Un-Beta-Ed

That moment when one reader writes a loooong detailed review on every chapter of your story. It's a good feeling~

I wish I could answer questions, but then the story would be ruined. Please stay with me on this ride of a story!

Soul Mates

Chapter 10

"Are you eating katsudon again?" Phichit said as a greeting once he entered our shared dorm room.

"mhmm" I mumbled as I still had food in my mouth. "I found a little shop nearby two streets over that calmed to be a Japanese restaurant. It's all knock off food but the katsudon is pretty good." I said after swallowing down my latest bite.

"The one that we went to last year?"

"Yeah, that one."

"You never use to go their. Got the nervous eats?" Phichit said laughing as he made his way over to his bed and sat down watching me continue to eat.

"Maybe. I don't think i'm really that nervous to be honest." I came back the next day to practice and focused greatly on the attention to little details in my routine. Celestino was amazed at my focus. He said it was the most improvement he had seen from me in a great while.

"These little things will make the difference, Yuri. Sure adding an extra jump might increase the overall difficulty, but if you mess up on a jump, that's it. If you add these little details throughout your routine, it will equal the technical score that the jump combination would have given you."

I felt confident in my routine now like never before.

"I think i'm just missing my mother cooking." I told Phichit.

"Must be pretty bad then, you use to say that you would never eat anything claiming to be Japanese here in America ever again after we went last time!" I grinned at him before I got up to place my empty container in the garbage.

I looked over at my suitcase near my bed. I had mostly packed up everything. Just a few more items to go.

"How are you feeling?" Phichit asked.

"As ready as i'll ever be."

"No, not with skating. How are you feeling, Yuri?"

I hesitated a bit before actually responding. I still hadn't really spoken about what happened after being confronted by Celestino. It wasn't something that I wanted to talk about.

"I'm fine. Really." I told Phichit with a sigh. I turned my back towards him as i finished grabbing some items from my closet before making my way over to my suitcase to pack them up. "Sure, it hurts inside, but I can't afford to let my emotions get the better of me. Not when I'm leaving for the Grand Prix tomorrow. I'll head home after the competition and go give Viktor a proper goodbye."

Phichit walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. I paused midway and looked up at him. He was giving me one of his comforting smiles. One that wasn't pushing for information, but one that was silently saying he would be here for me, no matter what.

I smiled back from him as i zipped up my suitcase and sat back down on my bed. Phichit followed my and sat down on my bed too.

"I want to tell you something, Yuri." He said as he leaned against the headboard of the bed. I turned to face him leaning against the opposite end of my bed. I nodded towards him indicating i was paying attention. It was very rare that Phichit opened up to me, even after all the years we've known each other, so I was ready to give him my undivided attention.

Phichit looked at me before turning around and started taking his shirt off.

"P-Phichit?" I said stuttering. "What are you doing?"

"Don't freak out, Yuri. Look." He said as he lifted his shirt over his head.

Phichit was staring straight ahead at the wall as I took a look at his back.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't you see it?" He said as he turned his head to look at me over his shoulder.

"See what?"

"My mark!" He said as he turned back towards the wall.

I looked back but I hadn't seen anything.

"Where is it?" I said after a few seconds.

"You can't be serious, Yuri. It's across my back near my right shoulder."

I came a bit closer to inspect his shoulder but I couldn't see anything. I shook my head before saying "Sorry to disappoint you, Phichit, but i don't see it anywhere."

"What?!" Phichit turned to look over his other shoulder. "What are you saying? I can see the outline of it now. It's pretty big, Yuri. Are you sure you don't see it? I just discovered it today! I have a Soul Mate mark!" He shouted at me excitedly.

I shook my head again. Then it hit me. I quickly moved on the bed and rolled up my pant leg.

"What are you doing, Yuri?!" Phichit said to me, turning back around. "Don't tell me, you have my matching Soul Mate mark-"

"It's not here." I said.

"What's not here?"

"My Soul Mate mark…" Phichit came closer to take a look at my ankle. Then he glanced up at me.

"Yuri, are you okay?" I looked up at him curiously. What was the point of asking that question? My mark had just disappeared. I was more than happy to hear that. Although Phichit had no reason to know that.

"Am i supposed to be looking at a figure skate on your ankle?"

Wait a second.

I nodded my head towards him, eyes going wide as he said exactly what my Soul Mate mark was. It wasn't as though I had shown him my ankle specifically, I had rolled up my pant leg to my knee cap exposing the entirety of it. How did he know-

He put a hand out to over the area where it would have been.

"How do you-"

"I can see your mark, Yuri." Phichit told me slowly. I looked back at him before reaching for his hand and lifting it up and looking back towards my ankle.

"You can't see my mark. And you can't see yours either." Phichit said slowly as though speaking the words out loud would do hurt me in some way. I looked back down again towards my ankle, but sure enough, there was nothing.

"Maybe you're just tired. Why don't we call it a night? I'm sure your eyes are just playing tricks on you. You have been putting all your effort towards the Grand Prix." Phichit got off from my bed and walked towards the lights in the room.

"It's getting late, you have an early flight. Go to sleep, Yuri." He turned off the light but I hadn't moved. My mark had disappeared. But not entirely, just for my eyes. Everyone's soul mate mark had disappeared.

I waited until I could hear Phichit snoring softly before I decided to move out of my bed. I walked towards my desk and turned on my laptop, one of the last things I had yet to pack and was thankful that I hadn't decided to pack it away yet, and quickly dimmed the brightness on the laptop. I opened up my browser and typed in "Vanishing Soul Mate marks" into the search section.

I was instantly thrown thousands of results.

Soul Mates caught lying on changing mark.

How to cover your Soul Mate mark in three easy steps

Soul Mate distraught after partner disappears. Search Party still looking for partner.

I scrolled along until a promising link appeared.

My Soul Mate mark suddenly disappeared. I clicked the link and began reading away.

Soul Mates are very complicated things. The marks are even more complicated. These mysterious marks have appeared on humans since beyond anyone can trace, but the reasoning is always clear. You want to find your Soul Mate in life. That is the goal that everyone wants. But what happens if you can't see your Soul Mate mark?

It is not uncommon for people to be born without Soul Mate marks. Sometimes they don't appear until later on in life, the oldest age present to date being to a 57 year old woman from Portugal. But for those who have received a mark, it will never go away.

There have been studies on those who have claimed that their mark had disappeared, vanished into thin air but recent studies show that the marks have simply been removed from their field of vision.

The comments are usually the same. "My mark disappeared." or "What happened to your mark?" Studies show that only those for an extremely traumatic past or experience with Soul Mates have somehow managed to block out the existence of Soul Mates completely.

People who have undergone stressful life situations, relating or unrelated to Soul Mates are often unable to see their marks. There have been multiple instances of those carrying marks lying to those who are unable to see them claiming to be their Soul Mate. A third party person can easily confirm the truth by looking at the two areas that the marks are and confirm the situation for that who cannot see the mark, however, the loss of the mark is normally too shocking that the Soul Mate will often just accept the case and other as their partner.

There have been multiple tests done to try and recover the vision behind those who are unable to see their marks, but all have proven to be unsuccessful.

There was more to the article but I stopped reading. I closed my laptop and walked back to my bed, having found the information I was looking for. I had lost my ability to find my Soul Mate. But it's not like i ever wanted to find mine in the first place. A dull throbbing appeared on my ankle. I rolled up my pant leg again to double check, but sure enough, the mark was not their for me to see.

A slight pain swelled up in my chest. A feeling known, yet unknown to me. It was hurt, but not in a way I could describe. I was finally rid of the one thing I always wanted to be rid of, so why was I in pain?