Lifetime

Prophecy

"I still think you're an idiot." I teased when we pulled away. "You could have told me that you love me a long time ago."

He shook his head. "I couldn't, Sel." His response only confused me more.

"Why?" I asked. "Don't tell me you didn't want to ruin the friendship." I rolled my eyes, even though I was projecting, that reason summing my own resistance to disclosing that I also had feelings for him.

He wore a solemn expression as he retrieved the same velcro Avengers wallet he'd been using since he was nine. He was so serious that I couldn't even laugh at the sound of him ripping it open like I usually did. I watched with anticipation as he reached inside one of the slots that would usually hold a credit card, carefully removing a small slip of paper. He unfolded it with a sigh, handing it over to me.

The first thing I noticed was my mother's handwriting and then the worn pattern along the edges, a perfect match to the tear in the note my mom had written on a page from the box we'd found so long ago. I never really thought about the page being torn, but as I held onto the other half I realized it was the missing piece to everything. Though it was a little faded, I could make out seven dates.

July 11, 2003
January 1, 2011
September 7, 2013
August 23, 2014
April 3, 2020
April 3, 2020
November 30, 2024

I blinked, my brow pulled together as I read over the dates a second time, standing to read them a third. "What is this, Hobi?" I asked the question I already knew the answer to. Though it'd been so long that I couldn't be entirely sure of the exact date we met, I remembered that we moved into our neighborhood in 2003, right at the end of June. I ran into Hobi at the ice cream truck for the first time a couple of weeks later. Even if I couldn't be sure about the exact date with Hobi, it was unmistakable that I'd met Jimin on the first day of last year.

My mind and body were completely flooded, and I started to pace back and forth on the sidewalk. I didn't know where to begin or how to process what he'd just revealed to me.

"How could you keep this from me?" My voice cracked, overwhelmed with the secret he'd been holding on to for over seven years.

He stood across from me, trying to step closer to provide comfort amid the panic I was experiencing. I held my hand up to stop him, unable to accept any comfort when he was turning everything upside down.

"Because it's too much, even now, it's too much." He explained, stepping forward and putting his hands on my shoulders to stop me from pacing. "Sel," he sighed.

He wasn't exactly wrong, but I still didn't understand. "But the day I met you is on that list too Hobi. That's means that we're—"

He cut me off. "Soulmates, I know Sel." He dropped his hands from holding on to me, seemingly exasperated.

"I don't get how you could keep something like that from me. We're supposed to be together." I replied. At that moment, I hated that feeling inside of me, knowing now that it existed because we were soulmates. Right now, I wanted that feeling to disappear so that I could just be mad at him without the cloudiness. I wasn't surprised when I laughed, buried in a mix of emotions as I tried to make light of the situation with a joking tone. "You must really not want to be with me."

Hobi's brow furrowed, surely wondering how I could laugh. "That's all I've ever wanted," he grabbed the paper from my hand, starting to ramble, "but there's six other dates on this. What am I supposed to do with that? If we were together, what would've happened last year when Jimin moved in? I couldn't just fall more in love with you knowing that there's six other me's out there."