A/N

Second One Shot. Another Soulmate AU. Why do i make soulmate AU's? Because it's easy and i think it's really romantic. Please Read Review and let me know how you think about it!

-Valerie

I L O V E Y O U

On your eighteenth birthday, the first words that you will hear from your soulmate appear on your body. Ever since you got your mark, you've been inspecting it curiously. Who in their right mind would say that as the first thing?

I L O V E Y O U

We lived in a world where, after you had turned eighteen, every first meeting made quite a few people feel a certain sense of anxiety. The reason behind that was simple - once you turned eighteen, the first words that you hear from your soulmate after the appearance of your mark would appear somewhere on your body.

On Meredith's eighteenth birthday, she had been waiting for the mark nervously yet bubbling with excitement. She'd finally get to see the first words she was going to hear from the person that destiny had chosen as her soulmate, and it was so nervewracking that she had been talking on the phone with her best friend Cristina for hours. In the evening, Meredith had been in the middle of having a shower when she felt the slight, unfamiliar burning on the right side of her left ring finger. Her breath had hitched, and she had been quick to get her hands off her hair, which she had been applying shampoo to.

While she might have had promised her best friend that she would be talking with her on the phone when she looked at her mark for the first time, Meredith did by far not have enough patience to not look at her finger before she got out of the shower. She had brought her hand under the shower, so that the shampoo came off and revealed dark, cursive letters forming a sentence that had her heart jumping to her throat and her breath hitching.

'I love you.'

"Well, isn't my soulmate straight-forward," She had snorted to herself while her heart beat quickly. After her birthday, she had spent countless moments sitting on her bed by the window, tracing the delicate letters with her fingertips and smiling to herself. She tried to imagine what kind of a person it would be - what kind of a person could possibly say "I love you" as their first words to her. The image was unclear in her mind, but she could feel butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the thought.

Meredith could already tell that whoever her soulmate was, in all their straight-forwardness, would definitely have her heart.

Living in a world like that, perhaps it was a bit of a daring adventure for her to work at a café, especially when she had yet to find her soulmate. Most of the other employees had already met theirs (but then again, they were all also a bit older than her), and then there was Meredith, trying to ignore the slight anxiety she felt whenever there was a new face at the café.

That particular day, Meredith had been lucky enough to not feel the usual anxiety at all. Not even when she heard the bell ring and saw a new face at the door: a man with his thick unruly dark hair pushed back and a black leather jacket hanging on his broad frame, with dark skinny jeans hugging his legs. He had a helmet under his left arm, and he took a quick scan around the café upon entering, but queued with his phone in his right hand. She frowned for a mere second before focusing on the customer in front of her, not fully registering the way her mark was warming up on her finger.

Meredith served the customers as she always did, making order after order, until the stranger was by the counter. He was attractive, there was no going around it, and she could hardly keep her voice steady when she had to speak. "What can I get you?"

It happened faster than she could process. The male locked his phone and shoved it into his pocket and moved his eyes up to meet hers, and the second their gazes met, she felt her heart skip a beat. And then he spoke, rushedly and almost stumbling over his words. "I love you."

Meredith didn't notice the way the customer behind the man was looking at him like he was out of his mind. Instead, she just stood there, unsure of what to do, with her heart hammering in her chest. The day had finally come. Indeed, what kind of a person could her soulmate be, to confess his feelings as his first words to her.

Well, apparently that kind, looking like the heartbreaker in every movie you had seen.

Upon realizing what he had just said, the man got a bright red color to his ears, and his cheeks followed soon after, and he nearly dropped his helmet as he panicked. "I– I mean–"

Meredith dropped her eyes to her fingers that were resting on the counter in front of her, and she could see the words on the right side of her left ring finger, brighter than ever.

'I love you.'

The man followed her gaze, and she could see him take in a deep breath. He lifted his left hand a little, so that he could spread his fingers and see the words printed on the right side of his left ring finger.

'What can I get you?'

When her co-worker cleared their throat, she snapped out of it and lifted her eyes to the man in front of her, only to see him smiling at her, all soft as his eyes curved. It made her heart flutter a little, honestly, and with her heart beating a lot faster than normal, Meredith gave him a quick, nervous smile before aiming a pleading look at her co-worker while subtly pointing at the stranger.

They seemed to pick up on the situation quickly, and while opening the second register, grinned at her meaningfully. "You can come here!"

The customers who had been behind who she now knew - or at least strongly suspected - to be her soulmate grumbled while moving to the other register, but she didn't catch any of it. She was too immersed in the deep blue eyes staring right into hers, and if she had ever doubted it when people said that when you meet your soulmate, you feel like everything just falls to place,she no longer did.

His eyes felt so familiar, so comfortable, and made her feel so warm that she didn't want to tear her gaze away. Yet, she had to.

"So," she said after clearing her throat, and nervously tucked some of her hair behind her ear. The man nodded, the soft smile still on his lips, and it made her cheeks heat up. "What kind of coffee would you like?"

"Just a normal one, with milk," he said, his voice a lot deeper than when he had blurted out the three words she had had decorating her skin ever since her eighteenth birthday. Meredith nodded and proceeded to get him some coffee, and stole a couple of glances at the male as she did so. His cheeks were still rather rosy, and he rubbed his nose a little, visibly embarrassed. It was impossible for her not to smile a little at the sight.

The man scratched his cheek and looked at her like he wanted to say something when she returned to the register with his cup of coffee. She raised her eyebrows as a sign for him to speak, so he let out a nervous chuckle. "So, I think I just said that I love you."

A wide smile spread to her lips at that. "Yeah, you did. Oh, and the coffee's… on me."

The man's eyes brightened for a while, and he thanked her for the coffee, but apologized for his weird first words right after. Meredith shook her head, because despite being odd, those were the words he was destined to say to her, and she'd remember the moment for the rest of her life. The two of them stood in silence for a moment, until she was brought back to her senses when her co-worker cleared their throat again.

"Ah, would you like to sit down for a while?" she asked quickly, trying to not pay mind to the way his eyes were moving on her, which was definitely something she had done a couple of times to him already, too. Once he had agreed, she led him to one of the booths near the register, and they both sat down.

Meredith eyed him curiously as he placed his helmet next to him and let his jacket fall down his arms, revealing the black turtleneck he was wearing underneath. When he was done, he turned to her and tapped his fingers together, lowering his head a little. He was visibly awkward, but it warmed her heart. Besides, she was feeling just as awkward. "So… what now?"

"I… don't know. I don't exactly have experience on meeting a soulmate - I think you understand," she said, feeling incredibly small in front of someone so broad and handsome. How the two of them could possibly be soulmates was beyond her understanding, but she was dying to find out.

"Same here," the man admitted, which was unsurprising considering they were each other's soulmates, and suddenly his jaw dropped when he realized something. "Oh, yeah, we haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Derek."

"Derek," she whispered, tasting the name on her tongue, and she decided on that spot that she liked the name. Melting into a smile, she offered him her hand. "I'm Meredith, nice to meet you."

"Finally," Derek added as he took a hold of her hand, his eyes softening at the sight of her smile, and judging by how he jolted, he felt the same kind of electricity shooting inside of him as she did.

"Finally," she repeated and withdrew her hand slowly. Derek took a sip of his coffee while Meredith sat quietly, still inspecting him and fiddling with her watch.

It seemed like that one sip had brought Derek back to what she assumed to be his normal self, because what she got next was a grin as he leaned closer on the table, looking at her. Damn, if his eyes weren't the prettiest she had ever seen.

"You're really pretty," he said with newfound confidence, and while she felt embarrassed and felt her cheeks heating up even more than they had already, she giggled, which only made him smile more.

"Then I guess we're a good match at least looks-wise, because you're really handsome," Meredith said without a second thought and pursed her lips when she realized just what she had just said. Derek chuckled and gave her a bright dreamy smile that had her heart melting. Trying not to let it show just how affected she was, she fixed her posture and tried to adapt a serious expression. "You're not going to break my heart, are you?"

He looked confused as he raised his eyebrows, his mouth opening and forming a perfect o. "I sure hope not. Why?"

"Ever seen those romance movies with that one super attractive guy who's actually a serial heartbreaker?" she asked quietly, leaning closer with an amused smile on her lips. Meredith tried to be as dramatic as she could, if only for amusement. "You look like one of those."

Derek gasped and pretended to be offended, but the act fell apart as soon as it began, when he burst into a laughter. "Really?" He looked incredulous, but she shrugged either way, because honestly, in his gear he really did. "I've never thought about that. But no need to worry, I'm a good guy."

At the bottom of her heart, she knew that. A warm smile took over her features. "I know." He quirked his eyebrow, surprised, and she giggled. "You're too dorky."

Derek looked like he wanted to protest, but had to resort to merely licking his lips in defeat. "Okay, so that might be true."

Meredith laughed, which made him laugh, too, and much to her relief, the silence that fell over the two of them was nowhere near as awkward as it first had been.

It didn't take her long to realize that, just like she had suspected, Derek was a dork, in the best possible meaning of the word. He was adorable and charming in so many ways that by the end of that day - which the two of them just happened to spend together - she was sold.

He was considerate and she could already tell that he had many interesting sides to him that she was dying to discover. On occasion he stumbled on his words, still having a hard time to comprehend that he had actually found his soulmate, but that went both ways: she were just as amazed. He told her about his family and future plans, and she told him about her passions and future plans. It was later discovered that they were both interested at being a surgeon. She was still in college where he is already in Med School.

Much like she were drawn to him, Derek was drawn to her. Bound by fate, she was more or less his, and he was hers, although neither of them wanted to take that fact as literally as some people did. While there were a lot of people who felt suffocated by the thought of being bound to a specific person just because of a mark, the two of them embraced it. After all, hadn't they both gotten pretty lucky?

She was his soulmate, and he wanted to get to know her. So he did. He asked her out properly, and on their date the next day, he appeared by her door with a bouquet of flowers, clad in neat black jeans and a red button-down, and on top of everything, he had his usual leather jacket.

Giggling at the sight in front of her, she took the flowers from Derek. "These are lovely."

"I thought you'd like them," he said, by now a lot calmer than when they first met, and placed a hand on her lower back. She bit her lip quickly: it almost burned where his hand was touching her, but it was definitely in a good way.

Once she had gotten the flowers a vase from the dusty top shelf of her bookcase, the two of them walked down, their fingers interlocked and their voices quiet as they talked. Their hands fit together perfectly, and it brought her back to the goodbye hug Derek had given her the previous day, which had been just as perfect. When she got outside and saw the same motorcycle Derek had driven off from the café, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you trying to get me on that?" Meredith asked incredulously while Derek walked to his vehicle and got a second helmet from under the seat, and handed it to her when she had walked close enough.

"That's exactly what I'm trying," he said with a cocky grin that had her knees weak for a brief moment. Meredith turned the helmet around in her hands and sighed, pouting when she put it on.

"You better drive safely."

Derek laughed, as cutely as he always did, when she sat behind him on the motorcycle and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was almost ridiculous how much he felt like home, and she couldn't help but rest her cheek against his back and sigh contently, holding him a bit tighter.

"I wouldn't drive anything but safely with you on," he said reassuringly, his voice incredibly soft, and gave her a dreamy smile before taking off.

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So this is by far my favourite One shot i've made, the best from a dozen other one shots i've made. I'll post other MerDer One shots periodically. Thankyou!