Soulmate Marks (A LipSoul short story)

1

"Dude what are those bruises on your arms? They're hideous." A little boy asked 7 year-old Jinsoul who was hiding her arms behind her back.

"It's nothing. I fell." Jinsoul replied as she shook her head, earning disgusted looks from the other kids.

Since Jinsoul was in kindergarten, she always had these random blue and purplish bruises on her arms and sometimes legs. She never knew how'd she get them. They would usually appear every morning and Jinsoul was never not confused. Jinsoul was used to being asked about her bruises until she was at the point of not giving a damn about it. She would just let the other kids laugh and she would walk away in confusion.

She was confused because she was not clusmy enough to hurt herself. Her parents, once, were suspended for a child abuse case but the thing is, they never abused Jinsoul. The random bruises left a bad image on her parents which caused them to be frustrated.

"Is it bad?" Jinsoul's mother asked the doctor, earning a confused look from him.

"I'm sorry but the tests aren't showing anything bad. Your daughter is completely normal. No internal bleeding, no tumors, no broken bones, no malfunctioning of organs. Everything is perfectly fine." The doctor explained as he showed a few of Jinsoul's x-ray films and lab tests.

"Then why is she experiencing such pain if she's completely normal?" Jinsoul's mother fired back.

"This is a rare case. Not just rare, this is actually our first case." The doctor replied. Earning a confused look from 8 year-old Jinsoul, who still has no idea what was going to happen to her.

The doctors said that maybe Jinsoul was anemic and the medication that was prescribed to her would help. Of course, Jinsoul wasn't anemic. She ate healthy meals everyday until the medication was not needed.

But, still the bruises would still appear and would take days to disappear and just to find out new ones would appear on the next day. She was just as confused as her parents. Until one day, Jinsoul just decided to shake it off and stop giving a damn about it. She would just wear large hoodies and leggings whenever she goes out.

Despite the bruises that appeared on her arms, she would also feel random pains around her body especially her back and her torso. It wasn't painful but it was throbbing and uncomfortable. Sometimes Jinsoul would wake up due to the sharp uncomfortable pain on her calves. Sometimes, she wouldn't get a wink of sleep until the uncomfortableness stopped.

Day by day, Jinsoul got used to it. She tried to find different distractions for the pain. She would try to ignore it as much as possible since it was the only thing she could do.

Time Skip : 10 years later.

At the age of 18, Jinsoul decided to persue her dream in medicine and hopefully become a doctor one day. She has decided to enroll in HanGuk university and major in medicine.

"You got everything you need?" Jinsoul's dad asked as he placed a big box of Jinsoul's stuff into the car.

"Yeah, i think so." Jinsoul nodded as she checked the time on her phone.

"Don't forget anything!" Jinsoul's mother said as she placed a bag of food into Jinsoul's car.

"Relax mom, college is just a few miles from here. I could just go back." Jinsoul chuckled as she hugged her mom.

"Did you bring your meds?" Jinsoul's mother asked again, earning a soft chuckle from Jinsoul, knowing that the meds never helped her.

The bruises and pain Jinsoul felt when she was a kid slowly began to fade away. It would only appear like twice a week. And the random uncomfortable pains would only appear somedays. And that's one of the reasons why Jinsoul decided to go for college.

"Yes mom, I did." Jinsoul smiled as she showed her mother the medicine she packed for herself.

"Okay then. Take good care. Call me if the random pains come back again." Jinsoul's mother reminded hear, earning a nod from Jinsoul.

"Drive safe, kid. Don't go knocking on someone's garbage can." Jinsoul's father laughed as she ruffled Jinsoul's hair.

"I will. See you next weekend." Jinsoul said as she hugged both of her parents and got in her car.

Jinsoul was excited of course, to start a new chapter in life. She hoped to learn a lot this year since she missed so much in high school due to her medical appointments. She hoped that she could find new friends since she doesn't have any. Overall, she was really excited.

"Ah great! my uber is here." Haseul said as she entered Jinsoul's car earning an eyeroll from her.

"Whatever. Why'd you leave your stuff outside?" Jinsoul asked looking a bit confused.

"Aren't you going to pick my stuff up in the boot?" Haseul asked as she applied lip gloss on her lips.

"Remember? I'm your uber driver not your personal assistant. Just shove it at the passenger seat." Jinsoul scoffed playfully, earning an eyeroll from Haseul.

"Geez, thank god I'm your only friend." Haseul scoffed and walked outside.

Haseul was Jinsoul's only true friend. Haseul stoody by Jinsoul's side ever since they were in kindergarten. Haseul would protect Jinsoul from the mean bullies and even comforted Jinsoul whenever she was feeling down because of them.

flashback

"You look ugly Jinsoul, those bruises don't look good." one of the bullies that always bothers Jinsoul said to her. 14 year-old Jinsoul glanced at him with hurt flashing in her eyes.

"I know." Jinsoul sighed. "You don't have to remind me. You're not a mirror." Jinsoul sighed as she continued reading a book.

"Well, I'm just telling you, just in case you forgot. You're ugly." The boy said again followed by chuckles from behind.

Jinsoul sighed at those words as they replayed in her head. This wasn't her first time she got bullied. She was used to it. Ever since she started kindergarten. It was something she finds uncontrollable untill...

"Phew something stinks in here." Haseul said as she enetered the classroom, holding her nose as she glanced at the bullied. "It must be your foul scented mouth, Han Seok. I'm pretty sure you've been saying a lot of foul words." Haseul said as she approached him.

"I'm just stating facts, Haseul. This person here is ugly." the bully continued as he pointed Jinsoul, earning a scoff from Haseul. Haseul chuckled bitterly and walked to the back of the classroom. The bullies laughed when Haseul walked away from them.

"See even Haseul agrees with me." The boy said in front of  unbothered Jinsoul but paused when Haseul came back, holding a mirror in her hand.

"Look at this. Just look at it." Haseul said as she showed the mirror to Han Seok. "Look at your textured face with your crater look alike acne scars. Look at your pimples growing out from your greasy pores. You look like you haven't wash your face for weeks and you still have the audacity to call my friend ugly?" Haseul scoffed, earning a silence from Han Seok.

Jinsoul slowly looked away from her book just to admire Haseul. Honestly, she never thought someone would stand up for her. Especially Haseul, who was known as the school's most popular girl.

"I'm not here to activate your insecurities or whatever but stop calling her ugly because apparently she has clearer skin than you." Haseul conclueded as she took the mirror away from him. "Now get out, this is my seat." Haseul shooed them away once and they were already gone.

"Can't believe boys have the audacity to call such a beautiful person ugly." Haseul sighed as she sat down. "I'm Haseul." Haseul smiled as she gave out her hand for Jinsoul to shake.

"I-I'm Jinsoul." Jinsoul smiled nervously and took her hand.

And that was how a beautiful friendship blossomed.