Chaeyoung groans as she tries to blink her eyes awake, the bright overhead light making her want to pull the blanket over her eyes and shift to lay on her side instead. Her eyes snap open at the realization she's in a bed. Wasn’t I just at work? 

Her memories from before she fell asleep flood into her mind, and her face goes beet red from embarrassment. She tries to distract herself by studying her surroundings, very aware they aren’t familiar ones. The bed is extremely comfortable, with white sheets and a thick gray comforter. Even the pillow seems to be lulling her back to sleep with its softness, a sweet flowery scent offering her a sense of calm. She decides to sit up, to avoid falling back asleep. She notes the penguin plushies and teddy bears decorating the top of a dresser in the room, with a single tiger plush accompanying them. There’s an expensive looking abstract painting hanging on the wall, and two doors that seem to lead to a bathroom or closet. 

Chaeyoung listens for any sounds coming from the rest of the place, and hears someone across the way in what seems to be a kitchen. There’s a faint scent of kimchi fried rice in the air, and the noises of someone washing dishes. She decides it’s safe to quietly get out of the bed, noting that she’s still in her suit for work, though it’s wrinkled now from sleeping. She heads to one of the doors, and opens it to reveal a walk-in closet full of clothes that confirm whose room this is. 

She glances at the door, unsure how she feels about being in Mina’s apartment. She still remembers one of the offers that her soulmate gave her to get out of the contract. Both would’ve led to her living here, and she finds herself imagining what it might be like to wake up in this room every morning. She heads into the other room only to find a very expensive looking washroom. Chaeyoung leans her hands on the sleek marble countertop as she looks at her reddened eyes in the mirror. She splashes some water on her face and dries it with a soft white towel. Her eyes are drawn to the toothbrush with a little penguin character on the handle, and she lightly laughs at the image of such a serious CEO using it. 

After she's done fixing her hair and ensuring she’s awake enough to confront however she ended up in this apartment, she finally leaves the washroom and opens the bedroom door. Peeking her head out from the frame she sees her soulmate facing away from her, washing the dishes in a white short-sleeved shirt and black sweats. She can see most of the apartment from here, and Mina wasn’t lying when she said it was a nice apartment that would fit both of them. A comfy looking and low to the ground sofa faces a large tv and speaker system, with what seemed to be various popular gaming systems connected. The kitchen is spacious, with a dining area nearby. There’s even what looks like an office area, where Chaeyoung assumes Mina works from home.

The smell of kimchi fried rice was stronger now that she had opened the door, and she spotted two bowls with a few plates of various side dishes on a dining table near the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled, luckily covered by the city pop music that was quietly playing. The music mostly covered the sound of her tip-toeing over to the island countertop across from Mina, deciding it would be rude to sit down and eat before letting her soulmate know she was awake. 

She leaned against the countertop for a minute or so, letting herself enjoy the domestic moment without thinking of their past. When Mina finally turned around, she let out a shocked gasp that made Chaeyoung giggle. She stopped laughing when Mina smiled at her, her heart warming. 

“Did you sleep well?” Mina asks while she takes off the penguin themed apron she had on. Her eyes are drawn to the silver necklace her soulmate always wears, the tiger cub pendant glinting in the light for a moment. 

“I did.” She hesitated to ask more, but her curiosity won out. The large windows told her it was clearly later in the afternoon. “How did I get here?” 

“Well while we were in your office, you fell asleep. I wasn’t sure what to do at first, but after an hour or so, it was clear you weren’t going to wake back up. I made sure the hallway and lobby were clear of people and carried you down to the car. I drove you here and put you down in my bed. It was impressive actually, because you didn't stir once the whole time. You must’ve been really tired.” Her soulmate said as she went to sit down at the table, and gestured for Chaeyoung to join her. 

She moved to the seat next to Mina, at the head of the table, and sat down. It felt right, being here with her soulmate. Sleeping in her bed, eating her cooking, talking to her. It felt inevitable, in the best way. The two began to eat silently, and Chaeyoung studied Mina as she enjoyed the delicious meal. Her soulmate was apparently good at cooking on top of everything else. 

“Thank you, for letting me use your bed and cooking for me.” Chaeyoung finally says, when they’re done eating. Mina smiles at her. 

“I like taking care of you, there’s nothing to thank me for.” Her soulmate places a hand over hers, rubbing the skin with her thumb. It’s a perfect moment, here with Mina. She wants to stay here forever, stay like this forever. 

Her phone’s ringtone snaps her back to reality. She pulls her hand out from under Mina’s and stands, searching for her phone. Finding it, along with the rest of her stuff, on a table near the front door. Dahyun’s calling her, and she spares a glance at Mina before answering. Moving further into the entryway, towards the door, and lowering her voice as she talks. 

“Yes?”

“Where have you been?!” Dahyun yells into the phone, making Chaeyoung pull it away from her ear. “Do you even know what time it is?! Why didn’t you answer any of my texts?!” 

“I fell asleep, I really don’t even know what time it is. I haven’t seen any clocks and I was away from my phone. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s four thirty in the afternoon! What do you mean you fell asleep? What happened to your lunch?” Dahyun’s voice began to calm down.

“I had an . . . intense morning. Is it really four thirty? That’s so much later than I thought. I really did fall asleep, I should be home soon and I’ll explain then.” Chaeyoung says, and when Dahyun asks for more, she assures her that she’ll tell her everything when she’s home. 

Finally she gets Dahyun to hang up, and heads back to where her purse is. Now seeing the million missed notifications from today. Sana and Dahyun are most of them, but she sees Nayeon in there too. She’ll have to text her back later, hopefully she didn’t miss anything important at work. 

“Everything okay?” Mina asks from behind her, causing Chaeyoung to jump and almost drop her phone. 

“Yes, yes. Everything’s okay, I just need to go.” She focuses on checking if she has everything she needs in her purse, or if she needs to stop by the office for anything accidentally left there first. 

“Do you have to go so soon?” Mina asks, moving next to her and attempting to make eye contact. Her hand reaches out to Chaeyoung’s arm and the artist tries to be subtle about avoiding it. 

“My friends are expecting me home, and I need to leave anyway.” She pulls her purse onto her shoulder and pockets her phone, heading to the entryway to look for her shoes.

“You could stay a little longer.” Mina says, but she doesn’t respond. “Let me drive you to your place, at least. I want to make sure you get home safe.” 

“It’s okay, really.” Chaeyoung tries to assure her as she slips on her shoes. Mina didn’t need to know that her subway pass was still on her desk at the office, and that she would have to call a cab or one of her friends. 

As she stood to head to the doorway, a hand caught her wrist. Lightly tugging, so it didn’t hurt her, in order to make her turn around or at least face the person holding her there.

“Why are you trying to run away?” Her soulmate's confused and desperate tone makes Chaeyoung give in and shift to face Mina. “It seems like you’re rushing to get away from me, what’s wrong?” 

“I -” Chaeyoung starts, but finds she can’t look Mina in the eyes when she says this. She chooses to look at a vase on the floor instead. It’s a beautiful arrangement of both light and dark red carnations. “I can’t. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea earlier. But I can’t do this with you.” 

She uses her other hand to remove Mina’s hold on her wrist. Her soulmate doesn’t fight her on it, and lets go. Mina’s arms hang limply at her sides, and she stays silent. Chaeyoung’s afraid to look at her any longer than she has to, unsure of what else she’ll say or do. Especially if Mina looks sad, she tries not to imagine her soulmate looking hurt. She heads to the door, unsure of what else to say but feeling like she has to say something more. 

“You’ll find someone else, I’m sure of it.” Chaeyoung says, with her hand on the door handle, pulling the door open. Ready to leave this soulmate fantasy behind. To leave Mina behind. To keep herself safe.

Just as she starts opening the door, in a blur of movement, the door is slammed shut and she's twisted around to face Mina as she's pushed up against the now closed door. Chaeyoung stares bewildered at her soulmate, the look in Mina’s eyes full of an exasperation she doesn’t understand. Mina’s jaw is clenched, and even though she has her hands on either side of her soulmate, trapping her against the door. She makes no effort to look at Chaeyoung, and stares directly at the door instead. 

“I don’t want someone else.” Mina says after a few seconds. While it sounds calm, it’s crystal clear to Chaeyoung that there’s a fury behind the words. But it doesn’t seem to be one directed at her. 

“I want you. I want only you.” Mina looks down at her. “Chaeyoung, you’re my soulmate. I love you. No one else will ever compare to how I feel about you.” 

Chaeyoung’s mind swirls with contradicting emotions right now. She feels bad that Mina is angry, and wants to ease her frustration at a subject she clearly doesn’t like. She’s confused about why the thought of being with someone else creates such exasperation in Mina. But most of all, she’s furious at her soulmate. 

“You know I can’t stay. You know why I can’t stay. I can’t -” She cuts herself off. “I don’t want this. I told you already. Whatever this is, whatever you think is happening is just this stupid bond I wish didn’t exist.” 

The words cut her just as much as they seem to cut Mina, but they need to be said. Chaeyoung can’t do this to herself again. What happens when Mina leaves? Is she even sorry for what happened? They haven’t even spoken about it. Partially because she doesn’t want to face it, because that would also mean accepting whatever is happening right now. The longer she thinks about it, the more mad she gets.

“I can’t go through that pain again. Six years! For six years, I was hurt and confused and lost. As soon as I have a sense of acceptance you show up! How is that fair? Don’t I have the right to run away from you, after you ran away from me?” 

“I didn’t want to.” Is all Mina says. Which only makes Chaeyoung angrier. 

So she pushes back against her soulmate, physically pushing her off and creating space. Only to immediately invade Mina’s space as she forces her to back up. 

“What does that even mean? ‘I didn’t want to’, but you did! You didn’t even explain anything to me!” Chaeyoung slips her shoes back off as she continues backing Mina all the way across the apartment. At some point she drops her purse on the floor, too focused on talking to care about holding it. “You didn't introduce yourself or even say hi. You never responded to a word I said! You left and you never reached out to me! I pined after you for two years! Did your research tell you that, huh? Did your little google search tell you that I went to the airport almost daily for two ing years?! Waiting for you to come back!” 

Mina bumps into the couch, nearly falling over, a shocked look on her face at the statement Chaeyoung had just yelled at her. Her hands reach out to avoid falling, and Chaeyoung automatically grabs her and keeps her steady, now holding her soulmate without realizing as she continues ranting. 

“Not even a quick ‘hi i'm your soulmate, sorry I can’t be bothered to show up for the next six years don’t bother waiting’. Do you know how easy it would have been to find me on literally any social media and send me a message? How much suffering you would have saved me if you had just sent a letter, or anything that explained it!” 

“Chaeyoung, I -” Mina tries to say something, tightly gripping Chaeyoung’s arms, still stuck off balance with Chaeyoung holding her steady in a mid-fall position. 

“I’m not done talking! So then after six years of me crying over you all the time, because I lied about ever getting over you, suddenly here you are! I still think about that airport constantly. Did you know I can’t even stand to be in that airport without crying now, by the way. It’s so embarrassing because I’m sitting there crying while waiting for a flight, and people are looking at me confused like I’m weird! I’m not weird! It’s your fault!” Chaeyoung yells, finding herself unable to calm down. She pushes Mina onto the couch, angled in a way where she’ll land softly. And then storms around the couch to continue, grabbing a pillow to hit Mina with in the process.

“Why were you even in Korea?! Why did you bother coming back for me! I had already convinced myself you found someone else and had gotten married! It was in my nightmares, you know! I would dream I was attending a wedding and it was always you getting married to someone else, and me having to sit there and watch!” She hits her with the pillow.

“I loved you and you left me!” She hits her again.

“I still love you!” Chaeyoung hits her soulmate with the pillow a third time. 

“I just can’t trust you not to leave again, but here you get to be mad and push me against a wall and say that you’ll only ever want me! Where was that soulmate in the airport, huh? Where was she?! I could’ve used her, I needed her!” Chaeyoung tries to hit her a fourth time, but this time it’s blocked by Mina’s arm as she stands up.

“And another thing! You -” Chaeyoung’s rant is suddenly cut off as she’s being kissed so hard she stumbles back. After a few moments, Mina lets her go.

“I love you too.” Mina smiles at her fondly. Chaeyoung hits her with the pillow, now red in the face.

“That was my first kiss! How dare you!” She gasps, and Mina takes the opportunity to take the pillow from her and throw it away from them. 

“It was my first kiss too.” Mina puts her hands on Chaeyoung’s waist and pulls her close.

“Why did you kiss me?” Chaeyoung doesn’t leave the hold, but she does keep her face away from Mina’s. 

“Because I wanted to.” Mina says, and seeing that wasn’t a good enough explanation for Chaeyoung, she clarifies. “Because you were honest with me. Because you yelled at me, and you said you love me. Because you chose to keep talking instead of leaving.”

“You stopped me from leaving, remember? You trapped me!” Chaeyoung fought back at the last statement.

“And you pushed me off and then chased me across the apartment instead of taking the opportunity to use the door.” Mina responded. Chaeyoung had nothing to say to that. 

“Chaeyoung, about that day. I really am sorry. I wanted to stay and talk, but I knew if I spoke to you, or even looked at you for too long, that I wouldn’t be able to leave.” Mina brushes some of Chaeyoung’s hair behind her ear, and her hand lingers there for a few seconds. “I wanted to reach out too, but I wasn’t allowed to. I wouldn’t have been able to be a good soulmate even if I had, I was so busy the last six years trying to prove myself to my family. But I did it, and then was able to come here. To see you. To be with you.”

“You weren’t allowed to?” Chaeyoung’s brows furrow.

“No, my family wanted something different for me. I fought them on it, and the agreement we came to is that if I proved myself first, then I could come be with you.” Mina softly smiled at Chaeyoung, who was now beginning to direct her frustrations at Mina’s family.

The two stayed there quietly, Chaeyoung eventually leaning into Mina. Her soulmate then sat them both on the couch, and held Chaeyoung close to her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Mina asks. “We could order dinner and watch a movie. Or I could cook again.”

“No, I really do need to leave. Not forever. I don’t know. I’m confused. But I do have to go home or else Dahyun’s going to send a search party out to look for me.”

“Dahyun?” Mina asks with a twinge of jealousy in her voice.

“My best friend. She was there when you and I first met.” Chaeyoung says, finding herself more than a little happy at the jealousy, even if it was unfounded. 

“Ah, so I bet she doesn’t like me very much then.” Mina responds, making Chaeyoung laugh hard enough for her dimples to show. 

“No, she loves you. She’s probably going to start planning a wedding when I tell her about today.” Chaeyoung lets out a content sigh, before letting herself return to reality. “Mina I’m not sure I’m ready. You’re my soulmate, I know. I’m sure you mean it when you say sorry, I just don’t know if I’m ready to let myself forgive you. I want to, but I’ve been hurting for so long. It’s hard to trust you so soon.” She keeps her head on Mina’s chest, not wanting to look her in the eyes. Watching the skyline instead, and feeling comforted when Mina’s hand starts her hair.

“I know. What happened wasn’t fair to you, and I really am sorry. I approached you selfishly after so long, which didn’t help.” Mina says, and Chaeyoung laughs. “So take your time to forgive me. I’ll keep trying to make up for it, and I won’t stop pursuing you unless you tell me to.” 

“You don’t have to stop, I like your attention I think. It makes me feel more secure, it just feels so soon. Please, don’t expect me to say yes to going on any dates for a while. I think I’m okay with spending time together at work though.”

“We’ll work on the boundaries. For now, I should probably get you home. Would you say yes if I offered to drive you again?” Mina asks, as she shifts for the two of them to stand up.

“Yes, I actually left my card for the train at the office when I fell asleep, so can we stop there first. And maybe you can get it for me so I can avoid any questions?” Chaeyoung suggests, smiling with her dimples showing. Mina just gives her a gummy smile and heads towards the door, grabbing Chaeyoung’s purse from the floor. 

Chaeyoung follows and slips on her shoes for the second time, as Mina grabs her keys. Mina’s about to open the door when Chaeyoung stops her. 

“Could we . . . I’m a little embarrassed to ask actually. I just don’t know when the next time will be and I’d like to do it again before we leave.” Chaeyoung avoids eye contact with Mina, looking at the various luxury shoes on the floor instead. Her gaze focuses on the pair Mina is wearing as her soulmate walks up to her. 

“Do you mean kiss?” Mina asks, and Chaeyoung just nods. Her eyes flicker to look at Mina, and the look in her eyes makes her heart burn with affection.

Mina slides a hand onto Chaeyoung’s cheek, her thumb brushing against her lips. Chaeyoung’s heartbeat quickens and her breathing shallows as Mina leans in, looking intensely at her. She closes her eyes just as they meet, sparks flying as they kiss. She just needs time right now, but when she’s ready she’s going to make Mina make up for six years of not having that. 

AUTHORS NOTE: I'm more than open to criticism. I say this bc I know that this might not be as satisfying as readers who wanted angst might have liked. Obv this wasn't the whole story, for Mina's side. That will be explained thoroughly later, dw, but I thought 'would she tell her everything like info dump? or just give the overview and then elaborate more later' and ended up going w the second choice. For now, its fluff, there will prob be more angst later but i dont have any more major angst between the two of them planned (doesnt mean i wont come up w anything later). I have sort of an overview of the next couple chapters, but for sure let me know if theres anything yall think would happen or youd like to see next in terms of their relationship. Looking forward to yall's comments, hope u enjoyed.