Chapter Text
Myoui Mina grew up without a soul identifying mark.
She's not the only one in the world that this has ever happened to, but it's far from common. Unfortunately, children and peers growing up tended to be unkind to those that came of age and did not receive soulmarks. They were seen as bad luck and often shunned, even if the percentage of those that found their own soulmate, despite having the mark, was barely more than half.
They were simply a few letters or words, the first thing one’s soulmate would speak to them, on the off chance that they meet, but it somehow changed the perception to those around them. Mina was popular amongst her friends and well liked as a child and into her early teens, but when her skin remained unblemished at the age of 16—15 being the latest reported age for the general public to develop a soulmark—she was ostracized.
The world simply hated those that were different, even if the situation was out of their control.
Despite all this, Myoui Mina continued to remain a positive person and refused to let the lack of soulmark define her.
Her mother moved her to a different high school in order to get a fresh start and Mina stopped mentioning that she did not have a soulmark. She simply wore bracelets and wristbands to cover the spots the marks were commonly received at. The action itself was normal practice, with many others also hiding or disguising soulmarks with tattoos, so she wasn't out of place—the idea that keeping one’s words hidden would make the act of finding their soulmate that much more true, as false-mates had been on the rise as of late, with people faking first words in order to manipulate the other person into being with them.
Mina was not ashamed that she did not have a soulmate, she just refused to let that be a reason that others thought she could not succeed, or even took pity on her.
As soon as she was able, she replaced her bracelets and wristbands with a single tattoo of a penguin diving into water on her left inner wrist, to signify that, just like the first penguin, she would be in charge of her own fate. She would be the one to forge the path she went down.
And so, Myoui Mina got into the most prestigious university of arts and sciences in the nation, intent to major in dance, with a specialty in ballet.
--
Chaeyoung is mute.
Even before losing her ability to speak, she was never good with words. Luckily, she was able to find another outlet in art. Be it painting, sketching, charcoal, molding, or sometimes even dancing, she was able to truly express herself in ways she was never able to verbally.
Her extraordinary skills in art allowed her a full ride into one of the top universities in the country. One built on the foundation of equality and inclusiveness, with the simple motto of ‘Producing Productive People.’ The University was very particular about inclusion without separation—those with disabilities or special needs would not be singled out or simply catered to, they would be worked with on an individual basis, if need be, but they could be able to attend classes without a bright neon sign above their heads stating they were deaf, blind, or in Chaeyoung's case, mute.
Chaeyoung has a soulmark.
The situation itself is quite difficult, given the fact that she, herself, does not speak, but truly she would rather not have one at all. Especially considering that she has probably one of the most unfortunate soulmarks one can get.
Chaeyoung glances at her soulmark, nestled just outside the crook of her elbow—even its placement is odd, as the majority of people find their marks on the inside of their wrists, or along their forearm starting near their hands if the phrase is a bit longer—and to the two tiny letters:
hi
Quite unfortunate indeed, and after years of being on edge from every greeting, she's become so immune to her soulmark that she doesn't even let it register when she hears it.
--
The university Chaeyoung went to was made up of several colleges with a focus on arts and sciences. She majored in fine arts with a specialty in drawing and painting at the arts college named after one of the famous alumni Park Jinyoung. Although the university was split up between the multiple colleges or disciplines, it had several common areas and allowed for students to take a variety of classes regardless of their major.
Chaeyoung worked at the main library of the university to supplement her scholarship and allow for niceties and cover additional expenses. She was working at the help desk late one night when two girls approached the station.
“Hi,” the taller of the two says when they reach help desk, and the short haired brunette repeats salutation with a quick wave.
Chaeyoung scratched at the inside of her elbow at the sudden itch she felt and waved at the extremely beautiful girls dumbly. Honestly, the one with the pink hair was so fine she couldn't stop staring. Chaeyoung doesn't want to be rude, but the crop top this girl was wearing is very distracting, considering the fact that her amazing abs are completely on display.
Now, Chaeyoung didn't normally sit at the help desk, but Dahyun was busy and needed her to man the station while she went somewhere. She was not expecting anyone so soon after taking over, especially since it was pretty late on a Wednesday night. People tended to party often at their school while maintaining their marks, the unofficial motto being “Work smart, play harder”... or was it “Work hard, party harder?” Chaeyoung wasn't totally sure, she didn't follow it since she didn't go out often.
“Can you help us?” The pink haired girl asked with a smile.
She probably looked dumb catching flies with her mouth wide open, so she quickly shut it and nodded.
“We’re looking for a book.”
Chaeyoung nodded once more—they were in the library, but she didn't want to assume that's what they were there for since the students could borrow various forms of media as well.
They were silent for a long moment, so Chaeyoung motioned at the two girls to continue.
“I'm looking for-”
“Aren't you gonna say anything?” The brunette interrupted. Chaeyoung could tell she was a bit frustrated with the one-sided conversation and clearly wanted to be out of there.
Chaeyoung didn't mean to, she honestly didn't, but she laughed. She normally had better bearing when this type of situation came up but there was just something about the short haired girl that made it more amusing.
But of course, the other girl thought she was laughing at her and immediately got upset.
“So, you think it’s funny now? I'm sorry but that's just rude, we’re asking for help because this is a help desk and you're just dragging this on instead of speaking like a normal person.”
Chaeyoung stopped laughing at that comment and winced. She had been told almost all her life that she wasn't normal, and even though she knows there's nothing truly wrong with her, it reminded her of all the times in the past when she wished things were different. When she wished that she was normal.
She rubbed the inside of her wrists and the tattoos she had there to remind herself.
The more friendly of the two immediately placed her hand in the shorter one’s arm to placate her. “Sharon, maybe she's nervous or doesn't talk a lot.” The girl paused to offer Chaeyoung an apologetic smile, not knowing that she had just given the understatement of the century. “I'm getting help just fine, but if you think it’s too slow, you can take a seat over there and wait for me.” The girl nodded toward the long benches lining a wall nearby and the other girl—Sharon?—let out a frustrated sigh, but stayed in place.
“You have the patience of a Saint, Sanako.”
“Well, you do too when you actually get sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sharon waved Sanako away and looked back at Chaeyoung. “Sorry about that, you didn't deserve it. I'm a bit tired since I've been up over 24 hours and this one,” she jutted her thumb at Sanako, “Can't come here alone.”
Chaeyoung nodded at the apology, Sharon did seem a bit remorseful after all, so she tried not to let the girl’s earlier words get to her. Instead, she raised an eyebrow questioningly at the latter half of her statement.
“She's-”
“I'll fall asleep!” Sanako exclaimed and pushed Sharon out the way. “All these books just put me to sleep. Speaking of books, could you please help me find-”
Chaeyoung laughed again but nodded at the request. She quickly typed the title into the computer and noted that there was one remaining copy.
Chaeyoung had a tiny whiteboard she carried around for when she needed to ‘talk’ but tends to use sign language with anyone that can understand. She picked up her whiteboard now and jotted down the note. She even wrote the bar code and location down in a scratch sheet of paper for the two girls to look at.
Sanako didn't let the appearance of the whiteboard bother her, she simply read Chaeyoung's neat script and took the slip of paper with a nod and a quick thanks. She motioned in direction they needed to go to and pulled Sharon along. The shorter girl looked between the whiteboard and Chaeyoung and shrugged, allowing herself to be dragged away.
Fifteen minutes later Sharon returned, book in hand, but without Sanako. Chaeyoung looked around for the other girl and Sharon giggled. Then she pointed in the direction behind Chaeyoung.
“She's talking to the girl-who-is-definitely-not-her-girlfriend. Her words not mine, because I know she wants her to be.”
Normally she didn't care for such details, but Chaeyoung was curious about what type of person Sanako would be into. She turned to look over her shoulder and was surprised to see the girl chatting with her coworker/friend Kim Dahyun.
Her face must have been visibly showing her shock because Sharon asked, “Not who you expected?”
Chaeyoung shook her head and picked up her marker, ‘they just seem like total opposites.’ She was good friends with Dahyun so she never would have guessed, plus the blonde had never mentioned Sanako—which wasn’t altogether unexpected since she wasn’t the most open about her life in general.
“They say ‘opposites attract.’”
Chaeyoung nodded but didn't respond otherwise. She looked back at the two and she could just tell that there was something about Sanako because Chaeyoung had never seen Dahyun look at anyone the way she was looking at the other girl. Well, except for Momo, but she was sure everyone looked at Momo like she put the stars in the sky, herself included.
She looked back at Sharon, then to the book in her grasp.
‘did you want to borrow that or is Sanako going to?’
“I'll take it since she's busy, but please make sure you call her Sanaconda when you see her. She'll love that.” Sharon winked and passed over her school ID.
‘she’ll hate it won't she?’ Chaeyoung wrote out before taking Sharon's ID.
“Absolutely.” Sharon grinned—or Myoui Mina, Junior, and class of 2024 if the info listed on her ID were to be believed. Mina matched the girl much more so she wondered where the name came from.
Chaeyoung shook her head amusingly and scanned the book. She noticed that this was one of the short rentals since it was in such high demand.
‘it’s due in 2 wks instead of a month due to the number of requests for it. then you can borrow it again 24 hrs after returning it if no one needs it.’
Sharon-Mina read the words and nodded after a moment. “Still refusing to talk, huh? That's fine, I can read fast.”
Chaeyoung whipped her head up from where she was stamping the return date and remembered that she never truly rectified the situation. She almost felt bad that she would be doing this, as people tended to be overly apologetic or awkward after finding out, but it was better to nip it in the bud instead of dragging it out.
‘nope, still not talking.’
Chaeyoung smirked and pointed to a sign posted on the desk stating that one of the employees was mute—it even included a little picture of her, a terrible picture but recognizable all the same.
“Oh, god. I am the biggest asshole around. I am sooo sorry!” Mina gave a quick bow in apology and was ready to say more but Chaeyoung held up a hand and motioned to her board.
‘you already apologized, don't worry about it.’
“But I-”
‘already forgiven.’ Chaeyoung grinned and handed Mina back her ID and the book for Miss Sanaconda.
Mina pouted but nodded all the same. “Thanks,” she said as she held up the book and looked towards Sanako and Dahyun—who appeared to have finally finished up their conversation. “Looks like they're done so I'm gonna…” Mina trailed off with a head jerk in the lovebirds’ direction.
Chaeyoung waved and went back to checking in the books that had been returned.
“Hey,” Chaeyoung jumped at the voice, not expecting Mina to return so soon after walking away. “I wanted say one more thing before I go.”
Chaeyoung nodded and waited for Mina to continue.
“I just wanted to say that I know I was upset earlier, but I was teasing every time after when I mentioned you not speaking. I don't think there's anything wrong with you. This is real corny, and I don't actually know you, but you're perfect the way you are.”
Chaeyoung felt tears start to gather in the corner of her eyes and willed them not to drop. She reached out and touched Mina’s arm, even if she wasn’t much of a touchy person.
Thanks, she mouthed the word and watched as the girl nodded before turning around to go to her friend.