Demure | Jakehoon

1

-Dog food for Gaeul.

Jake watched as the black ink from the specialised Sharpie; just for the sole purpose of communication appeared on his skin, his soulmate, who called himself Sunghoon, was always forgetful. Jake would often snoop into his business and read the things Sunghoon would note down to remember for later. Jake didn't mind all the writing on his arm, the ink wasn't meant to be harmful. In a world where soulmates met through their skin, ink like that was very much available and necessary. Sunghoon was always the one to keep trying as Jake never picked up the courage to reply. He worried he would never be liked by Sunghoon's laid-back behaviour. Sunghoon never thought of giving up, he always tried his best to keep in touch with Jake, scribbling down messily at random times to get his attention. But Jake, he never answered. He was afraid of rejection.

At times, Jake's friends, Heeseung and Sunoo would even try to encourage him to talk to Sunghoon but they eventually realized that giving him time so that he would act like himself would be better. It broke Jake's heart to watch the poor boy's desperate tries, but he never got the guts to answer. Sunghoon, however, didn't stop, he would write down things about his day, paragraphs expressing how he felt at that time and even doodled cute little things on his arm. Jake would always smile watching him erase over and over to make the drawings perfect. Yet he never answered. Eventually, Jake noticed how Sunghoon become less chatty as days passed and something inside Jake felt empty.

Every time he looked at one of the marks that would come through his skin, it would either be a simple doodle or a to-do list. And then those reminders became shorter and more frequent, the list sometimes would hardly stop. Jake felt bad, he knew Sunghoon was almost giving up, so he'd make sure to mark odd places to remind Sunghoon. Those odd places included his forehead. "Jake, come on, you need to reply. I feel terrible for him!" Sunoo rolled his sheet of math homework and then hit it on Jake's head multiple times, making his boyfriend, Ni-ki chuckle. Jake only sighed and watched as Sunghoon added a few more things to remember.

-Mom's dentist appointment.

-Third wheel Jungwon and Jay.

-Ice rink at 5 pm.

"You know, let Jake take things at his own pace. I'm sure Sunghoon would understand." Heeseung softly held Sunoo's wrist and stopped him from hitting Jake any further as the boy who was being attacked by paper shot the older a thankful smile. Jake was grateful that Heeseung had stopped everyone from bringing it up but still proceeded to walk silently with the rest of his friends. "I hope he does." That was the last thing he mumbled to his friends before waving them goodbye and then parting ways with them to head towards his house. And when he looked at his arm once again, he noticed something at the end of the list that made him smile.

-<3