The black haired beauty stormed through the hallways of the large mansion that her family resided in. She heard Momo trying to keep up with her, but Mina knew this house like the back of her hand and wasn’t in the mood to slow down. A lonely place for a child, where everything is centered around business and your worth to the company. Your friends are chosen for you, there’s no playdates that aren’t formally structured. Don’t even think about hanging out in public without heavy security. 

It was why she had worked her hardest to get out of here, and convinced her parents that it would make the most sense for her to study at a prestigious highschool in Korea. Close enough that they wouldn’t panic, but far away enough that she would be able to wriggle out from under their thumb. It had been the best two years she had ever had, until she had gotten the call about returning to Japan a year early. 

She had hated them on the way to the airport. She had been so angry about being called back to return here indefinitely. To this home without any trace of love, decorated to be an illusion of power. Meant to entertain visitors here to make business deals, not to raise a family. Mina closed her eyes, putting on the mask of a powerful CEO, before she slid open the doors to the study where her family was waiting.

“Grandfather, I’m home.”

******

“Mom, I told you, I’m not staying any longer than a week.” Mina said softly as she helped her make dumplings for dinner later. “I know it’s not you asking, which of them was it? Were they scared of what I would say if they asked earlier?” 

Her mother shook her head a little sympathetically. The family meeting earlier had been every bit as formal as Mina had expected. Her grandfather chose to not talk business, saying there was time for that later, and everyone engaged in small talk over tea. No one brought up Mina’s soulmate. It hadn’t lasted long, and when her mom had stood to leave, Mina chose to follow her. 

“They were just worried about you, in their own way. You haven’t spoken about anything but business over the phone, and they were worried something might have happened with your soulmate.” Her mom gently said, folding the dough.

“Were you worried?” Mina asks, finding herself a little less angry at having been called back. She knew that her soulmate wasn’t the only reason they asked her to return, but it was nice that it was one of the main reasons.

“Mina, of course I was worried. But I also know that you’re my strong and amazing daughter, and that if something had happened you could handle it. I knew if you needed us, or wanted to talk about it, then you would say something.” Her mom smiled at her as she put a hand on her wrist. 

Her mom had always been the most well-rounded of her family. Her grandfather had centered his life around his business and hadn’t been able to be there for his family as much as he would have liked, eventually finding it difficult to bring up their lives and connect to them through anything outside of a business perspective. Her father was kind, but he looked up to his father a lot so his parenting style was similar. She knew they loved her, but their way of showing it wasn’t the easiest to understand. Her mother had always been the most openly loving, and was the reason that business was forbidden at family meetings. 

“It’s going. She agreed to have lunch with me next week, when I get back.” Mina said, a wistful smile on her face. The two of them worked silently for a few minutes, her mother working the dough and Mina filling the dumplings.

“Have you told her why you…?” Her mother suddenly asked, the question drifting off into nothing. Why you left. Have you told her why you left yet. She hadn’t.

“No, I don’t want to make excuses. She doesn’t deserve that, I’d rather just focus on making it up to her.” She responded. 

Mina knew she would eventually have to tell Chaeyoung, but wouldn’t it be cruel to explain right away? To steal that anger from Chaeyoung at being left behind back then? Her soulmate had every reason to be mad, and Mina’s first goal was to make it up to her. She could explain later, when Chaeyoung wanted to know. 

*****

A week later

*******

Chaeyoung was trying not to be irked that she had made it all the way from the lobby to her office and hadn’t run into Mina at all. Sure, she might be busy because she's a CEO but Chaeyoung is her soulmate. She doodles on the page as she tries to think about anything else. It’s been a week since Mina asked her out to lunch. Since the invite she hadn’t seen the CEO even once, and if it wasn’t for the fresh flowers placed in the vase every morning she would have thought that she didn’t exist at all. She knew she should be happy that she hasn’t had to talk to her and yet her hopes keep getting up. She wonders if it's the proximity that's causing the issue. She can feel that she wants to seek Mina out, she wants to ask her why she’s been missing.

Chaeyoung rips another page out of the notebook. She keeps trying to sketch ideas for work, but finds herself starting to draw a person. One she swore not to draw again. She decides to blame the painting from last week on the sketches. Since then, it’s like Mina is running around her mind constantly, and she’s been increasingly struggling to focus on work the longer she goes without seeing her. She pushes her chair back from the desk and stands. Pacing the floor and muttering under her breath.

“Too fast. This is happening too fast. I knew proximity might change things but this is faster than I expected. I can’t, I won’t fall down this rabbit hole. I won’t like her again. Why do I care whether or not I saw her this morning? I don’t care. I don’t even want to see her later.” Chaeyoung speaks to the empty room, deciding to go out for some fresh air. 

She saw some people head up to the roof yesterday, maybe she should check it out. She doubts the CEO would be there. As she leaves the room, there's a brief second where she looks at the door to the CEO’s office. There's a tug in her heart to knock on the door, but she turns on her heels and heads towards the stairs to the roof.  

When she gets to the roof, it’s beautiful. There’s a patio type area with various plants and tables to sit at. It seems to be empty, but it’s such a windy day that someone could be around a corner on the phone and she wouldn’t hear it. Chaeyoung heads to the ledge to look out at the view, it’s facing the Han River. On less windy days it would be nice to paint up here . 

The peaceful moment is interrupted by the door to the stairwell almost bursting open as a woman’s voice can be heard speaking rapidly in a foreign language. Yet again, Chaeyoung knows almost immediately that it’s the one person she both does and doesn’t want to see. She turns as slowly as she can make herself, only to see that Mina hasn’t even noticed her. The CEO is busy pacing back and forth as the stairwell door slowly closes behind her, she seems frustrated. As if she’s holding herself back from yelling at the person on the other line. 

Chaeyoung knows very little Japanese, having been vaguely taught by Dahyun when they were younger. She never had any real use for it, except for when she would call Dahyun and Sana would hop on the phone. But even then, Sana would push to use Korean so she could practice, so the cub was only catching a few words, all she understood was that it seemed to be an argument between her soulmate and someone else about the company and Mina. Half of that came from context clues instead of the actual words being said, she would have to ask Sana and Dahyun to help her work on her Japanese later. Convincing herself that it was just curiosity at what was being said and nothing else.

After a couple minutes of Chaeyoung watching Mina with fixed interest, the subject of her attention finally looked in her direction. By this point, she was comfortably leaning against the half wall that made up the ledge. She kept her nonchalant pose through the intense gaze that her soulmate held. Their eyes locked as Mina continues the phone call, though seemingly less stressed in her tone. In fact, if anything, it seems like the CEO is no longer paying attention to the call at all. 

Mina slightly tilts her head to one side, and when Chaeyoung runs a hand through her wolf cut to try to distract herself from the CEO’s seemingly full attention, she can see the corners of Mina’s mouth lift up into a smile. Mina starts walking towards her, purposely slow, the wind blowing her hair back just slightly, exposing the glinting silver chain of her necklace and diamond earrings that sparkle in the light. Her forearms exposed as the sleeves of her white button up are rolled up, Chaeyoung imagines there’s a black suit jacket to match her pants back in the CEO’s office. 

As Mina gets closer, Chaeyoung subconsciously swallows at the effect the CEO is seeming to have on her. It’s because I haven’t seen her for a week. That’s all. They’re right in front of each other now as Mina almost towers over the leaning artist. The CEO says goodbye and hangs up the phone, but stays silent as she stares deep into Chaeyoung’s eyes. The air feels thick, despite the strong breeze that seems to spread the sweet flowery scent of Mina’s perfume directly at Chaeyoung. The CEO places her arms on either side of the ledge behind Chaeyoung. Her breathing now shaky as Mina moves her head closer to her, Chaeyoung’s throat feels parched and she her lips. 

If possible the tension between her and Mina only gets stronger at that, because Mina’s eyes flicker towards her lips and don’t leave for what feels like an eternity as Chaeyoung stays trapped between her soulmate and the half wall behind her. A part of her is oddly content at the situation and she tries to ignore it, but still finding herself unable to break the spell between her and the CEO as her own eyes are drawn to Mina’s lips. Her soulmate starts to lean in towards her, and Chaeyoung can feel herself lightly pushing off the ledge in response as she closes her eyes.

Only to be met with warmth on her ear and neck as Mina lets out a heavy breath. The artist tries not to be disappointed at the outcome, feeling her face a little flushed at having wanted to be kissed. I’m going crazy. Still trapped by the CEO as Mina’s arms wrap around her and hold her tight. It’s comfortable in a way Chaeyoung wouldn’t have expected, being held closely and tightly by her soulmate as if she’s the most precious thing in the world. Yet she still hesitates to hug her soulmate back. 

“Please, stay with me for just a minute. I missed you.” Mina’s breath warms her ear, and sends a comforting feeling through her. Her arms slowly raise up and return the hug, but with less intensity. 

Even so Mina seems to take it as a sign of sorts and buries her face into Chaeyoung’s shoulder, seeming to let some unknown stress roll off of her as she relaxes into Chaeyoung. The disappointment from the almost kiss is gone now, as Chaeyoung hesitantly puts one hand on the back of Mina’s head, her hair. This is the closest they’ve ever been, and she finds that she wants to stay in this moment. Lost in holding the person that completes her. 

It’s only when Mina shifts and raises her head to look at her with a concerned look, that Chaeyoung realizes she's crying so hard that her shoulders have been shaking. She lifts a hand to her face and feels the warm wet tears still streaking down her cheek. She blinks rapidly before lightly slipping out of Mina’s hold and breaking their eye contact, quickly brushing past her and heading down the stairs. Wiping her tears away as she tries to hide the fact that she’s crying until she gets into her office. She only sees one or two people in the hallway and avoids catching their attention as she makes it to her safe haven. 

Closing the door behind her, she finds that her tears still haven't stopped. She goes to sit on the chair by her desk, but it feels wrong so she sits on the floor instead. Trying to understand what feelings are causing the tears she can’t seem to stop. As she sits there, her door opens and closes. Turning her head to look through blurry vision, she silently watches Mina sit down next to her and reach for her hand. Her heart seems to be falling to pieces. 

The two sit there silently for a minute, as Chaeyoung lightly moves her hand towards Minas. Allowing it to be held. The feelings she’d been experiencing for the past week bubbling up as the realization escapes her lips. Unable to hold herself back. 

“It’s you.” Chaeyoung whispers, as the tears seem to well up even stronger and she embraces Mina in a parallel of the hug on the roof. Her soulmate seems to waste no time in pulling her close, her hair as Chaeyoung rests against her. Letting the tears fall freely, her heart aching as she loses herself. Whispered words spill out of , and she finds herself weak to stop them. 

“You left me, you left and I was so scared you didn’t care about me. Why did you leave? Why would you do that to me? I’ve been hurting so bad, and I’ve had to try not to think of you every day since. How can I trust this? How can I trust you now after all this time? What if you just decide to leave again, I think it would break me. Once was hard enough, Mina please.” The words are mumbled into the CEO’s shoulder, wet with tears and muffled by the fabric of her shirt. Chaeyoung isn’t even sure what she's saying or what Mina is catching of what she says. 

In response, her soulmate gently attempts to separate herself from Chaeyoung. Taking an intake of breath as if preparing to say something, but Chaeyoung can’t seem to let her pull away. She moves with Mina to keep her in the hold that her heart seems to desperately need, the tears slowing. 

“Just, stay. Stay this time, please.” Chaeyoung says, louder than the mumbling from before. Mina stops pulling away and silently shifts so Chaeyoung can more comfortably rest on her. The last thing Chaeyoung remembers is leaning into her soulmate's shoulder and closing her eyes. Feeling her heart begin to meld back together. 

******

“Chaeyoung?” Mina whispered to the cub leaning on her shoulder. 

After her soulmate had asked her to stay, she had gone quiet. Mina had been very careful not to move a single muscle, but she may have been too careful. After about ten minutes of sitting like that, Chaeyoung’s breathing had evened out. Another five minutes later, Mina started hearing a light snoring coming from her soulmate. Now she was trying to gently wake her, only it wasn't working. 

“Chaeyoung.” She called, as she tried to shift out of Chaeyoung’s hold. The artist tightened her grip on Mina’s shirt in her sleep. 

It warmed Mina’s heart, and she put her own hand over Chaeyoung’s hold on her and smiled. She then delicately loosened the grip of each finger before moving Chaeyoung’s hand to her own lap. She shifted again, this time it was working, and successfully moved away. Holding Chaeyoung’s head in her hands she tried to adjust her posture so her neck wouldn’t hurt when she woke up. 

“Hey, it’s time to wake up, okay?” Mina said, a little louder. Still nothing. She’s not sick, is she? But she’s responding the way someone in a deep sleep would, so maybe she’s just really tired?

Mina stood and quietly left the room, closing the door slowly so it wouldn’t make any noise when it shut. She quickly moved to her own office door, walked inside and grabbed her suit jacket off of the hanger. I’m going to start keeping blankets handy. And maybe a pillow.

When she walked back into Chaeyoung’s office, her soulmate was still soundly asleep. She draped the jacket over her, and kissed her forehead. 

“Sleep well.” Mina whispered. Knowing that later her soulmate would either come barging into her office angrily or just passive aggressively leave the jacket on the doorknob to her office. 

The next hour moved by painfully slowly, as Mina was waiting for any sign of her soulmate. She was trying to work, but knowing that Chaeyoung could come in to see her at any moment was distracting her. She kept standing up and opening the door every time she heard anyone walking outside, and then had to cover it up as though she was doing rounds of the floor when it wasn’t Chaeyoung. 

She checked her watch for what felt like the thousandth time that hour, before giving up and deciding she would just check on Chaeyoung. She hesitated at the door, taking a quick glance around. The hallway and most offices were empty since it was lunchtime, she should wake Chaeyoung up so she can eat. I’ll buy her something, she’s probably too tired to go anywhere today.

Upon opening the door, she found Chaeyoung curled up like a little tiger cub. Her heart nearly melted at the way her soulmate's face was scrunched up while cuddling her jacket. 

“Chaeyoung, it’s lunch time. Aren’t you hungry?” Mina lightly shook Chaeyoung’s shoulder, but aside from shifting a little she didn’t respond. 

She tried to wake her a few more times, but didn’t want to be aggressive with waking her up. Nothing worked, her soulmate was still deeply asleep. What should I do? I don’t want to just leave her here. 

Running a hand through her hair, Mina took out her phone to text Tzuyu to clear her schedule for the rest of the day. She received a ‘okay’ response almost immediately. Mina rubbed her arms and lightly stretched before leaning down to scoop up her soulmate.

AUTHORS NOTE: Hope you enjoyed, I love feedback so let me know what you're thinking! There were a lot of cute moments in this chapter, so I hoped y'all liked it. Look forward to the next chapter :]