It was just another day at the store. Another boring day, Jinsoul thought. They hadn’t had any customers today and she was sure it would stay like that for the next hour. It was fine, though. In days like this, she would get into the backroom, turn on her laptop and work on making new mixes. She loved mixing music. Becoming a famous DJ has always been her dream but she had to settle for a real job and working in an old music store had a special charm. The only bad thing about it was the fact that it was getting kind of old fashioned to buy CD’s. Jinsoul had insisted several times to her boss to turn the store into a caffé. They could still sell CD’s in there, but the place was big enough to set up some tables for people to come and enjoy their coffee, surrounded by shelves filled with music up against the walls. Jungeun always said that it would be the best thing that could happen to that place, but her boss wasn’t so sure about it.

 

She was lost on her thoughts when she heard the door opening.

 

“Hi!” a girl she’d never seen before was waiting for her at the counter of the store.

 

“Hey.” She pushed some CD’s away, ashamed of the state of her working place.

 

“I was trying to find this album but I can’t find it anywhere,” she gave her a piece of paper with the name of the album written on it. No wonder she couldn’t find it. “I’m not sure if you can help me but I’m really desperate and this is the only store in the city that I haven’t looked yet.”

 

“Yeah, it’s not easy to find foreign music here…” she checked the computer for a second and smiled. “Hey! You must be the luckiest girl in the world!” Jinsoul went straight to one of the shelves and it took her less than a second to find it. “Here you are!” she said. She gave the album to the girl and smiled when she saw her happy face.

 

“Wow! I can’t believe it! I thought I would have to buy it on amazon... and my parents would kill me if I used my credit card for this!”

 

“Yeah, I would kill you too. Amazon is our enemy number one.” Jinsoul clenched her fist in front of the girl in a playful way. She felt proud of herself for making the girl laugh. Not everyday she had people coming into the store so, when it happened, Jinsoul tried to charm them just so they would come more often. It usually worked, she knew how to get to people easily.

 

“Thank you so much, really.”

 

“Nah, it was nothing. Oh, do you want to join our membership? You’ll get a 5% discount on all your purchases.”

 

“Do I have to pay for it?” she asked taking the bag with her album on it from Jinsoul’s hand.

 

“Nope! It’s free! You just have to give me your name and your number.” Jinsoul winked and she immediately knew that her excitement had gone too far. “Oh, god! That sounded awful!” She covered with both of her hands and blushed. The other girl laughed and it made Jinsoul blush even more.

 

“Don’t worry, I didn’t take it the wrong way!” She said. “My name is Yerim.”

 

Hearing her name made Jinsoul’s jaw drop a little. Her face could tell she was concerned by something, but the other girl was so focused on the album in her hands that she didn’t notice. Suddenly, Jinsoul wished she had never come into the store.

 

---

 

She had to tell Jungeun. She knew that. But something in the back of her head was keeping her from being true to her best friend. You know, she’d never given destiny much of a thought so, when her soulmate-tattoo came up one day and she saw the name of her best friend on her wrist, she just accepted it and went with it. Having your best friend as your soulmate was the coolest thing on earth. However, when she saw that the name on Jungeun’s wrist wasn’t hers, something changed for Jinsoul.

 

That was the moment she realised that her feelings towards Jungeun were deeper than a strong friendship. They talked about their tattoos for days, trying to sort out their own feelings. They decided that, no matter what their tattoos meant, they wanted each other in their lives. Jungeun even suggested that maybe Jinsoul’s Jungeun was another girl. It could be just a coincidence.

 

That’s why they decided to stay as best friends. Jinsoul believed that she could fight those feelings. She even thought moving in with her was the best way for her to move on. Maybe if we see each other everyday this feeling will disappear, she thought. But nothing could be further from the truth.

 

So, when she came home that night and saw Jungeun studying hard in her room, all the determination that she had disappeared. She couldn’t tell her that she met a girl today whose name was the same name that was written on Jungeun’s wrist.

 

“Hey! You scared me!” Jungeun turned around to face her roommate. “What’s that face for?”

 

“Hmm?” She’d always had problems to mask her feelings. Jinsoul hated that aspect of herself. “Nothing, long day at work.”

 

“I bet… Any customers today?”

 

“Not really… Well… a girl came into the store looking for an album. She couldn’t find it anywhere but we had it in the store, can you believe that?”

 

“Oh! That’s amazing!” Jungeun smiled brightly. She always looked interested in Jinsoul’s work stories, even though Jinsoul thought they were super boring. “I hope she becomes a regular customer, you could use a few of them.”

 

“Tell me about it…” She sighed. “That old of my boss won’t stop complaining about the lack of people coming into the store.”

“Well, maybe if she listened to you and turned it into a caffé, you would have more people coming into that old place.”

 

“I know!” Jinsoul sat on her friend’s bed. “How was your day? You seem pretty busy.”

 

“Yeah, I have a group project to do and, as always, I was paired with a bunch of lazy asholes…” Jungeun growled a bit after that sentence. “But I’m finishing it now. Do you want to watch something on netflix?”

“That would be great!” She jumped to her feet. “Finish your thing, I’ll go make popcorns!”

 

---

 

“Hello?”

 

Jinsoul was so into her mixes that day that she didn’t ever hear the sound of the door opening. She ran out of the backroom just to find that girl again. Yerim. She smiled and waved at her. Jinsoul wanted so badly to see her wrist… She needed to see if her best friend’s name was on it, but it was a cold day and Yerim was wearing long sleeves.

 

“Hey, you again!” She tried to act cool. It’s been a week since she came into the store looking for that album. She had time to prepare herself to face her again. “Looking for another odd album?”

 

“Not really. I came here to give you this.”  Yerim handed her over a compact disc with a label that she recognised. It said <> on it and Jinsoul could recognise her own writing on that label. “I bet you’ve been looking for this, I’m sorry, I couldn’t come here sooner.

 

“What th- How did you get this?”

 

“I think you put it in my bag last time I was here. I guess it was an accident. You have plenty of discs here.” She pointed at the desk. It was true, Jinsoul was terrible at organizing.

 

“God, I’ve been looking for it all week! I finished it the day you came in!”

 

“Did you make them on your own? They’re so good!”

 

“What? No way, you’re just saying!” she had a big but shy smile on her face. She never showed her mixes to anyone other than Jungeun.

 

“No! I’m serious! They’re so good! I even made some lyrics to one of them!”

 

“What? You write lyrics?”

 

“Just for myself, but yeah.” she was being shy too, Jinsoul noticed.

 

“I’d love to hear those lyrics! If you have no problem with it, obviously…”

 

“I don’t!” She jumped a little because of her excitement. “I recorded me singing my lyrics to one of your songs into this CD...”

 

“Oh, wow!” She took the CD in her hands. “Come here, we can listen to it in my backroom!” She couldn’t tell which one of them was more excited about this. “Oh, I’m Jinsoul, by the way!”

 

“Wait, your name is Jinsoul?”

 

The front door opened, and Jinsoul waved her hand, with all the excitement in the world, to Jeungeun.

 

“Lippie! Come here, I want you to meet my new partner in crime!”

 

Yerim’s face had turned from joy to shock in just a second. She had seen the name on Jinsoul’s wrist and she knew it wasn’t hers. So, was Jinsoul such a common name? She’s never met anyone named like that…

 

“What, are you going to replace me?” Jungeun asked jokingly. “Hi, my name’s Jungeun.” She gave Yerim the kindest smile.

 

“Hey, mine’s Yerim!”

 

“Yerim?” Jungeun’s brow lift when she heard her name. She turned to look at Jinsoul. Her friend was thrilling and nodding with her head like she knew what she was thinking. She even fingergunned at her while winking. “Like this Yerim?”

 

Jungeun rolled up her sleeve and showed her wrist to the girl in front of her.

 

“What the-”

 

 

 

“So… I have your name on my wrist.” Yerim was pointing at Jinsoul. “But you have her name on your wrist.” then pointed at Jungeun, next to her. “And you have my name on your wrist.”

 

“Yup.” Jinsoul nodded.

 

She had closed the store so no one could come in. They weren’t going to do so anyway.

 

“But what does that mean?” Yerim asked, looking one way and the other. She was starting to feel anxious and seeing the faces of the two other girls wasn’t helping at all. Jinsoul seemed to be enjoying the situation too much while Jungeun just stayed silent, like she was trying to make out an answer to that question.

 

“It doesn’t have to mean anything.” Jungeun said, finally. “I mean, my tattoo may be referring to another Yerim and yours to another Jinsoul. It could be a coincidence.”

“What the , Lippie?!” Jinsoul frowned. “How can this be a coincidence? We have each other’s names on our wrists!”

 

“Well, tell us your reading on all this.” she stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

 

Yerim could tell that Jungeun was quite nervous. She was trying to mask it but it showed with every gesture she made. She thought that, maybe, that was the reason why she was so quiet the entire time.

 

“We could be soulmates the three of us.”

 

“That’s…” Jungeun stopped herself and put her hand on , thinking. “... a possibility.”

 

“What, you are not serious, are you?” Yerim asked with a nervous chuckle.

 

“Why not?” Jinsoul was looking at Yerim with a sad face.

 

“Because that doesn’t exist. I’ve never heard about it.”

 

“But that doesn’t mean it can’t be true.”

 

“But the definition of soulmate is clear: one soul split into two bodies.” Yerim tried to explain.

 

“Who says that?” It had always annoyed Jinsoul when people believed there was an unbreakable law about soulmates and destiny. Jungeun knew her friend very well to know that she was about to say something she shouldn’t say. She usually did that when things got intense. But Jinsoul kept talking before she could intervene. “People like to think they know everything about how souls work… But the truth is that souls are intangible. We have no control over them, so how can you say that it can’t be possible that our three souls are intertwined with each other? How can someone hold the truth about something that’s not human but spiritual? I really believed that there could be another Jungeun out there. But are you really going to tell me that it’s more likely to believe that there’s another Jinsoul and Yerim than to believe that we’re soulmates the three of us?”

 

Yerim’s eyes fell to her toes. She took her things, not saying a word to the other girls in the room and walked to the front door. Jinsoul tried to follow her, knowing that she had messed up with her words, but Jungeun’s hand on hers stopped her.

 

“It’s too much for her.” She said with a soft voice. “And, to be honest, for me too. Let her be.”

 

“But, Lippie, she-”

 

“Haven’t you seen her? She’s been shaking the whole time. Just give her some space.” She squeezed Jinsoul’s hand and smiled. “Let’s go home, okay? I’m pretty sure she’ll come back here soon.”

 

---

 

And, as Jinsoul already knew, Jungeun was right.

 

After a few days, Yerim stopped by the store again. She didn’t look as cheerful as the other days. Instead, she was rather nervous and awkward, like she didn’t want to see Jinsoul at all. That thought hurt her, but she understood why she acted that way. Even Jungeun’s relationship with her hadn’t been the same since that day. There was some distance growing between them and she didn’t quite understand why. The most hurtful part was that she knew that Jungeun was noticing that distance too, but neither of them had the courage to talk about it.

 

“Hey…” She didn’t know how to approach the girl. “How are you?”

 

“I guess just like you.” Yerim tried to make a joke but seeing that it didn’t work she thought it was stupid to try. “Listen, last time I was here I brought you some cd’s. I think I left here the one where I recorded my song…”

 

“Yeah… you did.”

 

“Have you heard it?” Yerim’s face was going red.

 

“Sorry… I probably shouldn’t have… But it was my song so I kinda felt like I was doing nothing wrong!” She laughed, trying to lift up the mood and then handed the CD to Yerim. “I have to be honest… I played the song on repeat for hours. I loved your lyrics!”

 

“Thanks…” A shy smile showed up on Yerim’s red face. “It’s been a long time since I wrote a new song.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, I’m doing covers now. It’s easier and people on youtube love covers so…”

 

“Oh, so you’re a youtuber?”

 

“Not really, I’m just starting.”

 

“Well, I hope it works out for you! You truly have an amazing voice. It’s so versatile! You made it go from sweet to rough and back to sweet again without an effort.”

 

“Stop! You’re embarrassing me!” She was laughing while covering her face with her hands. Jinsoul smiled, happy to see Yerim a little less rigid.

 

“I know things went too weird the other day…” She started saying. “But I really like you. Wait, not in that way!! God, I’m making things weird again!”

 

Yerim laughed, glad that she wasn’t the only one getting all red and embarrassed anymore. She realised in that moment that Jinsoul was feeling just as awkward as her.

 

“It’s okay, keep going.” Yerim gave her a reassuring glare.

 

“I mean I like you as a potential friend. I don’t have many friends... Jungeun is my best and almost only friend. And you’re cool! I’d like to have such a good compositor as a friend!”

 

Yerim felt a warmth growing in her chest. Jinsoul’s words were messy but honest, she could tell that.

 

“I would like to be your friend too… And make music together! But this thing with the tattoos…” She fixed her eyes on her own wrist. “I don’t know… I don’t want things to be weird.”

 

“They don’t have to be weird! We should be free to do just whatever we want. And I want to be your friend!”

 

“I want to be your friend too!” Yerim’s eyes were sparkling with a glimmer of joy. “But will Jungeun be okay with this? She looked like she was having trouble to process all this the other day…”

 

“Lippie will be fine! She’s the most understanding person on this planet, there’s nothing that she can’t overcome!” Jinsoul took her jacket and her keys. “Look, I’m about to close the store and call it a day. We wanted to go ice skating today. You can come with us if you want. It will be fun!”

 

Yerim took a moment to think about it.

 

“Well, you know what? I love ice skating but my friends are a pair of emo es who prefer to stay home...” She followed Jinsoul to the door and nodded her head. “I’ll go with you.”

 

---

 

“Who are you texting?” Hyejoo’s voice took her by surprise.

 

“Just a friend.” She said, putting her phone back into her pocket.

 

“Sure…” Hyejoo took a sip of her coffee, keeping her eyes on Yerim’s.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing…” she answered teasing her friend.

 

“Hyejoo! What is it?”

 

“Do you have those hearteyes on you when you text me?” she asked with a grin on her face.

 

“You are an idiot…” Yerim wanted to change the subject, but she knew she couldn’t keep this from her best friend for much longer. “I met my soulmate.”

 

Hyejoo’s eyes opened wide. She leaned over the table to be closer to her friend. The people in the coffee shop were getting too noisy.

 

“You were texting her?” She smiled when Yerim confirmed her suspects. “I’m so happy for you, Yerim! But when will I meet her? Are you dating already or what?”

 

“Mmmmm it’s… complicated…” Yerim was starting to get nervous, but she wanted to share this with her. “She’s my soulmate but her soulmate is… someone else…”

 

Hyejoo’s head tilted.

 

“That… can’t be possible?” She chuckled. “Maybe she’s not your soulmate?”

 

“Yeah, I think she is is… And I’m her soulmate’s soulmate.”

 

Her friend was staring to her own coffee with a blank face. Yerim was starting to regret this conversation.

 

“So you are… three soulmates?” Hyejoo was really trying to understand. Yerim nodded her head. “And are you… dating them?”

 

“NO!” Yerim was so red that Hyejoo couldn’t help but laugh at her embarrassed friend. “We’re just flowing with it. You know, Vivi and Haseul say that soulmates are not necessary a romantic partner. They could be just really good friends.”

 

“But you already have me and Hyunjin.”

 

“Yeah, but maybe they’re the friends I need to grow in my life?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

 

“You are just afraid I will replace you.” Yerim pinched Hyejoo’s cheeks, she hated it when Hyunjin and Yerim did that. “I will never let you down, my little emo friend!”

 

“Let my cheeks alone, you psycho!” Hyejoo crossed her arms over her chest. “Wait, there’s something I don’t get… I know you have a new friend but you never mentioned a second one. Where’s the other person?”

 

“Well… Jungeun is… something else…” Yerim exhaled. “We’ve only seen each other twice. The first time it was when we found out about our tattoos. The second time, we went ice skating. The three of us together.”

 

“Sounds romantic.” She said, joking.

 

“Shut up… The thing is that she looks so intimidating… I don’t think she likes me. She’s always making excuses to Jinsoul so she doesn’t have to come with us.” She sighed and then lowered her head. “To be honest, I think they love each other. Like true love. I could feel it when we were together and I feel it in the way Jin talks about Jungeun. And I don’t want to be in the middle of their relationship, but I don’t want to stop going out with Jin. Does that make any sense?”

 

Hyejoo rested her back on the chair. She was thinking. Maybe she was trying to find the nicer way to tell her to stay away from them.

 

“They’re not dating.” She finally said. “And if Jinsoul is asking you out it’s because she likes your company. Do you like being with her?”

 

“Yeah! I’ve never felt this good with someone that’s not you or Hyunjin.”

 

“Then do what makes you happy. You are not doing anything wrong. And, as those youtubers say: just flow with it.”

 

 

 

And so she did. Going to the music store after class was Yerim’s new favourite thing to do. They would get in the backroom and help each other make new music just for fun. Jinsoul learnt that Yerim was doing a major in music education. She played the piano, the guitar and the drums, but what she loved the most was writing.

 

“A lot of people can play the piano and make your heart melt.” She said while checking some of Jinsoul’s mixes. “it’s not so difficult because it already sounds appealing to the ears. But give me someone who can touch your heart with their lyrics, someone who writes like they know all your secrets… That’s the hardest part of making music. But it’s what I want to do, more than anything in the world. To connect with people through the lyrics of my songs.”

 

“That’s beautiful.” Jinsoul answered after a few seconds.“I used to have a dream like yours. Well, not like yours but… I’ve always wanted to be a DJ and travel across the world. You know, going to festivals and making collabs with big artists.”

 

“What? You would be the best DJ in the world! Your music is so good!” Yerim stopped going through her mixes and turned to her friend. “Why did you settle for this?” She added, pointing at the walls around them.

 

“Well… I had to get out of my parents’ house. Our relationship was… complicated.” She moved her hand to the back of her head. “They never got a soulmate tattoo when they were young so, when mine showed up and they realised that my destiny was to be with a girl… they couldn’t stand it.”

 

“Did they… kick you out?” Yerim was horrified.

 

“Yeah. Kim Lip and her family took care of me for a while, until I found this job. My boss doesn’t pay me very well, but it’s enough to pay for my part of the rent.”

 

“I really don’t know what to say…” Yerim confesed with a sad face.

 

”It’s okay, I know it’s a lot to process.”She smiled softly to her friend. “To be honest, when I started working here I thought I was going to be unhappy for the rest of my life. But, eventually, I found out that this store feels more like home than the place where I grew up. I know it’s not my store… But my boss is an old lady and I take care of everything related to this place. I help her a lot, she always says that. And I have so many plans for this place… I want to make it a caffé.”

 

“But you have so many Cd’s and vinyls here!”

 

“Yeah, that’s the best part! It would be the perfect place to have a good coffee, spend a good time with your friends and, why not, discover new music. People could look around the shelves and find their favourite artist with a cup of coffee in their hands.”

 

“That sounds so cool, Jin!” Yerim’s eyes were sparkling. “But what about going to festivals and making music with important people? It was your dream...”

 

“Hey, dreams can evolve.” She shrugged. “Sure, that would have been amazing, but life is not always what we want it to be. You can make choices but, sometimes, life makes the biggest choices for you and you just have to accept that there are things you can’t control. Maybe if I didn’t have to leave my house I would be making songs for Sia right now. But that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t choose to live my dream, but I could choose how to face this job. And I chose to stay positive and happy with whatever life wanted to throw at my face.”

 

Yerim was amazed by the weight of her friend’s words. It was so funny seeing the contrast between the awkward girl who helped her find the album the first day she came into the store and this mature girl in front of her… She knew Jin was smart, but she loved it when she talked in that solemn way.

 

In fact, they both were so immersed in their conversation that they didn’t notice Jungeun standing at the door for almost 10 minutes, watching them talking like they’ve been friends since forever. They finally noticed her when she knocked on the wall just to let them know she was there.

 

“Sorry to interrupt but I was taking Jinsoul to a karaoke tonight.” She said, making eye contact with Yerim. She looked at her roomate. “It’s past eight, girl. This store should be closed.”

 

Yerim could notice Jungeun’s voice going softer when she talked to Jinsol. That stiffed tone she used toward hers felt like a punch on the stomach.

 

Maybe Jinsoul noticed, because she stood up and put a hand on Yerim’s shoulder.

 

“Yerim is coming with us.” She said firmly but not sounding too serious. In fact, she was smiling like a fool, perhaps trying to put a smile on her roommate’s face. It didn’t work, though. “I invited her.”

 

No, she didn’t. She was forcing her to go, not giving her the chance to say no, but Yerim didn’t say anything. She could only focus on Jinsoul’s hand on her shoulder and Jungeun’s eyes on her. Both things were burning like hell.

 

Jungeun left out a loud breath and Yerim lifted her eyes to see her, afraid that she would be bothered by her presence. But she didn’t look like that. She looked accepting, like she knew this was just a trick from Jinsoul but didn’t want to argue with her.

 

It was so cold out there… Yerim didn’t think she would get out of the store so late, so she was suffering now the lack of more appropriate clothes on her. She didn’t say a thing, anyway. She just kept walking next to Jinsoul, thinking on the excuse she would made to leave the place once the tension was unbearable… which would be pretty soon.

 

“Hey, you are freezing.” Yerim jumped a bit when Jungeun grabbed her arm, making her stop. “Take this.” She took off her scarf and handed it to Yerim.

 

“There’s no need…” Yerim’s voice was too wrecked and she wanted to blame the cold, but she knew it was because of the surprise of Jungeun taking care of her all of a sudden. “I’m fine, really.”

 

Jungeun arched an eyebrow.

 

“Jinsoul told me you have a great voice. It’s no worth it risking it like that. Take the scarf, this coat is warm enough, I only wear the scarf as a complement.”

 

“Come on, Choerry.” Jinsoul was starting to call her like that. “You have to take care of your voice.”

 

She took the scarf from Jungeun’s hand and put it around her neck. It was so soft and she felt cozy wearing it. Jungeun smiled, tucking in the scarf and fixing it a bit.

 

“Hey, it looks good on you.” She smiled.

 

“Thank you.” Yerim sighed, wishing she could go home right now.

 

---

 

She had planned to leave the karaoke as soon as she’d found the right excuse, but Yerim surprised herself enjoying the night more than she thought. Well, maybe the drinks she was having were helping too.

 

“We’re the queens of karaoke!” Jinsoul yelled, getting off the stage and sitting next to Jungeun.

 

“I think half of the people in here hate you both for singing so well.” Jungeun said, taking her drink to her lips.

 

Yerim wanted to buy another drink for herself, but she was afraid it would be too much. She was drunk already, or at least tipsy enough to feel confident around Jungeun. The truth is, the three of them were taking more drinks than they should, Yerim could tell because of Jinsoul’s extremely touchy behavior and Jungeun’s red cheeks and funny eyes. She thought that Jungeun was nicer when she was drunk. Maybe that’s how she acts in a normal day with Jinsol and her friends, she thought.

 

“Oh!” Jungeun stopped drinking when a new song was announced. “I love this song!” She stood up and put her hands around to project her voice. “Hey, man! You have the best taste!” She yelled to the bearded man singing on the little stage.

 

“Wait… this is a High School Musical song!” Yerim said with a grin. “Don’t tell me you like High School Musical!”

 

Jinsoul laughed, putting an arm around Jungeun’s shoulders.

 

“She LOVES High School Musical!” Jinsoul pinched her best friend’s cheek, making them go even redder than before. “It’s her best hidden secret! She has the worst taste in movies.”

 

“I don’t have the worst taste in movies!” Jungeun escaped Jinsol’s hand and took a sip of her drink, clearly ashamed because Yerim had heard her secret.

 

“You are so right, oh my god!” Yerim leaned closer to Jungeun who was sitting across the table and took her hand. Alcohol really does miracles. “Please let’s sing High School Musical together! You haven’t sung anything yet!”

 

Jungeun’s eyes sparkled glancing at Yerim.

 

“You… You like it?” Yerim nodded as fast as her head allowed her. A wide smile drew across Jungeun’s face and she took Yerim’s hand between her hands, squeezing it very tightly. “Which song would you like to sing?!”

 

 

“Stop texting and focus on your books.”

 

Yerim jumped a little when she heard Jungeun’s voice so close to her ear. She turned to the girl to find out a half smile on her lips.

 

“Don’t do that again! You scared me!” She hit Jungeun’s arm when she sit next to her. “I was on a break. You’d knew that if you weren’t so late…”

 

“I had a meeting with one of my teachers!” She excused herself. “And your break is over now, lady. Exams are almost here!”

 

“Someone is bossy today…” Yerim , opening her book again.

 

Jungeun rolled her eyes and focused on her books before the librarian would tell them to shut up. Which happened more than Jungeun would like to admit.

 

Sometimes she remembered those days when she was trying to avoid Yerim at all cost. Since she met Yerim, Jinsoul’s eyes had been having a new spark in them. She noticed the first day she met this girl, and when Yerim showed her tattoo to them, she understood what that spark was about. It was something that had to happen sooner or later. Jinsoul confessed her feelings towards her too long ago, it was impossible to know if those feelings remained the same or changed to friendship.

 

But what she knew was that Yerim was making Jinsoul feel something. Maybe that’s what bothered her at first, knowing that Jinsoul’s feelings weren’t entirely hers anymore. She was being selfish, she knew that. She never returned her feelings… Or that’s what she made her friend think. Of course she loved Jinsoul. She’s been filling her life with her light since the moment they met. That’s why, when she saw the name that showed up on her wrist when she turned 18, Jungeun felt her heart break into a million tiny pieces. She didn’t understand anything. How could Jinsoul not be her soulmate? How could this Yerim who she didn’t know at all be more her soulmate than the girl who’s been with her since they were kids? She felt so heartbroken that, when Jinsoul came to her explaining how she really felt about her friend, Jungeun couldn’t confess that she felt that way too. How could she? What if they started dating and then, after years of being together, her soulmate came out of nowhere? What would she do? She honestly didn’t have a clue about what would happen if her soulmate found her, but she was sure about one thing: she didn’t want to break Jinsol’s heart. She was too important to her to hurt her like that. That’s why she decided to hide her true feelings. That way it would be easy for both of them. That way she could still have Jinsoul in her life even if it’s as a friend.

 

But it’s been months since that night at the karaoke, where Jungeun learnt a valuable lesson: never question Jinsoul’s intuition.

 

Her roommate spent days and days talking about Yerim. Well, most exactly, she was trying to make Jungeun like her new friend. She wanted the three of them to go out together, telling her best friend how much she would like this girl. But Jungeun was being stubborn. And, yes, a little bit jealous. But jealous of what? That question popped up in her head every now and then. Sure, she was jealous that Jinsoul was starting to like another girl… but she also felt weird about this other girl, who was supposed to be her soulmate, being more close to Jinsoul than to her. It was so frustrating… she gave up on her feelings for Jinsoul because she was afraid that she would hurt her because of this girl and now that this Yerim was here, she was charming Jinsoul. She kept making up excuses to avoid going out with them. Oh, how much she regretted those days now. Yerim has turned out to be, well, a charming girl that was bringing joy to both, Jinsoul and her. If only she would have listened to Jinsoul before...

 

They’ve been seeing each other every single day since the karaoke. Yerim would go to the store after her classes to spend time with Jinsol until Jungeun showed up. After that, they usually went to Jin and Jungeun’s apartment. They discovered that they loved watching the stupidest things on TV when they were together, just to have a good laugh. One day, Yerim fooled them and made them watch video-blogs about her favourite youtubers, a cute couple who met each other on the internet being in different continents. Jungeun wasn’t really fond on them, but it was nice to see Yerim so excited about thse videos.

 

But exams were coming for both of them, and the routine had to change a bit. She couldn’t keep going to the store when Jin was closing it and she definitely had to stop watching TV after dinner with her friends. She didn’t know why but studying was being harder than ever since she stopped doing things with them. One day, she got a text from Yerim. It was a picture of her in the library, with the caption “miss u”. She smiled to her phone and the cute picture of her friend with a forced sad expression on her face. She thought that maybe she could give the library a try, maybe it would help her study better. And yes, she was feeling better since she started coming to the library with Yerim.

 

Now their routine was: studying together, going to the apartment to have dinner with Jinsoul and then Jungeun would go to her room to study some more while Jinsou and Yerim had fun until the younger girl had to go.

 

They had practically lived together for months now. That’s why the question came up that night when they were finishing their dinner.

 

“Why don’t you move in here?” Jinsoul asked.

 

“Excuse me?” Yerim snorted. “Why the question?

 

“You said your landlord is acting like a with the rent.” Jungeun answered. “We’ve been talking about it these days. We had a third person living here last year so there’s a room for you. And it would be cheaper for us to pay for the rent of this apartment with you here.”

 

“Plus you spend more time here than in your apartment.”

 

Yerim took a hand to the back of her head, thinking about this proposal. Yes, it was true her landlord was rising the price of the rent and that her parents were getting tired of that. She wanted to talk about it with Hyejoo and Hyunjin, maybe they could go live together the three of them, but her new friends were faster.

 

“Just talk to your parents and consider it. We would love to have you here.” Jungeun assured her, squeezing her hand.

 

---

“Girl… is it that serious?” Hyunjin’s voice was a mixture of amusement and shock. “You are moving in with your two soulmates?”

 

“Yep.” Yerim couldn’t mask her joy. A bright smile had placed on her face and it looked like it was going to stay in there for a long time.

 

“Wow… the apartment of sin.”

 

“Hyunjin!” Yerim hit her friend on the head. “You two have to stop this kind of comments if you want to meet them one day.”

 

“But are you dating them or not?” Hyejoo asked, eager for the answer.

 

“It’s not about that, I already told you!” Yerim let out a deep breath. “Jinsoul is in love with Jungeun, and it’s clear she loves her back. I’m just a friend.” Hyejoo’s face revealed that she wanted to ask something. Yerim knew her too well to know when she was hiding something from her. “What is it, Hyejoo?”

 

“Is that what you want to be? Their friend?”

 

Yerim’s smile turned to a frown expression. Hyejoo had asked her many times about her true feelings toward these girls. She never knew how to explain it. She loved them, very deeply, but she was sure it was just a friendly love. She loved them like she loved Hyunjin and Hyejoo too.

 

Well, not really. She started to think about the fluttering feeling she felt every time she saw any of these girls. How warm she felt being with them. Yes, she loved being with Hyunjin and Hyejoo, she had a lot of fun with them and they could talk about anything. But it was a different feeling of happiness what she felt around Jinsoul and Jungeun.

 

To Yerim, Jinsoul was wild. She had this passion over life and she knew how to make you appreciate every single thing that life throws at you. She’s the most optimistic person she’d ever met and that passion inspired her to write everyday. Knowing her was like a breath of fresh air in her life. She loved that she always said what she thought and felt. Jungeun, in the other hand, was calm. Not the calm that bores you but the calm that helps you go through the hardest moments in life. She’s fierce and she’s focused. She seemed to have the right answer for every problem. Yerim was sure that her presence could make the most terrifying place in the world feel like the safest. It’s like Jinsoul was a kite and Jungeun was the person holding that toy and keeping it from flying away to the stratosphere and getting lost. They really were perfect for each other. Sometimes Yerim wished there was a girl who had the qualities of both of them in her. She’d definitely date a girl like that.

 

But considering their situation, that thought made Yerim’s breath stop for a second.

 

“I don’t know what I want…” She finally admitted to her friends. “I know I want them in my life, no matter what. I feel like I’m the best version of myself since I met them. I want this feeling to stay with me forever.”

 

Hyejoo smiled at her, somehow satisfied with that answer.

---

Living together was a wild ride, that’s what Yerim had to say. There were a lot of things that she wasn’t ready to face when she made that choice. First of all, she discovered, in the worst possible way, that Jinsoul had a problem with closed doors. Her friend kept coming into her room unannounced and she always managed to find Yerim lacking some clothes on her.

 

“I’m sorry!” She exclaimed the first time she did. “Lippie and I have seen each other like that since we were kids so I’m not used to knock before opening the door!”

 

She found out that Jungeun… well, Lippie, as she called her now thanks to Jin, had the worst mood in the morning. Like, the first morning. Yerim came out of the bathroom just to find out Jungeun glancing at her with a killer look.

 

“Did you know there’s two more people in this house who need to use the bathroom?” She asked, calmly but, somehow, with the most terrifying voice she had ever heard.

 

But Jinsoul soon told her the key to sooth that bad mood of her early in the morning. It turned up that Jungeun was a hugger. They just had to hug her before speaking to her to calm down that terrible temper. As time passed, she even thought it was cute when she was this angry. Some mornings, Jinsoul and her would tease Jungeun when she just got up just to see how angry she could get. But the morning teasing ended the day they made her so angry that she spent two days ignoring them. Yerim and Jinsoul were a real mess during those two days, crying and begging for her attention.

 

They bickered a lot. It was never serious, they just had to get use to each other habits. But, god, it was difficult sometimes.

 

“You are putting too much salt on it.” Jungeun would say, watching over Yerim’s shoulder while she cooked. She didn’t like it when she did that, but she tried to go with it.

 

“I like it that way.” Yerim would reply, shrugging her shoulders.

 

“I know, but I don’t like it so salty. Why don’t you do it like me? I just put a pinch of salt so if you want to add more later you can, but in your own plate.”

 

“Must you be so perfect all the time?” Yerim would squeeze Jungeun’s cheeks, wanting to so she would leave her alone.

 

However, the real deal was Jinsoul’s organizing problem. At first she didn’t mind it, everyone leaves their things on the floor and forgets about it all the time. But she soon got tired of tripping over her friend’s shoes at night when she went to the kitchen for water. Jungeun was constantly reminding her that she had to put the dishes in the washing machine and she would always answer with a “coming!”. But she never did. Yerim had talked to Jungeun about this and they started to drag Jinsoul to the kitchen every time she wouldn’t come on her own. After a few days, it seemed to work. She would come right away when one of them told her to tidy up her things.

 

So, yes, living together was a ride. But, at the end of the day, it was so good to come back to that apartment, sit on the couch with them and just be with them… It got better when Jinsoul let out the cuddler inside of her and started to cuddle up with Yerim every night while Jungeun studied in her room. It was strange at first. Yerim even thought that it could endanger her relationship with Jungeun but the third girl joined their cuddling as soon as she finished studying. So they started to spend the nights all cuddled up under the blankets, watching whatever was on TV or the new videos about Haseul and Vivi’s lives.

 

Some nights, Jungeun would fall asleep with her head on Yerim’s chest while the younger girl hugged her under the blanket. She worked so hard every day to get the higher score that she had the worst sleeping schedule Yerim had seen. And she thought that no one could top Hyejoo’s. So, when Jungeun fell asleep on her, Jinsoul would help Yerim to carry her to bed, trying not to wake her up in the process. At least she had a deep sleep. She never seemed to notice that her friends lifted her up last night, put her into bed and tucked her in. They reminded her every morning after, showing her the pictures they took before carrying her to bed.

 

“You drooled my shirt last night!” Yerim would say laughing at her friend.

 

“I don’t drool!”

 

“Oh, girl, you do! You sleep like a baby!”

 

And it finally happened. Finals were here, the school year was about to end. Yerim was thinking about all the things that had happened in like 9 months with a shy smile on her face. Jungeun had her last final that day and they wanted to celebrate it with her. Yerim’s exams went good. She wasn’t as demanding of herself as Jungeun, she just wanted to pass her exams and she did, she didn’t care if she had the higher score or not.

 

Jinsoul had been talking about some pub where they could go celebrate with Jungeun about her freedom. She was so excited… even more than Jungeun. It was so cute, seeing her so happy for her best friend that Yerim texted Jungeun to tell her to hurry up.

 

But the answer felt like a punch in her stomach. She wasn’t coming home yet, her friends had dragged her to a party they were throwing after the exams. Yerim didn’t know how to tell Jinsoul, she didn’t want to upset her…

 

“Jin…” she finally said. “Lippie just texted me.”

 

“Finally! When is she coming? I want to hug her and tell her how proud I am of her!” Her face had the biggest smileon it. She couldn’t stop jumping and that was making it harder for Yerim. Hell, she was even dressed for the occasion. Yerim  could swear that she had never seen her friend this beautiful.

 

“She’s with some friends. She couldn't say no.”

 

“Oh…” As expected, Jin’s smile dropped.  She tried to fake another smile. “It’s okay, she has a lot of friends. And we will see her tomorrow so... no big deal!” She made a face like she just realized something. “But we should hurry and order something to dinner because there’s nothing in the fridge!”

 

However, Yerim wasn’t going to let her friend be sad tonight.

 

“We won’t order anything.” She said running to her room to get her purse.

 

“Why not?” Jinsoul asked when her friend came out of the room.

 

“We’re going out!” She took Jinsol’s hand and led her to the door. “It’s time you meet my friends.”

 

 

The night went just as perfect as it could go. Jinsoul acted like she had know Hyunjin and Hyejoo since forever and they really liked her spontaneous personality. They went to the pub that Jinsoul wanted to go. It was nice, very cozy and intimate. Hyunjin tried to teach them a drinking game she knew but things went wild soon. Jinsoul didn’t want to wait to keep drinking and Hyejoo just followed her lead, so they both ended up so drunk that they started singing disney songs from the top of their lungs. Yerim and Hyunjin had to drag them out of there before they called the police.

 

“I love your friends!” Jinsoul shouted when they reached the front door of the building. “We should hang out with them more!”

 

She had her arm on Yerim’s shoulders all night. At first she thought that she was doing that because she was drunk, which she was, but, honestly, she could still walk. Then she realized that this is what happens when Jin drinks more than two beers. She gets clingy.

 

“, I can’t find my keys!” Yerim said, lowering her voice just in case Jungeun was  sleeping in there.

 

“Wait, let me help.” Jinsoul started tickling her instead of helping her find the keys.

 

“Stop, stop, stop!” She giggled, trying to push her friend away. “We have to be quiet, Lippie could be there.”

 

“True, true.” Jinsoul’s cheeks were so red because of the alcohol that her smile looked even cuter. “Let me, I’ll use my keys.”

 

The apartment was empty, no sight of Jungeun in there.

 

“Well, someone is a party animal and I had no idea.” Yerim joked, closing the door.

 

“She deserves it, she’s been studying too hard.” Jinsol let her body fall on the couch. She was exhausted. “I miss her…” And drunk.

 

“Hey…” Yerim sat next to her, taking her hand in hers. Jinsoul grabbed it tightly.  “You are supposed to be the clingy drunk, not the sad drunk.”

 

“I’m not sad!” She replied, not looking at Yerim. “I just miss her. Being without her doesn’t feel right.”

 

Yerim could feel a weird feeling in her belly. Suddenly holding Jinsoul’s hand felt awkward, but Jin’s hand was holding hers so tight that she wouldn’t dare to move it.

 

“Jin… I think you should make a move.” She squeezed her hand, trying to show her support. “It’s time someone takes that step.”

 

Jinsoul’s eyes met hers. She was biting her lip with a weird look in her eyes.

 

And so, the move was made. Jinsoul leaned towards her, pressing her lips against Yerim’s. Her breathe freezed in her chest. This was not what she meant. She couldn’t say that this wasn’t what she wanted, though, but it had taken her by surprise. Jinsoul broke the kiss, feeling how rigid Yerim was.

 

“I’m sorr-“ She couldn’t finish the sentence. Yerim had grabbed the neck of her shirt and pulled her closer to her, kissing her properly this time.

 

But it didn’t last long. Yerim pushed her, covering with her hand. She had the most shocked look in her eyes.

 

“Wait, wait!” She was trembling. “This is not what I meant!”

 

She stood up and went to the kitchen, wanting to avoid her roommate. But Jinsoul followed her.

 

“I thought you wanted me to make a move!” Jinsoul said. “I’m sorry but… I don’t understand. What do you want?”

 

“I thought you loved Jungeun!” She stated, still touching her lips. “I wanted to encourage you to tell her.”

 

“She already knows.” Jinsoul shrugged. Yerim’s face was so funny that she couldn’t help giggling. “I’m sorry, I’m still a bit drunk and I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

 

“Wait, we-“

 

“Talk to Lippie.” She said walking to her room. “Trust me, you need it. I told you once, she’s the most understanding person in the world.”

 

The door of Jinsoul’s room closed and Yerim stood there for a few minutes.

 

“She really just kissed me and went to sleep.” She said to herself.

---

 

When Jungeun came back home, Yerim was still awake. She looked at the clock. It was so late… what was she doing on the couch?

 

“Yerim?” She asked. Yerim turned to her, eyes wide open. Her face looked like she had had a wild night. “Are you okay?”

 

“No…” her voice was cackling. “I don’t know…” she covered her face with her hands. “Nothing makes sense anymore and I can’t sleep!”

 

“Wow, wow…” Jungeun sat next to her, placing her hand on Yerim’s thigh. “It’s okay, you can tell me.”

 

Feeling her hand on her thigh made her heart sank. This was too similar to her previous moment with Jinsoul. So she stood up on her feet and started wandering across the living room. Jungeun didn’t understand a thing, but waited patiently until she spoke.

 

“You know, I always thought that things were one way.” She started, still wandering. “But then they happened to be other way. And at first I was fine with it, I just accepted that things are not always what we believe they are. So... I thought I finally understood these things, but then… Then I was wrong again!” Yerim stopped to look at Jungeun. “Do you understand what I mean?”

 

“I-“ She crossed her legs. She used to do that when she was facing a serious situation and Yerim was glad to know that she was taking her seriously. “I think I know what you mean. Go on.”

 

“So… things are now ging a different way and I’m… I’m so confused” She sat down on the couch again. “And I’m so scared…”

 

“Why?” Jungeun wanted to place some of Yerim’s hair behind her ear, they were getting all over her face, but she had noticed that she didn’t want to be touched right now.

 

“Because something is happening… Something that I didn’t expect to happen.”

 

“Something good?” Jungeun smiled to her, trying to make her feel better.

 

“I don’t know… It could be good but it’s so… weird.” She fixed her eyes on Jungeun’s. She froze under the glare of the other girl. It was so deep Yerim thought she could get lost in those eyes. “I’ve never seen something like this…” she said in a soft voice.

 

“You know… Just because something is new or weird… that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.” She couldn’t resist the need to pull all that hair from her face. She did it carefully, testing if she would allow her touch this time. Yerim didn’t move a bit. “Does this thing make you happy?” Her voice had softened, just like Yerim’s.

 

“Yes.” She whispered. “I’ve never been this happy in my life.”

 

“Then how can it be wrong?” Her finger had started to run up and down Yerim’s cheek, caressing her face.

 

“What if… What if it goes wrong? What if I take this thing and then I up and everything that made me feel whole suddenly… disappears?”

 

“I’m thinking about something those youtubers say a lot… How was it?” She took her finger to her forehead, trying to remember. “If you feel that something is right for you, you have to fight for it.” She smiled softly at Yerim. “You don’t have to think about what will happen in the future. If something makes you feel this happy you should give it a chance. Maybe things aren’t as difficult as you think they are.”

 

Jinsoul was so right… She really was the best person to talk to.

 

“I feel like I’m getting in the middle…” she admitted in a whisper.

 

“Maybe that’s what we needed.”

 

She couldn’t stand it anymore. Yerim’s hands cupped Jungeun’s cheeks, pulling her t closer to her. She kissed her, softly, testing if this was what she wanted too. She soon felt Jungeun’s lips part, allowing her to go on with the kiss. She could feel her hands gripping her waist, trying to pull her even closer.

 

“Wait…” Yerim tried to say, but Jungeun’s teeth were trapping her lower lip. “You have to know…” She really wouldn’t let her speak. “I like you but… I also like Jinsoul.” She thought she would stop kissing her after that confession, but she just went to bury her lips in her neck.

 

“Me too.” She said against her neck, giggling. “I thought your speech was about that.”

 

“Yes…” She couldn’t focus on giving her a proper answer with Jungeun’s lips running wild across her neck. “But I wanted to make it clear…”

 

“Why don’t you tell her?” She stopped suddenly. Yerim could tell that it took her a lot of effort to do so, her eyes were revealing how desperate she was to kiss her again.

 

“Why don’t you go first?” She asked. “It would be easier.”

 

“Honey, we already talked about this.”

 

“What?”

 

“Jinsoul’s been in love with you for months. We talked about her feelings for you… well, us, before you moved in here.”

 

“And you were okay with that?” She asked, fearing the answer.

 

“To be honest… I thought she was crazy and that she eventually would chose one of us.”

 

“Wow…” A grin showed up on Yerim’s face. “And when did you know that you felt that way for me too?”

 

“Once you moved in here with us. You know, it’s always been Jinsoul and I, and that was fine. But then you came and everything was… better.” She took Yerim’s hand, intertwining their fingers. “I believe now that we just needed you in our lives. Everything feels so right since you are here, Yerim. Like you are the piece of the puzzle that we were missing. So, when I realised that I also liked you and Jinsoul, I talked to her.” She rolled her eyes. “And she wanted to tell you in that moment.”

 

“What? Did you stop her?”

 

“Of course I did.”

 

“But why? It would have been easier if you had told me before!”

 

“Are you sure about it?” Jungeun lifted a brow caressing Yerim’s hand with her thumb. “I thought that you may need some time to sort out your own feelings. I knew you would do it eventually.

 

“How did you know?” She asked in awe.

 

“Well…” She turned their hands together and pointed at their wrist. “Soulmates always find their way together.” She stood up, leading Yerim to Jinsoul’s room. “Come on, let’s wake her up.”