When little Jungkook’s parents told him about soulmates and how he’d hear bells when he met his, he couldn’t have been more excited. He listened carefully for the sound every time he went anywhere, met anyone new, eager to find his soulmate. He’d hear a bicycle bell and instantly perk up, looking around, only for his parents to laugh and ruffle his hair, then pinch his cheeks at the pout he’d produce. A girl wearing anklet bells would walk past him, and he’d turn to the sound in the hopes that it was her, that she was the one, but the bells would continue sounding as she walked away and he knew it wasn’t right.

Over the years he became less overtly excited about meeting his soulmate. Most of his friends at school thought soulmates were dumb, and many didn’t even believe in them—thought the whole thing was just made up, nothing more than an old wives’ tale. Jungkook pretended he was the same, but he still secretly wished to hear that sound, meet his one. He knew soulmates were real. His parents were, after all.

Even that level of excitement, however, got pushed further and further to the back of his mind as he focused on getting into the university of his dreams. As much as he wanted to find his soulmate, he also didn’t want to force it. He believed he would meet them at the right time, when it was meant to be.

Still, though, every now and then he’d hear the tinkle of a chime above a door as it opened, or a bicycle alerting pedestrians of its presence as it sped past, or the jingling of jewellery on a passerby, and he would snap out of whatever he was doing only to always end up disappointed once he found the source of the sound.

Until one day, he heard it. A soft twinkling sound in his mind, gone almost as soon as it was there.

He froze in the middle of the road he was crossing, looking back the way he had come. People pushed him to get past him from both sides, both directions as they crossed the road, but Jungkook was transfixed. He fiddled with the base of his little finger, the area feeling tight all of a sudden, but he didn’t pay that much mind either. The sound he’d heard was… different. It wasn’t just someone’s ringtone, or the sound of keys jangling together. No, this time it had been clearer. It wasn’t coming from somewhere, it was inside him.

It was it. Which meant…

They were there! One of those people, one of those people was his soulmate.

But who?

A loud and drawn out honk sounded, ripping him out of his reverie. He glanced at the car now revving its engine at him to move and quickly held his hand out in apology as he finally jogged to the other side, mind still half in a daze as the car angrily sped past on the road.

He took one last look at the opposite side of the road. The feeling in his pinky had faded by then.

How was he supposed to find them?

The next time he heard the tinkle of the bell was no more fruitful than the first. He was late for class, running across campus when the sound stopped him in his tracks. He looked around but there were so many people near him. A group of students sitting on the grass to his side, a girl who just rode by on a bike, a boy wandering aimlessly to the side of the path while he talked on the phone, all sorts of people walking by. It could have been any of them.

For a moment, he thought he saw a flash of red string swirl around a black-haired boy as the tightening sensation around his little finger returned, but he blinked and it was gone. The boy had his back to him, walking in the opposite direction to Jungkook, a taller boy by his side.

Jungkook shook his head and ran the rest of the way to his class, slipping in luckily only seven minutes late through the back doors. He couldn’t get the two encounters out of his mind throughout, though. Not a word of the professor’s lecture registered with him that class.

At least he figured his soulmate probably went to the same university as him. That was a start.

A week or so went by without Jungkook hearing those bells again. He was starting to wonder if he’d imagined the whole thing, but he also knew he hadn’t.

And he had faith they would cross paths again.

Jungkook had his head down, looking at the floor while he walked down the mostly empty corridor, when he heard it again. That tiny tintinnabulation in his mind. He halted to an abrupt stop, knowing that this time when he turned around, he’d know who it was—who his soulmate was. He didn’t hear any more footsteps, meaning the person he’d just walked past—his soulmate—had stopped walking too.

The hilt of his pinky felt like it was constricting again, like it was tugging him too, tugging him towards the person standing behind him.

Jungkook’s heart was racing.

He gathered all the courage he could muster, took a deep breath and followed the sensation in his little finger, turning around.

There was a boy standing a little ways in front of him, already facing him, one hand tugging at the hem of his sleeve. His black hair was slightly messy, his black clothes slightly oversized, his sparkly eyes slightly widened, his cheeks slightly round, pink lips slightly parted. He was far more than slightly pretty.

Jungkook kind of wanted to run to him, was overwhelmed by the need, but was still too in shock that this man in front of him was his soulmate, that he’d actually found his soulmate.

“You heard it too, right?”

His voice was deep, quiet, like he was sharing a secret.

Jungkook nodded, taking a few steps closer.

“So you’re…”

Jungkook cracked a small smile. “Jungkook, your soulmate.”

The other boy’s dumpling cheeks tinted a light shade of red as they scrunched up in a not-quite smile, as he was clearly trying to subdue it. “Yoongi, yours.”

A proper, unrestrained grin broke out on Jungkook’s face. Yoongi , Yoongi was his soulmate. The feeling in his pinky urged him to reach out and lace their fingers together, causing Yoongi’s smile to present itself fully too. He had a beautiful smile that took over his whole face, his eyes scrunched into crescents, the corners crinkled, his button nose widening a little as his cute cheeks squished up, and his gums showing slightly. The feeling in his pinky disappeared but he still kept hold of Yoongi’s hand.

“So, Yoongi, what are your plans for tonight?”