Soonyoung felt apologetic even though it’s not his fault, and he’s sure it’s not Mingyu and Minghao’s fault either. His friends were just in love, they didn’t mean to hurt anyone. He wanted to say something to the figure sitting on the chair by the window of the convenience store, but what could he possibly say? “I’m sorry my friend dumped his soulmate for another friend”?

Soonyoung gulped down every consolatory words that were about to slip from his lips and said this instead.

“Noodles?” Soonyoung said as he lifted the cup noodle in his hand, careful to not spill the hot water inside (been there done that).

The sitting man blinked once.

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks,” he said. Exhaustion was evident from his tired voice and weary eyes.

“It’s a new flavor that just came out last week, and I gotta tell you, they’ve really stepped up their cup noodle game.”

Soonyoung was usually quite convincing; his friends said he got the talent of a sales guy. But before he could put his skills in full use and elaborate more, his stomach decided to growl. There was no way the other didn’t hear the sound.

The man’s weary eyes gleamed just a little as his lips gave way to a chuckle.

“You convinced me. But I’ll get one myself,” he said before leaving Soonyoung and walked towards the noodles aisle.

Left alone, Soonyoung took an empty seat and put his cup noodle on the table. He took a portion with his fork and blew on it rather enthusiastically. He would not consume cup noodles without blowing on it first because of consequences (been there done that). Apparently he took quite a lot of time; he just had his first bite when the man came back with his own cup noodle and retrieved his previous seat next to Soonyoung’s. Then for a while there was only slurping sounds between the two young men.

After Soonyoung was finished with his noodle, stomach now full and content, he heard the other said.

“Soonyoung, right?”

“Yeah.” Soonyoung gave his best smile. “Wonwoo, right?”

The man, Wonwoo, nodded with a small smile.

“Thanks. It was good as advertised.”

“My tongue is never wrong,” he replied with a boast of his (arguably) impeccable taste bud. To that, Wonwoo let out a quiet chuckle.

It was relieving to see Wonwoo laughing, despite traces of fatigue never truly left his face. At least he looked better than a few minutes ago. Not yet back to the usual Wonwoo, although, to be honest Soonyoung knew very little of the usual Wonwoo. He had only met Wonwoo during the few times Wonwoo visited his university. Visited Mingyu, to be exact. Back then when Mingyu and Wonwoo were dating. Or were they? Soonyoung wasn’t clear about that. Did finding out your soulmate automatically made you date them?

Anyway, during those few times Wonwoo always showed a positive aura. Face full of smile and eyes b with light. Not like this.

It’s probably because of his meddling nature that he couldn’t bear seeing Wonwoo in this state. Anyway, smiling’s better than being gloomy, right? So he didn’t let the conversation stop, trying to get the other to talk and hopefully smile a bit more. Wonwoo didn’t seem to mind (as far as Soonyoung could see).

At some point, voices of two women came into Soonyoung’s ear. They came from the aisle behind Soonyoung and Wonwoo.

“I can’t believe you’re soulmates with her! She’s pretty, smart, and I would kill to have her body.”

There’s a giggle followed by a different voice.

“I know.” The voice was gentle but obviously ecstatic. “I’m so lucky, aren’t I? But you are too, right?”

After a scoff. “He’s not even close to ‘pleasant to the eyes’ and all he does is laze in front of the TV, nurturing his bulging stomach.”

“But you love him.”

There’s a pause, and then a “Yeeess.” Soonyoung could hear the smile in her voice. The ladies proceeded to giggle and walked until they were out of his earshot.

Soonyoung dreaded what he’s see when he turned his head to his left, but he did it anyway. He found Wonwoo with a strained face, staring at his empty cup noodle. Soonyoung pretended he didn’t notice anything and continued their conversation. He couldn’t get Wonwoo to lift the edges of his lips into a full smile before they bid each other goodbye that night.

**

Soonyoung had forgotten about Wonwoo until they met again at the exact same spot weeks later. Wonwoo greeted him first, and this time he looked healthier. The bespectacled man had a bag of fries and shared it with Soonyoung (who was very grateful since he just found out that he had barely enough to afford a rice ball).

They exchanged words occasionally while munching the fries, but eventually the fries were forgotten after Wonwoo started to tell jokes and anecdotes. Soonyoung had to keep holding on to the table so that he wouldn’t topple off his chair.

“You’re one of the rare ones.” Wonwoo said after finishing a tale of how he convinced a friend to believe he was an alien coming to Earth to save the planet from other alien race’s invasion.

“What?” Soonyoung struggled to say the single word since he had been in pain from laughing too much.

“You laugh at my jokes.”

“Seriously?” Soonyoung said when he finally calmed down. “But—they’re funny!”

Wonwoo smiled at that. It looked less strained than the last one Soonyoung saw.

**

They exchanged numbers during that second meeting and after that started to text each other. First the texts were of jokes and memes most people didn’t appreciate. Later on there were texts about each other, what kind of things they’re interested in besides jokes no one found unfunny. Then they were about invitations to hang out, where to meet and when. It was fun and simple. He found a friend in his other friend’s ex. That’s all there was to it.

Yet Soonyoung found himself getting confused. He couldn’t understand why recently, every time he texted or met Wonwoo, a tingling sensation spread through his body, like a gentle electric shock. Weird, but not entirely unpleasant. The tingling started small, barely noticeable that Soonyoung thought he was imagining things. Eventually it got stronger, so strong that his face got flushed easily.

He had heard from Mingyu about the tingle. Mingyu said he felt in once, the day he met Wonwoo. So Soonyoung couldn’t understand why he was getting it now. It didn’t make any sense. Well, Mingyu’s situation didn’t make any sense either. Mingyu didn’t feel the tingle with Minghao yet they’re together now. So maybe Soonyoung’s condition wasn’t that weird? But what could it possibly mean? If—

“Soonyoung.”

His train of thoughts was cut by the deep voice. The one he’d heard so often nowadays, both in reality and in his sleep. He turned to his left and the source of the voice was standing there.

“Will I find an egg on your seat when you stand up later?” asked Wonwoo with a teasing grin. He grinned like that a lot and Soonyoung didn’t hate it despite his words saying otherwise.

Soonyoung let out a scoff and grabbed a bottle from Wonwoo’s hand. Wonwoo let him and took a seat. “You looked so concentrated, I thought one would come out any time soon.”

They were in the convenience store where they first met. Well, the place they first met after Wonwoo’s breakup. It had become their most favorite hangout place. Located in the perfect distance to both of their neighborhoods.

Today something happened similar to what occurred the first time they met here.

“You guys have them on the perfect place so they look connected when you hold hands.”

“Yeah, but yours are completely identical. That screams soulmates.”

Again, voices of two women talking about soulmates reached Soonyoung’s ears.

“Perfect twins are rare,” the first woman said in an appeasing tone. “Couples are fine without identical marks.”

“I wonder what it means... The ones shaped like flowers are said to symbolize relationship with long years of long-distance.”

“They say the circle ones are passionate and full of romantic surprises.”

“I wonder what mine means.”

The women ended their talk with giggles and Soonyoung was left with heart beating nervously. He had never discussed soulmates with Wonwoo. He’s afraid it was still a sensitive topic. He had never brought it up, even being careful when talking about Mingyu.

Since Mingyu was one of Soonyoung’s closest friends, he spent quite a lot of time with Mingyu and had been trying to not mention Mingyu whenever he told Wonwoo about his day. One time his tongue slipped and Soonyoung could see Wonwoo trying to be casual, letting Soonyoung be free from worry of saying the wrong things. It seemed that Wonwoo was not hating Mingyu, although it didn’t look like Wonwoo was willing to meet Mingyu again.

Sometimes Soonyoung saw the traces of sadness in Wonwoo’s eyes. He’d do anything to wipe them off. Today he made up his mind once again to do so.

He was surprised when he turned his neck and saw Wonwoo looking at him. His eyes were unreadable, but there was no hint of the sorrow they sometimes had.

“What does yours look like?” asked Wonwoo.

“Huh?”

“Your soulmate mark.”

“Oh. It’s... I don’t know what it is.” Soonyoung stumbled with his words. He’s still not sure if it’s okay to talk about this.

“Mine and Mingyu’s aren’t identical.” Wonwoo said as he stretched his left arm towards Soonyoung, facing the back of his hand upward so the mark above the wrist was visible. “Mingyu’s a full circle.” Yes, Soonyoung had seen Mingyu’s mark a lot of times. The jagged line was connected into a full circle. Meanwhile, Wonwoo’s was broken here and there.

“So, what’s yours?”

Faced with Wonwoo’s words and straight gaze, Soonyoung stuttered once again.

“Uhm, it’s like a...” Soonyoung lifted his left leg up and folded it so his knees touched his chest. Then he pulled down his sock to reveal the bump on the side of his ankle. “...fishing hook or something?”

Soonyoung’s heart skipped a beat when Wonwoo brought his left hand to Soonyoung’s ankle, putting his mark next to Soonyoung’s.

“They look like they’re connected, don’t you think?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the tip fits the edge here.”

“Hmm... I don’t know...”

“Whatever. I’ll just call them a pair.”

Soonyoung, who had been busy looking at their marks, lifted his neck so quickly at Wonwoo’s words. Wonwoo was still looking at him, but this time his cheeks were flushed.

“You mind?” said Wonwoo, cheeks still red and a shy smile on his lips.

It was all still confusing to Soonyoung. What is soulmate. What does the marks mean. What are he and Wonwoo. His head was having trouble figuring out these difficult things, but he looked at Wonwoo and thought, he’ll figure them out slowly, step by step. Together.