The first time it happens, she’s in the middle of her mathematics class when she’s 12. Haseul feels a tingle on her arm, and unlike the small doodles she sometimes sees surface on her skin, she looks down to see words form down her whole forearm.

It’s a synopsis for a book, writing down the plot points in two of the chapters and some random, specific facts and names of places in the story. Haseul thinks it’s something weird to write down, but then she remembers how her literature teacher always quizzes her on what happens in their assigned readings, asking questions about the name of a store in the story to make sure that the students all read the chapter. She realizes how her soulmate is cheating and she frowns. She isn’t sure she likes a soulmate so dishonest like that.

Haseul just ignores the writing on her arm as best as she can, but when she gets home, she looks up the book that her soulmate is reading for class. She asks her father if they could go to the bookstore, and Haseul buys the book and starts reading it. She figures, when she meets her soulmate someday, they’ll need something to talk about, so she reads “The Giver,” just so she and her soulmate have something in common.

---

The notes on her arms don’t go away as they grow older. In fact, they grow more frequent as Haseul goes through high school. Haseul starts to think that her soulmate has the right idea instead of hating how her soulmate cheats so often. Haseul wishes she could cheat more often. She’d do anything to pass at this rate, but she settles for studying and paying attention in class. Sometimes she just wishes she writes down the answers on her arm before a test. It would save her a hell of a lot of time.

When she feels the tingling sensation on her arm in the morning, Haseul just watches as her soulmate writes out her notes for a quiz or exam. Her soulmate lists different mathematics equations on her arm, and after a few minutes after her soulmate fills out the last one, Haseul grabs her pen. She writes on her forearm a brief ‘good luck ♡’ message, smiling faintly to herself as she does so. A few seconds later, her soulmate writes underneath it, ‘!!!! thank you!!! ♡’ and Haseul finds herself grinning like an idiot in the middle of class, a blush on her cheeks.

---

When Haseul reaches her sophomore year of university, she’s trapped in a hellish biochemistry class for her major. She spends hours and hours preparing for her first test in that class, knowing that she’s gonna need all the luck she gets in order to succeed. Haseul walks into the classroom about twenty minutes early, utterly petrified of the exam that awaits her.

As soon as she sits down, she starts to feel that tingle on her arm again, and Haseul looks down to see how her roommate is writing down notes about molecules and atoms on her arms. Haseul immediately panics and unrolls her sleeves of her flannel to hide her arms, because  she  doesn’t want to be caught with writing on her arm that actually has to deal with the subject matter on the exam! It’s strange, she thinks, how her soulmate also has a quiz on molecular structure, but Haseul just shrugs it off and pays it no heed, since she figures most science courses would begin by going over the basics of an atom. She smiles faintly at the thought, though. She’ll have to ask her soulmate about it later, especially if they’re both science majors.

Some other students file in the classroom as time gets closer to the exam, and Haseul reviews her notes one final time before the test. She watches as this one girl dashes in a mere minute before the start of class, almost late, and makes her way towards a desk in the back. She’s blonde and she’s wearing a long-sleeved shirt, which Haseul finds odd, since it’s still hot outside. The blonde meets her eye and smiles at her as she walks towards the back of the class, and Haseul just politely smiles back, feeling a slight flutter in her chest as she does so.

She chalks it up to nerves and just focuses back on the exam that awaits her, letting out a shaky breath.

Later on, Haseul notices, that blonde finishes first, turning in her exam to the proctor with a hint of a grin on her face before leaving the room. Haseul envies her, considering how Haseul’s unsure if she’ll even finish the exam in time.

When Haseul finishes her exam, she leaves the classroom feeling only vaguely confident in her answers. She still holds her pen in her hand after finishing the exam, and Haseul just takes her hand and writes on the back of her hand.

I hate atoms.

Her soulmate writes back almost immediately.

me too. :(

---

When Haseul gets her grades submitted online for that exam she took, she sees how she got an 93 percent. She smiles at the sight, and eagerly she takes a pen and tugs down her sweatshirt sleeve so she can see her arms.

You had an exam recently right?

Her soulmate writes back twenty minutes later.

yup!

How’d it go?

96%!

Haseul smiles. She’s happy for her soulmate.

Nice!!! I got a 93 on mine

!!!! that’s great!!! and thanks, i cheated :]

Haseul just lets out a laugh.

Her soulmate is ridiculous, but she just finds it strangely endearing.

---

Haseul gets to class a little late when it’s time for her second exam in that biochem class because she gets carried away studying in one of the lounges that she forgets to actually go take the exam. She’s still there before the proctor, though, so she isn’t too bothered by it. Haseul moves to one of the empty seats in the back, passing and smiling at that one blonde girl before she sits down. Soon the proctor arrives and passes out exams, and then he immediately leaves, leaving the classroom unsupervised.

Haseul takes this time to peek at the notes that she feels on her arm. She glances them over, and they’re about the components of a cell and their functions. Except, as she reads them, she notices how some of the information isn’t exactly correct…

Haseul hates how she’s sacrificing her own test time to help, but takes her pen and starts making changes to the notes on her arm.

mytocondria  mitochondria: powerhouse of the cell

ribosomes  lysosomes: cell janitors

RNA polymerase transcribes DNA to form  tRNA  mRNA

As soon as she’s done, she rolls her sleeve back down and hurriedly gets back to her own exam, which, she remembers, is also about the components of a cell…

Haseul finishes the exam and looks down to see how there’s a huge heart drawn on the back of her hand with a smiley face and a ‘thank you!’ written inside. Haseul smiles at the sight, feeling a warmth in her chest to have been able to help.

---

The semester starts to pick up for Haseul, and she has so many papers and exams stacked in the same week. When she simply just runs out of time for some of her assignments, she has to decide which assignments and exams she can sacrifice for the greater good of her grades. She has a biochem exam coming up, but she also has a term paper for one of her humanities classes, which she needs the grade booster for…

Haseul remembers how she’s 80 percent certain that her soulmate is in the same biochem class as her, so she decides to not study for the biochem exam so she can focus on other things, and she’ll just cheat off her soulmate’s notes and use her own knowledge to complete the exam. She considers it foolproof, and she’s so grateful for her soulmate in that moment.

Except Haseul waits in the classroom before class, staring at her empty forearm. Normally her soulmate writes her notes around now, and Haseul just prays that her soulmate is having a late start to their day. But then the proctor enters the room and hands out the exams, and Haseul’s forearm is still bare, and Haseul realizes just how screwed she is.

Fortunately, she knows a few of the questions from what she’s picked up during class, but there’s a handful of questions that she just has no clue what on earth the answers could be. Haseul fills out her exam as best as she can, but at least 40 percent of her exam is blank, and she absolutely cannot take a D on her exam. She starts to panic, thinking that maybe her soulmate isn’t in that class after all, but Haseul is so desperate that she just throws all caution to the wind. She has nothing to lose.

She tugs down her sleeve and starts writing.

SOS!!!! I’m 70% sure you’re in my biochem class. What’s the answer to 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12???

Haseul immediately feels the tingle on her arm.

AHH okay gimme a sec!! i’ll help :]

Haseul patiently waits as her soulmate writes down some answers on her arm. Haseul fills in the answers as they come in, so while she fills out the answer to 3 after her soulmate writes it down, her soulmate’s already writing the answer to 4, and so on. And fortunately, the answers that her soulmate is giving her make sense, so 1) her soulmate probably studied and 2) her soulmate is, in fact, taking the same exam. Haseul swears she falls in love with her soulmate right then and there because of how her soulmate goes out of her way to help her in the middle of their own exam.

Haseul somehow finishes the exam with enough time to spare, and she covers her arms (and legs, her soulmate ran out of room at one point) when she turns in her exam. She hurries back to her room and washes off all the ink so that she has some room on her arm, and Haseul immediately leaves her soulmate a message.

You just saved my grade!!! You have to let me repay you. Since we go to the same uni, meet me in the coffee shop at 2? It’s on me  ♡

Her soulmate writes back in rushed, sloppy handwriting.

ohhhhh my god okay!!! see you there  ♡♡♡

Haseul’s heart flutters from anticipation. She finally gets the opportunity to meet her soulmate… and she can’t wait to finally meet them.

---

For the rest of the day, Haseul feels a constant tingle on her arm. Her soulmate washed off their conversation almost immediately after it happened, and her soulmate’s been drawing some ornate design on their arm ever since. Haseul watches the pen every so often, seeing the design come to life on her arm. It looks like a tattoo sleeve of black markings, and Haseul doesn’t quite think it’s her style, but she finds it beautiful. Her soulmate is really talented when it comes to drawing, and Haseul is excited to find out more about them.

Haseul’s so eager that she heads down to the coffee shop earlier than the time they agreed upon. It’s only 1:45 when Haseul steps inside, but she figures that she can at least wait there for her soulmate. At least she isn’t late, either.

There’s a few people inside the coffee shop doing work, and her eyes wander. She recognizes a few of them from some of her classes, including the blonde girl from her biochem class. She’s sitting at one of the tables, holding a notebook in one hand and spinning a pen in the other as she listens to music through her headphones. She wears a silk blue button-up that has a few top buttons undone, and her sleeves are rolled up too. When Haseul’s eyes trail down to her sleeves, she sees a lot of black ink on her left forearm, trailing up the entirety of her arm. Haseul recognizes the pattern as the very same one on her own left arm, and Haseul immediately looks down at her arms and rolls up her sleeves.

Haseul swallows down her nerves and approaches the blonde, standing by the empty chair at her table. She forces a smile and tilts her head, seeing how the blonde looks up at her when Haseul nears the table.

“So, that test in biochem.” Haseul begins, figuring she’d strike up conversation with her like she would anyone else, “How’d you feel about it?”

“Oh, hey!” The blonde smiles brightly, “Ahh… Pretty good! I actually studied for once, so I feel a lot better about it than normal.”

“I take it you don’t study often then.” Haseul says teasingly.

The blonde just shakes her head, still with a smile on her face. “I don’t have much time to. Or much of a desire to.”

“Is that why you always write the answers on your arms before a test?”

She raises an eyebrow, confused. “You know about that?” She asks, and she glances around before leaning closer to Haseul and lowering her voice to a whisper, “Have I been that obvious in class?! Could you see the writing on my arms?!”

“No. Well. Yes-” Haseul laughs faintly and looks down at her left arm, holding onto her wrist, “I saw them, alright.”

The blonde’s gaze follows Haseul’s and she sees the ink all over her arm in a pattern that’s exactly the same as hers. The blonde just gapes, looking back and forth between Haseul and her arm. “T-That was you, Haseul?!”

Haseul blinks, surprised to hear her own name from the girl. “You know me?”

“O-Of course I do! You’re, like, the best student in the whole class!” She holds her head in her hands, “No wonder my soulmate is so smart… You’ve been the one correcting all my notes!”

Haseul grins faintly. “Well, it’s a little counterproductive to cheat off wrong info.”

The girl calms some to hear the joke, and she smiles back at Haseul. “Do you know me?” She asks, voice hopeful.

Haseul smiles guiltily and shrugs her shoulders. “You’re the cute girl who smiles at me sometimes in class and I smile back.”

“Jinsoul.” She says, a faint red blush on her cheeks, “My name’s Jinsoul.”

Haseul’s smile grows and she can only let out a soft laugh. “I think I owe you coffee for saving me during that exam today, Jinsoul.” She says, holding out her hand for Jinsoul to take.

Jinsoul looks between Haseul and her hand before she takes in, standing up and joining Haseul’s side. Jinsoul notices how much taller she is than Haseul, and it brings a smile to her face. She makes a point not to let go of Haseul’s hand either, loosely holding onto a few of Haseul’s fingers. “Well, I wasn’t just gonna leave my soulmate hanging out to dry like that in the middle of an exam… Especially when she’s helped me out so many times.” She laughs sheepishly, her blush deepening.

Haseul’s fingers wrap around Jinsoul’s, holding them tighter. Her chest feels so warm being around Jinsoul already, and Haseul just smiles even wider. She guides Jinsoul to the counter with her by their joined hands so they could order, and they sit back down at Jinsoul’s table once they have their drinks.

Jinsoul orders some drink that Haseul thinks is just all sugar, since the drink is as white as snow. Yet already it seems like it fits Jinsoul. Jinsoul’s exactly like how she seems whenever they write to each other- excitable, cute, with an unintentional sense of humor. Even the way Jinsoul speaks, softly and slowly, Haseul finds absolutely adorable. Haseul finds herself grinning the whole time they talk at the coffee shop even if she doesn’t try to, just because Jinsoul warms her that much.

Jinsoul’s the one to suggest they leave the coffee shop to do something else. Originally she suggests going back to her quad and playing games together, but Haseul has a class that starts in thirty minutes so she has to say no. Seeing the way Jinsoul’s eyebrows knit together and she frowns, Haseul immediately suggests they go for a walk to pass the time until Haseul needs to get to class. Jinsoul perks up as soon as Haseul suggests it, and Haseul just grins faintly. Jinsoul is so damn cute…

It’s halfway through November, so the air is chilly as they walk around campus together. They take a longer route to the building for Haseul’s class, taking in some of the campus’s best sites. Haseul ends up pressed up into Jinsoul’s side as they walk for her warmth, and Jinsoul just leans against Haseul with a faint, warm smile on her lips. They talk about anything that they can, and before they know it, Haseul’s class begins in five minutes and they reach the building that it’s in.

Jinsoul turns to face Haseul once they stop by the doors in front of the building, and she looks down at the ground, a sheepish grin on her face. “We should… We should study together sometime. Maybe it’d make biochem easier if we both studied for once.” She jokes with a soft laugh.

Haseul tilts her head with a knowing grin. “We could just as easily keep copying the material on our arms to share during exams.” She quirks an eyebrow, “Or are you just looking for a reason to see me again?”

Jinsoul laughs again, her shoulders growing more relaxed by Haseul’s joke. “You got me… I didn’t know how else to say it.”

Haseul’s smile softens to hear it. “Asking me upfront about anything is just fine.” She says, “You don’t have to worry around me, Jinsoul.”

Jinsoul looks up to meet Haseul’s eye faintly, feeling a little more reassured. She lifts her chin and draws in a breath, looking ready to say something, but at the last moment she seems to have second thoughts and looks away from Haseul. Yet she pulls a pen out from her pocket and clicks it, bringing the inked tip to her open palm.

Haseul feels a tingle seconds later, and she looks down at her palm to see the words that take shape on her skin.

can i kiss you?

Haseul’s gaze snaps up from her palm to meet Jinsoul’s, and she sees how Jinsoul is grinning hesitantly, her cheeks dusted a soft pink. Haseul just smiles back and holds out her other hand, silently asking for Jinsoul’s pen. Jinsoul hands it over, and Haseul writes something underneath the words already there.

kiss me.

Haseul barely has time to unclick the pen and look up before Jinsoul steps forward and presses her lips to Haseul’s, soft and gentle, like they’re barely even there. Haseul feels the brush of Jinsoul’s blonde curls against her cheek, and Haseul closes her eyes and leans into the kiss, letting the warmth radiating off of Jinsoul flood over her and fill her completely.

When they have to break apart and Haseul has to go to class, the first thing Jinsoul does once Haseul leaves is go straight to a washroom to scrub the ink off her arms, yet avoiding the message on her palm. Haseul leaves little hearts on her arm during class whenever she has a free moment, and Jinsoul ends up drawing hearts next to Haseul’s.

Once Haseul’s class is over, she feels a tingle in her palm, and she looks to see Jinsoul changing the words already there.

can i kiss you ?  again?

Haseul smiles, feeling her cheeks go warm.

kiss me. again.