Mei had a bad habit of doodling. She made doodles everywhere: on her notes, her books and in moments of extreme boredom, the person next to her. As such, Baekhyun was her most frequent victim, though she insisted her doodles were art pieces and anyone would be lucky to serve as her canvas.

Sometimes, mind you, only sometimes when she was desperate with no victi- er, volunteers in sight, she would resort to doodling on her own skin. Generally, she avoided that because her skin was way too sensitive to risk inking it. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

The lecture going on right now was making her desperate. Desperately bored. She’d been yawning for the past ten minutes and if she didn’t do anything soon, she’d end up sleeping.

Naturally, her last resort was to doodle. She loved sketching tiny little pieces, cute sceneries overlaid by either text or a cute couple. Oftentimes, she thought about Luhan, her ever favorite singer and actor. He had such dreamy eyes.

Kyungsoo had dreamy eyes too, though he usually looked far too serious. She sighed. After those few attempts and that weird dream, she hadn’t tried to find out who her soulmate was. She was convinced it was Kyungsoo, had asserted it to Baekhyun when he about her crush. But there was this niggling doubt in the back of her head.

She’d seen her soulmate in her dream, she was sure of it. And it hadn’t been Kyungsoo, she was sure of this as well.

Ugh, how could she focus on the evolution of humans when she was so confused? Besides, Luhan had already achieved all evolutionary perfection, so she didn’t see the point of this study anymore.

Nearly crying from boredom, she resumed her doodling. There wasn’t enough space on her page and she was literally too lazy to turn to new one, so she started covering her separator before moving onto her wrist.

Per habit, she started writing Luhan’s name on the inside of her wrist. She may have her suspicions about Kyungsoo but until she was sure, she’d stick with her idol.

By the time class ended, she had a perfectly shaded name embedded on her skin.

When she met up with Baekhyun later, he soundly about her obsession until she was ready to break his head and only Kyungsoo’s arrival saved him. She deliberately sat away from Baekhyun, giving him the cold treatment while batting her eyelashes any time Kyungsoo happened to look in her direction.

He seemed to find her antics cute because every time, a heart-shaped smile would grace his lips. Ugh, Kyungsoo may not be Luhan-level perfection but he was a class all his own.

Before leaving for his class, he asked her if she wanted to grab coffee with him later. She nodded so vehemently, her teeth clacked. But she didn’t care because yes, he’d asked her out.

‘It’s just coffee…’ Baekhyun sulked, still sore about being completely ignored.

She didn’t grace that with a reply, annoying him. He started whining, holding her arm and shaking it. ‘Stop ignoring me!’

She held out for a few moments longer but took pity when he pulled out his signature pout. No, it had no effect on her whatsoever, she just didn’t feel like tormenting him any longer.

Baekhyun smiled smugly, as if he knew she was lying. Thankfully though, he didn’t call her bluff.

……………………………

‘Mei, you’re just grabbing coffee. What the hell are you doing in there?’ Baekhyun whined loudly, having had enough of waiting.

Mei had asked him to come with her when she went for some last-minute touch ups in the girls’ toilet; but it had been full fifteen minutes and she showed no signs of coming out.

‘Mei!’

‘Okay, okay, I’m out!’ She rushed out, hurriedly patting her hair. Baekhyun’s eyes widened as she struck a pose. ‘How do I look?’

He opened his mouth, then closed it, at a loss of words.

She’d applied a little bit of liner or mascara – he couldn’t tell which – but it made her already huge eyes look bigger, all sparkly and . And she’d applied pink lip tint, which went great with her natural pink undertone.

She looked pretty. A bit lost at his lack of response, but pretty. Very much so.

He was reminded of some vague, forgotten dream, her smiling prettily at him as he leaned in to kis- what the hell was he thinking? He shook his head vehemently.

‘Baekhyun?’ Mei asked, looking a bit concerned. ‘You okay?’

Baekhyun blinked, coming out his trance. ‘Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine.’

‘You sure? I can tell him I can’t make it today.’ She sounded serious, like she really would ditch a date with her potential soulmate for him. It made him smile, made his chest feel weird, like there was too much air trapped inside.

‘No, I’m completely fine. And you look amazing, he won’t know what hit him.’

Mei blushed, probably because he was being completely honest. ‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘Thank you, I needed to hear that.’

He stretched his arm to pull her into his side affectionately. ‘Dunno why you’re worried, he already likes you.’ The words felt wrong on his tongue. ‘And if he doesn’t, I’ll knock some sense into him.’

She giggled. ‘Please don’t.’

Baekhyun flexed his biceps, purposely showing off. ‘See these? He’d better be careful. You tell that to him from me, okay?’

Mei laughed, rising on tip toes to kiss his cheek. ‘Thanks. I’ll see you later.’

‘Have fun!’ he called after her retreating figure. She waved back, and he let out a sigh. Maybe he’d gotten used to seeing Mei as some sort of non-ual creature who only ogled Luhan and had celebrity crushes. Seeing her go on a real date was messing him up.

Shaking his head, he started heading back.

……………………………….

Baekhyun was bored. Mei still hadn’t come back, and he didn’t feel like going out today. Usually, he’d go and bother Kyungsoo in such situations but that was out of the cards today. He the TV in hopes of finding something fun to watch but after too many advertisements and reruns, he turned it off.

He the music at full blast and danced to all the girl group songs, before deciding to lift weights. He’d been working out recently. But he tired quickly and returned to play video games.

After two hours, he was sick of his losing streak and threw the controller away in frustration.

‘Ugh!’ he whined, hoping that would relieve his boredom. It didn’t, so he slumped face first into the couch. Maybe smothering himself would work.

It did, sort of. The sensation of his breath stopping had him sitting up a hurry, face red and heart racing. Talk about adrenaline rush.

He leant as far back as the couch would allow, almost hanging upside down and stretched his arms over his head. His fingers touched the inbuilt bookcase and he pulled out something at random.

It was that silly book Mei had been conned into buying. He chuckled, flipping through the magenta pages, squinting his eyes against the bright colors. If one ignored the sheer stupidity of it, the book could be fun.

Casually, he read some of the ways to find one’s soulmate. He’d never understood Mei’s fascination with this stuff. Sure, old people talked about soulmates, finding their other halves and what not but he didn’t really believe in any of it.

For one thing, there was no single method to it. Some claimed they had red-strings, others met in dreams, some saw color the first time they met their soulmate. He thought it was all well-intentioned bullsh*t, made up to convince each other that there was still something beautiful left in this y world.

He snorted. He was such a cynic, even though he had no good reason to be. His parents were self-proclaimed soulmates, as were his grandparents.

Maybe he’d seen too many ‘soulmates’ get into caustic relationships that were better off ended. Maybe it was that he’d seen those soulmates cheat on each other. Maybe it was just his education, telling him to question anything he couldn’t prove.

Or maybe it was because he feared finding out who his soulmate might be.

Abruptly, he stopped smiling, staring at the book intensely. He was afraid, he could admit. Relationships were difficult, soulmate or no soulmate. It wasn’t easy to let your walls down to enter another person, give them ammunition to hurt you and just trust that they wouldn’t do it.

Maybe that’s why he’d never actively sought out the knowledge. There were ways, he knew. His grandmother had told him numerous stories. Wish upon a shooting star and you’ll meet your soulmate in your dreams. Do this and you’ll meet your soulmate; do that and it’ll happen.

Perhaps now…

He shook his head, unable to believe what he was considering. But really, perhaps now he was old enough and mature enough to trust himself not to mess everything up.

And he could only hang on to Mei for so long.

The thought made his gut twist but made him more determined. He flipped the pages. There were complicated rituals, to be carried out on special nights; there was even a love potion, though its ingredients made him nauseous.

Finally, he stopped at something that looked promising. Hmm.

He’d heard about this too, how whatever one wrote on their skin appeared on their soulmate’s body. He hadn’t known it was so simple though. He'd thought everything one wrote on their skin would appear on their soulmate’s body. But according to this book, the message had to be specifically intended for the soulmate.

Curiously, he picked up the pen and stared at his arm. Shrugging, he wrote his name painstakingly on his arm.

The ink remained where it was.

He sniffed, knowing it was a waste and threw the book away, slipping down on the couch until he was lying and ordered himself a pizza. Who knew when Mei would come back?

……………………………

Baekhyun was fast asleep on the couch when Mei let herself in, snoring loudly, cold pizza in his lap and an opened bottle of coke on the table beside him.

Mei shook her head at the familiar sight. Anytime she had to leave him alone, she always came home to this scenario. Baekhyun took it as some sort of personal responsibility to stay home to wait for her, make sure she got home on time and then grill her about her whereabouts.

She thought it was the reason her parents had agreed to let her move out, knowing Baekhyun would never leave her unsupervised. Though if they could see him now, they’d probably have their doubts.

Smiling to herself, extremely happy with how her date – eep – with Kyungsoo had gone, she tiptoed inside, making sure not to make any noise. Baekhyun always tired himself out when he stayed home, working out and dancing and just not resting until he crashed.

He stirred when she freed his lap of pizza, whimpering like a puppy as she laid him down, so he wouldn’t crick his neck. He hadn’t even taken off his shoes. She pulled them off, though taking his socks off was another matter; she preferred to keep her sense of smell.

Quietly, she picked up the other stuff he’d strewn about, chuckling when she caught sight of the soulmate book. Baekhyun was the biggest soulmate-cynic she knew but she also knew he secretly yearned for it as much as she did. He just had very high walls.

Much like herself, though she didn’t like admitting it. But they’d both seen people close to them going through hard times over love. It made one cautious. But at least she’d learned to move on. Maybe he would too.

She wished he was awake because she wanted to tell him all about her date, but he looked so peaceful, she didn’t have the heart. Instead, she covered him with a duvet, smiling fondly when he snuggled into it immediately. 

‘I had a lot of fun today,’ she told his sleeping figure. He smiled as if in response. ‘Kyungsoo was sweet. He always is but today, he was just…’ She sighed, remembering his thoughtfulness. It made her stomach twist in the best way. ‘I don’t think he really planned for it to be a full-day date, he’d just suggested coffee. But he’s really good with surprises.’

She stared at Baekhyun’s sleeping face, the smile on her own fading. She bit her lip, worrying it as she opened her heart. ‘I’m scared, Baek. I’m really scared because he’s so nice and I’m… I’m just me.’ She blinked rapidly, a sheen of tears covering her eyes. ‘What if he decides he doesn’t like me? Or I’m not worth the trouble?’

She shook her head, sniffing. Silly her, crying over a guy right after her first date. Talk about insecure. She took a deep breath and cleared .

‘You’re right,’ she told him, nodding to herself, ‘I’m awesome and Kyungsoo obviously appreciates it. He’s a good guy. He’s probably my soulmate.’

The words felt wrong on her tongue and she shook her head. There she went being silly again. He’d asked her out, hadn’t he? Right after she’d started taking initiative to find her soulmate too. If that wasn’t a clear sign, she didn’t know what was.

Doubt still niggled her mind when she went to bed and followed her into her dreams.

She was standing in the center of a suspension bridge in the middle of nowhere, Kyungsoo standing in front of her, urging her to cross it. He smiled his heart-shaped smile, eyes scrunching up like they did when he was really happy and opened his arms for her.

‘I know you can do it, Mei.’ he told her, voice carrying over easily despite the distance.

She took one step towards him, then another, and another. But with every step, her heart felt heavier and heavier, like she was leaving something precious behind. Which was stupid because what could be more precious than her soulmate?

‘Mei?’ It was Baekhyun. ‘Where are you? Mei?’ Her heart ached at the panic in his voice; he sounded like a lost child, close to tears. ‘Mei?’

She’d stopped moving, unable to take another step, not while Baekhyun wept so heart wrenchingly. She hadn’t turned around to look for him yet, but she knew he was behind her. Instead her eyes met with Kyungsoo’s, pleading.

He stared at her stoically, ignoring Baekhyun’s increasingly hoarse cries, arms still open, awaiting. He looked completely unaffected and like he expected her to act the same.

‘Please don’t leave me alone…’ Baekhyun called and something in her broke. She slowly shook her head, taking a step back. ‘I…’ Her voice quavered. ‘I can’t… I’m sorry but I can’t…’ Tears filled her eyes rapidly. ‘I can’t.’

Then, wonderfully, Kyungsoo smiled. It was different from the one he’d given her before, more understanding. Sad. ‘I know.’ he replied, resigned. ‘I know you can’t. And I know why you can’t but Mei…’ Here, he met her eyes, gaze suddenly intense, burning. ‘Do you know?’

Just as suddenly as the dream had started, it ended, leaving her awake, staring at her ceiling and the question echoing in her head. Do you know?

Know what, she thought groggily, wildly. Know what? The question seemed really important but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure it out.

It didn’t really surprise her to find Baekhyun at the fridge, drinking water. He looked as if he’d seen a ghost, eyes wide and red-rimmed. He didn’t smile at her when she went over and that concerned her. Baekhyun without a smile wasn’t a Baekhyun she wanted to see ever again. She’d seen enough of that after Taeyeon.

Her welcoming smile slipped off, concern taking its place. ‘Are you alright?’

He didn’t meet her eyes. ‘It’s nothing.’

She touched his arm, ignoring how he winced at the touch. ‘Baekhyun, you know I’m always here for you, don’t you?’ she whispered.

He swallowed, staring down at the bottle in his hands and didn’t answer. She shook his arm. ‘Baekhyun?’

‘For how much longer, Mei?’ he asked, voice almost silent, it was so hoarse.

The words hit her so hard, she stumbled. They were so… raw, so filled with pain, that it brought tears to her eyes. And it made her angry.

They’d been together forever. Literally. She couldn’t remember a time when Baekhyun wasn’t in her life. And she couldn’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be.

She shoved him, making him stumble because he hadn’t been expecting it. ‘Mei?’

‘Get this in your stupid head, Byun Baekhyun. I’m never leaving you,’ she told him furiously, poking his chest to punctuate her point. ‘Do you understand? If you think, for a single moment, that I’m going to just abandon you because I find my soulmate or…or…’

She was so angry, she started crying. She hated when that happened but unfortunately, her tear ducts opened any time she felt an intense emotion. She was just so, so mad, that she couldn’t even speak properly.

Instead, she hit him, light punches that stopped before they landed, completely breaking down.

Baekhyun grabbed her fists the next time she hurled them, effectively stopping her. She let him, bawling her eyes out. ‘Why would you say something like this?’ she managed to say between breaths.

Baekhyun, in the meantime, was having trouble holding back his megawatt grin because Mei had no idea what her words meant to him. And seeing her cry was making him tear up as well though he was valiantly trying not to give in.

Instead, he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. ‘I’m sorry, I just…’ Need you to be with me forever and ever… He didn’t say it aloud, too strung up to think about its implications.

She was still crying into his chest, though it was probably from the excess emotions. His words had to have hurt her, on the same level as the thought had hurt him.

Baekhyun knew just how sensitive Mei could be, particularly about people she cared about. If one of her loved ones hurt, she’d hurt right along with them. Just like she’d hurt for him when Taeyeon had dumped him, telling him he was too much to handle.

He squeezed her tight. They stood hugging each other until she stopped crying. He parted reluctantly, staring down at her. She tried to hide her face, but he stalled her, chucking her under the chin to look up at him. ‘Mei?’

She didn’t meet his eyes, but he waited patiently until she did. ‘What?’ She tried to go for a nonchalant tone but her nasal voice and red, tear-stained face quite ruined the impact.

‘Thank you.’ he said with as much sincerity as he could muster. She had no idea about the nightmare he’d woken up from – he’d lost her, and he couldn’t find her anywhere... but he’d feared that she’d left him like people had left him before, because he was too much… and yet, never enough to make them stay.

She blushed. ‘Don’t ever think like that again,’ she told him, looking away. ‘I mean it.’

He smiled. ‘I know.’

…………………………………

Afterwards, they had warm drinks with reheated pizza. He made space for her to sit beside him on the couch and she snuggled into his side, while he quizzed her about the details on her date.

‘I thought it was just coffee…’ he complained since she’d left him alone for the whole day.

‘We were so busy talking, we didn’t realize how late it was. Then he said it would be a shame if I went home without having dinner.’ Mei told him, sipping on her hot chocolate.

‘Where did he take you?’ Baekhyun asked, adding, ‘Bet it was somewhere classy.’ Because Kyungsoo was like that, classy.

‘It was. I felt a bit underdressed, to be honest, but he said I looked great.’

Baekhyun sniffed. It was a good thing Mei wasn’t prone to dating a lot because then he’d have to listen to this sort of cringy talk frequently. ‘He sounds great.’ Baekhyun sounded salty, even to himself so it wasn’t surprising when Mei laughed.

‘Why’re you acting like he’s some stranger?’ She poked his side, making him squirm. ‘He’s your friend.’

‘Yes well,’ Baekhyun cleared his throat loudly. ‘You’re my best friend. Guess who’s side I’ll take.’

She gave him a fond smile. ‘You’re very sweet, Baek.’

‘You’d better remember that.’

Mei snorted. ‘It’s just one date, why’re you acting like I’m getting married?”

‘Aren’t you, though?’ he asked, immediately folding over to block her incoming punch. He laughed. ‘No, but seriously! You’ve been harping about Kyungsoo ever since you met him, now you’re dating him.’

‘One date.’

‘Details!’ He shook it off dismissively. ‘And much as it hurts me to admit it, he’s a total keeper.’

‘Yes but…’ Mei didn’t understand why she was objecting to it. Baekhyun’s approval meant she had nothing to worry about but it still didn’t feel right. ‘There’s no guarantee he’s my soulmate.’

Baekhyun huffed. ‘Okay, let’s say he isn’t.’ Mei opened to say something, but he talked over her. ‘Which is doubtful since you’ve made progress with him right after you did your stupid ritual thingies, so I think it’s pretty obvious that he is but… even if he isn’t, would you really pass him over for your ‘soulmate’?’ He made quotes in the air. ‘For a guy you haven’t met and have no idea if you’ll get along with? You’ve known Kyungsoo far longer than you’d know any stranger…’

‘Why do you think it’d be a stranger?’ Mei had no idea where that came from, but she let the words out. ‘It could be someone very close to me.’

Baekhyun actually snorted at that. ‘Puh-lease! I’m the closest person to you, that’d make me your soulmate.’

Instead of jokingly protesting it, like he’d expected, Mei averted her eyes. ‘And what if it is?’

He quieted abruptly at the sudden seriousness in her voice. ‘What?’

Mei cleared , shaking her head. ‘Nothing, it’s nothing.’ She let out a forced laugh. ‘We’ve already determined you are my soulmate, Baek. Remember?’ She pointed at his palm.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but feel he was missing out on something but he played along anyway. ‘Oh yes, of course. Well then, Mei, I forbid you to date outside of our relationship!’

Mei gasped in mock-offense and started ranting about how she was an independent woman who was free to date whoever the hell she wanted. He is laughed and argued back.

It was almost morning when they finally passed out, exhausted, on the couch.

………………………………..

A/N
Hello :) sorry, got a little bit late in updating but here you have it. When I started writing this story, I had nothing solid planned out, just this vague idea about bestfriends and soulmates. So... this story is very, how do I say it...? experimental? exploratory? I don't know. I just went with the flow of things as and when they occured to me. Anyway, we have a tiny glimpse into Baekhyun's past. There will be more. Hope you guys enjoyed the update, I'll see you guys later <3