PAPER CUTS .. ljn（✓）

→ one

a wince left the girl's lips as she watched bright red blood appear on the pad of her pointer finger. she quickly popped her finger into her mouth, pressing her tongue against the fresh cut. hyerim sighed through her nose and leaned to the side to grab her backpack.

paper cuts weren't a new thing for the clumsy dark brown-haired girl, and she had enough bandaid wrappers in the front pocket of her bag to prove it.

rummaging through the already torn plastic covers, hyerim pulled her finger from her mouth and finally grabbed a bandaid. she ripped it open and messily covered the bleeding cut, a hushed wince slipping past her clenched teeth.

"jesus, again?" a voice called from the seat next to her, and the brunette glanced to the side to see her friend lee felix eyeing her now wrapped finger with concern splayed across his features.

hyerim pouted with a huff, holding her finger in front of her face. "i don't know how i do it..." "maybe because you're just so clumsy?"

the brunette faced her right to see her other desk mate, choi soobin, watching her with his chin resting in his hand. the girl stuck her tongue out at him, smiling when felix giggled behind her.

"seungmin," hyerim suddenly whispered at the boy sitting in front of her. judging by the way his head dropped forward, he heard her. a large grin covered the girl's face when the irritated boy turned her way.

the brunette leaned against her desk to get closer to him. "hey min, wanna sit with us at lunch?"

"no." seungmin's lack of hesitation made hyerim frown. "come on, please? you can't keep eating in the library."

"oh yes, i can."

he faced forward and the girl deflated against her desk. "well, you tried." felix patted her back and soobin kicked her bag. "sit up. hong is looking at you." hyerim shot up, daring a sneaky glance at the teacher, who was indeed glaring at her.

dropping her head, the girl instantly went back to doodling on her notes to make it seem like she'd been following along the whole time.

── 🩹 ──

hyerim skipped out of the classroom with a large smile. when class ended, seungmin had a change of heart and decided to sit with her and the others.

"yay! we're like the four musketeers!" the girl cheered. "the four horsemen!" felix laughed.

spinning around so that she could face her friends as she walked backward, the giddy brunette beamed. "i like it! as long as seungminnie officially decides to join our little group..."

she raised an anticipating eyebrow towards the glasses-wearing boy who currently had his nose in a book. he simply hummed, and hyerim jumped up in glee. "sweet! now we really can be the four—"

spinning back forwards, the girl's words cut off when she face-planted directly into another student. hyerim hit the tiled ground with an oof, followed by a quiet groan.

"yikers. that one didn't feel too good," shaking her head, the brunette was pulled back to her feet by felix and soobin, who both worked hard to dust her off and check for injury.

seungmin was still buried in his book.

"watch where you're going next time." hyerim looked up towards the owner of the voice, gently biting on her inner lip.

the chest she'd, unfortunately, collided into belonged to none other than lee jeno: captain of the hockey team and their school's "it" boy.

the brunette nervously glanced everywhere except his ice-cold eyes. "u-uh sorry, gaon's brother..." hyerim kept her voice hushed, unsure if he wanted peeping bystanders knowing they knew each other.

not even felix or soobin knew, but hyerim's little brother and jeno's sister were best friends. the it boy would often stop by the girl's house to drop his sister off for a few hours while he was at practice, but the two high schoolers never shared anything other than quick glances.

"i have a name." jeno interrupted her thoughts, and hyerim finally met his eyes. "congrats! i didn't ask for it."

the brunette could hear her friend's muffling their surprised snickers behind her, but hyerim was too interested in the way jeno's eyes widened.

"what?" she asked innocently. "if i don't get an 'i'm sorry, shin hyerim', you don't get a 'no, i'm sorry lee jeno'."

"o-okay, she's sorry, man." felix cut in, quickly grabbing the short girl's arm and dragging her away from the hockey captain and his four other teammates.

"never again, please. i value my lack of a social life as is." the australian rambled, and hyerim rolled her eyes. "those guys aren't as scary as they seem—"

"maybe not," soobin started, taking a sip of his chocolate milk. "but they have power, rim. you can't just go picking fights with their captain." the giant poked the girl's forehead and she swatted his hand away with an eye roll. "plus, you're the clumsy oaf who walked into lee jeno. that was your fault."

"yeah yeah," the brunette called, violently tearing her bag of chips open before wincing. "ow, frick!" hyerim, once again, popped her finger in her mouth with a tired sigh.

seungmin tossed a bandaid her way, eyes never leaving his novel. the brunette flashed her sweet gummy smile and soobin carefully covered the brand new cut.

"seriously, shin hyerim. you have more bandaid's on your fingers than you do actual skin."

the girl shrugged, grabbing a chip with her free hand and dropping it in her mouth. "oh well. my poor soulmate must be suffering." felix's head shot up in surprise. "oh right, you turned 17!"

now that it was october, hyerim's 17th birthday passed. every family line was different but for the little brunette, she and her soulmate were connected physically.

basically, whenever hyerim got injured, say, a paper cut, one would appear on her soulmate as well.

she felt a little bad, especially since nothing that painful had happened to her yet, which meant her soulmate was being careful.

hyerim continued staring into space as she pictured who her soulmate may be, only snapping back to reality when soobin stuck a cheeto up her nose.

the girl wrinkled her nose and tossed the cheeto at the blue-haired boy, who was chuckling evilly at his prior actions. "you're just jealous that you have to wait two more months to find yours!"

soobin just continued laughing. "yes. i stuck a cheeto up your nose because i'm jealous of you, rim." the brunette shoved him to the side, eventually giggling due to felix's contagious laughter. even seungmin cracked a grin.

"don't worry, hyerim!" the blond australian announced suddenly, and the girl looked up at him. "we'll help you find your soulmate in no time!"

chapter 1! why am i lowkey nervous-
any thoughts so far??