Joohyun languidly stirs at her hot coffee, watching as the color changes from black to her favorite kind of brown. She doesn’t even like drinking one – actually loathes the bitter taste of it but for now, she holds the cup near her lips and hopes that it’ll distract her enough from spiralling down into regretful pasts that comes into the forefront of her brain, burning images at the back of her eyelids. There’s no use in choking up tears, no use of reaching for someone who isn’t there anymore. So Joohyun instead looks up at the guy she's with, Jisun? No. Jaesum? Probably not either. It's only been twenty minutes into this blind date but she already forgot his name. Nevertheless, Joohyun relents, eventually stops guessing and instead compliments the tie the guy's wearing. The light blue cloth was nothing special, she really just needed to say something to cut the awkward air that's been hanging around them.

Joohyun picks him apart, eyes trained on subtleties. First, he liked to in every conversation, trying hard to impress, trying hard to sweep her off her feet; Yeah well my friends always said I'm a catch! Joohyun internally grimaces; so far, he isn’t the first one to pull this kind of stunt. Second, she notices that he could only look at her for five seconds, head turned downcast, swiping at an invisible lint on his white polo.

It is fun, sort of, at least as fun as how forced dates can get. Joohyun doesn't miss the way the guy's hands shake as he picks up his cup. Doesn't miss the way his lips curl up into a nervous smile. He shyly laughs and says, "Thank you," and unconsciously smooths out his tie in the process.

Third, he has a soulmate. The glaring red string looped around his ring finger hums at a frequency. It passes through the coffee shop's door and ends right across the street.

“Do you believe in soulmates?”

“Oh… I’m- I’m not sure if I have one.” Joohyun’s eyes trail at the pink that dusts his cheeks; he gives her a boyish smile, “But if I did have one, I sure hope that it’s you.”

And it comes at a trajectory. There’s a sharp pain below her ribs, searing hot that Joohyun had to force herself to breathe in slowly.

“That’s too bad then,” Joohyun forces out a smile that never quite reaches her eyes, “Because your soulmate just walked right passed that shop across from us.”

It is fun, sort of, at least as fun as how blind dates should go. Joohyun watches as the guy scrambles to his feet, tilting the chair he sat on sideways until it hits the floorboard. He bows, apologizes to the people inside the coffee shop, most especially to Joohyun. She could practically hear Yeri’s laugh seeing as how she had to play cupid at her own date – again.

According to the Multiverse Theory, there are multitudes of universes, each formed entirely randomly. There could be a region of space where the exact events that's happening in our planet plays identically. A universe that is exactly like ours but have fundamentally different physical laws. A universe where every possibility could happen - from start to finish and back again in an alternate timeline. There are infinites of universes, each having their own versions of realities.

“So... what am I doing here again?" Joohyun asks as she makes herself comfortable on a tall wooden stool that she's trying hard not fall from.

"Well," Sooyoung preps up her camcorder, adjusting it to a lighter setting, "long story short, this will boost Yeri’s youtube career and hopefully get me more credits on that godforsaken creative writing class.”

Joohyun raises a brow at that, “I’m assuming that they forced you to do this because I don’t intimidate you?”

“Yes,” Sooyoung hums in agreement, “so I need to interview a uhm..," she flips over her clipboard, "Interview a subject that fits the topic's criteria.”

"And what are those criteria?"

Bending down, Sooyoung adjusts the tripod to Joohyun's eye level and peeks through the lens, "It's about that." She points towards a three-paged yellow paper that was on top of a counter not far from her.

Joohyun scoffs, rolling her eyes. She reaches for the papers and flips through the pages, reading every single outlined number. "I'm pretty sure tons of people fit these criteria." Because yes, she's busy and she has no time for this kind of nonsense. Her three essays and two worksheets won't just magically finish themselves until the weekend. Maybe taking grad school wasn’t a good idea to top on her already busy work schedule.

Not even sparing the girl a glance, Sooyoung long presses a button until she sees a red light appear. Pressing it again, she turns to get another stack of papers and sifts through them - marking and crossing each one. "Okay so I'm going to be asking you different sets of questions," the girl scans the papers again, "You know, the usual stuff." She looks up at Joohyun and smiles, "And all you have to do is answer them honestly."

Raising a challenging brow, Joohyun wobbles on her seat, "You know, I don’t remember giving any positive affirmation to be probed and prodded, especially with a camera present."

Pulling a swivel chair to sit unto, Sooyoung nips at her pen and jots down additional questions. She doesn't say anything - which irks Joohyun a little bit - until she finishes reading her work. "You owe me," was all she gets as a reply.

Joohyun rolls her eyes so hard this time she feels like a headache is about to brew. She crosses her arms feeling displeased, "Fine! But all those things I owe you will be non-existent after this interview ends."

Her friend only waves her off before doing another long press until the red light blinks. She holds up her hand and starts counting down, mouthing the numbers as she gives Joohyun the signal.

"This is Park Sooyoung, a junior of Yonsei University, majoring in Mass Communication. And today, I'm going to interview a subject who fits the criteria of my work entitled, “Soulmates: The Four Percent." She motions to the sitting girl, "Please introduce yourself."

Seeing as she has no choice but to comply, Joohyun sits straight and fixes herself. She looks at the camcorder and focuses on the blinking red light - doing an awkward wave, "Uhm hi?" she says unsurely because Sooyoung literally just crashed her bedroom door – they share an apartment – probably leaving a dent in the process and snatched her away from her peace and quiet. She wasn't given any rundown as to what's going to happen or what she's supposed to do.

Leaning on her left side - almost falling in the process - she looks at Sooyoung, her eyes looking lost but the girl continues on with her work and flips on to another page. Joohyun looks straight at the camera, “I guess, I’m part of the four percent who-” she watches as Sooyoung stops whatever she was doing; an expectant gaze shot her way. Joohyun almost laughs at the absurdity of a life she lives, randomly remembering her disaster date that happened last week. She composes herself for the last time, unconsciously brushing her fingertips over the soft fabric of her cotton shirt. The faster she cooperates, the faster her misery ends.

“Hello, I’m Bae Joohyun.” The girl watches as the number above Sooyoung’s head clicks by the second – seventy-two days, “I can see soul bonds.”

Soulmates exists in her reality.