Chapter Text
By all means, the day hasn’t began as anything special. Autumn, but not quite rainy, even though you have left the house with an umbrella in your left hand. Still sleepy, you used it to move a few fallen chestnuts out of the way for when your neighbour would go out on a walk with a stroller so they don’t get stuck in the wheels.
The trees in front of your house looked worse for wear since the storm passed nearly a week ago, the city council yet to take care of the damaged branches. You observe as always during your morning walk to your place of work, thinking… No, not thinking. Listening to music in a thoughtless, morning bliss.
You can smell your colleague’s sweet perfume before flowers as you say hello and move further into the patio while taking off your headphones. It’s quiet still, only two of you in the building, fifteen minutes before the opening.
“Did you take out the pots from yesterday?” - you ask, moving to the cabinet to put in your bag, umbrella and a raincoat, taking out your sturdy work apron with a sole pocket at the front.
“Yeah, they’re under the desk. The delivery guy is late, again. I’m gonna call the management once again if it continues on Friday”, - Julie is typing something on the work laptop near the front, clicking her tongue when something seems wrong.
“I’ll do the repotting then”, - you say mostly to yourself, bringing a tray of freshly delivered plants to the workshop. The shop in question is a little fancy for a regular flowershop, combining the café, some whimsy home decor and the bouquet station. It’s not big at all, placed inside of an old building that once had an inner patio. The doors to the other sides of the building are now forever shut, the walls remodeled to accommodate various plants and orchids, the roof covered with glass and a once running fountain now a home for some hydroponic species. The overgrown monstera Albo in there is your favourite, not really for sale, at the size that it is. You love the morning quiet of this area, the freshwater and slightly muddy smell. You get lost in thoughts, though, because bouquets need new arrangements and designs. The owner mentioned to you that she might give up on the idea of keeping them modern, so you’ve been tasked with finding older designs to better accommodate the needs of your clients that are over forty years old, but you’re not very happy with that. Besides, roses paired with white gypsophila (the bane of your existence) will not fit shop’s interior.
Plants were your passion, bouquet design was your calling, but you felt unsure if you’ll do it forever. This re-design situation was testing your patience, you didn’t like to go against your own taste. It was also the knowledge that your interests switched regularly; something caught your attention, and you rode the high of discovering a new hobby, until eventually, inevitably, every spark turned into a dying ember because something was going against your wishes. All of them felt like they were the one, until they did no more. The sheer amount of your many interests was making your head spin sometimes. Aren’t you supposed to choose one, do it well, do it always?
Could it be because the world was only supposed to feel like you know what you’re doing when you’re no longer waiting for the fate to come knock on your door? Could it be that the consistency you crave so desperately is tied together with the person who’s supposed to put it in order?
You’ve seen cases like that, in real life. Maybe not your parents, but your aunt and uncle found their partners before their soulmarks appeared on their skin. They bounced ideas off each other, found their own passions, however different, and stuck with them.
Maybe you have actually wanted to find your soulmate to figure out yourself, first and foremost. Sometimes, even often, you felt like you didn’t know yourself at all. The insight of someone who’s supposed to feel you on the deepest level of soul connection… Yeah. You would like that.
“She’s gonna stop by in the afternoon”, - Julie, apparently, said something to you earlier, but you still understood that it’s something to do with your boss.
“What for? Sorry”, - you smiled at her, placing the last pot back in the tray, now all with proper plant passport codes.
“She’ll manage the delivery today, Pierre wasn’t available this morning, something wrong with the company car”, - Julie repeats, taking the tray from you to move to the front of the shop. - “Multiple trips to be done, it’s a mess. Roses arrived damaged, so we’re not gonna have any in the next three days until the next shipment comes.”
“Storm has already delayed the last two, what the hell is going on out there”, - you couldn’t help but feel upset. Your salary, as of currently, is tied directly to the amount you sell on top of miniscule hourly wage. You have no idea how you would’ve survived if it wasn’t for you living in the house your family owned for two generations. Everyone moved out to a different city or country, though. You tried that before, but the rent and the job opportunities weren’t as good nor affordable.
“How do I know”, - Julie was exasperated as well, being the admin on call for this shop and another, neither of them in possession of the stock that was most in demand.
“And then she’ll put the blame on me and my sales that the business isn’t doing well”, - you sigh.
“She’ll know it’s not you, though”, - Julie doesn’t deny any further, pursing her lips together. She doesn’t like the situation you’re in as well, but she’s not a close friend to actually feel any kind of sorry.
“Doesn’t make it easier if I can’t save as much this month”, - you smiled.
All you wanted was stability, really. Maybe a masters degree if you figure out what it is that you want to do.
Definitely a proper, gaming PC.
“Good morning!” - Julie turned away from you to go greet a couple of customers that walked in, but not before sending you one last sympathetic look.
You shook your head to at least try to shake off that feeling, and greeted the customers too, making small talk and moving to turn on the stereo system both you and Julie forgot about.
Surprisingly (not really, you knew it’ll be popular) they chose a bouquet of leucospermum along with some bushy, conifer needle-resembling grass. Working on that and wrapping it in matte paper, you learn that apparently the highway to the city had huge traffic issues due to the old tree collapsing on half the road after being weakened by the storm. Meaning, it was likely that the city today was experiencing delays all over.
“Thank you so much, have a great day and congratulations to your cousin!” - you say to the couple, matching their warm goodbyes. A few other people have walked in while you were assembling the bouquet, but they have ordered coffee and chose to sit in the frontal part of the shop instead of wandering closer to your area.
You had stuff to do, Julie will entertain and serve them just fine on her own, you decide, taking a broom to swipe some never-ending dust and plant parts and soil. Something near your neck began to pull - a dull sort of pain, this time seemingly closer to the skin, unlike the strain somewhere deep in muscle tissue. You rolled your shoulder, but the skin stretch almost burned you. You grit your teeth, not making a sound.
“Julie, do I have a thorn on my back somehow?” - you did drop your apron on the floor once after dealing with some stubborn branches that were covered in little thorns, not unlike the rosehip bush. You thought you had cleaned it enough, but maybe some were still stuck in the straps.
Julie places the tray she was carrying to the back room slash kitchenette on your desk, feeling her palm along your shoulderblade and shaking her head.
“It stings”, - you explain, shrugging, but the motion makes it a little worse.
“Maybe something bit you?” - she suggests, taking the dishes to the back room. She returns a minute later when you’re sweeping the mess into the little hole on the floor, taking out the container later to drop in the proper bin.
The suggestion is fair, honestly. wouldn’t be the first time some nuisance inhabited a couple of pots. Maybe a spider, even. Your thoughts drifted to your best friend who always seemed to have a spider bite story.
“Let me see”, - she walks behind you and pulls your shirt to look at your back. - “I don’t think I see any redness- oh.”
“Oh?” - you repeat. - “That bad? Should I tape it? You can try a pimple patch if it fits.”
You didn’t feel any heat from the area she was looking at, just that stinging and pulling. Thankfully, it was not becoming more intense by the minute.
“It’s white”, - she whispers mischievously, and at first, you don’t really get the smile in her voice. - “Like, wow, it’s like it’s drawing itself.”
“It’s what?” - your heart did a somersault in your chest when it dawned on you. Soulmate mark, right there? Why right there?
Why is it somewhere I can’t even see it?
“Hold on, hold on”, - she shouts hello to the new customers and asks them to wait just a second before returning with her phone and turning you around to face the shop’s entrance, letting the light from the sunroof shine on your back.
You hear her tapping the screen to open the camera app, but she doesn’t move for a while. A video, then, you think as your head and body fills with the buzz of excitement. Soulmate marks happened randomly, not really tied to a date, nor proximity with your supposed partner, nor the age. The back was an unusual place, but you hope that at least it looks like a whimsical tattoo.
“Here, look”, - the whole video is about half a minute long, and you stare in awe at the lines slowly appearing, the figure yet to get its final shape. It does look like it is drawing itself, a thin, dusted white line forming a spiral, with a subtle iridescent shine where it settled into the skin, pale where it is still forming.
You fix the collar of your shirt, going back towards the entrance where Julie is already brewing the coffee for an older gentleman waiting by the front desk. Greeting him, you slip her phone in her pocket while grabbing the complimentary candy and settling it on a plate and then onto a tray Julie prepared.
“You’re welcome”, - you smile when you give the tray to the man, now with his coffee, you and Julie are comfortable with sharing responsibilities just like that. It was a quiet morning, the soft blues filling the space around the café and fading towards the plant shop. You stand next to the three stairs that lead to the plant area, observing the five tables your café has.
“I’ve never seen that happen in real life, even mine has appeared while I was asleep”, - Julie gushes to you, eyes sparkling. Mentally, you don't feel any different yet, not really. The giddiness from receiving your mark slowly dissipated when you thought about how it wouldn’t necessarily mean you will meet them soon. Julie had hers for three years, still no soulmate, but a husband whom she married at twenty five. She is thirty four now, and you don’t really want to think about the implications.
Platonic soulmates do exist, though. Your ex childhood friend is married to a guy with a male soulmate, neither of them attracted to each other like that. At least, as far as you know. You have not talked in years, and you aren’t convinced she would not lie about it.
There were other cases anyway, since aromantic and asexual people exist. You just know soulmates are supposed to feel close, to want to be close, to experience the pull towards each other no science could explain. A romantic tale, but not necessarily a romantic relationship.
If you think about it, you don’t quite know who you are wishing for. Either platonic or romantic are fine with you, as long as it means just having someone close to you.
You miss your friends more than ever.
“I can snap a picture of it today or tomorrow if you wanna send it to the agency”, - Julie suggests. She never sent hers since she wasn’t actually searching.
“Yeah, might be good”, - you say absentmindedly, but you can’t really envision or believe in finding your match this easily.
“Wonderful, I get to see how it is for myself”, - and you don’t mind, actually. Julie might not have been searching, but to her soulmate marks were tied to a bit of a trauma, since her husband isn’t her one. Her and his families were outraged that they have decided to just stay married, even if he didn’t get his own mark yet.
The society in your country is as full of traditionalists as it was of progressive people.
“Is it weird that my leg feels off now?” - you ask. What felt like a muscle twitch turned into the stinging not unlike the one at the back of your shoulder.
Julie raises an eyebrow at you.
“You can go look, I’ll cover for you”, - she nods when you look at her in doubt, stopping by the station to get your phone.
In the bathroom, you slip your jeans down to the ankles, but you see the beginning of another mark bloom right above your knee. Two of them?
You heard about that, of people having multiple soulmates, but two simultaneously appearing marks was kind of rare. So rare that you haven’t found any mention of that in school, but maybe you didn’t dig deep enough. Maybe you would have been able to find it if you knew to look for multiple soulbonds, but alas. That is something to do when the workday is over.
“Well?” - Julie asks when you get back, but you don’t get to reply before your regular client comes in to pick up a previously arranged bouquet. She has some changes this time, though, and with reassembling that and servicing the old lady that came to browse through the home decor section, you only manage to answer Julie properly a few hours later, when she gets a free second too.
The café usually grows quiet around twelve, before the lunch hour. So, both of you make yourselves something to drink, standing next the front of the shop and sipping hot beverages. Your Moroccan mint tea feels slightly unfitting for weather, although definitely soothing to your thoughts.
“There is another one”, - you say quietly. -“Very different to the first one, though. Same colour, but”, - you take out your phone and zoom in on the picture. - “It grows left to right, more like writing”.
Julie takes out her phone to compare the two, and yes, they are different. She takes a quick glance on your shoulder - that mark nearly complete, doesn’t even sting as much anymore.
“This one looks like a galaxy. They really are different”, - she muses, lost in thought. - “Two of them isn’t bad”.
“Is it great, though?” - you haven’t had a chance to look it up yet, but you feel uneasy.
It’s supposed to, as per book, to be a person who will fit you well. Some Japanese legends say that the red string of fate manifests itself as a visible mark between two individuals who are destined to meet, but those weren’t your favourites since it doesn’t necessarily mean you will meet the person you’ll love. Possibly, there are multiple strings attached, for the partners, the family, friends as well as the enemies, pulling you towards whatever destiny lies ahead.
The theory of twin flame and Greek mythology suggests that at one point one being was split, and the two halves will only ever feel whole once reunited. It’s supposed to feel intense, and based on old literature and historical documents, those who have lost their halves to death or otherwise never healed.
Based on that, your soul could’ve been split in three parts, but you wonder if that’s truly the case, since so many soulmates could behave and think differently from their partners. Honestly, by pure logic, aren’t parts of the same soul supposed to be equals, with matching passions, thoughts, and dislikes? It just doesn’t make sense when most soulmates you saw were united, seemingly, purely by love, but you weren’t close enough to know for sure.
“I have to read more about it, honestly. Academic research never does me wrong”, - you joke half-heartedly, knowing full well you will actually look into having multiple soulmates as soon as you get back home. Online and encyclopedias.
“Sure, yes, but let me see something first”, - Julie already logged into her account on a government portal, the section regarding soulmates.
You wait, your tea slowly cooling down.
“It says here you can submit up to five marks”, - she says after a while, a thoughtful expression on her face. - “So it has happened before. Two doesn’t even sound like a lot, how does one have five soulmates?”
“Maybe they just all live together”, - you think that’s a plausible theory, given that after the contact most soulmates are unable to stay far apart for some time. It depends on the couple.
“Yeah, but what if all of them are from different countries?” - Julie’s eyes sparkle, curiosity at an all time high.
“Wasn’t there a movie about that?”
“Yep. It was bad though, so I don't think referring to that will help”, - she giggles.
“Fair enough”, - you mumble into your tea. - “Five is too much, honestly. Maybe not if all of them are connected to one another, but still. That’s a lot.”
“You don’t need to overthink it, finding one of them is somewhat realistic, but with two that you have, one is probably gonna be your best shot. Submit both, though. You never know.”
You nod, pensive.
“Do you think all six of them have sex when they feel like it? You know, desires are supposed to match”, - and just like that, your apron gets an artistic splash and you wipe your chin from your tea, lowkey mad that your make-up will need some retouch. - “What? Solid inquiry.”
“Are you saying that if I were to find both of them it’ll be a treesome for the rest of my life?” - you can’t help but blush, even though your voice stays evenly sarcastic.
“Hey, unless one of them is platonic or asexual, why not”, - Julie laughs, and the door chimes when someone walks in to grab themselves some lunch.
“Thanks but no thanks”, - you say after she walks away to prepare their food.
You don’t think you will actually be opposed, in case you actually felt this sort of attraction towards them. Saying ‘no’ became somewhat instinctual throughout life whenever someone suggested trying out dating or casual hookups, given that whatever feelings you’ve felt never seemed like enough to actually pursue someone. You grew up, the habit of denying it stayed. But your attractions towards people in real life also stayed rare, uninspiring and superficial. Unlike fictional characters, but who’s counting those when it really matters?
Before you finish your shifts, Julie snaps another image of your back, the galaxy mark now completed and shimmering under the harsh lights of the plant shop. The bright white spiral faded a little, and it settled nicely into your skin, soft and mysterious. The one on your knee is still forming, taking longer than expected — you look at it again when changing clothes at home, rubbing the skin thoughtfully. You don’t think it says anything, some swirls and lines forming rather particular shapes, but it doesn’t look like it’s written in a certain language.
It aches slightly, and you think about taking a photo tomorrow once it settles fully. It is quite dissimilar to the galaxy, with its two slightly distorted squares and other lines you can’t really describe. You thought it looks somewhat like one of the languages that uses the logographic characters instead of words, but it doesn’t look that similar to Thai, Japanese nor Chinese. You aren’t sure, though, because lines do not match any that you can find until you give up. Korean looks slightly off, so it probably isn’t that either.
It’s not unheard of, to have soulmate names as your mark, but it varies. Julie’s mark is a sun shaped circle with a slightly blue-ish tint. Yours is more intricate, both of them, seemingly not the same style, but somehow harmonious.
You don't have to work the next day, and after breakfast you snap a picture of the marks and upload them to the government portal. It’s not obligatory, per se, but if someone in there has a match, you’ll get an automatic message in a few days or so. You message your two best friends too, and talking to them lifts your mood significantly higher, both of them excited for you.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───
A week later, as the autumn sets in even deeper, you stray away from the usual trail that takes you home to snap a few photos of the evening fog. Your workplace is near the campus of the local university, and it has a beautiful park with a few 18th century buildings. The old cedar trees and the dim orange lanterns in the fog look picturesque and lonely. There’s no wind, just quiet. You walk through the alley and think about how the appearance of the marks itself hasn’t changed your life at all.
Of all the research you’ve done, there’s only a few factual, statistical things you wanted to believe in, because it didn’t make you feel weird. About 9000 people out of 100,000 will have multiple soulmate marks, and out of those only a quarter have found both soulmates. Around 10% of people either never receive their marks, or have a translucent one, only visible under UV light, or ones that are invisible like Blaschko’s lines. They will always appear in the same place for two people, meaning that your two soulmates will also have them above their knee and on the shoulder.
The two of them can have their own mark that is unrelated to you, but the probability of that is basically 50/50. Out of documented triple soulbonds, approximately half of them were all tied together, and half of them only had ties to the one person they shared.
The governments, apparently, did not have connections to the soulmark databases of other countries. Things worked a bit differently in the EU, with 18 countries sharing the database, but the rest were collecting and processing data independently. The USA’s data base was open, surprisingly, but it kept the opportunity to remain anonymous, so it wasn’t actually giving out much. To apply for matchmaking, you could pay a fee and make an inquiry through the embassy. You weren’t interested in this as much, mostly because people on reddit seemed to share an experience where their marks were scanned incorrectly and it gave them a lot of false hope. There were even a couple of articles about bad AI they’ve been using to analyse marks, and that made you even less willing to invest your money.
Either way, you’ve been walking and stopping to take some photos for quite some time now, tiredness settling into your bones. Your feet are freezing, the socks you put on today way too thin.
Content with the photos, though, you quickly send them from your camera to your phone to share in your group chat. You notice something glistening on your right hand next to the thumb. It’s been dark for a while, so you use the torch on your phone to look closer when it doesn't disappear when you wipe your hand on your leg.
A dot. A single, iridescent dot, barely a millimetre in diameter, sparkling just like your other two soulmarks did.
You lock your phone, camera’s strap hanging on your wrist.
There’s no way, honestly, what the fuck. How long has it been there?
You went home in a daze, trying not to freak out, even though it was honestly, actually, nothing to freak out about. Up to five, they said? Rare, of course rare, only twenty or so documented soulbonds in history that had four or more people in them, but having three soulmarks was already putting you into 0,01%. Didn’t mean you will actually meet any of them, and it was the only thought that had helped you keep calm. But if such a thing happened, would you have to choose amongst them?
You were happy to learn, by the way, that there was no evidence that people with soulmarks had a matching one with those who would hate them instead. So if all three of them liked you or loved you, you could deal with that. Probably. Possibly. You didn’t let yourself wonder about their gender, though. The thought of it being three men made you feel uneasy, because it wasn’t like you held a lot of trust towards men in general. You’d be happy with women even if you’ve never been attracted to them like that, but if it would’ve been anything like your dreams of getting your best friends together in the same country under the same roof to just live and support each other, you’ll take that deal without any doubt.
Your existing best friends, however, thought it was slightly ridiculous that a soulmark could be so small. Not judging you, of course, it was more of a jab at mother nature, and you laughed it off when both of them used some glitter to draw the same thing on their wrists. You missed them so much, honestly, would’ve been great if one of you three could save enough money to visit.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───
Like that, autumn passed, and December nearly ended, and you found yourself on a plane to where your family lived, happy to spend a week at their house and get some of your mother’s and grandmother’s cooking. You arrived on Christmas day because on this day the plane tickets were cheaper; spent some time with them, showing your soulmarks but not lingering on the topic. Your parents weren’t soulmates, your sister was young enough to not be interested in that for real.
Still, when you went to your local salon in the beginning of January for a full body massage and finally managed to relax under the skillful hands of the lady, you feel a full body shiver when she asks you about the mark on your nape.
“My neck?” - you repeat, sitting up and looking at her with wide eyes. She looks baffled as well, already knowing of your other marks. She helps you jump off from the bed and you hold the towel in front of you, your back bare. She leads you to a wall mounted mirror and hands you a hand held one as she lifts your hair out of the way, amd you gasp, seeing a mark that looked like some familiar constellation. You’ll have to look it up to know for sure, but it’s the second one that actually has a shape rather than writing you couldn’t read, or a dot. Your eyes meet hers, but then she turns your body a little, a soft ‘wow’ escaping her lips.
“Dear, you have more”, - she touches somewhere lower on your back, where you had a blanket a few minutes ago, but you can’t see it well enough from that distance.
“Take a picture for me, please?” - your mind promptly blanks when you see your fifth mark, looking kind of like a hazy moon from old Japanese paintings. Almost translucent, not as white as your other ones. Your skin made it look almost pinkish, but it still shimmered beautifully. - “Holy hell”.
“The more there is, the higher the chances of meeting at least one of them”, - the lady muses, and you let out a short nervous laugh.
“What does it say about my soul, though, if I have so many of them?”, - could you love them all the same way? If you were to meet just one, would you miss the four others? Would you feel incomplete? Would they be not enough?
“My mother had two”, - the lady says, then, and suddenly your brain doesn’t feel as foggy. You focus on her, aching for some sort of answer. - “She passed when I was fourty years old, but before that, it was like having three parents. They loved each other, my mother, my other mother and my father. There was no rivalry, and my mother was together with both. Just three people, a family. Then they had me”, - she smiles at you. You return it.
You go back to the bed, and she continues working on your stiff shoulders.
“It’s possible that your bond will be stronger with some of them, if you ever find them, but it doesn’t feel incomplete. My mother didn’t know there was someone else until that meeting happened. She was happy, and then even happier”, - the words soothe you even more than the motions did. - “The traditionalists were outraged, but what do they know about love if they try to police what nature created.”
“Most soulmate bonds are limited, though” - you argue without any heat.
“And yours is too, the limit is just higher”.
The massage session-turned-therapy made you wonder if it would be beneficial to seek support from a trained professional. It’s been a few months since the appearance of your first mark, and you’ve yet to hear from the public data centers about your match, so you’ve wondered if there was even a point in trying to predict how it could work out if by some chance you will stumble upon one of your future partners. So little time has passed, and yet. Marks appearing one after the other made you wonder whether there would be more, but the official limit the government allowed has been reached, so... Probably not, yeah?
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───
It is spring in full bloom, the magnolia trees dropping flower petals and covering ground when you feel the familiar tingle. You’re not horrified, per se, but it does make you lose the thought and abruptly pause your passionate speech about possibly going back to uni. Your best friend notices you stop, her laughter static-y on the phone.
“Again”, - you say, and you know it does not give her any context, so you clarify. - “The mark. On my chest. There’s another one.”
“Wait, what? Since when?” - Ella’s voice switches from confused to scandalous.
“Ten seconds ago?!” - you match her tone, hurrying towards the grocery shop. You did not want to grope your chest in public to feel at it, but the sensation was unmistakable. - “Girl, I know that it’s this. It’s such a specific feeling.”
“Six of them?! SIX?” - she laughs at you, amazed and horrified. - “I think you definitely robbed someone of a soulmate. The government limit here is three, you’re twice over that!”
“Five right here, and holy shit, maybe I did rob someone. Is it possible? What if people die and their soulmate bond gets re-distributed?” - you lower your voice once you walk into the shop and wave at the old man behind the counter. He salutes too, both of you knowing each other by name.
“Imagine?” - your friend whistles. - “No, I don’t like that idea. Soulmates have to be made for you.”
“I agree”, - yoghurt, milk, heavy cream, what else was there in the list? - “If I ever meet any of them, I hope they’re at least keeping track of when marks appeared. I’ve made a diary.”
“No, but wait, do you feel like there’s more?”
“Yes”, - you deadpan. - “Next thing you know, there’s gonna be one on my face. And my ass. Oh my god, imagine getting that on your ass?”
“Or in general, just down there. I wouldn’t want to suffer through a day of itching”, - you can’t help but wince at that vision. Some of your marks have appeared painlessly, but the one tugging on your skin right now makes you want to drink some paracetamol.
“I’m safe so far”, - you joke, but you sound unsure. Are you safe?
“Do you ever think about living together, all of you?” - Ella asks.
“Si- seven of us? Honestly, if I’m not expected to sleep with all of them at the same time, a seven income household sounds great”, - there is now a small line that formed by the register, so you hang in the back, not wanting anyone to overhear you talking.
“Yeah, I also wouldn’t want that.”
“Yeah. I haven’t even got the chance to have normal sex.”
“You refused”, - she corrects. You sigh.
“I did not want to date if it’s A, not a mutual attraction, and B, I do not like the idea of sex just for the sake of sex. Either way, I’m probably pan. Or ace. It’s not like I ever wanted to sleep with someone, and it’s not like you don’t know all of this already”, - you laugh at your defensiveness. Ella snorts too.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. If your soulmate is hot I will definitely remind you of saying you don’t want to have sex”, - you roll your eyes before telling her you’d call back. You check out your groceries and wobble through the too-heavy door with your heavy bags.
You place them on the ground for a second before pulling out headphones and calling again.
“Honestly, I am terrified that meeting any of them will change who I am. Not that I am particularly happy with where I am at, but you know what I mean. I think I know myself, but that’s a new experience. For the rest of my life. It’s supposed to be scary”, - you sound doubtful even for your own ears while hurrying towards the familiar path.
Your actual bag has moved and sits uncomfortably halfway down to your elbow, and you shrug excessively, trying to move it back.
“No, definitely. You might just wake up one day with the six of your soulmates and decide you don’t wanna talk to me or Peony anymore.”
“Now why would I do that”, - you scoff. - “I’ll need someone who knew me from ‘before’ to keep me in check”.
“Oh, wait, pause. I actually have a better question. Who do you even marry in your situation? Whoever’s the most age appropriate? Oh my god. What if they’re like... A lot older than you. Like, a LOT.”
Ella’s always been funny, but oh. What if she’s right?
“How much is ‘a lot’?” - because to you, you can’t see yourself forming a relationship with someone older than... Probably by seven years max. It depends where you both are in life, but oh, holy fuck.
“The probability of one of your soulmates being like, sixty, isn’t that low. Given that there's six of them”, - she teases, but you know she hates the idea too.
“Did people even receive marks that late?”
“If we talked about soulmates post-death re-assignment, what if some unlucky ones have to wait for theirs to be born. No, ew. Forget I said that.”
“Scrape it from my brain now, please”, - your mouth presses into a thin line.
“Yes, of course, sure. Your soulmates are young and beautiful and rich. They would buy me a plane ticket to see you and send you to me when you misbehave.”
“Bro, I’m just speechless. What can I possibly do to prompt that?”
“You deleted our five year old Stardew save”.
“After we already made a new six year old one!” - you protest, but the jab is honestly fair.
“Do you think it could be like that mod that allows you to marry everyone?”
That was probably the first comparison to games and media that could resemble reality, you thought. You repeated that out loud, and Ella laughed, proud of herself.
“Please no Shane in my life, though, no thank you”, - you see your house from across the street, mentally ready to just drop dead on the bed.
“No, remember, young and rich. I’m manifesting for you!” - you both laugh at that and say proper goodbyes when you reach the house and Ella has to get ready for her lecture at uni.
Sighing, you do actually throw yourself on your bed when you come home and place the dairy and other things in the fridge, the wooden frame creaking. The burn on your chest makes you wince, but this one seems to be forming rapidly.
As you change and stay in your underwear, you have an idea to give your body a look over. Like, who knows, maybe there’s ten of them now. After the fourth and fifth one appeared out of nowhere, your panic settled into something slightly hysterical. Like, honestly, how many could there possibly be? You saw a girl on reddit who claimed to have eleven, but some commentators noticed how some looked vaguely similar to celebrities marks who had already found their partners.
Your feet look fine, there is nothing under your knees, and unless the mark is as tiny as the one on your hand, you don’t see any new ones.
Once you’re done, you pause in front of the mirror to look at the one on your chest. It looks like there might be a cursive “2” and a slightly smaller “11” a bit higher up. Honestly, the whole thing looks like a handwritten math fraction if you squinted.
You send a picture of it to the groupchat, the lines having formed enough to get a general idea.
Ella doesn’t reply, of course, but Peony does.
Peony<3333333:
It looks Chinese but honestly it’s too off for that
10:43
Peony<3333333:
sorry babes
10:43
You
No, yeah, i was thinking fractions though
10:44
Peony<3333333:
that could be!! The one on the left 16/2? The other one 11/2? The second 2 doesn’t look like two
10:46
You:
It doesn’t, you’re right
Maybe 11/x?
10:46
Peony<3333333:
Could be!
10:47
You:
16/2 could be a date even
10:49
You pause for a second. Could it be? Really? Would you meet them early next year?
Your phone buzzed again.
Peony<3333333:
Im gonna be there if that’s the case
I wanna see you anyway
10:51
You:
Bro 😭
10:52
Ella beloved😎:
ILL BE THERE IDC
10:53
Ella beloved😎:
GC MEETING
IF IT’S NOT UR SOULMATE AT LEAST WE’RE TOGETHER
10:54
You:
Oh my god please come
10:55
Peony<3333333:
PLEASE
10:55
You’ve never actually met both of them together at the same time, the schedules or finances never aligning for a spontaneous trip all of you could make. It’ll be nice, oh, so nice.
Your phone buzzes again, a private message this time.
Ella beloved 😎:
Are you going to upload the new one?
11:03
You:
It’s over the limit now actually
11:04
Ella beloved 😎:
could you remove the dot one?
11:05
You:
Idk actually
11:05
Honestly, the idea isn’t that bad, even if it makes you feel slightly guilty towards the ‘dot’ soulmate.
You:
Brb
11:06
With a groan, you push yourself up on the bed and crawl towards the edge where your laptop was laying on the floor, charging. You lean over the edge as you open it, typing your password and making a face when your last opened tab looks at you expectantly. You were supposed to fill out a form regarding your student loan, but kept forgetting to send it. Answering Ella’s question had to wait.
Ten minutes later, you’ve logged into the portal again to check the current status of your marks. The greyed out “submitted” doesn’t tell you anything new, but overall the website didn’t allow any changes to the current application.
You:
no ig not
11:27
Ella was probably back to her studies, so you decided to sort your emails while your stomach still doesn’t hurt from laying on the bed half-hanging off the way you were.
That’s when you see the one from an unfamiliar sender that was not marked down as spam.
[email protected] wrote on 29/03/2025 at 13:33:
Good afternoon miss,
My name is Priti, I am the Administrative assistant at AnamCara Corp.
It has come to our attention that you have reported acquiring more than 3 soulmarks in the past 6 months, and we would be interested in publishing your story. It is the first reported case since July 2011 across all nations of the European Union, and we would appreciate the opportunity to offer our assistance and support in return for more information about your case. Our services would be assigned to you free of charge and include a fully sponsored flight if your soulmate(s) would respond to the article, as well as soulmate relationship guidance and personal therapist appointments for the adaptation period. We will guarantee the safety of your personal information and full anonymity in case you will not be willing to provide the images of your marks.
Please respond to this email using this exact email address.
Best regards,
Prity Adams,
Administrative Assistant
AnamCara Corp.
“The fuck?” - you mumble, rereading the name of the sender. Not Priti Adams, but the company. You’ve heard of it, of course you did.
The largest European matchmaking service, possibly even worldwide, and so much more. Ran by two women, two soulmates, helping those in abusive relationships and providing shelter for those in need, not only because of soulmate related problems. They keep close ties to governments of multiple countires because of their political and social activism, which is why they were probably alerted by you submitting so many marks.
You feel both honoured and like you are battling your intense inner scepticism, while also wondering if you’ll need to go to their headquarters in Dublin if you were to take the offer. If it’s not a fake. But, honestly, why would it be? Too weird for a scam, too meaningless for a prank. It’s not like you have anyone who will prank you like that, your friends are nice people.
If they were to take professional scans of your marks, and for free, you’ll find your soulmate sooner than later. One, or multiple. Do you want to? No, really? You don’t know who they are. Or how they’ll react.
Is it cringe to put yourself out there in an article for six people to see: hey, I’m your soulmate, please collect me at x?
But maybe you want to. Maybe you will feel whole. Red string of fate, soulbond, twin flame (Sibling fire? No, honestly, twin flames are more suitable for regular couples. Of two. Not of seven). Maybe you will feel happy. Maybe you will wake up with them (one or all six) and think, this is it. I have made it.
Maybe you will feel fine about not fitting in, maybe because you have six of them, you will have the true freedom of indulging yourself, because you will find your match in all of them. It’ll be nice to have company in whatever you would want to do, it’ll be nice to have a friend. A partner. Partners.
If you let yourself dream, you could imagine coming home and cuddling with the soulmate who feels the warmest. The most comforting. You could imagine watching a movie you never had the mood for because you were alone, and it just hits different. You miss movie nights with your sister, that time having passed long ago, before you were living in different countries. Separate lives. You miss that, it’s an ache you never really got used to.
You could imagine cooking with a soulmate who’s making fun of the way you cut your potatoes into small pieces to boil, only to mash them when they’re ready. No, honestly, they cook faster this way. Yes, the cubes are more satisfying than halves. Yes, you do in case you’re not in the mood for mashed potatoes when they’re cooked and steaming. No, you won’t be sharing if they complain (you will, you so will. You’ll watch them eat before you do so yourself, just to watch their reaction. It’s good, your food is always good. You want to cook for them, love them like that. Especially if their day was too tiring).
You could imagine reading together in silence, legs on their lap, or their legs in yours. Their head on your thighs, your hand in their hair. Holding hands, talking about philosophical nonsense. Defending opinions. Laughing when one of you has a voice crack from too much talking and too little water. You could imagine a smart conversation, a sense of safety. Belonging. Like you could take them with you, or follow them wherever they’ll go. Talk about anything. It’s a nice fantasy.
Maybe the fourth one will be nice to sleep next to. Either their presence, or their genuine, loving hugs. You long to be held, not sexually, but to feel like one. Find your safe haven in them, and maybe they won’t be a man of words. You feel like the soulmate whose mark is a dot is quite definite in his essence. Masculine energy. Some aura of mystery and intimidation, but safe and secure. Like I’m here for you, period. I'm with you, period. I will choose you, I will love you, I will hold you. I just will, period.
The fifth one, you think, is for when the energy doesn’t seem to calm down. Maybe you’d go on sightseeing walks. Maybe you would spend all your time swimming, because you love swimming. Maybe they do, too?
You’d travel together. You’d kiss them and it’ll feel exhilarating, you’d walk around the local areas just to kiss like teenagers where no one can see. You’re romantic, and maybe they are, as well. You’d laugh, and you’d kiss, and you’d gossip. They’ll listen to you when you ramble about natal charts and destiny matrix, and how you don’t really trust that, but you saw some prophecies there. There was no mentioning of 6 soulmates, though. There should’ve been.
Your last soulmate, your confidant. You feel like they’d understand you when you talk about your self image, about your self doubt. How you’d have a deep understanding of one another (you will with all of them, sure), but you’d help each other find words when you feel like your tongue is failing you, badly. You want their trust and you’ll give them yours, irrevocably, without question. Masculine energy, too. A night energy, not really clubbing, you don’t enjoy clubbing, and you’re not sure they will, but they’re like a resort during nighttime. Different during the day, but now no one’s there, and it’s yours. It belongs, you belong, and you’re one. You relax, even if it should feel lonely.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───
Turns out, you did need to go to Dublin’s headquarters.
Ella and Peony were both dubious about their offer, so you responded to Priti nearly a week after her original email was sent. She didn’t laugh at you, though, instead offering to do a meeting on Teams or Zoom or whatever platform you will be comfortable with. It went well, like, really well. You had Peony on the phone, muted, listening to her every word - both because she was curious and as moral support.
Anyway, now you’re here, standing in front of an unassuming building in the Southside Dublin, a few restaurants nearby and, funnily, a flower shop right next to the building you were supposed to head into.
You have half a mind to go there and browse for whatever rare beauties they had in stock, but going in with a plant in tow is probably not going to create the best first impression. You still go, the greenery a calming presence.
Even if you don’t see anything you don’t already have, whether at home or at your workplace.
It was still an hour before the appointment. Yes, you were early, but it’s not like you have an accommodation to stay at nearby. So, you chat with the girl behind the register, asking whether they had the same supplier you did. There are only so many of them in Europe for tropicals, and you thought the shop should switch theirs, because two out of six batches came infested and they were losing their credibility rapidly.
You get some orchid seeds in the end, which weren’t even for sale, just a gift because apparently Lucy (the worker) had bred a couple of them and acquired thousands.
At thirty minutes before the appointment, you say your goodbyes and don’t waste time staring at the closed door before pressing the doorbell.
The woman that welcomes you in is dressed in a sweater, the hallway behind her leading further into the building. It’s a residential house remodelled into a co-working space and apparently connected to the house next door, as you see when you pass the living room and the wall that was supposed to be there was instead an arched walkthrough. It is quiet safe for soft background music; real flowers in vases, blue carpets and a table with a coffee machine, clearly for those who worked there. Homey and intimate, that’s how you would’ve described it, and clean. The woman, Andrea, leads you to the kitchen and living room that has a beautiful sunroof and is filled with light. You’re surprised they didn’t remove the bar as a feature when they clearly adjusted the furniture, so it did look like a regular house. Probably to make people feel less unnerved about what was about to happen.
There is an older woman in her sixties sitting on the couch, and a younger girl and a guy. The girl has a tablet, while the guy places his camera on the table before offering you a hand to shake.
You exchanged names, shook all of their hands with a timid smile and sat down in the armchair, velvety fabric muffling the sound.
“Thank you for coming here”, - the older woman, Sarah, smiles genuinely at you, mirrored by Matteo and Lily.
You nod and then shake your head when Andrea offers you tea or coffee. As she moves further away from you to make drinks for the other team members, Sarah speaks again.
“Priti will join us in the meantime, I think it’ll be easier for you to have at least one familiar face. The situation is that it’s a new experience for us too, since the only person who joined us had four reported marks. Six shouldn’t be that different bureaucratically, but it’s the reason why we wanted to have you join our team. For research”, - she adds, noting your confusion. -“Having two soulmates is relatively common”, - your face must say it all, so she chuckles. - “Yes, it’s true. Three is rarer, but not unheard of. More than that, and you’re a unicorn.”
“Was there anyone who had six?” - you ask. She shakes her head. - “Five?”
“Five”, - she confirms.
“I haven’t found an article about them.”
“There wasn’t one, actually”, - Sarah sighs. - “That’ll be the tough part of today’s discussion, but I want to explain the research first, because it’s unrelated. Priti can talk to you about it more in depth, I believe she didn’t mention that yet?”
“We only had a short call discussing this opportunity and what you can offer me. Like, help with finding them, therapy”, - you kind of awkwardly mumble, somehow you didn’t think about asking what they want out of it. An article, they said. You just assumed that your story would be put on the news.
Matteo and Lily share a look. It makes you uncomfortable, but it seems like Sarah saw what she wanted in your face and explains:
“You know when your marks appeared, you’ve felt the difference between them”, - Sarah says, clearly interested. - “Because most people only experience it once in their life, the research has been stuck in one place. We know it might induce pain or not feel like anything, but we’re hoping that with you we would get closer to understanding whether the timing has meaning. It’s our first real opportunity to learn whether the order has meaning. The sensation when you get the mark. With one person with many soulmates, there’s a common denominator that other, independent couples do not have. We’re hoping to find out, through you, whether pain when the mark appears alerts of potential troubles or disagreements. You said you wrote down the dates for each mark, and that’s significant, too.”
“And the article?” - you can’t help but ask. What Sarah is saying makes sense, but. You’re not sure about that.
“The article we want to make is going to be forwarded into a couple of national institutes. Not for the entertainment industry, but we did plan on releasing a statement once the research is concluded. The information can help with developing drugs for people who suffer from loss of the soulmate, bond rejection, depression and other things. It’s going to be an interview with you, and if you’re up to it - I must remind you that it’s completely voluntary, so we don’t expect it from you - some physical tests. Blood samples, deep tissue scans to see if all marks set on different depth”, - she lists a few more, but you don’t think you’d follow through with anything past the first two. You wouldn’t accept anything like tissue biopsies, not wanting anyone to touch the marks or take something from them, however small. That feels morally illegal.
“I want to say yes to some of it, but I’m not comfortable with staying here for a while. I know you can get me the accomodation near here till the rest of the week, but I need to return to my job.”
“Of course. We can do it all today, we’ve been prepared for that”, - she smiles again. She has a nice smile, and you want to trust it.
“Why me, though?” - the research has been conducted since 1954, but you find it weird that no one ever did that. Maybe they didn’t have technology that was as advanced as modern one, but still. There couldn’t have been that little people with multiple marks willing to participate. - “You said you found someone with five soulmates. What about them? All of their group?”
You hear footsteps coming from the hallway, the door closing somewhere, the sound getting closer. You pause, observing, and Sarah doesn’t rush to answer either. A few seconds later, Priti comes into view, and for some reason you relax into your armchair.
She’s shorter than you thought she would be, but just as elegant. She wore a cozy cardigan, and you notice with some surprise that she had slippers on instead of regular shoes. Didn’t look out of place in this house, though, since they really focused on the muted coziness.
“Good afternoon”, - Priti greets you by name and shakes your hand when she approaches, you standing up and then sitting back down in your chair. She sits in another one beside you, Andrea appearing out of nowhere and bringing her a cup of nicely smelling green tea.
“We were just discussing Adam”, - Sarah looks at Priti expectantly.
“Oh, well. I suppose I can tell you myself”, - Priti smiles sadly. You stay silent, waiting for the story to unfold, but can’t help but feel uneasy. - “Adam was the man who had and met all five of his soulmates. Four men and one woman, three of the other men also had their own bond. We won’t mention their names, so I’m sorry if it gets confusing”.
“Maybe we can make up fake names?”, - Sarah offers. Priti nods.
“Good calling. Adam had first met... Dylan,”, - Priti pauses. - “They were both American. In a rural town where everyone knew each other. They worked at the same office, both their marks appearing within a short time period. Adam’s family wasn’t excited for it, especially since it became known they have been close before the bond revealed itself. Dylan was married, with kids, both of them well into their thirties. So it didn’t start well.”
“We don’t have a lot of information about this since it happened around 2005, and we met with Adam in 2010, when they both moved to Germany. Their families were homophobic, Dylan’s own family had disowned him”, - Sarah adds.
“Already in Europe Adam had found out about four other marks during a visit to a dermatology clinic. So we don’t know when or how they appeared”, - Priti continues. - “Germany is quite conservative about soulmates. They were leaning towards accepting same sex marriages anyway, but Adam’s newfound marks prevented him and Dylan from getting permission. One of our colleagues knew them personally and offered to come here, not unlike what we offered you. That’s how they met Rosie, the only woman in their group. By pure coincidence, she knew the other three soulmates Adam had, because they had already been together - Jorge, Pierre and Bill. So that’s how they met”, - Priti concludes, but you wonder what happened next. What went wrong?
“Adam had struggled with this”, - Sarah answers your unspoked question. - “He was raised Christian, conservative, surviving years of internal and external homophobia. He was missing his family, too. When he found out four of his soulmates were men, he offered Rosie to elope together back to America. Abandoning his other soulmates. He had a crisis no one was prepared for. Dylan felt betrayed. The three other soulmates heard of the offer, and decided to keep their distance from Adam. Rosie, as much as it hurt her, couldn’t choose between the three and Adam. She didn’t love him yet, and didn't know him for as long. She tried to get them all back together, but Dylan wasn’t having it. He left”, - you barely gasp at that. Is this a possibility for you? Choosing one, eloping with one, abandoning others if you ever meet?
“Adam passed away shortly after”, - Priti says after a short pause. Your eyes flicker towards her, a sad smile on her face. - “Dylan developed a serious heart condition. His family accepted him back, but he passed just last year. It wasn’t a happy life”, - her smile falters.
“What about the others?” - you ask. You lowkey don’t even want to meet your soulmates anymore, if it means opening the door to a possibility of this outcome.
“Alive. Not unwell, but not great either. Rosie had a hard time, like Dylan, but we don’t have any additional information. The trio had each other, unlike everyone else.”
“So...”, - you’re not sure how to ask this. - “Can I not... Look for them?”
There’s a minute of silence, but not the heavy, judging kind.
“It is an option”, - Priti says warily. - “But it can still happen naturally. And for that, we’ll be here for you.”
You lean back, letting out some air with the sigh. You’re not sure, that’s what you feel. Your thoughts spiral towards death, towards how imagining yourself as the one dying doesn’t terrify you as much as it should, but your blood runs cold when you think about what your loved ones will feel if it were to happen. You’re not really sure if you’re very likeable. You didn’t have any friends who lived in the same city or even country, and everyone knows it’s easier to love somebody from afar. But that’s friends, not… partners. They can reject you, especially if they know each other already. You don’t even know yourself if you’re okay with having six soulmates. It’s a lot. What if all of them want the same thing from you, can you give that?
“Hey”, - you hear Lily’s timid voice. She’s very soft-spoken, and you sit straighter and look at her. - “Soulmates can still be a blessing, even if it feels scary”, - she darts a quick look at Priti, wondering if she overstepped. Priti only nods encouragingly with a small smile, and she continues:
“You have six potential friends for life, partners. Lovers, if that’s the nature of your bond. It’s probably gonna sound weird, but… It’s not you against them, you are one. Don’t put yourself on a diet just because of the off chance that the bakery might mess up the cake.”
You laugh at that, not expecting the comparison. Lily looks ashamed for a short second when you wave your hands in protest.
“No, no, I get it, I really do”, - you say and watch Matteo whisper something in her ear.
“She is correct”, - Priti muses. Sarah takes a sip of her tea, giggling softly. - “We, — the bakery, I guess, — will do our best to not spoil your experience. If you wish to proceed.
This seems like a good time to decide, actually. All of them are looking at you politely, but blankly, as to avoid influencing your thoughts. You notice, though, how Matteo takes Lily’s hand in a gesture so familiar, you wonder how you didn’t notice that they were a couple from the very start. You see it now, though. You might actually want the same, if it meant you will get to look at someone like that and feel that it’s mutual.
“Even if it doesn’t turn out the way I’d like, if you think it might help the research, let’s do it. Yes”, - the worst that could happen is either you’ll never meet them or do, but your life will stay the way it is now. Or death, but it might happen for an entirely unrelated to soulmates reason, too.