Kim Mingyu was halfway through his first year of school when he first asked his parents about the numbers on his wrist. It was through school that he learned what numbers were in the first place, how each had a value. It was then when he became conscious of the fact that numbers were always there, imprinted on his wrist, and they were always counting down to something. It wasn’t until he knew of numbers that he found enough interest in the symbols on his wrist to ask his parents what they meant. What was especially intriguing was that both of his parents had stagnant numbers, both at zero. Becoming conscious of the difference between Mingyu’s wrist compared to his parents, he decided to ask. That was when he discovered the concepts of soulmates. In other words, that was when he discovered that somewhere in the world, there was a person destined to be with him… but based on the numbers on his wrist, he wouldn’t meet him for another decade and some. Though patience wasn’t really his thing, Mingyu decided it would be worth the wait. His soulmate was there somewhere, and that was really all Mingyu needed to quell his impatience.

At some point in time when Mingyu was in high school, he decided that waiting for one person was an awful idea, especially if you had no idea what they were going to be like. He began thinking all kinds of things about the world full of people and their soulmates. How exactly did destiny decide who, out of the billions of people who roamed the earth, was the one person for you? How realistic was it that everyone had a soulmate that they would meet in their lifespan? How is it possible that everyone would just happen to run into their soulmate, their one destined person, out of billions of people, in the hugely vast Earth? It was just too convenient to be calculated.

Maybe destiny was random. Maybe destiny didn’t know how to be a good matchmaker. Maybe destiny picked a random encounter of two strangers and locked them by the timers on their wrists and called it fate. Either way, Mingyu decided to take fate into his own hands by going on dates. That way he would be able to judge for himself how well he got along with someone. He soon realized, however, that fate had more power than he, as the few people he managed to date were only using him as a way to kill time. People trusted the timers on their wrists with their every being, but many of them wanted to simply gain dating experience. The one person who shared the same idea as Mingyu, the idea that they as people could make better choices for their partners than someone predetermined, had found her soulmate after her second date with Mingyu. When she did, she was convinced that fate did have the right plans, and she just didn’t know it until then. Her words convinced Mingyu once more that maybe he should wait for his soulmate. Maybe fate knew what it was doing after all.

On his twentieth birthday, Mingyu couldn’t contain himself when he saw that the timer on his wrist signified that his fated encounter was nearing. People say that your twentieth year is the most memorable, and Mingyu was all the more pleased when he realized that it would be more special than he anticipated.

His twentieth year was indeed his most memorable, but not in the way that he wanted it to be.

~~

“Guys, I'm meeting my soulmate tomorrow! What should I do? What should I wear? Do you think I should put gel in my hair and spray on perfume or something?”

He looked to his two best friends for help. Soonyoung was almost as excited as he was, trying to think of the ways Mingyu could make a good first impression. Soonyoung had met his soulmate just a few days before. When Mingyu and Soonyoung first revealed to each other the timer on their wrists, both were surprised at how close the numbers were. Then they discovered that they got along incredibly well, enjoying the same games and finding interest in the same things. They wondered if society had the soulmate idea wrong, and that instead of the timer reaching zero at first encounter, it might have signaled when the person realized who their soulmate was. In other words, they wondered if they were each other’s soulmates. However, their theory was proven wrong when Soonyoung found his true soulmate. His soulmate was a bright, happy-go-lucky boy by the name of Seokmin. As much as Mingyu and Soonyoung were similar, Seokmin and Soonyoung were even more so. Mingyu saw the two interact, how they laughed without restraint, how their hands naturally found each other without help, how they looked at each other with so much adoration that it was hard to tell if they could love anything more. It made Mingyu hopeful for when he would meet his soulmate.

Unlike the other two, Jihoon, was not so cheerful about the whole soulmate business. It wasn’t very long after they met that Mingyu discovered that as much as Jihoon trusted that there was a system, he didn’t care much for it, which made him less likely to be biased with any reasoning he had when it came to soulmates. When Mingyu and Soonyoung almost convinced themselves that they were destined for each other, it was Jihoon who talked them out of the idea. While Jihoon knew he had a soulmate, he wasn’t keen on meeting them, and as a result tended to focus on his studies rather than his future romance. Mingyu often wondered if Jihoon’s bitterness towards soulmate had anything to do with the time on his wrist that showed that he had another decade before he would meet his soulmate, while most people found their before the age of 25. It could also just have been the fact that Jihoon was a cynical person in general. Perhaps, the reason was a mix of both.

“Relax, Kim Mingyu. Just do what you normally do. Let fate do the rest.”

Mingyu scratched the side of his head. He looked to Soonyoung, who only shrugged, before looking back at Jihoon.

“But, Jihoon, what if fate isn't the best wingman?”

Jihoon sighed at how ridiculous Mingyu was being, going through and endless cycle of believing and then distrusting destiny.

“Let me see your timer.”

Mingyu showed the underside of his wrist to the boy, who then started thinking.

“You have 26 hours to go… It’s about 12:30 now, so that means you're going to meet the person at around 2:30 tomorrow afternoon… but wait, but isn't this during your shift?. You work then, don’t you? I guess you’re going to meet your soulmate as a customer.”

Mingyu gasped slightly when he realized Jihoon was right. He pouted promptly after. “But that means I have to wear a uniform!”

“At least you don't have to worry about what to wear. But speaking of work, shouldn’t you leave soon? I thought your shift started at 1.”

“... crap.”

With that as his final word to his friends, Mingyu rushed to his car to drive to his part-time job. Swinging the door open and plopping down on the seat, he swiftly inserted the key to ignite the engine. The aged engine heaved for a good two seconds longer than it normally did before starting, and Mingyu wondered if it was time for him to change replace the battery soon. Eyeing the clock on the dashboard, he shoved the thought to the back of his mind, remembering once again that he needed to go to work. He had only gotten the job a week before, and although the manager was quite lenient on Mingyu, it wouldn’t give a good impression if he was already arriving late to work.

When he reached his destination, Mingyu parked in a shaded spot, checking the clock once more to make sure he still had time. He would make it, but barely. He jogged lightly to the entrance before pushing open the door, a chime ringing above him to signal that someone passed through, and he was greeted by a familiar gentle smile.

“Mingyu, hey, glad you’re here. I know I’m supposed to train you a bit more today, but something came up. Do you think you can handle the place by yourself? I already talked to the manager and he said it was fine as long as you were okay with it.”

Mingyu returned the smile. Work was usually slow-paced, not at all overwhelming. He was comfortable enough with the job already that he didn’t mind working alone.

“Sure thing, Jisoo,” he responded as he scanned the store, seeing a couple of customers through the gaps between shelves as they roamed the aisles, some of them stopped to flip through the pages of the novel in their hands.

After Jisoo went to the locker room to change to his casual clothes, Mingyu went in to change to his uniform, a black polo underneath a black apron with the store’s logo embroidered on the left chest.  He stepped up to the counter as a new customer walked in.

“Welcome to Pledis Books!”

~~

Slowly, Mingyu was pulled to consciousness. He pulled the covers over his head, trying to block out the sun’s rays so that he could fall asleep again. He didn’t have to work until 1pm that day, so there was no reason for him to be up before 10. As he started drifting away, his mind wandered. There was a lingering feeling he had that he was forgetting something. Did he make plans to meet someone?

Meet…

He was supposed to meet his soulmate!

Mingyu bolted out of bed when the realization hit, but as he was showering, he remembered something else. That he would be meeting his soulmate at work. His most important encounter with a person would be at a bookstore, and Mingyu would be behind the counter. Though if he couldn’t try to impress his soulmate with his outfit, he could fix up every other part of him.

The steam followed him when he pulled the curtains and stepped out of the shower. He the vents and dried himself off with a towel. With his hand, he swiped away the fog on the mirror to examine himself and brush his hair with his fingers before stepping out of the bathroom to change. If he was going to meet his soulmate, then they would likely see each other when Mingyu’s shift ended.

That meant he still had the issue of choosing what to wear. He took a look in his closet, deciding that he should go for something nice, but safe. A white dress shirt paired with jeans sounded safe enough. He dressed in his best jeans before throwing on the dress shirt. As he buttoned the shirt, he looked at the lonely bottle of perfume on his dresser. Would it be too much?

He lifted the bottle to take a whiff of the cap. It wasn’t too heavy of a scent, a refreshing scent of apple and jasmine. He looked at himself in the mirror one last time, a satisfied smile emerging, before heading out the door.

Being overly eager for the time to pass, Mingyu arrived an entire hour early for work. Jisoo decided to train him that hour to make up for the day before, and by the time Mingyu’s shift started, he was more than ready to handle the store by himself. Jisoo left, saying that he wasn’t yet finished with his business from yesterday, and Mingyu was once again alone watching over the store. Only today was much more important than yesterday.

Once Mingyu was behind the counter, he became jittery. It was right there that he would meet his soulmate. Not for another few hours, but it would be there. He tapped his fingers on the counter in impatience, only stopping when customers approached him to buy a book or to ask for help locating something. When the promised time was nearing, Mingyu started tapping his foot as well.

The store was now empty. It normally was during this time, but being all alone in a store made it hard for him to distract himself from the event he knew would soon come. He glanced up the clock on the wall. 2:33pm. Within minutes, he would be meeting his soulmate, his one and only, the person he had been waiting for, ever since he knew what the numbers meant.

Mingyu could feel his heart thumping loudly against his chest. His breath became ragged, and he started pacing behind the counter to try to calm himself down. He didn’t want to look like a nervous wreck in front of his soulmate, even if he was dying from anxiety on the inside. He counted the steps as he walked, just to give his mind something to concentrate on.

But then, he heard it. The bell of the door, normally informing him that a customer arrived, but this time was telling him his soulmate was now in the same room as he was. He placed a hand on his chest while he was facing away from the door. He took a deep breath and swiftly turned around, trying to smile as naturally as possible.

“Welcome to Pledis Books!”

His soulmate was a girl, slim and short in stature, and very pretty. She had short, pixie-styled hair, charismatic eyes, and a look of apathy. With her hands in her pockets, she strolled around the store leisurely. She browsed the aisles, and Miingyu could feel heart accelerate. She seemed extremely calm, and Mingyu wondered if it was possible that she didn’t realize she would meet her soulmate today. He waited for her to approach him, but before he knew it, she had left the store.

Mingyu frowned in confusion, but chose to dash after her. He exited the store and saw her a few feet away, calling out immediately.

“Excuse me! Miss!”

The girl turned her head. “Hmm?”

“Uh…” He was at a loss for words. She was probably his soulmate, but he was suddenly unsure. Doubt crossed his mind, and he wondered if he looked stupid at the moment. Could he just ask her if she was his soulmate? “Um, if you don’t mind… may I please see your timer?”

She raised her eyebrows but complied nonchalantly. The timer was set to zero, and Mingyu’s chest tightened when he saw it. He thought that she must not have her timer recently, so she almost missed her fated encounter… but then he realized that she didn’t look the least bit surprised.

She retracted her arm.

“Why did you want to see it?”

“Uh, you came in the store and… it was close to the time I was supposed to meet my soulmate, so I thought that maybe you might have been the one…”

She cocked her head to the side.

“But your timer says that you should meet your soulmate tomorrow.”

“... What?”

She gestured towards his wrist, which made him bring it up to examine it. He wondered if the timer had always looked like that, numbers a dark-grey, and not black like he must have convinced himself they were. There were thin. vertical lines going through a few of the numbers that he didn’t remember being there. Subtle, but definitely there. But there was something more surprising than either of these observations, and that was number displayed on his wrist. It wasn’t zero like it was supposed to be, but instead, indicated that there were 20 more hours until he would see his soulmate. The biggest shock of them all, however, was that the numbers were frozen.

Mingyu walked back to the store, the cold feeling of dread haunting him as he did. He had to work for another two hours, but he couldn’t wait that long for answers. When he got back to the counter, he checked to make sure there were still no customers before he took out his phone to dial a number. In times of uncertainty, there was one person he knew he could trust. When he heard a click through the phone, he spoke quickly.

“What do stopped numbers mean?”

“Wow, Mingyu, could you be any more vague?”

“You said I was supposed to meet my soulmate at 2:30, right?”

“Yeah, I think that was what I said. Did you not pay attention? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice you met your soulmate?”

“Jihoon, I think something’s wrong. My timer looks weird, and the numbers stopped.”

“... Explain.”

“They look kind of stripey and they aren’t counting down anymore. I don’t know what’s going on, Jihoon. The timer is telling me I still have 20 hours to go before I meet my soulmate. What am I supposed to do? I met a girl and I thought she was my soulmate because she came at the right time, but I think she already met her soulmate… My soulmate never showed up. There’s no way I would have missed them. That girl was the only one I met when I was supposed to meet my soulmate. Do you think it’s possible for fate to mess up?”

There was a dreary silence on the other end.

“Jihoon?”

“Hold on for a minute. Let me see if I can find some information. You’re not busy, are you?”

“No, the store’s empty.”

“Then stay on the line.”

Mingyu stared at his wrist, his eyebrows furrowed in worry as he waited for Jihoon to speak again. After what seemed like the longest ten minutes of his life, Jihoon was finally back with an answer.

“So there were a lot of myths about what a stopped timer means.”

“Okay… and?”

“It seems like the most likely cause for a stopped timer is the death of a soulmate.”

Death of a soulmate.

The words rung in Mingyu’s head. It felt as if something in his chest dropped… Like some part of him just suddenly disappeared, and it was only now that he realized that it had even been there in the first place. He leaned a hand against the counter to support himself when his legs were no longer able to. He lowered the phone from his ear when he realized he couldn’t register anything else Jihoon was saying. When the reality of Jihoon’s words hit him once again like an aftershock, his chest felt hollow and desolate, and if it had a voice, it would be screaming.