Archive of Our Own

Inked (Soulmates AU)

A touch of a brush here and a flash of a camera there, the private beach was quietly bustling as staff hurried from one point to another. Each and every one of them tended to the photographers and the models, providing them the necessary equipment and requested items as the day went on.

Everyone's attention were mostly on the two supermodels near the shore, where a photoshoot for Valoran Fashions magazine was being taken.

The blonde one between them donned a white, two-piece halter swimsuit, while the one with silver lavender hair was clad in a black, criss-cross swimsuit.

“Turn here, lift your head and, yes! There! Perfect!”

“How long do we have to stand out here?” The blonde, honey-eyed model, Ahri, asked in a murmur, glancing over to her best friend.

“Is the sunscreen not working for you?” Running a hand through her lavender hair to reveal more of her amber gold irises to the camera, Evelynn changed her pose to bring her face a tad bit closer to Ahri.

“It's not.” Ahri huffed, the scowl that threatened to take over her face immediately morphing into a confident smile. She wouldn't want the photographer to get the wrong idea. “And you know I burn easily.”

“Do you want to reapply?”

“Maybe after a few more shots.”

“Alright.”

The photoshoot lasted for at least thirty more minutes before Evelynn took notice of her friend's discomfort, which the photographer didn't seem to be aware of. She and Ahri have grown used to adjusting in front of the camera and disguising their hassles with professional poses and award winning smiles and smirks, so it was considered normal to them whenever people failed to notice these little details.

Clapping her hands and waving them at the photographer, Evelynn said, “Alright, darling, I think that's enough for now.”

“What?” The photographer reacted with slightly wide eyes, somewhat taken by surprise at the sudden halt of the shoot. “Is there something wrong?”

“The sun is just too hot and I feel like I need more lotion on my skin.” Evelynn said, giving vague gestures as she started towards the open tent at the side, where Ahri immediately scurried after her.

“But, Evelynn...-” One of the staff was cut off with a hushing gesture by the woman herself.

“Now where's the lotion? Come now. Management doesn't pay you all for nothing. Chop, chop.”

Like ants being splashed by water, most of the staff around them scrambled to accommodate their possible needs. One immediately ran to retrieve some sunscreen as Evelynn and Ahri made their way to the tent, where two fancy-looking beach chairs could be found waiting for them.

“Thanks, Eve.” Ahri whispered, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before falling onto her chair with a smile that showed how pleased she was with the shade they're now under in.

“All in a day's work, Foxy.” Evelynn coolly replied, stretching an arm out to the staff that approached her with the bottle of lotion. As the personnel started applying some on her skin, she made a gesture with her free hand. “Make sure Ahri here gets the same treatment. She burns easily.”

“Yes, Miss Evelynn.”

While another staff member handled Ahri, they had one personnel each that stood by them, dutifully cooling them down with the large fans they had in hand. It didn't take long for the one applying the lotion on Evelynn’s arm to move to her back once they finished with the other and her two legs.

“Don’t apply too much, please. And, knead my shoulders a bit while you're at it. They're a bit sore.”

"Oh, uh, of course, of course. Will do.”

Beside her, while Ahri got her left arm being cared for by one of the staff, she had her chin perched on her right palm as she looked at Evelynn with a teasing smile. “You are really living up to your reputation as a diva, aren't you?”

“As one of the highest paid models in the world and being deemed as the most beautiful woman in the world the previous year,” Evelynn turned her head and met Ahriʼs smile with a sweet one of her own. “I don't see what's so wrong about it.”

“I'm still wondering how you could bear with such a long morning ritual.” Ahri muttered, remembering all the things Evelynn mentioned to her about how to get perfect skin, smooth and silky hair and many other traits involving their appearance. “It sounds so much of a handful. Like, literally all I do every morning is apply that post-sleep moisturizer you recommended.”

“Don’t act like you don’t do my usual facial and skin care routine whenever you're going on a date with someone.” Evelynn teased back so easily, sending Ahri a little wink.

“That's different. I want to look good in dates, alright? I mean, who doesn't?” Ahri waved her off, shifting on her chair as she stretched one of her legs out to receive the same sunscreen application. “Speaking of which, how's the dating scene for you?”

“I haven't exactly been out on anything serious ever since Tobias and I broke up.”

“Still hung up on him?”

Evelynn let out a light laugh. “Oh no, definitely not. In fact, it's quite the opposite.”

“Oh?”

“I've been fully supportive of his endeavors. Haven't you heard that he's dating Malcolm?”

Ahriʼs eyes widened. “Malcolm? His friend? The one that he introduced to you at your birthday party last year?”

“Mm-hm. I was the one who pushed him to make the first step when I realized he has a thing for him for so long, and you know how I am when it comes to pining. I hate it.”

“Huh, good for him, I guess. I knew the chemistry between them was so much better than the one you had with him.” Ahri then flashed a sheepish smile. “Er, I meant absolutely no offense with that, Evie.”

“None taken, darling. With what I did, I'm sure it's quite clear I actually agree with your point.” Evelynn waved off the staff once she was satisfied with what they've done before turning back to Ahri and asking, “Now, what about you?”

Ahri shifted on her seat, suddenly looking like a spooked cat. “What about me?”

“How's your dating scene? Last I heard, things were getting serious between you and that Fortune woman.”

“Oh, Sarah, right.” Ahri offered another sheepish smile. “We actually haven't gone out again ever since she left for an overseas business trip at Piltover two weeks ago. Something about doing damage control there.”

“Intending on waiting on her?”

“I don't know, maybe? It's not like I've met someone else that's caught my attention...” Ahri said, trailing off as she half-consciously thanked the staff member when they were finished with the whole sunscreen thing. “You know, at times like this I wish I'm one of the lucky ones.”

“Lucky ones?”

“You know the whole soulmate thing...-”

Evelynn groaned, making it clear she did not like the road their conversation was heading down to. “Not this again, Ahri.”

“Oh come now, Evelynn. Don't tell me you haven't been at least a bit curious about it!” Ahri nearly whined, knowing her friend would immediately try shooting down the topic the first chance she could get. “There are still some people out there whose soulmate bond is still active.”

A scoff. “By some people, you mean those that randomly write letters on their skins and claim it was from their soulmate? Ahri darling, I've seen a whole lot of those on social media, and I must say, I'm not impressed, nor convinced in the slightest.”

“Some are actually true though.”

“Name one person that you personally know that found their soulmate through the 'eternal bond' people talk about.”

“One of my friends, Sett! You remember him? He met...-”

“He met Soraka because she was his mother's doctor. And no, that doesn't count as the so-called eternal bond, nor is it destiny. It's all completely coincidental, and their relationship merely developed naturally. And, yes, I do admit their relationship is one of the strongest ones I've seen.”

“Alright, fine. What about Xay...-”

“You told me yourself that Xayah and Rakan are high school sweethearts. Their relationship is great and all, but it is definitely not something manifested by an unexplainable soulmate connection.”

Ahri sighed in forfeit, slumping on her seat for a moment before pushing herself back up on her feet. “One day, Evelynn. One day, I'll be able to prove to you that the whole soulmate connection still exists. Not everyone's hearts became dormant, you know.”

Evelynn lightheartedly scoffed, also standing from her chair as she shook her head at Ahriʼs confident promise. “We'll see, Foxy. We'll see. For now, let's get back to the photoshoot.”

With the lack of mentions about the aforementioned topic, it was safe to say for Evelynn that Ahri most likely let the matter go entirely. By the time daylight had vanished and the skies turned dark and were adorned by twinkling stars, Evelynn was already at her apartment.

Ahri had went home with her and stayed until late at night as they celebrated another successful photoshoot. Evelynn honestly thought she would hear another one of Ahriʼs speeches about bonds between souls as they both drank wine while they lounged on one of the comfy couches in her living room.

Surprisingly, mainly from Evelynn’s part, Ahri mostly spoke about the runway show she had attended the previous week, saying her piece about the outfits the models wore during the whole event. Some designs apparently got the the blonde to gush about them, while some attires she mentioned were critically criticized.

Once Ahri finally left after getting Evelynn to promise they'd have breakfast tomorrow together to continue where they left off, Evelynn started preparing her bed for her evening slumber. But, by the time it was all set and all she needed to do was change into something comfortable, Evelynn could feel an itching, tingling sensation crawl over the back of her shoulders.

Try as she might, her scratching didn't seem to work, which prompted her to step into the bathroom to take a quick but relatively thorough shower to scrub off what she assumed was a tiny bit of leftover sand from the beach.

Much to her annoyance, when she finished with the whole process, the irksome prickling felt like it had spread to cover half of her upper back now. She tried running her towel over it, but it didn't seem to lessen the pesky itch in even the very slightest.

Sighing in frustration, Evelynn chose to just disregard the feeling entirely as she made her way out of the bathroom to dress up. Even when she covered herself with the softest nightgown and the most comfortable pair of underwear she scoured from her walk-in closet, the annoying feeling on her skin still persisted.

The more the night went on, the more Evelynn’s patience was tested. She had taken the time to dry her hair and put on her daily evening moisturizer and even when she had retreated under the expensive covers of the bed, she could still feel the itch linger on. It had even crawled over to her right arm and the outer side of her right thigh.

If she wasn't so exhausted from all the activities she had been involved in throughout the day, Evelynn probably would have had more trouble in falling asleep. Thankfully, that wasn't the case and even with the irritating itch persisting, the amber-eyed woman eventually fell into a slumbering state.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The sun was just peeking out of the clouds by the time KaiʼSa returned from her morning jog, her keys rattling quietly as she made her way up to the apartment she shares with her best friend. She felt a light, tingling sensation brush over the inner side of her left forearm, prompting her to roll up the elastic arm pad it was wrapped with. Once the coverage was out of the way, she looked down to check on it, only to find a scribbled morning greeting waiting for her.

“Good morning, habibti.”

A cute, little smile played on her lips as she withdrew the pen she had brought with her before she left for her jog. Lightly biting the cap and yanking it off with her teeth, KaiʼSa kept it pinched between her lips as she brought her left forearm up and started writing below the initial message.

“To you, too, liefie.”

Once she wrote her message, she brushed her thumb over the message she received first before doing the same thing on the one she had written, which then gradually faded until all that was left on her skin was not a single letter of either texts. Capping the pen and stuffing it back in her jacket's pocket, KaiʼSa rolled the arm pad back down and made her way to the apartment with a bounce in every step that she took.

It was only half past six o'clock in morning when KaiʼSa found her roommate, Akali, munching on some cereal for breakfast at the kitchen island once she walked into the unit. The dancer slash part-time yoga instructor quirked an eyebrow at her roommate, her greeting dying down when she noticed the white, low side tank top and loose jogging shorts Akali was wearing, which exposed the bandages not only around her right arm, but also around practically her entire torso and her right thigh.

“What the hell is this?” KaiʼSa asked, gesturing at the bandages as she approached the other woman.

Akali snorted and said through a mouthful of cereal, “Goop mowring to yur, too.”

“I'm not kidding here, Akali. Did you...?” KaiʼSa gave her roommate a sharp, scolding look while she placed her hands on her hips. “Did you actually get a tattoo?”

Instead of being afraid or nervous, Akali enthusiastically nodded, hastily swallowing the food she was chewing. “You mean the tattoo I've been telling you about for the past couple of weeks? Yes, I most definitely did, Bokkie. It did hurt a whole lot just like how you said it would, but yeah. It's super worth it.”

An exasperated groan, followed by a face-palm. “Akali, dammit.”

“What? It's my skin anyway!”

“I know it is, but we've talked about this.”

Akali huffed. “Oh come on, Boks. You seriously don't think I actually have a soulmate out there, do you? And besides, even if I did, it's not like my bond with them is active like how yours is when it comes to Sivir.”

At the mention of her girlfriend, KaiʼSa couldn't help but glance down to her left forearm. There was still no tingling sensation whatsoever, so Sivir still hadn't written a response yet.

“You don't know that, Akali.” KaiʼSa returned with a frown. “Have you ever tried writing on your skin? You might surprise yourself with a possible reply, y'know. I know I did.”

Akali lightheartedly rolled her eyes, recalling the memory of KaiʼSa telling her all about how she had merely tried writing on her skin just to see if her soulmate bond was active, only to actually receive an answer she had been hoping to acquire in return. Despite being provided proof of the possibility by none other than her best friend, Akali still remained unconvinced.

“Well, if it is active, then I expect a form of thanks from my soulmate.”

KaiʼSa crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “And why would they thank you?”

“Because of me, they just got an amazing dragon tattoo for free.”

Now KaiʼSa looked like she wanted to plant her face on the counter and groan out loud. “I might not know who your soulmate is, but I could already tell that they're going to be extremely pissed at you for getting that tattoo.”

“Bokkie, come on. What are the chances my soulmate bond is active like yours, huh? No one knows! And, based on what's common these days, it's probably close to none, so there's no need to worry about it. I'm happy for you that yours work and that you found your other half, but to be honest, Kai, you're the first one I met that actually found their soulmate.”

KaiʼSa knew Akali had a point. There's a reason why she hid her forearm as much as she could, especially after she and Sivir had agreed they'd always write back to one another on that specific part of their bodies. If people around her saw that her soulmate bond was active, she'd be crowded with questions and maybe even go viral.

Practically everyone whose soulmate bond was active and had chosen to share the knowledge to the world garnered attention, and, well, KaiʼSa wasn't really one for all the fame and whatever else that came with it.

Although, the ones who were always so eager to share the fact that their soulmate bond was active is either because they're a world famous celebrity, or their bond wasn't legitimately active and that they're probably just faking it for clout.

Sighing in resignation, KaiʼSa chose to just ask, “Did you try at least once to write to your soulmate?”

Turning back to her cereal, Akali casually said, “Nope!” before continuing on munching away.

KaiʼSa scratched the back of her head as she stared at Akali with an exasperated expression. In the end, she just shook her head and waved her friend off as she turned away and headed towards her bedroom. What's done was done, and no matter how much she debated with Akali, that tattoo she got wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

“Hey, Bokkie! Can you help me put some ointment on my tattoo once I get the bandages off? You know I can't reach all of them, especially on my back, and I really want this tattoo to look as great as it should be. That, and I don't want a skin infection.”

A sigh. “Yeah, yeah, fine. Be sure to get one of those antimicrobial soap, too. You're gonna need it.”

“Will do!”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city...

The morning sun practically glared through the window and bathed nearly the entire room with sunlight, making it rather obvious that the person sleeping on the bed had forgotten to pull down the blackout blinds attached on top.

This wasn't how Evelynn normally woke up, so she was considered easily irritated by the time she couldn't hide under the blanket any longer and chose to finally abandon her bed and make her way to the bathroom to at least splash some water on her face and get rid of her morning breath.

After splashing some cool water on her face, Evelynn prepared a small dose of mouthwash, which she quickly took into her mouth and gargled. And while she did, she lowered the cap and washed it under the stream of water, only for her eyes to land on what seemed to be a body of greyish white smoke and of a purple dragon inked and wound around her right arm.

Immediately, Evelynn sputtered out the cool liquid from her mouth, splattering them not only all over the black marble surface of the sink but also some on the mirror as well.

A couple of coughs later, Evelynn washed off the remains of mouthwash on the corners of her lips before she returned her attention on her arm. She examined it with the assistance of her reflection, her eyes widening even more than before as she took in its intricate designs.

“What... the hell...?” She breathed out in absolute shock and horror, the alarmed look on her face becoming more and more pronounced when she turned around halfway and saw that the tattoo seemed to extend to her back.

With haste, Evelynn yanked the nightgown over her head, discarding them to the side to look at her almost-completely nude self. Her dread amplified tenfold when she realized that this significantly huge body art crawled over not only the entire back of her shoulders and torso, but also down to her right thigh.

“This can't be...” Evelynn said to herself, shaking her head. “For fuck's sake, this can't be happening...!”

Grabbing one of the washcloths from one of the shelves on the wall, Evelynn ran towards the shower and turned it on, merely jumping for a second at the sudden splash of cold water before she began scrubbing at her arm, back and thigh.

For what felt like an hour, or maybe even more, Evelynn scrubbed herself raw until she was sure she had broken her very own rule about being gentle with her delicate skin. Though there were no damages left, her skin was evidently red, which showed how hard she had tried ridding herself of the ink now printed on her body.

Angrily throwing the washcloth into the sink and propping herself up on the marble surface with one hand, Evelynn regarded herself in the mirror with a glare. She took a deep breath to calm herself and once she wasn't shaking from frustration, she raised her hand and stared at it for a long moment of contemplation.

Maybe this was a dream. Maybe a good, hard slap on the face would wake her up and then she'll find herself back on her bed again with the blinds down and with her body ink-free.

Evelynn had already pulled her hand back and was about to strike herself when she heard knocks come from the front door, followed by the buzzing doorbell she had installed when she moved in. All of this was then followed with her best friend's voice, which called out her name through the closed door of the unit.

“Evelynn? Evelynn! You there? We're having breakfast today, remember?” Ahri, from the other side of the door, huffed and lightly stomped her foot. “You promised, so there's no backing out!”

Evelynn groaned and bowed her head for a moment, knowing that was enough proof that this wasn't a dream. Running a hand over her face, she eventually peeled her drenched underwear, which she then abandoned at the sink, before swiping and throwing on the fluffy black bathrobe hanging on the wall beside the shower stall.

Rope tied tight, close and around her waist, Evelynn made her way out of the bedroom and across her apartment, answering the door with a deep scowl on her face that silenced whatever it was Ahri was going to say upon the door's opening.

“Oh.” Ahri could only say at first, looking at Evelynn with an up and down motion before feebly gesturing with a hand. “You look horrible.”

Hair half-wet, some parts of it sticking to her skin as if she had just finished a workout marathon, and bathrobe clearly looking haphazardly wrapped around her, this was honestly the most disheveled state Ahri has ever seen Evelynn in.

“Come in here.” Evelynn practically snarled, grabbing Ahriʼs arm before tugging her into the apartment.

Ahri nearly stumbled, thanking herself for choosing to wear flats today instead of heels. “What happened to you? You look like you got into a fight with a raccoon or something.”

“This!” Evelynn violently yanked her right sleeve up, showing off the dragon tattoo inked around her right arm. “This is what happened to me!”

Ahri blinked at the tattoo, leaning in to survey its look as she said, “Is that... some sort of henna tattoo? I never pegged you for the dragon type of girl. I figured you'd prefer those hellish hearts we saw on that magazine. Oh! Or the roses and vines design Zyra has as her sleeve tattoo. But, instead of vines and roses, it'd probably be snakes. Just like the one you had when you were a kid. Mr. Eggpie, was it?”

“Ahri!”

The blonde slightly jumped back. “What? I'm just saying! You could've gotten a much better henna tattoo than this whole... dragon thing.”

“That's the point.” Evelynn gritted out. “This isn't a henna tattoo.”

“Wait, it's not?” Ahri tilted her head, taking a step forward once again. “It's permanent?”

“Yes... I think.”

“You think?” Ahri crossed her arms. “Since when did you have the time to get a tattoo? And I've read about how the whole aftercare goes with tattoos. Even if you did get this last night after I left, it's still supposed to be red and maybe a little puffy?”

“That's because I didn't get this tattoo!”

“Then, who did?”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out.” Evelynn said, sighing and rubbing her temples in frustration.

“Does it...” Ahri reached over, poking the tip of the tail of the dragon tattoo. “Does it hurt?”

"No, it doesn't.”

“Did you try scrubbing it off?”

“Why do you think I look like this?”

“Right. Uhh, so, when you were turning in for the night, you didn't have this tattoo?”

“No, I didn't.”

“But when you woke up today, suddenly, you have it?”

“Yes.”

Ahri hummed in deliberation, lips pouting every now and then while she rubbed her chin with a finger while she examined Evelynn. After running through the list of possibilities that caused the tattoo, Ahri was just about to utter her primary assumption when she noticed a part of the tattoo peeking out at the hem of the bathrobe.

“Ooh, it extends down to your thigh?” She reacted in awe, only to prompt Evelynn’s eye to twitch.

“Ahri! Focus!”

“Alright, alright!”

.....

.....

.....

.....

.....

Seated on the sofa, Ahri waited for Evelynn to finish calming her inner panic. The lavender-haired woman was situated a couch cushion away from her, and instead of donning the bathrobe from earlier, her friend was now in a pair of roll up shorts and a plain black tank top that slightly hiked up when she say down.

“Alright, Ahri,” Evelynn turned and attempted to maintain a composed expression. “judging from how you're looking at me, I suppose you have thought of a possible explanation for what's happened to me.”

Only then did Ahri realize she was doing a horrible job in concealing the grin trying to overtake her entire face. She tried toning it down before she spoke up, but based on the look Evelynn was giving her, she was still doing a poor attempt.

“Okay, okay, I know this might sound crazy, because I myself think it is, but,” Ahri offered a smile that told Evelynn to give her theory a chance before she continued with, “I think this tattoo came from someone.”

“Came from someone? What? Who?”

Ahri pursed her lips for a moment, unintentionally giving the reveal a bit of dramatic before finally answering, “Your soulmate.”

For a rather tense moment, the two friends stared at one another with contradicting expressions. While Ahri looked hopeful, giddy and sheepish, Evelynn wore an expression that made it seem like her best friend just told her she died and was resurrected to become some sort of soul-eating demon.

Everytime Evelynn parted her lips to try and say something, Ahri would perk up and look on with anticipation before deflating slightly whenever the former would purse her mouth close and remained speechless.

“Ahri.”

“Yes?”

“Of all things I expected you to say, I was hoping for a more reasonable explanation. If you haven't noticed,” Evelynn gestured to her thigh, briefly glaring at the dragon tattoo poking out at hem of her shorts. “I have a tattoo that's covering practically half of my body!”

“Maybe it's a henna tattoo! And, besides, I think that's too much of an exaggera...-”

“This isn't a henna tattoo, Ahri. I've seen how they do those types of ink, and this? This isn't it. And, like you, I'm a model who prides herself on not only my beauty, but also the fact that I'm known for having smooth, flawless, ink-less skin. They usually ask for me to model clothing lines to represent its elegance.” Evelynn then pointed to her arm. “How is this elegant?”

“Hey, maybe this time BMW will hire you to pose with their new bike.” Ahri tried comforting, only to receive a glare from the other. “Or Ducati! Whichever you prefer, y'know?”

Evelynn deeply sighed, perching her elbows on her knees before burying her face in her hands. “This is not how I wanted my day to go.”

Ahri scooted close, banishing most of the space between them as she gave Evelynn comforting pats on the back. “I know having a tattoo as prominent as this one is a huge change for you, but maybe you can look at this in a different perspective? There's still a positive side out of all this.”

“And what may that be?”

“You're one of the lucky ones!” Ahri cheerfully pointed out, giving her shoulder a little shake. “Your soulmate is out there, and this is your first clue of them!”

Evelynn groaned. “Even if I did want to know if I have a soulmate or not, this isn't how I wanted myself to find out.”

“The world works in mysterious ways.” Ahri said with a shrug. “Or is the correct term 'love', hmm?”

“No.” Was Evelynn’s instant response, shooting Ahri a look. “Soulmate or not, they're going to be getting an earful from me.”

Ahri chuckled, giving Evelynn a light squeeze on the shoulder. She was just about to ask her friend on what she plans on doing next when an idea struck her. With an enthusiastic smile, Ahri jumped off the sofa and rushed towards the small bookshelf at the side. She withdrew one of sharpies in the cup of pens there before returning to Evelynn’s side, handing the writing tool to the latter.

“What’s this for?” Evelynn asked, holding up the black pen.

“Write something with it.” Ahri said, wildly gesturing at her to do so.

Evelynn glanced around to wordlessly make her point that there was no nearby paper. “On what?”

“On your skin, duh! Here!” Ahri grabbed her left hand and tapped on her palm, forehand and on both sides of her forearms. “On either those spots, write anything you want to say to your soulmate.”

“And what good will that do?”

“This whole thing works both ways from what I've heard. Since they got a tattoo, you got a tattoo as well. But, from what I heard, you both could send these little messages to one another by writing on your own skin!”

“That sounds like...-”

“It is most definitely not bullshit.” Ahri coolly cut off, flashing a little smile before continuing on with her point. “Come on, just try it!”

Evelynn blankly stared, and Ahri excitedly waited.

“No.”

And with that, Evelynn dropped the pen on the coffee table and stood up, releasing a disgruntled sigh as she made her way back to the bedroom to put on some clothes more fitting for her breakfast with Ahri.

“All you have to do is try!”

When her call was disregarded entirely, Ahri could only huff and pout at her friend's dismissive behavior.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Nightfall came and Akali was this close into whining out loud as she stepped through the front door of the apartment, fresh out of work and from being yelled sushi orders at by Olaf, who's the head chef and also her boss at the fancy restaurant she worked at. She mildly winced to herself when she remembered how Leona had given her a very firm pat on the back for a job well done, while Atreus had lightly punched her on the arm for the same reason.

Afterwards, she had told them about her new tattoo and the two apologized profusely when they realized what they had accidentally done. She didn't blame them, especially since she knew the two meant well and was completely oblivious of her new ink.

Additionally, after she had informed them about it, Leona had advised her to use the same brand of ointment she and her girlfriend had used when they both got their matching sun and moon tattoos, saying it was cooling and that it soothed the soreness and swelling on the skin.

Atreus provided her a list of antimicrobial soap brands he had bought when he had his head tattoo done, also adding a few tips on how she could take care of her tattoo properly, so it wouldn't fade out and look cheap and worn like some others. Akali had to admit, the gold head tattoo Atreus had was incredible and looked meticulously cared for.

After depositing her work things and the paper bag filled with the items her two colleagues recommended her to buy at her bedroom, Akali took a thorough shower, staying extra careful when it came to cleaning her tattoo.

Once she was done, with a bottle of the new antibacterial ointment, she 'hunted' her roommate throughout the apartment, which didn't exactly take long since she found KaiʼSa and Sivir watching a movie in the former's laptop at her room.

“Little help?” Akali asked with a sheepish smile, showing and lightly shaking the bottle in front of her after she knocked and peered into her roommate's bedroom.

“Is that for the new tattoo Kai here told me about?” Sivir asked, sounding absolutely amused as she sat up on her place on the bed, while KaiʼSa gestured for her to come in and sit on the foot of the bed.

“Yep!” Akali bounded towards them, plopping down on the spot KaiʼSa ushered her to sit at.

“Sooo, I heard KaiʼSa here wasn't too happy with it.”

“I still am not.” KaiʼSa huffed, brushing Akaliʼs hair to the front of her shoulder before pushing the back of her thin-strap tank top up. “She literally got it even though I told her not to.”

“Well, you're not exactly her mom, habibti.” Sivir pointed out with a little smile, which earned her a brief bit sharp look from her girlfriend.

“Exactly!” Akali said, nodding in agreement. “That's what I've been trying to tell her, thank you!”

“Don't patronize her, please, liefie.”

“Okay, alright, fine.”

“I just wanted you to give it a bit more consideration before going through with it.” KaiʼSa then muttered, more to Akali than Sivir. “A lot of people regret getting tattoos. Even celebrities!”

“Am I going to get a lecture about my tattoo every time I ask you to help me with it?” Akali asked, her pout sounding through her query.

Behind her, KaiʼSa sighed, gently applying the ointment on the necessary areas. “Fine, I'll shut up about it. Just know that I'm a little disappointed in you.”

“Yeah, okay, got it, Mom.”

That response got Akali a firm nudge on the back of the head, which only prompted her to snicker to herself. Even Sivir had to hold back her own grin, especially since KaiʼSa seemed to sense it and had looked over her shoulder just in time for her to see the expression on her bedmate's face. Sivir was quick to raise her hands in the air before making a zipping motion across her lips.

“Ugh. You two are like children when together.”

After a couple more minutes of her teasing KaiʼSa with little quips with Sivir's subtle support, Akali soon excused herself from the pair, telling them to enjoy their evening together with a little wink before retreating back to her own bedroom.

Akali deposited her things inside the drawer she vacated in the bedside table, she plopped down on the cheap yet comfy duvet, staring out of the window and at the city lights outside. The apartment they lived in was in the middle of the city and was far from being considered luxurious, but it was cozy and quaint. It also provided a view of the cars driving through the main street and though it was usually noisy, it still had its charm.

Her gaze wandered to her closed door, sighing to herself as she thought back to how KaiʼSa and Sivir looked so at home with one another whenever she spoke with them together. She may not believe in the possibility of her soulmate bond being active, but she would be lying if she told KaiʼSa she didn't care about it completely.

A part of her felt a bit envious that KaiʼSa found her soulmate. The very person she's meant to be with, and now they're both there in the other bedroom, probably smiling and laughing in between themselves as they watched whatever series they've taken a fancy in.

In the midst of her preoccupied state, Akali felt her left forearm itch. She unconsciously huffed and moved her right hand, scratching at it for a few times to relieve herself.

But, the itch wouldn't go away.

Eyebrows furrowing, Akali lowered her gaze and raised her left arm, only for her eyes to widen in complete shock.

.....

.....

.....

Few minutes earlier...

Back in Evelynn’s apartment, the said woman could be found sighing to herself as she drank her third glass of wine for the night. During the breakfast she had with Ahri before they went for a bit of stress-relieving shopping, the blonde asked her if she wanted to join her for her weekly yoga session with the private instructor she had hired a few months ago in order to let off some steam and maybe loosen the tense nerves she currently possessed.

Feeling too drained from the recent development and too self-conscious about it, Evelynn declined, making up a flimsy excuse she knew Ahri accepted only because she didn't want to push.

Evelynn sighed as she sat on the sofa, putting an end to the pacing she's been doing for the past couple of minutes. Taking a long drink and draining half of the glass goblet, she placed it down and picked up the pen she had abandoned on the coffee table earlier this morning.

One or two minutes passed with Evelynn doing nothing but toy with the pen between her fingers before she found herself uncapping felt-tip pen, eyes zeroing in on its writing point for a short moment.

“This is ridiculous.”

Regardless of her murmured words, Evelynn brought her left forearm up and carefully began writing a three-word message that either came from her heart, or was heavily influenced by all the wine she drank.

Once she finished, Evelynn read her short message, which she signed with the same hellish heart Ahri had mentioned, and scoffed, shaking her head and letting out a laugh of sarcasm. She capped the pen and tossed it to the other end of the sofa, pushing herself up to make her way to the bedroom to tuck herself in for the night.

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

With a sloppy wipe of her fingers over the letters and signature, her short message disappeared with a silent fading effect.

.....

.....

.....

Breath held and form rigid, Akali shakily lifted a hand up, her fingers hovering before the letters written on her forearm. Not only were the letters not her own handwriting, but it was also accompanied by a devilish heart with two little demon horns and a horizontal crack on the middle.

“What the...?”

Right there on her very forearm, a message stared at her that stole all the words she could utter.

“I hate you”

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

To say that KaiʼSaʼs morning was eventful would be an understatement. Sivir had stayed over for the night, but that didn't seem to stop Akali from barging in nearly around five o'clock in the morning. Apparently, her roommate hasn't been able to sleep for the past couple of hours after she left their room.

Before KaiʼSa could give Akali a piece of her mind though, her friend practically exploded into a bunch of near-gibberish explanations about how everything was crazy and that the world was making a joke and she was probably the butt of it.

Sivir was groggily staring back at Akali, hair still all over the place, while KaiʼSa focused on trying to calm Akali down and to convince her to make some sense with all the words that left her lips like water flooding out of an overflowing dam.

“Akali, wait!”

“No, KaiʼSa! We can't wait! Cuz look!” Akali all but shoved her forearm to KaiʼSa, who had to move her head back to avoid being struck by the other. She grabbed her friend's arm and shot her a look that told her to hold still before her eyes squinted as she read the letters scribbled on her skin.

“I... hate you.” Was her flat-toned reading, eyes briefly lingering on the demon heart before raising her gaze up to Akali, who was looking on in anxious anticipation. “...What does this supposed to mean? Is this some sort of prank you're trying to pull right now or...?”

“I didn't write that, Kai! It literally just appeared there! I felt this sort of tingling feeling and when I looked down, those words were written right there!”

It took a moment, but eventually, it all clicked, especially when Akali kept repeating the feeling she got when the message had appeared on her skin. It was the exact same thing KaiʼSa herself felt when she first acquired a reply from Sivir. Eyes widening, she soon found herself jumping around the room with Akali enveloped in her arms. Sivir, who was still seated on the bed, watched them with a half-confused, half-dazed look.

“What’s happening right now?” The latter asked, tilting her head in question and a befuddled expression plastered on her face.

“It's Akaliʼs soulmate!” KaiʼSa managed to calm down much faster than Akali. She broke away from her friend, tugging her along to show Sivir the same written message. “Akaliʼs soulmate bond is active just like mine and yours! Her soulmate is out there and they wrote back!”

Sivir looked down on the message, then back to the duo, then to the message and back to the pair yet again. “You two do know the message reads, 'I hate you', right?”

“Yes.”

“Yep.”

“Then... how is that worth celebrating?” Once more, Sivir audited the message before focusing her attention on Akali. “If you ask me, you should be panicking.”

“Panicking?” Akaliʼs eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Why should I?”

“Um, duh? You literally just got a half-body tattoo and now, not only did you discover your soulmate bond is active, but also that...-”

Sivir didn't even get to finish. The way Akaliʼs face transformed from nervous-excited to anxious-horrified was almost comical, and Sivir probably would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. That, and KaiʼSa probably would have swatted her in the arm if she reacted that way.

Clearly though, Akali didn't need further elaboration on why this was the first message she received from her soulmate.

“Kami, they hate me!” Akali realized out loud, suddenly looking like her world was imploding right before her eyes. “I got this dragon tattoo and they probably hate it!”

KaiʼSa hadn't even thought about making a comment about regrets being made in the end when Akali grabbed her by the arms and shook her in panic.

“KaiʼSa, you were right! I probably should've thought this through some more before I did it!”

Again, KaiʼSa didn't get the chance to say anything before Akali rushed out of the room, saying a bunch of things she could do in return to apologize to her soulmate and how she could still 'salvage' their relationship. The same relationship that hasn't even started yet.

“Aren't you going to go after her?” Sivir asked, half-heartedly gesturing towards the direction the sushi chef went off to.

“Go after her? No way. The only thing I could really say to her now is the typical 'I told you so', but obviously, she already knows that.” KaiʼSa shook her head and made her way to the closet to withdraw the things she prepared for the today. “Right now, since she already woke us up, might as well get ready for the day. I still have a yoga session with Ahri today.”

“Oh, is that the same model we saw on the billboard the other day?”

“Mm-hm.”

.....

.....

.....

.....

.....

Having breakfast and being dropped off by her girlfriend at her client's apartment was nice and it sure gave a reason for KaiʼSa to brighten up her mood, but even when Ahri had greeted her upon her arrival and offered her a light snack for later after their yoga session, it still wasn't enough for her to actually feel untroubled.

Akali may be all loud and tough, but KaiʼSa knew the second she got into a fight for her during their earlier college years, only to lose miserably, that her best friend was definitely someone who did not learn from her mistakes, and that she was also the same type of person that she needed to look out for every now and then.

It wasn't too long until her client noticed her mind was elsewhere. They were halfway through the warm-up period when Ahri decided to query about why KaiʼSa seemed to have her head in the clouds.

“I'm really sorry. I'll try to keep myself more focused with our time.” KaiʼSa apologized with an embarrassed look, cheeks reddening slightly.

“Oh no, no, don't worry, we all have things we get spaced out about.” Ahri said, casually waving it off. “Besides, you're not the only one who's been distracted with something. I've been doing the same warm-up for the past few minutes, and I was honestly a bit thankful you didn't notice, 'cause that would have been more embarrassing on my part.”

KaiʼSa chuckled. “Guess we both have our minds preoccupied with something today.”

“Mine is just some issue with my friend,” Ahri mentioned off-handedly, shaking her head good-naturedly. “so I probably shouldn't be too worried. But, you know, as a good friend of hers, I can't help but worry.”

“Oh, I know that feeling all too well.”

“Right? Like, sure, some friends are older and maybe more mature or tougher than yourself, but you can't help but be all worried about them, yeah? Or wait, am I the only one who's like that?” Ahriʼs face morphed into concern at the last part.

“I'm like that with my friend, too, actually.”

“Oh, well, good to know I'm not the only one.” Ahri said with a small relieved smile, face morphing into momentary contemplation before she asked, “Hey, KaiʼSa, can I ask you something?”

Pushing away all her thoughts about what happened earlier today, KaiʼSa directed her entire focus on Ahri. “What is it?”

“Well... We're friends, right?” Ahri asked before taking a metaphorical step back and elaborating. “I mean, technically, you and I met because Sarah recommended your home services, but outside the whole client thing, we're friends, right?”

KaiʼSa hummed and tilted her head as she thought about it, nodding soon after. “Yeah, I suppose you could consider me as a friend. Why do you ask anyway?”

“I really want to talk about this thing on my mind with someone, and uh, my best friend doesn't really want to discuss it because it's about them.”

“You... want to gossip, then?” KaiʼSa asked, clearly amused.

Ahri smiled guiltily. “Kind of, yeah.”

“Okay, okay, let me hear it.”

“Great! Alright, to start it all off, I want to know first. Do you believe in soulmates?”

It took a great amount of effort for KaiʼSa not to jump at the word. Of course her client slash friend's little gossip was about the same thing KaiʼSa was trying her hardest not to think about. What a coincidence indeed.

For a brief moment, KaiʼSa contemplated in telling Ahri either all about her relationship with Sivir, or about Akaliʼs predicament, but she eventually decided against it. If asked, then she'll tell. But, if not, then she won't.

“Of course I do.” KaiʼSa replied, subtly adjusting her stretchy forearm cover. “Why do you ask?”

“The fact that you believe makes this so much easier for me to discuss with you.” Ahri cleared her throat, leaving the warm-up pose she was half-heartedly doing just to face KaiʼSa completely. “For context, as you know I'm a model...”

“Yeah...?”

“...and this friend of mine is a model, too. She has a nice body and she's totally proud of it, especially her skin.”

"Okay...? I'm guessing all this has a point in the end?”

“It does, it does! I promise. This is all for context.”

“If you say so.”

“Okay, so now, my friend recently discovered that her soulmate bond is active.”

“Good for her.”

“You know the things people say about how the soulmate connection goes both ways?” Ahri asked, looking hopefully. When KaiʼSa gave a nod, she immediately continued with, “My friend is kind of freaked out right now because we both think her soulmate got a tattoo.”

KaiʼSa almost choked on her own spit. She had to stop her eyes from widening and instead masked her shocked expression with a look of awe, which was barely believable, but nonetheless seemed to work on the other woman.

“A tattoo?” Wordlessly, KaiʼSa gave herself a pat on the back for not stuttering.

Ahri giggled quietly when she recalled how Evelynn looked when she had arrived that morning. “Yes, a tattoo. And, it's not just a little kind. Not a small heart, or even an inspirational quote or a flower. Nope. It's a dragon tattoo.”

KaiʼSa was thankful they weren't doing any yoga positions yet, or else she probably would've lost her ever perfect balance and doubled over in reaction to everything that she's been hearing. She reached to the back of her head and tightened her ponytail, flashing an easy smile at Ahri when the blonde met her gaze.

“The tattoo literally goes from here,” Ahri pointed to the back of her shoulders before one hand trailed towards her right arm, while the other went downward and traced over the side of her thigh. “to these places. Now all you can do now is imagine how my friend reacted when she woke up with this huge tattoo that appeared all of a sudden and is now imprinted on her skin.”

As Ahri laughed and shook her head to herself, a reaction mainly caused by the memory of Evelynn looking like all hell had broke loose upon the aforementioned discovery, KaiʼSa tried her hardest to maintain a steady, not so suspicious laugh of her own.

'This can't be a coincidence. This can't be a coincidence. This can't be a coincidence.' The instructor thought over and over again as she laughed along with Ahri.

“What does the dragon tattoo look like anyway?” KaiʼSa nonchalantly asked, disguising her panic with feigned indifferent interest.

“Oh! It actually looks nice, to be honest. The entire dragon is purple and has all these gold accents around it. There's also some touches of smoke here and there, and in my opinion, it's a great tattoo.” Ahriʼs thoughtful expression shifted into a sheepish one. “Although, it's not exactly something Eve would choose if she was actually given the chance to decide and all.”

Looks like KaiʼSa finally has a name for Akaliʼs soulmate. 'Eve' was short for possibly the first three names that popped up in her head. It was either Evangeline, Everley or maybe even Genevieve.

As for the last part of Ahriʼs statement, KaiʼSa had to resist the urge to wince at the last part and managed to maintain a cool and carefree look on her face. “Your friend hates it, then?”

Ahri hummed for a moment before chuckling and saying, “Well, she did send me a pic earlier. Apparently, last night, in her 'wine-intoxicated state' as she phrased, she wrote on her forearm the words 'I hate you' just to try and see if it'll work.”

“Oh, uh, did it?”

“Hmm, I don't know. She never really got back to me about it. But then again, it's still so early, so maybe her soulmate is still asleep.”

Nope. Akali was definitely not asleep.

In fact, she was probably freaking out to her colleagues at the restaurant right now about the whole soulmate thing. KaiʼSa had to mute her phone's notifications just to not hear it ping whenever Akali sent her a text that goes along the lines of 'What do I do to make sure my soulmate isn't angry at me?' or whatever.

Thankfully, before the conversation could further continue, Ahri started dismissively waving her hand as she flashed a bit of an embarrassed smile at KaiʼSa.

“I guess that's enough gossiping for now. We should probably get back to the whole yoga thingy.”

KaiʼSa has never been so grateful for the shift of topic. “Right, yes. Let's.”

She really needed to talk to Akali later.

Because, if her theory proves correct and all these clues point to that one point she had in her mind, then she might have just found an extremely close connection to Akaliʼs soulmate.

A connection that could officially serve as a bridge between the two fated people.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

It's been a week.

Literally seven whole days ever since Evelynn last stepped out of her apartment. Even when her bonus pay from the summer photoshoot she and Ahri had done had finally been deposited into her account, the urge to shop for something expensive and fashionable, let it be accessories, clothes or shoes, it still wasn't enough to convince her to leave her residence.

Ahri had come by two more time within the said week, but one of those days was only because the blonde attempted to coerce her into accompanying her into picking up Sarah at the airport since the latter was apparently returning back to the city that day.

Within the aforementioned number of days, hers and Ahriʼs modeling agent, Taric, has been sending her job opportunities, which she declined practically in an instant. And that alone was enough to pique the man's curiosity, especially since Evelynn never turned down a contract, unless it involved a brand magazines with horrible reputation, low pay or both.

And so, it was no surprise that she heard knocks from her door and when she had answered, she was greeted with the sight of Taric raising an inquisitive eyebrow at her.

Evelynn half-heartedly rolled her eyes and spun around, leaving Taric to invite himself in and close the door behind him as he entered the apartment. The man idly looked around as he followed the lavender-haired woman towards the living room, where she snatched the grey fleece blanket from the backrest and wrapped herself around it before her agent could clearly catch sight of the exposed parts of the tattoo her t-shirt and shorts failed to cover.

“Was that a tattoo I just saw?” Taric asked, sounding curious rather than accusatory as he half-pointed to Evelynn’s arm.

Evelynn quietly grunted, plopping herself back onto the couch and swiftly snatching the remote from the coffee table to resume the show she was not entirely watching before his arrival.

“Is that why you haven't been accepting any of the contracts I've been sending you?” Taric further pushed, placing his hand on the backrest of the armchair beside the couch Evelynn’s situated on.

“Maybe.”

Taric softly sighed. “Have you at least been applying some ointment on the ink? If you're going to get a tattoo, I honestly don't mind. It's your body, after all. And though it does eliminate a few possible jobs, it's nothing you should be worried about. I can definitely find you a more different set of opportunities for it. Depends on what your tattoo is, actually.”

Evelynn groaned out loud, slapping a hand over her face in frustration before standing up, and growing off the blanket and yanking her shirt over her head, also abandoning the piece of clothing on the couch and unveiling not only the plain black bra she wore underneath but also the dragon tattoo she absolutely dreaded to see or even acknowledge on a daily basis.

“This is not my tattoo, Taric! I didn't choose to get it, I was forced.”

Taric maintained a cool façade, his eyes merely flickering down to the ink marking the recently exposed expanse of skin before reconnecting his gaze with Evelynn’s. “Forced?”

“I didn't ask for this tattoo! Some...! Some person begrudgingly connected to me just thought that apparently it's a good thing to have such a tacky tattoo inked on their body.”

Taric hummed, tilting his head as he further surveyed the appearance of the tattoo. He had to admit, it was quite an amazing artwork. In fact, the words Evelynn used to describe it was the definite opposite of it. Now that he took the time to audit it more thoroughly, he was certain more than a handful of fashion designers and clothing brands would be interested in hiring Evelynn not only for her skills in modeling, but also because of the appeal the tattoo seemed to hold.

“Well, the way I see it, this merely opened up dozens of other opportunities for you.” Taric said, the encouragement in his voice not at all unnoticed. “Some people do say that you're too much of a typical model in the industry. The whole great body, great face, but nothing too special.”

Evelynn narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Your eyes are a big thing about you, of course. Especially since it does always gets the attention of jewelry brands.” Taric pointed out off-handedly with a flimsy gesture. “But nonetheless, why not look at this as a bit of a bizarre yet positive upgrade of yourself?”

Raising an eyebrow, crossing her arms and remaining totally unfazed by her half-naked state, Evelynn asked, “Alright, fine. Now that you've seen the ink, tell me, what kind of job will I first take on to showcase it, hmm?”

It was meant to be some sort of rhetorical question and Taric knew it, but regardless, he replied with, “Well, Ducati is looking for the so-called perfect model to pose with their new model for its upcoming reveal at Ionia three weeks from now.”

Evelynn closed her eyes, clasped both of her hands together and took a deep, calming breath before reopening them again and meeting her agent's gaze once more. “What is it with you and Ahri and Ducati?”

Taric chortled, a small but evidently amused smile on his lips. “Did she suggest BMW, too? They're also looking for a new face for their latest bike.”

Groaning, Evelynn spun around and snatched her shirt from the sofa, slipping it back on before letting herself fall onto the cushions. Taric chortled for the second time as he approached, settling a fair distance beside her.

“Honestly, Evelynn, why are you letting this tattoo derail your daily plans? Ahri told me how you haven't left your apartment in a week, and that's a new record.” Taric then glanced at the half-eaten takeout on the coffee table, a little smile playing on his lips as he asked, “What have you been eating for the past week?”

“Unhealthy Ionian food I've been having delivered from the restaurant down the street.”

A suppressed snicker. “I see. Well, are you seriously going to allow yourself to destroy the diet you've perfected just for a tattoo?”

Evelynn picked up the chicken salad she was nibbling on earlier, answering, “It all goes to the back anyway.” before eating a forkful.

“Ah, aren't you fortunate, then?”

Silently, Evelynn took the time to chew her food as she deposited her food back to the table. Taric patiently waited beside her, taking the momentary interval to inspect the state of the apartment, which was unsurprisingly still as immaculate as it usually is.

“Listen, Evelynn. Diet aside, you can't let this tattoo put a wedge between you and moving forward.”

“It isn't. And, I'm not letting it.”

“Your actions for the past week says otherwise.”

“I just want to get this over with.” Evelynn muttered with an exasperated sigh. “I know the paparazzi will be dying to take pictures of this new addition to myself, so might as well debut it on my own terms.”

“Good, that's good.” Taric agreed with a nod before offering, “If you're interested, I could reserve one of those beachside cabins at Scuttle Beach.”

Evelynn flatly hummed, but internally, she considered the offer. She waved a hand at Taric, saying, “I'll think about it. For now, if you can find any, just send me events or photoshoots set three to four weeks from now. I could honestly use at least a few weeks of break once I show the whole world this cursed ink on my skin.”

Despite sounding completely negative with everything she had said, Taric smiled and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “That's the spirit, Eve. Now, I have to go. I still have to go check go on Kayle and Morganaʼs shoot for today.”

Bidding a half-hearted farewell to her agent, Evelynn wrapped herself with a blanket once more and brought her forearm up. The words 'I hate you' on her skin were long gone. In fact, at this point, she was beginning to think she didn't even write it before she fell asleep that very night last week.

The idea of writing the same message was tempting, but Evelynn figured that if she merely imagined it the first time, then it was probably best that she did and actually hadn't believed such message would actually get sent and be seen by the person she's inexplicably bound to.

Taric was a modeling agent well-known for being an absolute perfectionist and was always picky with the people he represented. Evelynn may not have vocalize it, but she did notice how he had inspected her earlier and with how long she's been working with him, she knew that he saw a form of appeal from the tattoo.

An appeal enough for him to actually see it as an unexpected but nonetheless welcomed improvement of herself and her own charm.

Looking down on her arm and tracing the gold-line, purple-scaled body of the mythical creature, Evelynn muttered, “Why can't you at least be a snake?”

.....

.....

.....

.....

.....

“And here's your Peach Tartlets, KaiʼSa.”

KaiʼSa placed her phone down and smiled up to Atreus, who took it upon himself to serve her the pastry she always ordered whenever she ate at their restaurant, Lokfar.

“As always, Atreus, thank you!” KaiʼSa eagerly thanked, flashing a wide grin at the man as she pulled the plate closer to her.

“You're welcome.”

Any further small talk between them came to an abrupt end when they heard a sharp yet slightly muffled shout of “Akali!” from the kitchen of the establishment.

The two of them, including KaiʼSaʼs table neighbour, redirected their attention to the small opening offering a view inside the kitchen, where they could find Leona chuckling to herself and shaking her head and Olaf sighing in frustration, while Akali profusely mumbled her apologies as she moved all of her kitchen utensils from Olaf's station, where she had forgotten them after working on one of the orders.

The sushi chef looked like a little mouse scurrying away with pieces of cheese in her arms, her kitchen equipment being the cheese in the situation.

“Sheʼs been distracted as of late, hasn't she?” KaiʼSaʼs table neighbour, Diana, thought out loud, finally picking up one of the mooncakes on her plate.

“She has.” Atreus refocused back to KaiʼSa. “Is this all because of the soulmate?”

KaiʼSa, who was in mid-bite of a peach tartlet she had picked up, smiled in mild embarrassment, chewing thoughtfully and taking a drink of water from her glass before providing an answer. “Yes, it's still all about that.”

“What happened this time? Last I heard, her soulmate wrote back.”

KaiʼSa nodded. “She did, and, you know a soulmate's message gets erased with a simple swipe of a finger, right?”

“What about it?”

“Akali ran a finger over the message and when it disappeared, she started panicking the other day since she still hasn't thought of a reply to it since it literally says 'I hate you'.” KaiʼSa then shrugged. “Now, it's been more than half a week and she still hasn't replied.”

“And now she's panicking even more, I assume?”

“Oh, she is. She really is. She thinks her soulmate thinks she's ignoring their message. Fast forward to Akali assuming the worst, and now, she's assuming her soulmate probably hates her to the very core.”

“That just sounds pathetic.” Diana commented from the side, seemingly already at her second mooncake.

Atreus chuckled and shook his head at both of their responses. He nodded goodbye to KaiʼSa, turning to Diana and saying, “Leona also says you should start lessening your intake of mooncakes. Wouldn't want your sugar-levels to rise up.” before heading back to the direction of the kitchen.

“You should tell Olaf to fire Leona for discouraging customers from ordering.” Diana called out, only to prompt Atreus to laugh and call back to her.

“Nice try, Diana, but we're not letting go of this city's best grillardin.” Atreus returned, looking over his shoulder and showing off the somewhat smug gleam in his eyes. “Besides, she loves working here. Almost as much as she loves you, and you know that's saying something.”

KaiʼSa smiled to herself as she watched Diana’s normally pale face fill up with a bit of red color. The latter was quick to snatch her gaze away from the direction of the kitchen, and KaiʼSa immediately knew it was because Leona had the brightest smile on her face as she peered out the service window to gauge her girlfriend's reaction to Atreus' snapback.

Over the grill chef's shoulder, KaiʼSa could spy Akali sigh to herself and adjust the headband around her forehead before going back to preparing the food she was in charge of.

Since the order for sushi today was a bit slow, KaiʼSa thought about asking Olaf if he could allow Akali to go on a half-day today. She figured that Akali could probably go with her and Sivir later when they shop for some new swimsuits for their trip to the beach this upcoming weekend.

Not only would the whole beach trip could be something Akali could look forward to, but maybe the whole swimsuit shopping would distract her. Or maybe the part where they finish shopping and she and Sivir ends up treating her to that new ramen restaurant that opened at the mall all because they felt a bit bad for her currently disheveled, all-over-the-place state.

.....

.....

.....

.....

.....

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting me out of there so early, Bokkie.” Akali gratefully said, releasing KaiʼSa from the hug she was giving her as they both walked through the entrance of the mall.

“Yeah, well, I didn't want to shop for my swimsuit all alone, so technically, I did it for selfish reasons.”

Unfortunately, Sivir had to abruptly cover for one of her coworkers at Birdio's, so she had to cancel from her plans on accompanying KaiʼSa for their swimsuit shopping. This left her to handle Akali and the part where she had the free will to choose hers and Sivir's swimsuit for their beach trip.

“What’s wrong with your last swimsuit anyway?” Akali asked with a small tilt of her head, one hand adjusting the strap of her work bag hanging on her shoulder.

“I think I've overdone my daily squats.” KaiʼSaʼs consciously reached back and felt her rump, which was more prominent than it was a few short months ago. “My current swimsuit was too tight around the back when I tried it on the other day, so I figured I could get a new one along with Sivir's, since she seemed to have misplaced hers.”

“Ohhh, eating too much cake, aren't we? Or wait, are you the one serving cake?”

KaiʼSa gave a scoff-like laugh at that, giving Akali a sharp nudge on the side, which in return provided her a guffawing sushi chef walking alongside her. “Shut up.”

“Come on, it was super funny.”

“No, it wasn't.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Oh just shut up, will you?”

Poorly suppressed snickering was quick to burst out of her blue-eyed companion.

With the summer season ongoing, it wasn't too much of a surprise for them both that all the good swimsuits seemed to have already been snatched up from the generic clothing stores. Upon the sixth one they checked, Akali was already bored out of her mind and KaiʼSa was feeling rather discouraged with their seemingly futile trip to the mall.

The only thing stopping Akali from abandoning KaiʼSa in her fruitless shopping was the fact that she's her best friend and that she was still going to treat her to some ramen for later.

“What about that one?” Akali asked, pointing at the posh-looking store right in front of the one they just walked out of. “Have we checked there already?”

“No.”

“Well then, maybe we'll get something there. Look, there isn't much people there, even.”

“That's because you could probably buy five to possibly even ten swimsuits with the price of one item there.” KaiʼSa muttered, noting how Akali was half-distracted by the new poster the shop had hung at the storefront window.

There were two large posters situated behind two mannequins that showcased the swimsuits the models wore in the mentioned images, and judging from Akaliʼs dazed gaze towards the one with silver lavender hair, it's quite clear she's more interested on the wearer instead of what was being worn.

“Uh-huh, we should still probably check it out.” Akali half-distractedly suggested, earning a swat on the arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Akali,” KaiʼSa started with a deadpan look and tone. “you do know the model isn't inside that store, right?”

Akali shrugged before cheekily grinning. “Yeah, but hey! Maybe she has more posters inside! Come on!”

KaiʼSa gave a long groan as she laggardly trailed after Akali, who you as quick to zip into the store, nearly causing one of the attendants to squeak in surprise when her friend rushed past them ever so suddenly.

Unsurprisingly, the store indeed had more images of the model Akali seemed to have been distracted with. KaiʼSa rolled her eyes, but still smiled to herself. At least her roommate wasn't thinking about her somewhat disastrous predicament with her soulmate.

Humouring Akaliʼs little sightseeing inside the store, KaiʼSa chose to spend the time looking around the lavish store. Every swimsuit she checked the price tag of, she had to hold back a wince. At this rate, she's pretty sure even her wallet in her bag had shuddered at the prices.

Yep, they could definitely buy ten swimsuits, maybe more, with how expensive each and every clothing she saw and inspected.

As KaiʼSa continued looking around, she couldn't help but glance every now and then at the posters of the blonde model displayed around the store along with the photographs of the other model.

Was it just her or was the blonde woman one of her yoga clients? She just wasn't sure who and which one it was.

Meanwhile, somewhere at the thick-curtained dressing stalls, Ahri spoke excitedly about how Sarah made some calls and had Taric upgrade their beach cabin for this weekend's beach trip. From a small but fairly prestigious cottage to one of those luxurious, modern beachside bungalows, it was definitely a huge change from where they were initially intending on staying at.

“Aren't you at least bit excited, Eve?” Ahri called out, looking up to her right and to the edge of her dressing stall, which was the same side she heard a quiet, resigned sigh come from.

“I suppose you could say I look forward in just ending my issue with this tattoo of mine.”

Ahri pouted. “You're still hung up on that?”

“Ahri, how can I not be?”

“Okay, okay, just figured you would've bounced back from this already, since that's what you usually do.”

Evelynn pushed back the urge to sigh again. “This caught me off-guard more than others, but yes, you're right. Isn't this shopping the start of it?”

“It is, definitely!” Ahri perked up again, smiling as she changed into one of the swimsuits she brought with her into the stall. “Have you already picked a suit from the ones you took? I'm kind of having a hard time in deciding between the blue one and the white one I showed you earlier.”

“I chose the black and white one.”

“Hmm, it did look good on you during the shoot. Is that the sporty one or the one with the sides cut out?”

“Latter.”

“Ooh, good choice.”

Evelynn hummed, telling Ahri how she was going to wait for her outside as she finished dressing herself back into the dark blue, skin-tight jeans and black, long-sleeve turtleneck she was initially clad in.

The whole outfit was more than enough to cover the tattoos she only had the intention of revealing during their weekend vacation at Scuttle Beach. Hooking the clothing hangers of the swimsuits she tried on over three fingers, Evelynn pushed the curtain aside and stepped out of the dressing stall.

The moment she reentered the main area of the store, she left the swimsuits she didn't want to the attendant nearby before intending on heading to the plain yet still fancy-looking leather couch, where she was going to wait for Ahri to finish with her own dressing time.

Much to Evelynn’s surprise, she found herself face to face with a blonde woman with black streaks all over her hair, azure blue eyes staring right back at her with an entirely starstruck look. The captivated stranger donned a thick and loose hoodie and a pair of worn out jeans that looks to have seen better days, the sneakers she wore seemingly on the same boat as the latter.

The amber-eyed model watched as the stranger glanced between her, the black and white swimsuit she still had hanging on her fingers and the poster hanging on the wall beside them.

Evelynn eventually followed the other woman's gaze when it came to the third part, which led to her seeing a picture of herself wearing and posing with the same swimsuit she was holding.

“Oh wow, you're her.”

Evelynn turned back to the unnamed person, quirking an eyebrow when she found the latter's cheeks coloring red. “How observant of you.”

“Is this... Is this a new thing with these kinds of stores? Do the models that wore the clothes work here, too?”

The raised eyebrow Evelynn was giving the stranger lifted higher. “Are you actually serious with that question of yours?”

“As serious as how gold your eyes are. Like, wow. Your eyes look amazing.”

Evelynn consciously inched back when the other person leaned in, intensely inspecting the color of her irises. “Do you often do these to strangers?”

“Only to really beautiful ones, maybe?”

“Flattered.” Evelynn flatly replied, not bothering on hiding the way she rolled her eyes at the little line. “Now, if you'd excuse me, I'd like to have my personal space back.”

“Ooh, right! Sorry.” The blonde jumped back, offering a combination of a sheepish and apologetic smile. She was quick to get over her embarrassment though, because next thing Evelynn knew, a petite hand was outstretched before her. “Akali, by the way. You are...?”

Despite the unexplainable appeal this Akali person before her seemed to present, Evelynn stuck to herself and flashed her signature sweet, sarcastic smile as she delicately shook the blonde's hand. With everything going on recently, she wasn't exactly in the mood to mingle with people, no matter how irresistibly... inviting they seem to be.

“Charmed. Now, please, excuse me.” The smile on her lips immediately fell the second she made a move to step around Akali, but before she could do so, two people approached them both simultaneously.

“Eve!”

“Kali!”

Both women turned to their respective companions, with Akali being a bit embarrassed and with Evelynn looking mildly annoyed at the abrupt interruption of her retreat.

“I'm done with my...-” Ahriʼs words and swinging motion with the swimsuits she had in hand came to a halt when she spotted KaiʼSa herself now standing a couple of steps behind Akali. “KaiʼSa? Hey!”

KaiʼSa was quick to turn her attention from Akali to Ahri, flashing a wide smile as she waved back at the model. “Ahri, hi! Picking out a new swimsuit, I see.”

“Oh, yeah! Looks cute, doesn't it?”

“Absolutely.”

Evelynn cleared her throat at the same time Akali feigned cough, prompting them both to look at one another for a second before they turned to their own friends.

“Right! Introductions!” Ahri stepped forward and gestured to herself first before Evelynn. “I'm Ahri, hi, and this is my best friend, Evelynn.”

“And I am KaiʼSa,” The instructor swiftly followed up with her own introduction. “and this my roommate slash best friend, Akali.”

KaiʼSa didn't bother offering a hand for Evelynn to shake, especially when the woman blatantly ignored the hand Akali held out again. The same hand Ahri decided to shake herself for the sake of saving all four of them the tense awkwardness that was already somewhat looming over them.

Evelynn made herself look busy by looking around the store, while Ahri began asking Akali about how she knew KaiʼSa. As for the latter, KaiʼSa was struck with realization.

Remember when she thought how Ahri was going to be the bridge between Akali and her soulmate?

Not only did KaiʼSa believe in that theory, which was being proven right in that very moment, but the realization that this gorgeous, diva-like, extremely sassy woman right beside Ahri was highly likely the same 'Eve' her client spoke about during their yoga session.

The same Eve that's probably Akaliʼs soulmate.

KaiʼSa cursed in her head as she audited Evelynn fir any signs of a tattoo that would look exactly similar to Akaliʼs dragon tattoo. Unfortunately, the turtleneck and jeans were doing a splendid job in concealing the parts she needed to see for the sake of proof.

“Hey, KaiʼSa, did you hear that?”

KaiʼSa, who realized Evelynn was now looking at her curiously, snapped back to reality, immediately turning to Akali with her eyebrows shooting up in question. “Hmm? What did you say?”

“Ahri and Evelynn here are also going to the beach this weekend, and Ahri says we can stay along with them at their bungalow.” Akali said, the smile on her face wordlessly telling her that her roommate wanted her to take the offer with her.

“Oh, uh, aren't Akali and I intruding?” KaiʼSa asked, knowing this was an absolute disaster brewing its ways to explode to kingdom come sooner or later.

“I wouldn't have offered if you would be!” Ahri said, shaking her head as she chuckled. “A... friend of mine is letting us stay in this huge place at the beachside and it literally has four rooms, so there's more than enough for all of us.”

“Are you sure you don't mind?”

“Of course we don't! Right, Eve?”

Beside Ahri, Evelynn took a breath and presented a picture-perfect smile. A smile KaiʼSa knew was incredibly practice and most likely forced. “As they say, darling, the more, the merrier.”

“It’s decided, then!”

And that's when Ahri told KaiʼSa that she'll just text her the details since she has her number before she started tugging Evelynn towards the cashier. KaiʼSa didn't even get a chance to try and decline. She and Akali stood there, watching as Ahri and Evelynn had their swimsuits rung up before leaving the store with their new purchases in its own bags.

“I never knew you're friends with supermodels.” Was the first thing Akali said when she turned to KaiʼSa and flashed her a teasing grin.

“I'm 'friends' with a lot of people, sure.” KaiʼSa returned with an eye-roll. “Ahriʼs the only client I actually consider as a genuine friend. As for the others who hired me for private yoga sessions, it's all strictly professional.”

“Still doesn't change my point.”

“You know what, we should be talking about you and how easily you agreed to an overnight stay at some beachside place with a bunch of strangers all because they're models!”

“What? You know one of them anyway.” Akali casually retorted, shrugging as she started out of the store with KaiʼSa alongside her. “Besides, that Evelynn woman was really pretty.”

KaiʼSaʼs eye nearly twitched. “Seriously, Akali?”

“Whaaat?” The clueless look that came along with the dragged-out one word question vanished in an instant when KaiʼSa said the next thing she thought about voicing out right then and there.

“Didn't you literally just discover you have a soulmate?” KaiʼSa questioned, regardless of the vast possibility that Evelynn was Akaliʼs other half. She wanted to at least give a few points for her friend to consider before she jumps into things like she had. “Now you're going to the beach not to relax or de-stress, but to flirt with someone!”

“My situation's not really the greatest, okay? And maybe I'm not really thinking straight right now, but I couldn't help it!” Akali responded back defensively, resisting the pout threatening to show on her face. “Besides, is it considered cheating that I know I have a soulmate out there, but I'm flirting with someone else?”

KaiʼSa had just parted her lips to utter something when Akaliʼs expression morphed into horror upon further contemplation of her actions. She placed her hands on the nearest wall and started thumping her forehead against the surface, light enough for her not to hurt herself, but hard enough for an audible thump to echo from every collision.

“I'm the worst soulmate that has ever existed.” Akali muttered, feeling her own guilt flood her entire self. “Y'know what, maybe I should just stay at home this weekend.”

KaiʼSa sighed, silently gesturing for the approaching attendant to leave them be before she stepped towards Akali and placed a hand on her shoulder. She was soon leading Akali out of the store, her friend now settling on burying her face in her hands and mumbling how stupid she was being at the moment.

“You're not canceling this weekend, because that's just rude, especially since Ahri already invited us.” KaiʼSa said with another sigh. “Second, come on. Obviously all the stress with this soulmate of yours has been taking a toll on you. Let's go get some ramen.”

“Actually, Kai...” Akali turned to her friend, a grateful but exhausted look on her face. “...I think I just want to go home. I'm kinda tired and... and maybe I'll try to write a message to my soulmate once we get back.”

KaiʼSa smiled, wrapping an arm around her roommate's shoulders. "Alright, Kali, let's go home.”

Making their way to the nearest of the mall, the comfortable silence that had fallen over them were abruptly dispelled by the spontaneous comment that pretty much tumbled out of Akaliʼs lips.

“You have to admit though, Evelynn looked really nice.”

Once again, KaiʼSa found herself sighing.

“Yes, Akali, she looked very nice.”

"Hah, knew I wasn't the only one.”

.....

.....

.....

As time ticked by, the sky darkened, the stars twinkled across the vast expanse above and the full moon was positioned perfectly in the midst of all the sparkling. In such a late hour, it was no wonder why Akali was lying on her bed already.

There were no hints of sleep on her face though. She laid on top of the covers, eyes absently glued to the ceiling of her bedroom. She had a sharpie in hand, but despite the fact that she told KaiʼSa she would finally think of a response to her soulmate, she was still empty-handed.

Until... now.

Sitting up, Akali placed her left arm on top of her knee and started scribbling a reply on the skin of the inner side of her forearm.

“Do you still hate me?”

The return question was simple yet straightforward, yet Akali was afraid she would get no response. She recalled what KaiʼSa told her to do when reading and writing to her soulmate. With the things KaiʼSa had taught her, Akali slowly brushed her thumb over her message. A quiet gasp left her slightly parted lip as she watched it fade away until there was nothing left to read.

“Please reply, please reply, please reply.” Akali murmured under her breath, biting the cap of the sharpie between her teeth out of anxiety.

In another part of the city, inside a relatively chic apartment, Evelynn could be found boredly lounging on top of the thick duvet of her bed. Back resting against the cushioned headboard and pillow situated on her lap, where a laptop was currently on top of, Evelynn viewed the latest emails Taric had sent her about the prospects he had mentioned.

A small sigh of annoyance was coaxed out of her lips when she felt a little itch come from her forearm, prompting her to stop typing the reply she was in the middle of doing just to scratch the feeling away.

But, before she could do so, the moment she looked at her forearm, her hand froze.

“Do you still hate me?”

Evelynn raised an eyebrow. So, her soulmate finally replied after weeks of radio silence after getting a tattoo and being given a three-word response for the former.

“The nerve you have.” Evelynn whispered, shaking her head as she reached over to the side of her bed, where her planner and a pen awaited her. She swiped the pen, flicking its cap off and sending it skidding on top of the keys of her laptop.

Considering everything Ahri had mentioned to her about soulmates, Evelynn sighed to herself as a feeling of childishness washed over her once she ran a hand over the message, let it fade out before writing a response.

“Take a guess, why don't you?”

In the middle of running her fingers over her message, Evelynn dropped her pen on the laptop and rested back. She would have felt utterly silly for humouring the whole exchange, but then again, she was likely to acquire a response, so maybe it was as silly as some would deem that it is.

From the other side of the otherworldly connection, Akali sucked in an audible breath the second she found the same pristine and elegant writing appear on her forearm. She felt her heart thunder wildly in her chest as she focused on steadying her hand to write her reply.

“I'm really sorry. I didn't know.”

The second Evelynn saw the response she received, she lightly scoffed and swiftly wrote down her thoughts about it.

“Sorry that you got a tattoo or that you replied practically a week late?”

Akali winced, quickly wiping away the other messages before hastily scribbling.

“Both. I really am sorry. I didn't know I was connected to my other half.”

Back and forth, they exchanged their thoughts with one another.

“Well, you are. Maybe now you'll either have a much better taste in your next tattoo, or not get one at all.”

“Would it make it even if you have a 'get your own tattoo' pass?”

“ANY tattoo?”

Akali somewhat nervously swallowed to herself. “You're not the frilly-girly type, are you? Please don't get those cutesy, little characters we see in cartoons these days.”

Evelynn had to admit, that particular message inspired a husky chuckle out of her. “As much as I am petty, no, I won't get any tattoos of that sort. I love myself too much.”

“Can I know the name of my soulmate?”

“Now where's the thrill in that?”

“I think I have enough thrills with the fact that I don't even know if you're a man or a woman.”

“Scared I'll be some sort of creep in his 40s, or a sad, pathetic old cat lady in her 50s?”

“With that little heart you signed your first message? I highly doubt it. But I feel you're a girl.”

“What do you call me, then?”

“Because of the demon heart... The devil.”

“Aww, how charming.” Evelynn smiled to herself, liking the little nickname instead of being offended with it. “I call you... my little nuisance.”

“Ouch. That's a little... bad, isn't it?”

“You don't see me writing complaints about being called Satan now, do you?”

“Touché.”

Once she wrote that single world response, Akali laid her head back on her pillow, only realizing then that her lips was shaped into a wide smile similar to the ones KaiʼSa always wore whenever she told her Sivir had come over to see her.

This must be what KaiʼSa always felt whenever Akali would see her roommate gush to herself whenever she wrote on her own skin. The exhilarating, heart-quickening feeling was amazing. It made Akali feel so warm and content.

Akali was just about to check her forearm again when she saw a new message take its place on the very skin she had her eyes fixated on.

“It’s late, darling. You should go to sleep.”

Lips pursing and heart fluttering, Akali cradled her forearm close to her as she read the words before her. A soft smile carved her lips, especially whenever she reread it and her eyes glided over the endearment.

“I can't believe I'm gushing over someone I haven't even met yet!” Akali said to the shadows of her bedroom, shaking her head as she laughed to herself at the silliness of the whole concept.

“Okay. You, too. Have sweet dreams.”

“Thank you, darling. Sleep well.”

Akali would never admit it to anyone, but she fell asleep on the bed with a ghost of smile lingering on her face.

At her apartment, Evelynn released a soundless breath as she capped her pen again and distractedly let it fall back onto the open planner beside her. For a moment, she stared back at the screen of her laptop for a couple more seconds before she decided to draft her reply and close the piece of tech.

It could wait until tomorrow.

She still had sweet dreams waiting for her.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

It was the day for their little vacation at Scuttle Beach.

After gathering their things from Sivir's car, the three of them started towards one of the many nice, modern-looking bungalows they already caught sight of the moment their flip-flop covered feet touched the sand.

KaiʼSa looked over her shoulder, smiling when she found Akali closely looking at her forearm as she pulled back the loose long-sleeve of her green cardigan kimono to write a reply to another message she received from her soulmate.

For the past couple of days that led up to the weekend, Akali had been mostly preoccupied with her soulmate to the point Olaf had scolded her dozens of times at work whenever she practically dropped everything just to write back to her soulmate the second she noticed there was a new message on her skin.

It all reminded her of how she was during the earliest years of college when she first discovered her soulmate bond was active when Sivir wrote a bunch of cheat notes on most of the inner side of her arm. Even to this day, she still teased her girlfriend about it.

“Someone's busy.” Sivir said out loud, giving Akali a teasing look over her shoulder. “Did you finally get her name or are you still calling her the devil?”

“Actually, I call her either devil or demon.”

“What brought in the second nickname?”

“She loves teasing me.” Akaliʼs pout-like expression then morphed to a determined look as she said, “I still refuse to just call her 'E'.”

“E?” Both KaiʼSa and Sivir queried in unison.

“Yeah, she ditched the whole devilish broken heart and started signing her messages with a letter 'E' that looks like it came from those impossibly perfect calligraphy samples I see on the internet.”

“That's one clue, at least.” Sivir said, chuckling before she focused her gaze on KaiʼSa. “By the way, habibti, are you sure your swimsuit is fine? You said it was too much of a tight fit, isn't it?”

“That's the reason why I settled on buying swimming shorts yesterday. It's a decent pair and it somewhat matches my swimsuit, so I suppose that's alright.” KaiʼSa then offered an apologetic look. “Sorry I couldn't find anything else other than the one you're wearing right now.”

Sivir was wearing yellow tropical-themed swim shorts and a yellow sleeveless rash guard with the color orange outlining the hems and edges, while KaiʼSa herself had a dark blue one piece swimsuit and plain, blue swim shorts underneath the loose black and blue plaid button down.

As for Akali, she was just wearing a pair of white trouser shorts, a white shirt and a green cardigan kimono on top. With her tattoo still being a bit fresh, she only intended to play around shallow waters and stay under the shade of the umbrella to enjoy the day's warmth rather than going swimming with KaiʼSa and Sivir at the much deeper ends.

“It's fine, Kai, don't worry.” Sivir's gaze flickered ahead of them before a smile overtook her face and she nodded to where she had glanced. “Oh, look. That your friend?”

Both KaiʼSa and Akali refocused their attention to their front, spotting Ahri waving at them from the open doorway of the cabin they're staying at for the weekend. KaiʼSa and Sivir raised their hands up in the air and waved back, while Akali chose to just spare a hasty wave of her own before looking back down to her arm.

As subtly as she could, she checked underneath the sleeve again, a dopey smile appearing on her face when she read the new words written for her. She had informed her soulmate she was going swimming with some friends, but she didn't specify it would be at the beach.

“Try not to swim around too much, darling. Your tattoo is still new and skin infection is still possible.”

Akali hummed a little tune to herself as she quickly wrote back, “Stay in shallow waters, then. Gotcha. ;)”

Almost immediately, she received a response, but before she could read it, they finay reached Ahri, prompting her to tug her sleeve down and hide her little conversation with her soulmate.

“Come on inside! I'll give you guys a little tour.” Ahri said, before following up with, “Oh, and if any of you are wondering, my friend, Evelynn, the one you two met at the store last time, she's at her room.”

“Are you really sure we're not intruding?” Sivir was the one who asked this time. “We wouldn't want to ruin yours and your friend's possible plans for your weekend break.”

“Oh no, no, Evelynn’s just at her room because she has something she's dealing with right now. It's not because of you three, don't worry. Now come in, come in. I can't wait to show you guys the mini bar at the back.”

As Ahri eagerly started their small tour, Akali wasn't really too focused on looking to wherever their host was pointing or was saying. She lagged behind their group, taking advantage of KaiʼSaʼs tall height, which she hid behind as she swiftly withdrew her sharpie from her pocket and checked on her forearm again.

“Your tattoo may still be a bit reddish, but from my end, it's... considerably adequate already.”

“You and your deep words. Why don't you just say the tattoo looks awesome and it's actually growing on you?”

“Don't act cocky, you sly menace. I may have forgiven you for the tattoo, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook so easily.”

“What do I have to do for you to COMPLETELY forgive me about that?”

“Hmm... I don't know. But, I'll certainly let you know once I think of something, darling. Just be prepared at all times.”

“Are you...? Is this...? Are you implying something?”

“I don't know... Am I? ;)”

Akali half-heartedly glared at the winking face, huffing quietly to herself. Her soulmate rarely used silly faces whenever they 'talked' to one another, but whenever she did, it would always be that stupid, smug little winking face.

“Oh you little...-”

Thud!

Akali was like a ball that bounced against the door she had ended up crashing into. She groaned and rubbed her head before raising her gaze, only to find the door she collided into pull back and reveal their other temporary house companion.

Evelynn, who had just exited her impermanent quarters, stepped around the door she held and raised an eyebrow at Akali the same way she had when they crossed paths at the store. Due to the closed long, white cardigan kimono adorned with gold snake designs embroidered in the fabric, all Akali was able to see from Evelynn was her long neck, delicate-looking calves and of course her slim, seemingly fragile hands.

“Oh, it's you.” Evelynn acknowledged her with a flat tone, giving her a once-over. She glanced at the door and gave it a few knocks as she asked, “Couldn't see this big of a door?”

Akaliʼs face reddened in embarrassment, coughing as she averted her gaze. “Sorry. I wasn't really looking to where I was going.”

“Explains so much.”

“Haha, yeah.”

“Watch where you're going next time.” Evelynn coolly suggested, completely stepping out on the hall and closing the door behind her. “Maybe it'll save you the embarrassment you're clearly experiencing as we speak.”

“Okay, okay, got it.” Akali hurried spun around, mumbling a feeble 'excuse me' and 'sorry again' before she made a quick retreat from the model that merely half-curiously stared back at her before heading on her own way to the bathroom down the other end of the hall.

Once Akali managed to track the others down, she found them just finishing the tour. No one seemed to noticed she had broken off form the group unintentionally, and she was absolutely thankful for it. Certainly saved her from explaining what happened when she got separated.

“Okay!” Ahri clasped her hands together with a loud clap. “There are outdoor showers over there, so if you guys want, you could just drop off your things at your rooms and go charge into the beach. Ooh, and here are your keys for said rooms.”

Akali was soon handed a blue twine bracelet with a small chain where her room key was hooked, and after discreetly asking KaiʼSa where her room was since she wasn't 'paying attention' during the tour, she scurried off to store her things in her temporary room.

While Sivir volunteered to help Ahri get out the umbrellas and beach chairs in the storage room, KaiʼSa excused herself to deposit their things in their shared quarters. After doing so, she had just locked their room when she spun around and found herself meeting Evelynn, who had a pair of shorts and a shirt folded in her arms, while her cardigan was completely open and revealed the rather provocative black and white swimsuit she wore underneath.

"Uh, hi!” KaiʼSa knew her voice was a pitch higher, which was mainly caused by the fact that she literally just saw a part of a purple dragon tattoo when the lower part of the cardigan swayed outward.

Oh yeah, she was now a hundred percent certain Evelynn was Akaliʼs soulmate.

“You're Ahriʼs yoga instructor, aren't you?” Evelynn asked, curiously eyeing her. “And friend, based from what she told me.”

"Oh, uh, yeah. Yep! Definitely a friend.”

Evelynn hummed and was about to reenter her room when she stopped and fixed her gaze on KaiʼSaʼs swimsuit attire. Quirking an eyebrow after her short inspection, she spoke with a gesture down below. “Remove the shorts, darling. With that figure of yours, you'd do that swimsuit of yours more justice without it.”

“Ah, the shorts, right.” KaiʼSa rubbed her neck while she flashed a sheepish smile, saying, “The swimsuit's kinda small at the back due to my... unexpected growth, so I sort of need it. You know, to not appear too scandalizing and indecent.”

Evelynn hummed once again, tapping her chin for a moment before ushering KaiʼSa to come with her. “Follow me.”

KaiʼSa wanted to object and say she had to meet Ahri and her girlfriend downstairs, but she decided against it, especially since Evelynn had already turned away and walked into her room, leaving the door open for her.

Trailing after the model with her hands toying with one another out of slight nervousness, KaiʼSa hesitantly peered inside the room before proceeding inside completely. She found Evelynn idling at the foot of the queen-sized bed, seemingly deciding between the two other swimsuits laid on her bed.

One was red and had so many criss-cross patterns that KaiʼSa felt like they were all mostly made out of string. As for the other, it was dark blue, darker than the one she had on already and had a deep V-neck at the front while the back was as bare as it could be to be considered teasing and without being considered inappropriate.

Thankfully, Evelynn picked up the blue one. She turned around and walked up to KaiʼSa, laying the swimsuit over her arms.

“There. Wear that.”

KaiʼSaʼs eyes widened. “Wait, this? But this is yours!”

“Think nothing of it. I have another one of those at home. It's a spare of mine, and no need to worry, it's unused and completely new.” Evelynn said, waving it off. “Now, shoo.”

Any further protests of hers was brushed aside, and KaiʼSa was practically kicked out of Evelynn’s room once the woman asked her to leave by making shooing gestures.

Before the door closed when Evelynn pushed it, KaiʼSa managed to catch a brief yet clear look of the dragon tattoo inked on the model's back the second she shrugged off her cardigan when she spun around and let the door swing close on its own.

Now KaiʼSa was left to wonder when Akali will ultimately realize that her very own soulmate was right here.

.....

.....

.....

.....

.....

Seated on one of the many beach towels they had set up, Akali stayed under the two huge umbrellas she and Sivir had put up, fingers reaching over the edge of the towel she's on to poke and toy with the sand every now and then.

Both KaiʼSa and Sivir were racing against one another with Ahri being the one that timed their paces. The duo did have a competitive streak when it came to these kinds of activities, and clearly, Ahri was enjoying the role of being the referee between them.

Akali was still dressed in the same clothes she wore ever since they got to the beach and as much as she checked under her sleeve, her soulmate has yet to send her a message again. In her other hand, her fingers toyed with her sharpie, which she hurriedly stuffed underneath her leg when a bag and a sun hat was abruptly dropped on the beach towel at her right.

Whipping her gaze to see who it was that joined her, she found Evelynn situating herself a small distance beside her, sighing as she dusted off some of the sand on the towel she ended up bringing upon her arrival.

“If you could be a darling.” Evelynn started, withdrawing a bottle of sunscreen lotion from her pack.

“Oh! Uh, sure, sure.”

Akali didn't have much time to inspect the snake pattern of the closed cardigan as she accepted the bottle handed to her. Evelynn moved herself right in front of her before shrugging off the cover she wore.

And in that very moment, Akaliʼs eyes went as wide as they could get when she laid eyes on the exact same dragon tattoo she has been tending to for the past few weeks.

Her gaze snapped between the tattoo and Evelynn’s face, which she could barely see with the latter turned away from her, but judging from the woman's nonchalant attitude and cool and calm demeanor, it became clear to her that Evelynn was absolutely unaware that it was her she's tethered to in a way no one else could ever be.

That she was the same person she had been angry to. The same person she's been writing to for the past couple of days, even when it's already so late at night.

"Just apply some all over my back, if you could, please. Thank you.”

Akali blinked back to reality upon hearing Evelynn talk to her. She shook her dazed state away yet found herself having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that this supermodel before her was her soulmate and was currently asking her to apply sunscreen on her like those typical movie scenes she sometimes saw whenever she and KaiʼSa their movie nights.

"R-Right. Yeah. Okay, I can do that.”

“Mmm, good girl.”

It was a bit of a sarcastic quip, but with how Evelynn uttered it in a naturally husky, whisper-like manner... Well, it did things to Akali, whose face reddened like an actual tomato. Partner that line with their most recent conversation, Akali couldn't seem to keep her train of thought without it crashing into something in her head.

Instead of flicking the bottle open and proceeding onward, Akali hastily grabbed the sharpie she hid and started writing on her forearm, knowing with how Evelynn sat and had most of her skin exposed, she'd immediately see her message.

“Uhhh..... Don't get mad.”

The moment Akali brushed her thumb over the letters and it disappeared, she immediately raised her head and found the precise same text appearing on Evelynn’s own left forearm.

The model, who didn't seem bothered that Akali hasn't started applying lotion yet, raised her forearm and let out a throaty chuckle, reaching to the side to pluck the pen she apparently stored in one of the pockets of her bag.

Completely enthralled at the sight before her, Akali watched as Evelynn erased her message with delicate swipe of her fingers over the letters before she began writing her response.

“And why would I be mad, darling? Hmm?”

Evelynn shook her head as she ran a finger over her own message. Behind her, Akali instantly erased the response she got and hurriedly inscribed her reply.

“Because I kind of invited myself to your beach trip, and I know you didn't want me to be here in the first place.”

It wasn't long before Evelynn was reading what she had written and once the woman finished, her entire body evidently stilled. Akali gulped silently as she watched Evelynn slowly turn around, and the moment their gazes met, she felt like she was drowning in the pools of amber that stared back at her.

With the way some of the silver tresses that fell loose from her messy bun and framed her face, it was added a heavenly touch to a look that was similar to liquid gold. The proximity between them wasn't too little, but Akali felt like the soft, teasing scent of lavender and roses that came from Evelynn was absolutely intoxicating and addictive.

Akali nearly jumped when Evelynn reached towards her and pushed her own little coat over her shoulder, letting it fall off and pool behind her. She held back a shudder when the woman traced from the top of her arm and down, fingertips licking over the tattoo that she once entirely dreaded but was now slowly growing fond of.

“Well, well, well,”

Akali stifled the squeak-like yelp that almost left her lips when Evelynn inched low and toyed with the hem of her shorts, stopping only when she unveiled a part of the tattoo that dragged down to that point.

A sharp intake of breath reached both of their ears when Evelynn took her hand away, only to pinch Akaliʼs chin between her fingers, steadying both of their gazes as it met once more.

“consider me genuinely charmed.”

Akali pursed her lips, clearing her throat before braving through her nerves and uttering, “It’s... Itʼs nice to meet you, too, Evelynn.”

Evelynn caressed her way down from Akaliʼs jaw to her neck, where she then pushed her shirt collar aside to uncover a bit of her dragon tattoo. Instead of hearing a snarky comment about the ink, or maybe even receive a heated scolding for such, Akali was gifted another one of those throaty chuckles that sent her heart stumbling between beats.

“I suppose that's one way to tell the world I'm yours.”

Akali didn't crumble and despite her face looking completely red, she still succeeded on offering a shy but endearing grin.

“You're not mad, then?”

“On the contrary, darling,”

Evelynn inched close and gave the tip of her nose featherlight kiss that made the thundering beat within her skip. Akali may not be swimming, or even close to the shallow waters, but she was becoming pretty certain that she'll be drowning underneath such an intense gaze that quite literally stole her breath away.

“I’m more intrigued than I ever was before.”

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