Soulmate. A noun. 

In the dictionary, it was defined as a person ideally suited to another person as a close friend or romantic partner. In other words, it was often believed that there would be someone out there in the world waiting for their designated person to find them. 

It was known to the public that there was the various type of soulmate marking, connecting people to a soulmate. 

—

It was never a rare occurrence to see Rio with band-aids on her cheeks, knees, arms, or fingers. 

Frankly, it was such a usual occasion to the extent that her loved ones wouldn’t even question if she were to show up with her knees and elbows dressed with bandages. 

Well, even if her loved ones wouldn’t question a thing about the wounds on her cheeks, she had questions. She had so many questions that she didn’t even know where to find her answer. Should she go to those so-called soulmate specialists to get them figured out? Should she go to the hospital for a full body check to see if she had any incurable sickness? 

Or, should she go to the priest and get an exorcism? Because she read somewhere that mysterious injuries and bruises would be a sign of demonic possession.

Demonic possession– why would a demon even would want to possess her— 

But… that should be a later Yamada Rio worry.

— 

She noticed more mysterious injuries and marker markings but she thought it was just Rio being Rio and being a klutz and kept bruising herself by accident. But like marker markings? She doesn’t remember writing notes on her hand in Japanese or writing “Recording 10 am Thursday” on her arms. Recently she noticed that there was a mysterious beauty mark under her eye that would somehow disappear and show up throughout the day. 

She tried washing her hand (and the beauty mark too) aggressively and even tried to use rubbing alcohol But the marking didn't go away and instead that part of her skin turned red instead. 

She had a theory. Her demon theory…

What if…. She was right– that it was indeed a demonic possession? 

Would she need…. Exorcism??? Is it panic time? Is she going to die? Or is she… a Horcrux like Tom Riddle's diary?

She took a ballpen and wrote “Hello?” If she were to be like Tom Riddle’s diary, she might perhaps receive a reply for it—

A cross showed up on her message

That was ominous

That was way too ominous for her liking. 

The next thing she knew, a konnichiwa showed up on her skin.

Gulping nervously, she wrote, “Are you a demon?” next to the konnichiwa

Excuse me, I am no demon. I am a normal human being who happened to be your soulmate. 

“Soulmate?” she stared at her arm. The idea of a soulmate did not cross her mind until that moment. However, that would explain every single thing that had happened to her. With the mysterious injuries and markings, and the endless amount of problems she had gotten into because of the disappearing beauty mark. 

Biting her lower lip, she wrote, “If you were to be a human, what’s your name?” 

My name is Y***** R****** 

“What sort of person would name themselves Y. R.?” Rio muttered darkly as she wrote next to Y. R.'s response. “Well, you should tell me more than just Y. R., so I’d know how to call you for future reference. (eye-rolling emoji) My name is Yamada Rio.” 

Dude, I tried to write my name to you but the damned thing only ends up showing Y. R for your name too. So, I guess we are Y. R. to each other. - Y. R.

—

Soulmate seemed to be a magical person. Somehow, ever since they started talking, Rio felt like she had known Y. R. for her whole life despite it having only been a couple of days since then. She started carrying a marker with her at all times so she would be able to talk to Y. R. Though, as much as she loved talking to Y. R., there were moments that Rio wondered if fate hated her. Since they gave her a soulmate that has– such a smart mouth– sometimes Rio wished that she would know their identity, just so she could pinch them whenever they were being sassy with her. 

It was a Sunday morning when Rio got up way too early. Perhaps, she was planning to talk to her friends from overseas, Amu and Sayuri, since it would be late in the evening in their respective time zones. Or perhaps, she just woke up from hunger. She got out of bed and headed towards the kitchen, hoping that her roommate-slash-best-friend, Kim, would have some leftover food for her to eat as an early breakfast.

However, when she opened the fridge, she discovered that they had… no leftover food for her to heat up. She would have to cook something from scratch. 

Cooking… it shouldn’t be too hard for her to handle. She was able to survive through her chemistry lab courses and biology lab courses at university without breaking a single item or injuring herself in any way. After all, her junior at school, Yuki, had always said that doing chemistry lab experiments is like cooking while following a recipe. 

Although she might be gifted at her work, it appeared to be that gifted talent would not work in the kitchen when she accidentally touched the hot pan. Rio ran her hand under cold water and hissed when she was gently applying antibiotic ointment to the burnt area. 

As she was wincing while trying to apply the ointment, a message from Y.R showed up on her skin. 

What the heck did you just do? Did you play with fire or something? - Y. R.

Rio pouted as she wrote on her arm, “I accidentally burnt my hand while cooking.”

A couple of minutes later, Y.R responded with a “Be more careful! - Y. R.” 

Rio rolled her eyes and muttered while writing, “I did! I was careful.” Perhaps, her frustration just raised to another level as she read Y.R.’s response on her right arm. 

yeAH RIGHT. IF YOU WERE BEING CAREFUL, YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO HURT YOURSELF! - Y. R.

If she ever had an opportunity to meet Y. R. in person, she would like to give them a piece of her mind.

—

They said, “When life gives you a lemon, make lemonades out of it. If the lemons are rotten, get the seeds out and grow new lemons.” 

But what if life just loves to give you lemons constantly?

Rio had a stressful time at work. She loved working with her work and the people whom she had worked with for a while. However, ever since the horizontal merger of her company with another company, and having a new head of department become her supervisor, her workload had increased. At first, she thought she could just endure it a little longer and everything would work out. However, as time passed, her work