Chaeyoung dunked her brush into the paint bucket, eyeing the spot on the wall she was going to slather in its green hue. She took a deep breath in and stretched out her muscles as she took the brush out of the paint bucket, hitting someone square in the chest with the newly wet brush.

“Hey!” Dahyun yelled, glaring at the new green spot on the apron she had borrowed from Chaeyoung. 

“Oh sorry, I didn’t see you there.” She grinned as she walked towards the wall with Dahyun following on her heels.

“That’s the third time today you’ve accidentally splattered paint on me, are you on a mission or something?” Dahyun accused her, Chaeyoung rolled her eyes and started filling in the blank spot.

“Yeah, that’s why Sana isn’t getting hit by any paint.” She joked, her eyes darting over to Sana socializing with some of the others on break due to tired arms. 

Sana had opted to borrow the clothes that Chaeyoung had offered the two of them this morning for the mural painting. She knew neither of them had brought clothes you could get paint on outside of pajamas, and she already had a designated section in her closet for painting clothes with all the accidents that had happened while she was working on something. Dahyun, however, had refused them and said she would be fine. Instead of arguing, Chaeyoung had just brought the apron with. 

Not even five minutes after arrival, Dahyun was almost the victim of a paint spill as someone tripped while carrying an open bucket of paint. She had quickly put on the apron, and Chaeyoung had since been ‘accidentally’ splashing paint on her every once in a while to prove her point. 

“You’re definitely doing it on purpose, I just don’t know how to prove it.” Dahyun said, walking away towards Sana. Chaeyoung just shook her head with a laugh, knowing she wouldn’t be able to prove it.

Chaeyoung painted quietly for a while, the mindless chatter of the people around her on break filtered out the same way the of brushes against brick was forgotten as she worked on autopilot. Walking to and from the paint bucket until the green layer was complete, putting the brush she had used in a water bucket before grabbing a new brush to paint in black over the sketched outlines on the wall. An instrument, a book, a person. Vaguely aware of the people around her switching around as some went on break and others rejoined. 

“Working hard, I see.” A voice spoke next to her, causing Chaeyoung to jump and nearly ruin the line she was working on. Her glare reaching them before she even turned her head. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were so in the zone.”

“It’s okay.” Chaeyoung set the brush down as she turned her body to face Jihyo, “I needed a break anyway.” 

“I’d think so, you’re probably the only one who hasn’t had one yet.” Jihyo slightly frowned as she started walking towards the tables where water and snacks had been brought by those helping. Chaeyoung followed, stretching her arms up and behind her head. 

As they approached the tables, Chaeyoung spotted Sana and Dahyun chatting with Nayeon animatedly. Sana’s eyes darted in their direction and she waved, drawing the others' attention to them. 

“Chaeyoung!” Nayeon squealed as she ran over to wrap the artist in a hug. Chaeyoung hugs even tighter as she's spun around.

When Nayeon lets her go, she walks over to the nearest table and grabs a water bottle as the group trails behind her. They seem to be standing behind her ominously, so when she turns and raises an eyebrow she’s not surprised to see Dahyun smile as if she’s going to get her back for all the paint accidents. 

“Our new friend Nayeon was just telling us about how hard you work at your graphic design job.” Dahyun says as a devilish smile breaks out onto her face. Chaeyoung eyes her, unsure where she’s going with this.

“Yeah, it’s an alright job.” She says warily. 

“Don’t be like that! You have to deal with all the edits the staff tells you to make.” Nayeon says, grabbing Chaeyoung’s arm and standing next to her.

“You are the staff telling me to make edits.” Chaeyoung states, a slight smile on her lips.

“Which is why I know how hard you work.” Nayeon smiles as she lays her head on Chaeyoung’s shoulder. 

“You work very hard, I’m sure. But Nayeon also said something really interesting about your job.” Dahyun pauses for dramatic effect. “Some very interesting observations about workplace relations.” 

Chaeyoung’s eyes snap into a glare as she stares down Dahyun, daring her to say more. Apparently she had friend a little too much with the paint earlier.

“She brought up how close you are with your…boss.” Dahyun smiles, her eyes darting between Chaeyoungs and Nayeons. Chaeyoung tries to subtly straighten her back without Nayeon noticing she's nervous. 

“Yes, she’s a very kind boss.” Chaeyoung keeps her voice steady. 

“She doesn’t bring any of the rest of us lunch. She says hi and wishes us well on our work but that’s it. Do you two secretly know each other or something?” Nayeon asks, letting go of Chaeyoung to look her in the eyes.

In the corner of her eye, Dahyun shifts like she’s about to respond for the artist and Chaeyoung feels a split second panic at being cornered. It was one thing to tell her students in a class where she was the only staff member, she had expected word to get around but much slower than what Dahyun was doing. She thought after the announcement that she would have at least two weeks before Jihyo even heard from the students, and it would take twice as long for her boss to tell anyone else. In the blur of her heartbeat and rapid blinking, as her brain processed at twice the speed, moved before her brain did.

“Alright that’s eno-” Jihyo started, from the outskirts of the group where she had been quietly listening in.

“She's my soulmate!” Chaeyoung blurted. Her hands coming up to cover at breakneck speed as she stares wide-eyed at everyone else. A bright red blush blooming on her face. 

Nayeon’s eyes widen for a split second before she starts laughing, causing everyone but Chaeyoung to join in. The artist stands there awkwardly, unsure what else to say. She unscrews the cap to the water bottle and takes a drink, mysteriously parched. 

“So how do you really know each other?” 

“No, Nayeon. I think she's being serious.” Jihyo cut in, eyeing the blush still evident on Chaeyoung’s face. 

“No way! That’s impossible! I mean . . . wait, actually it would make a lot of sense.”

“Actually, I wasn’t going to bring this up for a bit, but one of the students let it slip yesterday when we were talking. I didn’t know she was your boss, but I knew you had found her.” 

Chaeyoung felt a surge of relief at that statement, knowing that people were already going to find out before she blurted it out was somehow a comfort at the reveal. 

“Nayeon! Come here!” Jeongyeon yelled from a spot along the wall, paintbrush waving in her hand. 

“Ugh, I have to go work again, but this isn’t over!” Nayeon pointed at Chaeyoung as she walked away. “I have so many questions and you’re going to answer them even if I have to corner you at work!”

Chaeyoung smiled as she looked down, her face still red, as her friends laughed around her. A surge of happiness and pain crashed over her as she realized what she was experiencing. Talking about your soulmate to your friends, being able to experience the excitement of your friends happiness for you. Watching people like this used to fill her with an envy to rival mountains, seeing them happily discussing who they loved and how it felt. The joy from finally getting to experience this moment lifted her onto a pedestal, but the ache and anger at having not been able to do this like everyone else had when she should’ve clawed at her trying to drag her down. 

“You okay?” Sana put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, her brows slightly furrowed as she held the comforting touch.

Chaeyoung nodded and hummed a yes, she took a deep breath and got ready to get back to painting. 

*****************

“Did she seriously?” Momo asked shocked, trying not to be too loud so no one else would overhear through the walls. 

“You think I’m lying? Why would I lie!” 

“But . . . it just seems so unreal.”

“It’s not that unreal! She came over not that long ago. I just happened to be invited to the studio this time.” Mina crossed her arms, waiting for Momo to poke holes into her confidence again.

“Are you sure it was Chaeyoung, I mean she called you her soulmate publicly. What if it was a clone? How would you know?” 

“Even if it was a clone it would still be her thought process, so either way it would’ve been her. Why aren’t you excited?” 

“It's not that, I’m just worried.” Momo said softly.

“Worried? Why? Isn’t this a good thing?” Mina’s brows furrowed.

“How do you feel about it? Honestly.”

Mina hesitated. She leaned back in her comfy chair and crossed her arms, a frown forming on her lips as she tried to process the question. She thought about what Chaeyoung had said in her apartment, then what she had said when Mina had first visited the studio, then how she left her all those years ago, and finally landing on how Chaeyoung had called her her soulmate in the studio.

“Happy, I think.”

“You think?”

“Well, I don’t know. It’s complicated!” Mina stood from her chair, sending it rolling back until it lightly bumped the wall behind her. “Yes, I’m happy she called me her soulmate. I’m just also confused, what does this mean now? Does she want to start doing things together? Does she want to start telling people? Would she say yes if I asked her on a real date?” 

“See, this is why I was worried.” Momo said, rolling her eyes at the glare Mina shot her. “I think that you shou-”

A knock at the door to Mina’s office interrupts Momo, and the door opens a second later as Tzuyu pokes her head in. 

“Ms. Myoui, you have a call from your grandfather on line 1. He said it was important.” 

“It’s always important with him.” She rolls her eyes. “Thank you Tzuyu, I’ll call him now.”

A soft click is heard as the door shuts, Mina sits back down and runs a hand through her hair as she picks up the phone and presses the button to line one. 

“Grandfather, how are you?...I’m good, thanks for asking. Why’d you call?” Her eyes dart to Momo’s as her grandfather begins his tirade of business talk. 

“Hmm…I see…oh really?...Well that is bad…yes, I understand. Alright, bye.” Mina let out a groan as soon as the call was over and the phone was back in the receiver. She melted into her chair, not wanting to move again.

“Are you okay? What was that about?” Momo laughed at her.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay. You remember that thing that I knew they wanted me to help with last time I was there?”

“I thought you handled that before you got back? Why’d he call you now?”

“Well, apparently, because they knew I would’ve been mad if they brought up the entire situation, they decided to only ask for help with part of it. Knowing they’d have to ask for my help again.” Mina let out a breath annoyed, glaring at the wall where her family portrait was displayed. 

“So what is it? Is it more stressful than when you handled the meetings and factories last time?” 

“It’s more of that, only it’s going to take longer and of course it means I have to go back to Japan to be present for said meetings. It’s so ridiculous why can’t they run their own part of the company, now I have to go fix their mess and I’ll have to leave Chaeyoung here and I don’t want to do that. It’s probably going to take at least a month to work out, but if I pack my schedule and get aggressive I might be able to shorten it by half a week.” She sighed and ran her hands down her face, slumped in her chair. “That’s still too long to be away, what am I going to do?”

“Normally I wouldn’t suggest this, but considering what you told me earlier, why don’t you find a reason to take her with you?”

“What reason could I possibly come up with to convince her to go with me to Japan for a month without any warning?” 

“Just come up with something, you’re smart. You tricked her into working for you, didn’t you?” 

Mina's eyes darted to Momo and she sent a heavy glare her way, willing her into bursting into flames. When nothing happened, aside from Momo smiling at her teasingly at having won, she stood up again to both leave Momo behind and to make some phone calls.

AUTHORS NOTE: I have nothing to say for myself. It took me forever to get to writing this chapter, my life has been kind of hectic. Hopefully the next few chapters will come out relatively quickly, but I won't make any promises. I will say that I don't plan to abandon this fic at any point in time, writing just takes a lot out of me and I am slow with updates. I apologize, and to those of you still reading this story thank you from the bottom of my heart.