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he looks down at his wrist and sees the zeros lined up, and it's as if his entire world just stopped. everything suddenly moves in slow motion. he watches mia enter through the door, a gust of wind following. then another familiar face enters behind.
julian.
he's taken back to reality when a girl says his name, "sean, right?"
he draws his attention to the girl in front of him. "y-yeah."
she extends her hand out to him, and smiles, "i'm vyo."
he looks down and sees her countdown at zero too. he stares at it for a moment too long, but snaps out of it and shakes her hand.
"s-so...we are..uh-"
"soulmates," she finishes, looking at their wrists. "i guess so."
"oh,"
"not what you expected?" she jokes, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"oh no! it's just i saw someone, i think, that i haven't in a while," he mumbles.
"um, well should we order?" she speaks up.
"y-yeah! we should do that," he remains detached.
"okay," vyo waves her hand to call attention to the waiter who arrives with a set of menus.
her eyes scan the menu up and down but sean continues to stay aloof, with a hundred thoughts racing through his head. he looks back at the entrance of the venue, and mia and julian are no longer there.
"i shouldn't have come back so soon," he mumbles quietly to him self.
"did you say something?" vyo looks up from the menu.
"n-no," sean abruptly clears his throat and starts to stand up. "i-i'm gonna go the restroom."
"o-okay..?" vyo stutters as sean quickly excuses himself, leaving her alone at the table.
sean stumbles as he looks around the room, somehow simultaneously scanning each face to see the one he's looking for yet also trying to avoid it.
his eyes finally meet the men's restroom sign and he pushes the door open. he rushes to the last stall and locks himself inside.
"is it really her?" he opens his phone up to see a picture of mia. "god, i'm probably just hallucinating.
he anxiously runs his hand through his hair despite the ten minutes and copious amounts of gel it took to get it to the way it was.
"get a grip lew," he says to himself. "this is your chance to start over, don't fuck it up this time."
he unlocks the stall and tries to shake away his nerves before returning to the table.
"are you okay now?" vyo asks sean as he sits down.
"yeah," he answers clearly. "i was just nervous earlier, that's all."
"nervous..." she repeats. "i am too. i've always believed in the whole soulmate countdown, but it's different... seeing the person in real life for the first time."
"it is..." he says with his eyes looking down at the table and not at her's. he eyes then snap back up. "let's order, yeah?"
she nods.
after ordering with sean's extensive list of extra instructions he'd like with his meal, the two continue to try getting to know each other.
"so, how do you know gabe?" she asks mid-chew, thinking of their mutual friend who set them both up on the blind date.
"gabe and i met at a club," sean answers. "it was way back when i had just moved to new york - around four years ago? how about you? how do you know gabe?"
"um," she thinks for a moment. "m-mutual friends! yeah, a bunch of mutual friends."
he nods and continues to eat his order.
–
"how is it that we have so much in common?" sean laughs as the server brings over their bill. "we both want to pursue a career in film, like the same music, have the same favorite movie, show, restaurant!"
"it's almost like we're meant for meant for each other...?" she says with a straight face before bursting out into laughter.
"very funny," he shakes his head. "but i, uh, guess we are...aren't we?" he takes in a moment of realization. he had never had very much in common with mia, and they instantly hated each other from the moment they met. he starts to wonder if they only liked each other because he wanted someone to fix him while she mistook her pity as 'love' for him.
"let's go?" vyo's voice takes him back to reality.
"yeah let's do that," he stands up and for a second he looks around the room and still doesn't find what he's looking for.
they say small thank you's to the workers as they leave the restaurant. warm air greets them. new york in the summer time had always been sean's favorite.
"i had a great time tonight," vyo says shyly, smiling at the ground.
"i did too," he says, and it feels like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. a weight that had been there for two years. "so are you also taking the subw-"
"sean?" a hand wraps around sean's arm, and both his and vyo's attention are pulled behind them. "sean, is that you?"
he turns to his side and his eyes go up to meet a pair of hazel ones.
in the end, of course it's mia.
"mia," sean says softly. he eyes flicker down to mia's hands intertwined with julian's, and he starts to feel an ache in his chest.
"it is you," her face starts to slowly light up. "y-you're awake...."
"i am," he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "for about five months now."
"oh," a wave of guilt washes over her entire body. "i-i didn't know-"
"we're sorry," julian cuts her off. "it's just mia got a job here working under this huge film company so-"
"it's fine," sean finishes. "really, you don't have to explain it to me. i understand. anyways, uh, this is vyo, my... soulmate."
vyo gives a small smile.
"oh," mia mutters. "soulmate, huh?"
he nods as he watches julian pull mia slightly closer to him.
"well, how are you?" mia asks with a hopeful look on her face. "when did you get back to new york?"
"uh mia," julian interrupts. "we still have to catch that movie in a few minutes."
"oh right!" she realizes. "we bought tickets to watch that new movie playing down on eighth street, i totally forgot. i'm sorry." mia places her hand on sean's arm. "we have to get coffee sometime and catch up, alright?"
"yeah yeah, of course," he stammers.
"it was nice seeing you again sean. i've missed you," mia gives him a half-hearted smile and their eyes lock before she turns and walks away.
a/n fhsksks don't hate me also there's five chapters left i'm sad
