| //Nevah's point of view\\ |
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, was the only thought my brain was capable of forming as I watched Zero disappear around the corner into the hall that led to the restrooms.
Zero always kept her necklace tucked under her shirt so no one saw it glow, including me, but I knew my twin.
I'd never seen that surprised look laced with fear. I'd never seen her face slip from such a strong expression to such an emotionless one so quickly. It was obvious that her necklace was burning and her soul mate was in here somewhere.
And she fucking ran.
I didn't know whether to be sympathetic or exasperated.
I went for worried.
I wanted to go after her, but no doubt her soulmate's necklace is burning too and he's looking for her.
The last thing I wanna do is attract attention to her and end up accidentally forcing her to meet her soul mate before she's ready. I vaguely remember Dad telling us when we were little to never corner a frightened animal.
So I sat there at the booth, seething in worry for my sister and curiosity as to who her soul mate was.
Lali, Rose, Jennie, Ilhoon, and Hyuna were shooting my worries glanced from across the table but I just subtly shook my head and eventually then began to mingle in conversation with ever-clueless Jinyoung, Jisoo, Youngjae, and Jaebum.
It wasn't long before I decided to calm myself down by putting an earbud in and turning on Melanie Martinez. Cause why not listen to Crybaby at a time like this.
At first when Jaebum and Youngjae met Zero and I and we were frequenting our phones with our ear buds in and music on blast, they were worried we didn't like them. Then Jinyoung explained that we were shy and that was the only way we knew how to deal with new people (which earned him two hits upside the head) and that even when we got comfortable with them, that was just how we rolled.
Once they saw that his words were true and he wasn't just placating them, they completely understood. Even as I did it now, they didn't do more than give me a brotherly kind of fond smile which I returned as best I could.
I decided to text Zero. A simple message, not bothering to ask if she was ok cause the answer was pretty obvious and instead opting to tell her that I hadn't seen anyone with a glowing necklace and maybe he just worked here and wouldn't come out to find her.
As I was scrolling through art on Tumblr and waiting for a response I was suddenly wrenched from my peaceful bubble by a familiar heat blossoming in my chest except this time it was much hotter.
My eyes grew wide as saucers and without even thinking about it, I grabbed my pendant and stuffed in my shirt so quickly that no one else noticed.
I sat there, outward appearance calm so as not to give anything away and continued scrolling but if anyone had looked close enough (and thankfully no one did) they would have seen that my body was extremely rigid and my eyes slightly wider than need be.
He was here, he was here, he was here. I didn't know where exactly but he was near. I could find him and I could meet him if I wanted.
I didn't dare move my eyes in fear that they would accidentally connect with his.
In some vague, unnoticed part of my subconcious, it had just occurred to me that Zero and I had never met Jinyoung's friends Kai and Xiumin when suddenly I heard said cousin exclaim, "It's about time you two showed up!"
And a new voice I'd never heard before said, "Yeah, well I was in traffic and just got here and apparently Kai's necklace was glowing and he was looking for his soulmate but he couldn't find her. Mine started glowing too but I can't find her either."
Oh God, it was them. My soulmate was two feet away.
Hyuna and Lali looked at me horrified. They were the only ones that had caught on that it was Zero
Ilhoon was frowning and I could see the gears turning in his brain. It wouldn't take him long.
When Hyuna took in my look the way I looked and her jaw dropped looking even more horrified, I knew she knew that lying under my shirt was a pendant bright enough to blind and hot enough to burn.
Suddenly I was overwhelmed with all this information I'd ever learned about soulmates in my near two decades of life. I couldn't remember the success stories. I couldn't remember that happy couples from the pictures in middle school.
All I could remember were the anomalies, the exceptions. No system was perfect and rules were meant to be broken and the soul mate system was the same.
Soulmates got rejected. It happened. Some didn't want to be tied down. Some had commitment issues. Some already had significant others they were prepared to leave.
Whatever the reason was, the end result was the same. Someone ended up hurt. Badly.
And right now, I could very well be that person. There were people out there much stronger, smarter, and prettier than me that had been rejected, what made me immune?
It was the most overwhelming thing I'd ever felt and I understood with even more clarity exactly why Zero ran. It was the only thing that made sense. So that's what I did.
Ignoring the calls of my friends and family behind me, I booked it through the back entrance of the restaurant and down the street as far away from my soulmate as I possibly could.
I didn't care that I was being childish or stupid or dramatic, I just cared that I was safe.
I didn't even care that I was crying and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.
