Title: Soulmates

Characters: Kim Joonmyun, Park Chorong, Wu Yifan and others

Pairings: Suho x Chorong {surong}, slight Kris x Chorong {krisrong} and mentions of other couples

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Alternate Universe

(Author's note: Loosely based on the movie 'Timer')

Park Chorong gets her timer installed the day she turns 14. Her parents thought it was a good present for her birthday and she can't be happier. The whole ride to the nearest Timer Office goes by with her parents telling her stories about how they met each other. She can't help but get even more excited about that. Her parents are soulmates and she'll someday meet hers too. She will meet her soulmate when her timer stops counting down.

She frowns when she finally wakes up and sees her timer neatly installed on her right wrist. It is blank and she can't understand why. She is young, but she knows her timer is supposed to be counting down. 

The nurse that installed the timer on her wrist, smiles upon seeing her confusion and explains that it is blank because her soulmate hadn't gotten his yet. She explains that her timer will start counting down the moment her soulmate get his installed and she sighs in relief. She had dreamt of meeting her soulmate since she was 6, so the idea of not having one would have been unbearable.

Chorong is 16 when her timer finally starts counting down. Her heart suddenly skips a beat as she looks at it and it starts ticking.

 8 years 2 months 14 days 3 hours 35 minutes 10 seconds

That's how much she has to wait to finally meet him. Now that her timer has finally started counting down, she doesn't know is she'll be able to wait for so long.

****

Kim Joonmyun is 16 when he gets his timer installed on his left wrist. He barely even feels it because he was unconscious the whole time. When he wakes up, he finally sees it. His timer is counting down to the moment he will finally meets his soulmate and the idea of it makes his heart warm. He may be only 16, but he has heard endless stories about soulmates since he was little. His parents are soulmates after all.

He smiles a little. He will meet his soulmate in exactly 8 years 14 days 3 hours 35 minutes 10 seconds. 

He'll meet his soulmate at 24 and right now, it seems very far away. So he just waits excitedly and hopes that his soulmate, wherever she is, is as excited as he is to meet him. And somehow, the ticking of his timer makes him feel calm inside.

****

Joonmyun's little sister Namjoo gets her timer when she is 16 and Joonmyun is 20. She gets completely excited to know that she'll meet her soulmate when she is 18. Just two more years.

2 years 4 months 17 days 8 hours 3 minutes 16 seconds exactly.

But it is a lot less than what he had to wait. Joonmyun can't help but feel slightly jealous of his sister. Jealous about the fact that she will only have to wait two years and he had to wait eight and jealous about the fact that she'll meet her soulmate before he meet his. He is happy for her nonetheless.

Namjoo meets her soulmate in her senior year. His name is Han Sanghyuk and Namjoo explains that she didn't even need to look at her timer go off to know he was her soulmate. She just knew the moment she laid her eyes on him. It was sort of magical.

Joonmyun finds it hard to believe. He guesses he'll just have to wait until he meets his to see if it is really like that.

****

Chorong meets Wu Yifan at the age of 21. They meet at college and they become friends easily, despite the fact that he seems a little cold. He is nice and handsome and they get along very well, so she is a little disappointed about the fact that he is not her soulmate. Anyone who would look at them would get confused and think that they are soulmates, when indeed, they aren't.

She has heard stories about people ending up with people that are not their soulmates. People who fall in love with someone else before meeting them and getting their timers removed so that they never meet their soulmates. But she has also heard stories about people being with someone that aren't their soulmates only to leave them when they finally meet them. Chorong can't imagine that happening to her, but she can't help the feelings she is developing for him either.

Anyway, even though, Chorong has actually considered the idea of getting her timer removed a couple of times, Yifan's actually about to meet his soulmate in less than a year. She is a little bit disappointed, but yet, happy for him. She knows he is excited to meet his soulmate and she is not selfish, so she lets him be. She knows deep down that the moment she meets her soulmate, all romantic feelings for Yifan would be gone.

In exactly 6 months 7 days 12 hours 40 minutes 32 seconds Yifan meets his soulmate. She is a beautiful girl named Im Jinah and Chorong wonders why she never noticed her in campus before.

The moment Yifan and Jinah bump into each other and their eyes meet for the first time, it is as if no one else exists. Chorong notices the way they look at each other as if the other one was the most precious thing in the world and Chorong wonders why she ever considered getting her timer removed. It is the most beautiful sight she has ever seen.

That makes her even more excited about meeting him and she somehow finds comfort in the ticking on her timer. She knows that somewhere out there, there is someone who is perfect for her.

****

Joonmyun is 22 and his timer is still counting down. 2 years 5 months 6 days 25 minutes 17 seconds left. He has seen many of his friends meeting their soulmates before him and he can't help but get a little bit envious. His friend Oh Sehun met his soulmate, a girl named Jung Soojung, at the age of 17. His other friend, Kim Jongdae, meets his soulmate, Yoon Bomi, at the age of 20. 

He watches as everyone around him slowly meets their soulmates and it is as if they finally meet the missing part of them. When their eyes meet, it is as if everything disappears around them. It is beautiful and magical.

Joonmyunn only sighs and longs for the moment he will his soulmate. He can only wait. How he wishes time will go faster.

Joonmyun is also 22 when he has an accident. He falls off his bike when he gets hit by a car one afternoon, on his way home. His left arm gets severely injured and he has to undergo surgery. 

His timer was marking exactly 2 years 0 months 2 days 18 days 12 minutes 49 seconds when he gets his timer removed. 

Joonmyun knows it is inevitable but he can't help but cry, knowing that he might never meet his soulmate. He can only cry because his soulmate will think he purposely got his timer removed and he will never be able to explain what happened to her because he will never know when he sees her. Now, he doesn't even have the ticking of his timer to comfort him, only an ugly scar on his arm that reminds him of his loss chance.

****

Chorong is 22 when it happens. That day isn't particularly different from any other days, but she almost stops breathing the moment her timer stops ticking and it goes blank again, exactly as it was when she first got it. 

She is confused and terrified at the same time. She doesn't know what to think. What had happened? Why has her timer suddenly gone blank? She just hopes it is because it is damaged and not because something happened to her soulmate. She has heard that when your soulmate dies, your timer goes red, so at least, she is relieved to find out that it is blank and not red. However, she still can't help but feel uneasy.

She goes to the Timer Office to get it fixed. However, she is told that her timer is working perfectly fine and it is not damaged. When she asks why it went blank then, she is told that her soulmate probably got his timer removed.

Chorong's heart breaks a little and she can't help the disappointment and the sadness that she gets knowing that she might never meet her soulmate. Now she knows what her soulmate would have felt if she had gotten her timer removed. She is sad and heartbroken, but she decides to keep her timer anyway. That night, she cries because her soulmate probably didn't want to meet her and she'll probably never know even if she sees him.

****

Joonmyun is now 24 and he still hasn't gotten over the fact that he had to get his timer removed. He sighs thinking that somewhere around this year, he was supposed to meet his soulmate. Now he will never know. Maybe he has already seen her and he had missed her because he didn't have his timer with him anymore. 

He wonders what might have happened to his soulmate's timer the moment his was removed. Did it stop counting down? Did it went red? Did it went blank? He doesn't know, but he is more concerned about what she might have thought. Did she think he got his timer removed on purpose? Did she got hers removed as well? Somehow, he can't help but ask himself all these questions, but he knows he'll probably never be able to answer them.

He also wonders if it is possible to have another soulmate. Maybe her timer could have re-started and started counting down to the moment she meets another soulmate. Is it even possible to have another soulmate? He doens't know, but the idea doesn't comfort him.

****

Chorong stares at her blank timer and wonders how much time she would have left if it was still counting down. She is already 24 so she guesses it would probably only be months or even only a few days. Maybe she had already met him, but never realized it because her timer is just blank. She sighs.

She can't help but think that it would have been a better idea to get her timer removed as soon as it went blank. That way she wouldn't have to live with the weight of the idea of not meeting her soulmate ever. She still considers doing it, but something inside of her tells not to do it. In the end she decides to keep it.

That day, an invitation arrives to her house. Her best friend, Bae Joohyun, is getting married to her soulmate. Joohyun met her soulmate at the age of 20, now she is 24 like Chorong. Chorong doesn't know the guy, but she has heard from her best friend that he is a great guy.  She is happy for her, but she can't help the little biterness she feels knowing she might never be able to meet her soulmate.

Chorong considers not going, but she can't do that to her best friend.

The reception is so beautiful and Joohyun is so happy , she regrets ever considering not going. All her friends are there. Yifan and Jinah are there as well, happier than ever and it once again reminds Chorong of her soulmate. After those two got together, Chorong eventually got over him because all she could think about was her soulmate, even if she didn't know him at the time. She is happy for them, but still feels bitter about her own story. 

She decides to forget about those thoughts when her best friend calls her.

****

Joonmyun doesn't expect it happen. Truth to be told, he already gave up all hope. 

He is at Yixing's wedding when it happens. He needed a lot of convicing to go, but he knew that despite the sadness, he couldn't miss his best friend's wedding. He doesn't know the bride, but he has heard wonderful stories from him. He is sincerely happy for his best friend.

Joonmyun is standing there alone, when he hears Yixing calling him. He is there talking with his now wife and he sees her calling someone as well. Joonmyun walks towards them and smiles. 

"Joonmyun, meet my wife Bae Joohyun" Yixing says happily "Joohyun, this is my best friend Kim Joonmyun"

"Nice to meet you, Joohyun" Joonmyun says politely "All I hear from him are wonderful stories about you"

Joohyun smiles and blushes and then a fourth person walks towards them.

"Oh here you are" she tells the other person "Chorong, meet my husband, Zhang Yixing, and his best friend Kim Joonmyun"

And then it happens. When Joonmyun locks eyes with Joohyun's best friend, it is as if time stops. Her eyes widens in surprise and her heart suddenly skips a beats. He suddenly remembers Namjoo's words. He remembers her telling him that she didn't need to look at her timer to know that the person in front of her was her soulmate. And that's what he feels. He feels as if he had finally found something that was missing and his heart feels calm and warm. 

He had heard many stories about what one feels when they meet their soulmates, but what he is feeling in that moment, cannot be compared to anything he could have imagine. It is truly beautiful and magical.

Chorong doesn't know how to explain what she is feeling right now. She expected butterflies and fireworks, but what she feels inside her heart can't be compared to that. She feels calm and she feels as if there is a sudden force keeping her feet on the ground, she feels complete. She knows nothing can be compared to what she is feeling in that moment.

She doesn't need someone to tell her he is her soulmate, she feels it deep inside and she had been waiting for so long, she doesn't know if this is even real.

Joohyun and Yixing are long gone and those two are left alone. Chorong's timer suddenly makes a beeping sound and it lights up. They both look at it surprised. It is now green and it marks  0 years 0 months 0 days 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds.  And if any of them needed validation, that was the prove they needed that they had finally found each other.

For years, she rehearsed what she would say to her soulmate once she met him, but now all words were gone from her brain and . The only thing she manages to say comes out of as an accusation.

"Why did you get your timer removed?" she finally speaks and takes him by surprise. She sounds sad and Joonmyun thanks the heavens for being able to explain what happened to her. To be finally able to meet his soulmate.

"I didn't do it because I wanted to" he explains "I got into an accident two years ago and had to have it removed because of a surgery"

Joonmyun shows her the scar of his left arm and Chorong is surprised. She suddenly feels bad for thinking he did it on purpose. Now she understands and is thankful to now he wanted to meet her as much as she wanted to meet him.

"For so long, I've wanted to meet you" he says. They lock eyes once again and it is as if time has stopped again. "I'm so happy to be finally see you"

"Me too" she says and smiles, the brigther smile he had ever seen.

Joonmyun asks her to dance with him, and as she takes his hand gently, it is as if everything around them disappears and it's only the two of them. Now they know that with or without a timer, they would have met. Because destiny has its own ways for things to happen and if two people are meant to be together, they would find their way to each other eventually.  And they are thankful, because being able to meet their soulmates can't be described in words.