The soul marks pick back up again a few days after Joohyun wrote her little note back to her soulmate, on the exact day Joohyun takes her last midterm, no less. She was the first to hand in her Human Geography exam, confidently striding from her seat to their professor. Seungwan shot her a dirty look when she noticed Joohyun packing up before turning back to her own exam. When she walked up to the pulpit at the front of the room, she noticed her professor was staring at her hands.

Without even having to look down herself, Joohyun knew that the marks were there. The older woman has felt nothing but pride in them, in the way they capture other people’s attention. When her professor stammers out a few sentences about how lovely Joohyun’s marks are, the creative writing major smiles so widely that she can feel her cheeks beginning sting. You’ve done it again, soulmate, Joohyun thinks giddily to herself as she walks out of the room, I should write something back for them.

Seungwan seems surprised when she finally walks out of the lecture hall. Joohyun is sitting on one of the benches lining the opposite wall, scrolling through her phone. “You waited for me?” The Canadian asks while pulling her phone out of her backpack, and turning the device back on. “Of course I waited for you, silly,” Joohyun giggles as she fiddles with her fingers, “Who else am I supposed to get coffee with?”

Seungwan allows the older woman to pull her towards the doors of the building as she thinks back to the exam they just took. “I hope I didn’t just flunk the class,” the Canadian groans, “There were so many questions I didn’t know.” The Canadian had studied the whole week prior in preparation and had joined a few study groups with her fellow students, yet none of the material had stuck. The second the exam was placed on her chair, Seungwan’s mind completely blanked – she could hardly remember what her name was when she looked at the test.

After telling Joohyun this, the older woman throws an arm over her shoulders, “I’m sure you did better than most of the class, Seungwan. Most of those kids were trying to cheat off of each other, anyways. Besides, I talked to our professor yesterday to ask her about the exam, and she told me that the lowest grade in that class was a 3%, so I’d say we’re both pretty well off.” Seungwan returns the older woman’s reassuring smile before she giggles, “How the does someone get a 3% in a class?”

The two share a bout of laughter, and Seungwan looks over at the older girl’s radiant smile. She briefly thinks to herself that if the older woman didn’t already have a soulmate, she would want to be Joohyun’s soulmate instead. After all, it was hard to deny the fact that Joohyun was an attractive young woman. On top of that, she was a woman who had many aspirations in life, and a determination to attain them. Seungwan remembers one night while they were studying, they took a break and Joohyun had confessed that she wanted to be a best-selling author one day. Seungwan remembers how older woman’s expression turned stony, but there was a light in her eyes that couldn’t be unseen as Joohyun said would work tirelessly until she gained that title.

Despite her adoration for the older woman, Seungwan knew that both she and Joohyun were destined to be friends, nothing more, and that the things she felt for Joohyun was strictly friendship. With each passing day, Seungwan grew firmer and firmer in her belief of soulmates. Besides, whenever she looked at the older woman, it was hard to ignore the obvious marks on her hands, reminding her that there was someone better for Joohyun out there, someone who was born for Joohyun.

Maybe I should make a mark today, Seungwan thinks for the thousandth time since she met Joohyun. She had a pen in her backpack that she’d just used to write for her midterm. It wouldn’t take but just a second…maybe I should ask them how they’re doing, it’s been a solid twenty years of silence between us. “What are you doing for Fall Break, Joohyun?” Seungwan asks, interrupting her thoughts as they stroll about campus, her words filling the comfortable silence between them.

Around them, autumn leaves rustled in the chilly breeze, sending yellow and brown and red swirling to the ground. This was Joohyun’s favorite season, screw the humidity of summer heat and the inescapable freeze of winter. Bring on Trick or Treating and pumpkin patches and apple cider. Autumn gave you the best of both worlds, with benevolent temperatures and beautiful colors.

Joohyun simply hummed in response to the younger woman’s question, allowing herself to marvel in the world around her for a second longer. She could almost hear Fall Break calling her name in the distance, two free weeks off of school luring her with the countless opportunities she had to spend it with. She couldn’t have been any happier; free from the almost overbearing stress of school and beautiful sketches on her hands and arms bringing her compliments from strangers wherever she went.  

She glances down at the matching red maple leaf sketches currently gracing both of her hands, feeling her heart begin to pound. How did