When Kibum woke up the next morning, his face hurt. It felt kind of sticky, but not as bad as it would have been if he hadn’t showered. His could feel his hair sticking up in weird places, some spots a little sore from the odd cowlicks. He sat up and rubbed his face with one hand, in a breath quickly through his nose. Looking around, his first thought was that Minho wasn’t there. His second thought was that he was starving. So he heaved himself out of bed, steadying himself carefully for a moment before heading for the door. In the hallway, he could hear voices and the sound of food cooking in the kitchen, so he followed his ears. Upon entering the kitchen, he found Minho, standing at the stove, wearing a Kibum’s mother’s flowery apron and frying an egg. His mother stood at the counter, meticulously slicing a tomato and laying it prettily out on a plate with some sliced mozzarella. “Fancy breakfast” Minho had called it once as a child, and so that’s what it had always been called by them. Kibum smiled at the memory.

“Oh! You’re up! Perfect timing. I made you breakfast!” Minho smiled at Kibum and slid the finished egg onto a plate with some bacon and fruit. He picked up the dish and carried it over to the kitchen table, placing it in front of Kibum’s usual chair. The taller boy’s own food already sat at the table, still warm and ready to eat. Kibum shuffled to his chair, plopping down in an exhausted manner and eyeing the plate before him, ravenously.

“So, how was yesterday?” Kibum looked up at his mother, who was still standing at the counter. She had a knowing smile on her face. What she’d said was obviously a leading question. Kibum knew that his mom knew exactly when his countdown would end. She was one of the people who got ridiculously excited about countdowns, something Kibum had never agreed with her about. He knew she knew exactly when his would end. He remembered the night after his 18^th birthday when he’d been awakened to his mother secretly tugging his arm covering down to see the numbers. He’d pretended to stay asleep, but he’d snuck out of bed when she’d left the room and watched her pull out a calculator and calendar and mark down the exact time his countdown would end. In the past week, she’s been very excitable, which frustrated Kibum, but he knew she was just happy and only assumed and hoped for the best for him.

But still, he didn’t want to talk about yesterday. He wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened. In the 2 seconds after his countdown ended and before the guy spoke, Kibum had actually felt happy, excited, almost thrilled. But that hadn’t lasted and exactly what he had always expected to happen…happened. So he feigned ignorance today.

“What?” Kibum put on his best innocent face and chewed his eggs slowly.

“You know…” his mother wiggled her eyebrows at him. Hint hint, he thought, and inwardly groaned. “Yesterdayyyyy…. Your countdo…..”

She stopped short, and Kibum could see frantic waving in his peripheral vision. Yet another thing to be grateful to Minho about.

“Oh… uh…” his mother shifted uncomfortably for a moment and the happy look on her face fell. “How… how was school? Didn’t you have a paper due?”

Kibum smiled. “Oh, I turned it in. It was almost a disaster, but Minho helped me and I got it done just in time.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good.” They all fell silent as they ate. Minho finished first, clearing his plate, and then grabbing his bag and putting his hand on Kibum’s shoulder.

“I’m gonna head home. I’ve gotta help my mom get ready for tonight. Kibum, I borrowed one of your arm… thingies.”

Kibum looked up at him and smiled again. “Yeah that’s fine. Let me know if you need any help.” He reached up and squeezed Minho’s hand before the younger boy headed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 6:30pm on the dot, Kibum rang the doorbell to Minho’s house. Behind him, Kibum’s father held a small wrapped box, while his mother held a bouquet of roses. They both had big grins on their faces, while Kibum’s own face featured a pleasant smile. Minho’s father practically ripped the door open to let them in, so excited he was nearly vibrating. He heartily shook Kibum and his father’s hands, bowing politely to Kibum’s mother, and ushered them inside.

The entire living room and dining room were decorated with pictures of Minho. There were baby pictures, sports pictures, newspaper articles, any awards he had earned. There were even a fair number of pictures of Kibum with Minho, smiling goofily, dressed in cute outfits, visiting parks and historical sites. Every picture emulated the joy, pride, and love that literally every single person in the house felt for Minho. There were balloons and flowers, and Minho’s older brother, Minseok, had even put together a video of home movies of Minho growing up. Kibum was in this quite a bit, too. It made him feel kind of weird, nostalgic, happy and proud. He could feel the tears welling up and chuckled to himself. As much as he didn’t actually care about this countdown stuff, he did love the happiness and excitement he could feel from the people he was with now for his best friend.

The dining room was decked out with all of Minho’s favorite foods, which was pretty much everything. Minho had never been a picky eater, just choosing to eat pretty much everything. He pointed out that with his active lifestyle, it was better to not be picky anyway. Kibum just liked that Minho was always willing to try new foods and recipes with him.

They ate. Somehow, even though there was a ton of food to begin with, it turned out to have been the perfect amount and the dishes are cleared with no leftovers. Everyone felt perfectly full, but it wasn’t over yet. Kibum and Minho’s mothers broke out the candles, lighting the entire dining room exclusively with their soft glow. Even without them, Minho was absolutely radiating with joy, his excitement pouring sunshine out into the room. Minseok brought out the cake and placed it in front of Minho, who sat at the head of the table. Getting your countdown means you officially become an adult and the families were taking every opportunity to truly shower Minho in love tonight. Carefully, Minseok lit the candles on the cake, carefully placed around the edges, the middle sporting the words “Happy Countdown, Minho”.

Minho’s father stood up and began speaking. “Thank you to the Kim family for coming to celebrate our boy. We’re all very excited for the big reveal. Minho, we are so grateful that you are ours, and in a minute, we’ll see when we get to welcome a new family member, as well. We love you and are so proud of you. So, without further ado…”

Minho was beaming. Kibum could see the tears of excitement glistening in his friend’s eyes. Kibum soaked it in. He reveled in the happiness and he promised himself he’d remember this exact moment forever.

And so, Minho pulled off the arm cover.

The room was silent. Quieter than should have been possible, or maybe time had stopped. No one seemed to be breathing even, and somehow the candle glow was dimmer than before.

There on Minho’s arm where his countdown should be, blinked straight zeros.

00:00:00:00

Kibum was the first to react, grabbing Minho by his other arm and yanking him out of the chair, straight to his room. He shoved Minho to sitting on his bed and knelt in front of him. Minho’s face is blank and expressionless, something that Kibum almost never saw. Kibum placed both of his hands on Minho’s in his lap and squeezed, trying to be comforting.

“It’s fine, Minho” Kibum spoke quietly, but firmly. “Your soulmate is fine. Nothing bad has happened to them. You can feel that, right?” Minho met his eyes, but his face was still blank, as if the real Minho wasn’t even in there. “It’s okay, Minho. You’re okay. They’re okay. You’ll be okay.”

They stared into each other’s eyes. Time moved, but they didn’t. Kibum could hear quiet voices in the rest of the house, worried whispering, the shuffling of feet on carpet. He prayed that no one came into the room. He needed Minho to not have to worry about that right now.

“Okay.” Minho’s voice was too quiet. He broke eye contact with Kibum and stood up. Kibum tried to keep hold of Minho’s hands, but the boy was too strong and easily, but gently, pulled free. He patted Kibum on the head in a way that Kibum knew is supposed to be reassuring, but right now it really wasn’t. Then, he walked out. He took his coat from the closet and walked out of the house. Kibum tried to go after him, but Minseok stopped him.

“Leave him. You trust him. Let him go.”

Kibum watched Minho jog away into the darkness before turning back inside. A few minutes later, Minseok also left, heading over to his girlfriend’s house. Everyone understood. The adults held their partner’s hands and moved into the kitchen, leaving Kibum alone. He went back to the still candle-lit dining room. He moved silently and took Minho’s chair, staring down at the still illuminated cake.

“But… do you think…. Could they be…”

“Don’t even say that.”

“But, what can we do for him?”

“It just… it can’t be possible… not for our Minho.”

Kibum gritted his teeth as he listened to the quiet voices of the adults. It hurt him to know that the first thing the parents assumed is that Minho’s soulmate was dead. He didn’t want to think about that. It couldn’t be true. Kibum didn’t like the whole soulmate and countdown thing, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t believe whole-heartedly that soulmates have a true connection. He truly believed that a person could feel their soulmate. He knew he’d know if something had happened to his own soulmate, no matter how they felt about each other. Minho would have had an inkling if his soulmate were…

Angrily, Kibum stood up, shoving the chair backwards with probably too much force. He took in a huge breath and blew out the cake candles. Then he took the a knife and smeared the words across the top until they were unreadable. He picked up the cake and carried it into the kitchen, setting it down loudly onto the counter and breaking the tense atmosphere. He turned to the adults, who were now staring at him.

“I’m going home.”

“Oh…” Kibum’s mother stepped forward a little. “Do… do you want us to go with you…?”

“No, thank you. I’m fine. Minho’s fine. Everyone is fine. Thank you for inviting me to the party. It was beautiful. Please leave the pictures up for a little while. I want to come look at them again soon.”

He bowed slightly before turning and leaving the house. After shutting the door, he leaned his back against it, breathing out and watching his breath dissipate into the cold air. Tonight could have definitely gone better. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out.

“From: Minho. Sorry. I just had to get out. It’s okay. I’m okay. Just… the cake, all those candles… I know my family is embarrassed. I’ll let you know when I’m home. Thank you.”

Kibum let out a sigh of relief. The real Minho was back and it was going to be okay. He hoped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, Kibum’s room was ridiculously clean, thanks to his “nervous cleaning” habit, and he lay on his bed in the dark watching his ceiling fan slowly spin, casting shadows onto the ceiling from the streetlight outside. His phone buzzed, Minho letting him know he was home. He heaved himself up from the bed, grabbing 2 boxes from his dresser, and snuck out of the house. He crossed the dark yards quickly, knocking on his best friend’s bedroom window before shoving it open of his own accord and climbing in. Minho lay on his bed tossing a baseball up and down. The room was lit only by the bedside lamp. Minho chuckled as he watched Kibum fall through his window onto the floor. Kibum straightened up and quietly snuck into the kitchen, grabbing a small matchbox and heading back into the bedroom. He shut the door with a quiet click and settled himself onto the floor. He pulled the smaller of the two boxes towards himself, sliding it open and and pulling out a small chocolate cake with the words “Happy Birthday” written delicately on top. He pulled a single candle out of the box as well, sticking it lightly into the cake and lighting it. He then looked up at Minho expectantly, who sighed before rolling out of his bed and crawling across the floor to sit opposite Kibum. In the dim room, the two boys sat on the bedroom floor, the older quietly singing happy birthday while the younger stared into the light of the single flame.

When Kibum was done, Minho hesitated for a moment before blowing out the candle. Kibum nodded, then pushed the other, larger box towards his friend. He opened it. Inside was a tshirt that he’d said he’d liked once while shopping with Kibum, a few heat patches for sore muscles (“That’s what you get for playing freaking rugby, loser!” Kibum had always complained as he willingly rubbed Minho’s aching shoulders.). And lastly was a picture frame. It was one that was usually marketed towards soulmates and had windows for multiple pictures. Inside it were a picture of Minho’s family, one of Kibum and Minho together, one of the Kims and Chois together, and finally a blank window. Across the top was etched the word “Forever” in pretty font.

Minho stared at the picture frame for a few minutes in silence. When he spoke, his voice sounded sad.

“How do you know?”

“I just know.” Kibum said back.

“But…”

“Look, I just know, okay? It’s someone you’ve already met. It has to be. Otherwise… you’d know.”

“Okay.”