does it rain in california?

1

The sky was pink and purple. And orange and blue.

He can remember the sound of the crashing waves, and the seagulls crowing above him. He remembers the breeze he had felt brushing past the skin of his cheeks, caressing him softly.

The washable violet colored Crayola marker did his memory no justice against the fair skin of his inner forearm.

He's focusing on blending the magenta with it, trying to remember what their art teacher had said the other day about the sky patterns during sunsets. It went dark blue, purple, pink, orange and yellow.

But how was he supposed to make them work together without one color bleeding into his other lighter markers and ruining his image?

"Watch out!"

Seungmin is so focused, he startles when the orange ball rolls past his feet, and sighs in relief when it passes harmlessly.

"You okay?"

He looks up to see one of his classmates, Han Jisung.

His brown hair is matted to his forehead with sweat, and his braces glint in the sunlight when he smiles at Seungmin, realizing he was alright. "Sorry, Hyunjin threw the ball a little too far." He adds sheepishly.

Seungmin doesn't say anything. He's always been more of a quiet kid, preferring his books and his art instead. But Jisung seems to find his silence as an open invitation to chat.

"You wanna join us? We're playing HORSE." He says, gesturing behind him where a lanky boy stands a few meters away, waiting for Jisung to return to the court.

"I'm not really--" He starts off, but the other interrupts him.

"Woah, do you draw that? Or was it your soulmate?" Jisung asks, eyes shinning like the metal in his mouth as he blatantly stares at Seungmin's ink covered arm.

"I did." Seungmin says, but quickly rearranges his long sleeve to cover it up. "It's my other home."

Jisung tilts his head in curiosity. "Your other home? The beach?"

Seungmin nods, putting away his markers and pushing them up against the fence. "My home in LA." He explains, "I lived there last year."

"That's so cool!" Jisung practically shouts, "Can you speak English?"

Again, Seungmin nods, and decides to rise to his feet. "Yeah, I even have an English name." He says, but see's the lanky boy waving at them impatiently. "How do you play HORSE?"

Just like that, Jisung is back to his original goal. "It's easy! I can teach you. Let me get the ball."

**

Seungmin asked his parents that night about soulmates.

He knew about it them on a surface level, had learned a bit more recently that there were people out there that were perfect for you on every level, but he wanted to understand what Jisung meant by his drawing.

So his parents explain more of the concept to him; how the things you draw or paint on your skin will appear on your soulmate's skin as well.