Destiny
Description
Long black hair spread across the pillow as a young girl to her back. Her eyes were fluttering open to the sight of bright light. She reached out her arm to her left side as if searching for someone else but the bed was empty. Her other arm stretched towards the bedside table on the right as she picked up her phone to check for notifications. “Just the usual huh” Minji says, returning her phone to the bedside table while rubbing her left eye with the back of her left hand. It’s been this way for a while, waking up alone and feeling a sense of emptiness from her day to day life. She never had time to lie around and pity herself though, she had a busy life with a café and bakery to run daily.
She got up shortly after taking a moment to gather her thoughts and made her way to the bathroom where she took a long refreshing shower. She always felt like the water brought her a sense of healing. After drying off she spent the next 20 minutes in front of her vast closet, trying to pick out an outfit to suit her mood for the day. After practically scrolling through everything in her highly fashionable closet, she settled on a neutral-coloured, almost peach in tone, dress with double-ed buttoning down the front and folded lapels forming the collar. It had a coat-like look to it. The perfect balance between chic and professional. She readied herself further before making her way out the front door and down a few blocks towards her café, which was luckily nearby.
It was already open due to other staff getting an earlier start, so she simply walked in and headed towards the back, greeting the chef and cashier as well as the two waitresses along the way. In the back there were two desks. She headed over to the one that was well decorated with pink and placed her handbag down. Opposite her was another desk with a busy looking colleague behind it. She too had long hair but there seemed to be a reddish tint to hers. On the desk there was a plaque that read “accountant” and directly below that, a name, Gahyeon. The young accountant was the first to greet. "Hey Minji," she says, staying focused on the books sprawled in front of her. Minji knew this time of year all too well, Gahyeon was busy with financial year end, a very stressful time for her as she had to ensure all totals balanced and all amounts were accounted for. The stress was evident to Minji as there were four cups of coffee, already empty, lying in various spots across her desk, and the lack of enthusiasm in her greeting further sturdied her belief. Minji simply greeted back and chose to rather leave the room so that Gahyeon could think in peace.
She got up shortly after taking a moment to gather her thoughts and made her way to the bathroom where she took a long refreshing shower. She always felt like the water brought her a sense of healing. After drying off she spent the next 20 minutes in front of her vast closet, trying to pick out an outfit to suit her mood for the day. After practically scrolling through everything in her highly fashionable closet, she settled on a neutral-coloured, almost peach in tone, dress with double-ed buttoning down the front and folded lapels forming the collar. It had a coat-like look to it. The perfect balance between chic and professional. She readied herself further before making her way out the front door and down a few blocks towards her café, which was luckily nearby.
It was already open due to other staff getting an earlier start, so she simply walked in and headed towards the back, greeting the chef and cashier as well as the two waitresses along the way. In the back there were two desks. She headed over to the one that was well decorated with pink and placed her handbag down. Opposite her was another desk with a busy looking colleague behind it. She too had long hair but there seemed to be a reddish tint to hers. On the desk there was a plaque that read “accountant” and directly below that, a name, Gahyeon. The young accountant was the first to greet. "Hey Minji," she says, staying focused on the books sprawled in front of her. Minji knew this time of year all too well, Gahyeon was busy with financial year end, a very stressful time for her as she had to ensure all totals balanced and all amounts were accounted for. The stress was evident to Minji as there were four cups of coffee, already empty, lying in various spots across her desk, and the lack of enthusiasm in her greeting further sturdied her belief. Minji simply greeted back and chose to rather leave the room so that Gahyeon could think in peace.
She headed down the short 5-step flight of stairs and walked over to the chefs bay, who upon spotting her greeted her warmly and loudly. "MINJIIII!" she says, dropping the pan in hand to give her colleague a hug. "Hi Bora!" Minji returned the welcoming tone with a smile on her face. She loved her friend's warm and welcoming aura and would always seek her out when she needed a boost in energy. They spoke for a brief minute about the general work situation of the day before Minji decided to head to the front of the store. Right as she turned away, Bora gave her a playful tap on the , laughing in the process at Minji's bashful reaction.
The café owner headed through the double doors and found herself entering the front of the bustling store. There was a young lady manning the till with short brown hair and a very respectable manner in her attitude. She was taking orders of customers while two others could be spotted roaming the floor, assisting the seated customers. One rather tall with light brown hair in a medium to long length — she was speaking to a foreign customer — and the other across the room, was speaking a dialect of Chinese to another. Both had skill in foreign languages which was part of the reason why Minji had appointed them the roles they had. Minji made her way over to the girl at the till after simply watching the people in the cafe for a bit. "Hey Yubin," she greeted kindly as Yubin turned to greet her while making eye contact. Without Minji even having to have to ask, Yubin gave her a summary of the morning's intake.
"You've done well Yubin, thank you", Minji praised her and while doing so a customer had approached the till silently — patiently and politely waiting for the two to end their conversation rather than call for their attention. Minji peered over Yubins shoulder, noticing the woman on the other side. She was wearing a black leather jacket with faux fur ts at the cuffs and collar. Her sleek black hair shimmered in the light. Minji tried to catch a better glimse of the mysterious womans face but she was wearing a cap, so she couldn't see much. Yubin noticed Minji's fixated gaze and turned to spot the customer herself, quickly turning around to greet her and take her order. The woman looked downward at the menu in front of her, with Minji still peering and tilting her head to try find a better angle. Minji found herself strangely and unexplainably drawn to the woman. "Hey Minji!", she heard a voice resonate from behind her, tearing her concentration away for a moment as she turned to find the chef approach her. "I tried a new recipe, these are the testers, let me know what you think?" she says. Minji picked one up, gladly trying out the baked treat. It had the crisp of a biscuit on the outside with the center creamy and soft. The pastry was still warm and melted in . Minji couldn't hide her excitement and waved her arms back and forth in small but fast motion, with the brightest smile on her face. The customer ordering couldn't help but notice it herself and gave a smile, thinking to herself that the owner was pretty cute.
"These are amazing Bora! We have to have them on the menu!" she says elated, and Bora returned the smile, happy to see how her baking uplifted her friend. While the two were talking, the mysterious customer had ordered herself an iced americano and sandwich, paying for the order at the till and taking a seat at a table off to the left side of the cafe. Minji had not realised and upon turning around to once again try catch a better look at the woman that intrigued her, found that she was gone. Yubin was a rather observant person though so it didn't take her very long to notice Minji's interest. She sighed with a smile before resting her hand on Minji's shoulder. "She's seated at the table on the left," Yubin says reassuringly, watching the eye smile return to Minji's face. Minji stood on her toes to try spot the woman and managed to spot her black cap, "Okay let me know when her order is ready." Yubin simply nodded as Minji skipped off back to Bora's station to eat more of the tasty treats her friend had just invented.
A few minutes pass and the store gets increasingly busy. Yubin barely has a moment between taking orders and payments and placing the order slips on the rail for the chef to receive. In her rush, she had completely missed that the mysterious black-haired lady's order was ready and failed to tell Minji. Yoohyeon, simply trying to do a good job picked up the order during the rush and noted the table number it was for, before making her way over. In her hurry, she failed to spot a spillage between two tables. An ice block had fallen out of a knocked over glass from a table where customers had just left. The unfortunate Yoohyeon's strides were too fast and she neglected to spot the threatening spill ahead, stepping directly on the block which slid slightly forward before being crushed under the force of her step. Sadly she had slipped forward enough to lose her balance and before she knew it, her bottom struck the ground, the tray following shortly after, bouncing off the top of her head while the americano flavoured the floor just ahead of her.
The black-haired customer jolted up and rushed over to help her up while Yubin proceeded to call Minji from the back, "Yoo has fallen again", she says in a tone that suggested it was something that happened frequently. Minji walked out from the back and stood next to Yubin, peering in Yoohyeon's direction. She noticed the woman with the hat helping and quickly pieced together the order on the floor. She then turned to check the slip and realised it was her order that was dropped. Minji turned to give Yubin a smack on her arm, not hard enough to hurt though. "You were supposed to tell me when her order was ready!" Yubin rubs her arm, "I'm sorry but look, it got crazy busy again!" Minji was quick to forgive and rushed to the back to ask Bora to remake the order as quick as possible before heading over to the front again. She bent down without hesitation to pick up the tray and spilt contents while the customer was kindly tending to Yoo. "A..are you okay?," The kind stranger asks. "Yeah thank you, sorry about that ma'am," Yoohyeon says looking embarrassed. "Please, call me Siyeon. I'm just glad you didn't get hurt too badly." she says reassuringly while taking her cap off to have better eye contact with Yoohyeon. "I'm fine, honestly." Yoohyeon adds as Minji stands up to put the tray down on the table that was vacated. Minji had not noticed Siyeon took her cap off but she was tentative enough to have overheard her name.
"Sorry Siyeon, we'll be bringing you a new order very soon," she says while turning to face the customer. She extends her hand out and lifts her gaze to look at Siyeon. "My name..is..Minji" she says with a sudden change of pace in her tone half way through her introduction as their eyes met. Siyeon's beauty was far greater than Minji had anticipated. If Minji were to describe it, she had porcelin-like skin with eyes that entrapped you in their gaze. It seemed as though millions of stars swam in them. Her lips flawlessly sculpted and painted in a deep red. She was captivated but it seemed the feeling was mutual as Siyeon couldn't even meet Minji's hand to introduce herself and the only words to come from her was a soft repeat of Minji's name. Yoohyeon standing to the side, found her eyes swaying from left to right between the two, before she mischievously smiled and 'accidently' nudged Minji towards Siyeon. The loss of footing brough Minji out of her trance and an instant warmth rushed to her cheeks from the embarrassment she felt. "Minji, here's the order you asked for!" Bora's voiced boomed from the till and Minji rushed over to collect it at once — sandwich in her left and americano in her right hand.
She reached the now smiling Siyeon once more and extended both her hands out towards Siyeon. "Sorry once more," she says while giving a slight bow forward in sincerity. Siyeon reached for the order and upon reaching for her drink, their hands met. Instantly they both react. Minji finds herself looking over at their hands touching but doesn't pull away while Siyeon keeps her focus on Minji. It wasn't obvious at first but Siyeon had done it purposefully. She felt this girl meant something important to her and she wanted to be sure of it. Their touch only proved her feelings more. Not wanting to make the situation any harder for Minji, she took the drink carefully before smiling softly at Minji and thanking her.
Minji wasn't sure what to make of the situation at first, but she was certain she was destined to meet Siyeon. She turned and walked off, leaving Siyeon to enjoy her meal, placing her right hand within her left and thinking endlessly about their touch throughout the day. After closing hours Minji locked up and headed home, the entire day unable to shake her encounter with Siyeon. She reached home and headed straight to her bedroom, she was exhausted from work but moreover was still trying to process her thoughts. She got changed into her white silk PJ's and brushed her teeth before climbing into bed. The big bed felt empty again like always. Minji turned to lay on her right side with her right arm stretched out. She simply stared at it, replaying her memories of Siyeon and without realising it, she started to drift off to sleep.
Her eyes open slowly to bright light, her vision still blurry as she blinks a few times to regain focus. It seems to be the middle of the day but she doesn't recognise the place she is in. Has she been there before? Why does nothing look familiar yet the atmosphere feels familiar to her? She finds herself walking for a bit before heading towards a statue in the center of the mysterious area. The statue seemed to be of some revered woman, for some reason she is unable to read the words on the plaque. She reaches toward it but her hand ghosts through it. Surprised, she tries again and upon the same result, she quickly realises she must be in a dream. After looking up at the statue once more, she hears a sound come from the other side of it. At first she ignores it but then, she hears it a second time, and much clearer as there is a husky sound to it. "Minji?" the voice calls and Minji slowly peers around the statue.
Siyeon was standing at the other side to her surprise. Knowing it was a dream, Minji felt a lot more at ease and a lot braver. She made her way towards Siyeon who was also slowly approaching her. For a few seconds they simply stood in front of one another staring at each other, but to them it felt a lot longer. Siyeon gave a warm smile while lifting her hand up, as if inviting Minji to reach up and meet her hand. Unlike Minji, Siyeon was a lot more aware of Lucid dreaming and much more in control, but felt there was no need to let Minji know just yet, instead she let Minji control the dream as she liked — it also let her see Minji reveal her true feelings. Sure enough, Minji lifted her hand to meet Siyeons. The two remained silent, taking in the insurmountable tention between them. Both slowly inching closer, closing the distance between themselves without even realising. All they saw were each others eyes which seemed to carry memories of a thousand past lives together. It felt like they were exactly where they were meant to be, with exactly who they were made to be with. Lost in that space, Minji found her other hand lift and rest on Siyeons cheek and Siyeon naturally rested hers ontop of Minji's. The only words spoken, sweetly escaped Siyeons lips, "Do you believe in soulmates?" she asked, as if voicing the exact words that had formed in Minji's mind. Minji without a word leaned forward, her answer obvious, as she slowly placed her lips upon Siyeons. She softly inhales before pressing her lips more firmly and kissing Siyeon. Her warm aura, the feeling of her breath on her lips, her touch as their fingers interlocked, Siyeon had fully emersed herself in the sensation, kissing Minji in return, and in that moment Minji had no more doubts — she had found the paradise she had been seeking for so long.
Foreword
It is rumoured that we were all born with four arms, four legs and two heads. But the gods were threatened by mankind's power and thus cursed them, splitting them in two and forcing them to spend the rest of their mortal lives forever seeking their other half.
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