They had been stuck at the hip since their preteens, classmates that later became sisters in everything but blood. They were so close that their family and friends even considered the odds of them being soulmates.
Soulmates: People who share a single soul.
Soulmates were people who were 100% genetically, physically and mentally compatible with one another. As halves of an uncompleted single soul, they were made for one another as destined, fated lovers.
And Amber had yet to meet hers.
"So how did it go?" Her best friend repeated the question, a flicker of impatience in her tone. Amber knew her well enough to not drag things out and she sat up, clearing her throat to cut to the chase.
"Nothing happened," Amber replied with a half-hearted shrug. "You saw me picking him up at the club, we left in a taxi, got to a hotel. He started to kiss me. I hated it and kicked him out. End of story."
The strangled gasp of surprise was an expected reaction from her best friend because this was not her first attempt at a one night stand. In fact, he had been her tenth failed date that week. One would think that she would have taken anyone with a dick at that point considering her desperation for something to satisfy her needs.
"I thought you liked him!"
"I did." Amber sighed. She really did. She had hoped he would finally be the one to kick her out of her stupid fantasies.
"Then what changed?"
Amber made a face at the memory. "Bad breath."
She turned off the TV, getting out of the bed to stand at the window. The view from the hotel room was pretty, the nightlife created a myriad of blinking colours that appealed to her eyes. On a better day she would have been delighted by the sight, perhaps inspired by the colours to create her next masterpiece.
But not today.
"I could have let that slide, but he was a crappy kisser too and he just didn't know a thing about foreplay." Amber exhaled, rubbing her hair in hopes that it would dry quickly so that she could go to sleep. The damn hairdryer was not working and she wasn't in the mood to call the front desk to complain about it. "All he wanted was to get into my damn panties."
"Fuck." Miri exhaled, sounding sympathetic. "That sucks. He seemed okay."
"I know, I'm so damn disappointed." She paced about in the room, knotting her fingers in her robe. "I just wanted to get rid of all those damned wet dreams of IDOL. Is it really that hard to find just one decent guy?" She ran a hand through her hair, biting her nails.
IDOL.
Possibly the biggest boy band to date and the greatest muses of her life. As an artist, inspiration was the key to her greater creative output. It just so happened that the seven members of a K-pop group were the sources of her motivation.
It began as a simple affair.
She started as a fan of their music. Her mind fluttered to all those nights struggling under the weight of stress and her chest swelled at the thought. She had calmed herself down to the tunes of their songs, laughed to their fan videos after spending hours weeping, and slept to the sound of their voices. Their music had always been her remedy for stress, anger, sadness and depression amongst other things.
She didn't believe in pining after idols.
Amber believed that the videos bleached away their personalities. Like a stretch of correction tape over a hastily scrawled 'oh shit' on the exam paper. What the fans saw were pretty pink versions of their idols, not the truth. She told herself that there would be more to their pretty faces, definitely darker secrets and maybe each one had a twisted hidden personality that she would never learn to love.
Idols were only famous for their music and their well-tailored, company created image.
There was no way in hell she would yearn for any of them like the little teenage girls with fake dreams of a perfect idol soulmate—one that had a pretty personality and heaps of money for them to spend.
She laughed at those girls, she openly chastised those girls.
Then the dreams started.
"It's funny how a virgin like you would have such high standards." Miri giggled, her voice crackling through the receiver from a bad connection. "You've met so many guys, the business student should have been a good one. Deok-Su knows him personally, and he's sweet, experienced and gentle."
Amber smirked at her words.
Deok-Su was Miri's soulmate and fiancée. The two had met earlier than the majority of the soulmate population. For most people, one's soul bond manifested on their 20th birthday, but for Miri, it had occurred on her 16th birthday.
Soul bonds: The connection between two soulmates that will lead them to one another.
The soul bond was what brought soulmates together. It was how soulmates met and how they knew that they were meant for one another. It differed from soulmate to soulmate and it could be a mark, a transference or a change.
Miri had the flicker bond.
Flicker Bond: In which a soulmate will teleport into the arms of their other half at unpredictable times.
Deok-Su was four years older than her. He lived in South Korea and was a genius music producer who worked for big-name companies under the name RibidK. Miri appearing on his lap—dressed in her most tattered pyjamas with her nipples poking through the worn-out fabric—right in front of some of the world's richest music CEOs had not been fun.
Amber grimaced at the thought.
According to Miri, it had been a morning of repeated screaming and self-defence on her part. The poor Deok-Su had frantically tried to explain to her that he had not kidnapped her nor was he interested in raping her.
That week had been absolute hell.
She didn't know how Deok-Su had managed it but eventually, her best friend's tearful homesick sobs through the phone had later turned into shy girly giggles and dreamy looks of love.
It was probably because Deok-Su was the kindest person she knew.
The things he'd done for Miri were endless but the one that struck Amber the most was how he had studied English until four AM each day just to make Miri's life better. Miri had done the same for him too and, to encourage her, Amber had taken it upon herself to study Korean with her.
"The business guy Deok-Su introduced is sweet, but he's just so…Vanilla." Amber replied with a shrug. He was nice and knew how to worship her body. But when it got to the point where it was time for her to lose her virginity, she had clamped up and gone bone dry again. "I don't know. He just didn't turn me on."
"I hear you. The guys I've met before Deok-Su can't hold a candle to him." Miri's voice softened at the mention of her soulmate. "But those dreams must be crazy good if you already have such high standards even before meeting your soulmate."
"They are," Amber whispered, her voice hoarse as she collapsed onto the bed. "They are."
They were tame at first. Simple things like hand-holding and friendly hugs. Innocent things like sweet little cheek kisses and bright cheery smiles. Then as the days past and her birthday grew close. The dreams…Changed.