Seeing Only Red

1

In a world as black and white as this one, it never occured to me that colors could be beautiful. I always heard from people who found their soulmates that colors were incredible, but here I am at 22 and I still haven't found my soulmate. Not even close. Not a single flicker of color since the day I was born.

Some people find someone who sparks at least a single color or two, usually a first love. Especially since high school love always feels like it might be forever, but I'm almost done with college and still hadn't ever truly fallen in love. I had dated, but when you date someone and never see a color, what's the point? Why go through the heartbreak when you can just wait for the one you're meant to be with?

"Luna!"

I didn't expect the familar voice behind me, but as I turned I saw my best friend Bora standing behind me.

"Boraaaa!" I yelled as she hugged me. "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow! Signing up for classes?"

"Yeeep. The final semester I never thought would come." She laughed skipping next to me.

"Oh god. Me too. We're almost adults." I laughed. "How's Seungmin?"

"Being a typical boyfriend." She said rolling her eyes, Bora had been seeing color since she was 17. She always tried to describe it to me, but it was difficult when you had to use colors to describe color.

"Of course." I replied pretending to match her annoyance.

"I gotta go, I have to make sure I get this class or I can't graduate."

"K, seeeeee yaaaaa"

As I turned around I bumped into someone making me drop my notebook. "Oh god. I am so sorry!" A smooth voice replied. Not even looking up I grabbed my books.

"It's ok, no harm done." I said slowly realizing that I had just seen what I assumed to be a color. It was deep and rich.

"I need to watch where I'm going! I'm so sorry" he replied as he brushed himself off and started to walk away.

"WAIT!" I yelled after him. He had to of seen it too, the slight flash of color. He had to of see it.

"Yes?"

"Don't you see that?" I asked confused.

"See what?" He asked.

I paused, maybe I was mistaken. No soulmate sees color alone, we both would have seen it.

"Nothing, nevermind." As soon as he walked away the color disappeared. Maybe my brain was just glitching. Once a pair of soulmates meet the color stays. It doesn't just turn on and off.

"What are you doing talking to Chan?" Bora asked, once again behind me. "He's such a weirdo"

"He bumped into me, it's nothing." I said brushing it off. I threw Bora a quick smile and walked away.

***

Later that night in our dorm, I pointed to something on the table between our beds. "What color is that?" I asked.

"Why? You can't see it anyway." Bora said not looking up from her desk.

"Because I'm bored and I wanna know" What I didn't expect is that the color I saw when I bumped into Chan had come back. It came and went, usually every few hours. He had been good looking, but I'd seen him around and no colors flashed before.

Bora took a deep breath and turned around to see what I was pointing at. "It's red....If you want to be more specific it's a dark reddish burgandy color but...." Slowly I saw a realization flash across her face. "Did you see color today when you bumped into Chan? Is that why you've been weird all day?!" She smiled and ran to my bed.

"Kind of?" I answered.

"Kind of? You do or you don't, Lu. There's no kind of"

"I only saw one color and it comes and goes."

"Oooook, that's weird." Bora said sitting on the edge of my bed. "Colors don't come and go, Luna, they stay for the rest of your life."

"Yeah, I know, but it's the only time I've ever seen any color at all. I'm so confused. Is he my soulmate or not?"

"When I saw Seungmin, it was full color right away. It was almost overwhelming how many colors I saw at once." She said pondering the possibilities.

"UGH!" I said rolling onto my back in frustration. He was good looking, at least he had that going for him. Did he really not see any color when he looked at me? Did he see one color too? Why couldn't I just be normal and see them all at once.

"Did you ask him if he saw anything? What did he say?" Bora asked as she laid down next to me on the tiny bed.

"I think he pretended he didn't hear me. He just kind of walked away." I had to admit I was not only confused but disappointed. What if he saw full color and ran away anyway? What if he doesn't like how I look? What if he doesn't want a soulmate. That happens, some people are just happier alone and never even look for their soulmate. I don't want to be alone. Sure, I had a bit of FOMO, but the thought of spending my entire life alone was scary. I wanted to fall in love and share my life with someone, and I was tired of having to consider the possibility. If you don't find your soulmate by 25, the chances of finding them drop to less then one percent.