Sometime during summer break, there were talks about the new invention in the town known as the ‘Soulmate Timer’. Apparently, the timer can predict when will you meet your soul mate or Mr. Right as some people call it; it counts down the time when you meet your soul mate and the number will reset back to zero once you already met your soul mate.

Shin Ahyeon, for one, is a firm believer in God and she believes that God has already planned out our destiny. We, as human beings just have to live this life and keep our belief that God has better plans in store when we are facing difficulties. Thus, something like predicting soul mates and stuff never really appeals to her; it seemed like they were trying to test out if they can replace God.

“Guess what? I just implanted the ‘Soulmate Timer’ yesterday!” One of the customers in the café whispered –not so quietly to her friend excitedly.

Ahyeon was cleaning up the table beside them, brushing off the crumbs of bread and fries from the table and into the wiping cloth. She sighed, looks like I need to clean this cloth before cleaning up another table. This has been her routine ever since the start of summer break; working at a café near her house.

“Ahyeon! Here you are, I need you as the cashier since Yebin needs to get off work early today. Go to the counter now; people are already queuing.” Her boss instructed.

“Unnie, just wait for a second; I’m still cleaning the table for God’s sake,” She pleaded calmly as her boss was still trying to drag her towards the counter.

Her boss, Shin Jimin is her older sister by six years who opened the café after graduating in Business Administration from one of the top universities in Seoul. It was her dream to open a coffee shop ever since she was in high school and she finally turns her dream into reality. Ahyeon always helps out at the café during summer break ever since she was in junior high since she doesn’t do anything productive at home anyway.

 “Oh, really? Just do it fast; I don’t want angry customers in my lovely café,” she instructed before she left to the kitchen.

Being the obedient little sister Ahyeon is, she finished cleaning off the table and rushed to the counter and completed her job as a cashier quite successfully; seeing that none of the customers got angry.

Before she knew it, her shift has already ended.

Ahyeon walked inside the employee room and got out of her work uniform; a simple long-sleeved white shirt and a black skirt that reached her knees. After putting her stuff inside her duffel bag, she stretched out her tired limbs and walked out of the room with light steps.

“Finally, time to go home and get some rest!”  She mumbled happily to herself.

 

******************************************************

 

    For the first time in Ahyeon’s 18 years of living, she can finally say that she loves her sister so much that she could give her the world.

“Guess what? You can have an off-day tomorrow since you rarely go out with your friends and I decided to let you live like a real teenager this one time. Spend the day with your friends, don’t just sit at home and fangirl over your boy groups or whatever.” Jimin began her long- lectures about Ahyeon and her home-loving self as she flipped through the channels at the living room that night.

It’s not that Ahyeon hates socializing, she just loves to stay at home and not go anywhere on her break. However if someone actually ask her to hang out with them, she doesn’t have any problem with it. She just loves being at home so much; she even dreamed of being a housewife once she gets older and married one day.  

“As a matter of fact, I actually have a plan with Donghyuk tomorrow so you don’t need to worry much about me being a couch potato,” she replied while handing her a bottle of mineral water that Jimin asked for a few minutes ago.

Jimin stopped opening her bottled water and turned to Ahyeon, giving her a long stare.

“What?” Confused, Ahyeon stared back at her.

“Are you and Donghyuk finally dating?” That question made Ahyeon choked on her own saliva; why did she even think of that? Hell, how did that thought even crossed her mind in the first place?  She thought quietly.

The confusion on Ahyeon’s face was really apparent, so Jimin decided to brush the topic off and continued watching the television after bidding her younger sister good night. Typical Jimin, opening a random topic and when people get confused, she shrugs it off instead of explaining, Ahyeon thought.

Since she was also too lazy to ask Jimin more about the topic, she walked to her room quietly before locking the door.

Due to their father’s job as a businessman, he travels a lot and rarely stayed at home. As for their mother, she works as a doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Seoul and just like their father, she also rarely stayed at home. Even if she had a day off, she would spend it inside the reading room and only gets out to watch television.

Just like their everyday life, there were only Ahyeon and her sister in the big apartment located at one of the richest districts in Gangnam. They feel lonely most of the time but since it has been their daily routine, it has become something so normal to them that they don’t really feel anything about it anymore. Sure, other people have parents who always spend time with their children but that fact doesn’t really bother them in any way, except when Ahyeon was still in elementary school. When there were events involving parents or even picnics, other students will bring along their parents while the one who always comes to those parent-related events was Jimin.

In a way, Jimin is more like a parent than an older sister. She is the one who prepares breakfast every single day and even prepare Ahyeon for school if she isn’t busy with her café. It has been that way since forever, that’s why the fact that they are actually lacking their parents’ care never really crossed their mind.

As Ahyeon started to fall into her little own dreamland, her phone suddenly rang. She frowned at the phone that was sitting on her bedside table begrudgingly; who could be calling her at this hour?

When she reached out for her phone and looked at the name displayed on the screen, she rolled her eyes.

“Of course, it’s him, who else would bother me at this time anyway,” she mumbled to herself before picking up the call.

“Yes, Donghyuk. Please talk quickly; I was about to go to sleep and you called me, who knows when I will be able to sleep.” She sighed while waited for Donghyuk to talk.

Kim Donghyuk is her friend since elementary. He’s literally the perfect student that your mother will compare you with; he’s handsome, never fails to top his class, the student council president, and he’s also super nice to other people and animals. She doesn’t really remember how she became friends with this flawless boy; she only remembered that they used to be in the same class during elementary school and they were inseparable ever since.

“Sorry, Yeon. I just want to ask you about what kind of clothes I should wear tomorrow.”

Ahyeon only shook her head in dismay; she has always known for a fact that Donghyuk will randomly ask her about her opinion on whatever he’s doing and just like always, she doesn’t really like it. She likes giving out her opinion on some things but not every little things. For Donghyuk to even ask her what clothes he should wear tomorrow, she felt like it was quite burdensome for her.

Like always, she gave out her answer.

“It’s up to you as long as you’re comfortable with it. I’m not the one who will wear the clothes.”

There was a long silence on the other line.

“Alright, I think I know what I want to wear tomorrow. Thanks!”

She was about to hang up the phone when he said something.

“Good night, Ahyeon. Have a good night’s sleep,” Donghyuk’s soft, honey-like voice bid her good night, just like he always does.

There was a certain quality of his voice when he bids her good night every day that lulls her to sleep; so soft, so loving. It’s like he was speaking to a lover instead of a childhood friend, which is what made Ahyeon confused at times. Like always, she just thought that it was because of his soft voice.

“Hmm, good night, Donghyuk. See you tomorrow!”

When Donghyuk ended the call with a hum, she put the phone on her bedside table before switching off the lights with the remote control on her hand. She tried closing her eyes  and wait for sleep to indulge her but she knows that it won’t be that easy.

All of a sudden, a random thought crossed her mind and made her unable to go to sleep.

Just like always.

She just hoped that she could wake up in time before Donghyuk comes to fetch her tomorrow morning.

 

**************************************************    

 

      “Ahyeon, you are not buying anything?” Donghyuk asked the much shorter girl beside him, who was looking at the books.

Due to their love for books and literature, they always made time on the weekend to go to this bookstore at the streets of Sinsadong to find books or even reading it at the café just beside the store. It sounds boring but to them, that was how they had their fun.

“Hey, I’m still searching, old man. Don’t rush me,” Ahyeon dismissed Donghyuk’s question with a wave of her hand while she was still looking through the shelf for a book that she might take an interest in.

Donghyuk only chuckled at her actions; he was used to her weird gestures after all these years being friends with her.

He only stared at her side profile while waiting for her to pick her book. It has been a decade since they had been friends and he had known all about her; how she would bite her nails every time she was nervous, how she would always take a long time in picking books because she’s really picky about the books she reads, how she never asked for help from other people when she had difficulties in doing something because she is short.

Just like now.

Ahyeon stood on her tippy toes to take one particular book that just had to be on the upper shelf, trying to reach for it even if she knew that she can’t. At times like these, she always cursed her genes; her parents are quite short so the gene was passed down to their daughters. At least Jimin always asks for other people to help her reach anything out of her limit, Ahyeon is a bit stubborn and she felt that she could reach it herself.

A familiar warmth enveloped her back and a hand easily reached the book that she wanted; she didn’t have to look to know who it was.

“Thanks, grandpa!” Ahyeon exclaimed with a cheeky smile while taking the book from his hand.

“Seriously, Yeon? You’re not gonna give up that name?”

Ahyeon gave that nickname to him when they just entered high school due to Donghyuk’s endless nagging during their first day of high school and for sure, Ahyeon wasn’t going to let go of that name anytime soon.

“Nope! Besides, it suits you and your grandpa ways,” Ahyeon cheekily answered, earning a pinch on the cheek from Donghyuk.

To outsider’s eyes, they looked too much like a couple to believe the fact that they are just childhood friends. But to them, those kind of gestures were just too much of a usual occurrence for them to even think otherwise.

“Ahyeon, is that you? Oh my God, I miss you so much!!” The overly familiar shriek that belonged to one of her friends, Jihyo attacked her ear just as she was about to head to the cashier.

After rubbing her ear in hopes of it to not get deaf, she glared at Jihyo who was now grinning widely at her. Jihyo has always been the loudest person in her group of friends and Ahyeon often wonders how did she become friends with Jihyo when she wasn’t that loud, in her opinion.

“You are really trying to make me go deaf, don’t you?” She sighed as she rubbed her ear. “What are you two doing here anyway?”

 Jihyo shrugged Ahyeon’s complain off.

“Jeongyeon wanted to search for some books, you know how much of a nerd she is.”

“Hey, I heard that!”

Jeongyeon, who was searching for books on the shelf just behind them rolled her eyes at Jihyo’s mockery; she has been too used to Jihyo’s straightforward ways by now. Usually, she would just answer Jihyo’s comment with a good comeback but she was still busy to find the book for their Literature subject.

“Jeongyeon, are you searching for Literature books? I just bought one.” Donghyuk showed her the book he just bought, which earned a reaction from the tall girl.

“Oh my God, where did you get this?! I’ve been searching like crazy!” Jeongyeon held the book in Donghyuk’s hand, their fingers brushing against each other.

Jeongyeon swore she felt like there was a slight jolt of electricity when her fingers touched his for a split second. Which was weird, considering that she didn’t have any sort of romantic feelings towards her almost-perfect classmate. Rather than nerdy boys like Donghyuk, she preferred jocks like Kim Jiwon from the basketball team who was a year older than them.

“Mine is the last copy, though...” Donghyuk dragged the last syllable in uncertainty. “But I guess I can let you borrow it sometimes until you buy one, of course.”

The taller girl jumped in joy as she beamed brightly towards Donghyuk.

“Thank you so much, Donghyuk! I’ll buy my own copy as soon as possible, I promise.” She put up her right hand for effect; doing the scout promise gesture.

Her actions earned a chuckle from Donghyuk as he walked to the cashier to pay for it. Since he didn’t really need to read it until the school opens, he figured that he might as well give the book to Jeongyeon first before she buys her own copy.

“We’re going to implant the Soulmate Timer after this, wanna join?” Jihyo asked Ahyeon with her loud voice, earning a few stares from the people inside the shop.

As always, Ahyeon felt like taping Jihyo’s loud mouth with a duct tape due to how loud her voice was. Not to mention she always talks about weird or embarrassing things whenever they were around a lot of people.

“Of course not, you know how absurd that timer thingy is. They’re just out for your money, it’s a scam.” Ahyeon rolled her eyes at Jihyo’s question as she paid for the book at the counter.

After she paid for it, she turned towards Donghyuk who had already finished paying his book and waited for her outside the shop. Just like their usual weekend routine, they would go to the cafe beside the bookstore and read the books they just purchased.

Then, Donghyuk’s phone rang.

“Hello? Ah yes, this is Kim Donghyuk.” She could see his smile turned into a frown. “Oh... Is it today? Alright then, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

After he ended the call, she stared at Donghyuk while cocking up an eyebrow in wonder. It must be a really important call for his aura to suddenly changed from bright to a darker one. Since Donghyuk never told her anything deeper about his personal life except for the fact that he was stressed being the only heir to his family’s company, Ahyeon figured that it must be about his father.

Donghyuk only looked at her with an apologetic smile.

“Looks like we can’t have our reading session today,” he said first, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

“I understand, your dad must be calling you about his work right?”

His expression froze for a split second as he averted his eyes uneasily to anywhere else except at Ahyeon who was smiling at him. After a few seconds, he composed himself and chuckled brightly at Ahyeon’s words.

“You understand me so well, Yeon.” He ruffled her hair lovingly since she was shorter than him. “I’m gonna go, don’t go home too late. I’ll be waiting for you outside the complex so message me when you’ve arrived at our complex.”

“Whatever, grandpa. I can take care of myself, especially with Jihyo around.”

 

*********************************************

 

    Ahyeon stared at the shop in front of her. The neon sign blinked brightly at her with the words ‘Soulmate Shop’ as if calling her to enter the small shop located at the end of the street. She sighed in annoyance when she realized that she was basically dragged here by Jihyo and Jeongyeon when she kept telling them that she didn’t want to follow them.

Oh well, now that I’m here, I’ll just follow them. Not like I’m going to implant it anyways, she thought as she stared at her two friends who already lined up inside the shop to implant the timer on their arms.

When she stepped inside the shop, there was a peculiar aura surrounding the shop and she felt like the aura was calling for her. As if being possessed, she slowly stepped towards the counter where a lady who looked about in early 20s was standing behind it with a welcoming smile on her face.

“Yes, miss? May I help you?” The lady spoke as Ahyeon stopped right in front of the counter, the smile was still on her face. “Do you want to implant our Soulmate Timer?”

Ahyeon blinked at her question before she nodded. There was a force that engulfed her at that exact moment and she couldn’t comprehend what it was.

The lady gave her two pieces of paper that had the shop’s terms and conditions written on it along with a pen.

“You need to read this thoroughly and sign it once you’ve finished.”

She didn’t even know what got into her as she took the pen from the lady and read throughout the whole passage about the terms and conditions for people who wanted to implant the timer in their arm. Her completely rational side of mind was telling her not to sign the agreement letter but her curiosity got the best of her.

Without any qualms, she signed the agreement letter after reading through it carefully.

“Thank you for using our service! The price is 80,550W, you will have to pay it once you get your timer done. I hope you’ll enjoy using our service, Miss Shin Ahyeon.”

Ahyeon smiled back at the lady as she stepped towards the line that was decreasing by the minute. Wait a second... how did she know my name? I don’t remember telling her anything. That thought crossed her mind for a while before she decided to shrug it off since she was too lazy to ask the lady about it.

Before she knew it, it was already her turn. She stepped inside the room hesitantly, suddenly realizing that she was about to implant the timer that she was so against about earlier.

“Welcome to our shop, Miss Shin Ahyeon.” As soon as she entered the all-white room, a woman who looked around 40-years old greeted her with a welcoming smile. “Before I put the timer on your arm, I need to explain to you how the thing works.”

The woman gestured her to sit on the white recliner beside the woman’s work desk, which she complied without any questions. Once again, she felt like she was being possessed by the peculiar aura she felt when she first entered the shop.

“So before we start, I need to tell you that there will be no harm whatsoever to anyone who implants our timer; in terms of physical or even your health.” The woman smiled. “The timer works this way; once you implant it in your arm, the clock will show you how many time you have left before you meet your soulmate. Once you meet yours, the clock will reset to zero and it will disappear over time.”

Ahyeon scoffed inside at the words; who in their right mind would believe this kind of bull?  She thought in her mind while still keeping her calm facade. Just then, she had a question that she was curious about.

“Uhm, I want to ask something.” The woman nodded, giving her permission to continue. “Let’s say if I already met my soulmate even before this timer is implanted into my arm. Wouldn’t it be pointless to implant this if the numbers will reset to zero anyway? Besides, I paid good money for this.”

The woman only let out a short laugh at her question.

“That’s actually a good question, Miss Shin. Even if you’ve met your soulmate, the timer will still proceed to count down the time when you will meet them. The fact that you already met them don’t count once you implant this because like you said, you paid good money for this. In other words, the timer will still work under any circumstances.”

“Let’s not waste time and begin, shall we?”

Ahyeon only nodded and when she felt the woman injected something into her skin, she lost consciousness almost immediately.

 

************************************************

 

      “Thank you for using our service, Miss Shin! I hope you will find your soulmate soon!” The lady at the counter greeted Ahyeon warmly after she paid for the timer.

When she woke up from her deep sleep just then, she didn’t even look once at the timer that was implanted on her right arm since she only concentrated on paying for the timer and go home. Besides, it was already 7 p.m. when she finished paying for it and she needs to go home soon before Donghyuk calls her and nag about how dangerous for a girl to go home at night and so on.

She figured that Jihyo and Jeongyeon had left since they already told her that they need to go back before 7 p.m. due to their night shift. She took a glance at her timer and it was written ‘20 days and 45 hours’.

“Oh God, did I actually implanted the timer into my arm? I really need to go to church tomorrow,” Ahyeon mumbled quietly in worry as she walked through the sea of people towards the bus stop.

She couldn’t help but feel like she had sinned since it was in her belief that God already planned for her whole life. Getting a timer that tells her when she will meet her soulmate just interfered with her destiny, in her opinion.

When she saw a bus stopping in front of the bus stop, she immediately ran towards the bus since it was the bus that will go to her apartment complex. She couldn’t afford to wait longer for another bus to come.

Once she got inside, she swiped her card for the fee and chose to sit at the back of the bus. There were so many places inside the bus due to the lack of people; a total of only four people were inside the bus including herself and the bus driver. She likes sitting at the back of the bus because of unknown reasons. Maybe it was because the air cond at the back was cooler than any side of the bus, or maybe it was because the seat was bigger.

Once she reached the back of the bus, she sat down on the seat happily since there wasn’t any single soul sitting at the back of the bus which meant peace for her. She never really likes to interact with people other than her circle of friends and family.

She never checked her timer anymore when she got on the bus, failing to realize that the timer countdown has drastically decreased from its earlier time count.

When the bus began to move, she finally decided to check her phone to see if anyone was contacting her. There were zero calls and messages so she decided to put her phone back into her pocket and stared blankly at the window.

Four stops more before this bus stops at my apartment complex, she counted in her head when the bus stopped at the next stop.

Two people got on the bus and Ahyeon recognized one of them. He was the well-known notorious gangster in her school, Kim Hanbin. The boy walked straight towards her and to her annoyance, he took a seat beside her at the back of the bus. Since she was sure that he didn’t know her, she wasn’t really afraid of him or anything.

It looked like Hanbin really didn’t know her either as he simply glanced at her once and kept his eyes on his phone.

The atmosphere was really quiet and peaceful, plus the coldness of the air cond that was piercing her skin. She then decided to take a short nap since it would be around half an hour before she reaches her destination.

Hanbin who was playing games on his phone suddenly felt something heavy on his right shoulder, making him turn to his right side. He wasn’t really shocked to find the girl sitting beside him was fast asleep on his shoulder since it wasn’t the first time he had seen her.

He only rolled his eyes at the girl’s sleepy nature and continued playing the game on his phone, ignoring the fact that she was using his shoulder as a pillow.

Noticing that next stop would be the apartment complex where the girl beside him lives in, he purposely moved his right shoulder so she could wake up.

As expected, she woke up from her nap once her head fell from his shoulder. As soon as she regained consciousness, the bus suddenly stopped in front of her apartment complex and she immediately got up from her seat; running towards the front door of the bus without even looking back.

Hanbin stared at her with a chuckle blossomed on his face; she really haven’t changed at all, he thought.

“Yeon! Do you know what time is it now? It’s almost 9! You’re lucky that I’m still here or someone would have kidnapped you—“

As soon as Ahyeon got off the bus, she was faced with the grandpa-mode Donghyuk. Even if she has gotten used to listening to his nagging, she weirdly felt too tired for it today. She wondered why. Maybe it was because of the anesthetic the woman at the 'Soulmate Timer' shop gave her earlier.

She ignored Donghyuk's endless lecture and walked into the building; she couldn't wait to take a shower and just sleep properly. It seemed like Donghyuk understood since he suddenly quieted down and followed her to the elevator.

That night after she took a shower and laid down on her bed, she decided to check her timer and shocked when she discovered what was written there.

 

00:00:00:00 

The number has reset itself back to zero.

 

---

A/N: So here's the first chapter! I'll be writing in third person POV and I'm really sorry if the chapter seemed awkward because this is the first time I ever wrote a story with an OC in a third person POV  TT_TT I hope you guys will enjoy it! ^^