Jiaqi thinks she met her soulmate on a random afternoon in May. She was only seven when her eyes chanced upon a tiny girl, struggling to carry a box on the pavement. The girl had cute braids, chubby cheeks and most importantly, an adorable pout on her face.
How cute! Jiaqi thought. The strong urge to come out from her hiding spot behind the wall overwhelms her rational side to ask her parents.
"Hi!" Jiaqi exclaims, eyes twinkling with excitement. She was bound to go back to school soon and having a new friend was beneficial for seven year old Jiaqi.
The girl drops the box, evidently startled by the sudden voice. A second of silence passes and she starts crying hysterically after looking down at the broken pieces of plates inside the box.
"Hey! W-Wait! Stop crying!" Jiaqi demands, her voice slightly raised. When she makes eye contact with the little girl, her heart breaks slightly. "I... I just wanted to help you!" She gestures to the box.
By the time the girl stopped crying, her parents had come out of the house to see the commotion.
"Yan Yan! What's going on?" Her mother runs over and coddles the girl in her arms, who gives Jiaqi a stink eye.
What the heck!
"Hi Auntie and Uncle! I'm Xu Jiaqi!" Jiaqi introduces herself, deciding it would be better to ignore the glare of the younger girl, "I was trying to help your daughter but I accidentally scared her... I really didn't mean to! I swear!"
"Oh, nice to meet you, Jiaqi," the girl's father nods, "it's no problem, Yu Yan just gets scared easily."
That brat's name is Yu Yan!
Jiaqi turns to Yu Yan and says, "I hope we can become friends!" She thinks she can see the mirth behind the younger's eyes.
—
Over the course of the next few years, Jiaqi thinks Yu Yan's tolerance for her has gotten better. With the multiple dinners they've spent together and their parents arranging sleepovers for them, they really just spent all day with one another. It's only until Yu Yan shows up at Jiaqi's house with a cake and handmade gifts on her birthday then the elder really knows that they've become friends.
There was no longer that look of mirth or even annoyance in Yu Yan's eyes anymore, perhaps if Jiaqi looked closely, she would see the adoring yet uncertain glint hiding behind those strong dark eyes.
They're in middle school now and like Jiaqi said, Yu Yan's her soulmate. And soulmates call each other nicknames!
"Just call me Jiejie!" Jiaqi frowns, what was so shocking about her wanting to be called Jiejie? Yu Yan turns away, her face bright red. "I really don't think I should..."
"What's wrong? Do you not want to call me Jiejie?" Jiaqi asks, grabbing Yu Yan's cheeks and squishing them. Yu Yan only splutters helplessly and mutters something like, "It's too casual..." Jiaqi switches her hold onto Yu Yan's hands, a look of wild determination in her eyes as she says, "We're best friends! Practically sisters! You can call me jiejie!"
If Yu Yan falters slightly, Jiaqi doesn't notice.
The younger girl just hides her face behind her hands(after releasing them from Jiaqi's monster grip). She still manages to mumble out a feeble, "Jiaqi jiejie," when they part ways.
There's a stupid smile plastered over Jiaqi's face and even her parents thinks she's gone mad for the week.
—
High school was a rough patch. The hierarchy of high school could kill off any junior-senior friendships. Jiaqi really should have thought this through, it was definitely not one of her better ideas to introduce Yu Yan to her friends.
Xu Jiaqi, what were you thinking? Yu Yan is such an innocent girl and your friends basically live off on bad ideas!
When they finally stop grilling Yu Yan for embarrassing stories of Jiaqi, she gets a good look at everyone seated at the table. Was she a bad friend, for not wanting to share her senior friends with Yu Yan? Was she a bad friend for wanting Yu Yan to dislike her friends and keep a distance from them? Jiaqi pretends not to notice the intrigued look behind Yu Yan's eyes as she stares at Dai Meng. She pretends not to know whether Dai Meng is single or not when Yu Yan asks. And she definitely pretends to ignore the younger's questions about Dai Meng's favourites.
Does that make her a bad friend? Probably. But Jiaqi doesn't want to face that right now. She's just trying to be protective of her baby sister.
Because when Jiaqi was 17, she could only think of Yu Yan as the 15 year old girl that she was destined to meet and protect.
—
Jiaqi's 19, eyes bawling out tears that could mimic a waterfall. Tears of sadness or happiness? Maybe a mix of both. The tears drip slowly onto the letter addressed to her, Xu Kiki Jiaqi.
It's all she's ever wanted, to be an idol. A professional idol singer. But why is she crying? Why does she feel sad? Maybe it's because she had imagined Yu Yan's expression when she needed to tell her that she wouldn't be there for her graduation.
Which does she pick? Love or duty? Or in this case, love refers to platonic love and duty refers to her dream. Jiaqi had always been a bit slow, but this time her decision was made up rather quickly. Maybe a little upsetting for some, but she takes out a blank sheet of paper and starts writing.
In order to not see that heartbroken image of Yu Yan, she does the next best thing a 19 year old Jiaqi could think of.
Write a letter to her neighbour and disappears in the middle of the night to chase her dreams.
—
But what if all this time, her dreams always led her back to Yu Yan?
