To be honest, Park Jinyoung had always looked forward to the day he turned 18, not only because he could already drink alcohol (legally at least), nor because he could finally get a driving license and go to bars to find pretty girls to hook up. Yes, that all sounded great, but in that strange world the reason the boys were waiting for their 18th birthday was to get such a long-awaited mark, the mark that would indicate the first words that their soulmate would tell them.

 

To tell the truth, whoever had come up with that idea when creating the human being, hadn't thought very well about everything. What if the words were something as simple as a "hello" or a simple "hey”? Obviously that would have all the people with that engraved on their wrist getting excited like fools and tirelessly looking at each other's wrist to verify that they belonged together, eventually people started to realized that because of that confusion, in addition to the phrases matching, the marks changed color when they met each other, turning from glossy black to a faint red, almost invisible to the eye, also some people told how they felt immediately in their hearts the presence of the other, as if their only presence would warm their souls. 

 

The mark appeared just at midnight on the day of their birthday, most people liked to sleep peacefully and wake up with the pleasant surprise of the first words that the love of their life was going to say to them; although this obviously didn't mean that meeting each other was going to happen soon, it could take years for this to happen; but Park Jinyoung was a hopeless romantic who read too many books, so there he was, at 11:58 at night, on the phone with his best friend, who secretly wished that he was his soul mate, but that very rarely happened.

 

The hour approached and as the seconds ticked by, they stopped talking about Harry Potter and videogames and Jinyoung looked closely at his left wrist.

 

“What do you expect it to be?” Jaebeom asked him, he heard through the phone the rustle of clothing so he guessed he was lying on his bed. 

 

“As long as it's not as ambiguous as it was with my parents, it's fine, or I will have a mini heart attack every time someone says my name.” Jinyoung said, chuckling. 

 

It was true, his parents had met at a restaurant where his mother worked as a hostess, his father always said that it was silly to have his own name engraved on the wrist, but it was more foolish for his mother to have “Table for two”, just by pure chance her mother had thought to repeat the name of the guest who had just arrived, well, fate made her repeat the name. Neither of them had realized what had just happened, until his father went to the bathroom in the middle of what was a horrible date (being forever destined for someone didn't mean that they couldn't have a little fun with other people out of pure carnal desire) until his father saw that the letters on his wrist had disappeared, and instantly remembered the cute hostess that had smiled at him. 

 

“I want something like yours, so I will more or less know the situation in which we will get to know each other” Jinyoung added.

 

“Of course, there is nothing more obvious than "Those lyrics are beautiful”, what the is that supposed to mean?” Jaebum snorted, his friend had his a few months earlier than him, but he was free-spirited and he didn't take much importance on things as silly as soulmates. 

 

“At least you will know as soon as you hear it, for others it can be more complicated.” Jinyoung said, his mind still retaining the slightest hope, but it was getting farther away. 

 

“I suppose the most difficult thing about this is knowing if it will be a man or a woman, I mean, the most normal thing is for it to be a woman because of all this human reproduction stuff, but what if it were a man?”

 

“Does that mean you are hoping to get a man?” Jinyoung asked, raising an eyebrow, which Jaebeom couldn't see, but Jinyoung could hear him mumble nervously “Whatever it is, nature, divine beings, or whoever you want is not wrong, you are destined with whoever you are destined with, it must work, if not, all this would be…” Jinyoung stopped mid-sentence.

 

The digital clock on his nightstand read exactly 00:00, a strange tickle in his left wrist had appeared and, with his heart pounding in his chest, he stared at how the words were engraving on his skin.

 

When at last the mark ended up appearing on his skin, he wanted to die of embarrassment, disappointment, he felt silly for having his expectations high, that something super romantic was going to appear on his skin. 

 

Oh boy, he was SO wrong.

 

What the hell was that supposed  to mean? He couldn't really imagine a scenario in which those words could be more or less decent, because yes, many indecent scenarios crossed his mind, but it couldn't be that way, right ? Oh God! How was he going to show his parents that?

 

He blinked once more, hoping it was some sort of joke or optical illusion, but no, the words were still as clear as they had been several seconds ago.

 

YOU, .

 

How original, honestly.

 

“So? What does it say?” Jaebeom asked excitedly from the other end of the line, honestly, Jinyoung had completely forgotten that he was there. 

 

“ you, .” Jinyoung said in a lower voice. 

 

“You don't need to be so aggressive with me, I just asked you kindly…”

 

“No, Jaebeom, that’s what it says you, ” Jinyoung sighed heavily, feeling his cheeks burn, it was really quite embarrassing.

 

“, really?” Jinyoung could hear the mocking tone in his voice, he was almost sure that he was holding back his laughter “Well, look on the bright side, you know more or less in what environment you two are going to meet.”

 

“Shut up,” Jinyoung said to him, absently carving the skin of his arm, as if waiting for something else to be removed or added. “I'll talk to you later.” and without waiting for an answer, he hung up. 

 

He lay defeated on the bed, he didn't even want to look at his wrist again, he would have too much to explain meanwhile they both met, but he was sure he was going to give them hell later for choosing those words in the first place.

 

He just hoped that his soulmate had a very good reason to say those things to him, he still hoped they weren't meant for him, maybe he was going to meet him in some kind of heroic action and someone, who put his life at risk would tell him, but Jinyoung would ask what he had said and he would repeat it to himself, yes...that had to be it.

 

So he went on with his life, ignoring the mocking and surprised comments of people when they saw his mark, he even saw how some  people would stare at his mark in a pitiful way, but he didn't know why those people pitied him, nature didn't go wrong, he was sure it had planned the perfect scene for him, as it had for everyone, he only had to wait.

 

He knew there were people, like Jaebeom once they had entered college, who had fun getting "dates" to hang out with (never more than one night), but Jinyoung, still the fervent believer in true love and waiting to have his first kiss and first time with his soulmate, waited and waited. 

 

As his college years passed, he felt a little desperate, although without noticing it, around him people were finding their soulmates, all of them had highly romantic stories, some a little bit funnier than the others, but Jinyoung was only confirming more that nature was not wrong, things happened for a reason, destiny would naturally lead them to get to know each other, creating the right situations for that long-awaited moment.

 

Like the case of Yugyeom and BamBam, two first-semester boys he met sometime around his fifth semester, they, despite the fact that BamBam was a foreigner, had known each other around the age of 15 and had been together ever since, at least as best friends; they were highly surprised on the day they both turned 18 (which was coincidentally on the same day), they realized that their marks didn't appeared in black, as usual, but in the reddish color, and, to their surprise, they were, if they remembered the words that were said when it was their turn to sit together in a class during middle school; To be honest, Jinyoung almost cried over their story, that was a true love story, like the one he was waiting for to happen to him, but it didn't seem to come.

 

Truth be told, Jaebeom had convinced him that waiting for his soulmate didn't mean he shouldn't be having fun like every young man his age, dragging him to parties and gatherings where he soon found them a bit of fun, thinking that maybe, only perhaps, in one of those parties he would finally meet the one destined for him.

 

He soon realized that these kinds of parties were more for the type of people, like Jaebeom, who refused to remain chaste, it was a fairly common fashion in the new generations, and, despite the great temptation, Jinyoung he remained faithful to whom he didn't  yet know, for he was certain that fate would find him someone with the same mind thought. 

 

He was reaching the end of his college career and no one was showing up yet, so after many Jaebeom therapies, he learned not to be anxious trying to find love, love would come to him when it was supposed to happen. 

X

X

X

 

“Those are beautiful lyrics”

 

That was stupid thing to to tell someone you just met, or at the least that’s what Jaebeom thought when just turned 18 years wasn't even sure what he wanted to do in life, no one seemed to be at that age, even when it was an age where you need to start making desicions for your adult life, but still, very few people took the necessary attention to the adult life in those times and much less very few worried about how they were going to meet their so-called soul mate.

 

Jaebeom was not like Jinyoung, while the other was more excited to meet his soulmate and decided to save himself or her or him, Jaebeom on the other hand, preferred to simply ignore it until the moment, even rarely paying attention to his mark, obviously he had very present what it read, but all that was buried deep in his mind, he preferred to continue living his youth, discovering the things he liked and those he didn't, discovering his body, experimenting before he could settle down, if not, he I was going to regret many things.

 

He soon realized that he loved music, or rather, the forced piano lessons stopped being forced and he developed good taste, in addition to discovering his composing and vocal abilities that he had quite hidden; He ended up deciding to study that because he wasn't really interested in anything else, all despite the constant criticism from his parents that he wasn't really going to produce any future income, but Jaebeom was sure that he would do it.

 

And so, Jinyoung and he entered another stage of their lives, the university, oh blessed university, full of parties and different people, full of opportunities to get involved with someone for one night, have a little carnal pleasure and nothing else, it was good to know they weren't his soulmate, no one could really demand anything of anyone, it was perfect for the lifestyle Jaebum was leading, even though the casual sessions were quite pleasant, there was always a certain void after them, a void that he could never fill.

 

In addition, he was already missing the train, as it used to be colloquially, both were reaching the average age in which they knew their soulmates and they hadn't come into his life, but he was perfect with the life he was having, without ties, being a free soul, ing with the person who seemed attractive by the simple fact of his physical appearance, because, although he didn't wanted to admit it, the doubt that his soul was going to be someone who didn't actually pleased his eyes was very present in his mind. He kind of hated having that kind of thought, but in the end, but everything had to fit, right? Jinyoung always said that Mother Nature was not wrong.

 

And boy was he not mistaken

 

Jaebeom was used to staying after school in one of the farthest classrooms in the Music building, he liked the acoustics of that room and the piano there was a true wonder. The silence of the corridors made him concentrate much better than in his dorm, where Jackson was there most of the time, making more noise than he preferred, the first reason why he stayed in that classroom until late at night.

 

Not only did it help him to focus on the homework he had to do, but also on various amateur creations that he liked to upload to his SoundCloud account, not that he was very famous or something, but he was quite successful, he actually didn't liked to show up, after all he was creating music just because he loved music, but his account was one of the reasons he was one of the most popular guys in his major, and maybe around campus. 

 

One afternoon, near the end of what would be his penultimate semester at university, when the Muses were not willing to cooperate with him for the last class of the semester, everything was almost ready, but he felt that the song was missing something, he wasn't sure what it was, but the song felt empty whenever he sang it, even when the lyrics were filled with beautiful words and feelings, still there was something missing, his voice even became hoarse after singing it so many times for it to make kind of sense. 

More than half of my day is empty

The depth of my heart won't be filled

Getting bigger, deeper and wider

What I'm feeling right now is like before the sun up

 

I'm confused and lost

When my head is pounding, when I'm exhausted

You hold my worn out hand

You hold me warm and tight

 

I've always been running without looking back

Whenever I run out of my breath

Please be my sky

 

It's a beautiful sky

The sky is clear, like you

There is not a cloud

Because of you

The world feels different to me

 

He intoned with what he was trying to call it feeling, even closing his eyes to feel the lyrics even more, to find the reason why he felt that something was missing.

 

And reason came through the door, wearing an oversized hoodie and worn out ankle jeans and white socks, light brown hair, vibrant brown eyes, and a cute mole underneath one of them, startling him when he suddenly entered the classroom. 

 

“Those are beautiful lyrics” the one who had just entered the classroom said, and Jaebum's soul went to his feet, he even paled a little, but it had nothing to do with the fact that the boy had startled him when he entered so suddenly. 

 

“Let me see your wrist” was the first thing his brain managed to mumble after hearing those awaited words. 

 

The other boy had to lean back on one of the benches, his cheeks filling with an intense pink blush and, slowly, Jaebeom felt it, a tickle in his left wrist, extending down his arm to his chest, filling his entire body with a strange heat, and a feeling that everything would be fine invading him, and, without realizing it, he realized that he was shedding tears.

 

“It’s you” The stranger said, tooking some shaky steps towards him. 

 

“I have waited for you for a long time, you know?” Jaebeom said, also standing up, looking out of the corner of his eye that indeed his mark had turned momentarily bright red, when they came close he saw that in the other boy’s wrist were the words he had just said, as if he needed another clue pointing him as his soulmate. “Im Jaebeom.”

 

“I know, I know who you are, oh my God…” the boy said, ducking his head and moving it from side to side, as if he couldn't believe what was happening, if Jaebeom remembered well he had already seen him several times on campus, he was from the same major, just a few years younger. “Choi Youngjae.” he smiled, revealing such a bright and innocent smile, a smile Jaebeom had never seen, it was precious, just as the entire presence of the other boy. 

 

Yes, mother nature was never wrong.

 

And thanks to Youngjae, his song suddenly made a lot of sense, it seemed that he just needed to be thinking about his soulmate to be able to interpret it as he expected.

x

x

x

             

To tell the truth, Jinyoung felt quite lonely when Jaebeom met Youngjae, because his whole life took a 180 degree turn, they stopped attending parties and for the first time Jinyoung saw his friend happy, completely happy, the universe couldn't have chosen a better match for him, the two complemented each other in such a way that they fit together like pieces of some puzzle.

 

While Jaebeom was rebellious, carefree, but deep down he was sensitive as he loved poetry, photography, art and had a very sensitive fiber, Youngjae had too much energy, too much happiness, laughed outrageously and with his whole body, he hated any kind of corny stuff and, despite what anyone would think, he had not the slightest bit of innocence that his appearance alone denoted.

 

They were both too happy, and Jinyoung was very happy for them, despite feeling somewhat abandoned by them and even a little jealous to see how happy they were.

 

Stopping going to parties didn't affected much Jinyoung in the end, since they were already in their last semester, he should concentrate more on studying and his practices as a kindergarten teacher, took up a lot of time on weekdays, but he needed to impress the headmaster of the school he was doing TA, as if he did a good job, that could actually be his full time job in a not so long future; also he had to focus on his graduation exam, which also worried him a lot, most people said that Jinyoung didn't really needed to study, as he was quite intelligent,  but for him It was the most stressful thing in the world, so he spent most nights reviewing the topics seen throughout his career, spending the other hours doing his thesis, homework, and studying for the partials. A little more work and he was going to explode.

 

“Come on, Jinyoung, is the beginning of our last Spring Break” Jaebeom said for the eleventh time, he and Youngjae had come to his room on the last Friday before leaving on vacation “You've studied incessantly since the semester began, Don't you want to go and have fun before the break?” JInyoung just glared at him over his shoulder, the couple was lying comfortably on his bed, Youngjae playing something on his Switch. 

 

“I thought that we had already left the parties aside,” Jinyoung said, closing his laptop, because Jaebeom had started to whine like a small child and was sure that he wouldn't stop until he paid attention to him. “Besides, we’re already too old to drink until we pass out, you know?”

 

“No one said we are going to drink until we pass out” Jaebeom shrugged, jumping excitedly onto the bed.

 

“You say that because you don't want to even try to keep up with me, Hyung” Youngjae said, sticking out his tongue, it was true, he hadn't met anyone who had the same tolerance Youngjae had. “Come on, Jinyoung Hyung, it’s spring break, we are supposed to go rampant on these days, besides, it’s your last spring break, your last chance to go really wild.”

 

“For the old days sake, okay?” Jaebeom said, standing up from the bed and immediately going to look for something in his closet, throwing him a couple of jeans and shirts. 

 

An hour later the three were in a quite fancy residential area, the houses were quite big, many with an American style, the one they were directed could be one of the largest on the street, which was shaped like a u, the house they were going to was right in the middle of the curve, making it the widest and, if they weren’t mistaken, it had a huge patio, also, the invitation Jackson had sent to Jaebeom said it was a pool party. Jinyoung couldn't help but whistle under his breath as he passed the porch, lit with several torches into the hallway, whoever owned that house must be immensely wealthy, they probably wouldn't even get to know him.

 

The party was already in full swing, they entered directly into the patio, where a DJ was on a platform, neon lights illuminated the area, the pool was quite large and was somewhat saturated with young university students inaugurating the spring break, in the background was a bar where a fair amount of alcohol was being distributed, the DJ's music echoed loudly throughout the courtyard, and the young men and women in bathing suits moved absent-mindedly here and there.

 

“Aren't you happy that we came?” Jaebeom asked, inhaling the night air, it  smelled of grass, pool chlorine and cigarette smoke, typical frat party “I’m really happy we actually brought our swimsuits.”

 

Youngjae disappeared for a few minutes, returning with three red solo cups filled with an unknown liquid, according to Youngjae it was only beer, but that didn't smell like beer in the least, however, the three drank without hesitation, they were used to the liquids from strange sources at those parties.

 

After a while, Youngjae and Jaebum decided to get into the pool for a while, Jinyoung wasn't very sure of joining them, since the two were starting to lose the safe distance they had always in front of Jinyoung, and once they would get going no one was going to be able to stop them, so Jinyoung rather not to be present when all the kissing started. 

 

He took a seat in a chair that was near the edge of the pool, so that he could also chat for a while with his friends, who splashed around as if they were children; the music wasn't bad per se, and his head suddenly moved to the beat of it, they had also brought their 12 pack of beer aside, so he devoted himself to drinking, while his friends wrinkled like raisins.

 

At one point he had to stop to go to the bathroom, when he stood up he knew that it had been a very bad mistake to have drunk three beers in a row, knowing perfectly that he didn't had much tolerance, because when he stood up the world seemed to give a little spun around him, maybe he needed to find some food to get his tipsiness away, however, as he kept walking, going to the bathroom, and returning to the patio, he realized he was more drunk than he had thought.

 

When he returned to the edge of the pool, he saw that Jackson was talking to Youngjae and Jaebeom who had finally left the pool, because of his voice volume he realized that he was also too drunk, but that was almost normal in Jackson, Jaebeom's rowdy roommate and host of the best college parties, you could tell that this party wasn't much different from the others.

 

“Oh! Jinyoung, there you are!” the boy greeted him effusively “Why aren't you in a swimsuit? I thought I could watch for once the muscles you have so well hidden.” Jackson said, poking his chest and arms. 

 

“Hey, don't touch me” Jinyoung said, making a pout and chasing Jackson away as if he were a fly.

 

“Hyung, are you already drunk?” Youngjae asked, laughing “You’re totally drunk!”

 

“I’m not drunk” Jinyoung replied, inhaling deeply, realizing he was kind of speaking with a lisp “I’m just a little dizzy. That's all. It’s been a long time since the last time I drank.”

 

“Maybe it would be better if we took you away from the edge of the pool, I don't want you to fall down and drown” Jaebeom said, starting to collect his things and heading to the interior of the house, where they had improvised a dance floor, with several young people moving to the rhythm of the music inside, which was a little more seductive than the EDM rhythm outside.

 

Jinyoung watched the dancers on the dance floor for several minutes, he had never really been the dancing type, but he admired the ability of those who did well, from the girls demonstrating their best twerk steps, those who tried it, the boys who danced well to the rhythm of hip hop, and those who only rocked from side to side, with a drink in their hands and looking with desire and lust at the girls who were on the dance floor.

 

The four of them drank, chatting here and there, they drank until they got all tipsy and started to let themselves loose, they began to dance after a while, or at least what they called dancing; Jaebum, as always, doing it quite skillfully, including grinding against Youngjae, who laughed out loud, pretending to spank his boyfriend as if he was riding a horse, who seemed to be competing with a girl who was practically bent in half, rubbing her on a thin boy he had ever seen.

 

Jinyoung for his part only dedicated himself to dancing as an old man, taking out the most ridiculous and exaggerated dance steps, which were partly to ward off Jackson, who seemed to have other intentions with Jinyoung, he could know it from the way in which he saw him and held on to him by the waist.

 

“Well, damn, Mark.” Jackson whispered in his ear at one point, putting the loud music as an excuse, besides him Youngjae and Jaebeom were grinding more wildy. “He always manages to dance with the prettiest girl at the parties.” Jackson rolled his eyes “I bet that’s what happens when you have money and you are the owner of the house. 

 

“Who the is Mark?” Jinyoung asked, trying to get away from the Chinese. 

 

“Just the richest student in the entire university, don't tell me you don't know him, he is the dreamboat of every girl on campus.” Jackson replied, taking him from his belt loops, drawing him closer to his body, but also turning him a bit so he could see the man he had already seen dancing dirty with the girl that was moving her incessantly, he was also surrounded by girls in too short dresses; he wore a Hawaiian shirt, which was completely open, revealing his thin chest and abdomen, he had a few muscles but nothing interesting, besides a tattoo on his ribcage and he was holding a red cup in his left hand, his wrist covered in bracelets. “He always covers his mark, he says he is not interested in all that nonsense.” Jinyoung grimaced, he didn't understand the newest generations. “He is more like me, he prefers to have some fun with whoever he likes, he only likes the best of the best, just as you are…” Jackson said, this time in a much lower tone of voice, his left hand clutched at his waist and an alarm signal went off in his brain. He was way too close. 

 

“Hey! Jinyoung!” Jaebum saved him at the right moment, suddenly taking him by the hand and dragging him  away from the other “It’s your song! Come on let’s dance! Jaebum said while Taki Taki sounded loudly in the speakers. 

 

Jinyoung wasn't quite sure what he meant by that being his song, but he was glad when Jaebum separated him from the other, accepting the drink he offered, despite having already had enough to drink and that he would probably lose consciousness if he took it that.

 

Indeed so, the song that was playing was very lively and animated, it made him move his hips, but he was out of beat, so he chose better to jump, letting his body do what it wanted to do, the improvised dance floor was filled with their screams and laughs but no one really cared, those parties were to do what you wanted.

 

Jinyoung kept dancing without caring about anything, not even realizing that they were already in the middle of the improvised dance floor, the DJ suddenly seemed amused to switch from Latin reggaeton to girl group music, so when Me Gustas Tu started playing, he and Youngjae let out a strange scream and began to dance the exact choreography, laughing out loud in the meantime.

 

His joy was so intense that he didn't notice, in one of his excited jumps he collapsed with someone behind him, someone who was holding a cup filled with liquid in their hands.

 

Immediately chaos ensued, Jinyoung felt a bit of moisture on his back, the collision had been somewhat strong and obvious, so he quickly turned around to apologize, still giggling a bit at his clumsiness.

 

To his surprise he was greeted by a very angry face, with a clump of blond hair and an ed Hawaiian shirt, Mark, the popular rich boy he had just heard of, stood in front of him, the front of his pants totally wet and the smell of spilled beer filling the air. 

 

“ you, !” The boy snapped at him, angrily tossing the cup to the floor. “! Are you ing kidding me? ing !”

 

“ you, assface!” Jinyoung answered him before realizing what he was saying, it had been an accident, couldn't he see it? Those kinds of accidents happened every so often, especially with drunk people at drunk parties. 

 

“Are you ing kidding me?” he repeated, pating the front of his light colored pants “It looks like I ing peed myself!”

 

“I would rather say it looks like you came in your pants due to premature eyaculation, all because of getting a .” Jinyoung snorted at him, the music continued to resonate in his mind and he had suddenly become more dizzy, maybe it was the anger in him. “.” he said with hatred, besides him, his friends were staring in surprise. 

 

“No, you’re an !” Mark replied, almost childishly, Jinyoung rolled his eyes and turned around, he was having a small moment of bravery but he was really starting to feel dizzy, almost as if the adrenaline rush was going to make him go sick. “Wait, we’re not done here, you have to pay for this!” he grabbed him by the arm

 

“What the am i supposed to pay? It’s only ing cheap beer, , you just need to throw it on the washing machine” Jinyoung snapeed, trying to  shake him off, however, to ther guy seemed to have his graps quite tightly “Or give it to your servants, they will know what to do.” 

 

“Wait, your wrist…” Mark suddenly said, staring at his left hand, which Jinyoung tried to set free from his clasp “What do you have there?” 

 

“It’s called Mark of the Soul, have you heard of it? All humans have it, so I bet you must have one too, unless the universe thinks you are too disgusting to be loved by someone forever!” Jinyoung jerked his arm again, this time Mark let him go. 

 

“It turned red.” Mark suddenly had totally changed his attitude, five minutes ago it seemed like he was about to hit him and now he just seemed confused “Wait, you said you…” his eyes darted down a bit. 

 

“It’s not red, I would perfectly know if it turned…” He stopped immediately in the middle of the sentence.

 

Indeed, the mark was glowing in an intense crimson red, it was the most intense color he had ever seen, and he was very sure that his mark was still black several minutes ago, before he…

 

“Are you ing kidding me?!” Jinyoung mumbled, watching desperately as Mark removed all the bracelets that hid his mark, which was indeed the same crimson color as his and could be seen perfectly YOU, ASSFACE  “This can’t be true! This is not supposed to happen like this!” Jinyoung exclaimed, suddenly realizing that his sudden dizziness had more to do with the situation than with the alcohol. 

 

Everything was supposed to be beautiful, as well as all the stories they had been told, he hadn't even felt that warmth that Jaebeom had described when he met Youngjae, all the stories were about beautiful things, but, obviously, only him  had to had that kind of luck, somehow he sensed it from the moment his iconic phrase appeared on his wrist. What else could he expect? He had always believed that nature wasn't wrong, but at that time he couldn't think of anything more than that was a joke, it had to be a joke. 

 

Mark seemed to be the complete opposite of what he expected for his soulmate.

 

Despite the fact that the music was still playing, several people had noticed the altercation and were staring at them, some of them whispering,  not every day it was possible to witness in such a public way as two souls met, because, usually, that happened intimately. Dammit.

 

Jinyoung started feeling too hot, he even felt like throwing up, he was about to have a panic attack in front of many people, so he chose to turn around and run away from there.

x

x

 

His head hurt too much, he wasn't sure if it was because his age was beginning to take its toll and he was reminding him that he shouldn't drink as much, but maybe he had more to do with the fact he had spent the whole night crying like he never had cried.

 

His eyes were stinging and he was sure they were swollen and red, the throbbing pain in his head didn't help him either, he tried to keep them open while while he made a cup of coffee in the community kitchen, it was around six in the morning, more however, he hadn't been able to fall asleep.

 

Definitely he must have the worst luck in the universe, he, who had so longed for the moment when his mark appeared on his wrist, that he had created the most romantic moments, worthy of any novel, the one that had remained and hadn't even given his first kiss to wait for his soulmate, he would always be faithful to him, fidelity was the basis of all good relationships, he always waited for the right person and there was no other correct person than the one intended for him.

 

Why, then, if he had kept on literally all the rules, and had longed for that moment his entire life  had turned up to be so unlucky?

 

The rich boy, selfish, self-centered, smug, womanizer, alcoholic, and partier, who, in addition to all of the above, their first meeting had been full of tension, they hadn't clicked instantly, as all the other stories said. For sure by the afternoon of that day, the entire campus would be full of the gossip of how the richest and most popular student on campus had met his soulmate, who was the complete opposite of him.

 

He had always believed that nature wasn't wrong, but everything had just been thrown away with the scene of the day before.

 

With regret he returned to his dorm, trying not to spill the contents of his cup, it was strange that the coffee helped him sleep, but it always relaxed him, which was exactly what he needed at those times, he planned to sleep until late in the afternoon, until most of the students would have retired to their respective houses or trips to enjoy their vacations, the most likely thing is that when the two weeks passed, everyone would have already forgotten what happened at that party, and it wasn't like many people had realized what had happened. 

 

Fortunately, his roommate hadn't noticed his sleepless night and he kept snoring peacefully in his bed, so, he leaned back in his own bed, drinking his coffee in small sips, letting the bitter taste warm his throat, clarify his brain, his eyes couldn't stop wandering to the words engraved on his skin, which were still the same vibrant red as several hours ago, he wasn't so sure that some had been of such a vibrant color, perhaps it had to do with the fact that the whole situation hadn't been normal,  they didn't even talked properly, he knew he had to talk to Mark, but he wasn't sure he wanted to do so. 

 

The light of dawn began to seep through the window when at last his eyes began to close on their own due to exhaustion, he could finally fall asleep for a few hours.

 

He curled up in his bed, observing his cell phone one last time before sleeping, he had practically disappeared from the party and surely Jaebeom and Youngjae would be worried about him, in addition to the fact that he hadn't deigned to check his social networks since all that happened, he needed to let his mind calm down for a bit, silencing his sobs with the pillow to avoid his roommate's strange questions, he got along very well with Wonpil, but he wasn't sure he wanted to share that with him.

 

Obviously, there were several messages from Jaebeom asking him to contact him as soon as possible, he immediately replied that he was fine but that he preferred not to speak for the moment, to stop worrying about him for a moment, he was going to be fine after all.

 

What surprised him most was a message from an unknown number to his KakaoTalk, and he almost had a hunch as to who it would be, the message said nothing more than a "Hey" and Jinyoung felt tears welling up in his eyes again. What kind of idiot message was that? Couldn't he figure something smarter? 

 

Sniffing his nose, he angrily turned off the phone, burying himself under the covers, once more letting tears of anger and disappointment run down his cheeks.

 

When he woke up several hours later, his head still hurt, he could see that  it was cloudy outside, and, after a few minutes of looking at nothing, he began to hear the sound from the rain hitting the window, what a day, it was perfect to match his mood. 

 

Wonpil was no longer in the small dorm, which he was deeply grateful for, it would be somewhat difficult to explain why he looked like .

 

He took his cell phone to see what time it was, well, it was almost three in the afternoon, the pain in his back proved that he had spent too much time in bed, however, he didn't feel like getting out of bed yet. 

 

He had a thousand notifications pending, so he went to see them, and, he wasn't surprised at all when he saw messages from his classmates asking him how he felt to know that his soulmate was nobody and nothing less than Mark Tuan, a name that apparently everyone knew, except him. 

 

He knew that it wouldn't do him good, but he had to know a little more about that Mark Tuan they were talking about, so he decidedly searched his name on Instagram, immediately finding his profile, he had too many followers but he only followed few people; his photos were a strange mix of selfies and landscape photographs, obviously those landscapes were of cities that Jinyoung had never visited, but he had to admit they were quite artistic, he didn't know much about photography, but apparently that was what Mark was studying, because the photos increased in quality the more recent they were, as well as his selfies.

 

He couldn't deny it, the boy was handsome, too handsome actually, his skin seemed fair and smooth, blonde was the most predominant color in his hair, but with every color he looked amazing, even with an incredibly bright red that made him look like a tomato. 

 

He continued with his stalking and he almost choked on his saliva when he saw a photo of him after going to the gym, his arms were thick, muscular, veins popping out, so, definitely, the abs he had seen yesterday weren't exactly because of how thin he was, and it made more sense the strength he had held him up. 

 

Yes, the photos gave the idea that he was ​​someone who liked to travel, and who had traveled a lot, the accessories that he could be seen wearing on his photos were indeed expensive, his clothes were from expensive brands, all his appearance exclaimed expensive; there were actually very few images of him going out to party, but in the few that he had, he was surrounded by people, adopting that American gesture that he so much detested, he was definitely a foreigner, what the hell was he doing in Korea? 

 

With all his stalking Jinyoung only confirmed one thing, there were too many differences between them. 

 

Apparently Mark loved being outdoors, as well as extreme sports, since there were countless photos of him skiing, climbing mountains and even surfing, while Jinyoung liked to stay indoors more, read a good book, lose himself in his imagination; Other thing was that Mark seemed to have at least five piercings in his ears and one in his tongue, as well as five tattoos; It wasn't that  Jinyoung hated tattos or piercings, but his whole body was still (literally) , he had never even dyed his hair, and he would never think of permanently marking and piercing his body, he was everything a good Korean son was supposed to be, his only defect was that he was apparently gay. 

 

He couldn't be more different from Mark Tuan, and that depressed him somewhat.

 

After going through his entire Instagram, he decided to browse on Facebook, where he found more photos of him attending parties, obviously all were tagged photos, in all he had some kind of drink in hand, he even saw some with some cigarettes or an e-cig  in his hands, and again the Jinyoung's heart ached, how was he supposed to to spend a lifetime with the man that was represented in photos? That was the bad thing about social networks, you could know so much about a person by the things he published or in which he was tagged. 

 

He almost dropped the phone when it started ringing with an incoming call, it was the unknown number that had sent him a kakaotalk last night, oh no, oh no, he could ignore it, but after all, they were soulmates, they had to end up meeting each other, or they could continue to ignore themselves and live a very miserable life, wandering the world alone, always feeling a void in their hearts. 

 

He bit his lip and the phone stopped ringing, much to his relief, however it started ringing immediately afterwards, apparently Mark was stubborn.

 

“Hello?” He answered with a small voice.

 

“Oh, thank God you picked up” he could hear a soft voice on the other side of the line, nothing like the voice that had screamed at him last night. “Jinyoung, right?”

 

“Yes, How...?”

 

“I had to do some research” Mark answered “Well, rather, Jackson offered to give me all of your information without me having to ask, he was really excited.” he giggled again, he had such a cute giggle, what the was going on? “Can you open the door? I’m actually outside your dorm.”

 

“You mean like right now?!” Jinyoung exclaimed, jumping on the bed and imagining the deplorable state he was in. 

 

“I had the idea that you wouldn't want to meet me any time soon, so I had to take some extreme measures” Mark said “Please?”

 

“O-Ok, just give me a moment!” Jinyoung hung up the call, quickly jumping out of bed, trying to do something about his appearance.

 

He stripped off his pajama bottoms, pulling on some jeans he found on the floor, and tried to comb his messy hair, as well as do something about the mess in the dorm, as there was clothes and trash scattered everywhere. When everything seemed more or less decent, he headed for the door, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.

 

He opened the door almost with his stomach turned into knots, Mark was leaning against the opposite wall, biting his lips and admiring his Converse, he was dressed too differently from the night before, simple jeans with an oversized shirt, his sandy hair fell down his forehead without any product or anything, there were deep dark circles under his bright eyes and this time he had no accessories other than a couple earrings in his ears, as well as a cross pendant on his chest.

 

“Hello” Mark said, though his voice came out a little broken, so he cleared his throat and said with a little more security “Hi, my name is Mark Tuan.”

 

“Yes, I know” Jinyoung replied, still holding his posture somewhat reluctantly, however, the other boy's nervousness was too evident, so he decided to leave his grim attitude, just a little bit. “I mean,”he shook his head and sighed “Park Jinyoung” he held out his hand and Mark shook it briefly, JInyoung tried to ignore the electrical current he felt on his fingers after touching his hand. “Please, come on in.”

 

The other boy sat carefully on Wonpil's bed, still biting his lips, which Jinyoung assumed was his way of showing he was nervous, bot of them kept silent for a few minutes, not knowing exactly where to start, Jinyoung kept touching his Mark, which, somehow, in Mark's presence and after touching his hand, had begun to burn a bit.

 

“I...uh...you have a nice dorm.” Mark said, his cheeks immediately turning a bright red, was the millionaire boy blushing? Were playboys supposed to blush? 

 

“Thanks, I suppose it has nothing to do with your dorm” Jinyoung replied, absently scratching his ear.

 

“Oh, no, I don't live in the dorms, I have an apartment not far from here.” Mark said.

 

“Oh, of course you do.” Jinyoung kind of snorted. 

 

“No, wait, no” Mark was quick to say “I know what kind of rumors you have heard about me, or I guess you heard some rumors about me” Mark stared at him imploringly. “So I just want to ask you to not believe in them, or at least not you…”

 

“Why not me?” Jinyoung asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Because it is not who I really am” Mark told him, his gaze was so soft that something began to stir in Jinyoung's chest.

 

“So, you aren't a millionaire, party lover and playboy?” Jinyoung asked him. 

 

“Yes” Mark lowered his gaze a bit “But, that’s only because that’s what people want me to be.”

 

“And don't you have your own brain and decisions?” Jinyoung asked again, in a skeptical tone.

 

“It's hard to explain,” Mark grimaced. “I know that I didn't give you the best version of me…”

 

“Don't tell me…”

 

“But I was drunk, and I know that's no excuse!” he hastened to say before Jinyoung could interrupt him “I am not really a social person, I consider myself quite shy, even if you don't believe it, I am shy, so, to survive these parties my friends organize I need to get buzzed; I always offer my place to threw this parties, so that’s the least people can expect me to do. I know it’s dumb, but I do have to get drunk to ve sociable, and I know I don't have too much tolerance on it, I know, it’s a big problem, I understand that quite well.

 

Jinyoung just stared at him, still not understanding. 

“I know it's difficult to explain the decisions I have made throughout my life, they haven't been the best decisions, besides, I have a ty personality, I get mad really easily and like...real mad, which is what you could see yesterday, I do have to admit that I acted like total arse, but that is not what I want to show...well...you, when my mark appeared I though it had to be a joke and...God, I don't know what I’m saying” Mark rubbed his face desperately. 

 

“Ok so, from what I understand, is that you put on a mask and act like a presumptuous spoiled brat in front of others, because that is what society wants you to be, and you, without your own brain, go and do it, but with me you expected to be different?” Jinyoung told Mark, and  the latter nodded “And what is what you want to show me?”

 

“Just me, just as I am” Mark said “What I really like and dislike, my true personality, just me in my true form” Mark smiled and again lowered his gaze “You have so little in your SNS, it is hard to figure what you like based on that, and I was really stressed because of it”he ruffled his hair “thanks to your friends, whom I had to convince in almost the same way that I'm convincing you that I’m not an , I was able to do a little more research, but I discovered that I don't want to know it for them, I want to know it for you.

 

>>I want you to tell me everything that has happened in your life, I want to know why fate chose us to be together. I have always believed that it has prepared a person who will complement us 100%, we don't have to have the same tastes, I have always known that, but, I’m still dying to get to knoe everything about you, I really didn't give a about all this stuff, but last night, after you left...I don't know, I felt so empty, and after seeing how upset you were, I just...I mean, I'm a crying baby, but yesterday I couldn't stop crying, actually, right now I feel like I'm going to cry anytime because I see the contempt in your eyes” his voice cracked a bit and he blinked several times to wipe away the tears in his eyes. “So, I know I’m an , but I don't want you to believe it, so, can we redo our entire encounter? I promise you that this time I will do better.” Mark pleaded. 

 

“And what do you have in mind?” Jinyoung asked after a long silence, the smile with which Mark's face lit up was so pure that it almost gave him a cardiac arrest.

x

x

x

 

Fortunately, the rain of the previous day had stopped, the sun was shining in all its splendor, it was quite hot, but a sudden breeze blew to cool the environment, also, he was quite happy that he no longer smelled like a beggar and had showered and groomed carefully.

 

He arrived before the agreed time at a coffee shop that Mark had told him, Jinyoung didn't know the place, but when he arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to see how nice it was.

 

It was vintage, cozy, warm, not like all the coffee shops in that area, the furniture was a nice combination of old multi-colored furniture, but what impressed Jinyoung the most wasn't the furniture or the delicious smell of fresh coffee, but that the entire walls of the place were covered with books, books that were not only in Korean, but in several languages; Jinyoung spent the minutes waiting for his drink snooping around the shelves, then decided to choose his favorite book, he didn't mind having read it a thousand times, it would be interesting to read it in this new environment, besides, he didn't had time to find a new book and he wouldn't be able to read it anyways, as Mark was coming.

 

He decided to sit on the small terrace, which was more like a tile, decorated with Christmas lights and climbing plants that gave it a dreamy look, he was very curious to know how Mark had found out about that place, it was too magical, what that every book lover would love.

 

He sat drinking his iced coffee in silence, leafing through the pages of the book, until he heard footsteps approaching him, the smell of a cologne permeating his nose and made him look up.

 

Indeed, it was Mark, Jinyoung thought he even looked more handsome than the day before, he was now wearing a pastel pink oversized sweater and light-colored denim pants, there was nothing left of the semi- boy's appearance in that party that saw him with anger.

 

“You wouldn't believe it, but that’s my favorite book.” Mark said, approaching him, but yet not sitting “I’m not trying to sound creepy, but, what’s your name?”

 

“What do you mean...?” Jinyoung asked Mark and his smile widened, he shook his head. 

 

“Can I sit down?” he said, dragging the chair “My name is Mark Tuan, a student of the last semester of the career of Photography, and... I've been waiting for you all my life.”

 

Jinyoung looked at him confused for a few moments, however, when making a deeper eye contact, he felt the heat that they describe so much begin to travel through his body, starting from the place where his mark was, making his heart stir up. 

 

There it was, the moment he had waited for since he was eighteen.

---

A/N

yes, this is a plot a saw on a tik tok HAHAHAHA 

Sorry not sorry, but what else is there supposed to do while in quarantine?

Anyways, I've never written a soulmate AU and it's kind of confusing, but I think I kind of managed to what was going to be and entire series in just one chapter, I KNOW IT MAYBE NEEDS TO BE LONGER but, I we don't need another unfinished series, LOL

Are you ready for the comeback!?!?!?!?!!? I am NOT, I bet this entire album is going to be ART, let's support the boys, we may know that their company doesn't treat them quite right, but, let's just be happy because they are performing in this gloomy days, and they surely came to brighten up everything! I just love them so much T.T 

See you guys next time!

Let me know what you think about this! I love reading your comments! 

Also, you can follow me on Twitter @ MarieMaknae23 and maaaybe later I'll do a Twitch channel to stream and talk about random stuff about kpo, but just maybe (also my account on tik tok is Mariez23 if you want to cringe with me at my content)

Love you! 

I'M OUT