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Jihoon had known Seungcheol his entire life. They were both the sons of gang leaders in their respective parts of the country, and their fathers often did dealings and other jobs, with each other. They were destined to meet and get to know each other at some point in their life. But the fact that they were also destined to be soulmates. Jihoon never quite understood.
It had all happened when they were kids. Jihoon was around 10 years old, when he was running around with Seungcheol in a forest, just playing around, when he had suddenly fallen to the ground. It hadn’t really hurt, he only scraped his left knee slightly, but when he to his surprise saw the exact same wound appear on Seungcheol’s left knee, he hadn’t known what to do. They had stared at each other for a while, the realisation slowly sinking in. Seungcheol had broken out into a wide grin, but before he had had a chance to speak, Jihoon had ran away, never looking back.
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That was all 13 years ago, and Jihoon still hated the whole soulmate concept to this day. Partly because it was a stupid thing, being destined to be with one person, instead of being able to choose oneself. But also because Jihoon had known right from the start, that he could not be with his own soulmate. They were both sons of gang leaders, and even though their dads seemed to have a fine relationship, nothing ever lasts in the gang world. This had turned out to be true, as a few years after Jihoon and Seungcheol had figured out their connection, Seungcheol’s dad had betrayed Jihoon’s, which had resulted in Jihoon’s father, dying. Leaving Jihoon with his job.
Jihoon had always wanted to become something else in life, what, he didn’t know, just not a gang leader. But that was where he was now, all thanks to his own soulmates father. It didn’t take long for Seungcheol to take over the family business as well, leaving him and Jihoon as some of the leading gang leaders of underground Seoul.
Jihoon’s gang had their headquarters beneath the coffee shop his father had bought, it turned out to be the perfect cover, as coffee is just not a suspicious thing, and all of the employees, were also members of his gang. That was until Seungkwan had butted in, but he quickly got into the gang life as well, and Jihoon had earned himself a new member.
Jihoon wouldn’t say that he had any close relationship to anyone in the gang. Or anyone at all. He was the type who liked to keep to himself. Just letting people do their thing, as he did his. But one thing that could really get on Jihoon’s nerves, was when his gang members, started babbling about their soulmates. Seokmin and Soonyoung were soulmates, and would constantly fawn over each other, driving Jihoon to the brink of throwing up. Seungkwan wanted nothing but romance in his life, and his endless speech about romance and poetry, made Jihoon want to gauge his own eyes out. Jisoo and Chan were the only ones Jihoon could actually stand to listen to for more than five seconds.
He just really hated this whole soulmate concept, and just wanted to forget that he even had one himself. That was, of course, easier said than done, as Jihoon and Seungcheol were connected with the wounds and bruises they got on their own body. If Jihoon got shot, Seungcheol would feel it too. If Seungcheol got a scar, Jihoon would get it as well. And it went on like that. It was like sharing a body with another person, and Jihoon didn’t like it one bit. And he liked it even less when Seungcheol would meddle with his business, in this case Seungkwan and his stupid soulmate. Seungkwan had decided that he wanted to play princess, and run away with his soulmate. And Jihoon wasn’t amused.
When he had finally located Seungkwan, it had been too late. Seungcheol and the rest of his gorillas, were already at the scene, and Jihoon really just wanted to get the whole ordeal over with.
Seungcheol and him had never really talked together after the whole thing with their fathers, and Jihoon was fine with that, he had nothing to say. He hated Seungcheol, and the fact that they were soulmates, and by the way Seungcheol talked to him, he figured, that he wasn’t a big fan of him either.
Jihoon decided that it was time to make his presence known to the other gang, and in an angry tone said: “Hey, what do you think you are doing?” referring to Seungcheol and his gang.
Everybody had turned to look at him, as he walked steadily towards Seungcheol. The rest of his gang following suit.
“I’m minding my own business, how about you mind yours, shorty” Seungcheol had snapped, at Jihoon with an annoyed expression.
Causing Jihoon to snort and answer: “Well, sorry to break it to you, muscle brain, by some of your problem seems to be mine as well” quickly turning his attention to Seungkwan. Who quickly ducked his head out of the way.
Seungcheol rubbed his fingers at the bridge of his nose, and groaned in annoyance: “Stay out of this pipsqueak, I don’t want to hurt a child” using the height insults, only to get on Jihoon’s nerves. And it was working, and he knew it. Despite not talking much, they always argued a lot when they finally met each other on the ground.
They knew each other more than any of them would like to admit, and they knew how to get a rise out of the other, and that was exactly what Seungcheol was doing.
“Okay, that’s it you overgrown monkey on steroids” Jihoon had uttered through gritted teeth in annoyance, as he aimed his gun at Seungcheol.
“That is often referred to as a gorilla, sir” Soonyoung had offered his words, only to be turned down by Jihoon yelling: “Shut up Hoshi” as he finally fired the gun.
It missed Seungcheol’s head by a strand of hair, and the two gangs quickly broke out into a fight.
The fight didn’t last long, as they quickly noticed how their main reason for being here, had escaped. Jihoon had showed his head from behind the car he was hiding behind and said: “Great job, jackass, you let them escape!” calling out to Seungcheol.
“I let them escape?!” Seungcheol started, “I would have killed them both by now if you hadn’t showed up getting all angry and stuff!” He continued as he peaked his head up from behind a dumpster.
Jihoon didn’t answer for a while. In some way, Seungcheol was actually right, but he didn’t get to get that honor, and Jihoon shot at his head one more time, missing.
“You wouldn’t dare hit me pipsqueak!” Seungcheol yelled back, “If I hurt, you hurt, remember?!” he continued, making Jihoon almost yell in frustration at his utmost bluntness. The others didn’t need to know about their relationship.
“We are not done yet Seuncheol!” Jihoon yelled as he motioned for the others to retreat.
“Oh I know that, Jihoonie~” he answered, adding the nickname in a sing song tone, just to get on Jihoon’s nerves. It worked.
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A few months had passed, since the confrontation with Seungcheol’s gang. And Jihoon was annoyed. He had firstly, lost a member of his gang, meaning that he had to be more careful around his customers and the other gangs around him. But also because Seungcheol had the cheekiness to reveal to all of his gang members, that they were in fact, soulmates. None of his gang members had dared to bring it up, but they knew, he knew that they knew. And Jihoon’s hate towards soulmates and Seungcheol, just grew bigger.
Jihoon tried not to think too much about Seungcheol, but the more he tried, the harder it got. Of course the thought of living a normal life with his soulmate, had crossed his mind a few times before. He just knew that it was downright impossible for the two of them, to ever live a normal life. It just didn’t work like that, when you were in a gang, life was way to complicated to ever work out normally.
Of course Seungcheol had many good qualifications, Jihoon knew that. Mainly because of Seungkwan gathering information on the gang, but also because he knew him. He never really thought much about it, but they had known each other for a long time, and the pure memory of Seungcheol smiling at him, when they figured they were soulmates, always made the gears in Jihoon’s head spin. He had looked so happy, to finally finding his soulmate, and Jihoon had crushed all his hopes, by turning around and running away as fast as he could.
Of course Seungcheol would have a slight hate towards him, and Jihoon felt moderately bad, not extremely bad, but bad enough, that he wished he had been a little better with his feelings.
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Over the course of time, Jihoon had gotten many bruises and scars. It was impossible, not to gain any, in this line of business. But sometimes Jihoon thought that Seungcheol got some of his wounds on purpose, just to annoy him. But they were two to play that game, and Jihoon would sometimes, purposely, walk into a table, just for the pure satisfaction of knowing that this hurt Seungcheol just as much as it hurt him.
One time Seungcheol had gotten into a fist fight, or something, while Jihoon was in a business meeting with some highly appreciated customers. Let’s just say that they found it rather amusing to see Jihoon, doubling over in pain they could not see get inflicted on him, and lay down on the floor in pure agony. He paid Seungcheol back by getting into a fist fight himself, at a time, where he knew that Seungcheol had a job to be done. Jihoon knew his plan worked, because the morning after he woke up with a wound from a knife that had graced him, or rather Seungcheol on the arm.
That was some of the only contact Jihoon had to Seungcheol, and frankly, he was fine with it. In some ways Jihoon really hated his soulmate mark, because it constantly reminded him exactly of what soulmates were to him. Painful.
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About two years later, Jihoon had lost another member of his gang. Jisoo. Nobody knew what had happened to him, but it appeared that, Jeonghan, the right hand man of Seungcheol’s gang had disappeared as well. And Jihoon only had to put two and two together, to figure out the connection. This stupid soulmate stuff had to stop.
It had been late at night, when Jihoon finally started walking towards his apartment. He had had some work that needed to be done, and when he finally finished it, it was way past midnight. He had decided to take a shortcut through some small alleys, when a voice called out to him: “You are late”
Jihoon turned around in the direction of the voice, a chill running down his spine. He wasn’t scared, to be exact, he knew how to defend himself, he was just surprised by the sudden company.
“Who is it?” Jihoon asked in a calm voice, staring into the shadows where the voice had originally come from.
The voice didn’t respond, but instead a man stepped out from the shadows. It took Jihoon a short while to identify the person, but when he did, he rolled his eyes and turned on his heels to continue walking. It was Seungcheol.
“You always run away” Seungcheol stated calmly, staying in the same spot as before, watching as Jihoon stopped in his track to turn around to face him.
“I do not” he answered, his face distorted into an expression of annoyance and tiredness, Seungcheol was the last person Jihoon had wanted to deal with at this hour.
But despite that fact, there was still a small feeling of warmth spreading through his chest by the sight of the older male. Jihoon quickly tried to get rid of the feeling, as he concentrated on drilling holes in Seungcheol’s jackets, with his eyes.
“But you do” Seungcheol started, taking a step towards Jihoon “When we were kids, last year, and every other time I try to talk to you” he continued, looking at Jihoon with slightly hurt eyes, that made Jihoon feel a little bad “You run away” he finished as he stopped walking.
There were silence between them for a moment, before Seungcheol rolled his sleeve up and said: “Remember this?” pointing to a long scar on his arm, “I got this because you decided to get into a fist fight on a day I had a job” he explained, chuckling slightly at the memory.
“I know” Jihoon started, “I got it too” he finished, shrugging slightly on his shoulders.
Seungcheol looked up at him again, a smile playing on his lips, as he said in a teasing tone: “I could have died, you know” smirking at the smaller male.
“I know” Jihoon stated bluntly, fighting the smile that was about to appear on his face.
Seungcheol sighed deeply, as silence again broke out between them.
“I just want to talk to you Jihoon” He started, once again moving closer to Jihoon. Jihoon didn’t answer, he just waited for Seungcheol to continue whatever he was trying to say.
“I want to understand you, and I want you to understand me” he explained, stopping as he was standing right in front of Jihoon.
Jihoon looked up at him in confusion, this was the first time they had ever been so close, since they were children, and Jihoon didn’t know what to do, so he decided to ask: “What is there to understand?” in a confused voice, never breaking eye contact with the much taller male.
“That we are soulmates” Seungcheol slowly uttered in a low voice, causing Jihoon to huff and look away.
“And as long as we are soulmates, you kind of owe me just a little bit of your time” Seungcheol tried to argue as he reached for one of Jihoon’s hands.
Jihoon looked up at Seungcheol once again and said in an annoyed tone: “I owe you nothing, Seungcheol, you know it would never work” despite his annoyance, not pulling his hand to him, just yet.
“You don’t know unless you give it a chance” Seungcheol tried to argue once again, slightly strengthening his grip around Jihoon’s hand.
“I can’t” Jihoon simply stating, looking to his feet. Seungcheol were wearing a nice pair of boots he noticed. He always did wear nice clothes now that he thought about it.
Jihoon was snapped out of his thoughts when Seungcheol’s voice sounded, way to close to his face: “Why not?”
“I just, can’t” Jihoon tried once again. He didn’t have a concrete answer, he didn’t know why he didn’t want to give Seungcheol a chance, he had just always told himself otherwise, so why now? He was supposed to hate Seungcheol, and this whole soulmate thing, so why was his cheeks heating up now at their close proximity. Why couldn’t he control his heartbeat, and why couldn’t he tell Seungcheol what he really wanted to do? Why couldn’t he just be honest with his feelings?
“Okay then, I get it, you need time” Seungcheol started, as he slowly started to back away from Jihoon “I’ll give you some time” he finished, as he squeezed Jihoon’s hand, as he slowly let go of it, lingering for a brief moment.
“What do you mean?” Jihoon asked in confusion and desperation, trying discreetly to reach for Seungcheol’s hand again, his own hand missing the warmth.
“Goodbye Jihoon” he simply stated, and with that, he disappeared into the shadows of the night.
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Jihoon had thought that that had been the last time in his life he would ever see Seungcheol. It was over ten years ago, and Seungcheol had just disappeared after that encounter. His gang completely disbanded, with no trace of any of them.
Jihoon’s gang had stayed, or what was left of them had stayed, but Jihoon had, a few years ago, decided that enough was enough, and that a new generation were moving on to the market, that they could not compete with. He had sold the coffee shop of to Chan, and had been out of town for a little while, only to return a few days ago.
He combed a hand through his, now, red hair, as he sighed deeply at the sight of his old coffee shop in front of him. That place brought back a lot of memories. And as he reached for the doorknob, Jihoon didn’t even get to enter the well known coffee shop. Before his eyes caught a certain person sitting alone at a table, reading the menu. It was Seungcheol.
For some reason, Jihoon’s breath got caught in his throat, and he stopped in his tracks. He hadn’t seen Seungcheol for over ten years. And there he was, just sitting there, in his old coffee shop, like nothing had ever happened between them. He frankly didn’t know what to do. The only thought that ran through his mind in that said moment was: Thank goodness, he’s fine. Jihoon had been worried about him, he would never admit it, but he had, and it kind off pulled a weight off of his shoulders to seeing him being fine and alive.
A sigh of relief left Jihoon’s lips, and a feeling of something warm and soothing washed over him. The immense hate he had felt towards Seungcheol for so many years, had disappeared completly, and whatever it was that was left, made Jihoon do something he never thought he would have done.
He slowly walked up to Seungcheol’s table, and without thinking much about it, sat down across from him, reached his hand towards him and said: “Lee Jihoon” in a stating manner, seeing as Seungcheol looked up at him with wide and surprised eyes.
“I think we have some catching up to do” he continued as something flashed in Seungcheol’s dark chocolate brown eyes, something longing and heartfelt, as he slowly took Jihoon’s one hand in both of his. And with a slight smirk said: “That took you long enough, pipsqueak”