Word Count: ~2.4 k

"Would you stop staring at your wrist already?" Yooyoung asked, nudging her friend playfully. "It's not like he's going to appear just minutes after you've gotten the tattoo."

"I can hope! Who knows? He could actually be right around the corner!" Yoonjo grinned at Yooyoung, who rolled her eyes. Although Yoonjo was a bit of a dope, they were friends forever. Yooyoung had yet to turn 21 but she was happy for her friend anyways. She was also slightly envious of the beautiful lotus resting on her friend's wrist and only hoped that hers would be so beautiful, but that was a good two years away.

“The probability that you’ll find him in the next few minutes is between slim and none,” Yooyoung said. Yoonjo pouted, a little disheartened. “But I’m sure that you’ll find him in the next couple of years. They say that soul mates gravitate toward one another.” She smiled in a reassuring way.

“Thanks Yooyoung!” Yoonjo gave her friend a rib-crushing hug and Yooyoung did all she could to not suffocate.

“Yes, yes, no problem,” Yooyoung managed to choke out as Yoonjo slowly forced all of the air out of her lungs.

“Oh my god, am I suffocating you?” she gasped suddenly releasing her friend, who panted to refill her lungs.

“Oh no. I just enjoy holding my breath until I turn blue in the face,” she replied sarcastically.

“You’re a really good friend even if sometimes you can act like a little brat.” Yoonjo smiled that brilliant smile of her. “Here, how about we got and get bubble tea as a celebration and an apology. My treat.”

“That’ sounds great. Just promise me we won’t be discussing your prospective soul mate, okay?”

“Deal. Well, actually. What do you think he’ll look like?”

“I foresee a short and sparkly man in your future,” Yooyoung replied jokingly.

“Really? No tall, dark, mysterious stranger?” Yoonjo asked with mock hurt in her voice.

“I thought we agreed to not talk about your future husband.”

“I guess you’re right,” Yoonjo sighed.

“And if you ask again, I’ll come up with an even more outrageous description of your soul mate. Things like that he looks like a puppy,” she added playfully.

Yoonjo puffed her cheeks out. “So mean!” Yooyoung poked her friend’s cheek and then the two of them dissolved into giggles. They continued walking along the street, getting strange looks from passersby.

There was a short silence between the once they stopped laughing uncontrollably. “Do you think things will change between us once you find your special someone?” Yooyoung tried to make it sound light-hearted, but the words were still heavy.

“I won’t let it. You’re my best friend. I’m not going to let you go even if he is my soul mate. Just because he’s my soul mate, doesn’t mean that he will be able to displace you just like that.” Yoonjo snapped her fingers for effect. “And if he really were my soul mate, he’d know that he couldn’t displace you,” she replied very seriously.

“I was just joking, Jojo,” Yooyoung replied quickly.

“I don’t care; I’m being serious. I’m not going to let you just scamper away because of some short, sparkly, puppy guy,” she stated with passionate eyes. Yooyoung only burst into laughter again. “Now it’s time for you to stop talking about my tall and mysterious stranger.” She poked her friend in the stomach, eliciting a squeak and initiating a poking war.

“Just know that I won’t leave you behind. I promise that if you promise me the same.” She held out her pinkie.

“I promise,” Yooyoung agreed, linking her own with Yoonjo’s.

--

“Hyung!” Jongin complained. “Mine looks so weird! It’s like a cult symbol more than anything.” The tan boy pouted at his friend. “And don’t even start about how it’s not all that bad. You got a star looking thing.. I’ve got a triangle with some sort of vortex in the middle. What is that even supposed to mean?” He sighed dramatically. He had just gotten his tattoo and he was less than happy about how it had turned out.

“ Well the ink is permanent, so there’s no going back now Jongin,” Baekhyun replied with slight exasperation. “There is some deeper meaning to it specific to you and we just don’t know what it is yet.”

“But it’s totally strange. Girls will probably think that I’m a weirdo if I got a cult tattoo for my symbol,” he whined.

“You realise that your soul mate won’t care what your symbol is. And if it really bothers you so much, you can wear wristbands, concealer, or long sleeves.  Calm down and don’t get your in such a twist. You’re infuriatingly high maintenance sometimes and I wonder in the middle of the night why I’m your friend.”

“You secretly love looking after me because you never had a younger brother.” The way he grinned made him seem much younger than 21. It was strange to think that the boy before Baekhyun really was just a little over a year and a half younger than he was.

“Probably. But it’s not because I like looking after you, more that I like to tease you. That, and you have this inexplicable charisma despite the fact that you’re really an idiot.”

“Aw. How cute. I love you too Baek-a-boo,” Jongin cooed, grinning deviously. Baekhyun simply rolled his eyes in response.

“What do you think he or she will be like, your soul mate?” Baekhyun asked, changing the subject.

“He’ll be cool and charismatic and a dancer for sure,” Jongin replied.

“You sure that this person isn’t going to be a she?”

“Positive. I just have a feel for this thing. He’s going to be shorter than me but also older.”

“Is there anyone you have in mind?”

“Nope! It’s just this feeling I get. I can’t explain it but I know that it will happen,” he replied, his eyes shining.

“Are you sure you’re not hoping for someone in particular to be your soul mate?” Baekhyun questioned a little suspiciously.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never met this guy before in my life. On our first meeting, our tattoos will glow even though we’re total strangers, but isn’t that usually how it happens anyways? We’re going to be in a dance studio or at a dance competition. I can just see it.”

“Are you some sort of prophet or something?”

“Nope, I just know it’s going to happen exactly like that.”

“You really are an idiot,” Baekhyun stated flatly.

“You’re so mean hyung!” Jongin complained. “I promise you that this is how it’s going to happen. I’m also calling that this guy isn’t from Korea. I’m getting a Chinese or Japanese feel.”

“I will pay you money if you are actually correct about this. And if I haven’t found my soul mate yet, I’ll pay you to describe her for me.”

“I will totally do this for free. I just want gloating rights when it turns out to be correct.”

“Sure. But if you’re wrong, then I get gloating rights that you’re just a little crazy or just a total idiot.”

“I’m a total idiot and we both already know it.” He grinned. “But idiots have special talents of their own.”

“Whatever you say,” Baekhyun sighed. “So what is my special someone like?”

“She’s just a little shorter than you but you’re fairly close to being the same height.” Baekhyun made a face. “Well you are kind of short as you are,” Jongin replied. “Okay. So she also has big eyes. Not like owly eyes, but still fairly big. She’s also got a smile that lights up the sky and shines brighter than stars.”

“Wow Jongin. When did you get so poetic and sentimental?”

“It just sounds better and more dramatic to say it like this. I don’t want to be boring when predicting how the rest of your life is going to go.”

“You’re not predicting how the rest of my life is going to go, you’re just predicting my soul mate.”

“Same difference. She will become your future and your everything, I assure you.” He nodded as if agreeing with himself. “But fear not, I won’t let you forget me so easily. I’ll appear randomly at your shared house one night and do something drastic. Make sure you don’t forget. Perhaps I’ll call you one of my many nicknames in front of her. Baekachu, Baekie, my little Baek-a-boo, I’ll even make up some new punny and annoying nicknames.”

“I think I might have to move to a different country just to escape from you.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll find you just so I can embarrass you,” Jongin assured him.

“You really are an idiot.”

“I know, but I’m a charismatic and talented idiot so I still have a future somewhere. Last note about your girl, she’s a singer, and a good one at that. That’s all I have about her. She sounds like a real keeper though. I almost wish she were my soul mate, but then again, I have this yummi foreign guy.”

“I guess your idiocy is why you’re my friend, which means I need to get my head screwed on properly.”

“Aw! I love you too!” Jongin gave him a tight hug and because he was a lot stronger than Baekhyun, the smaller boy couldn’t break free, so he just went limp waiting for the hug to be over. “I’m looking forward to whenever we see these mystery soul mates,” he said to the boneless Baekhyun.

“What, your premonition didn’t give you all the details, like time and place?”

“Nope. I don’t choose this information, it just happens.”

“Or you just make it up on the spot.”

“That is totally probable! But you still owe me twenty thousand won if I turn out to be miraculously correct in either of these predictions.” He released the limp singer who quickly recovered. “Also. I swear that I won’t forget you or let you drift out of my life.” He grinned and Baekhyun knew that he would make good on the promise, probably sending marginally obscene Christmas and birthday gifts.

“I don’t doubt it.”

--

“Yours is really cute. I’m almost jealous!” Yoonjo exclaimed almost the instant the needle had left Yooyoung’s wrist. “Chrysanthemums are really beautiful and poetic somehow.” Her eyes glistened. “It’s so romantic,” she giggled. “I heard that it’s the symbol of eternity and eternal happiness!”

“But at the same time, yours is the symbol of rebirth,” she pointed out. “Isn’t that romantic in itself?”

“I think that eternal happiness is much more romantic than rebirth. It’s basically the definition of every single love story ever. When she finally finds her soul mate, they will have eternal happiness, even after death.” Yoonjo’s eyes were gleaming as she began to think on how romantic Yooyoung’s life would be.

“You should be a romance writer, Jojo,” Yooyoung commented, giggling at her friend’s passion. “Or you could write your own songs. They’d probably be a lot better than the stuff that the company has you sing. Their corny lyrics have nothing on yours.”

“You’re so mean!” Yoonjo punched her friend lightly.

“I swear that they would be a definite hit! That song that you just wrote, ‘Wishes for the starry sky’, is really good. I think that you should try and get the company to approve it so that you can sing it!”

“But it’s a duet. I need a second voice but I wrote it for a boy with a really specific voice,” she sighed. “None of the boys signed with ExoVenus at the moment have the right voice. It has to be rich but also soft and very versatile. I wish that Kyungsoo could do it but even he doesn’t have the right voice.”

“Did you have someone special in mind when you were writing this song?”

“Not really. The song just came to me. It sounds really good even when Kyungsoo sings it but he doesn’t quite have the right voice.”

“This might just be a stupid thought, but what if you wrote it for your soul mate?” Yooyoung mused.

“You really think that’s it?”

“Fate works in funny ways. I don’t doubt that this song has at something to do with your soul mate.”

“My sparkly puppy?’ Yoonjo replied with a grin.

“Is that what I called him?”

“Yeah. I’m really looking forward to meeting him to see whether your prediction turns out to be true.” She paused. “I just realised. Now that you have your tattoo, we can discuss what your special someone is going to be like! I predict a tall shy boy. He’s a little older than you but not much He’s going to be a lot taller than you, so he’s going to need to bend down and you’re going to need to stand on your toes but it’s still going to be cute.”

“Are you being serious about this or just making it up on the spot?”

“I’m just making it up on the spot,” Yoonjo conceded and the two dissolved into light giggles.

“Well, who actually knows?”

“Those little sylphy girls who dole out these tattoos. They probably know everything about our romantic futures but they’ve probably got some sort of contract with the universe that in exchange for the ability to do these tattoos they can’t tell anyone about how the future will play out,” Yoonjo speculated.

“That’s ridiculous Jojo.”

“Shouldn’t these romance predicting tattoos also be ridiculous?” Yoonjo pointed out.

“I suppose so.” Yooyoung looked down at her wrist. “Why do you think there are people who don’t get this?”

“Perhaps it’s because they’re afraid that they won’t find their one true love. It’s actually about half the population who opt out of getting them. There’s also the fact that it isn’t exactly cheap to get it and the fact that you can only get it during the year when you’re 21 years old. If you miss that window, you’ll not be able to re-do it.” She shrugged. “I hope that both of us will find our knights in shining armour and live happily ever after.”

“I’m sure we both will,” Yooyoung replied.

A/N: Hope you liked the prologue! Chapter one should be out in ~6 weeks...