting a chair away. She doesn’t talk at all though and Seulgi wants to groan out loud because she’s never been good at starting conversations.

“I’m Kang Seulgi,” she offers awkwardly and Joohyun frowns at her.

“I know,” Joohyun responds icily and Seulgi blinks in surprise. Well there goes the mistaken identity theory.

“I’m friends with Jung Soojung,” Joohyun says simply and suddenly everything that happened in the club kind of makes sense now and Seulgi wants to dig a hole to hide in.

“Ah,” she responds and Joohyun visibly fumes at her reaction.

“That’s your reaction? Really?”

Seulgi sighs and scratches the back of her neck because, honestly, can this situation be any more troublesome?

“Don’t you think that we should be talking about something else?” she replies instead because she really doesn’t want her first conversation with her soulmate to be about her ex.

“What do you mean? What else is there to talk about?”

Seulgi decides that it’s either the girl is being sarcastic or she’s genuinely trying to ignore the giant elephant in the room.

“Are we seriously going to pretend that this very pink tattoo that you generously gave me in the face doesn’t exist?” she asks while pointing unnecessarily at her left cheek.

Joohyun immediately turns red in the face but she glances defiantly away from Seulgi, arms crossing and lips pressed together to form a semi-pout. It makes her look like a three year old and Seulgi wonders how this girl can look so adorable, it’s too bad that she’s also frustrating as hell.

“You’re an ,” Joohyun mutters and Seulgi looks at her indignantly.

“What did I do now?”

“You just broke up with my best friend!”

“Hey! It’s not like I’m asking you to be my girlfriend, am I? I just wanted to talk about whatever this is,” she gestures vaguely between the two of them.

“This,” Joohyun mimics her gestures, “Is nothing because I don’t think I ever want to see you again.”

Seulgi gapes at her and Joohyun gives her one last dirty look before walking straight out of the cafe.

Well, good luck with that, she thinks, she’s going to have to find a new coffee shop to visit regularly.

“I think my soulmate is crazy,” she complains to Seungwan later as they eat pasta together that night.

“That’s not how people usually describe Bae Joohyun,” Seungwan chuckles lightly.

“Bae Joohyun,” she mutters into her plate of spaghetti, “How come I’ve never seen her before?”

“I don’t know," Seungwan hums, "Maybe you just weren’t looking.”

It becomes apparent that Joohyun is really determined to keep her words when it’s been a week and Seulgi hasn’t seen even a strand of her hair anywhere near the coffee shop. She thinks that the universe is truly conspiring against her by giving her a soulmate that already hates her before they even met.

“Hello?” she answers her ringing phone grumpily without looking at the caller’s name.

“Seul? Is this a bad time?”

“Soojung?” Her eyes widen and she nearly chokes on her own saliva, “Soojung, you brat! You have a lot of explaining to do!”

She hears Soojung laughing out loud and she kind of wants to throw her phone out of the window.

“I was talking to Joohyun-unni yesterday and she told me something really interesting,” Soojung says once she’s done laughing.

“Which part? Was it the part where she slapped me or the part where she’s actually my-” she snaps shut again before she can say the word and Soojung actually laughs out loud again.

“That she’s your soulmate? Yeah, she told me everything.”

“Well? What did you do? Why does she think I’m the most horrible person to ever walk on earth?”

“I guess it’s technically my fault,” Soojung starts off guiltily, “She caught me crying that one time I was feeling really sad about leaving Korea and I really didn’t want anyone to know that I was already feeling homesick before even leaving so I lied and told her that you were the reason that I was crying.”

“But you were the one who broke up with me! And we dated for, what? Two weeks?” Seulgi groans, running her hand through her face.

“I’m sure she’ll come around,” Soojung says nonchalantly before gushing excitedly, “Anyway, I really need you to confirm something for me. It’s very important.”

“What is it now?” Seulgi sighs tiredly; she’s forgotten how exhausting it is to keep up with Soojung’s mood swings.

“Tell me,” Soojung says playfully, “Is your soul mark really pink?”

“Goddamn it, Jung Soojung!”

Turns out that Soojung is right because when Seulgi enters the nearly empty cafe the following day, dressed and ready for her shift, Joohyun’s already sitting down by the counter looking like she’s waiting for someone.

“What happened to never wanting to see me again?” she jokes when she’s finally close enough and Joohyun jumps in surprise.

“Oh my God, you scared me,” Joohyun gasps and Seulgi lets out a light laugh.

“Sorry,” she smiles before entering the counter, grabbing an apron and busying herself with some dishes while waiting for the other girl to talk first.

“I should be the one saying that,” Joohyun says softly and Seulgi raises her brows.

“What was that? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear it clearly,” she asks playfully and she hears Joohyun mutter something that sounds suspiciously like ‘I’m going to kill Soojung’ before the girl straightens up and looks at her directly.

“I’m sorry for slapping you and calling you an ,” Joohyun says in a tone that’s loud and clear though she’s fidgeting nervously with the hem of her shirt and Seulgi can’t help but be a little impressed, “Soojung told me everything and I’m sorry that I misunderstood. It’s just that she looked so sad that time and then a day after she left, I see you at the club flirting with some girl so I just assumed the worst.”

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t flirting with anyone that night,” she replies in confusion.

Joohyun gives her an equally confused look, “But I saw you whispering and laughing together by the bar.”

And just like that, everything makes perfect sense.

“That’s Seungwan, she’s my best friend and I definitely wasn’t flirting with her,” she corrects before smiling at Joohyun, “And apology accepted. I would’ve done the same thing if it happened to my friend, well maybe not the slapping part.”

Joohyun’s ears turns adorably red at her statement even though she visibly relaxes at Seulgi’s acceptance, “I was a little tipsy, I wouldn’t have slapped you if I was sober. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, we’re good now,” she chuckles in amusement, “Would you like to get anything? Coffee?”

“I don’t drink coffee,” Joohyun replies and Seulgi raises an eyebrow at that because what else would she be doing here all the time.

“I’d like a slice of carrot cake to go, though,” Joohyun hastily adds.

“Ah, so you’re our number one carrot cake enthusiast. Seungwan’s family makes the best carrot cakes in town. I prefer chocolate cakes though,” she comments, packing the slice neatly inside a small box. She begins waving her hand furiously when she notices Joohyun reaching for her wallet, “Oh, you don’t have to pay. This one’s on the house.”

“My name is Kang Seulgi,” she adds while handing over the box and Joohyun gives her a bewildered look.

“You already said that last time,” Joohyun deadpans.

“I know but I want us to start with a clean slate. Let’s forget about the unfortunate circumstances of our first meeting, shall we?” she says while extending her right hand.

“Are you actually bribing me with carrot cake?” Joohyun laughs lightly before reaching out her own hand to clasp Seulgi’s, “I’d like that. I’m Bae Joohyun. It’s nice to meet you.”

It’s orange, she notes. When Joohyun’s long gone but the memory of their clasped hands remains.

Joohyun’s soul mark is orange.

They become friends. Sort of.

They end up meeting nearly every Mondays to Thursdays because Joohyun always comes to the cafe during the afternoon smack in the middle of Seulgi’s shift. It’s awkward at first, given their first meeting. But it’s gotten to the point where they can actually have decent fifteen minute conversations during Seulgi’s breaks where she joins Joohyun for a cup of coffee.

She learns that Joohyun lives just two blocks away, which explains her constant presence in the coffee shop, since she also learns that Joohyun hates leaving her apartment.

“It’s nice to go out and admire buildings, yes, but it’s also nice to stay in my bed surrounded by my comforter clutching a cup of hot chocolate while doing my plates,” Joohyun tells her, sounding exactly like the architectural major that she is, when Seulgi asks why.

By coincidence, they find out that Joohyun used to take the exact same history class with the exact same unreasonable professor that Seulgi’s taking right now. So they end up bonding and sharing horror stories over that and Seulgi’s quite grateful for the common topic.

“What are you even doing here?” Joohyun asks her during one of their chats, nearly two months since they first met (Seulgi’s not counting, she swears), “In this cafe, I mean.”

“I live upstairs,” she replies while lazily sipping her drink, “Seungwan’s parents own the place so I always help out after my class ends.”

“Should they really trust you with this,” Joohyun jokes and Seulgi scoffs indignantly.

“Should I remind you that you are currently drinking a tea that’s made by me?”

“Well now I know who to blame if I get indigestion later.”

“Hey!” she doesn’t mean to pout but she does and Joohyun bursts out laughing at her expression, eyes crinkling into half moons as she throws her head back in mirth.

Seulgi decides that she loves hearing Joohyun’s laugh.

It’s just an observation, really.

They don’t bring up the soulmate thing when they’re together. Mostly because it’s awkward. But they have this nice friendly rapport that Seulgi really likes. It’s refreshing, she thinks, even if it’s quite a deviation from the thousand movie portrayals of instant attraction between soulmates.

Not that she’s not attracted to Joohyun, because she kind of sort of is.

It’s hard not to, really. Because Joohyun’s magnetic. More often than not, she’ll find herself falling into the force of her gravity. Sometimes it’s because of her eyes. Sometimes her words. Most of the time it’s her smile.

It’s too bright for Seulgi sometimes.

Though she finds that she doesn’t really mind.

“Do you want to check out this new chocolate shop that opened up recently? It's just a few minute walk from here,” Joohyun asks her one time and she very nearly spits out her drink in surprise.

It’s because she wasn’t expecting the sudden question, she swears. (And if her heartbeat doubles hopefully because of Joohyun’s invitation, well, that’s neither here nor there.)

“I didn’t know that a new shop is opening nearby,” she replies after her slight coughing fit.

“You don’t know a lot of things, Seulgi. For someone who’s always roaming around the streets, your knowledge of cafes leaves much to be desired,” Joohyun comments.

“And for someone who basically lives her life inside her apartment, you’re suspiciously knowledgeable,” she retorts and Joohyun rolls her eyes at her so she grins, “Besides, I already work in the best cafe in town. Do I really need to visit others?”

“If you don’t want to come with me, you can just say so, you know,” Joohyun mutters, her lips pressing together to form a pout.

“I’m just kidding,” Seulgi immediately says, pinching Joohyun’s nose playfully which makes the girl pout even more, “Just wait here a bit, my shift ends in an hour.”

“Give me your phone,” Joohyun instructs and Seulgi complies, watching as the girl type steadily on her phone before giving it back, “I just saved my number so give me a call when you’re done. I’ll wait in my apartment, I need to get changed anyway.”

(Turns out they’re going to the chocolate shop to buy some presents for Joohyun’s little sister who’s visiting the following weekend. Seulgi’s mostly there as Joohyun’s personal taste tester and by the end of their shopping trip, she feels like she’s eaten half her weight’s worth of chocolates.

She finally gets Joohyun’s phone number though. So Seulgi considers it a win.)

Unfortunately for her, her mood astronomically drops the next evening because she’s absolutely sure she just bombed her history midterm exam. She stumbles grumpily around the apartment looking for something to eat for dinner then she remembers that she already ate the last of her cereal last week.

She’s in the middle of calculating the pros and cons of actually cooking her own food, since Seungwan’s out with her parents for an overnight trip, when her phone dings noisily.

Seulgiiiii, the text message reads and Seulgi frowns, looking at the clock by the wall that reads 12:29am. She vaguely wonders why Joohyun is up this late before replying.

What is it?

I have something to ask, Joohyun replies.

Which is?

Someone’s being grumpy, she doesn’t know if she’s going crazy but she can actually imagine Joohyun’s face looking cheekily at her before morphing into a worried expression, Did something happen?

I’m sorry, it’s just that I think I totally failed my history midterms, Jaehyun’s such a jerk, she types back while padding into her bedroom, already giving up on cooking anything edible. There’s a reason why she’d rather buy take outs whenever it’s her turn to make dinner.

How bad was it?

I’m pretty sure I left nearly half of the exam blank.

Really? That , she reads but she doesn’t reply after that and she hopes that Joohyun understands that she’s really not in the mood to text right now.

Mostly she just wants to eat something delicious then drown her sorrows away in a bucket of ice cream. She opts to lie down in bed hopelessly instead, ignoring her growling stomach. She’s already halfway into deluding herself that she doesn’t need to eat anything when her phone dings again.

Come downstairs? :)

Her eyes immediately snap open and she makes a mad dash to her window, looking down at the deserted streets and finding Joohyun standing there staring at her phone.

“Joohyun? What are you doing here?” she calls out and Joohyun looks up at the sound of her voice.

“I brought my personal cheering kit!” Joohyun answers back with a smile, waving around a plastic bag and a medium sized box that Seulgi recognizes as the same box of chocolates that they bought for Joohyun’s sister the other day.

It takes a moment to sink in that Bae Joohyun just came to her apartment bringing food and chocolates at nearly one in the morning because she wants to cheer her up.

Seulgi tries to convince herself that she’s not in love.

“How’d you know to bring food with you?” she asks once they’ve eaten the entire serving of kimbap and ddeokbokki (both are made by Joohyun herself, apparently). They’re sitting together on her couch with Joohyun lazily flipping through the TV channels, her legs draped comfortably across Seulgi’s lap.

It’s only a tiny bit distracting.

(Seulgi hopes Joohyun won’t notice that she thinks in circles around her.)

“I got Jaehyun for history last year too,” Joohyun laughs, “And he also scheduled one of our exams this late. It’s nice to see his evil ways of torturing students still hasn’t changed.”

Seulgi snorts at her, gesturing at the half-filled chocolate box, “I feel bad for eating this though. Is your sister not coming anymore?”

“She’s still coming but I can just buy another one later,” Joohyun waves her off nonchalantly, arms reaching across Seulgi to take another piece.

“I thought the store owner said the deliveries for this particular flavor won’t come until next week? Now I’m feeling guilty.”

“Hey, it’s fine. Besides, you definitely needed it more than my sister,” Joohyun laughs and Seulgi smiles at her.

“Hey,” she nudges, “Thanks for coming.”

“Hey,” Joohyun nudges back with a smile, her cheeks turning the slightest shade of red, “You’re welcome.”

They stay up late watching the shopping channel that sells different kinds of cleaning materials that Joohyun finds so fascinating while eating up the rest of the chocolate.

Seulgi doesn’t even get bored.

(She’s not in love. Not at all.)

“You’re in denial,” Seungwan tells her with an eye-roll once she returns from her trip with her parents.

Seulgi can’t even bring herself to protest.

She meets Joohyun’s little sister Yerim and her soulmate Sooyoung the following weekend when Joohyun asks her to accompany them to eat out together. Sooyoung’s wearing a nice floral dress that shows off her soul mark, purple streaks of small chains that start from her shoulder and crawls up her neck.

“It means we’re chained to each other forever,” Sooyoung drawls with a smirk when she notices Seulgi’s gaze and Seulgi can’t even tell if the girl is joking or not.

She doesn’t see Yerim’s at first. At least not until the girl stands and walks towards the restrooms of the restaurant, the same green chains that mirror’s Sooyoung’s purple ones circle her right ankle up to her foot.

Seulgi isn’t sure if she even wants to know how Yerim’s soulmark ended up there.

“So you’re my sister’s soulmate?” Yerim asks, looking at her cheek with a sly smile, when it’s Joohyun and Sooyoung who leaves for the restroom.

“I.. Yeah, I am,” she answers back and she suddenly feels strangely nervous. She doesn’t really know why. It’s not like they’re together.

Yerim snorts, “I’m not even surprised that you have it on your face. And I don’t envy you at all, unni’s not a huge fan of all this soulmate business. She thinks it’s one big hoax that chains people to each other. Can you imagine when she saw me and Sooyoung-unni with literal chains as soul marks? Her face was hilarious.”

Seulgi blinks in surprise. Well, that’s interesting but not nearly unexpected. Joohyun doesn’t like talking about soulmates. Heck, they don’t even talk about the fact that they’re soulmates even if Seulgi’s soul mark is written on her face.

“I guess she does, we don’t really talk about us in that way,” she replies and Yerim tilts her head to the side.

“I like you, so I’m giving you an advice,” Yerim says, her expression turning serious and Seulgi finds herself unconsciously sitting up straighter, “Unni’s stubborn as hell and she can be super unreasonable at times, but I can tell that she really likes you too. She’s going to give you a hard time but stay with her, okay? You guys are great together, unni actually willingly leaves her apartment now to hang out with you. I sincerely hope that the next time we meet, you won’t be introduced as a friend anymore.”

Seulgi blinks and gives the younger girl a smile, “Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

“Well, that’s that,” Yerim nods before taking out her phone and begins typing.

“What’s taking them so long?” she asks, looking around the restaurant for a sign of Joohyun and Sooyoung, it’s been nearly fifteen minutes since they left.

“I might’ve told Sooyoung-unni to accidentally splash Joohyun-unni’s shirt with some water. They’re probably trying to dry it off now,” Yerim replies nonchalantly before putting her phone back in her bag.

“What? Why?” Seulgi asks in alarm.

“I wanted to talk to you, I just told Sooyoung-unni that it’s safe to come back now,” Yerim shrugs before perking up and nodding her head to the side, “Oh, there they are.”

“You could’ve just asked me?” she exclaims in disbelief as Joohyun and Sooyoung approaches their table, with Joohyun obviously trying to dry her shirt with a bunch of tissues.

“Ah, but where’s the fun in that?” Yerim winks.

Seulgi decides that Yerim, despite her surprisingly wise advice, is an extremely frightening little kid.

The first time she enters Joohyun’s apartment, it wasn’t part of the day’s plan at all.

They just finished watching a movie that Joohyun’s been bothering her about for the past three days and they opt to walk home together rather than taking the cab. They didn’t expect the sudden downpour that was definitely not in the weather forecast this morning. They both run for cover though it’s futile because they’re already drenched from head to toe by the time they reach the nearest roof.

“My place is just a corner away, why don’t we just make a run for it?” Joohyun suggests.

So they go to Joohyun’s apartment, which is basically a fancy unit in a tall building that requires passwords instead of actual keys, that’s really just a fifteen minute walk away from the cafe but Seulgi isn’t going to bring that up right now. They both argue on who’s going to shower first until Seulgi finally relents when Joohyun threatens to post the picture she took of Seulgi sleeping with drool on her face online.

She examines the place when it’s Joohyun’s turn to take a shower and she laughs because the entire apartment is so Joohyun. So clean and minimalistic, except for the architectural designs and plates that are placed here and there. Her bedroom is actually just one giant bed in the middle with a hundred pillows and thick comforters. (She does get taken aback when she opens a door and finds Joohyun’s massive fabric softener collection, some of them are even written in different languages.)

“Your place is nice,” she comments once Joohyun’s out of the shower wearing an oversized shirt that reaches her thighs, “Why do you always hang out in the cafe when your place looks like this.”

“Thanks,” Joohyun smiles while drying her hair with a towel, “It’s because the cafe’s closer to our uni, and you guys offer free charging stations. Saves me lots of walking time too.”

She hums in response before dropping herself in Joohyun’s bed. It’s fluffier and much more comfortable than she imagined. She feels the bed shift when Joohyun joins her so she looks up and she decides that this is probably her favorite version of Joohyun. With her hair slightly damp, every action unguarded.

“Why don’t you just sleep here tonight? The rain doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon,” Joohyun asks casually while waving at her window.

So she ends up sleeping over with Joohyun on Joohyun’s giant bed where they talk about nothing and everything all at once. They’re initially an arms width apart but then the rain worsens in the middle of the night and she wakes up to Joohyun desperately clinging to her arm.

(Seulgi doesn’t really get much sleep after that, but Joohyun doesn’t need to know.)

“Why are you so afraid of thunderstorms?” she asks the next day when they’re hanging out. They’re in Seulgi’s room , this time.

Joohyun shrugs her shoulders lightly, “I don’t know. I’m just not really a fan of loud noises.”

“Seulgi, where did you put the- oh,” Seungwan opens the door but cuts herself off when she notices Joohyun, her wide eyes blinking as she looks at them both, “Oops, sorry for interrupting.”

“No, it’s okay,” Seulgi smiles, standing up and gesturing at Joohyun, “Joohyun, this is Seungwan, she’s my roommate.”

“Roommate slash babysitter,” Seungwan grins, extending her hand.

“Very funny,” Seulgi deadpans, “And Seungwan, this is Joohyun, she’s my-“

“Friend,” Joohyun cuts in, taking Seungwan’s hand and shaking it with a smile, “I’m her friend. It’s nice to officially meet you.”

Seungwan smiles at that, though Seulgi doesn’t miss the sideway questioning glance that’s directed at her after Joohyun’s introduction, “It’s nice to officially meet you too, Seulgi’s told me so much about you.”

“Good things, I hope?” Joohyun tilts her head.

“She says you’re good at cooking, care to help make dinner?” Seungwan tosses back and Joohyun nods eagerly.

“As long as Seulgi’s not helping, then I’m in,” Joohyun grins and Seungwan laughs out loud.

“Guys, I’m right here, I can hear you,” Seulgi pouts and they both just cackle and banish her from the kitchen.

“Friend?” Seungwan asks when Joohyun’s left and they’re both lounging around the couch, drinking some leftover soju from dinner.

“Long story short, she’s not a fan of the soulmate thing,” Seulgi mutters, downing her cup in one gulp.

“That’s ridiculous. You guys are basically dating,” Seungwan comments, her eyebrows disappearing behind her bangs.

“We’re not,” she replies because they’re not. It’s not what she wants but she’s pretty sure it’s what Joohyun wants so it’s what they are.

Seungwan just pours her another drink wordlessly in response.

“You do know that I’m banned from our kitchen for a reason right?” Seulgi warns jokingly. They’re at Joohyun’s apartment because Joohyun wants to learn baking so she asks for Seulgi’s help. Seulgi’s pretty sure this is a bad idea, though, because the last time she even attempted baking, she nearly burned their apartment down while trying to make a cake.

“I know, Seungwan told me. But it’s fine, you’re not going anywhere near the oven, you just have to do as I say,” Joohyun grins before happily skipping to the kitchen counter carrying a bunch of eggs.

‘Do as I say’ turns out to mean being Joohyun’s personal human mixer. She ends up stirring a bowl of flour, eggs, and different sorts of powdered stuff that’s probably really important, what with Joohyun’s microscopic measurements of everything, until her arms are sore. In the end, they do manage to make cute little tiny cupcakes that actually taste good so Joohyun proceeds to make the decorations and Seulgi's assigned to be her assistant.

“Seulgi, can you get the plastics for me? They’re inside that cabinet,” Joohyun gestures vaguely with a nod of her head while mixing the icing so Seulgi opens the cabinet and a heavy tumbler falls on top of her, grazing her left temple.

“Ow!” she yelps out in pain and Joohyun immediately drops the bowl of icing and scrambles to reach her.

“Are you okay?” Joohyun asks worriedly, her right hand reaching up to examine Seulgi’s cheek only to flinch back quickly, as if she’s been burned. It takes her a moment to make sense of Joohyun’s reaction until she remembers that Oh, that’s where our soul marks connect.

They've managed to avoid this topic for months, but it's never more blatantly obvious than today.

“Do the marks match?” she asks with a light chuckle in an attempt to erase the heavy atmosphere that suddenly engulfs them both.

Joohyun looks away and clears awkwardly, “You’re bleeding. Wait here, let me get the first aid kit.”

Seulgi expects Joohyun to ignore her question. Of course she does. Yerim warned her, after all. And she totally understands.

(She just wonders how much she can take before she’s had enough.)

It’s a Friday night, ironically, when she finally breaks.

They’re hanging out in Seulgi’s bed quietly until Joohyun accidentally brushes Seulgi’s side and Seulgi retaliates and they’re suddenly in an extremely messy tickle fight that ends with Joohyun straddling Seulgi against the bed, both of them laughing breathlessly. Seulgi can pinpoint the exact moment that Joohyun notices their position because she stiffens, eyes widening comically, and she quickly moves to get off.

Something inside Seulgi snaps at that and she finds herself tugging Joohyun, almost harshly, and flipping her around so they end up in the reverse of their positions earlier.

“Why are you running away?” Seulgi asks, holding her position despite Joohyun’s attempts to push her off, their faces inches apart, “You keep doing it, pulling away whenever we get close. Tell me, what are you afraid of?”

Joohyun stops struggling, arms dropping to cover her eyes, head turning to the left slightly to avoid Seulgi, “It’s because every time I look at you, I wonder if what I feel is really me or if it’s just the universe telling me what to do.”

That statement makes Seulgi lose her strength so when Joohyun pushes her off again, she easily gives way. She watches quietly as Joohyun gathers her things before stopping by the door.

“My department’s finals week starts tomorrow. I’ll be busy,” Joohyun says, eyes glued at a spot above Seulgi’s head before turning around and leaving the apartment, the door slamming harder than Seulgi expects.

The don’t contact me is crystal clear in that action, Seulgi knows. And she understands. She really does.

Doesn’t mean it hurts any less.

So she turns her phone off, uses Seungwan’s instead whenever she needs to contact anyone. Tells Seungwan’s mom that she won’t be able to work on her regular shifts so she won’t have to see her. She even avoids passing by Joohyun’s department whenever she goes to class. Takes the long way around the cafe whenever she needs to go home.

Tells herself that she’s just doing what Joohyun wants.

She ignores the voice inside her head that sounds suspiciously like Yerim.

“Coward.”

“Seulgi, what are you doing to yourself?” Seungwan inquires exasperatedly, gazing at her with worried eyes.

It’s been four days since their less than stellar confrontation and she’s pretty sure that she looks like death though she doesn’t really bother looking at a mirror.

“Joohyun said-” she starts.

“I don’t care what Joohyun said,” Seungwan cuts her of sternly, “I’m asking you. Because you’re my best friend. What are you doing?”

They’re both silent for a while and it’s not until it’s evident that Seungwan isn’t leaving unless she talks that she begins to speak.

“But what if she’s right? What if I’m feeling this way because she’s my soulmate?”

“Seul, do I have to remind you that you thought that Joohyun-unni’s, in your own words, crazy when you first met her? If the universe makes you love your soulmate, then why were you guys so awkward the first few months?” Seungwan says, “Every meeting you guys had after the first few were conscious decisions made by you guys, Seulgi.”

She remains silent and Seungwan stands up, taking her bag and coat and heading for the door.

“And frankly, even if it’s because of fate, do you really think it matters?”

It doesn’t. Of course, it doesn’t.

She loves Joohyun, soulmate or not. And she’s going to tell her even if it means getting another slap in the face.

So she immediately gets dressed, stumbling along the bathroom in her haste to get her clothes on before running out of the apartment to Joohyun’s, hoping that the girl hasn’t changed the lock code yet.

Her determination evaporates quicker than expected, however, when she enters Joohyun’s apartment and finds the girl crying. Her small form looks even smaller curled up in the middle of her bed.

“Joohyun?” she calls out uncertainly and Joohyun looks up at the sound of her voice.

“Seulgi?” Joohyun responds shakily and Seulgi recognizes the shirt she’s wearing as the same one Seulgi left when she got drenched in the rain. She gazes up at Seulgi for a minute, as if she’s checking if she’s really there, before running and slamming her with a tight hug and Seulgi has to take two steps back to avoid tumbling into the floor.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Joohyun cries against her neck, clutching her tighter, “I was being such a selfish idiot and I shouldn’t have said what I said and I wanted to apologize but then you weren’t answering your phone and I went to the cafe but you weren’t there anymore.”

Joohyun pauses as sobs rack her body and Seulgi rubs her back soothingly, “When I found the courage to go to your room, you weren’t even around. And I got so scared that you hated me. And I don’t want you to hate me because I didn’t even believe in this soulmate thing until I met you. And now I think I lost you and-”

“Hey,” she whispers, tugging Joohyun back to wipe her tears with her thumb gently, “I could never hate you.”

“Seulgi, I’m so sorry,” Joohyun mutters, her right hand tracing Seulgi’s left cheek and Seulgi takes it and places it above her chest.

“This heart? It belongs to you. I don’t care if it’s because of the universe or the soulmate bond or whatever,” she declares, taking a shaky breathe before giving Joohyun a small smile, “All I know is if I was born as a different person, I will still fall in love with you. Because you’re you.”

“I love you,” Joohyun whispers, tears reforming in her eyes, “I’m so in love with you, Kang Seulgi. You don’t even know.”

She doesn’t know who made the first move, and she doesn’t really care, but they’re suddenly kissing and it’s passionate and messy and everything that Seulgi’s ever dreamed of.

A few hours later, they’re lying beside each other in bed and Joohyun absently traces her soul mark. As if it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.

“It’s beautiful,” Joohyun says, her voice barely above a whisper but Seulgi hears her all the same.

“So are you going to be a soulmate believer from now on?” Seulgi inquires, hands massaging Joohyun’s free hand.

“I don’t believe in soulmates,” Joohyun replies, “But I believe in you.”

Seulgi smiles happily because, frankly, that’s more than enough.

(She ends up staying the night again. But this time, she sleeps with her arms full of Joohyun.

There wasn’t even a thunderstorm.)

“So,” Seungwan raises her brow at their intertwined hands when they both arrive at Seulgi’s place the next day, “I take it you guys made up?”

“We did. And I’m sorry for causing trouble,” Joohyun smiles guiltily, “I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other from now on, if that’s okay with you?”

“That’s fine, as long as you guys are happy,” Seungwan grins before eyeing Joohyun’s neck warily, “But please keep your lovey dovey moments in Seulgi’s room. And lock the door, just to be safe. I don’t want to walk in on anything that I shouldn’t be walking in on.”

Seulgi should really reprimand Seungwan but Joohyun turns the most adorable shade of red while clutching her neck so she just laughs and takes a picture for future purposes.

She gets another smack in the face for her troubles.

They’re sitting beside each other on the couch watching reruns of Seulgi’s current favourite drama in Joohyun’s apartment when an idea strikes her.

“Joohyun?”

“Hm?” Joohyun responds distractedly, eyes glued to the screen.

“I’m going to say something really weird,” she begins with a serious expression.

“What is it?” Joohyun looks back at her curiously, eyebrows crinkling and Seulgi almost gets distracted because she somehow looks extra cute like this. Dressed in Seulgi’s shirt (one of the many shirts that she steals whenever Seulgi sleeps over) that nearly swallows her up.

“I’m really glad you slapped me that night,” she says when Joohyun prompts her with an elbow for not speaking right away.

Joohyun stares at her for a moment before laughing out loud, her whole body shaking as she nearly drops the bowl of popcorn that they were both munching on earlier.

“Hey! I wasn’t joking,” she pouts and Joohyun grins wider before dropping the bowl on the table and nudging her crossed arms so she can snuggle up to her, reaching over to sit on her lap and arms wrapping securely around her neck.

“I know,” Joohyun mutters against her ear, lips curving into a small happy smile, “I’m glad I slapped you too.”

fin.

A/N: Yup, fluff again. Someday, I'll probably write a proper Seulrene angst fic but today is not the day lol. Thank you so much to all the readers, including the ones who read my previous fics, and I hope you guys enjoyed!