when it  says "10 seconds" it's actually nicer to hear the chorus part of younha's "set me free"; it's idk more liberating and engrossing?

this is for carissassy who is too sassy to handle i can't even

prompt: if a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know? (prompt taken from tumblr)

pairing: sestal

003d 03h 48m 42s

There is enough time left before Soojung finally meets her soul mate, whose one presence can change aspects of her life—maybe everything about her. Someone who can convince her that change is good, although it is sometimes bad, but then, there are also the good things in between.

Soojung doesn’t really know what to feel.

But she drifts off to slumber with a smile on her face.

At long last.

That night, she dreams of butterflies, green trees, flowers and a shadowy face of someone amidst the stunning backdrop—though she is uncertain, there is one part of her wishing it’s him.

002d 09h 14m 37s

Two days left yet it feels like years.

Sooyeon, Soojung’s sister, plans out her little sister’s schedule for the next day—manicure and pedicure, full package treatment and almost the entire day at the spa. Sooyeon insists that Soojung gets a makeover—“Not thoroughly,” Soojung protests and opts for a little more natural—and an entire day to make her look beautiful.

Soojung thinks her sister might be more excited than her.

“It’s important for a girl to look her best,” Sooyeon explains, nodding her head knowingly, “on the day she meets her man.”

“It’s not like you’re giving me away-” Soojung means to be a tease, but when she notices the sudden look of distraught mixed with a tad of realization on Sooyeon’s face, she quickly adds “-are you?”

Sooyeon runs out of the room in tears.

It is only later when Soojung questions why her sister was crying, her face completely stoic.

001d 05h 22m 46s

No one can really figure out what’s going on inside Soojung’s head, or her exact emotions about the entire soul mate thing.

This morning, she woke up casually and prepared for her bath. Her breakfast consisted of lemon-blueberry pancakes and a glass of milk, and she was really quiet the entire time, which surprised the living daylights of her sister, because, usually, Soojung is grumpy and whiny and depressing on mornings.

“You don’t look depressed now though,” Sooyeon asks because she is curious.

And then there’s Soojung, who’s not really depressed but just depressed—“Oh yeah sorry I didn’t bring my literal dark cloud with me today.”

They both arrive at the spa for Soojung’s treatment, and she welcomes it with discreetly open arms and hesitant approach, but in the end, she goes for it.

Sooyeon busies herself in Cosmo magazines in the shelves and some under the table, and then, when she has read every single thing to be read in the place—except for novels, no, not the deep words and stuff; only here for the tips and makeup advices—she talks to the people present.

Almost five hours later, Soojung emerges looking fresh and pretty and simple.

She hears her sister, who doesn’t notice that she’s finished with the treatment, talking to someone—more like rambling, but does it really matter—that, “I can’t believe my baby sister is finally growing up. Can you believe it’s been like, I don’t know, forever since I saw her wearing these crazy clothes with crazy abstract designs on them and she shows her navel and her legs and walks down the streets silently screaming “I’m the type you’d like to and cuddle and love, but if you mess with me, I will vomit my breakfast on your face” and I-” she pauses dramatically, patting her chest “-she’s really grown up now!”

Sooyeon doesn’t stop for the next nine minutes and forty-three seconds though.

“Shut up, Jessica,” she blurts out exasperatedly, “or I will really vomit your pancakes on you.”

000d 01h 13m 57s

Soojung can’t breathe.

Maybe she can, but it’s short and quick, because it’s only a matter of time before she finally meets that one person who can make her breathless yet reminds her to breathe a little.

14m 39s

Of course, they have to meet somewhere crowded and unpleasant in her sight, and as her eyes wander around, faces of unknown strangers return her glances kindly—opposite to what she gives them. Soojung has quite the temper, feisty even, and sometimes, she shuts herself from the rest of the world.

Make it most of the time.

But she thinks, that one night when she finally drifts off to sleep with a smile on her face, assured, safe, that maybe a soul mate can change her life. Maybe she can smile more, laugh more and actually exist more.

06m 13s

Soojung sits down for a while. Her mind is blank.

04m 58s

She thinks of how he might look like.

Does she know him? Has she met him in school? Or bump into him across the road? Or maybe, hopefully, she’s walked past him or fell in line behind or ahead of him while waiting for their turn at the coffee shop?

Importantly—will she actually like him?

02m 08s

Good thoughts, good thoughts.

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

01m 59s

Oh, God, this is it.

01m 42s

Her legs are shaking. Her hands are trembling.

She begins to think that maybe she can’t do this, after all.

01m 31s

One more time, she takes one last sweep across the disgusting, jam-packed cafeteria—or diner, it doesn’t really matter right now—and she thinks yep, the Meeting definitely takes place here.

00m 59s

Soojung thinks someone somewhere between these four walls and amongst the sea of people with me has the exact countdown on their wrists. They’re going through the same pressure as she is.

But if not, well, he’ll be damned.

00m 47s

Sooyeon has reminded Soojung not to be nervous or scared, but be pleasant—“and polite,” as Sooyeon will say—but Soojung still finds herself sweating and biting her lips as seconds pass by.

She wipes her sweat against the fabric of her dress.

Jung Soojung is wearing a dress, when she is supposed to wear these cropped tanks and ragged skirts that accentuate her body and express who she is—but no, she’s wearing a dress.

00m 32s

Butterflies. Butterflies in her stomach.

Something inside her tells her she should stand up, or maybe it’s just a feeling, but she still does, drawing attention from the public. They all know, too. They offer her encouraging smiles.

Soojung bites her lip anxiously.

00m 23s

The same feeling, the same gut, ushers her towards the center of the room. Her stomach churns violently at each step she takes.

00m 18s

Deep breaths.

She continues, but with each step this time, her heart beats a little faster, and faster, and faster.

00m 16s

Oh, . Okay. I’ve been horrible, but please make this work.

00m 13s

I’m still a . Please make this work.

This is it. This is the point where her life makes a dramatic turn to nowhere and for forever.

Her eyes search recklessly around the cafeteria, desperate to find someone who’s as nervous and hysterical as her. For someone who’s heading to an ambiguous future with no sense of control like her.

00m 10s

The same instinct leads her slightly to the right. She turns.

00m 05s

Her heart has absolutely given up.

00m 04s

She stops walking.

00m 03s

She waits at the right.

00m 02s

Everything will change. It will.

00m 01s

Deepest breath.

000d 00h 00m 00s

Someone taps her on the shoulder. She wheels around, and that feeling of finality kicks in, and her brown eyes meet darker, more beautiful ones.

“Hi, it appears as though you’re my soul mate. My name is Sehun. Oh Sehun. What’s yours, pretty?”

Words fail her but it doesn’t stop her—

“Soojung,” she replies, “Jung Soojung, and I’m glad I shaved yesterday.”