Archive of Our Own ^beta

The first sign of Yeojin’s soulmate was on her hand.

She was very young at that time, and she was in class when it showed up. On the back of her hand, a line appeared. Yeojin watched in fascination as, one slow, deliberate line after another, a simple doodle of a frog took form.

Most people usually have permanent marks that match their soulmate’s, but occasionally a person will have something different. That day, Yeojin learned that hers was different.

In the evening, when the sun was just starting to set, the frog disappeared. The next day, a lizard drawing appeared on Yeojin’s arm.

And so the cycle went on. Sometime during the day, a drawing of some kind of animal would appear somewhere on Yeojin’s arm. In the evening, it faded away.

One day, Yeojin got curious. As the beginning of a doodle began to form on her forearm, she took out a pen, and quickly began drawing a bat on her other arm. It was clumsy, as Yeojin didn’t have experience drawing on herself.

The other drawing had stopped, a half-done arrangement of lines that vaguely resembled an animal. Instead of the drawing continuing, lines appeared in a separate spot on her arm, a bit below the incomplete animal.

Slowly, it spelled out, Hello?

Yeojin wrote just below it, Hi, in response.

Who are you? her arm asked.

Yeojin thought for a second, before scrawling down Secret.

The writing on her arm asked her, Are you my soulmate?

Yeojin wrote down I think so.

That was the day Yeojin met her soulmate.

Over time, Yeojin gets closer to her soulmate, whoever it is.

Slowly, Yeojin grows to trust and like her soulmate. It becomes part of her routine to write to her soulmate, to tell her about what’s happening in her life.

Over time, her soulmate learns about her, and she learns about her soulmate, too.

She learns that her soulmate’s favorite color is purple, that they like singing, their favorite animal is the bat, and that their favorite fruit is cherries. Because of the last point, she gives her soulmate the nickname Choerry.

Yeojin never used to like cherries, but she starts to like the taste a little bit more.

Years later, Yeojin met Chaewon. She’s quiet, a contrast to Yeojin’s 24/7 engine of energy. Chaewon is nice to be with, and for the first time, Yeojin found herself hoping that she had found her soulmate.

At some point, Chaewon made an off-hand comment about how she had a habit of drawing on herself. Yeojin’s hopes were raised; she had to be the one, right?

As time passed, though, Yeojin began to have doubts. It was nice spending time with her, but Yeojin didn’t really feel a spark around Chaewon.

Furthermore, the person writing on her arms seemed to have a completely different personality from Chaewon.

Speaking of which, Choerry’s drawings have really improved over the years, going from simple doodles to detailed drawings of all kinds of animals.

One day, Yeojin was sitting across from Chaewon, and she watched the other girl draw a butterfly on her arm, coloring it in blue. A butterfly that didn’t appear on her arm. Yeojin’s suspicions were confirmed.

Chaewon is not her soulmate.

Then, Yeojin met Jiwoo.

Jiwoo was the opposite of Chaewon, her energetic personality almost matching Yeojin’s.

She’s fun to be around, and the two spend time together, have fun together, and, as is inevitable when you put so much chaotic energy together, they get in trouble together.

Slowly, Yeojin feels hope again. Jiwoo’s personality is much closer to what she gets from Choerry’s writing. Her soulmate, who tells her funny stories and laughs at her jokes.

Jiwoo slowly becomes Yeojin’s best friend, and she knows that, even if Jiwoo isn’t her soulmate, she won’t really mind.

Jiwoo invites her over to a sleepover, and, amidst all the fun they have, Yeojin sees something on Jiwoo’s leg. When she looks a little closer, she realizes it’s a scythe.

She asks Jiwoo about it, and the girl confirms that it is, in fact, her soulmate mark. There’s a little disappointment, but she knows that they’ll still be best friends.

Jiwoo is not her soulmate, but it hurts a little less this time.

When she meets Hyeju, Yeojin has more hope than the times before. Perhaps it’s because third time’s the charm.

Hyeju is quiet, but in a different way from Chaewon. While Chaewon was shy, Hyeju radiates a quiet confidence. She’s mysterious, and that’s what draws Yeojin in.

It’s also what drew everyone else in, because Hyeju is popular. People like the cold, cutting personality. They like the mysterious aura, the one that doesn’t let anybody in.

Apparently, she’s an exception to that rule. It surprised Yeojin when the girl wanted to get to know her. What was even more unexpected was Hyeju’s personality once Yeojin got to know her.

Despite the near-permanent frown Hyeju wears around most people, she’s actually surprisingly tender once you get to know her. She’s comforting to hang out with, and Yeojin finds herself hoping more and more that Hyeju turns out to be her soulmate.

She knows that she shouldn’t get her hopes too high, but she can’t help it. She can’t control her heart.

One day, they’re sitting in Hyeju’s backyard, eating ice cream with the grass tickling at their legs. Yeojin is talking animatedly about the upcoming fair, when Hyeju reaches over and steals a bit of Yeojin’s cherry ice cream.

“Wha-hey!”Yeojin protests. She looks at Hyeju and finds that her face is…very close to her own.

She takes a nervous gulp, closing her eyes instinctively as Hyeju comes even closer to her. Hyeju reaches up, hand lightly brushing Yeojin’s neck. Yeojin’s heart rate is steadily increasing; Hyeju is so, so close.

Then, it happens. Hyeju kisses her…

On the nose.

Yeojin opens her eyes, surprised. “What?”she asks.

“You’re not my soulmate,”Hyeju tells her. Hyeju lifts her hair, revealing a spot on her neck…where there’s a mark of a butterfly.

Yeojin raises her hand to the same spot on her neck, where there’s no mark. A spot that’s usually hidden, but was uncovered by Hyeju. Third time was not, in fact, the charm.

Hyeju is not her soulmate.

After Hyeju, Yeojin writes to Choerry.

I wish I knew who you are, she writes on her arm.

We’re soulmates, you’ll find out when fate wants you to is the reply.

Yeojin lets out a sigh. That might be true, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy about it.

For now, she might as well focus on the present. In particular, the fair that she’s on her way to.

Yeojin looks up just as the car stops. It seems they have arrived.

Yeojin gets out of the car, dragging Jiwoo out with her (oh, yeah, Jiwoo’s here too). Yeojin’s mom tells them to be safe, be back at the entrance by 8, blah blah whatever.

Yeojin has a lot of fun throughout the evening , rushing from thing to thing to do.

About an hour into their fun, Yeojin and Jiwoo are eating crepes when Jiwoo looks over at her and gasps. Yeojin looks at her quizzically, and Jiwoo simply pulls out her phone and hands it to her.

When she looks at it, it’s on the camera app. She watches as a painted design of flowers slowly appears on her face. She reaches her hand up and touches it. This can only mean one thing.

Her soulmate is at the fair, too.

A few weeks later, as the temperatures are dropping, she meets Yerim.

Unlike any of her friends before, it’s very…natural, the way they fit together as friends.

Yerim is interesting. She has energy that can keep up with Yeojin, but she there’s also times where she’s calm and quiet, soothing in a way that even gets Yeojin to be a bit calmer.

It’s nice to spend time with Yerim, and it’s only natural for Yeojin to start spending more and more time with her.

Meanwhile, it seems like Choerry is writing to her more than ever. That’s not a bad thing, though. The conversations she has on her arms are rather comforting.

A similar comfort, she realizes, to how she feels around Yerim.

The hope in her heart blossoms again. This time, though, it feels more…right than before.

This also means, however, that Yeojin is more scared than ever. Scared that she’s wrong, that Yerim isn’t her soulmate.

That being said, it is really quite nice being friends with Yerim. As they get to know each other, Yerim teaches Yeojin how to ice skate. It’s very peaceful, ice skating with Yerim.

In return, Yeojin teaches Yerim how to play Mario Kart. Once Yerim learns, it becomes one of their favorite things to do together. Where ice skating with Yerim is peaceful, playing Mario Kart with her is a chaotic, competitive time that gets both of their heartrates going.

It seems like, no matter what they’re doing, Yeojin enjoys spending time with Yerim.

She enjoys it a lot.

Yeojin is watching videos on her phone one afternoon when she…feels something. It’s like something is in her hair.

She runs to the bathroom and looks in the mirror. Her hair is…turning purple!?

Her soulmate “mark” has always been on her skin. It’s never been on her hair before. So that means…

Her soulmate dyed her hair.

The next morning, Yeojin is waiting outside of Yerim’s house so they can walk to school together. They’ve done it many times before, but this time, there’s a sense of anticipation.

She nervously twirls a strand of hair in her finger, a strand of her now purple hair.

When Yerim walks out of that door, Yeojin will know if she’s her soulmate or not.

The door opens, Yerim walking out while typing on her phone. She says, “Hey, Yeojin, how’re you d-“ She abruptly stops talking, having looked up and noticed Yeojin’s purple hair.

Hair that matches Yerim’s.

Yeojin’s breath catches in her throat. “Yerim,”she breathes out. “You’re…Choerry.”

Yerim’s eyes widen in surprise. “You’re my soulmate,”she says. “You’re actually my soulmate.”

Yeojin takes a step forward, closing the gap between them slightly. “Actually?”she questions.

“I was hoping you were,”Yerim replies, taking a step towards Yeojin. “I just didn’t want to say anything.”

Yeojin smiles. “Well, I am,”she says. “I’m in love with you, Yerim,”she declares.

Yerim’s smile matches Yeojin’s. “I’m in love with you too.”

Finally, Yeojin takes two steps, closing the gap between them. She has to tiptoe slightly to reach Yerim, but it’s worth it.

Their lips meet, and it’s like fireworks. If they needed any more confirmation, this feeling shows that they are definitely, absolutely soulmates.

They step away from each other, and they look at each other with the biggest smiles they’ve ever had in their lives.

“I love you, Yeojin,”Yerim says. “Now let’s go to school,”she says, taking Yeojin’s hand in her own.

“Oh yeah, that is a thing we have to do, isn’t it?”