Heejin gawked at the fortune teller, not quite believing what she was hearing. 

"I'm sorry," she chuckled nervously. "Could you say that again? I don't think I heard you right." 

The older lady only smiled in clear amusement, the laugh lines around her face creasing and deepening from the movement. Pointing her dainty finger down at the swirling blue and purple crystal ball in between them, she repeated herself, "What I see is you and a lovely young girl together." 

"Me and a..." she trailed off meekly. 

"A girl!" the old woman urged a bigger grin on her face now and causing Heejin's to flame up. "A very special girl," she said, calmer now and with a softer expression, somehow easing Heejin's frantic nerves. 

"Special?" Heejin mumbled. feeling something bubble in her chest as her fingers curled around the fabric of her shirt. 

The woman nodded, humming as the fog around them suddenly grew heavier, but when Heejin glanced over at the candles behind the old woman, she saw that the flames were dim and stagnant; not even a whiff of smoke drifting off them.

"A very rare kind of 'special,'" she confirmed, looking back at her crystal ball for a moment before her face brightened the moment she met Heejin's eye again. "You've already met her! Oh, how exciting!" 

"I've—" her attempt at a sentence fell short when the woman stopped her with a hand pointing her finger up, signaling her to quiet down as she stared down at the ball intently again.

"And she's at the fair!" The woman clapped her hands together, clearly excited over the revelations as if she were the one receiving the news. 

Heejin, however, didn't know quite how to react. She didn't know if she could take her words to heart—after all, she was taking advice from a fortune teller at the annual fair. Her get-up was nothing short of stereotypical what with the extensive faux jewelry, the fog machine working its wonders to make the interior of the tent ominous and mystical, the only light being provided by the various candles set up around them. It was exactly what one would expect from a money-hungry tactic luring naive people into spending all their tickets just to get a glimpse of their future. 

But, Heejin felt that inkling of hope burrowed deep in her chest at the woman's enthusiasm over finding Heejin's potential soulmate—even that started to sound farfetched to Heejin, except she couldn't shake off the feeling. 

"Do you know what she looks like? Or- maybe her name?" Heejin asked eagerly, her initial confusion dwindling the more she fell into the fortune teller's scheme. 

(Or maybe it wasn't a scheme. Heejin couldn't help considering the woman's credibility with how genuine she seemed to act, even her excitement was rubbing off on her.)

"No, unfortunately not, honey. It doesn't work as easily as that." Heejin slumped in her seat, visibly disappointed but keeping quiet as the woman chuckled. "It's up to you whether you try and find her tonight or not." 

Heejin thought about it for a moment, looking at the crystal ball as if it would give her the answer or at least another clue as to who this girl was. But when she started thinking of all the people she knew—most of them from her school—she felt her hope falter. "Nearly the entire school's at the fair, how am I supposed to find her?" 

"That's not up to me to determine," the woman chuckled earnestly, standing up and motioning for Heejin to do the same. "Who knows, maybe you will find her." 

Heejin didn't know how to respond to that, merely nodding and letting the woman her back to the front of the tent as she thought about her words.

She honestly couldn't decide what to do—she couldn't even tell if what she was told was legit. 

But a little part of her just couldn't help wanting to go after this little goose chase. Maybe it was all true, after all. 

Heejin thanked the fortune teller for her time, handing over the fair tickets and then ducking through the tent's flap.

"Hey." Heejin turned her head as Hyunjin came over, biting the top of her corndog and smiling with full. "How'd it go? You get cursed or somethin'?" she joked, only laughing when Heejin shoved her away. 

"No." Heejin crossed her arms over her chest, walking away from the tent and back into the fair's crowd with Hyunjin trailing close behind. 

"So? What happened?" Hyunjin asked curiously, continuing to eat her corndog as they passed all the game stands and children running about. 

Heejin wasn't so sure if she wanted to tell Hyunjin that she was told she had a soulmate wandering the fairgrounds; she could already hear the teasing remarks she knew would come from Hyunjin. And then Hyunjin would only go out seeking their friends and tell them, leading to something bigger and humiliating that Heejin desperately did not want to get into. 

"Oh, you know," Heejin nudged her elbow against Hyunjin, "it was all a joke. The whole vague 'follow the yellow brick road and find your destiny' stuff." 

"Oh, lame. I was kinda hopin' you'd have to save the end of the world from the zombie apocalypse or something, but whatever." Hyunjin shrugged and bit into her corndog again.

Heejin only giggled, shaking her head at Hyunjin's absurd prediction. "Where'd the others go, anyway?" 

"Uhh," Hyunjin pondered, slightly distracted as she brushed away some crumbs from her jacket. "Jiwoo and Sooyoung were being too lovey-dovey—" Heejin snorted when she saw the way Hyunjin's nose crinkled, her face expressing disgust. "So, I sent them off. And then Hyejoo kept complaining that you were taking too long and that she was exhausted so Yerim decided to take her back home." 

"So, it's just us now?" 

"Just us."

"Gross," Heejin feigned disinterest, unable to keep a straight face as Hyunjin gasped dramatically, immediately barreling into her out of retaliation and lucking out when they didn't run into anyone else. "Kidding! I'm kidding, Hyun!" 

"Yeah, whatever," she dismissed as she tossed the stick she had in her hand into a trashcan they passed. "Let's go do something, I bet I can beat you at one of these games," Hyunjin said confidently, steering her and Heejin to the sides of the crowd to inspect the rows of different fair games. 

"You wanna bet on that?" Heejin challenged, turning to Hyunjin and instantly recognizing the glint in her eye when they faced each other, noting the way she narrowed her eyes and upturned her lips into an arrogant grin. 

"You're on, Jeon."

So, Hyunjin dragged Heejin to one of the water-gun games, settling right into their usual competitive spirits the moment they were given the sign to go. But Heejin was a bit distracted, the fortune teller's words flitting back and forth in the back of her mind and making her falter with her aim; the water occasionally drifting too low or too high, sometimes missing the target completely which didn't escape Hyunjin's eye. Her friend immediately going for the offensive and taunting Heejin until she won. 

Heejin brushed off the loss, not feeling it dampen her mood since Hyunjin seemed so excited to win a prize—even if it was a cheap little turtle. 

Besides, Hyunjin wasn't one to rub her victory in her face, simply dragging her off to the next game and repeating the cycle, then going off to the rides around the fair. They even met up with Jiwoo and Sooyoung briefly until they were off to have their own fun. 

And Heejin couldn't deny it; sometimes she'd look around to see if she recognized anyone. Each time she'd end up disappointed when she didn't find the "destined" girl she was told to look for. 

But Hyunjin was right by her side cheering her up with the littlest things; whether it was closing her eyes and staying completely silent during the rollercoaster ride or buying her snacks from the concession stands. 

It helped distract her from the doubts clouding her mind. 

"All right," Hyunjin spoke up, sitting down at the edge of the dock with all their prizes bunched in her arms. "Tell me what's going on with you."

Sitting down next to her, Heejin leaned back, resting her weight on her hands as she stared out at the water. "What do you mean?"

They decided to step away from the fair, needing a break from all the crowds and loudness. So they headed out to the docks situated right next to the fair, some other people having the same idea and mingling about.

"You seem..." Hyunjin trailed off as she turned around to set all the stuffed animals behind them, leaning back the same as Heejin as she finished her thought. "You just seemed distracted today." Heejin knew Hyunjin was looking at her, but Heejin just couldn't get herself to face her. "Penny for your thoughts?" 

Hyunjin lightly tapped the side of Heejin's head, smiling as she swatted Hyunjin's hand away. 

But she stayed silent for a moment, unsure whether or not she wanted to unload her emotional baggage onto Hyunjin—even if it was something as silly as being disappointed by a phony fortune teller. 

"You don't gotta tell me if you don't want to, y' know? I was just wonderin'." Hyunjin shrugged nonchalantly, but Heejin knew if she didn't escalate it while she had the chance, Hyunjin would really stick to her word and let Heejin mull over it by herself. 

Besides, Heejin had to get a grip over herself. It wasn't something she should be sulking over anyway. 

"No, no. It's just—" Heejin sighed, sitting up and dropping her hands onto her lap, looking down at the dark water below as it lapped up the wooden beams of the dock. She forced out a laugh, trying to lighten up the mood and not make it seem like something so serious. "You remember the fortune teller?" She couldn't tell if Hyunjin nodded or not but she continued anyway. "She didn't tell me some stupid thing about destiny. She... she told me that she saw me and some girl together—a special girl." 

Expecting Hyunjin to burst out laughing or at least trying to hold back her laughter, Heejin chanced a glance up to her friend only to see her looking back with nothing short of all her attention. 

"Well?"

Baffled by her response, Heejin furrowed her eyebrows and stared at Hyunjin. "What?"

Hyunjin shrugged, kicking her legs back and forth gently from the edge of the dock. "Do you know who she is?"

She shook her head, wondering if Hyunjin was genuinely curious about her predicament to if she was just trying to egg Heejin on. 

"All she said was that I knew her and that she was at the fair."

This time Hyunjin cracked a grin, amusement lacing her tone that Heejin was easily able to pick up. "Practically the entire school's at the fair."

"That's what I said!" Heejin exclaimed quickly, turning and tucking her legs under her so that she faced Hyunjin. 

"So, what now? You go and search for your soulmate?" Heejin shoved her when she emphasized "soulmate", feeling her face heat up when Hyunjin started laughing. 

"Shut up!" Except Hyunjin's laughter was too contagious and even Heejin couldn't help but laugh along with her. "All right, so I believed it a little bit. She was really convincing!" 

Hyunjin only laughed more, prompting Heejin to shove her again and nearly sending her into the water below. But Hyunjin didn't even seem to care, lying back on the dock trying to calm herself down. 

"Oh, come on. It's not that funny!" Heejin whined, desperately trying to defend herself and stop Hyunjin from embarrassing her even more.

It took a moment, but Hyunjin eventually composed herself, sitting herself up and shaking her head. "Heejin," she laughed out one last time, running a hand through her hair to fix it up a bit. "Just 'cause some old lady in a tent claims to be a fortune teller and tells you to go find your soulmate, doesn't mean you gotta go and believe all that stuff, y' know?" 

Heejin nodded, remaining quiet and curious as to where Hyunjin was leading with this—even with her pride a little wounded. 

"I mean," Hyunjin paused, sighing through her nose as she looked out at the water. "Who knows if soulmates even exist, right? Like, think about it, what's the point of being put on earth just to be made for someone else? Aren't we—don't you think that..." Hyunjin trailed off again, visibly struggling to form whatever thoughts she had in her head into words. 

"Yeah?" Heejin spoke quietly, showing Hyunjin that she was listening and encouraging her to go on. 

But Hyunjin was still struggling, her hands resting against the dock as her fingers drummed without rhythm. So, in an attempt to calm her racing thoughts, Heejin placed her hand over Hyunjin's, feeling all tendons and muscle under her skin still and relax.

"The concept of soulmates is weird," she finally said, voice low but thoughtful. "I don't think we were made for one specific person; that just doesn't make sense to me. I think there are specific parts of me that fit well with different people—which sounded a lot better in my head, but, whatever."

The statement made Heejin smile knowing it was Hyunjin's subtle way of making light of the situation. But she wasn't sure why Hyunjin was being so serious about it in the first place, she was talking like she was some wise old woman who's lived through this kind of thing before.

It was comical in a way, but also endearing.

Heejin felt as though there was no need to keep her hopes up anymore. 

She doesn't have to when the girl the fortune teller was talking about was sitting right next to her—she had always been by her side. She just didn't think of Hyunjin as her soulmate. 

"Hey, Casanova," Heejin called out, amused that Hyunjin actually reacted to the name. 

But rather than saying anything, Heejin leaned forward and pressed her lips against Hyunjin's, intending it to be short and sweet so that she could talk and maybe elaborate. Except, just as Heejin was about to break it off, Hyunjin's hand slipped up to cup the side of her neck, keeping her in place as she returned the affection. The mere action was enough to send Heejin's mind reeling as she clutched onto the collar of Hyunjin's jacket.

Whether or not the fortune teller's prediction was right, Heejin's never been so happy to be with Hyunjin. 

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