6,799 – The digital compass on your left inner wrist flashes in front of your eyes every time you wake up in the morning, and it just stays there for the rest of the day.  You do know that your soulmate is too far away – thinking that he must be residing on the other side of the world.  You waited for him to find you, but he seems like he didn’t make any move to find you, at all.  Until, one day, your friend encouraged you to find him.

A/N:  This is pure angst, you’ve been warned.  Please read with caution.

6,799.

Sometimes a few miles will be added or deducted here and there, but whenever you are inside the comforts of your own small apartment, the digital compass that indicates how far your soulmate is, is stuck in that number.

The numbers on your inner wrist initially appeared when you were a freshman in high school, like majority of your friends and your classmates, however you were the only one who had a number that is greater than a thousand miles, which disappointed you back then, because the others were merely hundreds of miles away, it means that they can always go see their soulmate even if they’re just students.

Due to school and your family not having much money, you didn’t dare ask if you travel to the other side of the world to meet your soulmate.  In fact, you were barely legal, so it would me much more of an inconvenience for your parents more than you.  So, you just waited.  Some of your friends said that since he is the guy, then he must be the one to go find you, not you, since you are a lady and there is no way that you would follow a guy, even though he was your soulmate.

Back then, you believed them.

Sadly, until now.

As you lie awake in your bed, staring at the numbers as if they are permanent tattoos on your wrist, you sighed, thinking as to why your soulmate didn’t even make a move to come for you.  It has been 10 years or so since the internal compass appeared, and you are pretty much legal already, and you assume that he is the same, you hope.

Life has been okay for you, to say the least.  You are finishing college and about to graduate in a few months on the course that you have been wanting to pursue since you were little.  You have a small apartment that you share with your best friend since college started, your parents are still running the small restaurant a few blocks away from your home and about 3 hours of bus ride from your apartment, and your only brother will enter the same university in a few months.

You are pretty much contented with how your life is going.  You are sure that you can secure a good job after graduation because of your grades, so you didn’t worry much about that.  However, what kept you up and thinking a little too much is, well, if you cannot emphasize it further, the numbers.

You tried to keep it on the low down when you are with your family, brushing off any of their questions if your soulmate had already come and find you, or are there any changes in the mile radius at all, etc.  Its same old, same old.  You got tired eventually, just telling them that you are okay living by yourself and you are 100% fine, and they should not worry about you.

But, whenever you are alone in your thoughts, especially on your favorite bed with the only source of light being the small lamp at the bed side table on your right, you do know that you totally mind.  

You sometimes wonder, are they doing okay? Are they thinking about you and how you look like?  Do they even want to meet you?  Do they even want to be known?  They never attempted to move and find you, so what else can you think about?  You sometimes thought that they might be dead, but you do know that once they’re dead, the numbers will totally be gone from your inner wrist, which is not the case.

“Thinking about your soulmate again?”  Your best friend, Lauren, came in to the door, and you immediately slide down the bed, hiding both of your arms beneath your comforter.

“You should really learn how to knock.”

Lauren just snorted and you roll your eyes at her, but you moved to the side of the bed, allowing your friend to scoot next to you, half lying on the bed as she leans her body towards your direction.

“If you really want to meet him, why don’t you find him?”

Lauren has been bringing this topic up since forever, but you would always say that it is not possible because of your hectic timetable at school and your part-time job.  So you just gave her the same answer.

“Hmm, ______, in case you still don’t know, we’re graduating in a month and we already had our clearance and final grades covered, so we are technically on holiday…”  It was her turn to roll her eyes dramatically and letting out whines of disappointment as to why you had forgotten about it.

“I know, but… I shouldn’t be the ones looking for him, right?  He should because he is the man!”  You pouted and Lauren just looked at you with disbelief.

“You still believe that thing that your friends and family told you?”  She flicks your forehead and you whined in pain, you were about to retaliate but Lauren held her hand up, silently telling you to shut it.

“______, we are at the new age, if the girl is the one who decided to find her soulmate, it doesn’t make the guy less of a person. What if he has some personal issues he needed to deal with that’s why he cannot go out and find you himself? There should be a reason behind it, ______, you need to find out or else it’s going to stress you out all the time.”

“But – how will I do that, I don’t even know where exactly he is?”

“What is the use of the internet and laptop for? Seriously, how did you pass college with that brain?”

This time you didn’t stop yourself when you whack a pillow on your best friend’s face.

The next morning, you were at the kitchen counter waiting for the coffee to brew and for your bread to toast.  Lauren is long gone since she had an early morning class, so she’s already running to the door when you went out of your room.

You two did stay up quite late last night trying to search for a place that would match the distance on your wrist.  The result that appeared didn’t really bring much of a shock to you, but you’re still a little worried since it really is far from where you are, you sure did see a few photos and had read about it being really beautiful.

“Lauren, that is too far.”

“Obviously, its more than 6000 miles.”

“What if he doesn’t like me?  What if he pushes me away once I get there?”

“You will not know until you get there.”  She switches over to a website to check flights, hotels, and car rentals in the area and your eyes widened and you placed your hand atop hers on the mouse.

“Lauren, wait –“

“______ -“  Your best friend looks at you and you were taken aback when you saw the concern and worry in her eyes.

“I swear, you are going to worry about this forever, you not meeting your soulmate.  It is not that you wanted to worry all the time, but that is your inborn reaction to it.  Remember when I tried to avoid Jake when I found out he is my soulmate because Karen had a crush on her?”  You bit your lower lip at the memory, yes, you had seen how Lauren was like, and Jake too, since you are sharing majority of your classes with him.  You remember how Jake would always ask you where Lauren is but since Lauren asked you to not tell him anything about her whereabouts. Your best friend was equally devastated, not eating and sleeping well and just staring at her wrist all the time.

“______, I don’t want you to be like that for the rest of your life.” She runs her hands on your exposed shoulder.

“At least if you get to see him, you’ll be able to meet him, you can ask him anything you want to, you would know the answers to the questions that has been eating you up ever since…”  You looked away, not knowing how to respond to her.

“And since he is your soulmate, you might finally find your forever in him, and you won’t be forever alone, just like how you deem you will be.”

You let out a huge sigh just as the coffee brewed completely and your toast has popped out of the machine.  You grabbed the mug and the toast, putting them on a plate before scurrying to the kitchen table.

You didn’t stop Lauren when she booked you a flight to the country where your soulmate is, as well as a hotel room for 3 nights and a car rental good for 4 days, in case you and your soulmate would want to stroll around.  She had paid for your flight tickets so you really cannot argue much.  Also, you didn’t really have any plans before graduation anyway.

Deep inside, you are happy.  You will be seeing your soulmate in a few days, and you will know how they look like, and you will finally unravel the truth behind the uncertainties lingering in your head for the last 10 years.

However – you are also worried, maybe more worried than happy to be honest.  What if he doesn’t really want to meet you that’s why he didn’t try finding you in the first place?  What if all of this is just a waste of time and you were just mistaken?  You shake the uneasy feeling off and just started eating your breakfast; thinking that it’s better to just think of how you can pack for a trip on the other side of the world for four days and three nights.

“Let me know how it goes, okay?”  Lauren whispers against your ear when your parents were out of earshot.  You told them that you are going on a business trip from the company where you had an internship so they were more than happy to let you go, telling you to buy them some stuff from that country as presents.

You glanced at your ticket and passport one more time before boarding, this is really it, and I’m finally meeting my soulmate.  You took a deep breath and smiled at yourself, thinking of sleeping the entire 16-hour non-stop flight so that you’ll have enough rest before finding your soulmate.

Guess who got sleep.  Well, maybe your seatmate who had been drooling for the last 14 hours, but certainly not you.

You watched in amusement as the numbers gradually decrease on your inner wrist as the hours go by.  In 2 hours, you will be landing, and you are sure that the numbers will just be in two digits by the time you went out of the local airport.

250.

You never thought that you will be seeing this in your entire life, ever.  You had lost sleep and tiredness the moment you see the numbers drop, but you didn’t mind, you are more than happy than you’ve ever been before.

Since you left home in the afternoon and there is a crazy difference on the time between your country and your soulmate’s, you arrived at the local airport at 10:00 AM.  When the representative from the car rental company welcomed you, she offered to drive you to your hotel as a courtesy, despite you saying no, she insisted, already opening the door to the passenger seat after you’d settled your luggage at the compartment.

The distance on your wrist had lowered to 80 as the woman drive all the way to the hotel where you’ll be staying.  Your heartbeat is erratic and you need to clutch your chest to try to calm it down a bit.  Hopefully the woman will not notice how uneasy you are the entire ride.

When you get to the hotel room after bidding the woman good bye and checking in, you gasped when the mile radius is now down to 50. It means that your soulmate will just be about a few hours away.

You wanted to get to where he’s at right at that moment, but your body felt exhausted because of the long fligh