the one where you don’t know your soulmate until you touch them.

It starts with 10 of them, huddled up in a room with mirrors lining on the walls and wooden floor, sweaty and exhausted but still managed to utter breathless laughter. Then one falls and the rest remains, anxiety eating their bones but they believe they are going to make it.

Then she is appointed as the leader of nine of them – one that holds the responsibility to care and make things easy for all of them. It is undeniably draining, the emotional rollercoaster she’s constantly in from being the leader – and not to mention the prepubescent drama between them. They are all still in their 10s, after all.

The room is humid even in the middle of night and the dim lights do nothing to ease the tension in the room – even when she’s the only one there. Shoulders hunched, she brings her knees to her chest and presses her face against the fabric of his pants and couldn’t help feeling hopeless at what seemingly like the weight of the world perched on her slim shoulders, a burden too much for a person to bear – not that she will admit that it is a burden out loudly.

The door slides open and another person steps into the practice room, an easy smile spread across her feature. Taeyeon lifts her head up, eyes widen for a fraction before offering her a light smile of her own.

“Hey,” Tiffany utters out awkwardly, tongue twisting in a fairly foreign accent and settles down beside her. Taeyeon merely smiles, head leaning backwards until she meets the cool mirror.

“I brought you this,” Tiffany once again offers, holding out a sealed bottle of water. “You – you’re going to make it. We all are. And – and if you’re having a hard time, we’re here to help you, you know?” She wiggles the bottle, urging Taeyeon to take it.

A woman of a few words that she is, Taeyeon snorts and finally takes the water bottle, lips already mouthing off a faint ‘thank you’ when their fingers brush. Electricity crackles from the skin where they touched, shrill of something (her ear rings with a whispered ’soulmate’) runs down their spine and the weight she doesn’t know she’s carrying dissipates into the warm air between them. She stares at Taeyeon and sees her expression on her open façade – shock, of course there is shock, and immense relief. Taeyeon laughs as she uncaps the bottle (her skin still tingles from the contact) and downs half of the liquid in swift gulps.

“Thank you.” It is small and barely there, but it is there and Tiffany’s laugh mirrors Taeyeon’s.

(They walk home, fingers laced with each other’s and hands securely hidden inside the pocket of Taeyeon’s hoodie, shoulders brushing and easy smiles on their faces.)

(Tiffany is right, Taeyeon ponders on a sleepless night, Tiffany’s head is a reassuring weight on her shoulder, we’re going to make it.)