(Link to song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlwJFQr6_M8)

“I searched forever through the blue,
I spent the hours of my youth,
And just when I thought I was through,
I found you.”

— Imaginary Future & Kina Grannis, “I Found You”

I will find a way to you, I will make one if I have to, even when there is too much space in our tiny world.

-

“Dude,” Sungyeon throws Yebin a victorious smirk across the room as Seungwan is busy talking to Seulgi after being speculated like a cute new specimen in a zoo by the other girls. “You owe me 10 bucks.” 

The headstrong girl refuses to face the music and insists only seeing is believing, “Too soon, Bae-soong.”

At times like this, Nayoung should be the motherly figure who steps in and mediates any of the girls’ little quarrels (sometimes even the ones between Minkyung and Kyungwon).

But somehow, their leader is currently occupied by something else—precisely speaking, someone else.

Yewon is the first to take notice of the weird situation they are in, and she tries to call for the cheeky girl who is ready to go for another dap, “Sungyeon-ah, didn’t you say you want some snacks? Let’s go buy some.”

Meanwhile, Kyungwon and Eunwoo waste no time and squeal at the sight of Nayoung struggling to keep up with Chungha’s stretching exercise while smiling like a complete idiot to herself.

So it is time for the super-duper smart sub-leader to shine.

“Girls, let them have their moment.” Minkyung’s long arms has its perks—best when she has to gather the kids around and hush them.

“She’s whipped.” Kyla deadpans even though she is surely joyful. “I’m happy for them though.”

“Chungha’s blushing, I can see it even from here.” Sunmi, their instructor for the time being, has unknowingly joined their circle of fangirls, giggling and starting to snap pictures of the two adorable cuties with her phone.

Kyulkyung, once again, is silent. Almost as if she couldn’t feel anything. Especially when everything churns into nothing.

She reaches out to put her half-finished banana milk on the table, just to catch a glimpse of her timer counting down like a malfunctioned elevator plunging down into the pits of hell.

Instinctively, she looks up to seek help and sees Seungwan acting strange at the door as well, whilst Seulgi helplessly laugh-crying at her rolled-up sleeves. 

“W-wait. Seulgi-yah! I really have to go! I can’t thank you enough!”

“Ouch!” 

Timely screams the forever-klutz Kim Jisoo, who just tripped over an imaginary brick and hit her head with an amplifier a second after the water bottle she was balancing on her head fell.

“That’s quite a bump.” Jennie hurries to her side yet disapproval is all what’s written on her face. “To the infirmary we go.”

-

Doyeon doesn’t care if her phone screen has cracked after that heavy drop on the floor. She has somewhere to be. 

“Just get your here. You know the drill!” Was Yoojung’s ultimatum before she hung up on her.  

Well, that’s a reasonable call. Since she wouldn’t want her dear friend to waste any more time.  

The tall cheerleader knows that as well, that this is not a fight, not something to be scared of though it could be scary. 

She’s going to meet someone she hasn’t met before but would be meeting for the rest of her life, someone who is a complete stranger to her but also her partner who would understand her without a single word. 

Doyeon doesn’t care if she is scared anymore.

There she runs, heart beating so heavily that the muscles bumping is all she could hear. 

But then, her heart is light.

She knows where she is going. It feels like going home.

Some shoot her weird looks. Some offer an encouraging smile.

Lisa is one of the latter. 

She can’t help but being one step behind Doyeon as she has a very important task at hand—literally, a very sulky Park Chaeyoung. 

Who earlier insisted playing with her skateboard and doing a kickflip untrained was a good idea, who ended up falling face flat right in front of their school head prefect. 

“I’m so sorry about the skateboard-” The first thing came to Lisa’s mind was that skateboard is a contraband in school. Couldn’t blame her though. It would be a serious misconduct.

“It’s okay. Could you please take her to the infirmary?” Sowon quickly dismissed her concern and Eunha looked down worriedly at their mildly injured vocalist, “We have to attend an event at the library. Sorry that we can’t lend you a hand.”

“Nah, I’m fine.” Chaeyoung eventually managed to stand up by herself but could barely maintain her posture due to the scratches on her limbs. “And thanks! I’ll go there now.”

“Take care.” Sowon escorted them to the right direction before leaving at once with Eunha.

As smart as Lisa, she quickens her pace after putting Chaeyoung’s arm around her shoulder.

“Come on, buddy. We too got no time to waste.”

Chaeyoung is nothing but a ball of confusion. But still, getting her wounds attended is her first priority since they are hurting a lot more than they should be. 

She is pretty sure that there was no contact between her head and the ground. Then why does her head hurt so much?

“Lightning takes its time,
It lingers in the night,
And wakes the darkest skies without a warning.”

Seulgi flings the door open and storms out just before Doyeon could push it open.  

It’s not that she is mad at something. It’s because she is hearing things again.

Water.

Hushed chattering and slivery laughs. 

This time, she knows what to do next without having to write it down on her hands.

As for the rookie, Yoojung is the first person to greet her in the studio. But she doesn’t say another word. Smiling, she pushes her further into the much hallow room.

Doyeon knows it is the right place to be because, finally, she is hearing the same music as that person. 

But there is barely anyone else except for groups of friends scattering across the room, resting and gossiping about the new potential couples around campus. 

The music is so loud that everything else ebbs in her mind. The beat, the rhythm, the steps. 

Someone else’s steps. 

Doyeon lifts her arm to confirm her theory but someone stops her.

A hand from behind.

“Please, just a second.” 

It is the voice in her dreams. It is her. 

“… Huh?” Doyeon steals a glance and yes, it has turned zero. 

The girl behind her giggles, “Guess what happened before you came.”

“W-what?” She tries to sound more intimidating but judging on how hard Yoojung is laughing at her right now, it must be something embarrassing. 

“I was told that someone’s childhood aspiration used to a dog.” 

“Dogs are cute, okay?!” Frustrated by the memory, she turns around and protests—and she is met by the most limpid pair of eyes she could ever picture.

She stands still as her future looks back at her.

“Don’t worry,” Kyulkyung mumbles, slightly coy realizing their hands touched. “I love dogs.”

“So is it…... like, your favorite?” Sensing the heat on both’s faces, Doyeon looks away and tries to find Yoojung for help. 

(Un)Fortunately, Yoojung has already joined Kulkyung’s group of friends, enjoying this cute little awkward moment of miracle. 

Eunwoo is already wheezing as she struggles to snap of picture of the two.

“Hey.” Kyulkyung calls out to her and pokes her gently on the arm. 

When Doyeon takes the time and looks into her eyes, she suddenly realizes they don’t really need to know each other’s name.  

It doesn’t matter that much anymore even if she has to listen to bipa music for the rest of her life.

With her dear soulmate’s mind carried away, Kyulkyung starts again. 

“Well, yes, you are my favorite.”

“Awww!”

Minkyung and Kyungwon are the loudest, of course.

Before Doyeon could give a proper response, she learns one more hard fact about her soulmate.

She is hella blunt.

“Anyway, no more grey socks please.” Kyulkyung doesn’t have the heart to tell her that she had that pair thrown away, straight into the bin.

But there is just no way for them to hide things from each other. 

Heaving a long sigh, Doyeon smiles for the first time today. “Anything you like.”

“Now exchange your vow- ah, no, names!” Yoojung cheerfully pronounces.

This would surely be one of the best days of her life. Not only because of Doyeon and Kyulkyung, but also she is now certain that—she would be even happier when her time comes.

While Doyeon just gradually succumbs to the sublimity of this Chinese girl called Kyulkyung. The amber glow of the studio lighting embraces her figure in the most perfect way. Even her smile is surely the brightest.

Oh, and that it would be what helps her out of bed every morning from now on.

Kyulkyung sees the way she is looking at her. 

Before today, it quaked her with fear in her sleep that she would eventually become just another boat come adrift among the widest sea, burnt up in her own ambition and false hope. But, all that just dissipated at her feet when she looked back at her.

It makes her feel like she has been missing her. Her eyes speak of promises to the countless bright mornings, and the many tender goodnights.

-

Joohyun resumes walking soon after being startled by the drop of a phone. Its owner shrugged it off pretty quickly and she finds it funny that everyone seems like be rushing to somewhere today. 

But Wendy…… Seungwan has to wait for now. 

She wanted to go to her first but life just gets in the way somehow, as if it’s a badly-scripted comedy.

Joohyun had her mind made up but then her groupmates of a project texted her about some problem with their reference list. Something that they need Joohyun to be there. 

Having the scheduled meeting place and time carefully marked on her palm with a random blue-inked ballpoint pen she found, she hurried off hoping this would not end up being a lame trick pulled off by that lame classmate aka purser of hers.

Joohyun has never told people about her timer. 

Although some don’t seem to care whether people they like already have the timer or not.

She shakes her head at such morbid thought.

A figure…… Or two, to be precise, zoom past her and the dance club captain immediately recognizes one of her own.

Lisa doesn’t seem to notice her captain and heads straight to the infirmary. Chaeyoung is still confused but then, she is almost there, where she needs to be.

So the world keeps orbiting around the sun. The absolute rule of the universe. Not skipping a beat, not missing a day. 

And everything has a place, its place.

“You were just the same,
Waiting for the day,
To fall into my life one summer morning.”

Fidgeting at the corner of the white cozy room, Jisoo constantly throws looks at Jennie who is nonchalantly watching their lovely school nurse attending her duties. 

“Just put your on that bed and wait there.” The chic girl fiddles with the curtain which conveniently distances them from the rest of the room. “I’m gonna grab something to drink.”

But the patient swiftly gives a tug on her sleeve, “Can you not leave me here?” 

“You scared?” Jennie rolls her eyes, taunting Jisoo more. “You big baby.”

“W-wait, I am not! I am just-”

“Excuse me?” A bubbly voice timely breaks in on Jisoo’s rambling, boldly announcing its owner’s arrival. “Nurse, could you please help my friend here?”

A soft voice kindly interrupts so that they wouldn’t disturb other patients here. “Oh Lisa, I’m alright now. Just drop me here and go to your practice! I hate to see you missing out on things because of some stupid stuff I did.” 

Ah. Jennie breaks a smile. 

Before making her exit from this well-scripted play, she double-checks to see if Jisoo is really stunned on her spot as expected.

“No, it’s totally fine! And hey, don’t talk like that, it’s not stupid, it’s just-” Noticing the person coming out from the ward area, Lisa’s body tenses up but is relieved as soon as she recognizes the notoriously beautiful face. “Oh, hi there.”

“Sup.” Jennie is in a good mood today so she doesn’t leave Lisa’s awaiting hand hanging and goes for a high-five. “Anyway, shall we make our leave now?” 

“Sure, bud.”

Social etiquette aside, one can easily deem useless for Jennie to greet her new friend here, who has already tuned out a brief moment ago, seemingly occupied by her thoughts. 

They have already done their job, like faithful waves sending off baby turtles to their destined home. The sea. 

Gravity, the rotation of the earth, the alignments of the Sun and the Moon—undeniable, immovable, ceaseless. 

They are sure of that. It would work out eventually, not necessarily in the mysterious ways sometimes. 

Jisoo had never known it is possible to have your heart beating at the same exact pace as someone else’s until she is listening exactly to that. 

She hasn’t taken any medication, she isn’t high. This is something real. And close.

For the many years she has lived so far, it is carefree, unrestrained yet not destructive like the storms raging from the sea. She had never been obsessed with things that are absolute, she simply didn’t adore the idea.

On a second thought, maybe she detests the concept of the unchangeable. But an unspeakable force has decided one day to have something unchangeable on her, that would ghost her until she learns to embrace it.

The mellow afternoon sunlight pushes through the curtain and warmly reminds Chaeyoung that this is not a dream. 

So unearthly placid.

All this time she has been studying notes and melodies of vocals, of instruments, of machines—and now, she is hearing music in a new brand form. 

And it’s calling her home.

Those yellowish rays cast a long silhouette of someone else on the tiled floor, almost touching the tip of her shoes. 

Without any hesitation, she walks towards the lemon chiffon-colored curtains as she counts her steps, one by one. 

Jisoo’s breath hitches when a hand presses onto the thin fabric.

And then Chaeyoung immediately stops, her fingertips lingering on the velvety textile and dry. 

10 seconds left.

Even though they could both tell without looking.

A thought hits Chaeyoung when the air in this room grows heavy. 

What if she just does nothing and remains still in front of this curtain? Would it be an uncontrollable urge that she has to do it or would the person eventually come to her instead? What if they are just as nerve-wrecked?

“… H-hi?” 

Here go Kim Jisoo and her shaky breaths. Damn, it sounds really miserable, she cusses internally.

The hand eventually works its magic in a heartbeat, revealing a concerned-looking girl with bandages on her limbs.  

“Hey, you’re not miserable.” 

So Chaeyoung heard her. 

The girl with a bump on her head jumps up from the comfy bed and finds herself staring. 

Jisoo has just found herself the most comfortable place. From the look of her eyes, from this person she practically just met.

Well, she would gladly accept this unchangeable faith when she is her faith.

Kim Jisoo, therefore, becomes one of the happiest people on earth. No more aching forehead, no more crazy theories. 

The silly grin on her face is mirrored by a perfect curve between the corners of Chaeyoung’s lips. 

She stands still as she finds home in her smile.

-

Seulgi hustles through the bustling crowd of exhausted girls and their stuffed gym bags. Some stop and holler at her.

She half-heartedly waves back while scanning for any swimming team member. 

Truth to be told, she didn’t think much before she acted. She doesn’t know what to do next if she happens to meet eyes with the one she is looking for (for the past 15 minutes at the very least).

But a well-thought plan is never Kang Seulgi’s thing. 

Nothing ever stays the same anyway. Why not just improvise?

It is long past the practice time. She has looked through the sports ground, the changing room, and even the gym.

A door after another, all filled with empty eyes and friendly smiles, but it doesn’t falter Seulgi’s resolve.  

Her feet brings her to the only place left—the swimming stadium.

Seulgi might be more of an agnostic, but she sincerely prays that she won’t be too late.

If this, whatever this is called, faith or whatnot—really ties two people together in all possible ways, she would know that Seulgi is coming, right?

A square of glistening blue blinds her as it unfolds before Seulgi’s eyes.  

“I longed for a way,
For everything to change,
And finally I’d have what I’d been seeking.”

Park Sooyoung peeps her head out from the showering block. 

She has imagined her as an opposite, as a mirror, as any type of person there could be.

Sooyoung watches her pacing back and forth by the pool with hunched back, hands grasped together over her chest, mumbling something to herself. 

Well, that is a really cute side of Kang Seulgi. 

Even if she was not that adorable and hot, she would have loved her already with her little clumsy doodles.

A cold breeze of disappointment seeps into Sooyoung’s heart while Seulgi just wouldn’t look her way.

However, she couldn’t be wrong, no way, there is this inking ringing in her head telling her that it is her. Right then and there. 

Saeron tells no lies. She told her that it was a knee-jerk reaction. 

“Needless to say, you don’t even need your brain to proceed ‘that’.” 

The world would compel you to her. Just like how it compels everything else in and out of your way, building up to that particular moment in the entire universe where you meet her. 

Sooyoung was the timid kid who listened to everything people had to say about her, she was the meek little girl who smiled for love and to wish away the blue, she was the insecure teen who daydreamed about happy endings for people she loved but seldom herself.

Whatever kind of person Seulgi would be, Sooyoung believes that she would teach her how to love her as well as to love herself. 

It takes her a minute to fumble around in her bag.

The itchy feeling on her arm is already too familiar to Seulgi. The neat handwriting that tickles her bit by bit every time. Her curiosity, her emotions, her senses.

“I saw you.”

She snaps her head to a direction and finds herself locked in a trance, full of joy and fondness. 

The brown flecks in her eyes whispering secrets of a tomorrow that she once dreamt of. 

Which is no longer just a dream.

-

Seungwan curses her short legs and swears she is going to sign up for a sports team or any sort of gym membership next semester. 

Her lungs are burning like woods in that cute fireplace her family has back in Canada. And for some reason, she is a tad more impatient today. 

She is usually someone who takes her time to do things so that she would make no mistakes and people around her would be happy; who thinks maybe just a little too much because she has to think for everyone for every situation; who is often languid from all the things she wants to do—what people wants her to do.

Now, for once, she is doing this for herself. 

But time is ticking faster than usual and she can’t seem to be able to locate the meeting place written on her sweaty palm. Man, she just hopes she is not making Irene’s palm sweaty as well. 

Wendy the smart and lenient kid is gone. Seungwan is now an impulsive girl searching for something she has never known of.

Not even the shape, not even a name. 

She halts for a rest in front of a building. Her hair is all messed up with the excessive running. There is a moment that her panting reflection makes her frown as if she doesn’t like herself. 

This side of her. So distant and peculiar.

The only shape and name she knows is a human form of bijou ethereality that goes by the name Irene. Goddess of Peace. 

Ouch. What if Irene doesn’t like her?

Like a whaler which has set sail for the big game but is about to strand itself by overthinking. 

You don’t sail the sea, the sea sails you.

“A sudden gust of wind,
From nowhere we begin,
It’s like I dreamed you up while I was sleeping.”

But it is not Irene. 

It is Joohyun who melts away the walls obstructing the shore that reaches beyond her sight. 

It is not the shore, nor the whales. 

God, she can smell the salty breeze when Joohyun catches her with her eyes. That look in her eyes.

She doesn’t have to belong to anywhere when there is an unshaken fact that she belongs with Joohyun.

It took Joohyun some time to fend away that persistent prick who couldn’t take a hint. 

Cleaning up mess somebody else created was already annoying and she was definitely not in the mood of maintaining the human decency of being nice to people who exploited others just to get what their heart desires. 

You can’t just force a heart to turn your way like how you force a sail against the wind. You can’t stop a rain, you can’t raise a storm. 

Just like the stones beneath the seabed. They drift and heap, washed down and away, across the world. Maybe they would end up at where they started, but most of the time they would not. 

Life is not a round trip. You don’t really finish at where you start. That’s the point, right?

Nothing interests Joohyun anymore since the handkerchief flowed into her life amid the labyrinth of people intersecting and missing each other.

She even puts it next to her purple pillow, in case she might miss what Seungwan is singing to for the night. 

The same Seungwan she met in her dream who took her hand as she fell behind trying to trace the sandy footprint trail she left.

Having taken a deep breath, Joohyun goes up to greet Seungwan, who is now looking over her like an august lighthouse. 

“You look the same in my dreams.”  

Seungwan casts her head down, blushing, yet her gaze remains unbroken. There is something mystical about Joohyun, who is ever sightly than any artwork in and out of this world. 

Joohyun looks like a church that Seungwan would revere her on her knees every day.

Maybe Seungwan knows, since Joohyun can’t stop wondering in her head—that how unearthly endearing and sweet Son Seungwan can really be. 

The tone of her voice, the softness in her eyes, the contour of her face, the little caring thoughts pop up in her head from the moment she wakes up until she falls asleep.

Joohyun takes the chance and reaches out for her hand. 

And the warmth of her palm when it is pressed against hers.

Her new favorite thing in the world.

Yes, Seungwan knows it too. How Joohyun’s eyes crinkle when she smiles. 

“I wish tonight I can dream of you too.”  

When Joohyun replies her with a really cute grin, Seungwan slowly pulls her to a tight embrace.

The desire to hear her laugh, to kiss away her tears, to sing her songs, to start and end every single day with her.

She stands still as she falls in love.

-

If love is a just pretentious game, would it be a game for two or for one?

After imagining all the possible consequences and having them rated from best to worst, Nayoung makes the first move of bringing Chungha her water bottle.

“Oh, thank you!” The shorter girl was surprised at first but quickly regains her cool composure. 

Not forgetting to put on a small smile, the human stone buddha stiffly retrieves her hand. “You’re welcome.” 

From the mirror, Nayoung could clearly see Kyungwon desperately mouthing something to her. 

“Dude, just say it!”

Minkyung, the more sensible one, keeps eyeing her to revive the short-lived conversation.  

“Just do it!”

The couple is kind enough to stay behind while everyone is already busy swimming in their own pink bubbles. Even Yewon has asked Sungyeon out for a date.

She looks over her shoulder one more time, thanking Kyungwon and Minkyung for giving her the support she needs. 

They might not know but they have done a lot for her already. They have shown her that love isn’t so hard even when you don’t have a soulmate, it isn’t so hard even when you don't get some extra help in telling who and where your “right one" is.

Love is always within your reach. Even though it might seem far away, rippling through the vast blue.

“Hey.”

Nayoung flings her head back. A gasp comes out from her agape mouth because Chunha is standing so close.

So close that if she lifts a hand, she can just cup her adorable cheek. Or nuzzle her nose.

“Wanna grab a coffee? You and me?” Chungha has to slightly look up or else she will only be seeing the tall girl’s tightened jaw.

Nayoung’s smile is so wide that for the first time it reaches her cheeks and even her eyes, “Sure.” 

Watching the two leave side by side with shoulders brushing, Kyungwon fights the urge to scream. And Minkyung, who has been eyeing for those dainty cheeks as well, leans in for a kiss. That could shut her up for a while too.

-

“Isn’t that great?” Yerim chirps, much proud of her story. 

“Yeah.” Saeron nods, feeling how the other girl has been nuzzling closer and closer.

She obviously won’t accept such unenthusiastic reply, “Ain’t you happy?”

“Of course I am.” She runs her fingers through those silky locks. “It’s beautiful actually. But there’s something else that would make me happier.” 

“Hm, what’s that?” Yerim yanks the blanket from her weird girlfriend, not really understanding where this is going. 

“I’m already doing it.” Lazily, Saeron tugs the other girl’s pajama shirt. “It just makes me realize how lucky I am, already here with you.”  

“Aw, you.”

“Come here, you idiot.” 

-

If the world is just a map small, if the world is only a single block of building, would I still miss you and pass you by with a wrong turn of my head?

But never mind, I have now found you, my dear.

So I guess this is the end? 

I hope I haven't let anyone down with this since I had spent a lot of time on this chapter, the grand finale!

I have to admit that this is quite experimental and handling these many pairings is surely a tough job. Like, I had more drafted but it was super hard to fit them together and piece out a decent storyline.

There might be some typos or weird formatting but it's like 2:30am right now, I will fix them later ;)

Let me know in the comments if you like it. It means a lot to me!

xo