Yujin could barely hear her music over the sound of her feet hitting the asphalt below combined with her heavy breathing. She clicked a button on her phone hearing the music go up two levels so she could actually admire IZ*ONE’s array of amazing vocals. 

She did two stupid things then: one, have one of her laces undone whilst she ran and two, she closed her eyes to immerse herself in the music - convinced that if she did then she would be in the music. These things only end up one way as she crashed into something and ended up on the ground.

“Ouch...” someone muttered from a short distance in front of her as Yujin scrambled to put her earphones away. She pushed herself up quickly and extended a hand for the other girl to grab. Her fingertips brushed lightly against where the girl’s counter would be and felt the warmth and static that almost radiated from it.

Yujin almost felt pity for the other girl. Her smile faltering for a second before being forced back on. She almost didn’t catch the question the other girl asked. Almost - had it not been for her body reacting for her, releasing a ferocious roar as Yujin took the other giant’s hand and dragged her to the cafeteria.

With food in hand, the two sat at a table and chatted for a while.
“I’m Ahn Yujin, nice to meet you...” Yujin paused and looked to the other girl, her eyes pleading for a name.
“Wonyoung.” She began with a soft voice as her fork prodded the food, “Jang Wonyoung. Hope we can be great friends.” Her smile was radiant and Yujin felt her heart skip a beat. Their conversation stayed light and casual but Yujin’s eyes never flicked far from the girl’s wrist as the counter barely flashed the digits ‘00:00’.

It was at that point Yujin knew what was going on.

 

The girl with medium length hair carried on her daily life which now mainly involved Wonyoung with a certain amount of caution.

“There’s so much that could go wrong.” She thought with finality as she kept holding the girl at arm distance thinking it would benefit the both. Little did she know the consequences of the unclear relationship between them.

The same sort of push-pull mechanic the two had was quickly picked up by Yujin’s best friend, Yena.

 

“Stop toying with her.” Yena leaned against the rough sandpaper-like wall of the back of the school building, arms crossed and a pout pressing her lips together. It was completely unthreatening since it only made the other look like a duck – causing Yujin to chortle at the light threat Yena made. Or at least she thought it was a joke.

“With who?” Yujin said with feigned innocence, the small smile on her face from earlier quickly disappeared as she gulped at the ferociousness in Yena’s eyes. “Stop toying with Wonyoung’s feelings, Ahn Yujin.” Yena took a step closer and grabbed the brown-haired girl by the wrist to prevent her from leaving. “She’s not a replacement for Minju.” And with that, she threw Yujin’s wrist away and stomped off letting the words sink through Yujin’s skull.

 

There was something that happened everytime that Wonyoung and Yujin came together. The static feeling in her chest and the way they eyes always met with a playful glint like in the anime Hyewon watched constantly. They were a prankster duo and often teased the other members - well, more often than not it was Yujin doing it whilst Wonyoung tagged along like a lost puppy. Yujin wouldn’t deny that she had admired the other tall girl: wavy black hair and clear skin, the hot-pink tint of her lips and the way a blush or smile seemed to fit her face the most. Yujin knew about how the other girl felt yet she completely disregarded it.

 

No one was surprised that Yujin and Wonyoung acted as if they knew each other all their lives, meaning one thing – she didn’t listen to Yena’s advice. The two best friends had a period of coldness between each other but thanks to the help of Eunbi and the other members of their friend group, they too returned to their usual states albeit Yena still holding a slight grudge on the younger.

 

This continued for weeks until a message wakes up Yujin in the middle of the night. The message – at first – was unclear to Yujin as her eyes adjusted the the harsh intensity of the light. The time reads “3.02 AM” as the ringtone is one that she had not heard for a while. One she had reserved for one person in her whole life. The simple text: “I’m coming home” triggered all sorts of butterflies and emotions from within her – desperately wanting the burst out or she would explode. Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall as she realised how much she missed her.

 

Her soulmate.

 

She sat in class that day – jittery for what was to come. She had even got to class earlier that day and Ahn Yujin was never early. Everyone had done a double take when they all filed in and saw Yujin at her desk, humming a song happily whilst swinging her legs like an innocent child.

“Is something wrong with Yujin? Are we sure this is even Yujin?” Asked Nako with a sneer in her voice looking at all the girls within the small circle they made away from said girl.

“She’s probably sick.” Replied Chaewon as someone ran over and checked on Yujin’s forehead and arms yet no reaction came forth from the jubilant girl.

“She’s broken.” Yuri said with a tone of certainty and the others seemed to have just nodded until the door slid open revealing the last member of the group.

 

Yena walked over to the group, barely sparing a glance at Yujin as she scanned the other girls instead.

“Yena, do you know what’s wrong with Yujin?” Wonyoung hesitated, her fingers laced together and thumbs bouncing off each other.

Yena spared one more glance at Yujin before turning her full attention onto Wonyung.

“Don’t worry about her. Someone is just transferring in – a returning student actually.” But before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang causing everyone to scramble to their seats as the teacher entered the room.

“Alright, settle down!” the teacher yelled causing all the small chatter to die down due to the fear of being caught. “We have a new student so be nice!”

“Does this teacher ever stop shouting?” thought everyone as the teacher called for the person to enter the class. 

 

Straight black hair, doe-like eyes and a majestic figure made the guys in the class holler and whistle and the girls stare in awe. Or at least that’s what Wonyoung expected as she looked around the classroom and it was as if time had slowed down as the screech of Yujin’s chair and the thuds on the floor was was still in motion. Everyone watched in anticipation as Yujin hugged the girl and kissed the side of her face before picking her up and spinning her around. Everyone had marvelled at the couple’s antics and a series of wolf whistles cut through the classroom. People began chanting “MinJin!” from the top of their lungs as the couple stood bashfully at the front – their hands intertwined.

 

Yena took a side glance at Wonyoung to see the hardened face of the youngest member of their group. She felt pity as she observed from the side lines over the next few days, watching Yujin float away from Wonyoung - Hitomi left to pick up the broken pieces. Something within the two snapped as it almost was like they saw each other as ghosts except Wonyoung constantly had the face of longing whenever Yujin would do something to garner the attention of the group.

 

The same day that Wonyoung stormed out was the second time the duck-like girl confronted the giant whilst everyone else rushed to try and find their youngest.

“Yujin, you have to clear things up with Wonyoung. Can’t you see how much she’s hurting?” She almost pleaded the taller girl. She was about to say more before Yujin spoke up.

“I’m her soulmate.” She stated and Yena could only gasp in shock. It as something that had never happened before – the legend stating that soulmates always came in pairs of two.

 “But how?” Yena began, her hand fiddling with her sleeve to stop her from fidgeting too much, “Aren’t you Minju’s soulmate?” Yujin only proceeded to shrug and shake her head. Her hands found her way to it as she covered it so Yena wouldn’t see her tears.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her.” Yujin said as she slid onto the floor with Yena to comfort her.

 

Yena’s phone blared out “I Am” to indicate an incoming call. She whipped it out so fast, Yujin was partially worried that the girl’s wrist would snap off

“Yeah, Unnie?. You found her, no wait Hitomi did? Wait what?” Yena distanced the phone from her ear and shoved it back into her pocket. She used all of her strength to try and lift up Yujin by holding her wrists – then she took off in a full sprint, almost making Yujin fall to the ground once more. Her grip stayed tight and Yujin was almost out of breath as she tried to make out some words.

“What’s *pant* going on? *pant*” Yujin questioned breathlessly as she felt almost all of her energy deplete. They had almost made it out into the car park and Yena’s car was in sight.

“Wonyoung, she’s… Being sent to hospital. She collapsed from heart pain. The others are on their way there.”