✓ coworker - mark lee

04

Mark parked his car in the parking lot of his job. He was beyond nervous, wondering if Nara even knew that he was her soulmate.

Unfortunately for him, Nara had no clue what she was about to get herself into.

Usually, a note is left at both homes, and they did happen to leave one at Nara's. Unfortunately for her, she failed to notice the note on the door and simply walked out of her home.

The person that did notice was her mother and she grabbed the note, excited to know the name of her daughter's soulmate. She shoved the note into her purse, hoping to give it to her once she arrived home.

Due to not having a note, she did not know the name so it was certainly a shock when Mark came into the break room, sweat on his face and walking towards her with a child in his arms.

"Hi Mark." Nara greeted, bowing slightly as a way to show respect.

"We need to talk." Mark said, not even bothering to greet her which honestly startled her since she didn't expect them to drop formalities on their second day of meeting.

"What about?" She asked, curious as to why he suddenly set a serious mood.

"Mommy!" The girl in Mark's arms exclaimed, hands in the air as she looked at Nara. Nara evidently widened her eyes and averted her eyes back and forth between the child and Mark.

"I swear I can explain—"

"Mark, look, we just met yesterday and your daughter looks lovely, but I just got a soulmate—"

"I'm not asking you on a date!" Mark said way too quickly, obviously embarrassed by the toddler's actions.

"Look— I just need to talk to you about something important that can also explain her calling you that." Mark said, hoping to clear the now awkward atmosphere.

Nara cleared her throat and nodded. "My shift ends soon in about 30 minutes. Do you mind sticking around? You can show your daughter the toy aisle since I'm gonna be heading there to restock some things." Nara told him and he nodded.

"Then.. let's go." She said and walked to the door, holding it open for Mark to walk through with the girl. Nara then shut it behind her and grabbed the cart that had everything she needed to restock on it.

The three walked, the silence being awkward between the two adults but the toddler not knowing a thing. All she knew was that her parents were together and that that was her job.

Nara began putting the things away, trying to ignore Mark's presence for the next 30 minutes. She had no clue he was her soulmate yet so she wasn't the most comfortable after his child called her "mommy."

Nara finally finished after what seemed like forever and turned to Mark, making her lips turn into a thin line.

"So," she began, wondering what was so important, "what did you want to talk about?"

Mark looked at his feet, nervous and not knowing how to say it to her.

"Do you mind if we talk somewhere more private? Like, can we talk in my car?" Mark asked, looking around and seeing customers walking around while also trying to not sound weird.

Nara nodded and began walking back to the staff room, quickly grabbing her stuff before walking out with Mark to his car.

Mark opened the door for her, allowing her to sit in the seat before getting in the drivers side.

"Now can you tell me what's going on?" Nara asked and Mark nodded, gulping down the lump in his throat.

"There's a reason she called you her mom." Mark said which made Nara raise a brow.

"Go on." She told him and he nodded, gathering the courage to continue the conversation.

However, his throat became dry and he stammered everytime he tried to speak.

Nara looked at him, confused as to what was even going on at that point.

"Yeah, I think I'm just gonna go—"

"No!"

The adults looked in the backseat, shocked at the toddler raising her voice.

Digging into her coat, the girl grabbed the note and handed it over to Nara. Nara was skeptical but read it nonetheless, wondering if it was even important.

To her complete surprise, it was one of the most important things.

Nara looked at Mark after reading the letter, her eyes widened as she read.

"Can you.. prove it?" She asked and Mark nodded, turning his head to show the tattoo that she had as well.

"She has a birthmark of it, too." Mark said, pointing to the toddler in the back who smiled since now, both of her parents knew they were soulmates.

"So.. what do we do?" Nara asked Mark and all he did was shrug.

"I have a few friends who have had soulmate experiences before if you wanna go talk to them." Mark offered which Nara nodded in response.

"This is so crazy." Nara muttered, still in complete shock and disbelief. "I just got this job yesterday and already, my coworker is my soulmate."

"Is that a bad thing?" Mark asked, a little hurt.

"No no! Not at all!" Nara assured him, already feeling the slight twinge in her heart as a result of their soulmate effect. "I'm just surprised! It's really unexpected."

"Tell me about it. I was so confused when you pointed out the tattoo yesterday that I ran to my friends to talk about it." Mark said, making Nara laugh a bit.

"At least we know now." She said, smiling a bit. "By the way, what's her name?"

Mark looked at the toddler in the backseat and sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.

"That's probably where we should start off." Mark said and Nara gave him a confused look before realizing.

"You didn't name her?"

"Nope!"

Nara sighed, suppressing her laugh at how Mark seemed to be really nervous.

"Then we should definitely give her a name before seeing your friends."