Archive of Our Own

Ugh, not again.

Allie sighed, wondering whether she had forgotten to drink enough water or her soulmate was once again overworking themselves. At this point, she had lost count of how many times this exact question had already plagued her mind. It was tiring. 

However, not as tiring as the seemingly everlasting feeling of exhaustion lingering in her bones despite having spent the entire day reading with the occasional food break. She was well aware that it was her soulmate’s body begging them for some rest she felt, not her own. 

Stupid workaholic, give our bodies a break for once.

When she was younger, Allie had thought it was cool, feeling what your soulmate felt. A certain kind of reassurance stemming from this kind of connection. Knowing even just vaguely what the other person was going through. It was when said soulmate decided to not sit back and relax ever, that she realised that maybe her soul connection was not so fun after all. She had been twelve years old at the time and as the years had passed, she had got more used to it.

Defeatedly, Allie rested her left arm on the nearest chair for support while lightly pinching the bridge of her nose with her right hand. She had to drink some water. Not before the dizziness keeping her locked in her position for another 20 seconds faded, though. As soon as her vision went from white-ish flimmer-y back to normal, the young woman grabbed a glass from her cupboard and went over to the sink to fill it with her drink of choice. Tap water. The glass felt cold in her hand, getting heavier by the second. Her mouth felt dry, lips not nearly as soft as Allie would like them to be. She quickly downed two glasses of water before going for a third one; just for good measure. Her head hurt. 

Then she continued reading while she waited to see if her condition would improve after a while or not. After about half an hour, the throbbing pain of her lingering headache began to lessen. 

Guess I can’t blame them for this one.

Allie smiled faintly, she would usually feel bad for causing someone else any form of pain or inconveniencing them this way, but since her soulmate was to blame for her constant state of fatigue she felt like it was only fair to annoy them like this at least once in a while. They would get over it. 

———

Dino felt bad for his soulmate.

Shortly after he turned ten years old, he had understood that his soul connection to his soulmate led to the two of them sharing feelings. Mostly just physically, although he could sometimes feel the slightest hint of emotions that were not his own. He had realised that because one day he was sitting in class, more or less listening to what his teacher was saying when all of a sudden his right palm had started to hurt. Confused, he had looked down to examine it. Nothing. His palm seemed perfectly normal to him. So why did it hurt? Young Channie did not think too much of it and decided to ignore the weird phantom pain for the time being. 

When he got home that day and his mother asked him how school had been, however, he told her about the weird stingy feeling he had experienced even though his skin had remained unharmed. It bothered him. What had he done to upset his body into playing tricks on him like this? 
Dino’s mother had been oddly unsurprised to hear about the events which confused Chan even more. She had crouched down to meet her son’s height before smiling softly while she stroked one of his cheeks affectionately. 

“Oh, Chan-ah. That probably means your soulmate hurt their hand today! Let’s hope they feel better soon, so you can too.”, she explained calmly. Dino could tell she was excited about this, though. If his mother thought this was a good thing, then so did he. Despite the uncomfortable feeling at his hand, the boy smiled back at her. 

Naturally, Chan became a dancer. Growing up as the child of two talented parents who both danced, it was almost inevitable for him to want to learn as well and his father gladly taught him. He enjoyed dancing, which was why he decided to pursue it more seriously and join Pledis Entertainment as a teenager.

From then on, dance practice only became more intense, more exhausting, and more frequent. Chan, now going by the stage name of “Dino”, was determined to become an idol just like the ones he would see on TV.

Admittedly, between making new friends, working incredibly hard and learning many more things, he would occasionally forget he even had a soulmate. Or that they could also feel the fatigue he felt after an especially long day of practice. He was reminded of her (he just assumed it was a girl, to him his soulmate had always been female for some reason) when he felt some light, inexplicable headaches sometimes, rarely by a faint hint of either joy, excitement or sadness that was unaccounted for by his current mental state. 

Whenever he was reminded of his soulmate, Chan silently apologized to her. Guilt and shame rested heavily on his shoulders, knowing he was inconveniencing this poor innocent girl with the exhaustion and muscle soreness of someone who trained relentlessly every single day. He wanted to take more breaks for her sake, but he knew he could not afford to if he wanted to chase his dream. 

The worst part was that Dino rarely ever experienced foreign pain. As they both got older, the amount of minor injuries decreased steadily until the dancer would wonder if his soulmate had randomly died one day without him noticing. It got to a point where his group members frequently joked about her sleeping covered in a thick layer of soft foam and never leaving her house. Ever.

”Are you sure that’s your soulmate and not Woozi’s?”, Jeonghan had jokingly asked him one day.

Dino’s concerns of her having died were eventually eased when he started feeling sharp evil little cuts on his fingers about once a week. They hurt like hell, but the previously worried dancer was grateful for them because they confirmed what Vernon had once told him at like two in the morning when Chan had gotten anxious to a point where he could not take it anymore and gone on a long tearful rant to his friend about how he was a terrible soulmate, and how he thought his soulmate was probably dead since he stopped feeling her pain. Dino would have continued talking forever if Vernon had not suddenly interrupted him by chuckling quietly.

“Listen, Dino-ya. I know you’re worried about them, but take a deep breath with me for second. Okay?”, Vernon had requested calmly but firmly enough that the still crying man next to him knew there was no point in turning him down. So they had both taken a couple of deep breaths which helped Dino calm down a bit. He looked up at his fellow Seventeen member who seemed like he wanted to add something else. 

“You know, I remember you telling us that you feel bad because your soulmate is barely ever in pain. No bone fractures, no lasting illnesses, not even strong period cramps. So I think the most likely option here is that she really just is doing fine. She probably pays more attention to what’s happening around her than most of us do and lives somewhere relatively safe. Don’t you think you would’ve noticed at least something if she really had died? I think you would’ve.”, he reasoned. And Vernon made some very valid points. Dino wanted to believe him despite his fears and worries, for the most part he did. 

Still, he was incredibly relieved when one day during dance practice, his left pointer finger started stinging like the universe was out to get him. Chan had almost crashed into his friend Junhui when he had stopped dancing and shifted his hand to stare at his unharmed finger in amazement and wonder.

Minghao side-eyed him, clearly irritated by his behaviour, before speaking up: “Care to explain to the rest of us why you’re staring at your finger like it ended world hunger and capitalism all in the same day?”. A couple of his group members laughed at that, everyone whipped their heads around to face him while Minghao still stared at him with one of his eyebrows raised, looking somewhere between confused and judgemental. 

Dino was too overjoyed by the fact his soulmate was in fact still alive and well (except for this mean paper-cut) to try and come up with something witty as a response, so he went with “I- my soulmate. She’s… alive.” instead.

The whole situation surrounding their maknae’s soulmate was common knowledge to everyone in Seventeen. For a while, the room went dead silent except for the music which was still playing in the background. You could have heard a hairpin drop, something very unusual for a room with all thirteen seventeen members inside. The silence obviously did not last long, all kinds of sounds erupting soon after. Everyone was ecstatic to hear the news, because they all knew how devastating and stressful the possibility of the girl who already had to endure so much because of Dino’s profession having died without his knowledge was for him. 

Following this revelation, not only his fellow group members but also their fans, carats, noticed a sudden improvement within Chan. His facial expressions while dancing became livelier, movements were smoother and his voice sounded clearer. Vernon explaining to him why, logically speaking, his soulmate could not just be dead had helped Dino immensely, more than anyone else probably could have, but knowing she was alive had him feeling emotions that were hard to describe. Grateful. Carefree. Blissful. 

Anyone else might have been bothered by the pain of getting a paper-cut every week at least once, but Dino did not care. His soulmate was alive. And probably working with paper of some sort, maybe contracts or books. Maybe work sheets. Distracted by the stingy feeling, he absentmindedly grinned at his hurting finger. 

———

Allie had always loved reading, which helped her develop a sense of good grammar and spelling early on in her life. Teachers would often praise her for it and she took pride in writing in her free time or spell-checking her friends’ essays when asked to. 

None of her friends or family members were surprised when she started working as an editor for a publishing company part time soon after graduating. The remainder of her time was spent at the public library, reading and sometimes sorting the books others had left in the wrong sections. Allie knew the library well enough after all. 

Her soulmate still continued to torture their body for several hours every day and the young editor had come to appreciate the familiar muscle soreness a bit in the end.

At least I know my soulmate is alive and well. Or rather as well as someone who does all this every single day can be.

Having books around her all the time meant Allie was at least a little prone to getting paper-cuts. She tried to keep them at a minimum as they hurt like hell, but some things simply could not be helped. It was annoying and painful, at least they healed fairly quickly, though. 

Eventually, Allie started wondering what in the world her soulmate was doing. Were they training for the olympics? Did they play football for a living? Were they a swimmer? There were too many options, so the editor gave up on guessing. She supposed there was a decent chance her soulmate might be somewhat famous for whatever they were doing, but she knew she lacked too much information to have a realistic shot at just searching them up online. All she knew was their body was constantly sore like everywhere which eliminated some sports but the woman did not even know her soulmate’s gender much less where they might be from. 

Being around books as a creative person made Allie want to write one of her own. Wherever she went, she brought her laptop. Editing other authors’ books for her job, writing her own drafts, jotting down ideas whenever inspiration struck. Sometimes she would forget to eat or drink for a while, being too absorbed in a world of simple words used to create complex worlds and stories. She only noticed she was doing this when her head suddenly started throbbing lightly, foreshadowing an incoming headache or when she got up too fast and got dizzy while her vision starting going bright. It happened way more often than it should and Allie tried her best to remember to stay hydrated and well nourished, but she got carried away occasionally. The editor hoped her soulmate did not notice.

Besides, her own dehydration was not always the cause of these specific symptoms. There were instances where it was actually her soulmate’s carelessness and lack of consideration for their body that had them feeling like this.

One day, Allie was having a coffee date with some of her friends when one of them brought up something that would change her life. Kpop. 

Allie considered her getting into Kpop a canon event, remembering all the boy groups she had liked as a child or teenager. And taking into account that she had literally had a fanpage for one of them. It made sense for her to like Kpop. 

———

His soulmate really needed to take better care of herself, Dino thought upon sensing the third incoming headache of the week.

He was well aware that he was not exactly one to talk having caused both of them a fair share of headaches of his own, but he wanted this mystery girl to feel as best as she possibly could with him as a soulmate. It bothered him that she did not drink enough. 
Maybe she was too immersed in something else. Dino had a silly idea, almost too absurd to even consider, however, he wanted to take every chance he could if there was a possibility his soulmate might feel better.

So the dancer took a deep breath in before hitting himself just above the wrist. The impact hurt, but not too much. He made sure to hit hard enough for him to feel it while keeping the slap from being too painful. Would that help her realise? Would she think he got into a fight with a friend or walked into a wall? There was no way for him know. 

———

Ouch, what the-

Allie was startled by a sudden surge of pain just above her wrist. Looking up from her work, she realised her wrist was not the only part of her body that hurt. She had a headache, too. Great. 
Sighing, she gently massaged her temples. 

Yup, time to drink something.

———

About half an hour later Chan could feel the headache fading. He smiled. Good.

He forgot when exactly, but Dino had eventually started sending messages on Weverse that were partially dedicated to carats in general and mostly dedicated to his soulmate on the off chance she was reading them. Who knew? Seventeen was somewhat well known at this point. 

“Caratdeul! Remember to drink water today!🩷🩵”

”Everyone, take care of yourselves🩵🩷”

Their fans loved it. They did not need to know it was mainly addressed to one person. 

———

“So, what do you think?”, Allie inquired, anxiously tapping her foot.

She had handed a copy of her finished draft for her book to one of her friends? Close acquaintances? from work. Nina was a calm person, usually quiet and reserved. Allie respected them a lot, they were one of the best editors at their company. They were a gentle soul, but Allie knew how ruthless they could be with their feedback. She had spent many nights working on the draft. It may not be perfect yet, still she was proud of it which made the whole situation as scary as it was. What if Nina hated it? What if they thought if was stupid? Overused? Terribly written? 

This had the potential to ruin her entire week so much her soulmate would be able to feel it. 

Upon realising this, Allie had second guessed herself and the impulse decision that had prompted both editors to end up at that café in the first place many times.

After a pause that felt like it dragged on forever, Nina took a sip of their hot chocolate (they had declared they did not like coffee).

”I think it has a lot of potential, honestly. Sure, there’s a couple of edges to smooth out, but really nothing a good editor won’t be able to fix. The storyline is interesting, characters seem unique enough in their personalities, although I did leave you a note at some point with a suggestion of how I think that person would more likely react based on their character as previously described, maybe you can have a look at that. The plot twist makes sense, especially in hindsight. I enjoyed reading it. I left you other more specific notes in the draft if you’re interested.”, the editor facing Allie explained. 

What a relief. They like it! 

I think this is genuinely the most I have ever heard them talk at a time.

Allie thanked her friend for taking the time to go through her draft, telling them she owed them one. She had decided they were friends, trusting someone with her writing and them spending as much of their time on a favour as Allie could tell Nina had definitely qualified them for a friendship. The two of them finished their respective drinks and Allie started going over all the comments that had been left all over the pages while Nina worked on something else on their laptop. Her friend sure did not hold back. They worked in comfortable silence until the café closed. 

“Goodbye, see you tomorrow!”, Allie exclaimed. 

———

A couple of months passed, nothing really changed too much. Allie worked on her book. Dino was busy with promotions. Both of them focused on their respective careers, not worrying about each other too much. They still wanted to meet each other obviously, but it was neither of their priorities.

Allie trusted fate to bring them together eventually despite the complicated soul bond. Seriously how was one supposed to find their soulmate purely based on feeling the same physical pain?! Her parents had had it so much easier. Whatever they wrote on their arms showed up on the other’s as well. Her best friend Annie had gotten what Allie secretly considered the most boring option. One day, a name had formed on her wrist, black ink messily spelling it out in someone’s handwriting. She figured the reason for this was that her soulmate lived far away in a different country making it unlikely for the two of them to just meet on the street somewhere. Fate being kind enough to give them a little push towards each other.

Anyway, the young writer focused on editing and indulging herself in things that inspired her. The biggest inspiration, surprisingly enough, was other artists. Specifically in the form of Kpop group Stray Kids which Allie had become fond of. She listened to their music, watched their interviews and their own reality show. Their fans, stays, were another source of inspiration. Seeing how they interacted with their idols was interesting. A lot of the interactions displayed the one thing Allie was convinced everyone was secretly yearning for: unconditional love. The genuine love and care for someone these people barely knew warmed her heart. Some others were straight-up vile, attacking other artists unprovoked to make their faves look better, Allie cringed internally. Not a good look. Made for a good villain though. After a while, the author discovered another group she grew to like. Seventeen.

Watching the thirteen different characters interact in all kinds of settings served as an interesting study of different friendship dynamics. 

Dino was incredibly busy as being a popular kpop idol unfortunately did not give you much free time to go around searching for your soulmate. Even if he had the time, he had no clue how to find her. It was not like he could just walk around causing himself minor injuries, hoping someone near him would react. Theirs was a challenging soul bond. 
Besides, he had seen what some other Korean celebrities had gone through after finding their soulmate. People on the internet could get mercilessly mean and ruthless in their threats. For some reason, his job apparently entailed being a hot bachelor for random lonely people to thirst after. Chan hated that he thought this way, but somehow he was glad not to have found her yet. He wanted to protect her, being his soulmate was not safe. So he settled for hoping she was content with her life, wherever she was and whatever she was doing. The dancer at least knew for sure that she was physically well. He had several reasons to be grateful for that. Obviously, it was a relief to know his soulmate was fine. But even just one injury could also seriously mess with his career, consequently, he sincerely appreciated her not interfering. 

———

Allie’s book ended up becoming a best-seller. It took about four months and a bit of extra promo, but she got there. 

I can’t believe it. All my hard work, it paid off. 

The publishing company had offered Allie a double contract as an author and editor which she had gladly accepted. It was a lot of work, but reading other authors’ works turned out to be another big source of inspiration aside from music. Plus she did not have to write on the side in her free time anymore, Allie could freely choose what she felt like doing each day. Both were work. Doing research was work, too. 
“Research” in this case was watching the latest episode of Going Seventeen that had come out while the writer was on lunch break. Her favourite people to watch were Jeonghan, Seungkwan and Dino. Jeonghan because he was intelligent, often coming up with unexpected plans to make the videos more interesting to Allie. Seungkwan because he was very expressive. She kind of admired that about him. Seungkwan never seemed scared to speak up if something bothered him. And Dino was interesting because half the time he was straight up getting bullied by the twelve others, yet he still somehow seemed to be enjoying himself. 

Halfway through the video, Allie felt a piercing pain shoot through her ankle. She winced at the sudden burst of discomfort, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm down. It was not like she could really do anything against the pain since it was not actually hers in the first place. Reluctantly, she called her best friend who happened to work in the field of medicine. 

“Hey, Annie! I honestly don’t know why I’m calling because you won’t be able to help me anyway, but my soulmate got injured.”, Allie stated after hearing her best friend pick up.

A response came quickly: “Ah, so you can feel the pain but I can’t treat it for you because it’s not your wound?”

Allie made a sound of affirmation. 

“My ankle hurts. Maybe you can tell me how bad you think it is?”, she suggested to which Annie agreed.

They went over the symptoms together, Annie asking her some more detailed questions in order to try and assess the situation. 

“Okay, so I think it’s nothing too bad. I don’t think they fractured their bone, probably just sprained it. Not very fun to deal with, but it should be fine with some rest.”, her best friend concluded. 

After they exchanged some life updates and said their goodbyes, Allie hung up, pensive.

Rest, huh? Aren’t they an athlete, though? How much will they be able to rest? How bad is this for their career? Is it gonna be okay?

The author subconsciously started caressing her own uninjured ankle as if it would do anything to comfort her poor soulmate.

Allie had completely forgotten about her famous soulmate theory until a couple of hours later when she was sitting on the couch in her apartment, watching some tiktoks on her phone and suddenly a notification popped up.

”SEVENTEEN: schedule notice regarding 디노 (Dino)”

She clicked the notification, wondering what this was about as it usually meant nothing good when schedules suddenly changed like this. Skimming through the translated version of the message she had found in the comments of the post, Allie read that Dino had apparently sprained his ankle prompting him to be put on bed rest by his doctors. 

Sprained ankle, huh? 

Despite her better judgement, the writer decided to entertain the possibility for a while. Allie grabbed her laptop to look up what the general public knew about Seventeen and their soulmate bonds, also checking Dino’s history with dancing - just in case.

It turned out that information about the group’s soulmate bonds was very limited and mostly vague. Vernon seemed to have some sort of “they can hear whatever music the other listens to at the moment” connection with his soulmate. Hoshi’s soulmate seemed to change hair colours with him, “bless their soul”, Allie thought. Wonwoo was apparently colourblind until he met his soulmate’s eyes which seemed like an incredibly terrifying soul bond to have as a celebrity. Everyone else had not given any information on the topic. It made sense. The less people knew, the better for both them and their soulmates. Still, it was inconvenient when one wanted to find out the kind of soulmate connection someone that could possibly be one’s soulmate had. As absurd as it seemed.

Allie actually already knew about Vernon’s soul bond. In one of the interviews he had seen of Seventeen, the interviewer had asked him what his soulmate liked to listen to. Vernon’s eyes had lit up as he started to talk about his soulmate’s music preferences, even though they did not listen to Seventeen. It was adorable. 

Comparing the facts about Dino’s dancing history with her own memories of how she had felt each year made Allie feel a type of delusional she was uncomfortable with, prompting her to close the tab and open up Netflix instead. She watched one of the many romcoms she had already seen to distract herself from the pain that still lingered in her right ankle. All she wanted to do was forget about “her” sprained ankle, her soulmate, Dino from Seventeen being injured and most importantly her super embarrassing research on him. Her phone lit up once again. The writer quickly glanced over at it. Someone had posted on Weverse. Allie decided to ignore it.

That was until she saw a second notification in English??

The young editor squinted her eyes while looking at the displayed name. It did not look like Joshua or Vernon.

Now, this was odd enough to capture Allie’s attention. She unlocked her phone to properly read the post that felt like a personal attack from the universe. 

“I’m so sorry for causing you pain, please hold on. I’ll do my best to recover quickly!”

Allie was convinced she was fully losing it. The message read like something you would send your soulmate whose ankle you accidentally sprained in the process of spraining your own one, not as a message to worried fans hoping for a speedy recovery. Although, she definitely was biased as someone with this specific soul bond. Other people would never read this much into it. 

Oh, no. I’m becoming one of those people who think their favourite idol is their soulmate. This is so embarrassing, there’s no way it’s him. It’s just a weird coincidence, Allie. Stay sane.

She did wonder what Dino had written in Korean, though, as that message seemed a bit longer than its English version.

“Caratdeul, I’m so sorry for worrying you. I was too reckless during practice today. Thank you for your encouraging messages, please stay by my side. Don’t worry about me, I will be back and better than before soon🩷🩵”

The young woman could feel her left eye twitch a little at this. The two messages seemed completely different. Anyone else could probably excuse this with Dino being more comfortable expressing himself in Korean and it being thoughtful of him to even send a message in English for international Carats, but to Allie, it seemed more like one version was addressed to his fans and one to someone in particular. 

Not again with the delusions.

She sighed deeply, deciding it was about time she got some sleep.

———

“I’m officially the worst soulmate ever, Shua-hyung.”, Dino sighed from his bed. He had sprained his ankle during practice today because he forgot to pay attention during a critical movement and he hated himself for it. Not only was his body constantly sore, now he had also actually injured himself meaning he had injured his poor soulmate in the process.

Joshua put his phone in his pocket, walked over to his friend and sat down on his bed.

”You’re not, Dino-ya. You didn’t mean to get hurt. Your soulmate knows that.”, he tried to reassure the younger.

”Yeah, but it’s like all I ever do is hurt her. She must be so tired of me by now. That stupid guy who keeps messing up her body. I’m just mad at myself. Why did I have to trip there?”, he vented.

His friend looked at him, concerned and a bit alarmed.

“Don’t say that about yourself, Channie. I’m sure that’s not how she thinks. Look. If the roles were reversed, would you be mad at her?”, he asked softly.

The question caught Dino off guard. He had to think for a while, struggling to imagine himself in his soulmate’s place and vice versa.

”I guess… not. How could I be angry at my soulmate for wanting to follow her dreams? Accidents happen.”

Dino’s answer made Joshua smile fondly. They had raised the child well all those years ago. 

“There you go, now think about it again. Would your soulmate really be mad at you?”

Slowly, Chan shook his head. Mumbling a shy “probably not…” under his breath that Joshua’s ears barely caught. 

Dino, however, still felt guilty. He wanted to apologise to her, but he had no clue how which was why he just went with the only way he knew. Weverse. 

“Hey, hyung?”, he called. Joshua, still sitting on his bed, hummed in response.

”Can you help me translate something? I don’t think she’s Korean.”

The assumption that his soulmate was not Korean was one that Dino’s family had made a long time ago when he kept feeling pain at times that seemed somewhat off for someone who lived in the same time zone. There was no reason for a child around his age to scrape their knee at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday evening. Leaving the only logical explanation to be that his soulmate lived in a different time zone than him.

On the off chance that she saw his messages, she might be able to understand the apology as one addressed to her and only her. He hoped she would. 

———

When Allie woke up the next morning, her ankle still hurt. She called in sick for work, knowing she would be working nonetheless. Had she wanted to, Allie could have gone to work considering that the wound was not hers to heal, so it would not have hurt any more or less with the movement, but it felt counterintuitive to her. She wanted to stay at home while her soulmate’s ankle was in this condition. 
Not that it mattered that much anyway. An editor/author could work from anywhere. She could go on a trip to the Bahamas and nothing would really change except for the climate.

People loved her debut novel, and many of them demanded another book from her. The messages she received ranged from “omg hi, i loved your first book! will there be a second one? please tell me you’re writing another one!!” to “If you don’t write more books, I will break into your house, steal your laptop, kidnap you and force you to write more myself.”.

Admittedly, the latter category was a bit unsettling, but Allie supposed she was fine as long as she kept writing. She also figured she would use the emotions she was currently feeling in her book, describing them as accurately as she could while suppressing the urge to call her best friend because she needed to talk to someone about everything that was happening. 

Ugh, that was draining. But I’m finally done describing my own inner conflict. 

Immediately after, Allie gave in and dialled Annie’s number. They discussed the matter at hand, Allie sending her friend the screenshots she had taken of Dino’s messages as evidence and explaining the lack of information on the idol’s soulmate bond. The conclusion they reached was that the message did seem a little suspicious and that it was hard to speculate but that there was a decent enough chance it might be him that Allie should take it at least somewhat seriously.

But how do you even contact an idol who may or may not be your soulmate? It was not like Allie could just call Dino up.

Writing an email or a letter claiming to be his soulmate would not work either, she surely would neither be the first nor the last person to do that. It was a complicated situation that left Allie unable to do anything except focus on herself and her work while she continued to trust the universe to handle everything.

It was strange, waking up a few days later without the familiar feelings of soreness and exhaustion in her bones. Allie had always thought that the day she woke up feeling completely normal would be the day she would finally know peace. Needless to say, it was the complete opposite. The writer found herself worrying about her soulmate before remembering they had sprained their ankle, or panicking at the unfamiliarity of an energetic and well-rested body. 

Eventually, Allie had enough. She felt like a whole different person, not in a good way, so she found herself following some YouTube workout routines to the best of her abilities. After some time, her muscles returned to their usual state of soreness. It was comforting and Allie was finally able to resume writing her second book. 

What an interesting turn of events.

———

To say he was confused would not even begin to scratch the surface of all the thoughts and emotions running through Dino's mind when he realised that on Day Four of his involuntary break, his muscles seemed tense. Sore even. 

What?

As a professional dancer, he was obviously used to the feeling, however, it had barely ever come from something his soulmate had done. Chan could not help but wonder if she had felt as awkward as he had in the absence of a pain both of them knew all too well. He smiled at the thought. It was oddly comforting to him during this tough period of recovery. 

———

The following days went by in a breeze. Allie kept working out to “ensure she was able to work properly” which she knew was not entirely the truth, but sometimes it was easier to accept a half-truth than to seek out the whole truth. Dino, true to his word, did recover fast. He appreciated his soulmate and their efforts, as they helped him feel better. Soon, he took over the responsibility of causing muscle soreness again. 
It was strangely delightful for Allie to wake up one day and feel twice the pain she was used to. Her soulmate was doing well enough to go back to exercising.

Things fell back into their normal rhythm for both the singer and the writer. Seventeen had lots of performances and interviews Dino could partake in again. Allie’s popularity as an author was still rising and she had a book to finish. Which she did. 
It was to no one’s surprise that her second novel, edited once again by, her now definitely friend, Nina became just as if not even more successful than her first one.

———

Allie was on her way back home from a local kpop store that had recently opened up when her phone started ringing. 

Not a second of peace in this job. Maybe I should have just stuck to editing… No, that’s silly. I love writing. I only wish people would write an email instead of calling all the time. 

Cursing whoever had thought of inventing phone calls, Allie fished her phone out of her bag and picked up the call after seeing it was her secretary trying to get a hold of her.

One day about five months after the publication of her first book, Allie had walked into the office to see someone sitting at her desk. Confused, she had asked the young woman why she was sitting there.

Apparently, the company had decided it was time to get her a secretary to organise her schedule for Allie so she could focus on the creative portion of her job more. She was not complaining.

”Hello? How can I help you, Laur?”

Laur was a patient woman, usually cheery and seemingly very passionate about Allie’s work. The author had once overheard her arguing with someone on the phone for “making such a ridiculous offer!” stating that her client (Allie) deserved much better payment and would refuse to even so much as look at the opportunity if nothing changed. 

A few days after that, Laur had pitched a TV appearance to her that paid a shockingly high wage for someone of Allie’s level of popularity. She suspected there might have been a connection between the events.

”Hey, Allie!”, Laur greeted, sounding uncharacteristically thrilled, even for her.

”Listen, you won’t believe the offer I have for you.”, she continued.

Despite the circumstances she was currently in (standing in the middle of a busy street on her way to the train station, holding a bag with two new K-pop albums), Allie perked up at the words.

If her secretary was genuinely excited about something, it must be seriously cool. Laur was sweet, but a stone-cold negotiator when she needed to be. She managed to secure tons of obscurely advantageous opportunities, so this one must be incredible.

”Go on, I’m all ears.”

There was a short pause on the other end of the call.

”Soooo, you remember your debut novel?”, Laur started.

”Laur, do you really need to ask me that? Of course, I remember the book I wrote about a year ago.”

The other woman giggled.

”Sorry, I had to lead into the topic somehow. As you know, it is VERY popular. As you might know, it has been translated into many languages because of that.”

Allie did know that. She had helped with one of the translations and there was a list in her office that named every language in which “Broken Melodies” was available. It was astonishing to think about how many there were.

”As you might not know, one of them is especially popular as of recently.”

This time, Allie really did not know that. She had been busy with promoting her second book and planning her third one. 

I wonder which one it is.

The author, luckily, did not have to wait long for the answer.

”It’s the Korean one. I don’t know why either, but teens and middle-aged women seem to like it a lot. So much that a couple of people in the film industry have caught wind of it and want to make a movie adaption.”

Laur paused after this, Allie guessed it was because she knew her client well enough to understand she would need a moment. And she was right.

Korean version? Movie adaption? 

The words hung in the air, floating around Allie’s head without making any sense. Her surroundings had suddenly quieted down, it was like there was a thin wall between the woman and the world around her. Allie could feel her own heartbeat and hear her own breathing. Time slowed down. 

Then, everything came crashing down. The words connected in her mind. The steps were suddenly close again, the car honks loud. 

Someone wanted to film a movie adaption. Of her book.

Mixed feelings erupted in Allie’s stomach. 
On the one hand, it was thrilling to reach an even bigger audience and see her thoughts come to life. On the other hand, however, could this go horribly wrong. She liked books for a reason. There were catastrophic movie adaptations for some of the most phenomenal works of literature Allie had ever read. It was a risk to let someone else interpret her work in a cinematic way. One the author did not know if she was willing to take.

”Laur, that’s really nice and all, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea…”, she explained cautiously, startled when she heard her secretary cackling.

”Allie, darling. You don’t seriously believe I’d even think about accepting a movie deal if there was any possibility it came out bad.” Allie blinked. 

It was true. For a brief moment, she had forgotten who she was talking to. Allie Defender #1 would never let this happen. She felt silly. 

Shaking her head lightly, Allie apologised to Laur and asked her for more details. 

“I’ll explain everything to you in-depth tomorrow, it’s easier that way. But I made sure you get the final say on the cast! I can tell you that already, so you better make sure to come up with some suggestions. It’s gonna be in Korean, maybe make sure they speak the language.” Laur sounded proud of herself and Allie thought she had every reason to be. This was huge.

She made sure to thank her secretary again and the two agreed to further discuss everything the following day at the office. 

Allie was still stunned even five minutes after the call ended. Laur was a force to be reckoned with. She had no idea, how the other woman had managed to secure her this much deciding power. 

There was a lot on Allie’s mind so instead of home, she went to the nearest coffee shop and sat down inside. A piece of apple pie and a mug of coffee had always worked wonders for the writer when she had much to think about. Music had, too, so Allie took out some headphones, plugged them into her phone and clicked on a random playlist of hers.

”I Don’t Understand But I Luv U” by Seventeen started playing.

Allie laughed. It was almost like the universe was mocking her. She ate a few bites of her apple pie, before pulling out the FML album she had bought before Laur had called. Might as well check whose photo cards she got right here.

The wrapping put up quite the fight, but Allie won in the end. She opened the album, put the inclusions aside and turned them around to scan them one by one. 

She was convinced the universe was no longer mocking her, it was straight up out to get her. Allie might as well have bought the album from Dino himself considering he was somehow on every possible inclusion. It made Allie want to bang her head into the table. Hard.

Two things were keeping her from doing it. 1. This was a public space and she wanted to avoid any possible attention. 2. Her soulmate would definitely feel the impact, too. It would be embarrassing.

After a few sips of coffee and more apple pie, Allie texted her best friend to vent about it. She needed to get this off her chest. She might have also cursed the universe a little bit.

Nothing could have prepared the young author for her best friend’s reply, though.

- You sure it’s the universe making fun of you and not desperately screaming at you: “LOOK AT THIS OPPORTUNITY I GOT YOU!!!” because it’s getting frustrated with you? -

Allie choked on her coffee. Her phone lit up again.

- Cause if that Seventeen dude is actually your soulmate and I was the universe trying to tell you that, I’d be about ready to hit you in the face rn -

- Just saying, one time is an accident but this? YOU get to choose any specifically Korean person to cast? -

- Seems more like a pattern to me -

She was not wrong. It was odd. Thinking back, Allie had ALWAYS pulled Dino at least once per album. Like a subtle hint. Although, it had never been just him before. Maybe the universe really was getting tired of her. It was common for idols to get acting roles, too. Some other members of Seventeen had acted before. Allie figured there was no harm in asking for the dancer. If he was unavailable or turned down the offer, she had nothing to lose. They did not know each other and it would be someone else reaching out anyway. If he was available and agreed, she could subtly injure herself on set to confirm whether or not they were soulmates. 

———

Dino was surprised when he was called into the office of his company’s CEO. Part of him was anxious and wondered if he had done something wrong, another part was sure there was nothing he could have done that would warrant this situation. He sat down in a chair facing the CEO, who looked up at him.

”Hello, Chan. You’re probably wondering why I called you here.”

The dancer nodded. He did.

”Well, you’re not in trouble if that’s something you were worried about.”, the man opposite him continued.

Dino let out a breath he had previously been holding. Good.

”There’s actually an acting opportunity I wanted to talk to you about. I’m sure you’ve heard of “Broken Melodies”, everyone is talking about it right now. They’re gonna make a movie adaption and the author herself asked for you to play one of the main roles.”, their CEO casually said. Like it was not that big of a deal.

It was a big deal. A very big deal even. 

Chan had always wanted to act, but never gotten the chance to. He had always been supportive of his group members when they got cast for some role, but a part of him had longed for the same. This was amazing for him, of course he said yes. 

———

“He just… agreed?!”, Allie exclaimed loudly, head tilted to the right and eyebrows furrowed. She had difficulty believing what her secretary Laur had announced to her moments ago. 

“No negotiation, no nothing? He just said yes??”

Laur smiled even wider than she had before.

”Sure did, Allie.”

Then she added a teasing “He must really like your work, maybe he’ll be the one asking you for an autograph and not vice versa like I thought” before winking at the author.

Allie would never ask someone for their autograph while at work. It was a highly unprofessional thing to do and therefore the last thing she planned on doing. Knowing she would have to interact with Dino in any way was already stressful enough for the young woman, she was definitely avoiding any potentially embarrassing situations. 

One question remained on her mind, refusing to let her think about anything else.

Why would he just agree though? He could easily argue for much higher pay considering his group is obviously quite famous. Huh.

It did not make sense. Then again, if she thought about it, the idol did seem to enjoy acting whenever he actually got the chance to. 

Either way, his acceptance meant Allie was going to meet the “SEVENTEEN” member soon, as she would be on set for both the casting he still had to go through to determine whether Dino was a good fit for the role Allie had suggested him for, and the filming of the movie.

She would meet her potential soulmate. The famous one. Soon. 

”Breathe.”, Allie had to remind herself to prevent the incoming bursts of panic from taking over her mind and body. It was fine. This was not a big deal. He might not even be her soulmate, he was just some guy. 

Yes, just some guy. Who happens to be super funny. And a great dancer. With a lovely voice. Also really hot. Oh, fuck. This is bad.

“ALISON KEIRA BROOKS!”

Allie jumped slightly upon hearing her full government name being called as loudly as it had. When she looked over to scan the room for the source of the startling noise, she found Laur offering her an apologetic smile. 

“Sorry, Allie. You were so lost in thought, I needed to get you out of your head somehow. The casting is next Tuesday. I’ll email you the exact details, be there.”, her secretary threatened as if sensing the author’s fear and doubt. Allie gave a shy acknowledging nod in response.

After the encounter, Allie went outside to “look for some inspiration” which was overwhelmed author's speech for “I cannot fucking take being in this room anymore, I need fresh air, movement and possibly a martini or two”. She decided against the martinis, an unsurprising choice considering that Allie generally did not drink alcohol. 

Twenty minutes of walking around aimlessly later, the young woman found herself at a park. The air was cold. In her hurry to escape the situation, Allie had not thought of bringing a coat which she regretted now. Shivers ran down her spine as she sighed, opening a map on her phone to find her way back to the warm office. 

She had to figure out the easiest yet most efficient way to confirm if she and Dino were soulmates. However, Allie also needed to make sure it was subtle enough for everyone else to overlook. After all, both she and the idol were public figures which was why rumours and/or the press knowing they might be soulmates was far from ideal for the beginning of… a friendship? a relationship? Allie did not know.

The impact needed to be strong enough for Dino to notice. The cause needed to be casual enough for everyone else to pass off as unimportant or, better yet, not even take note of. Allie went through all the injuries she had ever suffered. 

- A cold? absurd 

- The flu? see above

- Sprained ankle? yeah, right and risk his career while you’re at it 

- Scraped knee or elbow? too obvious and she was not that clumsy 

- Walk into a doorframe? WAY too embarrassing 

- Burn? literally how 

- Paper cut? could work!

The author felt the corners of her mouth lift ever so slightly, a soft smile subconsciously appearing on her face. This was good. A paper cut would be perfect. They hurt like hell, so Dino would definitely notice, but they happened all the time - especially to her - so it was nothing out of the ordinary. Nobody else would even bat an eye. It was a flawless plan.

Phew, that was close., Allie thought after she had almost walked straight into a traffic light in the middle of the sidewalk. That would have been embarrassing. She was still freezing, but walking faster than she had before prompted her body to warm up a little. Not much later, the author had already made it back to her office. Since it was easier to write about someone else’s life than to think about one’s own, Allie went back to work to distract herself from everything. It was nice, relaxing even. 

Until her shift ended and she was reminded of all the thoughts Allie had pushed back into the corner of her mind the past couple of hours. 

The following nights were short and torturous ones for the writer, her mind preventing her body from getting a good night’s rest. She felt silly. There was no reason for her to be that nervous to meet Dino, but Allie could not help herself. Sometimes she wondered if the unreasonable nervousness was a sign foreshadowing she was truly about to meet her supposed other half. She also wondered if he felt the same.

Did he sleep well at night? Did he lay awake at night like she did? Did he feel it, too? Did he know what it was? What it meant? 

Allie was unsure if she even wanted to know.

———

“Good morning, sleepyhead!”, someone shouted. 

It was too early for this. Too much noise, too much light, too much weight on Dino’s right arm. Not enough sleep.

Groaning, the idol shook off the hand placed atop his upper arm. He yawned, rubbed his eyes and then sat up in his bed to stretch out both his, now-free, arms. 

Recently, Dino had not been able to sleep well. He barely got any sleep at all, thoughts he found confusing occupying his mind. It had started about a week ago, the day he had agreed to audition for an important role in the movie adaption of Allie K. Brooks’ “Broken Melodies” and got increasingly worse every night.

He was starting to feel convinced he had done something to piss off the universe but there was nothing Chan could come up with that would be a logical reason. It was frustrating.

”Dino-ya, are you still not getting proper sleep?”, the same person who had been bothering him minutes ago asked. Dino was now awake enough to recognise the voice as Jeonghan’s which, more often than not, meant trouble. 

Why did I have to become an idol? And why under this company with twelve people as group members who are ALL older than me? Why??

Sometimes, the dancer thought about his twelve “hyungs” and lost all will to live. Other times, they could be nice or even helpful. Like this morning, when Jeonghan understood his lack of a response as a “yes, I have barely slept and I’m super tired and some breakfast would be lovely right now” and decided he was feeling generous today. 

Dino was surprised to find a tray being placed next to his bed just five minutes later. There was a small selection of his preferred breakfast items laid out for him and a cup of coffee next to them. Jeonghan could be so thoughtful if he wanted to, it was heartwarming and made Dino feel much more awake for which he was grateful since it was an important day for him. The day would determine whether or not the idol got his first role as an actor. He was excited.

After breakfast, Chan got ready to leave for his audition, said his goodbyes to Jeonghan who wished him good luck and then joined his manager in the car that would bring them to his appointment. He went through the lines he was asked to rehearse one final time and wondered what the other people at the audition would be like. 

“Hey, do you know anything about the director of the movie?”, Dino decided to ask his manager who seemed to think before shaking his head. 

“The only person I know anything at all about is the author. Apparently, she has a really fierce secretary but is more of a timid person herself. There weren’t many public appearances but people mostly see her as well-mannered and friendly if sometimes a little awkward.”

She sounds sweet. I think we will get along.

Dino nodded to show he was listening and understood, trying to picture the woman that had been described to him. The action felt familiar for reasons unknown to him. It was a strange feeling. They arrived at the venue soon after which distracted Dino from the confusing antics of his body. 

———

This was an awful idea. Why did I agree to be present for the auditions? What am I doing here? I think I’m going to throw up.

Needless to say, Allie was beginning to regret every single decision she had ever made in her entire life while waiting for the first day of auditions to start. It was nine in the morning which, to her, was way too early. As an author, it was not uncommon for Allie to go to bed sometime between 02:00 am and 04:00 am. If inspiration struck, it struck. She had to write then.

Yawning, Allie stretched out her arms before reaching for the mug of herbal tea someone had placed in front of her. Very nice of them, she would have thanked them for it had she been mentally present enough to notice the action in the first place. The funny feeling in her stomach had only got stronger and Allie was getting tired of it. 

The director, who sat next to her, asked her some questions about the characters whose actors they would cast that day. She was a bit too enthusiastic and chatty for a Tuesday morning, but Allie appreciated her genuine interest so she answered them patiently. It was nice to know someone else cared about her characters being portrayed as accurately as possible on screen.

Before the author knew it, they were in the middle of the casting, she was discussing candidates with the director and jotting down the strengths and weaknesses of potential actors.

Allie was laughing at a joke one of the crew members had cracked when time seemingly stopped. 

It’s him.

A handsome young man had walked in, shoulders relaxed and an inviting smile on his face. The author recognised him immediately.

Dino.

The nerves from earlier that morning came back to hit her full force, making Allie feel nauseous. 

“Don’t run, don’t run, don’t run.”, she repeated in her head like a mantra. She really wanted to run away and it took everything in her to force a smile on her face, stay seated and just shuffle through her evaluation papers instead. 

Truthfully, Allie’s mind had entirely gone blank the second she laid eyes on the idol who was currently introducing himself to the people present in the room. Or rather, that was what Allie assumed he was doing. She was not actually listening to anything that was said, her senses refusing to cooperate with her.

At least she was doing a good job hiding her nerves and severe stress, or so Allie had thought until the director had turned to her, a concerned look on her face, whispering: “Are you alright, dear? You look quite pale.”

Oh, great. Wonderful. Just excellent. Not only do I feel like I might throw up, but apparently I look like it, too.

The question caught Allie off guard, causing her to lose focus for a second. That one second, however, was enough to get a mean paper cut on the side of her right pointer finger from still shuffling through papers while she was distracted. Allie quietly winced in pain. Everything sucked.

When she looked up, the writer caught Dino staring at his right hand. 

Oh. OH. 

Well, it could always be a coincidence.

Allie had been fighting the urge to escape the situation for so long at this point, her determination was on the decline and she was getting exhausted. It was much too draining. She ran.

Not literally, the author slowly got up from her seat, explained that she was going to look for a band-aid for her wound and then quickly left the room. Since she was still overwhelmed, Allie's brain functioned only partially which led to her feet taking her to the next bathroom. It was empty. The young woman did some breathing exercises and splashed cold water on her face to feel more awake. She mentally went over all the signs again. 

- He is a dancer who practices hard and often.

- He started dancing around the time the exhaustion started.

- He had an ankle injury when her soulmate had one.

- He had been on her mind the past few nights, keeping her from getting a good night's rest.

- He had clearly felt something when she had got that paper cut minutes ago.

- He seemed magnetic to her, and despite wanting nothing more than to run away, she had felt an undeniable pull towards the idol.

- He just... seemed right? Familiar?

Shit, there is actually no way he's NOT my soulmate. It has to be him. Oh no.

What do I do?

Allie decided she had to find a band-aid to make her sudden exit believable and afterwards she would act like everything was perfectly ordinary during the casting. If she found Dino later on, she would consider mentioning their (quite likely) soulmate bond to him. The writer fixed her hair, stole one last glance in the mirror and walked toward the door. It was a solid plan. Too bad it was ruined the second she set foot out of the women's restroom. 

———

Everything about this audition seemed perfectly normal to Dino. When he had entered the building, the staff had told him what time he was supposed to go where and given him a quick rundown of the general process which he appreciated. The director looked interested and seemed to be listening to his introduction intently, occasionally taking some notes. The author seemed a bit nervous and was shuffling through her papers which was not exactly the behaviour he had expected from the person who had apparently handpicked him for this audition, but who was Chan to judge?

Moreover, the seemingly distracted young woman was pretty. Beautiful in fact. Dino wanted her to lift her gaze from the papers to meet his, however, she did not. It was upsetting, but the idol decided not to let it bother him. He was here for the role anyway, it was silly to get distracted by a gorgeous woman who refused to look at him.

Focus, Chan. You know how important this is.

And he was truly determined to. Sometimes fate had other plans, though. 

Dino was in the middle of acting out a few lines when the director leaned over to whisper something at the author whose facial expression changed to horrified before the idol’s right pointer finger began to hurt.

Paper cut. Once again.

The pain was familiar enough by now that Chan could easily identify it. His soulmate had managed to avoid them lately, but old habits apparently died hard. Dino was about to shrug off the pain and continue his performance when he caught sight of the author saying something to the director before rushing out of the room. 

What was that all about? Where is she going? Why do I feel the need to run after her? Is she alright?

Since the idol was well aware that some of those questions would be strange for him to ask, he decided to go with the second option.

”Where is she going?”

”Oh, don’t worry about her. I think she got a paper cut, she said she’d go look for a band-aid and then come back. You can continue if you want to.”, the director elaborated calmly, giving him an apologetic look. 

A paper cut.

The three words echoed in his head. Before Dino’s mind had the time to critically consider anything, his legs had already set into motion.

“Ah, good to know. Thanks. I’m so sorry, I need to go to the restroom quickly! I’ll be right back!”, Dino muttered, trying to be as polite as he could while his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest and he was beginning to feel nauseous with excitement. She had a paper cut! Meaning it was incredibly likely that she was his soulmate. That would explain the weird sensation he had felt. 

After leaving the room, Chan realised he had no idea where to look for the woman who he was convinced was his soulmate. Where would he go if he was an author who had just found out her soulmate was a famous K-pop idol? 

Oh, shit.

It was then that the gravity of the situation started to sink in. This was not some lighthearted kdrama. This was not some cheesy romance novel. This was their lives. He had found his soulmate.

Did she know? Is that why she asked for me specifically? If she knew already, why did she run? Does she not like that I’m an idol? Does she not like me? Does she not want to be with a celebrity? I would understand, people are ruthless to other idols’ partners.

There was no time to spiral into thoughts of “what if”s and self-doubt. Dino had to talk to his soulmate. She was all that mattered at that moment. Where would she be? 

Considering how the environment was strange to him, Chan had to guess where the restrooms would be. Right as he found them, the door to the women’s restroom opened, revealing the beautiful woman from earlier who now looked more awake and even more stunning.

Oh wow, my soulmate is lovely. And an author. She must be so smart. She is super cool.

Dino wanted to say something eloquent, something that would make a good impression on the writer, maybe even impress her a little. But unfortunately, his brain short-circuited.

”You… I mean we… I… You’re my soulmate!”, Dino blurted out.

I'm such an idiot. I look so stupid right now, what if she wants nothing to do with me now and runs?

The idol wanted to bang his head into a wall, but the young woman in front of him would feel it, too, which was why he resisted the urge. It was not easy.

———

Allie stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she noticed her company.

GIVE ME A BREAK, UNIVERSE! Please, what did I ever do to you?

She knew her face must have displayed a look of mortification. Mortified was how she felt. What was Dino doing in front of the restrooms? It was a terrifying moment, but all the tension fell from Allie’s shoulders when she heard what the idol said to her. He was clearly as nervous as she had felt.

Cute.

Allie smiled. How had she ever been worried? She had seen how this man usually acted, she had a vague idea of his character and she knew what he valued. All this time she had had an unfair advantage over her soulmate. 

“That I am.”, she responded quietly, letting her gaze drop to the floor. 
Just because she knew a couple of things about him that did not mean this conversation was not scary. 

When she looked back up, Allie stared right into slightly curved eyes that were focused on her. Dino grinned widely at her and for that moment, everything seemed perfectly right.

The future was still terrifying. Allie had no idea what kind of dynamic they would develop. She was unsure what kind of relationship they would have. They would have to fight a lot of battles to be together if that was where the future led them. There were so many questions left to be answered, but something deep inside Allie knew that as long as she had Dino by her side - everything would be just fine. 

“Wanna grab some coffee with me this afternoon?”, she offered shyly. There was nothing in this world she wanted to do more than learn more about her newfound soulmate. 

It was a simple question. However, it was also the end of a long search and the beginning of an even longer future for two soulmates who shared each other’s sorrows and happiness. 

Even before Dino nodded enthusiastically in response to her question, Allie could feel his excitement joining her own nervousness and joy.

All of the writer’s emotions finally merged into one feeling when Dino stepped closer to ask if he could hug her, followed by strong arms embracing her body carefully as if she might break or disappear any second.

Peace.