Trans-Atlantic flights were the worst. Just hundreds of miles of nothing but ocean. Beautiful during the day but a nightmare in the dark. Jackson could barely see the clouds underneath him. He checked his phone. Oh, great. There’s a thunderstorm watch. Usually, he didn’t mind turbulence. However, his normally boundless patience was wearing thin.

“Can I just say how stupid this is?” A voice broke the silence.

Jaebeom didn’t bother to look up from his book. “Jinyoung, you’ve already beaten that horse today. Drop it.”

“I’m just saying. It feels like I’m committing fraud.” Jinyoung slouched in his chair.

“Don’t be so negative, hyung.” BamBam patted Jinyoung’s shoulder and got shrugged off. Cranky Jinyoung wasn’t a happy Jinyoung. “Think of it this way. We’re helping the company build the soulmate database. It isn’t likely any of them will be our soulmates, but this increases their chances of finding the one.”

“Again, this is stupid. The concept of soulmates is overrated and just enables people to throw away perfectly good relationships in the name of some nonexistent person who couldn’t possibly ‘complete’ them.” Jinyoung glared up at him.

BamBam held his hands up in surrender, sitting back in his chair. “Okay, my bad.”

As Jinyoung in a breath to continue his rant, Jaebeom groaned. “Great. You’ve triggered him. He’s never gonna shut up about this.”

“And why should I? Why does it make more sense for there to be some magical solution? Why can’t any person I fall in love with be my soulmate? We could grow together and be together for the rest of our lives. But this little device,” he shook his wrist at Jaebeom, “can negate years of a relationship in seconds? Bull.”

“First off, this is science, not magic. Besides, you’re not the kind of people they’re aiming to sell to,” Yugyeom spoke up. He didn’t bother to remove the sleeping mask. “Why would they want someone like you, all cynical and grumpy, buying their product when you don’t share one common belief? If you don’t believe in soulmates, then leave it. Let other people enjoy the fantasy of finding someone.”

“But they’re making me do this! It’s not like I can say no.” He looked around at each of them. “None of you had a problem with this. Now here we are.”

“It’s only for a few weeks. It’s nothing too different from our normal meet and greets.” Youngjae swiped through pictures of Coco on his phone, sending one to Mark, who smirked at it. “It’s an opportunity to get new fans and an excuse to spend more time with existing ones.” He shrugged a shoulder. “If I get to meet someone proven by science to be a part of me, all the better.”

“But what about their expectations?” Jinyoung countered as he turned in his seat to face Youngjae. “What if you connect with someone and they want to be in a relationship? You can’t date them. Hell, you can’t even be seen with them in public without all hell breaking loose. Just knowing you could put them in danger. Then you’d have to break it to them that you’re not available until your contract’s up. Will you give this up for a chance at ‘true love?’”

“You’re overthinking the hell out of this,” Mark shook his head. “To me, it’s no different from our normal promotions or tours. We show up, sing a few songs, touch hands, and go on to the next event. We deal with whatever comes when it’s time to. No sense of stressing out over something that may not even happen.”

While everyone else nodded in agreement and went back to their various activities, Jinyoung slouched in his seat again.

“Just let it go,” Jaebeom shook his head with a faint smile. “Get some sleep. We have another three hours before we land in America.”

“I’m just saying,” he groused. “It’s gonna be a hassle.”

“You never know. Maybe your soulmate’s real chill and is fine with letting things be.”

“And if you’re wrong? What if they want something I can’t give?”

“What if you’re wrong? What if you find something you want but can’t have?” Jaebeom raised his eyebrow in challenge. “Is this what it’s about?”

Jinyoung looked away, instead choosing to stare out the plane window. “Shut up.”

Jaebeom chuckled and went back to his laptop. “That’s what I thought.”

The cabin went silent again, and Jackson returned his attention to his window. Though he couldn’t see the water below him because of the clouds and the moon was absent, he could see the stars above. Millions of twinkling lights smeared across the inky darkness. Out of those millions of stars, a single one caught his attention. If asked, he couldn’t explain why. It just did. Maybe it was the shade, something closer to lavender. It certainly wasn’t the biggest and wasn’t attached to any constellations. Yet, a warmth bloomed in his chest. How weird was it to feel attached to something so far away, so foreign to him. Still, it was his star now.

If only he’d see it again.

You don’t ask for much. Just peace, food, and a bed to sleep in. To your dad, you might as well ask for a million bucks and a Tesla. It didn’t take much to set him off, and constantly walking on eggshells around him was exhausting.

But you did it anyway. For your mom and younger brother.

You parked your car in the driveway, taking care not to be too close to the faint line that divided it in half. You wouldn’t hear the end of it if you were even a millimeter over it. Dad wanted all the room he could get to half- park his stupid Blazer.

You dumped your trash leftover from your breakfast into the dumpster, ignoring how your feet screamed with each step to the curb and back. The evening rush hit harder than usual and left you stuck in the drive-thru window with a flimsy windbreaker that could barely handle air-conditioning, much less a chilly fall night. If you got sick, it’d be because of that. Here’s hoping your immune system was stronger than you believed.

Since the garage door was down, you had to go through the backyard to get to the patio door and get in the house through the kitchen. You preferred the garage because your bedroom door was right next to the entrance to the garage. You thought about texting your brother, Aubrey, and asking him to let you in, but it was late and you didn’t want to bother him.

As you closed the fence gate behind you, you spotted your parents in the kitchen. Mama was frowning with her hands on her hips. Whatever the topic was, it wasn’t good.

You tapped the patio glass before sliding it open. “Hello.” You greeted them both, sliding the door shut and locking it.

Your dad rounded on you. Judging by the look in his eye and the amount of air he in before speaking, it was going to be one of those nights. “Why the hell are you coming in so late?”

Late? You glanced at the clock and realized you’d forgotten to tell them. “We got swamped, and I had to stay to help get the orders out.”

“And you couldn’t be bothered to send a text message?”

You glanced at Mama. She was rolling up her sleeves, glaring at him. “I didn’t have time to even take a lunch. And we’ve talked about this before. I can’t use my phone on the clock.”

“Don’t get smart with me,” he took a step toward you, but Mama jumped in between you two.

“Back off. I’ve told you she can’t stop what she’s doing when she’s up there to do whatever you want.”

“Jo, move outta the way. It wouldn’t have taken her a second to ask her boss to let her call or text us.” He turned to her and for a second, you were glad. You were ing exhausted and really didn’t want to spend another minute on your feet. “Y’all act like I’m asking her to come home and ask for permission to stay out an extra hour!”

You hated when he included everyone in exaggerated general statements. Since they were focused on each other again, you figured it was okay to go to your room. You took maybe five steps before he called your name.

“_____! Don’t you walk away when I’m talking to you,” he pointed at you. Times like this kept you on edge, unable to take a breather. He looked like he wanted to put his hands on you. He usually didn’t, but you never knew when he felt froggy.

You stopped and waited for him to continue. “Yes?”

“It isn’t that hard for you to let us know when you’re coming home late from work. Your mama cooked dinner tonight, and we were supposed to sit down as a family and eat. Now everything’s cold. You ruined dinner being an inconsiderate little .”

You couldn’t keep the shock off your face. “Since when do we sit down and eat together?” You blinked a few times, then said, “We usually eat in our rooms.”

His eyes doubled in size and he crossed the living room in three quick strides to get in your face. “Who the you think you talking to like that?”

Ugh. He wanted to fight. For whatever reason, he had been itching to fight with someone. Odd, given how willing Mama was to be a contender. You figured he realized she wasn’t going to be an easy target. You must have looked at tired as you felt because you now had the honor of being his verbal punching bag.

“I didn’t mean—”

He bumped into you with his chest, pushing you back a step. “Don’t forget you live under my roof. This is my house, _____.” He pointed at the front door. “If you can’t follow basic directions like stay in ing contact, you can get the out!”

If this were any other family and he were any other person, you’d say he’s ing nuts. All this over coming home an hour late because of work? But this was your life. He was your dad and this, sadly enough, was tame compared to some of the arguments you dealt with when you were in high school. He used to accuse you of sleeping around and being a enough that, for a brief period of time, you did sleep around just to feel like you deserved his hatred and anger.

Right now, you just wanted to get out of your uniform, eat something, and crash. You had class in the morning and another late shift to cover for a friend. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

You hoped like hell he’d accept it and leave you alone. “Damn right you are. Sorriest little I’ve ever seen in my life.” He looked you up and down with disgust, as if you’d crawled right out of a pigpen. “Hurry up so we can sit down and eat.”

You turned and high-tailed it to your room, glimpsing the clock on the wall as you passed by. It was after ten o’clock. Had he stopped them from eating until you got home? No wonder Mama looked pissed. You shut the door behind you and quickly kicked off your shoes, flopping down on the bed. If even for a second, you were happy to be home and off your feet. You’d have to look into buying better shoes once you had enough money saved up. Between paying for gas and contributing to the bills, you weren’t left with much to play with.

You sat back up and headed towards the kitchen. It’d be better to wait until after you ate to shower so you could get straight in bed. Mama had set the table. You felt bad. You wished you’d remembered to let her know, at least. The food looked amazing and likely tasted just as good as it would have when it was done cooking. She was such a splendid cook that even the pickiest of eaters would be satisfied.

“I’m telling you, Jo. The boy’s got potential.” Dad came around the corner with Mama and Aubrey trailing behind him with pitiful looks on their faces.

“And I’m telling you, Jermond. If he doesn’t want to get into football, he doesn’t have to.” She took a seat on the side of you. You nearly cried out with relief when Aubrey, eyelids low from sleep, pointedly sat in the chair opposite of you, all but snatching it from Dad.

It made you feel even worse. You glanced at your dad and he was staring at you, no doubt relishing in your reaction to everything. If you never thought he was sadistic before, this confirmed it. He just wanted to see someone hurt. Like he thrived on causing as much emotional damage as possible.

He was the worst.

He prompted Aubrey to lead in saying grace, then you all were allowed to eat.

“He can’t just sit around and waste away! He needs to be out there on the field. He could get an athletic scholarship. You’re always going on about how important college is — let him play ball.”

“I don’t have to ‘let’ him play anything. He’ll pursue it if he wants to.” She rolled her eyes and stuck her chin out. Aubrey silently pushed a plate of fish towards you, and you put a couple of pieces on your plate.

“Thank you,” you mouthed, and he nodded. Even though he was taller and acted more mature than you did, he was your baby brother. His desire to protect you and your mom never went unnoticed. He pushed the plate toward Mama and Dad. The plate caught on the wooden edge of the table, getting their attention.

“Speaking of college,” Dad turned to you. “Grades? You have to have something by now, right?”

You shrugged, “Yeah, but it isn’t good. I’m still having trouble understanding the formulas. My professor—”

“What do you mean, it isn’t good?” He held out his hand. “Lemme see them.”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes. You really didn’t want to go through this, right now, with him. Still, you pulled your phone from your pocket and pulled up your grades. The overall 62 glared back at you and you dropped your phone into his hand.

His fat thumb swiped across the screen as his frown deepened. “What the hell is this? How are you failing?”

“I was trying to explain that. I need tutoring for math. My professor says I can bring my grade up with tutoring to improve my test scores.”

“All that money and you’re wasting it. I bet it’s that girl’s fault—what’s her name?” He looked at Mama, but she ignored him. “Kristen?”

You bit back a curse. “Kristen doesn’t even work with me or go to school with me. How is this her fault?”

“Because all she wants to do is party. Every time I look up she’s in your face talking about a party or a movie or something. You don’t have time for that .”

You bit the inside of my cheek to keep from saying something you’d regret. Kristen was one of the few people keeping you sane. If you didn’t have her… you couldn’t complete the thought. “I’ll pull my grades up. I just need a little help understanding the work.”

“You better. College is expensive.” He picked up his fork and began shoving food into his mouth. “You can’t do much else, so at least make it worthwhile.”

Mama put her fork down. “Will you let the girl eat in peace? My God. I didn’t cook dinner just for you to sit and complain the whole meal.”

“Jo, when are you gonna stop babying her?”

“She’s the oldest! What the hell—”

“Whenever she does something, you’re quick to jump to her defense.”

“Because you’re always on the girl’s back! You don’t bother Aubrey nearly as much as you complain about her. And you nitpick on some of the dumbest . Like the other week, she cleaned the kitchen, and you went in behind her and made dirty dishes. Then wake her up because there are dirty dishes in the sink.”

“We have chores for a reason. I’m not supposed to let her know her chores aren’t done?”

“Not at two in the ing morning!”

Aubrey shot you a knowing look. This was getting ugly, and it was time to vacate the war zone. You both shoved the rest of your food into your mouths and made a beeline for the sink. Luckily, it was Mama’s turn to load the dishwasher, so you both were free to go back to your rooms. Their voices got louder as you got closer to your room.

You fell onto your bed and buried your face into the pillow. You knew you shouldn’t blame yourself for any of it, but you couldn’t help but feel responsible. If your grades were better. If you had called. If…

“Hey,” your brother whispered.

You looked up and found Aubrey peeking around the corner into your room. You’d forgotten to close the door behind you. “Hey.”

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t. Don’t beat yourself up. He’s crazy. Mama takes up for you because she loves you. We both do.”

You smiled, blinking back tears. He knew you better than you knew yourself. “Thanks. I love you, too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get some rest.” And he was gone.

You shut the door and set out clothes for your shower. By the time you were ready for bed, you could barely keep your eyes open. Your parents were still going at it, but the topic had changed to attacks on each other. You wanted to intervene, ask them to drop it and go to bed. But the words wouldn’t be taken as someone who cared.

You cut off the light and got into bed, snuggling up with the gigantic teddy bear you kept on it. Through a sliver of light in the blinds on your window, you saw a lone bright purple star. The same star you made a wish on every night before you went to bed, hoping for a better tomorrow.