HUE | mark lee

thirty-two

jisung watches the young man slowly drown himself into a sleepy daze, dark circles formed around his eyes and only getting darker. jaehyun sets the glass bottle onto the counter, wiping his lips with the sleeve of his button up. it's rough and stiff against his skin and he grunts at the slight pain.

"do you regret shutting down your plan?" the younger boy questions but was met with an answer he wasn't expecting, "it's because of that dude, that author. if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have broken up with me. now i can't even see her because she avoids me."

jisung sits across from him, "don't you think it's because she found her soulmate?"

"she probably did because she's been distant for the past few weeks," jaehyun answers, throat all clenched up. he felt like he'd cry any second and it wasn't a good look for him, "whoever's her soulmate, i hope she'll be happy. i did all of this for her. truly, it was all for her."

"i know," jisung clenches his fist, "the girl at my school showed me the code on her wrist today."

jaehyun lifts his head, feeling unsettled, "what color was it?"

"black," the boy almost forces the answer to come out because it didn't want to be released.

"your soulmate's out there, don't lose hope. everyone's codes have been transferred into the same file as their genes. there's no point in getting tats anymore. i made it simple for you all."

jisung sighs, staring at the ink flashing back at him on his wrist, "maybe you're god."

"i might be, maybe that's why i can't have a soulmate," jaehyun mutters, lifting the bottle up to his lips again. he takes a small swig but jisung removes it, "the code on your wrist, someone will see it."

jaehyun gives him a wise grin, not looking forward to that moment happening, "she already saw it and she left."

"why? where did she go?" the young boy questions, clearly not understanding life chances and encounters.