Everyone has a soulmate. Each person has to write something on a part of themselves at the age of 16 that would appear on their soulmate's body when they turn 18.

Kim Minjoo, brought up to be a simplistic girl who absolutely hated the thought of her soulmate being with someone else, wrote:

Mine.

On her collarbone, where she was positive everyone would be able to see that her soulmate belonged to her and her only.

Chaewon laughed so hard when she saw what Minjoo had written.

"You're so possessive before you even meet your soulmate, what are they going to do?" She tried to hold back her laughter but failed as she burst into another fit of giggles. Minjoo remained unbothered.

When Minjoo was in her senior year of high school, she felt a burning sensation on her wrist on her birthday. Excited to see what her soulmate had written for her, she quickly lifted up her arm. What she saw made her heart flutter. Written in small and neat handwriting were the words,

I'll love you always.

Minjoo spent the rest of the week extremely excited to meet her soulmate, but there were never any signs of her meeting them any time soon. She'd asked her parents why but they had no answer, and neither did Chaewon.

A year had passed and Minjoo was devastated that she hadn't met her soulmate. The only thing keeping her going was the mark tattooed on her wrist – it would only fade off when either of them passed on, which made Minjoo positive that her soulmate wasn't dead.

A year and a half later, Minjoo tried not to think about her soulmate as much. Admirers would constantly ask for her number and confess to her, but she would reject them, showing them her wrist.

"But I don't see any soulmate with you. Are you sure that's even real?" A boy snickered, pointing at Minjoo's tattoo. Offended by the remark, Minjoo slapped the boy as hard as she could before storming off. Chaewon and Hitomi gave the boy disapproving looks before following after the angered girl.

Minjoo sat in the library, fingers tracing over the tattoo. She never bothered to cover it up because the fact that someone declared that they would love her before even meeting her made her so happy – all her admirers often confessed to her only because she was pretty or smart, or some other vague trait she had. The tattoo made her so happy, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

"Minjoo?" Chaewon called, and Minjoo turned to see Chaewon, Hitomi and two other girls who were holding hands. "I think they might be able to help you."

The girls introduced themselves as Yena and Yuri and immediately got comfortable with each other.

"Chaewon told me you haven't met your soulmate," Yuri spoke softly, not wanting to gather any unwanted attention. "I just want to tell you not to worry."

"I didn't meet Yuri for 2 years." Yena mentioned, which made Minjoo pay close attention. "I didn't meet her when I got my mark because she was younger than me, and soulmates only meet when both of them have gotten their tattoos."

That made sense, why didn't she ever think of it? Her soulmate could be younger than her, which explained why her tattoo was still there and why they hadn't met.

"I don't know if this makes you feel better, but your soulmate will definitely come along one day," Yena reassured. "Don't worry too much about it. I mean, unless the mark fades- ow!" Yuri slapped Yena's arm, gesturing for her to shut up which made Minjoo laugh. They were so cute together, she hoped she and her soulmate could be like that too.

Six months later, and Minjoo is resigned to the fact that brooding over her soulmate will not bring their meeting any closer, thus being more at ease with her situation and still rejecting any admirers.

She'd just taken out her materials for the lesson when the professor entered the classroom earlier than he usually did.

"Settle down, kids. We have a transfer student today. Younger than you all, if I may add, so be nice. Please come in." Not giving the students a chance to speak, he gestured for the figure outside the door to enter the classroom.

The whole time he was speaking, Minjoo felt her wrist getting hot and shook it off as the weather being warm that day. But the moment the transferee entered the classroom, her wrist felt like it was on fire and she was positive it had something to do with her soulmate. It seemed that the transfer student thought the same way as well, because she was looking straight at Minjoo.

Minjoo quickly scanned for her tattoo on the other girl, and sure enough, she found her own handwriting on the girl's left collarbone. It wasn't hard to spot considering she only wore a plain white shirt with a red flannel paired with black jeans and sneakers. The transfer student raised a hand to her collarbone, rubbing it softly and Minjoo felt a little apologetic for placing her tattoo in such a painful place.

"Good morning, my name is Ahn Yujin." The girl introduced herself, bowing slightly. A boy raised his hand and to Minjoo's disgust, it was the same boy who accused her tattoo of being fake.

"Is that a soulmate's mark on your collarbone?"

The whole class had their eyes trained on her, now eager to hear her answer.

Yujin raised her eyebrow but answered the question nonetheless.

"Yes."

Oh god. Minjoo hoped the boy was not going to say anything to hurt her soulmate because if he did, she already started plotting his death.

"Have you met them?"

Another question, and Minjoo is sure that he was going to mention her name anytime soon.

"No, not properly yet." Throughout the whole exchange, Minjoo was sure Yujin had her eyes on her, as if they were looking into her soul.

The boy laughed, earning a few concerned looks from their classmates. They, of course, knew what happened, but unlike him, they were supportive of Minjoo and constantly cheered her up.

"Isn't that great, Minjoo, now you have a friend in the same situation as you."

Curious, Yujin frowned and was that a glare Minjoo saw? To say she was surprised would be an understatement when Yujin made her way straight towards Minjoo's table, grabbing her right wrist gently and turning it upwards. Compared to the burning of the tattoo earlier, Yujin's hand was way warmer and Minjoo felt like she was melting under her touch.

A grin made its way up Yujin's face and Minjoo swore she'd never seen a grin more cheeky, dorky and adorable than that, especially with the way the younger girl's cheeks made way for deep dimples that Minjoo so badly wanted to poke.

"My name is Ahn Yujin," Yujin repeated quietly, looking at Minjoo with a soft gaze. "What's yours?"

"K-Kim Minjoo." Flustered by the sudden conversation, Minjoo panicked and only managed to utter her name dumbly.

"Kim Minjoo." Yujin repeated, and suddenly Minjoo loved her name. She would love her name forever as long as Yujin kept on calling her.

Yujin's expression quickly turned cold, and she left Minjoo's desk, heading towards the boy who laughed.

"I take back my previous statement, I just met my soulmate." The boy sat with his eyes widened in horror, knowing exactly what she meant – her soulmate was Minjoo. Frozen, he sat on his seat dumbly while Yujin asked a classmate for a permanent marker.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the boy's arm and wrote on it.

Ahn Yujin and Kim Minjoo are soulmates.

"Look at this for the rest of the day. Any conversation you make with another person has to start with this phrase. The next time you make fun of my soulmate, it'll be worse. I'll be watching." Yujin commanded. When she didn't receive a response, she knocked her knuckles on his table. "Do you understand?"

The boy couldn't do anything but nod in fear, while the rest of the class looked on in amazement. Their teacher was also amazed by the young girl's display of courage despite knowing fully that she was disrespecting her senior. He had always wanted to do something about the boy who made fun of the most hardworking student in his class, but he was but an old man and now that the transfer student came into the picture, he was happy for his favourite student.

Minjoo, still dumbfounded yet touched, could only gape as Yujin returned to her desk. She watched as Yujin very politely asked Yuri if she could sit next to Minjoo, to which Yuri responded very excitedly, packing her things at the speed of light and moving to the seat behind the both of them, but not before giving Minjoo excited pats on her back.

The professor started the lesson before anything else could happen, and Minjoo was once again surprised when she felt someone hold her right hand, interlacing their fingers. She turned and found Yujin staring at her with a small smile.

"I'm so glad I met you." Yujin whispered, squeezing Minjoo's hand. Minjoo's heart fluttered and she blushed to the tip of her ears, unable to look Yujin in the eye.

"I'm glad I met you too," Minjoo made sure to let Yujin know she shared the same sentiment, squeezing her hand in return before letting go slightly. "B-But I can't write my notes if you're gonna hold my h-hand."

"That's okay, I'll teach you the material after lesson. I want to hold your hand." Yujin responded coolly, shrugging. "But if you're really very concerned about writing notes, I'll write the whole lesson for you."

Before Minjoo could say anything, Yujin grabbed her notebook and pencil from her desk and began writing notes for her. Minjoo swore she heard Yuri squeal from behind her and she turned even more red.

"Minjoo-ssi, are you not going to take down any notes?" The professor asked with a knowing smile when he spotted Yujin using Minjoo's pencil and writing in her notebook while Minjoo could only look at their hands or at the whiteboard without writing anything.

"I... I" Minjoo panicked once more, not knowing what to tell her professor.

"I'm sorry professor, I wanted to hold Minjoo's hand no matter what." Yujin responded in her stead, raising their linked fingers. The rest of the class burst into a series of coos and squealing, making Minjoo blush once more. "Please don't worry, I am writing notes for her in return." The professor nodded and gave her a quick wink which went unmissed by Yuri, Minjoo and Yujin and Yujin quickly responded with a thumbs-up.

Luckily, they only had a morning schedule that day, which made Minjoo extremely relieved once the lesson was over. Yujin really held her hand throughout the lesson, not caring whether Minjoo's hand got sweaty or not. And true to her words, Yujin took down everything the professor mentioned as well as additional personal notes here and there.

"Did I make you uncomfortable?" Yujin asked, and Minjoo paused her packing to look at Yujin. Concern was found in her eyes and Yujin had on a slight pout which made Minjoo struggle to resist the urge to pinch her cheeks. "I'm sorry if I did. I was just so excited to have met you, and to know that you were made fun of for not having a soulmate... I'm sorry for not being born earlier."

Minjoo shook her head vigorously, not wanting the younger to feel bad. "No, don't worry about it. I was very happy about it." Surprised by the words that came out of , Minjoo went into panic again. "I- I mean, I like holding your hand! No wait. That doesn't sound right either-"

Minjoo's rambling was cut off by laughter and Minjoo swore she would be willing to make a fool of herself every day to hear Yujin's genuine laugh – a little loud, but contagious. And the way Yujin's eyes went up into half crescents made the girl look even more beautiful, Minjoo found the thought of her admirers calling her beautiful absurd because have they seen this masterpiece sitting right in front of her? It made her wonder if it was just her whipped making Yujin look like a goddess in her eyes.

"You're so adorable. I love you," Yujin confessed, holding Minjoo's tattooed wrist. "I know we just met today, but I really do love you, and I promise I'll protect you from everything that makes you upset from now on. Including that douche," she added, making Minjoo giggle even though she was a blushing mess.

Minjoo quickly finished packing up, and both girls stood to leave the class. Before either of them could take a step though, Minjoo tugged at Yujin's sleeve, making Yujin turn towards her with a curious gaze.

"Can you hold me? Or can I hug you? Or-" Before Minjoo could start her rambling again, Yujin wrapped her arms around Minjoo's shoulders, pulling her into a warm embrace. Minjoo froze for a moment before she snuck her arms under Yujin's flannel, holding Yujin close with her arms around her waist, fully immersing herself in Yujin's warmth.

Minjoo was a little hesitant to ask for such an intimate favour since they'd just met, but heck they were soulmates and they would be doing this sooner or later, so she went along with her feelings and asked Yujin to hold her.

"2 years."

"Hmm?"

"I waited for 2 years. It was long and sad and painful." Minjoo mumbled, tearing up a little. "I'm just so glad you're here now."

She heard a sigh and felt Yujin hold her tighter. "I know, and I'm sorry about that. I promise I'll make it up to you."

Both girls stood like that a little longer before they decided to leave, of course, hand in hand. Yujin had decided to go over to Minjoo's apartment where she lived by herself so they could get to know each other more. Although others may find it weird that they were getting so intimate with each other so quickly, the two didn't care – Minjoo was denied the meeting with her soulmate for so long, and Yujin always had a heavy feeling that her soulmate was going through difficult times without her around.

"How did you know it was me?" Minjoo asked, curious. The moment Yujin entered the classroom, they'd locked eyes with each other and while Minjoo knew it was Yujin because she'd never felt the burning feeling around any of her classmates, the same couldn't be said for Yujin who never met any of them.

"I heard about you from Yena," Yujin began. "She told me there was a student in her university that hadn't met her soulmate and she was made fun of, and that she felt so sorry for her. Then she asked me about my mark."

So that was why Yena asked what Minjoo made as her mark. It all made sense to Minjoo now.

"The moment we found out the mark I had and the one you made was the same, I transferred."

"But how..? You're supposed to be in high school now...?"

"I skipped grades, I'm actually studying medicine right now. Same as you. I wanted to be with you always." Yujin shrugged it off as if it were nothing, while Minjoo stood amazed.

"No wonder you knew all the material. You're amazing." At this, the tip of Yujin's ears became red.

"I-It's nothing, really." Yujin was so endearing it made it impossible for Minjoo not to fall in love with her, but she wasn't going to tell Yujin that just yet.

A year later, Minjoo and Yujin became known as the official campus couple after Yujin confessed, and Yujin was very well-liked among Minjoo's friends. Chaewon was a little apprehensive at first, but after hearing the story of their first meeting from Yuri, they became best buddies, teasing each other from time to time.

Minjoo would still get flustered by Yujin's straightforwardness, but she was now able to make comebacks at the younger girl or flirt right back which made Yujin blush.

Yujin waited for Minjoo to pack her things after class as usual – after what happened the previous year, any classmate who sat next to Minjoo would automatically give their seat to Yujin. While it made Minjoo a little embarrassed, she was still happy to be sitting next to her soulmate and not some other person.

Both girls were on the way back when Yujin confessed to Minjoo again. It was a thing for her to do to make sure she fulfilled the promise she made to Minjoo through her tattoo, and even if it wasn't for that, she said it because she truly meant it.

"I love you, Minjoo."

"I love you too."

Used to not getting a response from the older since she knew it would be unreasonable for her to expect Minjoo to love her right after they met, Yujin continued the conversation.

"So, do you want to get some ice- wait, what?"

Yujin stopped in her tracks completely, brain malfunctioning at Minjoo's words.

"Did I hear that right or did you say-?"

"I love you too, Yujin. Since last year when we met."

Yujin stood absolutely dumbfounded, unable to form a coherent sentence. Minjoo laughed as her girlfriend froze – she could see the cogs in her brain struggling to function but ultimately failing to do so. Who knew that the top student could malfunction like this?

Unable to hold herself back, Minjoo threw herself at Yujin, enjoying the feeling of Yujin's arms wrapping around her naturally.

"I love youuuuuu," Minjoo sang happily, laughing giddily into Yujin's ear.

Yujin snapped back into reality and laughed along with Minjoo. She lifted Minjoo off the ground, causing a surprised squeal to come out from the older and spun her around as she laughed as happily as Minjoo.

"Say that again!!" Yujin demanded excitedly, jumping like a child who received a new toy. "I love you!" Minjoo repeated, still laughing at Yujin's cute reaction.

"Oh my god!! Yes!!!" Yujin cheered, lifting Minjoo up again while spinning her around. She quickly put her down and planted a kiss on her forehead before hugging her tight. "I love you, Minjoo!"

"I love you too!"

Minjoo was denied the meeting with her soulmate for 2 long, painful years. She knew she fell in love with Yujin the moment she knew she was her soulmate – really, anyone would be able to tell if they knew what she was thinking. And true to her promise, Yujin made sure she was always happy and protected her from things that made her upset. The past year was nothing but happiness for Minjoo, and she wanted to make sure Yujin knew how much she appreciated that, and that she returned the favour to Yujin. What better way than to tell the younger that she loves her as much as she was loved?

"I'm so glad you're my soulmate, Yujin."

"Me too. I would've travelled across the world if I knew you were in Korea and I lived somewhere else just to meet you."

"You exaggerate so much. Bluffer."

"I'm not bluffing!!!"

The two girls continued their banter as they made their way to their now shared apartment, looking forward to the many years they would have together.