That Star In Your Eyes [ It Better Be Mine ]

Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time

Momo took off her earphones to find a tear running off her cheek, fresh and open, just like the wounds on her heart. Fresh and bleeding, just like the memory a of her soulmate day. Had Momo known before, she would’ve torn her eyes away just in time, just in time to not notice her name and everything else etched into hers.

Momo laughed as Nayeon tried and failed to kiss Jeongyeon on the mouth while eating cake. The two had been dating for some time now, but were still as petty as ever, proof being the plastic spoon chucked at Nayeon by - an almost horrified - Jeongyeon, which missed by inches and instead hit the wall. Momo had to stuff her knuckles into her mouth to stop giggling, watching Nayeon and Jeongyeon profusely apologising to her parents for the smudges of cake left on the wall, forgetting that it was all wallpaper for her birthday, to be taken off afterwards. 
The clock hit 9 with a subtle tick, which seemed magnified by some hundred bells outside.

Time was in slow motion. Smiles trickled off all faces.

Everyone looked at Momo in trepidation, for she was fifteen now, which meant that she could finally see her name in her soulmate’s eyes. Her hobbies in her soulmate’s eyes, her favourites in her soulmate’s eyes. She could now see herself in her soulmate’s eyes.

But who was her soulmate? Were they even here?

Momo sucked in a deep breath, and looked at Nayeon and Jeongyeon questioningly. 

“Nay, Jeong, how did you two find each other?”

She could feel her heart thumping in her chest. Not even the angels knew who her soulmate was. What if they were…gone?

Momo pushed that thought away. The soulmate hormones were already taking effect; it scared her to death. She didn’t even know who it was.

”Well,” Jeongyeon began slowly,”I guess it was easier for me, because we were already together when my birthday arrived, and Nay had hers a full year ago, also she looked at me immediately. I was the younger soulmate, so I just had to worry about my birthday.”

Then Momo looked at Nayeon. “What if I’m the older one?”

”Look for them right now, if you can.”

Momo nodded just as Sana and Jihyo burst into the room, panting. They both looked at each other, and then at Momo. But Momo smiled and shook her head. It wasn’t either of them.

”Guess you two weren’t the lucky ones,” teased Momo while Sana and Jihyo hugged in relief. Everyone knew that there was something going on with the two. Well, everyone but themselves, of course.

”Hey,” echoed a sugar sweet voice from across the room, and Momo turned around to find Dahyun with a smile and her piano set on the floor. They looked at each other for an intense moment, before Nayeon broke it up with a, “Woah, you two really wanna be together, don’t you?” which Momo blushed at. She couldn’t lie, she had been hoping for some time that it would be Dahyun. 

“Shame,” replied Dahyun. “I was hoping to beat the record that you and Jeongyeon set for soulmate staring.”

”Wha-” spluttered Nayeon, utterly embarrassed. “We did not stare!”

”Uh huh,” said Dahyun, pulling out a stopwatch with the time at 417 seconds. “The stopwatch might disagree, unnie.”

”Disagree with what?”

Tzuyu was innocently sitting on the sofa, an expression of utter calm on her face. She was the angel and the baby of their group, and Momo didn’t even have to look into her eyes to know for sure that it wasn’t her. However, she felt something unusual pulling her to Tzuyu. Like the universe was telling her that they were in the same boat, somehow. Momo just brushed it off, however.

She probably shouldn’t have done that. But she didn’t know, at the time.

Chaeyoung and Mina ran towards the living room and right into her arms. She hugged them both tightly, burying her face in their arms, only to jolt away at the strong scent of lavender emitting from Mina. In confusion, she looked up at the then-ballerina, and felt her heart shake, her world shake, to see her name written in Mina’s smooth and neat handwriting, covering the girl’s two irises.

The star in Mina’s eyes was Momo’s.

Mina was her soulmate.

As if to rub it in even more, Momo suddenly had this weird urge to just hug Mina tighter than usual, breathe in her now elevated scent of lavender, touch her cheek, kiss her cheek, kiss her-

It was absolutely maddening. Momo just knew that she couldn’t survive without telling Mina. But as she opened her mouth to say it, she saw Chaeyoung nuzzle against her shoulder to fall asleep, and closed her mouth again. The desire to touch Mina gave way to the thundering reality that Mina and Chaeyoung clearly liked each other. Momo would always tease them about it, sure that they were soulmates. She couldn’t do this to them. Her best friends. She wouldn’t do this to them. They deserved at least a bit more happiness before Mina’s 16th birthday. 

Then the clock struck again. It was 10.

Mina, Dahyun and Chaeyoung had all gone out to play again. It took her a couple seconds to realise that she, Momo, wasn’t even standing anymore, but had flopped down on the couch, next to Tzuyu, who gasped as Momo suddenly burst into tears, and called Nayeon and Jeongyeon.

”It-it was her,” cried Momo, comforted by a worried Tzuyu.

”Who was it?” Asked Nayeon while Jeongyeon handed her a glass of water. “What happened Momoring? You looked fine before.”

”Mina.”

Their expressions gave way to pity as Momo gulped down some water, gasping when it hit her throat, on the brink of sobbing again. Momo knew that they would leave her. Nayeon and Jeongyeon would laugh at her luck, while Tzuyu would probably be too confused to stay. It wouldn’t matter to them anyway, Tzuyu was too amazing to not have a completely obsessed soulmate, and the other two were already a couple.

But then something unexpected happened. Nayeon took her right hand, Jeongyeon took Momo’s left hand, and Tzuyu hugged her from behind.
“Silly,” murmured Nayeon in her ear, while Tzuyu nuzzled her neck and Jeongyeon nursed her arm,”You didn’t think we’d leave you, did you Momoring?”

”I-you don’t have to-be nice-“

”Shhh,” said Tzuyu, hugging her even tighter. “I might not know everything unnie, but I’ll never leave you just because Mina is your soulmate, and you should know that.”

”You can cry if you need to Momo.”

She spent the rest of the night sobbing into her pillow, with her three best friends next to her.

Just like today.

Her phone was ringing. Momo snapped out of her day-mare to find that Nayeon was calling her to hang out with her and Tzuyu, because Jeongyeon had a late night shift she had to take. Momo agreed and went to change, forgetting that her phone was still playing that song.

Oh, I remember you driving to my house
In the middle of the night
I'm the one who makes you laugh
When you know you're 'bout to cry
And I know your favorite songs
And you tell me 'bout your dreams
Think I know where you belong
Think I know it's with me?