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A person’s soulmark, which appeared on their left wrist on their fifteenth birthday, was nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone in the entire world had a soulmark, and most flaunted it proudly from day one, wanting it to be as easy as possible for their soulmate to find them. Kim Seungmin was one of the few who hated showing his mark.
Seungmin thought it was absurd that fifteen year olds, youths not even old enough to drive, could find their soulmate - their life partner - with no more knowledge of the other person than that they had matching marks on their wrists. Seungmin had plans, goals, dreams that he wanted to reach, and he spent every possible moment out of school training to achieve those goals. He didn’t want to be distracted by responsibilities to another human just because they were fated to be together. Seungmin figured that if fate really wanted him to find his soulmate, he’d find them no matter if he ignored fate for a few years or not. As such, starting from his 15th birthday, Seungmin wore a sweatband or bandana at all times to cover his dog paw shaped mark. Was he teased for it? Relentlessly. Did he care? Not usually.
Sometime after his sixteenth birthday Seungmin was showering after gym, which he always did carefully to hide his mark even though he was relatively sure his soulmate was female. When he went to get dressed he found his sweatband missing, which was annoying but no big deal as he always kept a couple in his locker. However, when he looked in his locker, all his coverings and his jacket had been taken and he was alone in the room. He had a fair idea of who had taken his stuff, but he didn’t have time to confront them as they didn’t share the same class after gym. Seungmin left the locker room with a scowl and his left hand shoved in his pocket, deciding to go get a large bandage from the nurse’s office before going to class.
Humming a rather angry song under his breath as he walked, Seungmin started to space out and didn’t notice the stray book laying in the middle of the hall. He stepped straight on it and it slid under him, all his dancer’s balance not enough to keep him on his feet. He landed hard, catching himself with his right hand and crying out as it sprained.
“Gosh dammit!” He seethed, pretty sure his day couldn’t get worse.
“Oh, hey there, you OK?” Seungmin jumped at the voice, which was sweet and more concerned than a random stranger needed to be. He didn’t give it a second thought when the girl reached forward to help him up and he accepted her left hand with his. He stood and cradled his right wrist against his chest, cursing the new reason he had to go to the nurse’s office, and almost missed the girls’ soft “oh” as she dropped his hand.
“Oh what? Thanks for the help but I need to…” He trailed off as the girl held out her left wrist for him to see. She also had a mark which resembled a dog’s paw, the distinct shading within it matching Seungmin’s exactly. “I uh…”
“Well, I guess that’s one way to meet. My name is Im Sunhee, what’s yours?” Seungmin couldn’t deny that she was pretty and kind, but he was not ready for this. He didn’t notice he was shaking his head until she gave him a worried look and reached to grab his hand again. “You OK? Did you hit your head?”
“I… I need to go, sorry.” He mumbled before turning around and running down the hall. He ran into the closest bathroom and locked himself in a stall as he began hyperventilating. He was not ready to meet his soulmate, he had done everything to make sure he wouldn’t find his soulmate this early. All it took for more than a year of hiding from fate to go to waste was some annoying bullies stealing his stuff and him not paying attention to his feet.
He groaned as he dropped his head into his hands, his right wrist reminding him with a painful twinge that it was no longer in perfect condition. He took some time to compose himself before leaving the bathroom, carefully looking around every corner as he went to the nurse’s office. Luckily the girl, Sunhee, had not waited to try and talk with him and he was able to get his wrist wrapped and was approved to leave school for the rest of the day without having to see her again. He’d also asked the nurse to cover his mark still, not wanting anyone to suspect that anything had changed.
Seungmin went straight to JYPE, practicing would be the best use of his free time and the best way to keep his mind off things. He wanted to practice his vocals alone for a while but was caught walking into a private room as Bang Chan was coming out of it.
“Seungmin! Why are you here?” Though they went to the same school, Chan had graduated the year previously and now spent all his time working on music.
Seungmin raised his arm in response. “I tripped. It’s just sprained, but the nurse let me leave early.”
“You tripped?” Chan laughed. “Glad it’s not worse. That it? You look like you’re ready to murder someone.”
“Yeah that’s all, I’m just mad I got hurt, and in such a stupid way.” Chan nodded and ruffled Seungmin’s hair.
“Well I’ve got a meeting to get to, see you at practice?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine to dance. See you then.” Seungmin entered the solo practice room and had probably the worst vocal practice of his life.
---
Seungmin spent the next month on high alert in the school hallways.Though he didn’t see Sunhee often, when he did he would dart around the nearest corner and take whatever detour he had to to avoid her. She didn’t seem to be searching him out, which he appreciated, but his paranoia was not good for his school work or social life. He started being bullied for being extremely skittish, especially any time he heard a girls’ voice behind him, and he had been called out by teachers multiple times for not paying attention.
Finally one of his teachers made him stay after class.
“Mr. Kim, you have always been one of my best students, what is the cause of your distraction now? Is your training becoming too difficult?”
“No ma’am.” Seungmin muttered, looking at the desk instead of making eye contact with his teacher. “I apologize for my lack of attention Mrs. Song, I’ll work harder.”
“There’s something going on with you Mr. Kim, what is it? I’ve seen you in the hallways, I see how the other kids are treating you. What happened?”
Seungmin sighed, knowing Mrs. Song was too caring and too observant to be able to lie to her. “I found my soulmate.” He said it as if it was the most shameful thing in the world, like he was committing to a heinous crime.
“Well usually that’s something to be happy about, so why are you acting like you killed someone?”
“I’m sixteen Mrs. Song, and I’m training to be an idol. I don’t want a soulmate right now. I’ve hidden my mark since the day it appeared so that I wouldn’t have to find my soulmate. Some kids stole my coverings and then I tripped, when I hurt my wrist, and she was kind enough to help me up but she saw my mark and we matched.”
“I see. So who is it?”
“Uh, she said her name is Im Sunhee.”
“And let me guess, you’ve been avoiding her since the day you saw her? That’s why you’re so jumpy?”
“Yes ma’am.” Seungmin hung his head, having someone say it made him realize just how terrible it sounded. “I’m a terrible person, aren’t I?”
“Well, I can’t say you’re being kind to Sunhee, or to yourself.”
“But I don’t want this! I don’t want to have to worry about anyone but myself right now.” He was becoming animated, emotional.
“Do you think that every teenager wants to find love so young? You aren’t the only one Seungmin. Did you ever think to talk to Sunhee, see how she feels?”
“Uh… no ma’am. I just assumed-”
“You assumed that everyone is mature enough to handle having a partner so young, that you’re the only one wanting to grow more before adding someone to your life.” Seungmin nodded dejectedly. “Well you’re wrong, many youth choose not to do anything with their soulmate until they’ve aged and experienced more.”
“They do?” Seungmin was shocked by this, he’d never heard of anyone not instantly hooking up when they found their soulmate. Most kids flaunted finding their soulmate so early. Or maybe those were just the ones he noticed because they flaunted it.
“Yes Seungmin, they do. So, how about you stop avoiding poor Sunhee, and take her out to lunch? Talk, tell her that you’re not ready for a relationship yet, and see what she says. Figure out some boundaries together. Try being friends first, don’t be awkward and avoid each other for years, and maybe set a time when you can discuss things again, a time you both agree on being OK to broach the subject of going farther if one of you want to.”
“Like after I debut.” Seungmin said, thinking that’d be the only time he’d be ready to even consider having a girlfriend, after the pressure of making it eased and it was just the pressure of succeeding as a group left. Mrs. Song nodded.
“Yes, that would probably be a good milestone to set. So, will you do that?”
“Yes Mrs. Song, I’ll find her after school.” Seungmin looked like a balloon of anxiety had mostly deflated in him, like he could finally breathe freely. “Thank you Mrs. Song, I really needed set straight.”
“You’re welcome Seungmin, now off to your next class.”
---
“Sunhee?” Seungmin couldn’t get his voice to raise above a whisper, too nervous about approaching his soulmate.
“Oh, hi…” Sunhee was completely shocked to see the boy, her soulmate, who had clearly been avoiding her for a month suddenly talking to her. She couldn’t deny that she was ticked about being ignored by the person that was supposed to be her other half, and some of that feeling leaked into her voice. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me?”
Seungmin ducked his head in shame. “I’m sorry Sunhee, I don’t have a very good excuse for avoiding you. It was very rude of me, and you don’t deserve being treated like that. Would you like to go get some food and get to know each other?”
Sunhee made a show of thinking for a moment, even though she had every intention of accepting. “I don’t know, can I at least know your name? Or do I need to just start calling you Honey right away?”
“What?! No please don’t. I’m Kim Seungmin, guess I didn’t tell you that did I?” It took all of Sunhee’s self control not to melt at how cute Seungmin was like this and she had to hide a giggle behind a fake cough.
“Well Kim Seungmin,” she said once she straightened her face, “I suppose we could go get food. I expect an explanation for avoiding me.”
“That’s fair, let’s go.” Seungmin turned and Sunhee quickly had to follow him, laughing behind his back at how truly nervous he was.
They decided to sit down at a coffee shop and Seungmin began rambling as soon as they were at a table, which Sunhee found to be absolutely adorable. “So, that’s why I avoided you. I’m sorry Sunhee, you don’t deserve to be treated like that.”
“Oh Seungmin, I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I’ve never hidden my mark, but I haven’t really wanted a soulmate so early either. My parents actually suggested I refuse to get serious with my soulmate until I’ve graduated, which I don’t think is a bad plan.”
Seungmin let out a long sigh, followed by a relieved smile. “I was so worried you’d be mad at me for not wanting to be serious right away.”
“Seungmin, I’m seventeen. You’re sixteen. I want to do well in school and get into a good college, you want to become an idol. We don’t need distractions like that right now.” Seungmin began beaming, like all the weight of the world had lifted off his shoulders. Sunhee couldn’t help but smile back and Seungmin couldn’t help but think that he was very glad she was his soulmate.
“Do you want to be friends, though? We could hang out, well I mean I don’t have a lot of time to hang out really, but we can talk, right?” Sunhee marveled at how quickly Seungmin could go from smiling to begging with puppy dog eyes and suddenly their marks made sense.
“Of course! We’re going to be spending our lives together, we had better get to know each other first.”
They spent an hour talking before Seungmin had to get to practice and wished Sunhee a good day. He walked to practice with a new bounce in his step, like he was light enough that he could float away at any minute. Everyone noticed when he walked into the practice room, smiling for practically the first time that month.
“What’s got you?” Jisung asked, happy to see Seungmin back to his normal self, if not a little brighter.
“Nothing, just a good day.” Was all Seungmin said, deciding there was no need to tell anyone about Sunhee until they decided to be more than just friends.
---
Sunhee’s phone rang three times before she picked it up, annoyed that someone would call her so persistently when she was clearly busy. When she saw that the caller ID was Seungmin she was instantly worried if something had happened. “Seungmin? Is everything OK?”
“We did it!” Seungmin yelled, causing Sunhee to pull the phone away from her ear. “We made it! We’re going to debut!”
“Everyone?” Sunhee knew the boys had a very hard time when Minho and Felix had been eliminated from the group. Each time, Seungmin had spent multiple hours crying into her shoulder when he couldn’t stand to be around his sad group mates any longer. She was glad she could be there for him, she knew the other members didn’t have an escape like Seungmin did and she felt bad for them.
“Yes! Of course, PD-nim knew we’d all debut if he left it up to the public. I can’t believe we finally made it!” Seungmin’s giddiness was contagious and Sunhee began laughing at how cute he was being. Suddenly the background became very loud and Suengmin could be heard swearing.
“Who are you talking to Minnie? You already called your family!”
“Jisung give me my phone!”
“Hello, may I ask who this is?” Assuming that it was Jisung who asked, Sunhee stayed quiet, not wanting to give them reason to tease Seungmin for calling a girl.
“HAN JISUNG FUCKING GIVE IT TO ME!” The resounding laughs on the other end made Sunhee chuckle despite knowing she shouldn’t find this funny.
“Sorry, but Seungmin is busy right now, he’ll have to get back to you.” The line clicked and Sunhee sighed, knowing Seungmin was going to have a very fun night with his members.
In the Stray Kids dorm Seungmin was still trying to get his phone away from Jisung, who had seen the caller ID and was now very curious.
“Who is Sunhee?”
“I’m not telling you!”
“I want to know too, who’s Sunhee?” Minho asked with a very mischievous look on his face as he grabbed the phone from Jisung. “A secret crush?”
“Seungmin doesn’t have crushes! He keeps his mark hidden because he doesn’t want a soulmate.” Changbin joined in the fun.
“I can have friends you know!”
“And what friend would you be so excited to tell about our debut?”
“Alright everyone, leave Seungmin alone.” Chan collared Minho and grabbed the phone from him, handing it back to Seungmin. “If Seungmin doesn’t want to tell us, he doesn’t have to.”
“Thank you.” Seungmin grumbled, but the look in Chan’s eyes told him that it’d be best just to get it over with anyway. He huffed, “ugh, Chan do I have to tell you?”
“I literally just said you don’t have to.”
“Yeah but you have that look.”
“What look?”
“ That look, the look you give us anytime you expect us to make the right decision.” A few murmured agreements from Felix and Jeongin made Chan chuckle.
“I’d say that’s just your conscience, but if you want then please, do tell.”
Seungmin thought for a moment before letting out a long sigh. “Sunhee is my soulmate.”
A resounding “WHAT?!” echoed through the dorm living room and the noise level skyrocketed for a few moments before Chan calmed everyone down.
“You know your soulmate? Since when?”
“Since last year when I hurt my wrist tripping at school. We decided to just be friends until we both reached our dreams, so I didn’t want to tell anyone.”
“You’ve spent a year covering your mark still so we’d think nothing changed?” Minho couldn’t deny that he was impressed.
"Well that's rude." Jisung pouted, and Seungmin began to panic. Ever since they found out about Jisung's mark he had been worried about his brother's reaction to him hiding his soulmate.
"Jisung I-"
"I want to meet this Sunhee, if she's your life partner we might as well all know her right?"
"You… you want to meet Sunhee?"
"Why wouldn't I? We're practically brothers, right? Wouldn't that pretty much make Sunhee our sister?"
"I mean I guess but…"
"No buts. You’re debuting, you’ve gotten your first dream, so you should introduce us. If Sunhee agrees, that is, but why wouldn’t she want to meet the next big things in Kpop?” Everyone laughed at that, their laughter a mix of amazement that it could actually be true, and nervous energy thinking about making it happen.
---
“I don’t know Seungmin, what if they don’t like me?” Sunhee was very nervous about meeting Seungmin’s group members. She had been going back and forth on the idea for a few days, worried that it’d put more pressure on their relationship, more expectations on both of them.
“They’re going to love you, how could they not?”
“Don’t start flirting with me now, Kim Seungmin. We’re still not going there yet, even if I meet your groupmates.” Sunhee’s voice was stern, but the smile she couldn’t quite contain lightened it.
“Right right, but you are amazing Sunhee, I’d say that even if you weren’t my soulmate.” Sunhee’s honey laugh rang out as she once again marveled at how sweet Seungmin was.
“Alright, let’s go meet everyone.”
Seungmin grinned and led Sunhee towards the Stray Kids dorm. His smile faded as he started thinking of everything that may go wrong, including his members (especially Hyunjin and Jisung) going absolutely hyper and scaring Sunhee away. Seungmin paused as they got to the dorm door, ready to open it but not quite turning the handle.
“You know, on the other hand, maybe it’d be better to lock in our careers before letting you meet everyone. Maybe giving you some first impressions through our music would be a better-”
“Seungmin I’ve seen Hellevator, and the whole show, I think I have a fair idea.”
“You watched that?!” Seungmin spun to look at Sunhee just to be caught by her glare, her hand on her hip adding to the look.
“Yes, you knew this. I’ve texted you after every episode.”
“Oh… right…” And now I’m an idiot. Get your head in the game Seungmin. “Alright alright, but please don’t get scared, everyone’s kind of… loud.”
As if to prove his point a clattering crash and deep yell was heard from inside, making Seungmin shrug sheepishly in an ‘I told you so’ sort of way. Sunhee giggled. Without another word Seungmin threw the door open and motioned Sunhee to enter ahead of him.
“There is now a guest present, please behave yourselves!” Seungmin yelled out, to be answered only by another crash and a yelp from the kitchen.
They walked into the living room to find Chan lounging on the couch with a notebook on his lap, Jeongin and Hyunjin playing a video game, and Changbin walking out of his bedroom. From the kitchen ran an excited Jisung, who had what seemed like flour in his hair, a laughing Minho, and an extremely disgruntled Felix, who was covered in the white powder.
“It’s your last chance to run.” Seungmin said play conspiratorially to Sunhee who just giggled again. “Your funeral. Alright, everyone, this is Im Sunhee, my soulmate but not girlfriend so don’t make it weird.”
Several “Hi Sunhee”’s and “Nice to meet you Sunhee”’s mixed through the air. Chan stood up and walked over to shake Sunhee’s hand.
“I’m Bang Chan, leader of this lot. That’s-”
“I know everyone, you don’t have to introduce them.” Sunhee broke in, smiling as she looked around at each boy.
“See! We’re already famous!” Jisung cheered, earning him an elbow in the stomach and a handful of flour in his hair. Chan chuckled and motioned for Sunhee to sit on the couch as everyone circled around her and Seungmin.
“So, Sunhee-not-Seungmin’s-girlfriend,” Minho started, winking at Seungmin in response to the glare he was given, “You’ve watched our show, who’s your favorite member? I will vomit if you say Seungmin.”
“Hey!”
“But what if he is my favorite?”
“He can’t be, that’d be too convenient. Who’s your favorite besides Seungmin?”
“Well…” Sunhee made a show of looking around at everyone, some waiting anxiously for an answer and others, especially Bang Chan, being extremely giggly and hiding their faces. “Jeongin is very cute, but I think Jisung is actually the member who really caught my eye. I really like your style and think you’re very talented.”
Jisung beamed and Minho groaned. Seungmin wasn’t surprised at all, Sunhee talked about Jisung the most after each episode and he knew she liked rap. Chan decided to lead the conversation from there, asking Sunhee about herself and asking if she had questions for them. The afternoon quickly turned into evening and everyone was shocked with how late it was when Seungmin finally said he needed to get Sunhee home.
As he walked her to the train station he asked, “So, are you going to block my number and hide from us now?”
“Of course not.” Sunhee said indignantly, pushing Seungmin lightly on the shoulder and making him laugh. “Actually, I think I’d like to hang around when it’s OK, everyone’s so nice and I’d like to spend more time with you.”
“Really?” Sunhee nodded. They stood in silence for a few minutes waiting for the train to arrive, and when the doors opened Sunhee surprised Seungmin by swiftly kissing him on the cheek before running onto the train.
Seungmin stood on the platform in a daze long after the train left. He liked how slow he and Sunhee were going with their relationship, but he couldn’t help but be excited for what their future held.