The Everlasting Rebellion

Chapter 1: It's Time

Jimin's POV

"Melody come on, I don't want to be late!" I called after my best friend, pulling her down the sidewalk into Central Hub.

"Jimin, you worry too much," Melody replied with a laugh.

Central Hub was a large, sunny indoor quad with a dome ceiling, surrounded by glass walls and sliding doors. This is where Sectors would meet for group events or school activities. Today was the big day, all our Sectors were coming together as our section, eighteen year olds, were finally eligible to view our matches.

We head towards the doors for check-in and scan our identification badges. The screen reads:

Park Jimin
Brown Eyes/Sector 1
Status: Unmatched
Career: Student (Graduated)
Age: 18

The doors slid open and the bright light made me squint, shielding my eyes from the light. Since our world is underground, we do not see much natural sunshine.

I felt Melody pull her hand out of mine as she went to meet her friends.

"I hope you find who you are looking for, my Jimin," she said with a small smile. I knew exactly what she was referring to.

I looked around at the other males getting in line. Boys sharing encouraging pats on the back as they would send their friends off to their positions. We all shared a sharp look, freshly pressed suits and shiny shoes.

I almost screamed when I felt two hands cover my eyes. I relax when I turn around and look up to my love. A smile creeps on to my face as he reaches out and cups my cheek. Within seconds, my eyes widen and I slap his hand away. The hurt is evident in his eyes.

"Namjoon, what are you doing? We could get caught!" I plea.

"I don't care, they should know!" He replies.

"They would take you away, don't you remember?!" I ask.

"They're doing that anyway," he says as he brushes past my shoulder.

I quickly grab his hand and draw a heart into his palm. I could feel him relax as he looked back at me.

He read my lips as I said a silent, "I love you, baby."

Namjoon nodded and went to stand next to me, I shook my head.

"No, don't stand next to me," I said.

"What? Why? Don't you want to know?" Namjoon asked.

"We can't, not here," I answered, looking around nervously at the Directors.

"Okay, I'll find you after," he said and walked further down the field.

The lights dimmed, the hum in the crowd went silent as the Head Director stepped up to the podium at the far end of the Central Hub. His face displayed on projectors around the field. My eyes fell upon the excited people who came to watch our ceremony, like this was some sort of game and not something that was about to change our lives forever.

"When you have found your match, you must gather your belongings from your family pod and move into your newly assigned pod with your partner. If you believe there has been a matching error, you must stay with your partner for at least two weeks before you can arrange a dispute meeting with your Sector Director." A booming voice said above us all as we gathered into two long lines, one for males and one for females.

As we all lined up, we turned away from each other.

My heart beat started to race. This was the moment we had all been waiting for since primary school, when we first learned about our community matching system.