day 9 "will you look at this?"
“Honey, I’m home!” Bora calls out as she walks through the door of her apartment. She takes off her shoes and hangs up her coat, smiling at the faint laughter she hears from the kitchen.
“Welcome home sweetie! Now go shower because I’m sure you still stink!” Her wife calls back.
Offended, Bora ignores that demand and instead heads straight to the kitchen. “Excuse me?”
Her wife chuckles, not turning around as she continues flipping the meat she’s cooking. “I said what I said. You mentioned this morning it would be a hard day and I know you prefer showering here.”
Bora huffs a little but decides to have fun with it. She sidles up behind the taller woman with a mischievous smile. “But I’m sure you just missed me so much today you can look past that to properly greet your beautiful wife, no?”
“Bora, wait-”
Her wife yelps as Bora grabs her from behind, wrapping her in a tight back hug. The taller woman squirms as much as she can holding tongs and standing right in front of a hot grill. But Bora holds fast, nestling against her from behind and rubbing her cheek wherever she can reach on her wife’s neck, shoulders, and face.
“Bora! Stop it, I’m trying to cook!” Her wife does her best to sound serious in her scolding, but it’s easily undermined by the laughter that escapes her.
“Keep cooking then, babe.”
“Yeah well, don’t blame me when your dinner is gross. You’re gonna get your stink all over the food.”
“Minji! How could you?” Bora gasps dramatically, easily turning her wife around in her arms and shifting them over, so Bora can safely press the taller woman against the counter. “Pretty sure it’s still the cook’s fault if the food tastes bad, you’re just looking for an excuse.”
Minji smirks. “I don’t need an excuse when you’re right here, babe.”
Bora feels a pout set in. Low blow, she thinks, coming for her skills in the kitchen. “Hey! We both know who the best cook in this household is.”
Her wife laughs again, reaching towards Bora with her free hand. She presses a finger to her pouting lips, as if to wipe it away and reveal her smile once again. “You’re right. How can I make it up to you?”
Bora instantly brightens back up at that. Pouts are Minji’s weakness, it’s almost unfair how easy it is to get her way by busting out one of those.
(Unfair is never going to stop Bora from doing it, though.)
“Hmm, I think I need a kiss. You know how it is, I can’t shower if I don’t have my kiss.”
Her wife smiles, setting the tongs down to card that hand through Bora’s hair. “Ah, yes. The universal law of physics: No shower without kiss.”
“Exactly.” Bora grins, letting her wife do the work to lean down and bring their lips together. They fall into the familiar dance, one that is always so easy to let get away from them, hours easily passing by as quickly as minutes when they do.
Minji snaps out of it first, gently pushing Bora away. “There, now go shower before I burn our dinner."
Smiling big, Bora finally agrees. Heart light, as it almost always is when she’s with her soulmate, she heads to the bedroom to get cleaned up.
-----
It’s after dinner (that turned out just fine, thank you very much) when they’re snuggled up on the couch to watch some drama, that Bora sees it.
Call her a romantic, or a sap, but sometimes… sometimes she just gets overwhelmed with how happy and lucky she feels. She and Minji met as kids, both staring in awe as they shook hands and the matching marks slowly enveloped their forearms with an intricate design of purple and pink lilies. From there, things were easy and natural, from becoming friends in their younger years to falling in love as they grew older.
They’d hardly waited at all to get married, not feeling the need to stall when they both knew exactly what they wanted. The two of them had been completely inseparable ever since they met, nothing would ever change that. Seven years of marriage later and they’d yet to ever doubt that.
Every so often (okay, pretty regularly) all that catches up to Bora, and she falls into it. Reminiscing about how lucky she is and how much she just… absolutely adores Minji.
Tonight is apparently one of those nights. Minji excuses herself briefly to go to the bathroom, and Bora pauses their show to wait. Thinking about all this, she does something that’s become a bit of a habit of hers in these moments. She rolls up her right sleeve to look at her soulmark. The tangled web of lilies a physical reminder of the bond she shares with her wife, Bora can spend countless minutes staring at it and just… reveling in the love she and Minji share.
But tonight, something’s different. Bora blinks when she sees her mark, not believing her eyes. When it’s still there, she tries various things - she shakes her head, does a double take, rubs her eyes, wipes her arm as if to brush off what she sees but knows can't possibly be there… nothing.
Orange lilies. The new blooms fill in the space that’s been a part of her mark for the last twenty years - ever since she and Minji met when they were eight. If Bora weren’t so shocked, she’d admit that it’s beautiful. The orange flowers weaving with the purple and pink ones as if they’d always been there finishes the design in a way Bora can’t help but admire.
But any awe at the beauty of the newly finished mark is completely overshadowed by the shock and the worry. Bora doesn’t know what to make of this, what this means. After years and years with Minji, they’d never even considered that dynamic changing. It always had been, and always would be, her and Minji against the world. Their soulmark there as a pillar showing their unbreakable bond, a constant that always stayed the same no matter how they and the world around them changed as they grew up.
Now, it too has changed, and Bora’s not sure how to stay on her feet when it feels like the very ground underneath them has been taken away.
“Minji..?” Bora yells out, her voice holding out the name and rising towards the end with uncertainty and the taste of building panic. When she doesn’t hear a response, she calls out again, this time with more urgency. “Minji!”
Minji rounds the corner, emerging from the bedroom. She picks up on the anxious energy Bora’s giving off the moment she sees her, and quickly makes her way back to the couch. “What? What’s wrong?”
Minji returns to her spot to Bora’s left, wrapping an arm around her and looking searchingly into Bora’s eyes. Confusion and worry tightens the shorter woman’s voice when she responds, leaning into the comforting embrace of her wife. “I-... I don’t know.”
Confusion fills Minji as well, but she squeezes Bora closer to her, hoping to at least comfort her that way. Before she can probe further, Bora gathers herself enough to show Minji what’s happening.
She lifts up her right arm, sleeve still pulled back to show her soulmark. “Just… will you look at this?”
Minji does. And involuntarily, Bora feels her heart sink. Like a weight made of every insecurity she never thought she had when it came to her soulmate latches on and pulls her down into the depths of uncertainty. She feels it in the way she watches her wife’s eyebrows furrow, her eyes lose focus for a second as the image of the changed soulmark registers in her mind, the way every muscle in the arm still wrapped around Bora simultaneously tenses.
“Minji… what… what does this mean?”
“I… I don’t know.”
The weight of that admission sits between them for a few moments, silence washing over the apartment. After so many years of certainty, Bora feels like she’s been thrown a curveball she never even had a chance to know existed before it was whizzing right by her. Judging by her reaction, she figures Minji feels about the same way.
But where Minji had always been better at taking things like this in stride - unexpected struggles or life events, the odd fight they got into over something petty, etc. Bora tends to get a bit overwhelmed. Her emotions welling up until they spill over and she does something rash in her attempt to cope.
She can feel it happening now. Bora’s breath picks up, all the worst case scenarios flooding her brain and filling her with a fear that while probably unwarranted is still all-consuming. That’s why Minji had always been such a good rock for her, able to process these things a little better and faster so she could help Bora do the same.
Thankfully that’s something that’s no different tonight. Minji quickly realizes what’s happening and swallows down her own shock to focus on her wife. “Hey, hey. Bora, look at me, okay sweetie? Look at me.”
The taller woman guides Bora with her gentle words and caring eyes, slowly grounding her again. When she knows the shorter woman is more herself again, no longer lost in the waves, she reassures her.
“Look, this is sudden. Different. Maybe even scary. But it doesn’t have to be bad.”
Bora sniffs a bit, not even having realized until now that her nose had started to clog up with the threat of tears. “How am I supposed to believe that? The one thing in my life that was never going to change just did.”
Minji’s eyes tighten with emotion, never able to completely hold herself together when faced with Bora’s tears. “It didn’t though. Bora, look.” Minji kneels in front of the couch and pulls Bora’s right arm over into Bora’s lap, placing her own next to it.
Bora almost whimpers at the sight of the two soulmarks side by side. For twenty years they’d been identical. Seeing them now, hers holding an entirely different color not even present in Minji’s mark, for the first time in her life she finds herself wishing she could just make the mark go away.
When Minji speaks again, Bora clings to her voice like a lifeline. “No, Bora, don’t look at the new stuff. Look at what’s always been there.” She points along Bora’s mark, mapping out the purple and pink lilies and matching them to her own flowers on her arm. “See? Still the same.”
“But-”
“No buts.” Minji cuts her off. “Nothing about our marks has changed. Something’s just been added on.”
“What are you saying?”
Minji inhales deeply, her left hand gripping Bora’s thigh lightly as if in reassurance for both of them. “What I’m saying is… I’m not going anywhere. Nothing’s changed between us, only something has been potentially added to us. No matter what though, we’ll figure this out. Us, together, will figure this out.”
Bora nods. Maybe not fully convinced yet, but Minji’s logic is sound, she thinks. And above all, she knows she trusts Minji completely.
-----
They don’t get back to the drama that night, instead spending the time in each other’s arms, taking comfort from each other’s presence. Though once the initial knee-jerk emotions have run their course, they do both feel a lot better. Minji’s right, Bora thinks. They’ve gotten through everything else in their life together, there’s no reason this should be any different.
It’s then that they’re able to ask some of the other questions - namely, who was it Bora met that day? Who’s the one with the matching orange lilies?
Bora’s at a bit of a loss. She’s been at this company working as a dance instructor and choreographer for years at this point. She knows everyone there and everyone knows her. Not to mention that today she spent most of her time cooped with the same few dancers she’s worked with countless times before, intent on perfecting a routine she needed to present in just a couple days to the CEO and the group she made it for.
She knows for a fact they’ve all touched at some point. Years of her correcting forms and the little collisions and mishaps that just happen during long days of practice, there’s no way she made contact with one of them for the very first time today.
Even just walking through the hallways… there’s no one there she could run into that she hasn’t at least shaken hands with at some point. It’s a smaller company with a relatively low turnover, and Bora has worked with just about every department on something or other.
It’s Minji who cracks it, a memory from a week or so ago resurfacing. “Wait, when did you say that new vocal coach was starting? The classically trained one from abroad. You mentioned hearing about it last week.”
Bora’s eyes widen. “Today. They started today.” The shorter woman pauses, thinking. “Now that you mention it I remember Yubin saying during practice that she heard they arrived.”
“Well, did you meet them?”
Bora shakes her head. “No. Not even sure who they are or what they look like. I don’t even remember running into them at all. But there’s no one else it could be… There shouldn’t have been anyone else new today or any visitors. And I definitely didn’t run into anyone new while I was alone in the car on the way to and from work.”
Minji looks ahead, vacant. But only for a moment. “Well, that settles it then. Go find the new vocal coach once you get to work tomorrow.”
Bora sputters a bit in response. “What? And then what? Invite them over for dinner?”
Minji brightens at that. “Yeah, actually that’s a great idea.” Seeing Bora’s mouth drop open, she laughs. “Oh come on, it’s the perfect way to get to know them, see what happens. It’s not like you were planning on keeping me a secret, right?”
“No! But-”
“Perfect. Dinner it is then.”
When Bora’s jaw drops and a glare manifests, Minji merely smirks in response. “I’ll make sure I’m home early again from the bakery to whip up something good.”
If there’s anything Bora’s learned from her years with this woman, it’s how to tell when she’s got her mind set and won’t take no for an answer. Bora just hopes everything goes as well as Minji seems to think it will.
-----
When Bora arrives at the company, she’s nervous.
It’s a foreign feeling to her. Not necessarily the nervousness itself, but what she’s nervous about feels strange and new. It never really dawned on her until now, but since she met Minji so young, she never had to deal with this before. The nerves of meeting your soulmate for the first time when you’re older, already well past dating age. The stress of worrying what kind of person they are, what their impression of you will be.
Even just the nervousness before a first date - soulmate or not - is something Bora didn’t really ever have to experience. Sure, she was a little nervous on her first date with Minji, but that was mainly because she had planned it and wanted it to go well. By the time they decided to make the dating part official, they’d already basically been dating for months and little changed other than getting to call each other “my girlfriend.”
Now, standing before the mundane door to her company building as she experiences this all for the first time, she can’t say she’s upset she didn’t have to deal with this before. It almost feels like she’s gonna be sick, all the various ways she imagines this could go wrong churning about in one big maelstrom in her stomach.
She takes a deep breath. She is Kim Fucking Bora. A confident 28 year old woman that’s performed for thousands all over the world and choreographed for countless other performers seen by even more people. She’s not gonna stand here outside and let a little nervousness scare her off like a sixteen year old with her first crush.
Alright. New vocal coach, where are you?
-----
Entering the building, it’s easy for Bora to tell that news has already spread. She passes a few of her coworkers and hears some talk about the new vocal coach, asking each other if they’ve met the newbie yet.
When Bora casually slips herself into the conversation, her friend Yoohyeon gets her exactly the confirmation she’s looking for.
“Yeah, the newbie’s already spent most of the morning going around and meeting everyone. At first we thought she was just being extra friendly, but apparently she got her soulmark yesterday. Thinks it’s probably someone here.”
Bora nods, trying not to show too much of a reaction, and filing away the new info. At least now she knows the coach is a woman. “Any idea where she is now?”
Yoohyeon side eyes her a little. “Why?”
Not expecting to be questioned, Bora’s eyes glance away before she can stop them and focus back on Yoohyeon. “I didn’t get a chance to meet her yesterday, figured I might as well today since I have more time and she’s out mingling anyways.”
The taller woman regards her for longer than Bora would like, enough to make her shift her weight as she waits for a response.
“Aren’t you married?”
Fuck. “I am. Very happily, in fact. What does that have to do with anything?” Bora realizes her tone comes out as way too defensive, but what can she say? She’s a bit on edge and Yoohyeon, as per usual it seems, effortlessly manages to find her buttons and press them.
“...nothing, I guess.” Yoohyeon gives in after another moment of skeptical eye contact. “Uh, last I heard she was heading down towards the dance practice rooms, so you might run into her just going in like normal.”
“Right, thanks Yooh.”
Bora takes off before they can question her any further, and tries to shut out the murmurings she hears behind her. Unfortunately she still catches some of it, hearing Yoohyeon and her friend wondering about why Bora would be looking for someone who got their soulmark, and “her wife is her soulmate right? I didn’t imagine that massive mark she has on her arm?”
She hates the way it makes her worries from the night before resurface. Minji’s words become a bit of a mantra as she walks, using her reassurances that they’d get through this together as a way to compose herself before she meets this person.
Bora’s definitely thankful for those words and the composure they help her get back, because it’s only moments after she enters her practice room that she sees her.
Across the room, a couple of her dancers are talking to her, looking at her outstretched right arm. Bora takes in her form, noting her vibrant hair. Bright orange, how fitting. She can’t quite hear the conversation from here, but she can imagine the woman mentioning getting this yesterday and the dancers saying they didn’t but asking to see it.
Bora steels herself, slowly making her way over as she tries to think of how to get a moment alone with the vocal coach. Thankfully, Yubin helps her out with that, being the only one to notice her entrance and look up. Bora silences her with a finger on her lips, and subtly gestures out the door, hoping her longtime friend and coworker will get the message.
Proving once again Yubin is always someone Bora can count on, she pats the other dancer on the back and makes up some excuse about forgetting they had to get something, and leads him out the door. Bora catches the confused look Yubin sends her and knows she’ll have to explain later, but for now she just wants to focus on meeting the new woman.
And when said woman turns towards her? Well, Bora can forget about the composure she’d worked so hard to keep up until now.
She’s beautiful, for one thing. Bora finds herself almost in awe of her gentle doe eyes, her soft cheeks, and the small nervous smile she’s wearing. Not to mention the way she manages to pull off the orange hair, something Bora knows is not easy.
Her confidence swells just a little when she realizes the other woman seems to be reacting similarly, but she seems to snap out of it quickly. “Oh! You must be Kim Bora.” The woman bows before offering her hand to shake.
Bora takes it, a bit bewildered. “You know me?”
The woman nods. “Your reputation precedes you. I… well, I became a bit of a fan when I was researching this company and saw your work. I look forward to hopefully working with you with some of the performers here, if the opportunity arises.”
“Ah.” Bora clears her throat. “I’m flattered. I’m sure we will work together at some point, miss…?”
“Oh, where are my manners. Sorry. I’m Handong, the new vocal coach.”
“Handong.” Bora repeats, tasting how the name feels on her tongue. “Nice to meet you.”
A moment passes, Bora trying so hard not to stare at the tiny bit of Handong’s soulmark she can see peeking out under her sleeve. She’s not sure how to make the sudden transition of topics, but Handong doesn’t seem about to do it herself and Bora knows she can feel the tension bleeding off of the shorter woman.
“So I heard you got your soulmark yesterday? Heck of a first day, huh?”
Bora wants to facepalm herself right into the middle of next week.
Thankfully, Handong is startled but recovers quickly, saving the shorter woman at least some embarrassment. “I did! Yeah, I haven’t found them yet though, whoever it is.”
Bora swallows thickly, letting out a muffled “uh huh” before regaining her voice. “Can I see it?”
Handong seems to cheer up a bit at that, losing some of the tension hanging over them. “Sure! It’s really pretty, if I dare say so myself.”
The vocal coach pulls back her sleeve, and Bora’s breath hitches audibly. There it is. A tangled web of beautiful lilies in full bloom, identical to hers and Minji’s, only that this one is missing the pink flowers. The orange and purple ones all knot together in the exact same way as the ones on Bora’s arm, with space left open for more blooms much like Minji’s current mark and the way Bora’s used to be.
“Wow…” Bora exhales.
Handong smiles, clearly pleased with the reaction. “Told you it was pretty. Now if I could just find who-”
“It’s me.” Bora blurts out. Not exactly how she planned to go about that, but it does certainly work in getting Handong to suddenly fall silent, eyes wide with surprise.
“Really? Can… can I see it?”
Bora hesitates, too long. Just long enough that she can see confusion and doubt creep into Handong’s expression. Spurred into action, Bora lifts her arm. “Right, uh, of course. Just… hear me out, okay?”
Clearly confused, Handong still nods to her request and Bora sighs in relief. Steeling herself, she rolls back her own sleeve.
Handong gasps, but it quickly turns from excitement to irritation. “That’s not the same, why would you joke about something like this?”
“Wait! No, hear me out, please. You said you would.” Bora waits an agonizingly long moment for Handong to back down, and her shoulders slump in relief when the vocal coach nods. “Look closer, I swear to you they’re the same. The parts you have, at least.”
Still skeptical, Handong does as she asks. Holding their arms up side by side, the fight slowly leaves her until it’s just the confusion left behind. “Okay… I can see it. But what’s all this?” She asks, pointing at the pink flowers on Bora’s arm.
“I’m married.”
“...What?”
This time Bora does actually facepalm. Just once could her big mouth give her a break. “Sorry, I-... Yeah. I meant, I already have a soulmate. That’s what the rest of the mark is. That part’s been there for years, but yesterday, these showed up.” Bora points to the orange lilies.
Handong follows along, but seems to still be hung up processing the ‘married’ comment. “Wait, so you’re already… oh. Then… I guess…”
Bora can sense where Handong is going, can see the conclusion before she vocalizes it. It’s fair, it’s likely the same one Bora would reach initially if she met her soulmate for the first time only for them to tell her they’re already married. She cuts her off before she can get there.
“No! I mean, yes, I am married. And I do love her very much. But…” Bora pauses, thinking carefully how she wants to phrase this, “but my soulmark hasn’t lied to me all these years, I don’t see why it would now. And now that I’ve seen all three marks, I have a hunch what all the flowers mean.”
“And what’s that?”
Bora smiles. “Ah, that would ruin the fun, wouldn’t it?” At Handong’s mildly unimpressed look, Bora presses on to recover. “Okay. Regardless, there’s a way to find out if I’m right. Would you maybe like to come over tonight for dinner? I’d love to get to know you more and my wife is also really eager to meet you.”
Handong hesitates, eyes searching Bora’s for truthfulness. Then trailing down to look back and forth between their arms and the marks on them again. It’s guarded at first, but Bora can see the uncertainty falling away the longer she looks. The willingness to at least give it a try.
“Okay.”
-----
Bora’s nervous again. Minji can obviously tell, since she’s been suppressing her normally curious nature ever since Bora got home, letting the dancer work out her nervous energy however she needs instead of asking her questions. Bora appreciates it, it allowed her to just drop a quick “mission accomplished!” as she came in the door before focusing entirely on getting cleaned up and mentally prepared.
In theory, if Bora’s right about the marks, it should go smoothly. She doesn’t see why it wouldn’t. The main thing, she figures, is how to go about it. As weird and new as this all is for herself and Minji, Bora wants to keep in mind that it’s likely several times that for Handong. Top priority for her is to make sure Handong feels comfortable and welcomed, and not like the universe just sentenced her to a lifetime of third-wheeling.
-----
When Handong arrives, it’s Minji who breaks the ice.
Handong and Bora revert to their nervous selves they had been at the company. Small smiles and greetings as Bora invites her in.
Meanwhile, Minji apparently decides to go with the ‘blurt out the first thought on your mind’ tactic once she sees the vocal coach.
“Oh thank god.”
Bora has just long enough to register the surprise on Handong’s face before she snaps her head back to look at her wife. She has no words but she’s sure her expression conveys her ‘what the fuck, Minji’ sentiment just fine.
“What?” Minji asks, innocent and unbothered. “You never told me who it was. My gay ass is just relieved your bi one is so weak for women.”
“Minji!” Bora scolds. Unbelievable, this woman. But it worked, the ice is broken, and Bora can feel herself relaxing already. (After all, Bora is well aware that that kind of behavior from Minji comes directly from how much Bora’s personality has rubbed off on her over the years). Bora scoffs, “Please, bold of you to think I’d share her anyways.”
Minji just hums in response. “Mm, as if you’ve ever been able to resist me.” Seemingly becoming aware of Handong still standing just inside the doorway, looking amused but still a bit like a fish out of water, Minji ignores Bora’s eyeroll to approach the vocal coach and introduce herself.
She bows and offers her hand out to shake, her infectious energy and contagious smile working their magic like they always do to brighten Handong right back up as well. It’s something Bora’s always admired about her wife. Her charms and joyful energy always have been impossible for anyone to resist.
Handong takes the offered hand, and they both watch in awe as Minji’s soulmark starts shifting. Orange flowers writhe into existence, tangling themselves with the purple and pink ones already present, and the blooms settle into the empty space. Now complete, the mark is once again identical to Bora’s, and Bora feels a peace settle over her at the confirmation of her hunch.
Snapping out of it, Handong pulls up her sleeve to check her own mark, gasping when she sees that pink has been added to hers. All three now confirmed to be identical, a certain warmth fills the room. This is where they’re all meant to be. Maybe Minji and Bora didn’t know there was still an empty spot to be filled, that there was still looking to be done. But they found Handong nonetheless, and they can feel the gap they didn’t even know was there until today has been filled.
And Handong, who’s waited so long to finally find her soulmate, suddenly has two in two days. She knows there’s work to be done to get to know each other and build this new dynamic. But she also knows it’s going to work out.
Minji again decides to be the one to break the moment. She smirks at Bora, raising an eyebrow.
“So, what were you saying about no sharing?”
-----
Dinner goes smoothly after that, and the married couple finds themselves unpacking the day’s events as they lay next to each other in bed that night.
“So that went well, right?” Bora asks.
“I think so. I think she seemed eager, just overwhelmed. But I think we did a good enough job assuring her we want to integrate her into this, not treat her as some sort of side chick to our marriage or whatever.”
Bora hums in agreement, finding Minji’s hand under the covers. “I think so too. That was my main goal tonight, other than just getting to know her. That and making sure she knows we’ll all take this at whatever pace she’s comfortable with, no rushing or anything.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Minji plays with the fingers of Bora’s hand, both enjoying the familiar contact as they sit in the silence for a bit. It’s new, it’s uncharted territory, but both are more than ready to see where this new adventure takes them. Handong seems to them like she’ll fit right in in no time.
A few more moments of silence pass.
“Ah, damnit.”
“...What?”
“We’re gonna need to buy a bigger bed, huh?”
“Bora.”