ink bound (JJK, Book 1 of the Soulmate Series)

chapter four

I opened the door to my apartment and was met with the what smells like meatloaf or burgers being grilled. My stomach protesting my poor lunch choice. Alex had brought some leftover red rice and ribs from Jamaican Grill but I really wasn't up for eating all that and just settled for the broccoli and cheese soup from Subway. Hearing my stomach scream at me now made me regret not having some of his food when he offered.

I saw the living room set up for tonight. Malia tried to make it as comfortable as possible for me since we went through her soul mark ritual together and it was so taxing on her mind and body. I knew I was absolutely safe and well taken care of with her. She had lit some new candles and thrown a couple extra blankets on the couch for me.

Our apartment is fairly small so Malia saw me as soon as I entered the house. 

"Hey! How was work?" Malia greeted me while taking out the meatloaf from the oven. 

"Same as it always is" I respond. "We got in the BTS magazines today, I brought one home for you" I put my bag on the couch in our living room and took the magazine out setting it on her spot on the couch.

She squeals and claps her hands. "Thank you! I'll look at it later. Food just got finished come and grab a plate."

I head to the kitchen to grab a plate and load it with meatloaf and Malia's homemade mashed potatoes and some buttered corn. She makes some really good meatloaf, almost as good as my mom's. I walked to the living room to set my plate on the little coffee table. Once Malia settles in next to me with her food and puts on a movie for us to watch, I immediately dig into my food.

Moaning in absolute joy from the amazing food, I look to my best friend with a big smile on my face showing her how grateful I am for her delicious cooking. She laughs at my eyes that are basically nonexistent.

We watch the movie in peace with a few "he's so hot" comments because of how good Taylor Lautner looks. 

Before I knew it, it was 5 minutes till midnight. Malia got up to grab a cold hand rag. She said it would help with the burning. I told her that the tattoo forming shouldn't be that bad seeing as I had many tattoos already. It was the soul part that I was nervous for. When Malia went through her soul ritual she said it felt like she was lost. She wasn't herself for 3 whole days. From what I've read, after the soul mark ritual you'll feel different for a couple days and then everything should start going back to normal but you'll still feel the absence of your soul.

11:57pm

Malia came back to sit with me

11:58pm

My hands started to sweat and my heart started beating faster

11:59pm

I was doing everything possible to try not to have a panic attack

12am

I started to feel the burn on my wrist. I knew the tattoo was starting to form. I saw my tattoo and as expected it was music related. A simple treble clef formed on my wrist. I started to feel another burn indicating that my soulmates passion was starting to form on my wrist now. I looked down and my eyes met another music symbol, this time a bass clef. 

(a/n , this picture but imagine both of it on one wrist instead)

Once the second tattoo was fully inked on my body, I looked up at Malia with questioning eyes. She was watching me intently because she knew what was coming next. The tattoo burned a bright red, practically knocking the air out of me. I winced and held onto my wrist hoping that it would calm the burning sensation down. And then it hit.

The first wave.

It felt like a part of my soul was being ripped away. I let go of my wrist and my hand was immediately replaced with Malia's and a cool rag was wrapped around my marks. My hand flew up to my chest feeling like someone was taking a piece of my heart out. This lasted for another minute. It felt like the longest minute of my life. And then suddenly nothing. The burning sensation went away, and I felt empty. Like something was missing. It felt like a part of myself was no longer there but I could still feel a hint of it. Like that part of me had ripped itself from the rest and is hiding. I could still feel it's presence but it was like my soul was wandering around looking for another piece of itself.

I waited and waited for the second wave to hit. When I was reading up on the soulmate ritual it said that if your soulmate had not been of age to receive their marks yet, you would get hit with a second wave. This one felt a lot like dying. I had watched Malia go through it. She said it felt like the part of her soul that was supposed to be her soulmate's was suddenly slamming into her chest. Like it was torturing her for not having a place to go. But my second wave never hit. My soulmate had already received his soul marks and I felt even more guilty knowing that he was in so much pain because of me.

I was so drained and so out of it that I hadn't realized Malia had left. She came back from her room changed into pajamas and had a pair of my pajamas in her hand. She told me to get changed and that we would be sleeping out here tonight. 

After getting into my biker shorts and big tshirt, I settled back onto the couch while Malia covered me with a blanket and sat next to me. She continued on to the next movie in our Twilight binge to hopefully distract me until I fell asleep. 

30 minutes into the movie, I felt my eyes getting heavier and the only thought on my mind was my soulmate. He shouldn't be that hard to find. We both love music and the soulmate gods were definitely on my side because on this little island I knew exactly what places to go. He had his soul marks already which would make it so much easier for me to find him.

All sense of sadness and loss gone now, I was determined to wake up tomorrow and start my search.