Soulmates At 8:30

1 8

5:07 pm

It was clear that this year's winter wasn't winter-ing like winters were supposed to winter. The sky was pale blue with not a single cloud in sight and, although the air wasn't windy, it was still heavy and brittle cold. Despite that, the sun was out, warm sunshine spilling over the bare ground and naked trees. It had been an abnormally sunny winter day that now ran towards it's end. The kind of the day that kicks ass of seasonal depression.

And that was just what it was trying to do with Zia who laid sprawled on the floor of her cozy room; a lazy Hoseok sitting at her desk, legs folded onto the chair in an Asian-squat. 

The dark heavy curtains had been pulled away to let the orange sun peek inside and the bed covers were drowning the bed in their warmth. Her honey filled eyes watched the sharp ebbing sunlight outline the structure of her fingers and the small strawberry she held in between them; a small porcelain bowl filled with melted chocolate sat beside her. 

"Do you think strawberries feel our teeth biting into them?" Zia's voice startled Hoseok who was dozing off, one of Zia's books-the thinnest, most smallest- laying limp in front of him on the desk. 

"Probably not." He mused, poking at the cockroach's drawing that was printed on the cover.

"Why not?"

"Because bathing in the chocolate distracts them to an extent where they just don't."

Zia sat up, a cunning smile on her face, "Professor Hoe, strikes again!" 

Hoseok scoffed and sat next to her, facing her face. "So, did ya'll fuck or what?"

Zia shot up, kicking her friend in the back and carried her offended self to the chair Hoseok had occupied earlier and flopped into it, hiding her face in her knees.

"What? Do you still not wanna talk?", Hoseok took the strawberry she had dropped and dipped it into the chocolate sauce, twirling it around so as to cover each of its crevice with it.

"I want to talk! Desperately. I just don't know how and where to start." Zia looked at him, short strands of navy hair falling in her eyes.

"How about you start with how you met him? Hm?" Hoseok suggested making Zia sigh. It was about time she sorted her feelings out and what better way to do that other than having a rant with her bestie Hoseok?

"His daughter-"

"Yes, the one I was supposed to pick up from your daycare that night, right?" Hoseok remembered the night. 

A fateful night indeed. His cupid skills were the reason why Zia and her soulmate had a hot night together, after all.

"It was not a hot night." The girl deadpanned with her eyebrows straight.

"I didn't say anything!" He whined out.

"But you thought it! I'm sure you did!"

"Okay, whatever. Carry on." Hoseok rolled his eyes. They definitely had a hot night.

"Yes so, like I told you earlier, he works with some circus crews-"

"Event managing company." Hoseok interrupted.

"Yes, that. His name is Min Yoongi, his daughter is Min Mika-rin and they live in a cozy yet modernistic house. To be honest, his place really doesn't meet his overall vibe. As far as I know- I had asked Hayon to do a background check on him since they were in the same university and all. And she told me that he's a divorcee. That he had already married someone which they later came to hear wasn't his soulmate, hence the divorce. I don't know much about why it happened but by the looks of it, he is incapable of loving any one other than that woman."

There a pause. Hoseok looking at her with worried eyes and Zia avoiding his eyes, choosing to stare at the chocolate bowl instead. 

"Can you even trust Hayon's information? You know how she tried to sabotage our class surprise that-"

"Hoseok. We were thirteen back then. He is a single dad with only alcohol in his otherwise empty fridge. He leaves his two year old at a fuckin daycare for the entirety of the days, what more proof do I need?

"Did he tell you he didn't like you?" Hoseok's questions were starting to annoy her.

"What-why would he need to spell it out for me when I can see it in his face, clearly. And seriously, whose side are you on?" Zia was shouting at this point.

"Yours, always. You know that."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

Hoseok was contagious. His soft tone made Zia calm down, ashamed. She continued, eyes slightly tearing up," What will I do now? Do I ignore him? Give up the job at the daycare and find a new direction?"

"Do you think you can ignore him?"

It seemed Hoseok really was out to test Zia's patience today. She clenched her fist, gathering air in her lungs with a deep inhale, preparing her vocal cords to scream a big fat yes and throw it in her friend's face. 

Until it was too late.

The thread had snapped. The question had been thoroughly perceived by the folds of her brain and against her wish, they now pondered over it's possible answers: twisting the scenarios around, bending the words here and there, imagining the 'what ifs'. The gathering of tears wobbling in her lower lid now threatening to spill.

"I don't know."

It was such a silent whisper, dying down before it could even leek out properly. But he heard it. The words pierced into his eardrums despite their meekness.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Zee. I don't know if he has a heart that can love you the way you deserve to be loved but to tell you to give it up before even trying, I don't want to be so cruel."

Zia bit her lower lip, her eyes falling shut as the damn broke and she looked down at her hands that lay on top of her lap, hair falling to hide her face.

"Think a hug could help?" Hoseok offered,  the smallest of smiles adoring his face now as he shuffled towards her on his knees, arms open.

"Yes, please." 

The hug was nostalgic; it was like eating cold sandwiches behind the school grounds on a sunny recess, trying to gulp it down with the juice Hobi's mother had given him in his blue plastic water bottle with the chatter of other children dying down in the background. It was like sneaking in to Zia's house and running up the stairs to steal Jimin's controller so that him and Zia could play a multi-player game. It was like eating the cheap bunny shaped chocolates that girls used to stuff in Hoseok's locker. It felt like the hug she gave Hobi when he realized his soulmark wasn't gonna ever show up. The hug really helped.

"Not having a soulmate myself, I don't know how to exactly comfort you about this but just remember that I am here for you, always. Whatever happens, even if it's the worst case scenario, you will always have me to figure things out with, okay?"

 "Okay."

Zia looked up at Hoseok, pulling apart, his face cracking up at her puffy eyes and the snot dripping from her nose. 

"Wanna go for a walk?"

"The sun's down. It will be cold outside now."

"Your point is?"

Zia's took in his face that was twisted into a sassy expression, eyebrow raised and eyes judging. She rolled her own, a smile playing on her lips.

"Whatever, yeah. Let's just go."

She didn't need the rare winter's sun to fight her blues. She had her Hoseok, her eternal bright sun.