Jisoo is sitting in the quad, enjoying the soft breeze ruffling his hair as he did his homework. It sure beats the stuffy atmosphere of the university library and his dorm room. Besides, he’s meeting friends here in about an hour. Yes, he got there early so that he could study a little bit more without having to worry about being late. Yes, he is a nerd. He’s also a romantic who appreciated nature like a character in a rom-com, but a nerd above all.

Like a dramatic romantic film scene, Jisoo’s eyes drop to the palm of his right hand where it’s lying idly on the table while he loses himself in his musings. The painted heart on his hand is showing blatantly, though no one can see it, the red and white halves meeting to form the pink in the middle.

When he had first gotten his heart, he had panicked. His heart was split in half. Not literally, but half of his heart was a brilliant, passionate red, and the other was a soft, creamy white. The two bleed together in the middle to a line of soft, pinkish peach. He knew what that meant. Everyone knew what that meant.

Two soulmates. What was Jisoo going to do with two soulmates? He didn’t think he could maintain one romantic relationship, let alone two simultaneously.

He has calmed down over time and gotten used to the idea, but his upcoming future is still daunting. He’s done a lot of research beforehand on polyamorous relationships to prepare himself, but he still didn’t feel ready for two soulmates right now.

Apparently the universe thought otherwise.

“Hello?”

Jisoo glances up at that unfamiliar voice. He met the eyes of an ethereal being. He is gorgeous, with warm, kind eyes, a beautiful, glowing smile, and long, silky hair tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. To put it simply, he is breathtaking. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m in the same statistics class with you, and I just don’t understand it at all,” the gorgeous man says, rather sheepishly. “I heard that you’ve been helping a lot of the class with the homework and such, and I was wondering if...”

“I could help you too?” Jisoo finishes for the man.

“Yeah,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Okay,” Jisoo agrees readily. He’s always ready to help someone if he could. The fact that the man is handsome is only a bonus. “When are you available?”

“Do you mind if I sit? My schedule’s pretty heavy this semester, so it might take a while,” the man asks.

“Not at all, be my guest,” he gestures to the empty seat in front of him.

Gratefully, the man sits down, pulling out his phone as he does. After a few swipes, he hands over his phone to Jisoo. “Here’s my schedule.”

As he takes the phone, their fingers brush, and while that sounds extremely romantic and cheesy, Jisoo doesn’t really think of it that way. He’s too focused on the little burning sensation on his fingers where they made contact with the man’s. This sensation was new. What’s going on?

Then he takes in the schedule showing on the phone. “Oh my gosh, what is your schedule?” The man’s schedule is jam packed full of classes and recitations and labs. “Do you even have time to live?”

“Not particularly,” the man gives him another sheepish smile. “It’s already bad enough that I’m not the best at math, but with all the other classes I have? It’s like hell.”

“Then why don’t you drop the class?” Jisoo asks curiously.

“I’m going straight after college to get my Master’s,” he replied. “I want to take more graduate classes next semester, so I’m doing most of my undergrad credits this semester. So, no, I can’t really drop the class, as much as I can’t stand the class.”

“Okay,” Jisoo concedes, laughing lightly, “point taken. With this schedule, the only time we’ll be able to meet is at lunch on weekdays and weekends, if that okay with you?”

“Definitely,” the man agrees readily, before starting, as if in realization. “Oh my god, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Yoon Jeonghan, senior.” He extends his hand out.

Chuckling because he too had forgotten to introduce himself--too mesmerized by this angel in front of him--Jisoo reaches out to shake his hand. “Hong Jis--”

He never finishes the sentence.

Because as soon as their hands touch, a lightning bolt rips through their bodies, a strong sense of electricity that seems to revitalize them, spark their sight so that suddenly everything seemed to be in Technicolor: vibrant, beautiful, clear. If before everything was like a romance drama, now everything was like heaven on earth, a reality too perfect to be real. Nothing could compare.

The two of them jerk back, their hands retracting from each other, and they share a long, shocked gaze before a burning sensation, not unlike the one Jisoo had felt when their fingers had brushed, brought their attention to their wrists.

Jisoo watched in fascination as the burning sensation writes the first of two names on his wrist: Yoon Jeonghan. It’s written in Hangul as well as Romanized English, and he can’t help but trace the name with his fingers, admiring the beauty of the name.

“Joshua Hong?” Jeonghan asks, brows wrinkled in confusion as he reads the English name badly written on his wrist, then the Hangul. “Jisoo?”

“My American name is Joshua,” Jisoo explains. “Jisoo is my Korean name.”

“Ah...” He sighs in understanding. “Well, this was unexpected, but it explains why I just couldn’t stop talking to you. I’m normally not like this with others.”

“Neither am I,” Jisoo admits.

There’s a pause in their conversation as they try to figure out what to do. “So...” Jeonghan says at last, a tinge of awkwardness in his voice. “One of two, right?”

He nods. “I wonder who he is.”

“I wonder when we’ll meet him,” Jisoo adds. “Hopefully soon. I’d hate for him to feel like we’re too ahead of him because he met us later.” Then he remembered the meetup. “Speaking of meetings, some of my friends are meeting up with me in about fifteen minutes. Do you want to join us, meet my friends? I know it’s a little soon, considering we just met, but...”

“I don’t have anything else today, so why not?” Jeonghan grins at Jisoo, and again, just for a moment, Jisoo is blown away again by the beautiful man in front of him.

“Great!” He grins at the soulmate in front of him, who returns his smile with a beaming one of his own. “So, what’s your favorite color?”

“I don’t have a particular favorite, so I guess... white?” Jeonghan replies, not phased at all by the shift in topic.

Jisoo’s thrown by the answer-not-answer. “Isn’t white a color?” He asks.

“Kind of. White and black aren’t really colors, are they? Black is the absence of all the colors, and white--”

“Is the containment of all colors,” Jisoo finishes, understanding Jeonghan’s reasoning. “Clever. That explains the white half.”

“White half?”

Oh right. Jisoo forgets that no one else can see his heart, and that while the color and the design of each heart is the same, the heart can still look completely different. In response to Jeonghan’s question, Jisoo shows him the heart on his palm.

Jeonghan gasps a little, as if realizing something, before reaching a hand out to slowly trace the heart. It sends a pleasant shiver down his spine. “Yeah, the white’s probably mine. The peach has to be yours, so our soulmate’s favorite color is red.” He runs his fingers over Jisoo’s heart again (another little shiver) before closing Jisoo’s fingers over his palm and opening his own palm out to him.

There, on Jeonghan’s palm, is his heart. It really hits Jisoo then: this is real. Jeonghan’s his soulmate--one of them, at least. The design’s the same, except the white half is peach, and the two bleed together to form white. When he traces the heart with his own fingers, out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Jeonghan experience that same shiver that he had before. It makes him feel a surge of possessiveness: no one but him and their other soulmate could make Jeonghan like this, see him like this. He closes Jeonghan’s fingers over his palm, hiding his heart from everyone else (although no one can see it anyway) before pulling away.

“Wow,” Jeonghan breathes, smiling his breathtaking smile at Jisoo again. “This is real.”

“Yeah,” Jisoo grins. “I’m so happy to have met you.”

“Me too,” Jeonghan agrees.

By the time Hansol, Seungkwan, Jihoon, and Seokmin meet Jisoo at the quad, Jeonghan and he are laughing like they’re best friends, nudging each other and sharing anything and everything about each other.

“Who’s this?” Seungkwan is the first to ask when they approach the pair, being the most curious (read: nosy) of them all. Jisoo is friendly, yes, but he’s not the most open, preferring to be an absolute gentleman all the time and be polite rather than really honest. The way he looks at this stranger though, isn’t reserved or polite: it’s wide open, like the stranger had known him all his life.

Jisoo turns to face his friends with a wide smile on his face and gleaming eyes full of excitement and happiness. “Guys, this is one of my soulmates, Jeonghan.”

Before he could introduce said soulmate, everyone shrieks, “WHAT?”

Rolling his eyes fondly at his friends, Jisoo turns to Jeonghan and says, “Jeonghan, these are my friends: Jihoon, Hansol, Seungkwan and Seokmin.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Jeonghan greets the still shocked friends.

“Soulmates?” Hansol and Seungkwan repeat, one a whisper, the other a loud shout.

“One of them?” Jihoon turns to look at Jisoo, mildly shocked. They hadn’t discussed their hearts, deeming them too private to discuss. The only one who did was Seungkwan, but he’s also the one who found his soulmate first, so they weren’t sure if his lack of privacy led him to Hansol or not.

Jisoo nods. “I have two.”

“Wow,” Seokmin whistles. “That’s awesome, hyung! I’m glad you found the first one!” He grabs Jeonghan and pulls him out of his chair to give him a bear hug. “It’s so nice to meet you Jeonghan!”

“Relax, Seokmin-ah, he’s not going anywhere.” Jisoo says lazily as Seokmin tries to squeeze the living daylights out of his soulmate, who looks more bemused than terrified. “You guys don’t mind if he joins us, right?”

“Not at all!” Seungkwan insists. “The more the merrier!”

“Besides, I invited one of my friends, too,” Hansol says a little sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Then it’s all good,” Jisoo agrees. “So, the usual for lunch?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Seungkwan cheers, pulling Jisoo and Jeonghan out of their chairs.

“Where are we going?” Jeonghan asks, staying close to his soulmate.

“There’s this café we always go to,” Jisoo explains, gesturing to his friends, who have walked ahead to give the two some semblance of privacy (he knows they’re listening in--Seungkwan is just the most nosy) while they walk, “just outside campus. It’s called Adore U, and it has the best egg tarts on campus.”

“Adore U?” Jeonghan repeats. “Interesting name.”

“I think it’s cool,” Jihoon interjects from in front of them.

The café lovingly called Adore U is surprisingly not too crowded today, so the group quickly grab a table. “I’ll get the egg tarts,” Jisoo says. “Two each, right? And drinks?” Everyone agrees and yells out drinks, and Jisoo stands up.

“Let me come with you,” Jeonghan interjects. “I might want something else.”

“Okay,” Jisoo shrugs, and the two walk over to the cashier (ignoring the snickering and teasing comments of his friends) and he lets Jeonghan peruse the bakery selection as he orders everything (downside to being the hyung.)

Jeonghan is apparently a picky eater, as by the time Jisoo has collected all the orders and paid for them, he finally makes up his mind on his order, and so Jisoo has to wait for him to order, pay, and get his food, as the idea of leaving his soulmate doesn’t really seem appealing at the moment.

When the two return, they find that Hansol’s friend has joined them in their absence, a tall, broad man with doe eyes and a puppy face that completely contradicts the previously-mentioned-killer-buff-body. Despite meeting the group for the first time, he seems completely at ease. He’s apparently even teasing Jihoon... and getting away with it!

Obviously, that all ends when Jisoo comes back with food, because nothing trumps food.

“Yes!”

“Thanks hyung!”

“Lunch time!”

“I was so hungry!”

The boys descend on the food, eagerly grabbing their egg tarts and drinks and devouring them like wildmen.

“Children, manners,” Jisoo chides gently before meeting the eyes of Hansol’s friend, awkwardly food-less and drink-less in comparison. He gives him a sympathetic, amused smile before giving him one of his egg tarts.

“No, you don’t have to,” the friend refuses quietly, not wanting the others to notice and feel bad. “I can order some food.”

“I insist,” Jisoo replies. “I’m not that hungry anyway.”

“We can share something, anyway,” Jeonghan interjects, gesturing to his order.

“If you let me,” he teases, nudging his soulmate with his shoulder.

Jeonghan lets out a little laugh and leans into Jisoo a little bit.

“You guys are cute.” The friend lets slip, but obviously regrets it, as his face immediately becomes apologetic, like he stepped over a line.

“It’s fine,” Jisoo says reassuringly. “We just met today, but we’re soulmates, so that has to count for something.”

“Oh.” For some reason, Jisoo can’t tell if the friend’s sigh was one of acknowledgement or disappointment... and for some reason, he cares a lot about the meaning of that oh.

Shaking the thought out of his head, he extends his hand to the friend. “I’m Hong Jisoo.”

“Choi Seungcheol,” the friend introduces himself, reaching over to shake the hand and--

Lightning.

It’s just as strong as the one that he and Jeonghan shared, searing through his veins to his heart, making its pulse skyrocket. Suddenly, where Jeonghan had made his sight heavenly, Seungcheol made his hearing blessed. Everything became beautiful, like everything had finally slotted into place. If meeting Jeonghan had felt like taking the first few steps into a pool, meeting Seungcheol was finally submerging himself: one couldn’t happen without the other, and both of them combined made everything come together, made everything make sense.

“Jisoo?” Jeonghan breaks that reverie, jolting Jisoo enough that he pulls back, taking his hand out of Seungcheol’s grip. “Wha... what’s going--”

“Jeonghan,” is all Jisoo can say before he’s grabbing his soulmate’s hand and placing it in his other, newly found soulmate’s still extended hand.

Jeonghan gasps, and his eyes unfocus, distracting Jisoo from the burning of Seungcheol’s name onto his wrist. Seungcheol, deprived of a break, begins to tremble from the overwhelming emotions and sensations rushing over him like a tsunami wave. Jisoo can see Jeonghan’s name being etched onto Seungcheol’s wrist; it’s so fascinating to actually see. He glances down at his own wrist to see the new name on his wrist. Choi Seungcheol.

“Oh my god,” Jeonghan breathes, hand finally dropping from Seungcheol’s. He looks like his mind’s melted in the best way possible. “You’re our soulmate.”

Seungcheol is still trembling from across the table, so Jisoo, concerned for him, reaches over to grab his hand. “Seungcheol? Are you okay?” From beside him, Jeonghan reaches over as well to hold Seungcheol’s other hand, rubbing soothing circles into the back of his hand.

Slowly, Seungcheol calms down, his eyes focus again, and the trembling eases away. “I’m... I’m good, thanks.” The two withdraw their hands a little hesitantly, letting their fingers drag over his hands softly, like a reassurance.

“What’s going on?” It seems like their other friends have finally stopped ravaging the food Jisoo bought for them, while Jisoo’s own food still remains, largely untouched.

“Guys, meet our other soulmate,” Jisoo answers, showing them his now public wrist; once the last soulmate was found, his heart can be seen by anyone, showing his status as taken.

Taken. It feels nice, being a taken man.

“WHAT?” For the second time in the span of an hour, the four friends screech in shock.

“Kimbap be kidding me!” Seungkwan’s hand snaps out like a snake strike, and he grabs a hold of Jisoo’s wrist to peer at the heart on his palm. “Look at this heart! It’s so beautiful! Red, white and pink!”

“Seungcheol, your favorite color is red, right?” Jeonghan asks. Their new soulmate nods, so he continues, “Jisoo’s pink, I’m white, and Seungcheol’s red.”

“That’s so cute!” Seokmin all but squeals. “Can you imagine it, Jisoo? Meeting both of your soulmates on the same day.”

“We were just talking about it before you guys showed up, too,” Jeonghan adds. “We were worried we would meet you much later and didn’t want you to feel left out. Now, we can start on the same page.”

“Really?” Seungcheol looks surprised at their consideration. “I mean, I’ve met other people in polyamorous relationships who don’t think much about that kind of stuff.”

“I mean, we really can’t do anything to prevent it,” Jisoo shrugs, slightly embarrassed, “but we didn’t want everything to get off to a bad start. We didn’t want to leave you out accidentally.”

“And that’s Joshua for you,” Hansol chimes in, “gentlemanly as usual.”

“Joshua?” Seungcheol asks, before glancing down at his wrist. “Oh, that’s your English name.”

“Yeah,” Jisoo nods. “So, what now?”

“Why don’t you come back to my apartment for dinner? We can make dinner--or order food if we’re lazy--and just get to know each other,” Jeonghan suggests.

“Sounds good to me,” Seungcheol agrees easily.

“Okay,” Jisoo nods. “I don’t have any night classes today, I’ll come over.”

“Well, then it’s settled,” Jeonghan grins.

The other two have the same grins on their faces as they share looks

The group part ways after lunch, having afternoon classes to get to, but Jisoo makes sure to get Jeonghan and Seungcheol’s number, immediately being put into a group chat appropriately named Soulmates <3

Seungcheol: Jeonghan, do you need anything from the grocery store?

Wait, what are we making again?

Jeonghan: I haven’t decided yet.

Jeonghan: There’s still time to order food.

Um, no thanks. I need a somewhat healthy diet.

Seungcheol: Eh, don’t care either way.

Jeonghan: Okay, okay, let’s make some bulgogi. Nice and simple for our first date.

It’s a date?

And bulgogi, nice.

Seungcheol: I’m down for bulgogi.

Seungcheol: Jisoo, did you think this wasn’t a date?

I don’t know anything at this point.

Forgive me if I’m still not sure how to deal with two soulmates.

Jeonghan: Well, we’re all in this together, aren’t we?

Jeonghan: And shouldn’t you guys be in class?

Well none of us have the hell schedule you have, Jeonghan.

I’m done for the day.

Seungcheol: Same. Why else would I be at a grocery store?

Jeonghan: Well lucky you.

Before he knew it, Jisoo was heading to Jeonghan’s apartment, which was on the other side of campus. He was nervous, to say the least. Yes, he’d already met his soulmates, and he just knew they were nice people, but that didn’t stop him from feeling anxious, especially now that he thought of his as a real date. Their first date. He’s dressed pretty nicely, and now he’s in front of Jeonghan’s apartment--when had that happened--and his hand is knocking on the door and the door’s opening and--

“Jisoo!” Jeonghan is beaming, wrapping his arms around Jisoo’s middle, pulling him into the apartment. “You look great!”

“Thanks,” he replies, a little nervously, as he takes in his surroundings. “Wow, this is nice, Jeonghan.”

Jeonghan lives in a studio apartment, barely big enough for a kitchen and a living area. There are two doors, one of which is open to reveal a cramped bathroom, the other presumably leading to a closet. Despite the size, it’s obvious that Jeonghan had made the most of it: the sofa is a futon, the entertainment stand is storing clothes in one of the cabinets, and there is an overall sense of frugality and forced minimalism in the entire apartment. Doesn’t mean it isn’t nice, though. It’s clean and tidy, so Jisoo likes it.

“Don’t lie,” he teases as he makes his way to the kitchen area. “It’s pretty cheap, especially because I’m going to grad school. Can’t afford anything more.”

“Understandable,” Jisoo nods as he seats himself on the futon. “Do you live far from here?”

“Yeah,” Jeonghan replies. “I live on the other side of the country.”

“Wow,” he whistles. “That’s pretty far. When was the last time you saw them?”

“Three... summers ago?” Jeonghan says, mentally searching through his memories. “Yeah, three summers ago because the past two summers I was doing internship.”

“That’s... that’s a long time,” Jisoo stammers. He can’t really imagine not being able to see his parents for so long. He’s lucky he went to a more local college.

His companion shrugs. “It is what it is. I call them everyday, let them know what’s going on with me.”

Before the heaviness can settle, there’s another knock on the door, and Jeonghan heads over to open it. “Seungcheol!”

“Hey, I brought the stuff,” he greets, carrying two plastic bags full of stuff. “Do you have a recipe?”

“Yeah, I asked my mom for it before you guys came over,” Jeonghan answers as he takes the bags from Seungcheol and carries them to the kitchen. “Do you guys want to help?”
“Definitely,” Jisoo says, standing up.

Immediately, Jeonghan gets to work, assigning Seungcheol to cut the meat while Jisoo cuts the vegetables and Jeonghan prepares the sauce. It’s kind of strange, how easily the three fall into routine, like they’d been doing this all their lives.

“Do your parents know about us?” Seungcheol asks eventually, as they’re putting everything together. Jeonghan had brushed them aside, apparently deeming them unfit to finish the job, much to their amusement.

“Yeah, I just told them,” Jeonghan replies, hands full of marinated meat. “They were ecstatic. I think I’ll be able to come home this summer, so... maybe you guys can come with?” It’s phrased like a question, and posed just as hesitantly; understandable, considering they just met today.

“Well, I don’t have anything this summer,” Seungcheol says easily. “We should do a huge family-meetup so that all our families can meet.”

“Maybe not this summer,” Jisoo says. “It’ll be too soon. But we could visit each other’s families.”

If they make it. That’s the scary thing about soulmates. They’re not guarantees. There have been cases of soulmates not working out. It’s a fear many people have: their soulmate or soulmates not working out, and being locked from love unless they find someone without a soulmate, which is slim to none.

“Well, I think this meat is marinated enough, so let’s start frying it, cause I’m getting hungry,” Jeonghan says suddenly, into the sudden silence.

“Oh yeah, I’m starving,” Seungcheol interjects, standing up from the sofa. “I’ll get the plates.”

“I’ll get the drinks,” Jisoo adds, not wanting to just sit around while Jeonghan makes dinner.

The three of them return to a perfect--and silent--harmony, punctuated only by the sound of sizzling meat and the scrape of plates and cups on the table. In no time at all, the three of them are seated at the table, plates of bulgogi, rice and kimchi in front of them.

“This smells delicious, good job Jeonghan,” Jisoo grins at the long-haired boy, who suddenly shies away, to his surprise. Apparently he’s not as confident as he’d thought.

“Hey, what about me?” Seungcheol asks goofily.

“You sliced that meat really well, Seungcheol,” Jisoo retorts, a dry, deadpan look on his face.

His soulmates laugh, not expecting his dry humor. “Alright, alright,” Seungcheol concedes. “I get it. Jeonghan’s the chef of the family.”

Family. Were they a family already? Jisoo can’t stop thinking about it for a long time while his soulmates talk. The answer was a resounding yes. Already, the three of them were a family. A trio of lovers. Boyfriends. Whatever the title, if it meant they were a romantic unit, then that was it. That was them. In normal situations, he wouldn’t even consider it--they just met. There hadn’t been enough time for them to reach the level of comfort they already had, and yet here they were, at home in Jeonghan’s little apartment, eating bulgogi and rice and swapping stories about their lives like it was a normal occurrence.

Maybe that was why he was having a crisis over this. It was just so soon. He hadn’t been expecting it. None of his teachers had ever mentioned how quickly the process took, stating that relationships develop at their own pace, and holding standards to all soulmate relationships would be destructive.  If he remembers correctly, Vernon and Seungkwan had fallen in love pretty quickly, as did his parents. At the time he thought that was the exception, but maybe it was the norm. It’s a scary thought, realizing something as prominent a topic as soulmates could happen as quickly as it did.

As scary as it is, once Jisoo fully wraps his head around it, he suddenly feels... at peace. Like... like everything will be okay, if he just trusts in his soulmates. And he does. He just knows that they’ll work out. Jisoo doesn’t open up easily, whether it be to his own family or his closest friends. And yet, he can see himself opening up completely to his soulmates in the near future.

Jisoo watches as Jeonghan shoves Seungcheol lightly when he teases the younger, feeling his heart warm in a way that he’s never felt before, nor does he think he’ll ever feel with anyone else.

Is it scary? Yes, of course. But so’s the future.

And he’s excited for the future.