"Hey Soph. I'm going to head out for the night" Jacob said, holding the cabin door. "Is it eight already?" Sophia asked in surprise, turning to the clock on her desk. "It's actually ten. And it's a Friday" Jacob told her. "Damn. I didn't notice the time" Sophia said with a frown. "It's been a busy day. Hey, do you want to grab a drink or something?" Jacob asked her. "I still have stuff to finish up" she told him. Her phone started to ring and she looked up at him apologetically.

"Team lunch some time next week" he proposed and she gave him a thumbs up before picking up her phone. "Hi, you've reached Sophia Lee" she said, noting that it was an unrecognized number. She waved goodbye to Jacob who left the room as quietly as possible. "Sophia! Hi, this is Jenna from Amex Bank. We met in Santa Barbera last week" the woman at the other end said. "I vaguely remember that event. A charity for the underprivileged kids if I am not wrong" Sophia recounted. "Correct. Mrs Hoffstead's luncheon fundraiser. I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes" Jenna asked. "Shoot. Or if it is a long discussion I can make some time on Monday during lunch. Are you in San Francisco any time this week?" Sophia asked.

"It'll take just a few minutes honestly. The word on the street was that your company is considering investment options beyond your Series C funding" Jena started. "Well, we have been looking at different options" Sophia replied, not committing to any point. "Well, there have been really good reviews after your independent evaluations. Quite a few investors have expressed explicit interest in getting in on the magic that happens at JY Technologies" Jenna hinted at it. "It's always good to hear positive feedback from investors. I will contact you if we do have something specific come up in the future" Sophia told her. Jenna agreed enthusiastically and they exchanged details.

Sophia put the phone down and closed her eyes. She took a moment to massage them, the strain from staring at a screen too long starting to pile on. Sophia did not know where the rumours had started. Jenna was the second investment banker to contact her about possible investment options beyond VCs. The board had discussed it with her as a passing thought in the breaks between meetings but no one had really proposed the need for more funding. Their customer base hadn't grown as optimistically as they had hoped for. While the investors weren't concerned just yet, Sophia had been spending sleepless nights trying to come up with new ways to keep the company alive and thriving in an intensely competitive market.

She mindlessly swiped through screens till she came upon the empty page with three apps on the screen. All three were JYT products. Two of them were educational children's game apps that had been recently launched as a part of digital education and CSR initiatives. The third and their primary product was the Snowflake Soulmates Match app. Originally conceived by Jacob and Sophia together as a part of their senior year project, the app had developed into a small company. While the user base had been small, the app had gained popularity when a small time TV celebrity had claimed to have found his soulmate through this app during his wedding announcement. As a result a slew of fans had joined the app and the marketing division had built upon the hype by releasing more success stories from the app.

Over time, they had diversified to different features for different soulmark types. Like date suggestions in and around the coordinates for the location soul mark types. Or interpretations of your tattoo soulmate marks by art critics. The next way to go was data analytics on the information they had already gathered over two ears since release. Sophia was immensely proud of their journey but also worried about creating something that would last beyond five years and get inevitably bought out by a larger tech company.

She shut down the screen and dialed up her mother. It must be mid day in Seoul she hazarded a guess. "Hey Ma" she started when her mother picked up the call. "Sohee! Your father and I were just talking about you" her mother said. Lee Jinyoung was her name and she had also been the namesake of JinYoung Technologies. Sophia smiled. She had been in San Francisco so long that she had nearly forgotten what being addressed by her birthname felt like. "I was thinking about you too.. Is Papa with you?" she asked. "No he had a golf meeting. And I was headed out for lunch" Jinyoung told her. "Ah. I just called to catch up. I didn't have anything specific in mind" Sophia told her.

"Well, it's all good here. Your dad has high blood sugar so our doctor has put him on a new diet. But apart from that things are pretty normal here" her mother told her. "Same here. I've been thinking about visiting home. Some time in February I hope" Sophia said. "February? But that's three months away! Can't you come home any time earlier?" she asked. "I wish. But we have some important deadlines to deliver in January and after that I should be free enough to take a week or two off" Sophia told her. "It's America. No one would want to work during Christmas!" her mother protested. "I wish we had that luxury. But I'll think about it. If I have enough time to get my visa in order then I'll try visiting next month during Christmas" Sophia suggested.

"Also, if you have a boyfriend or someone special, this could be a good time to bring them home too. Just saying" Jinyoung added. "Ma..." Sophia started. "I know. You don't have a soulmate yet. I'm your mother. I've seen your mark. But that doesn't mean you can't date. I'm just worried about you being all alone there" Jinyoung explained. "I've lived alone for six years now. I'm fine Mom. Honestly" Sophia lied. Truthfully, she had wanted to date people for a while. But ever since the interview six months ago where she had accidentally revealed her soul mark, her love life had become a point of gossip amongst internet magazines. After a particularly sour scandal with an ex from her junior year she had decided to lay low. 

"Well, come home for Christmas and I will verify that for myself" Jinyoung said with a huff. "I'll try" Sophia said before ending the call. she put her phone away and started to gather her things. She doubted if she could concentrate on her work anymore. Maybe she would come in earlier on Monday and catch up. She slightly regretted not taking Jacob up on his offer now. But a warm bath and cheese pizza sounded more appealing to her soul. Sophia absent mindedly fiddled with her pendant as she walked downstairs from the office. It was a small compass with the body a replica of her own soulmate mark. She had had it custom made and delivered as a graduation gift and had always worn it everywhere. It was a small source of comfort, even though her soul mark was proving to be everything otherwise now.

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