The Contract

My Inevitable

“Pick up, pick up, pick upppp.” Chaeyoung mutters to herself, waiting for the ringing on the other line to stop. 

 

She’s sitting at her desk now, it’s been nearly half an hour since her soulmate left. She didn’t want it to affect her, had hoped it wouldn’t. Expected to feel nothing and be fine and go about her night after, except now all of her thoughts consisted solely of the woman. There was only one person she really trusted herself to rant to, she just had to hope that she would answer her phone.

 

“Mm, Chaeng?” Dahyun mumbles into the phone, and Chaeyoung lets out a shaky breath. She would be okay now. “It’s so late, why are you calling?” Judging by Dahyun’s voice, she had woken her up but she didn’t have time to feel bad.

 

“Dahyun, she was here. She knocked on the door and I couldn’t help but open it and then she came in and I felt it all over again and I wanted to forgive her so badly, but I was still so mad and - ” The words stumble out and the longer she speaks the faster she goes, so she pauses to breath. Dahyun takes the brief opportunity to interrupt.

 

“What? Who are you talking about?”

 

“My soulmate.” The words feel light on her tongue, too nice for her liking. She wishes they were heavier, more of a burden to say. 

 

“WHAT?!” Dahyun suddenly yells, and in the back Chaeyoung hears Sana wake up screaming. There’s a few minutes of silence on the cub’s side while she listens to Dahyun quietly soothe her soulmate and apologize for waking her up. A flash of her and her soulmate doing that one day smacks her in the face, and she shakes her head to banish the thought. 

 

“Sorry, I had to calm down Sana.”

 

“It’s okay, I get it.” She did. After all, her best friend had moved there when they graduated high school. She was now going to university in Japan with Sana, and while Chaeyoung couldn’t be happier for her it still hurt. It had been like the soulmate betrayal happening over again at first, but she was okay now. Plus Dahyun came to visit all the time.

 

“So your soulmate? She really came?” As usual, her best friend pulls her out of her thoughts.

 

“Yeah, I don’t know how she knew where I was or why she came. But she was here like half an hour ago.”

 

“Well? What happened?” Chaeyoung is not pleased at Dahyun’s excited tone. This is not an upbeat occasion.

 

“What do you mean what happened? She knew my name and I told her to get out and I hated her and -” She hesitates knowing Dahyun won’t be happy. “And that I wanted nothing to do with her. Then -”

 

“What?! Why did you tell her you want nothing to do with her? Chaeyoung, what's wrong with you? She’s your soulmate!” Dahyun yells at her, she really should have seen this coming when she chose to call her. 

 

Despite everything, Dahyun had always wanted her to hold onto the hope that her soulmate hadn’t abandoned her. Chaeyoung knew she meant well, of course she did. She just didn’t get it, she and Sana had been together forever and rarely fought. In her eyes, soulmates were precious and everything right with the world. She knew her friend had been hurt, but she hadn’t known how to help Chaeyoung through it. Of course, the cub was grateful that her friend had been there at all, but Dahyun always pushed her to forgive the woman. To try to find her. 

 

“I just, I felt it. I thought it would get her to go, to leave me alone.” She sighs defeatedly.

 

“Did it?” There’s a tinge of sadness in her friend’s voice.

 

“She left, but she said she wasn’t giving up. I didn’t know what to do after so I called you.” There’s a long silence on the other side of the line, a door opens and closes in the back and Chaeyoung hears hushed whispers going back and forth until Dahyun is suddenly back on the line.

 

“We’re coming to Korea.”

 

*********

 

Chaeyoung pushes herself away from her desk, spinning in the chair as she stretches her arms. She finally finished the sketch, it’s been a few days and she put herself into overdrive to finish it before Dahyun and Sana arrived in Korea. She wanted to be able to hang out with them instead of stressing over work, it helped that it distracted her from the thoughts of her soulmate. Today was Friday, and her friends were flying in on Sunday, so she had time to relax. Time to think. 

 

She stands and walks over to the drying paintings from earlier, her students had been working on painting what they imagined their future like. Most of them had painted domestic life with their soulmate, one or two already knew who theirs were, a few had painted jobs they wanted. For a moment, the cub remembered being told to paint about soulmates in her art school. When she was still weak and wished for the woman to come back to her. She grit her teeth and walked away, it was around noon so she would close the studio to get lunch and come back. 

 

While she gathered her purse and checked that her wallet was inside, she heard the door open and shut. She didn’t bother turning around, assuming it was one of her students coming back early to check on their painting or Jihyo stopping by to check on the shop. 

 

“Ah, I’m actually about to go to lunch.” She spoke to the person that seemed to stay near the entrance of the studio. She pulled her purse up to her arm and turned back to the door. It wasn’t anyone she knew, a woman who looked a little taller than her with a blue button up and white sweater vest on. There were light colored streaks highlighting her black hair as she stood there, not saying anything. She had a folder in one hand, the other resting in her pocket. 

 

“Can I help you?” The confusion showing on her face as she walks towards the woman, who just nods and sits at the nearest table. Chaeyoung gravitated towards the table, feeling as though taking a seat was the only option. 

 

“Do you want anything to drink? I think we have some stuff in the back, I can go check.” Chaeyoung’s confusion only grows, she’s speaking in the hopes that the woman will at least acknowledge her attempt at conversation. 

 

“It’s okay, I won’t be here that long.” The woman says, placing the folder on the table in between them. “I’m only here to give you this.” She pushes it across the table to Chaeyoung. 

 

“Oh, alright. Thanks, uhm,” She eyes the woman as she grabs the mysterious folder, waiting for her to give her name. 

 

“Hirai Momo.” Momo crosses her arms, “You can call me Momo if you sign it.”

 

“Sign what?” Chaeyoung lightly mutters to herself as she opens the folder. Only to be met with a contract intended for one Son Chaeyoung. She flips through some of the pages, most of it in simple terms that she’s dealt with before in previous commissions and contracts for her work. 

 

“It’s a contract.” 

 

No duh, I wouldn’t have guessed. She thinks to herself, rather surprised at the abruptness of this. Typically, she would’ve been emailed or given a call as a heads up of an opportunity, but she’s never heard of this Myoui Enterprises before so maybe they had different artist procedures? 

 

“Take your time to read over it, do you mind if I walk around while you do?” Momo moves her chair back, getting ready to stand.

 

“Yeah, just don’t touch anything. Some of the paint is still drying.” The cub begins reading the contract, it’s only a few pages long so it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

 

“If you have any questions just ask.” Momo leaves her to walk about the room, and the cub assumes she’s taking a closer look at the art on the walls.

 

The contract seems straightforward at first, but Chaeyoung quickly realizes that it’s a little special compared to previous contracts. It’s a short term assignment, which isn’t uncommon for her, lasting a period of six months. They’re essentially asking her to be a graphic designer for various projects, and that they’ll discuss those once the contract is validated since they’re not sure how many projects Chaeyoung will be needed for. The pay is insanely worth it, especially for a period of only six months. The money alone makes it seem like the contract was meant to be for a year or two years, the reason she’s hesitating though are the weirder terms. 

 

The contract states she would have to be present in the building at least three times a week, averaging a minimum of five hours each time. It doesn’t state what she’s expected to do during that period of time though. It also says that if she breaks the terms, she’d have to pay three times the amount of the contract. Which is way more than she would be able to afford, so she’s worried that on some level they plan to overwork her.

 

“I have a question.” Chaeyoung turns to find Momo admiring the drying paintings from earlier. As soon as the cub speaks, Momo makes her way over. She stands next to Chaeyoung, leaning over to look at the contract.

 

“What’s your question?” Momo seems to genuinely ask, she had to admit she was expecting her to be a typically cold business only type of person. The tone reminds her more of a friend wanting to help than an enterprise employee trying to get her to sign a contract. 

 

“What would I be expected to do while in the building? It says here that three times a week I have to be there for five hours, but it doesn’t say what I’m supposed to do there.” Honestly, it was weird. Normally they just required her to come in once a month to check on her progress, she wasn’t sure how to feel about the frequency of visits.

 

“Whatever you want.” Momo shrugged.

 

“What?” 

 

“You know, whatever you want. Get to know the employees, walk around the building, draw or paint in an office we’d set aside for you, sit there and play games.” Momo said it so nonchalantly that Chaeyoung just nodded along at first, until the words actually registered.

 

“That doesn’t make any sense? Why am I allowed to do whatever I want? Isn’t that disruptive? Why would you set an office aside for me?” Too many questions, not enough answers for the cub’s liking.

 

“The boss thinks it would be better if you got to know the company and the people working there. We’re paying you so much because we’re branding ourselves in Korea for the first time. Someone well known in the community will be able to help us settle here. We’ve looked into your portfolio and you’re good at your job, good at bringing people and ideas together in your art and blending them naturally.” Momo got a bit more business-like as she talked about the artist’s work. Apparently these people had done their research on her.

 

What the woman said made sense, she wasn’t going to lie and say people didn’t know her for her art locally. She was good at her job, which is why she often got commissions from companies. It made sense that she would have to be there a few days a week in order to get a better grasp of the company if that’s what they were looking for in a graphic designer.  

 

“Give me the afternoon. I’d like to go over the contract a bit more in detail before agreeing to anything. Stop by later tonight sometime before we close, and I’ll let you know my decision or if I need more time.” She wanted to sign right there, but was still a little suspicious so she needed to look into the company first. She didn’t want to get herself into something she couldn’t handle. 

 

“Of course, I’ll be back later then Ms. Son.” Momo bowed to her a little, and left as quickly as she came. Leaving Chaeyoung in a bit of a daze about the situation.

 

She had not been expecting to get a contract as weird as this one with so many zeros attached. She put the folder into a drawer at her desk and locked it before going out to lunch, she would research later. She had time now, and it would be a good distraction from her soulmate this afternoon.

 

Authors note: Enjoy, this one isnt very fast paced. kinda just setting the scene for the next chapter. next chapter will be up next week on thursday probably, like i said before i've written the first eight chapters and im working on the ninth one as i work on the next chapter for my other fic. Have a good week yall, take care of yourselves, drink water, eat well, and get lots of sleep. 

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Myrulesmylife #1
Chapter 12: Yes Chaeyoung..go with Mina
jungeunjifan
#2
Authornim, please update this fanfic...
No_looksies #3
Chapter 10: This story is so good!!! Thank you for writing this work author nim! It warmed my heart up!
Jensoo_
#4
Chapter 9: Hope you're doing fine author, hoping you'll continue this story because it's really beautiful.
Tokwa2x
#5
Chapter 9: Don’t worry about too much about updating late. School is more important m. Focus on your school works first. This can wait ok?
Anyways, thanks for the update.
Erika1987 #6
Chapter 8: I think the level of angst is good, it's good to see michaeng falling in love regardless of the soulmate bond
Myrulesmylife #7
Chapter 8: Oh Authornim...this angst itself is more..let them be happy..I know Chaeyoung is mad and I hope she can forgive Mina
Asianfanficreader1 #8
Chapter 7: wow author nim I really love it you fic TT, I'm waiting for more, keep it up <3
rurimatsumoto #9
Chapter 7: The story is now progressing. I wonder how they will interact now with each other. Looking forward for the next update and their date.