Flowers and ink

One

Jisung flipped the sign on his flower shop door, signaling the beginning of his work day. Jisung owned a little flower shop tucked away in the back corner of Seoul where only a few people ever visited, he had several regulars but rarely would any new faces stumble in.

The shop was bright and colorful and always had a pleasant aroma wafting from it, the stark opposite of the building across the street, which was dark and black and if he didn't know any better, jisung would assume it was empty considering it never looked like there was any lights on.

This place was, however, open, jisung knew this because the owner of this shop would occasionally be opening up around the same time he would, although they had never talked. The place was a tattoo shop and jisung had to admit that the art he had seen posted on the walls and on the bodies of people leaving looked very cool, but he always hated how gloomy the place looked.

He turned away from the front windows and walked away towards the back of his store, tending to the flowers and waiting for any customers he might need to help.

Throughout the day, he had several couples and a few men on their own come in, asking for advice on what to get for their girlfriends, which jisung was happy to give. He spoke to one couple, two boys around his age, who seemed to be extremely happy and jisung found out that one of them worked at the tattoo shop across the street.

They couldn't talk for long as jisung had other customers but the boy, Changbin, he had learned, promised to stop by some other time.

When the clock finally showed him it was time to close up shop, he did all of his closing duties before rushing off to his house.

Even though he spent all day chatting with customers and giving advice, jisung was not all that social of a person, so going home to his warm bed sounded like heaven to him.

He quickly grabbed his clothes and went into his bathroom, eager to be done with his routine so that he could sleep.

He turned on the shower and stripped, stopping in the mirror to check himself out.

He turned to the side a bit, allowing him to see most of his back, his eyes lingered on the two black handprints.

One was firmly on his butt cheek and the other was on the other side of his back, resting on his mid to lower back. Jisung had spent several years already trying to guess what kind of strange encounter with his soulmate would lead to that being the first place whoever it is touched but he always came up empty.

He lightly pressed on the handprint, watching the skin move a bit before he shook his head and finally got in the shower.

The next day, Changbin came into the flower shop again, dropping jisung off a coffee and once again thanking him for the flower recommendations the day before, he mentioned considering getting some sort of plant for his tattooing studio because he always thought it was a bit dull in his studio.

"Bin, how do you have so much time to talk? Do you not have work?" Jisung chuckled a bit.

"Oh shit right, I'll get out of your hair then," he smiled, pushing off of the counter he was leaning against and rushing off to the shop across the street.

Jisung continued to tend to his little shop, occasionally watching the door of the shop across the street. He had been thinking about maybe getting a tattoo recently but he wasn't sure what he would get.

He was thinking of maybe getting a floral piece on his arm, just cause flowers were kind of big for him.

As he closed up shop and finished watering the flowers, he noticed the cell phone sitting on his counter.

He flipped it over and saw the boy that had come in with Changbin as the Lock Screen and deduced that this phone must belong to Changbin himself.

He finished locking up shop and gathering his items before taking the short walk across the street. He went to reach for his phone but as he looked down his body collided with another person.

They caught him around his waist, one hand coming to rest on his butt and the other on his lower back, he steadied himself on their shoulders.

He wasn't sure who realized what they felt first, it wasn't painful, it was just a feeling he had never felt before.

His marks were lit up, and he could see that the stranger's were too, they slightly peaked out from under his shirt.

"I- you- you're my soulmate," he stammered out, the stranger paled.

"I- I'm sorry," he muttered, making sure jisung was steady before starting off down the street.

Jisung had half a mind to call after him but he realized the boy probably just needed some time, and he recognized him to be the owner of the tattoo shop, so it's not like they could avoid meeting again.

He entered the shop, calling for Changbin, who appeared from around a corner.

"Hey, you left your phone on my counter, also I bumped into your boss outside," jisung said, handing him the device.

"Oh Minho? Yeah, and thanks for this, I've been looking for it all day," he said appreciatively.

"Yeah the craziest thing happened," Changbin looked up, acknowledging him, "Minho lit up my soulmate marks," Jisung said and changbin's jaw dropped as his face paled.

"I'm sorry," he said and jisung frowned.

"Minho said the same thing, what are you guys sorry for?" Jisung was confused.

"Minho probably won't want to be with you, it's not my story to tell but he really is not fond of the idea of soulmates," Changbin said and Jisung's frown deepened.

He had spent so long banking on the idea of someone destined to love him unconditionally and the guy didn't even believe in soulmates? Just his luck.

"Oh..." he frowned.

"It's not your fault man, I'm sorry it had to be you," Changbin patted his shoulder with pity.

"I still might try to talk to him, even if I can't change his mind, I would still like to give soulmates a chance," jisung shrugged and Changbin nodded.

"Okay, but don't get your hopes up," jisung agreed hastily and bounced out of the door.