Soulmate

Twenty Nine: Taehyung

September 10, 2019
Incheon International Airport
Incheon, South Korea

My foot taps anxiously on the tiled floor of the private arrival room in the airport. I peek at my watch and the face reads 4:15 pm. I run my hands through my hair and tug lightly on the strands. The slight pain helps to ground me a little bit.

"They were supposed to be here ten minutes ago," I mumble.

"Taehyung, just take a deep breath." I feel Namjoon's hand on my shoulder. He squeezes me and I attempt a smile for him.

"Yikes," he says in response. "Maybe you don't want to smile just yet."

"I'm so nervous, hyung," I say in a soft voice.

He laughs lightly. "Why are you nervous? You don't have to be."

"I haven't seen Elle since we met four months ago and now she's coming here with her mother to meet me."

Namjoon tilts his head and squints his eyes in thought. "I mean, technically they're coming so they can tour Seoul National University. You just so happen to be here."

"Oh my god, they're through customs and they're on their way here," I say, ignoring Namjoon's words. I throw my phone across the room and it lands in one of the cushioned chairs against the far wall.

Namjoon sighs beside me and stands to his feet. "Get up then. You don't want to look stupid in front of Elle's mom." He grips my wrist and starts to pull on my arm, trying to remove me from the calming comfort of my chair.

"No, Namjoon, stop." I pull on my own arm, beginning a tug of war between the two of us.

"Stand up, you idiot!" he grumbles. His voice is strained from the effort and I notice his shoes starting to slip on the tile.

"Let go!" I brace myself to give one final tug and have my friend slip and fall onto the ground before me. But just as I start to pull, the door to the private room swings open and Namjoon and I freeze.

"What...is going on in here?" asks Manager Sejin.

I pull my arm away just as Namjoon lets go prematurely. I stand to my feet while Namjoon crashes on the floor. He yelps, but I hardly hear it because my sight is glues to a pair of wide blue eyes staring back at me from the doorway.

Elle's hair is a lighter brown than it was in May, drifting down from soft brown at the roots to a sweet caramel color at the ends from the summer sun. Her skin is a honey-like tan and she's taller than I remember her being, her head probably reaches the tip of my nose. Her thin hair falls messily around her shoulders and there's a lumpy line around her head from having it in a ponytail all day long. She wears a simple oversized black tee, cotton shorts, and Adidas slides. Her eyes carry dark bags below their piercing blue-green color. She looks exhausted, but apparently that doesn't matter when she charges me and jumps right into my arms.

I catch her body easily and hold her tightly against me. It's the first time we've had any physical contact, since when we both met we were both crying and awkward and too confused to understand that we had met our soulmate. I bury my face into her hair and neck and inhale her scent for the first time. She smells like a plane and a little bit like she needs to shower but I don't care. She's in my arms and she's here and we're together and that's all that matters to me.

"I missed you so much," she whispers in English. Her arms tighten around my neck and I so happy that I can understand a little bit of the language to know what she said. My heart swells in my chest and I feel so warm from her words, I may just burst into flames. Or tears.