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jinsung wasn’t bitter.okay, maybe he was, just a little bit.seeing all the couples holding hands and acting all cuddly during his trip to the amusement park, it was irking jinsung’s last nerve. they had their soulmate tattoos inked on their arms on display for the whole world to see and it’s just not right.jinsung didn’t ask for this.it’s not his fault he was born without a soulmate tattoo.sighing for the nth time that day, jinsung takes another longing look at all the couples walking in front of him before he brings his cap down over his head. jinsung frowns and the joyful laughter and screams of the people enjoying their time in the park falls on his seemingly deaf ears.“hey jinsung, don’t look so glum, man! you should cheer up! it’s your birthday after all!” an arm slung over his shoulder. jinsung looks to the side and he’s greeted by his friend’s face.kim taewoo.oh right, jinsung almost forgot the reason why they were here in the first place. he came here with a couple of friends to celebrate his 18th birthday.
oh the joy.
“taewoo-hyung! jinsung-hyung! come on, let’s line up for the rollercoaster!!!” sungwon shouts over the crowd. he was waving his arms like a madman to get their attention and behind him yechan and taekhyeon were speed walking to the entrance of the roller coaster, smiles so wide and obvious glee on their faces.“hurry up hyungs!” sungwon shouts again before he hightails and runs after the two as well.taewoo squeezes jinsung’s shoulder lightly and jinsung looks over to meets taewoo’s eyes.“hey, are you okay? you know you don’t have to force yourself to act happy.” he asks. taewoo’s eyes were worried and jinsung gives him a small smile.“who said I was forcing myself?” jinsung lets out a small laugh before he squeezes taewoo’s arm. “i’m okay hyung. thanks for worrying about me. now come on, let’s go ride that rollercoaster.”“no caps allowed sir, please leave all loose belongings on the shelf to your left.”as the current train leaves the circuit, jinsung removes his cap and places it on the top most shelf. he grabs his bag too and puts it beside his cap before joining the others in waiting for the next one.“5 people? go to gate 1, 2 and 3. two people per gate.”“hyung, this is so exciting!!!” taekhyeon giddily exclaims as he and yechan jump up and down, obviously thrilled.“i want to sit at the front!” sungwon shouts.“okay woah there tough guy. remember, the last time you sat at the front?” taewoo asks as he lets out a laugh.hearing this, taekhyeon and yechan laughs loudly too and sungwon flushes a deep shade of red.“that only happened cause it was my first time!!! hyung, don’t be mean!”jinsung lets out a small chuckle before he lightly smacks sungwon’s head. “hey it’s my birthday, shouldn’t I sit in front?”“hyung, that isn’t fair!! using the birthday card on us!” taekhyeon says this time.jinsung laughs heartily now and sungwon only pouts. “ugh, okay fine. jinsung-hyung and taewoo-hyung, you guys can sit in front! then taekhyeonnie and I next, and yechan-hyung can sit in the back!”yechan shoots a mean look at sungwon before he relents. “fine, ugh. i'm going to be the adult here. besides, i’ll still enjoy this ride so it doesn’t matter where I sit.” he says.as taekhyeon and sungwon start babbling excitedly, jinsung tunes out his friends as he takes a look around. in the corner of his eye, he sees the people that came after them, a small group of three, chattering away. upon further observation, he sees that one of them’ll probably sit next to yechan.as he looks over, his eyes linger a bit too much on one of them, an adorable cutie wearing a black long-sleeved turtleneck. he was a few inches smaller than jinsung, had a set of transparent braces on his teeth that showed off whenever he would smile and had sleek cat-like eyes that turned into little crescents when he smiled widely.
pretty.
jinsung didn’t notice that he was staring, but when he did, he catches his mistake a little too late as the other’s eyes catches his. jinsung immediately looks away, a small blush covering his cheeks.
stop it jinsung, now is not the time.
as he slyly glances back, he notices that the stranger was clutching his friend’s arm and that he was shying his (also blushing, jinsung notes) face away from view.
he’s probably here with his soulmate ugh, good work jinsung you creep, you freaked him out.
the current roller coaster train skids to a stop in front of their small numbered gates and jinsung could see the exhilaration, as well as fear on the passengers’ faces as they get off the trolley. he feels his own heartbeat quicken with anticipation. as the people leave, the gates in front of them open.okay holy shit, let’s do this.as the ride comes to an end, jinsung could feel his heartbeat ringing in his ears and his heart itself as it tries to get out of his ribcage. he could barely feel his legs and he was probably deaf in one ear too, after sitting next to taewoo. the train slows down as it nears the circuit and jinsung thanks the lord as it jolts to a stop. the safety bars raise up and he shakily stands up, following taewoo to the shelf where they left their belongings.as soon as they got their things, they leave the ride after taekhyeon and sungwon, who acts as if they weren’t about to throw up a second ago.taewoo glances around. “where’s yechan?”“no, it’s ok-- holy shit, it’s you!” they hear someone yell out.the others turn around and at the exit, there stood yechan, his outstretched hand in the grasp of one of the three boys after them, and if jinsung’s memory serves him right, this was the one who sat next to him on the rollercoaster earlier.on the arm of the stranger were the words, “sorry I hope I didn’t make you deaf earlier, you shouldn’t have sat next to me.” written in black ink.yechan’s mouth flew open as he rolled up his own sleeve and the words the other just yelled out, “no, it’s ok-- holy shit, it’s you!” were written as well.“seunghwan-hyung, let’s go! yongha-hyung we’re over here!!” the two boys who were with him left earlier and so they were a little ways off from where their friend was at, and they were getting the attention of someone sitting on the benches just outside the ride.“JUNSEO! DOYUM! YONGA-HYUNG! I FOUND HIM!” stranger named seunghwan shouted as he dragged yechan to the other two.“WHAT’D YOU FIND?” the other shouted back.“I FOUND MY SOULMATE!”“oh my god, guys I-I just found my soulmate.” yechan says as he reaches his friends after being dragged to where seunghwan’s were a moment earlier.sungwon gasps. “did you really?”yechan glances to where the other four are, and catches seunghwan looking at him, a pretty smile on his face.yechan lets out a small, shy smile of his own before he looks at his open phone, seunghwan’s contact number already inputted in it and on display as the other demanded they exchange numbers. he breathes out a shaky, “…yeah, I did.”they congratulate yechan as the other covers his face in embarrassment, cheeks and ears red but a huge ass smile on his face.jinsung is happy for his friend.he really is.but of course, he’s a bit sad too, cause the reality of the situation is smacking him in the face. his friend found his soulmate on jinsung’s 18th birthday, when jinsung’s hunt for his soulmate would supposedly start if he had one.but sadly, jinsung didn’t have a soulmate tattoo."what’s his name?”as taewoo asks, jinsung sees the group approach them and he instinctively looks away.
adorable turtleneck guy.
jinsung prays that his cheeks aren’t, once again, a deep shade of red.as the other group reaches them, jinsung looks at yechan and coughs before nudging him. yechan swats jinsung’s arm before he says, “guys, this is my soulmate, seunghwan.”as yechan introduces the fair-skinned guy, seunghwan smiles and bows lightly.“i’m lee seunghwan! these are my friends yoo yongha-hyung, kim junseo and jeon doyum!”
ah, so turtleneck guy’s name is jeon doyum? that’s cute.
“these are my friends kim taewoo, park sungwon, jung taekhyeon and jung jinsung. it’s jinsung’s 18th birthday today actually, that’s why we’re here!”seunghwan actually grabs jinsung’s hand and shakes it vigorously. “happy birthday man! thanks a lot for celebrating it here. if you chose to celebrate elsewhere, i might have never met yechan.”jinsung laughs and mutters out a small thank you to seunghwan while yechan lightly slaps seunghwan’s arm with a small smile and the words, “stop it you’re embarrassing,” spilling from his lips.“happy birthday jinsung! we go to school near here, seoul high actually. we live in the dorms and since it was a long weekend, we figured we’d kill time here instead of doing nothing in our rooms!” yongha said as he shook jinsung’s hand too, lightly this time. “you guys go to seoul high? that’s such a coincidence, we go there too!” jinsung watches sungwon and taekhyeon talk to this new kid, junseo and he sees taewoo make conversation with the new guy yongha as well.jinsung’s eyes float over to doyum who was silent throughout the whole time listening to junseo talk to his friends. jinsung noticed though that his smile never left his lips and his eyes never lost their sparkle.
fuck it, whatever.
jinsung approaches him and smiles.“must be nice having a soulmate, huh?”doyum’s head snaps to him so fast jinsung was afraid he might’ve snapped his neck. his mouth was open, and his eyes were wide. to jinsung, he looked like a fish out of water.an adorable fish out of water.
okay jinsung stop.
doyum clutches junseo’s arm and the other’s attention turn to him.“’yum? are you okay?”junseo’s voice immediately becomes worried and he looks on confused as he watches doyum point a finger to jinsung.jinsung was confused as he pointed to himself as well. “what? was it something I said?”doyum shakily nods his head before he lets go of junseo’s arm to roll up his sleeve.and written there was jinsung’s words, “must be nice having a soulmate, huh?”jinsung’s eyes bulged and his mouth fell open as well. his heart experiences a shit ton of emotions: shock, confusion, disbelief, worry… and dare he say it, happiness.“are you freaking serious? twice in a day?” yongha says as he sees the incident unfold.jinsung sees doyum give a small smile, and jinsung wants nothing more than to smile back. he really does… but he can’t. he couldn’t, because he doesn’t have anything to show back.instead of smiling back at doyum, jinsung splutters and frowns before he reacts. “n-no, wait. this can’t be right. I can’t be your soulmate. this is a mistake, i-i can’t have a soulmate.”jinsung didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, but can you blame him? he only realizes that he was a bit too harsh with how he phrased it when he sees doyum’s face.
no wait, I didn’t mean it like that.
doyum’s smile falls from his face. his open mouth closes shut after hearing this, and his lips quiver a bit before he pouts. junseo takes a hold of doyum’s arm, but the other just shakes it off before he runs, bumping jinsung’s shoulder on the way.
tears?
“doyum!” junseo shouts. he shoots a dirty look at jinsung.“what is your problem?!” he shouts at him before he runs after his friend.“what happened?” yechan asks.“jinsung-ssi is doyum’s soulmate!” yongha shouts. yechan’s eyes widen at this before he looks at taewoo, taekhyeon and sungwon who look equally surprised as well.“no, wait there must be something wrong, i can’t have a soulmate!” jinsung says.yongha frowns at this. “why would you say that? why would you think that it’s wrong? he’s been looking forward to meeting you ever since he turned 18 last month. he would always look at his tattoo with a dreamy look on his face and you just went and said that it’s a mistake. you probably hurt doyum’s feelings real bad.”at this, taewoo walks over, protective mode on as he sees jinsung look down. “hey don’t talk to him like that. it’s not his fault—“jinsung holds a hand up to stop taewoo. he lets out a sigh before he rolls up both of his sleeves and presents it to the others.“i... I don’t have a soulmate tattoo, and I’ve come to terms with it. for the past 18 years, I’ve always been told that I wouldn’t have a soulmate so I just blurted it out. I’m sorry if I hurt his feelings but this is very confusing to me okay, I don’t know what to think.”jinsung sees yongha and seunghwan lock eyes for a moment and he sees the brief emotion that passes through both of them.
pity.
“i’m sorry, jinsung. I was out of line.” yongha says. jinsung only nods before he rolls his sleeves back down, hiding his inkless arm.a few moments of silence passes through the group before seunghwan speaks out.“the reason why you don’t have a soulmate tattoo is probably because…” he trails off as he looks at yongha.the other nods. “tell him, he deserves to know.”jinsung looks back and forth between seunghwan and yongha.
there’s a reason why I don’t have a tattoo?
what?
jinsung waits anxiously.“the reason is probably because… doyum can’t speak.”and just like that, jinsung’s whole world stops spinning.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“….what?”jinsung looks at seunghwan who was looking back at him with sorrow filled eyes.“i’m sorry jinsung, but doyum’s mute.”jinsung’s mouth felt dry as he looks at yongha to see if this was a joke but seeing the same look on his face, jinsung wants to smack himself with a baseball bat. jinsung looks at yechan, taewoo, taekhyeon and sungwon and seeing shock in their faces as well, he concluded that no, this is not a prank for his 18th birthday, this is real. seunghwan looks worried as he whips his phone out, already dialing someone’s number.“junseo? yeah, where are you? are you okay? where’s doyum?”jinsung swallows, his eyes locked on the ground.
i…. have a soulmate?
“alright, get him something to drink and calm him down. it was a misunderstanding, a huge one.”jinsung looks at seunghwan whose eyes were already on him.
doyum’s my soulmate.
“alright, we’ll be there.”seunghwan pockets his phone as the call drops.
i feel so stupid, i never even considered?
“was that junseo? where are they?” yongha asks. seunghwan replies with “yeah, that was junseo.” before he mutters something to yongha quietly. seunghwan looks at yechan for a while before he sighs and takes hold of yechan’s face with his hands.“we just met, and i’d really like to get to know you better, but my friend needs me.” he kisses yechan’s forehead and yechan flushes a deep shade of red.“you have my number and i have yours. i’m really sorry but we have to go.” seunghwan looks at yongha before he nods.“it’s okay seunghwan. go, doyum needs you.” yechan says. seunghwan smiles at him before giving him a tight hug.“as for you,” seunghwan looks at jinsung. the other looks absolutely guilty and dejected, and seunghwan gets it. he really does and he’s actually sorry for the dude. going through life believing he doesn’t have a soulmate? that shit must have been hard.“i get where you’re coming from, honestly, i do. i understand why you said what you said, it's not your fault. this is a lot to take in. so it’s okay, give him and yourself a bit of time. doyummie’s just a bit sensitive so he gets hurt and he cries easily.” he says.
so it was tears, oh god i made him cry.
“yeah jinsung. take a breather okay? we’ll see you later. we'll just calm down our small baby and explain everything to him.” yongha adds before they leave.jinsung could only watch as the two run on over to wherever doyum and junseo was.“….okay so this has been…. a pretty tense day. jinsung, how are you holding up?” taewoo asks jinsung."i can't hold up." he replies as he sinks to the floor, his face in between his hands and a groan escaping from his lips.“come on bro, shouldn’t you be happy? you found out you have a soulmate!” taekhyeon pats him on the back lightly and jinsung could only let out another groan.“yeah, and i made him cry on the first day woohoo.”jinsung stands up and lets out another sigh for the day. as he catches the others’ sorry gazes, he shakes his head and slaps his own face lightly.“come on, let’s go ride some more rides. i need a distraction.”it was a little past seven when jinsung and his friends had the time to rest. grabbing some food at the amusement park food court for a light dinner, they sit at the small tables placed at the side of the food stalls.“aside from the mind blowing revelations we had earlier, today was a really, really fun day! thanks for treating us hyung!” sungwon says as he swallows a bite of his burger. yechan was busy tapping away on his phone, and taewoo smacks his head.“eat your food first before you flirt with your new boyfriend.” he scolds. yechan chokes a bit on his soda before he shoots taewoo a dirty look, a blush on his face.“…shut up.” taekhyeon and sungwon laugh.“i don't hear a denial, so he is your boyfriend already?” taekhyeon asks.“NO!” yechan shouts but the redness of his face deepens. “i mean, not yet? but ahhh, I only met him today you guys. who’s to say he even wants a relationship with me?”“you met him today so what? you should’ve seen the way you two were acting earlier, hyung. man, you look like you’ve known each other for forever with how you looked at one another.” sungwon says as he takes another bite.“well yeah, I mean, he is my soulmate. aren’t we like, two halves of a whole?”at the mention of the word “soulmate”, jinsung just completely freezes and zones out. he had this faraway look on his face, and his mouth was stuffed with a half-eaten burger.“hey guys look. jinsung stopped working.” sungwon says as he nudges his head over to jinsung’s direction. yechan taps jinsung’s arm which in turn makes him lose his balance, his left arm falling over the table.the other four laugh loudly as jinsung’s half-eaten burger smears mustard and ketchup on his face.“jinsung, you missed your mouth.” taewoo says in between fits of laughter.“shut up you guys.” jinsung says as he grabs a tissue and wipes the smear off of his face.just as they were about to finish eating, someone goes up behind yechan and covers his eyes.“guess who?” yechan grabs the hands covering his eyes and smiles.“seunghwan, knock it off. you aren’t fooling anybody.” yongha smacks seunghwan’s head who laughs before he takes his hands away.jinsung whips his head around and looks for doyum, who was unfortunately, nowhere to be found.“doyum’s over there with junseo, by the corn dog stand.” seunghwan nudges him. sweeping his eyes to where doyum was, jinsung sees him and junseo together sitting by the benches, eating corn dogs. junseo leans over to tell him something and doyum smiles so wide, his eyes disappear.
shit, he’s so cute.
“we told him everything y’know.” yongha says to him before giving him a light pat on the back.“yeah and he was really sorry. junseo too” seunghwan adds. jinsung shakes his head.“no, I’m the one who’s sorry. can i talk to him? please?” he asks. seunghwan and yongha look at each other.“we’ve got no problems with it, but are you going to be okay?” yongha asks.“yeah, ‘sung. are you sure you’re ready? you don’t have to do this today you know?” taewoo says.as jinsung looks over to where doyum was, he sees that the two have finished eating their corn dogs and are already standing up. junseo’s eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for their two older hyungs and when junseo’s eyes meet jinsung’s, the other nods in formal greeting.“you probably hurt doyum’s feelings real bad.” yongha’s words replayed itself in jinsung's head.“yeah, i’m ready. i have to say sorry.” jinsung stands from his seat. junseo seems to have gotten the message seeing jinsung stand up, and he pulls doyum down to sit again on the benches.“junseo’s a good kid.” yechan comments.“yeah, and oh jinsung, don't be alarmed when he cries, doyum just wears his heart on his sleeve. just calm him down." yongha says."oh, and he likes sweets!" seunghwan adds as he sits down on the seat beside yechan, an arm already protectively swung over the back of yechan's chair.“goodluck jinsungie!” taekhyeon shouts.“get him, hyung!” sungwon cheers from the side. jinsung swallows hard.okay, holy shit, let’s do this again.......why is this more nerve wracking than the roller coaster ride?!doyum was left alone on the benches when junseo excused himself to go to the bathroom. left with nothing else to do, he clasps his hands together and looks at the floor, counting the number of circles and squares on it out of boredom. he counted twelve for circles and four for squares when a pair of shoes block his way. slowly drifting his eyes up, they land on a transparent plastic bag of haribo gummy bears. doyum’s mouth open in delight before it turns into one of shock once he sees who’s holding the bag.jinsung.doyum immediately stands up, his mouth in a thin line and arms stiff beside him. his eyebrows were knitted, and his eyes were displaying so much emotion that jinsung couldn’t even speak at first.“doyum-ah, i-“ before jinsung could finish his sentence, doyum gives him a ninety degree bow.“w-what? no, don’t, doyum, lift your head up.” jinsung says. doyum does as he says and honestly, jinsung wasn’t surprised to see tears welling up in his eyes. seunghwan and yongha did say that he was sensitive.“don’t cry please, i’m sorry.” jinsung places the bag of gummy bears on the bench behind doyum. he cups doyum’s face with his hands and wipes the few tears that spill from the other’s eyes with his thumbs.“doyum, I’m sorry.” jinsung says. doyum shakes his head before he sits down on the bench and grabs something from his pocket. he brings out a notepad and a pen, and writes something down before he shows it to jinsung.
no, i’m sorry.
jinsung takes a seat next to him, careful not to squish the gummy bears. they sit in silence for a while, doyum occasionally rubbing his nose. their eyes meet a few times, before they would once again avoid each other’s gazes. finally, jinsung hands doyum the pack of gummy bears, who accepts it gratefully and they share a small smile.doyum was five out of ten gummy bears in when jinsung speaks up.“i thought you were really pretty when I first saw you.” doyum chokes on a gummy bear and ends up coughing.“shit, I’m sorry!” jinsung taps doyum’s back. once doyum stops coughing, they share a look before jinsung ends up laughing and doyum has this shy embarrassed smile on his face.“who chokes on a gummy bear?!” jinsung asks while laughing. doyum slaps his arm a few times, pouting. jinsung’s laugh turn into small giggles until he stops but his face still holds a smile. they sit in comfortable silence as doyum finishes his pack of gummy bears.“i never thought i’d have a soulmate.” jinsung says, looking at all the couples walking in front of them. he stands up and offers a hand to doyum.“walk with me?” he asks. doyum’s eyes switches from jinsung’s hand to his face before he writes a note, his eyebrows knit in worry.
but your friends, won’t they look for you? my friends must be looking for me too.
jinsung laughs a bit before he points to where the others were. doyum sees his friends, junseo included, sitting on a table with jinsung’s friends a couple of stalls back. they were talking and laughing at something that taewoo says and as if sensing that someone was looking at them, junseo looks back at him and catches doyum’s eyes.he smiles at doyum and wriggles his eyebrows before he motions for him to go away. just then, doyum’s phone vibrates and as he reads it, he gives a small smile of his own as he rolls his eyes.fr: beautiful to: doyum GET ITjinsung once again offers his hand to doyum, a sweet smile on his face. doyum responds to him with a smile of his own before he stands up and takes jinsung’s outstretched hand.as they were walking, jinsung didn’t let go of doyum’s hand.and surprisingly, doyum was okay with that.as they were strolling along the amusement park grounds, hands still clasped together, jinsung suddenly gives out a small laugh. doyum looks at him questioningly.“earlier today, i was staring at all these soulmates walking around here and all I could think of was, ‘damn. i’d never get that.’” jinsung stops walking and looks at doyum with a soft smile on his face. “and yet, here I am now, ten hours later holding hands with my very own.”doyum blushes as he squeezes jinsung’s hand, his porcelain white skin taking on a reddish hue. “who would’ve guessed that I would meet my soulmate on the actual day of my 18th birthday? really unbelievable.” jinsung adds, his smile widening.at the mention of his birthday, doyum suddenly lets go of jinsung to take something out of his pocket. he searches for a while before he finally finds it and dangles it for jinsung to see.a small black keychain, probably bought from the amusement park gift shop.doyum pushes it into jinsung’s hand before he reaches for his notepad. he scribbles something real quick.
happy 18th birthday jinsung!!!
“w-wha?” jinsung stares back and forth between the keychain and then back to the note again before he laughs.“is, is this… a present?” jinsung asks. doyum nods enthusiastically as he hastily writes down a new note.
i remember your friend saying it was your birthday!
jinsung just stares at the keychain in delight until his attention was drawn to the fireworks that went off from across the park. jinsung looks at it in child-like wonder.“doyum, look! fireworks!” he says excitedly as he points to the sky decorated in hues of red, blue and gold. doyum smiles as he scribbles something in his notepad before he shyly gives the note to jinsung.
we match.
jinsung looks at doyum in confusion. as he registers what doyum meant, his mouth falls open, and then he slowly breaks out into a small smile.doyum was holding the exact same keychain he gave jinsung, in white. jinsung suddenly grabs doyum’s hand and pulls him in for a tight hug.“…thank you. this is the most memorable birthday i’ve ever had.” he softly says, nose nuzzling into doyum’s hair.doyum returns jinsung’s tight hug before he pulls away and gives jinsung a quick kiss on the cheek. blushing red, doyum avoids jinsung’s gaze and faces forward, opting to look at the sky for the fireworks.stunned by what the other just did, jinsung could only touch the place where he felt doyum’s lips touch his skin before breaking out into another small smile. standing behind doyum, he wraps his arms around the other’s middle before giving doyum a kiss of his own on the other’s cheek.“that was payback.” he says. doyum only smiles as he places both hands on top of jinsung’s.jinsung places his chin on the other’s shoulder as they both watch the fireworks explode in the night sky.“yes, best birthday ever.”