“Little islands are all large prisons; one cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow.” 

Unrestrained, the sea is no prison but the islands are. It empties her void with longing, fills her heart with thrills, scorches her skin with a cerulean tone of kisses.

Having the page delicately dog-eared, Park Chaeyoung closes the book and places it on her jean-clad thighs. She arrives early as she always does. Because she loves the tranquility, not the rush. 

It is awfully quiet for a waiting area of a studio. She thought there might be some humming or melodies flowing around or whatnot. But it could be because they are still setting up.

Instinctively, she checks her wristwatch but her eyes land at the wrong display of time— “00:15:12:08:03” on her right inner wrist.

So now only 15 days left!?

With a draw of sharp breath, she blinks and stares. It has been a long time since she had it checked. 

It has dropped. 

For at least 10 years!? 

The countdown is closer. 

Chaeyoung can’t help but think maybe, this time, she has reached the right piece of land.

“I’m so sorry!” 

She looks up and sees students crowding the room without her knowing. A petite girl bows and apologizes with her bright voice after brushing shoulders with a staff member at the entrance, where he waves it off kindly and ushers her to the right place.

Chaeyoung didn’t get a good look at the girl’s face but her sensitive ears tell her that there’s something familiar in the tone of her voice. 

Perhaps, she’s just like her? A wanderer across seas and lands?

Out of the blue, she can feel her heart thumping and pounding within her ribcages. There is just no reason for her to feel this nervous and nauseous…… But what if, there’s actually a reason?

What if, she is now close enough to feel it?

And so, Park Chaeyoung’s brain goes blank.

-

“Oh .” 

Jisoo mumbles as her ordeal is coming.

“Stop swearing, unnie.” Jennie scrunches her nose at the bad choice of words from her best friend. “My ears are too precious for that.”

“Screw you!” Frustrated, the older girl pulls the hair on the side of her head. “I’m so going to embarrass myself in front of everyone. What should I do? I will just-”

“Hey.” The velvety voice cuts her off as a shadow touches Jisoo’s feet. “You’re Kim Jisoo, right?”

Her body jerks when her name is called, “Ye-yes?”

“Name’s Irene, Bae Joohyun.” The girl’s smile is almost unnoticeable. “My friend Seulgi has a high expectation of you. I’m looking forward to your performance later.”

Jisoo’s eyes almost tricked her into thinking that she is looking at a mirror. But the vast difference of the expression on their faces told her otherwise. For Irene, much living up to the name meaning “the goddess of peace”, always looks pleasantly calm while Jisoo herself is a human reincarnation of Psyduck.

Not waiting for the human Psyduck to give a proper response, the president of the dance club walks away to join her fellow members at the table, getting ready to start their annual tryout.

“She probably thinks you’re stupid.” Jennie nonchalantly blurs out glancing around the room filled with passionate dancers. 

“Duh. Don’t everyone?” Jisoo rolls her eyes and hugs her knees.

“You should consider yourself lucky with that pretty face.”

“Did you just call me pretty?”

“That’s not the point, Kim Jisoo.”

“But you think I’m pretty, right?”

“Shut up.”

“Right? Right? Tell me! Am I pretty?”

-

Kim Doyeon the giant halts her step at the door, making Yoojung stumble and bump on her back. 

“What is it, Doyeon-ah?” The adorable shortie rubs her forehead after the impact.

“I……” She parts her lips but she can’t find the right words.

“Are you sick?” Yoojung furrows her eyebrows and wiggles around Doyeon to see if she’s hurt or unwell. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, really.”

“No, it’s just…… I ate too much at lunch.” Doyeon tries to regain her cool composure because she can’t tell her friend that she is hearing voices…… A strange voice to be exact, and words that she doesn’t seem to comprehend. Has she gone crazy out of a sudden?

“Really? You sure?” 

“Yeah. Hehe.” 

Yoojung is relieved seeing that signature silly smile. “So, shall we go in now?”

“Sure!” Doyeon doesn’t want to burden and distract Yoojung. She just wants her best friend to live up to her dream as a dancer, a great dancer.

Once Yoojung pushes the door open, the voice comes back and Doyeon has to use all her might not to scream her brain out.

-

“So you’re from China?” A cheerful girl sits beside a timid Kyulkyung and decides to start off friendly conservation to ease off the tense in the room. 

“Hm.” She nods in a heartbeat for she is trying to chase her thoughts away through this little talk. “I just got off the plane last week.” 

For some reason, she has that extremely-upbeat cheerleading music looping in her head ever since lunchtime today. Has she even heard of that song before?

And now, under such condition, she has to pass her dance tryout without messing up.

“But your Korean is so good!” The girl exclaims with wide eyes.

“Not really…….” Kyulkyung casts her eyes down since people around them start gawking at them. “Took some lessons before I came.”

“But still!” The girl, however, remains as excited as she has been. “Ah, anyway I’m Jung Eunwoo. And at least you have spoken more Korean words than that stupid Kyungwon over there in the same span of time.” 

Following her new friend’s gaze, Kyulkyung spots the slender girl named Kyungwon sitting a few feet away, just next to the entrance. The short-haired beauty looks like she doesn’t want to be here in the first place. 

“She’s late.” Eunwoo continues with her comedic hand gestures. “We literally had to beg her to come with us. We thought it’d be a good idea to drag her away from her dog and her piano. You know what? I’m actually happy that she did come after her music audition. Oh, and where's Sungyeon? Yewon, do you have any idea?”

Yewon, whose cute cheeks and smiley eyes stand out from a room of anxious faces, is trying to hold her blush while nodding. Kyulkyung finds it funny to see her being surrounded by a bunch of tall girls who are supposedly all Eunwoo’s friends.

Eunwoo leans in and whispers, “We all used to think she had a crush on Kyungwon but apparently we're dead wrong.”

But it somehow triggers the girl with the eyes of a fox sitting behind them, “Stop bullying our baby!”

“Ouch.” Whines Eunwoo as an expressionless girl lands a solid smack on her head with her long arm.

“Don’t you just love my friends?” Eunwoo flashes an annoyingly cute grin. 

Still, it calms Kyulkyung with her thoughts in a way.

-

Strangely, so strangely, Park Chaeyoung finishes her song perfectly and she is officially a member of the team after the ritual of being squished in the captain Eunji’s motherly embrace. 

How did she do it? What did she do actually? She cannot recall a single detail but she did it anyway. 

Packing her stuff and grabbing her guitar bag, she hurries to meet up with an old friend whom she hasn’t seen in ages.

She has 15 days. And she needs Lisa to tell her what to do.

Just when Chaeyoung exits the building, the same bright voice echoes through the corridor. 

“WHERE’S MY BABY!?”

Yongsun rushes out of the room and sees their new addition to the team staring at a guitar bag with horrified eyes, “Is everything…. Are you okay?”

“I-I think someone took my guitar bag thinking it’s theirs.” Seungwan pouts and regrets how she just happened not to bring her baby along with her when Yongsun asked her to sing another song.

The vice-captain’s heartbeat drops back to a normal rate after knowing it’s not a real baby gone missing, “Hm, maybe we can help to find that person? You know, there aren’t a lot of students who brought their guitars here today.”

“It is very nice of you!” Seungwan thanks her with gratefully puppy eyes. “I’ll make sure to bake you guys some muffins next time!”

“Woah!” Yongsun claps in excitement. “You bake too?”

Eunji peeps her head out, “Yo! Who bakes?”

“Wendy! And she needs our help to get her guitar back! Someone took hers by mistake.” 

“Well, let me think…… I think it’s Rosé. She left in a hurry just a few minutes ago.”

“Do you know where to find her?” Wendy clasps her hands at her chest hoping Eunji could end her misery.

“It’s your lucky day, kid.” The captain laughs. “She asked me where the school's cafeteria is before dashing away.”

Yet Yongsun frowns again seeing the fluffy newbie not blasting their eardrums out with her powerful vocal, “Wendy-ah? You’re not going to get your baby back?”

She doesn’t notice Wendy’s ears heating up in a blink of an eye and how she keeps rubbing her palms like a shy little animal. “Ugh, yeah. I’ll go now. Thanks, unnies.”

Wendy feels like she’s going to explode. 

She can’t take it when erted thoughts just randomly slip into her mind. She can’t take it when meaningless words appear on her palm like a bad tattoo you had after a bad night of drinking. 

She can’t take it when these things all lead to one thing. 

She is not ready.

“She reminds me of a hamster.” Yongsun mutters when Eunji joins her at the door.

“So does another new girl.”

-

“I thought your nose would have bled.” Seulgi smirks as a girl finishes her y Beyoncé routine with a seducing wink. The whole room cheers and roars in such unison.

Pulling a straight face, Irene puts down her marker pen and groans, “I’m not a ert.”

“But you clearly like what you saw.” The bear is not letting that go easily.

“I said I’m not aroused.” The captain huffs and scribbles something down on her palm. “But we’ll keep her I guess. The vibe is strong in this one.”

“So is it her or her legs?”

“Stop it this instant, Kang Seulgi.” 

“Let me guess, ? It has been your favorite of all time-”

“Next!”

Hearing Bae Joohyun’s call, another girl makes her way to the middle of the studio and introduces herself.

But when Seulgi glances at their leader’s face amid the booming music, she sees her being alarmed like a rabbit watching its carrot being taken away.

The bear is confused - that girl is not doing particularly good or bad. Why does Irene look so……. Wait, she isn’t even watching her.

So what’s wrong with the bunny? 

The audience too finds it boring and Doyeon is losing her mind at the corner with an oblivious Yoojung. 

The voice in the giant’s head is getting louder but she can’t risk having anyone to notice, she can’t risk being locked up in an asylum after fighting her way into this awesome school. 

She grabs a handful of the fabric of her shirt and prays for it to go away. She hears another round of clapping and cheering but the voice remains, clear as ever. She closes her eyes but she can still see, the room she’s in right now.

“Kim Doyeon!” “Doyeon-ah, you have to look at this!”

She complies to Yoojung’s desperate call and the first thing comes to her own eyes is Yoojung gaping at her hand like she has just seen a ghost.

“Doyeon, it’s happening……” She hushes and reaches for Doyeon’s wrist. “It’s real.” 

For the first time, those numbers mark Doyeon’s skin.

“00:00:00:00:04:15”

Not everyone has that timer. 

But not everyone needs it. 

Yoojung has one but Doyeon didn’t in the past 16 years of her life.

And it makes Yoojung a tad bit jealous because hers says 7 years after days and nights of countdown but Doyeon’s says 4 minutes right away.

“Wait!”

Perhaps it’s too overwhelming or Doyeon has finally lost her mind as she bolts out of the room. 

Choi Yoojung thought of catching up with her but she has an audition to pass first. 

Maybe Kim Doyeon’s soulmate is in this room. 

Maybe she can find her best friend’s soulmate if she looks close enough.

-

Holding an armful of grocery and having a stuffed backpack, Kim Yerim hastens through the ward and stops in front of an ajar door.

“Hey, it’s me!”

“Come in!” 

Saeron welcomes her a smile and watches her fumble with her bags, “You don’t have to get me so many things, Rim-ah.”

“You’ll get bored here,” Yerim proudly hands the pale girl’s an iPad with a Hello Kitty sticker. “And, I heard the food here are tasteless. So I got you all covered. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

“It feels like I’m stuck here.”

“Shush! Don’t say that. I just want you to get as comfortable as you could.”

Saeron purses her lips for a while as Yerim is still busy arranging the stuff she brought. 

She keeps looking and looking. It almost felt like a dream.

To be taken care of, to be pampered, to be treasured…… and, to be loved.

It doesn’t take long for Yerim to meet that longing gaze. 

Yes, she is damn tired from school today but Saeron needs her.

There are so many things left to do, together.

So she reaches out to take her hand in hers. 

It feels safe, it feels like returning to where they belong.

Like when the waves finally reach the shore.

They both smile at the timers on their wrists.

“00:00:00:00:00:00” 

So, here is Chapter I.

Just so you know, this is set sometime before the Prologue - and let say a couple weeks?

Since Yeri in the Prologue actually means the three main pairings aka pairs of soulmates have all met at the same day.

And how "soulmates" work in this universe would be quite interesting (hopefully) and here are just some of them :)

Also, more side-pairings will be delivered!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hope you enjoy this 1st chapter of my soulmate-au.

As always, see you on the flipped side~

xo