I had been dreading this day for a very long time. I knew when I awoke that something was different, something drastic had changed. I was no longer alone anymore. There was another presence within my space that didn’t belong there. It was an intruder in my sanctuary and I wanted them gone. I knew however that no amount of wanting could make this presence go away. They were my “perfect match” and no matter how hard I resisted, they would always have a connection to my soul and therefore would never be able to leave my mind fully. I had been practicing just for this day though. I knew how to keep a mental block around my mind. My thoughts are my own and I do not believe in this “soulmate” crap. No one is allowed to know my innermost thoughts unless I tell them myself.

Thankfully whoever my match is, is decent enough to respect that I don’t want them prying in to my head. If they really wanted and tried they could most likely tear down my barriers. A person’s soul is only willing to fight for so long. So even if my mind still resisted, if they pushed hard and long enough then my soul would begin to make my barriers crumble just to connect to its’ partner. I hate this world and its ridiculous rules and how it tries to play match maker. I could also take some relief in knowing that whoever was in my head was far away. I didn’t know where in the world they were but at least this stupid bond was convenient enough for me to find out where I shouldn’t go. I didn’t want to pry into their mind though less I make them aware of me and accidently open myself up enough for them to find out where I am.

I went about my day as normal as possible. I was in the middle of getting lunch at my college’s cafeteria with my best friend, Trish, when she suddenly grabbed my hand from across the table and started staring at my palm. “Why do you have scribbles on your hand?” She asked warily. Confused, I turned my hand towards me to find the subject of her question. I rolled my eyes and inwardly groaned. There on my hand was writing. Not mine however. Written in messy script was the phrase Hello, but here's the kicker, it was written in another language. Chinese, my mind supplied me out of nowhere and I sighed, instant translator thy name is soulmate bond. If one didn’t use the mental link then the bond created other ways for pairs to communicate. If he thought a message towards me it would appear on a noticeable place on my body and disappear only after I looked at it.

“Looks like a message from soulmate.” I said, using air quotes and sarcasm to further emphasize my disbelief in the concept. Trish’s expression went from wary to excited in the span of .0001 seconds. Of course, she was thrilled by this. Trish absolutely loved that our souls have been paired with another’s since birth and that someone was guaranteed and destined to fall in love with us. I gave her a no-nonsense look when she started bouncing in her seat. “You know I don’t care about any of that romantic soulmate crap, right?”

  Trish gave an overdramatic gasp, as if I’d just said I shot her new puppy, before rolling her eyes and giving me a pointed look. “I know you don’t care but wait until you meet your soulmate. Then you’ll be singing a different tune because it’ll be like they complete you and everything will be all rainbows and unicorns.”

“Stop right there T. First. How dare you sully the magnificent Unicorn with your soulmate hogwash. Second, nothing is ever that simple that you will be completed once you meet your soulmate and blah blah blah.”

                It has been months since I’ve thought about my soulmate bond and I was surprised when I felt more of a presence in my mind than normal. Things had been quiet and my soulmate had been respecting my space. I wasn’t sure what changed but I cannot let my barrier fall. I quickly got out my headphones and started blasting my current favorite song, Monster by EXO. I recently discovered that out of all the groups I was looking in to that they were the most musically and visually pleasing to me. I’ve also been reading up on how to block mental bonds without thinking of the other person and my research showed me that reading or listening to music can help fortify a mental barrier. I sang yelled the lyrics to Monster in my head as loud as I could. I felt the presence become more prominent for a split second before fading back again. I was confused at first but decided to not worry about it.

                It was winter and I was finishing up my semester of classes and preparing for final exams. Because I was always in and out of buildings, I didn’t realize until I was home for the night that I had a message scrawled on my arm in that messy script again. You listen to EXO? Their music is great 😊 I stood in shock as I read and reread his message. Biting my lip, I groaned in frustration. I didn’t want to talk to my pair but I love being able to talk to others about EXO since there aren’t many fans at my university. The need to answer overpowered my desire to keep myself blocked off. Yea… How do you know about EXO? I began to regret my decision when I felt a strong feeling of surprise and excitement flow through our bond. I knew that by talking back I would put a chink in my barrier but I didn’t expect to feel my pair’s emotions so strongly already. It wasn’t long before a new message graced my presence. They are really popular where I am. What about you, how’d you discover them? I was listening to different Kpop groups on Pandora and liked what I heard from them. I looked up their albums and the rest is history. You’re so lucky Kpop is popular around you. It gets no recognition where I am. What am I doing? Why did I say so much? Stupid, stupid. Yea, it would be weird if it wasn’t popular, since I live in South Korea currently. No wonder the bond always felt so faint. I laughed at my luck. This was perfect! There was absolutely no way I could ever meet my soul mate when we live on different continents. So, you live in America? I was preparing dinner when that message came though and froze. , I let my guard down too much. He got inside my head. , I knew it was a guy. I instantly put my walls back up and felt him recoil from my mind sadly. Don’t ever get into my head again! You may be my soul’s “other half” but you do not disrespect my privacy! I don’t know you and you most certainly don’t know me. I may have to live with your presence forever but don’t mistake that as acceptance. I hate soul mates. I didn’t find any new messages that night.

                As I got ready the next day, there it was in that damn handwriting again. I’m sorry. I won’t ever do that again. I did not realize that you were so opposed to soul mates. I do appreciate you telling me. How about we just try to be friends? We don’t even have to tell each other our real names. You can call me Xing. I kind of felt bad. I yelled at him and kicked him out of my head and he still wanted to be friends? , my damn conscious . I sighed in defeat. You can call me Neko.