Satellite

When The Party Is Over

Celeste sat across from her friends Soyeon and Hyunjin at their favorite café, the cozy atmosphere providing the comfort she was missing amidst the turmoil in her heart. She took a deep breath, steeling herself to recount the events that had unfolded at Minho's birthday party.

"The most unbelievable thing happened," Celeste began, her voice tinted with apprehension. "As soon as I arrived at the party with Minho, everything seemed normal, you know, the music, the laughter, the vibe. But then, when I was introduced to one of his bandmates, his best friend, Christopher, and something... unexpected happened."

Soyeon leaned forward, her eyes shining with curiosity and her voice laced with exasperation. "What was it?"

Celeste nodded, her mind still swirling, everytime she thought of Christopher his melody came to her, and she had only heard it ONCE. It was definite and pure sorcery. "When I shook hands with him... There was this sudden surge of energy, like a spark igniting between us. And then, I heard it —the soulmate melody."

Silence filled the space for some minutes, Hyunjin's face without expression, like processing all the information, and Soyeon covering her mouth with one of her hands, not giving credit to what she was hearing.

Hyunjin's brow furrowed in concern as he broke the silence, "Wait, you mean THE melody?"

Celeste nodded again, staring at her glass of lavender latte. "Yes, the one I DO NOT BELIEVE IN..." She confessed in frustration. She wanted to cry, honestly, but she wasn't letting it out, she was still in denial. "It was like a haunting earworm, like those songs you hear once and get stuck the rest of the day... Like SHINee's Ring Ding Dong..." Even at that moment she tried to make it all sound funny, although it wasn't.

Soyeon clasped her hands together, a dreamy smile spreading across her face. "Oh, Celeste, that's so romantic! It sounds like fate brought you and Christopher together, that's why you had to have your encounter with Minho." It was astounding to Celeste to see how her best friend always found the positive in everything, but she could not find herself being so smitten with the idea of fate moving in mysterious ways.

Celeste's expression turned desperate as she continued. "But I'm with Minho! He is the one for me! And Christopher is Minho's best friend." She sighed in despair.

Hyunjin stared at her with surprise, knowing where all of this was going, "Oooh... I see, I see."

"Wait, wait, you need to rewind and I need details. How was it? I mean, how did his melody sound to you?" Soyeon seemed more entertained with the idea of pursuing the non-existent love story between Celeste and Christopher than dealing with the drama of both men being best friends.

"It was... It was overwhelming. It burned like fire, and I recognized the tune right away. It was like... a conversation. You know, like my melody has these instruments and his' just play along with mine," It was unavoidable for Celeste to recall his tune in an instant, it was like her heart was a jukebox and could play it at will because it was the only one it had, over and over. The comforting and uplifting nature it had unnerved the blue-haired woman even more, she didn't want to feel so in tune with it. She was deciding to hate it, just because she wanted to; just because it was messing up her perfectly laid out plans of being happy with Minho.

"And... Have you heard Minhos'?" Hyunjin mentioned, he wasn't too fond of the whole theory of soulmate melodies, he hardly paid attention to it, but felt curious about the mechanics. His friend only shook her head before answering.

"No... We haven't talked about it... I guess I could ask, but what difference would it make?" Her voice was laced with hopelessness.

"Celeste, soulmate melodies are rare and magical. Maybe this is fate's way of telling you something." Soyeon added, pushing the topic even more.