"Cinder! My timer jumped!" Iko squealed, jumping on Cinder's bed, her knees crashing atop Cinder's torso and jerking her awake.

Cinder groaned and blindly shoved Iko away. Her friend let out an undignified screech and Cinder knew she had succeeded in pushing Iko off the bed. She grabbed the edge of her blanket and pulled it up towards her face, intent on hiding beneath it. Just as the soft fabric had grazed her face, it was ripped away and Cinder was forced to finally look at Iko, who was standing above the bed with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Iko, let me sleep," Cinder muttered and rolled away towards the wall.

"It's close to six days now!" Iko said excitedly. "I went from like nine weeks to six days overnight! That has to mean something, doesn't it?"

Knowing her friend wasn't going to let up, Cinder finally sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her right hand. Her own familiar marking caught her eye, but as usual, there was no change. Cinder lowered her hand, dropping it numbers-down, into her lap and looked at Iko more seriously.

"So Prince Charming is nearby?"

Iko squealed again. "Oh, he must be! He's going to be perfect! My own soulmate, Cinder! Can you imagine?"

Though she had long since come to terms with her own marking, it didn't help the jealousy that simmered in her stomach whenever Iko waved around her fluctuating timer. It also didn't help that Cinder's other close friends had all already connected with their soulmates, their timers having zeroed months, or years in Scarlet's case, ago. Cinder shoved her hand down onto her blankets, curling her fingers around the fabric and she bit down a frown.

"No, Iko, I really can't imagine," she replied carefully.

Iko froze. "Oh stars, Cinder, I'm so sorry. I forgot."

Cinder shrugged, forcing nonchalance. "No big deal."

The bed dipped as Iko sat down next to her. Iko's arm wrapped around Cinder's shoulder and Cinder let her head fall to Iko's shoulder, still drowsy. Iko's fingers twitched atop her shoulder and Cinder looked down. The timer, white numbers against Iko's dark skin, stared up at her, almost taunting. True enough, the time showed significantly more zeroes than it had the day before and the seconds were ticking down as they sat.

"You know, not everyone needs a soulmate to find love," Iko began slowly.

Cinder sighed. She reached up and gently moved Iko's arm from her shoulder before standing up. "Not everyone needs love either," Cinder reminded. "Besides," she said, moving away from her bed to her wardrobe, "I have a soulmate. It's this thing that's broken."

"Soulmate timers don't break, Cinder."

"They never stay locked at max time forever either," she shot back.

"There's got to be a real reason," Iko said after a moment. "Maybe they live on the other side of the world or something?"

Cinder shrugged and rifled through her clothes. She pulled out a black t-shirt and her trusty green cargo jacket. She slid into the clothes and turned around, still wearing pyjama shorts, to look for her jeans. Iko snatched them from the chair next to the bed and tossed them to her. Cinder nodded in gratitude and changed into them quickly.

"Cinder, will you be happy for me when I meet my soulmate?" Iko asked quietly.

Cinder felt shock bristle through her. Surely Iko didn't think that she was that heartless. She touched her best friend's shoulder and mustered the best reassuring smile that she could. "Iko, you love everything to do with love and soulmates, and you're my best friend. Of course I'll be happy for you when you finally meet your soulmate. When you're happy, I'm happy, right?'

Iko beamed, her sadness evaporating instantly. "Right!" She jumped up and wrapped her arms around Cinder, squeezing tightly. "You are the greatest best friend I could ask for. Now, I've got to run to work, so I'll see you later!" Iko spun and dashed out of Cinder's room, and a moment later Cinder heard the door to the apartment shut.

She inhaled deeply. "I'm fine," she assured herself. "Soulmates are silly anyways." The comment didn't stop her from looking at her wrist, though.

99:99:99:99:99

It never changed. Her own numbers were black and solid and had never even ticked one second. When she was younger, the sight of it had made her very upset so she'd taken to wearing gloves. Now, she could stomach the sight of it, but she didn't ditch the gloves. It had become a habit, and Cinder was a creature of habit. Plus, it helped to hide her left hand from prying, curious eyes.

She emerged from her room and saw that the door down the hallway from her, the guest room, was still closed and Cinder shook her head. Of course Iko would wake her at the crack of dawn and leave Scarlet to slumber. She did understand though. Scarlet, whenever she visited, slept until ten or eleven in the morning before she got up. It was funny to think that she was the one who was raised on a farm and in her normal life rose with the sun.

Cinder's foot creaked as she walked into the kitchen and she frowned. Maybe she had a loose screw. Sitting down on the nearest chair, she pulled her foot up onto her lap and flexed it experimentally. It squeaked again and Cinder found the offending joint. There was a tiny little screw that was loosening and she used her fingernail to tighten it. To be safe, she tested her left hand too, but it was functioning without a fault.

She'd been without flesh and bone appendages on the left side of her body since she was a child and had painstakingly designed her own prosthetics to suit her needs. Iko and all her other friends had chipped in so that Cinder could get the nicest materials, and her mechatronics professor had given her a grade for the work, seeming very impressed.

Iko had left a plate of pancakes on top of the stove, leftovers from what Scarlet had cooked the day before, and Cinder helped herself to a few and stuck them in the microwave. They tasted as delicious as anything Scarlet touched, and Cinder ate quickly, doing her dishes at equal speed. While she wasn't working today like Iko, she had a project she was working on that she was dying to finish and she was so close.

Leaving a note for Scarlet on the counter, Cinder slipped out of the apartment.

That evening, Scarlet's boyfriend came by. Ze'ev Kesley, nicknamed Wolf by Cinder's loveably annoying friend Thorne, was a hulking guy, but he and Scarlet were good together. They'd been together for two years since their timers zeroed in a coffee shop they'd both been stopping in. Wolf was nice and Cinder liked him well enough, but whenever he and Scarlet were over it meant delicious cooking because the pair of them were a well-oiled machine in the kitchen.

Scarlet served up a delicious pasta dish which Cinder couldn't remember the complicated name to and the four of them–Cinder, Iko, Scarlet, and Wolf–ate in relative silence. Thorne liked to joke that Scarlet's cooking was too good to disturb with conversation. He usually received a couple of laughs for that one, but then Iko would find something to chatter about.

She was unusually silent tonight and Cinder stole a glance at her friend. Iko looked surprisingly sombre, staring into her lap dejectedly and pushing the pasta around on her plate, but not eating it. Cinder knew something was wrong. Iko was the most hyperactive, positive person she knew and Iko could never resist conversation, especially about soulmates if Scarlet and Wolf were both present. Plus, her timer had dropped overnight so she should have been yammering on about it, but she wasn't.

"Iko," Cinder started, cutting through the silence. Scarlet and Wolf both glanced at Iko in surprise, as if just realising that something was wrong.

"It's back up," Iko replied shortly. "I know it seems stupid, but I was so sure that this was finally it."

Cinder frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Iko, don't worry too much," Scarlet added. "Your soulmate will usually find you when you least expect it. My timer was at five weeks and jumped down very suddenly on the day that Ze'ev and I met."

Iko perked up a little at that and dove into a conversation about the horrible girl that had come into the shop she worked at and had done nothing but complain. She told it animatedly and it drew smiles from Wolf and Scarlet and Cinder looked back at her own plate, feeling a tiny bit better. Nothing could keep Iko's spirits down for long.

The next morning, Scarlet was awake and in the kitchen by the time Cinder rose. Wolf was sitting at the table, drinking a comically large cup of coffee, looking only mostly awake. He'd stayed over last night, which wasn't unusual, and obviously, his presence meant that Scarlet got up earlier than usual. Cinder nodded to him and smiled at Scarlet before pouring herself her own cup of coffee.

She sat down at the table across from Wolf and took a sip out of her mug. She put her cup down and inhaled deeply. Wolf laughed from across from her and Cinder sent him a scathing glance. He shut up and it was Scarlet's turn to laugh at their ridiculousness. Cinder smiled and stretched her arms above her head, relishing in the pops in her shoulder blades.

A loud crash caught her attention and she realised that both Scarlet and Wolf were staring at her in shock. Scarlet had dropped the pan she was holding onto the stove and her jaw was slack. Cinder blinked and recoiled a little, feeling self-conscious. Finally, Scarlet snapped from her shock and turned the stove off. Then she crossed the kitchen in two steps and grabbed Cinder's right hand.

She shoved up the sleeve to reveal Cinder's soulmate timer, the one that never changed, and Cinder found herself staring at a sight she'd never seen before.

00:02:87:35:43

She gaped at her own hand, withdrawing it from Scarlet's grip and staring at it in surprise. She turned it over and then back and stared at the black numbers. For the first time in twenty-three years, the number was constantly changing like everyone else's did. It wasn't broken.

"Cinder, your timer," Scarlet breathed out, still staring.

"I thought you said it never changed," Wolf said, leaning forwards to get a better look.

Cinder tucked her arm into her lap and took a deep, shaky breath. "It never has. I'm twenty-three and this is the first time it's ever been anything other than solid nines."

"That's like nine days now!" Scarlet pointed out.

Cinder stared at the mark again, still in disbelief.

00:02:87:34:52

"What's all the racket about?" Iko grumbled as she made an appearance at the door of the kitchen.

Scarlet looked at Cinder and Cinder prepared herself for Iko's inevitable bitterness at the fact that Cinder's soulmate mark started working immediately after hers jumped back up. She turned so that she was facing Iko and held up her timer, still ticking, so that her best friend could see.

Iko gasped and hurried across the room, grabbing Cinder's arm like Scarlet had. "It works?" Her tone was rich with disbelief.

"I guess?" Cinder muttered, still not quite sure herself.

Instead of bitterness as she'd expected, Cinder was met with a loud, excited squeal from Iko and a bone-crushing hug. "Cinder! You can find your soulmate! He's not dead, or on the other side of the world!"

Cinder patted Iko's back awkwardly, a bit stunned. "You're not upset?"

"Cinder, we're best friends, like you said. I'll always be happy for you too," Iko reminded cheerfully. "Now Scarlet, did you break anything, or is breakfast ready?"

She tightened the bolt and slid the piston back in place, attaching it. With that completed, she slid out from under the truck and sat up, cracking her arms above her head. It was almost fixed, but she didn't have enough time to finish it today on her shift. She stood from the ground and rubbed an arm across her forehead, wiping away the bits of accumulated sweat.

Cinder trekked across the garage to the employee lounge/lunchroom/changing room and stepped inside. She removed her heavy work gloves and dropped them onto the table with a thud and stripped off her work overalls, returning to her street clothes. Her metal fingers grazed over her timer after she changed and Cinder forced down a silly smile.

She was supposed to meet her soulmate in nine days. She was trying, though, to keep from getting her hopes up too high because timers were very finicky. Iko's was proof of that, and Cinder knew her time could easily jump back up to the atmospheric time she had always known it to be at. So really, she tried to assure herself, there was nothing to get too excited about.

She headed to the exit of the shop, passing by the currently unmanned front desk, and walked into the alley. Cinder tucked her hands in the pockets of her jacket and headed for the main street. It was bustling, as usual, and the chatter was nothing new. Cinder kept her head down and continued on her way. Despite her place of work, an auto body shop, she never drove to work because of how short of a walk it was back to her apartment.

Cinder had just past the bank around the corner from her apartment when she collided roughly with someone else and was almost knocked to the ground. Arms wrapped around her and righted her quickly and she found herself nose-to-nose with a very attractive young man. He had a mop of black hair flopping over his brow, but he had amber eyes that were glittering in surprise. He was wearing a tailored black suit and Cinder nearly forgot to breathe. He was beautiful.

"So sorry!" he blurted, stepping out of her personal space. "I wasn't looking where I was going and I've got to get to the bus stop before the bus comes."

Cinder gave him a slightly sly half smile. "No worries. I wasn't watching either."

He smiled at her in return, and she almost expected him to say something else, like to ask for her number or something, but he just dipped his head once before turning and disappearing into the crowd, leaving Cinder alone on the street corner. She forced down her disappointment and reminded herself that she was supposed to meet her soulmate soon enough, so it didn't really matter.

She continued on her walk home.

Kai almost missed the bus. He flagged it down as it approached and stepped on. He quickly found a seat and sank down into it. He dumped his bag on the seat next to him and slouched low. His father would be angry that his expensive suit would undoubtedly have wrinkles in it, but Kai knew he could easily blame him because of how last minute the meeting was. He wondered if his father understood that Kai was still young and wanted to go out on Friday nights and meet new people.

He ran an agitated hand through his hair. Of course, his father didn't know. As far as he was concerned, twenty-five was definitely old enough to throw all notions of fun out the window. It wasn't that Kai didn't like working, but rather that he didn't like working all the time. But, if it got his parents off his back about his life then he would take it. They stressed enough about him living on his own and now that he'd recently moved, on his own, to a different side of town, they could control less of his life.

He was twenty-five. To have his parents control his every move at his age was stupid and Kai was beyond ready for freedom. He'd been living on his own since he started university, but never far from his parent's penthouse. Finally, he'd grown a spine and moved into a new neighbourhood in a significantly smaller apartment, but it felt like his own.

Plus he could already tell that he was going to like the other people who lived in his building. As he left the apartment he'd run into a girl in the elevator from two floors above him. She'd had brilliant red hair and sharp eyes, but had seemed friendly enough. His eagle eye had noticed that her timer was zeroed, and he had greeted her politely. Almost randomly, she had inquired about his own timer.

Kai had never liked his soulmate timer. It always made him feel controlled, a feeling he hated, so he did his best to ignore it. Still, when he was young, it had fluctuated weirdly. Every time he drove through a particular area of town it would jump to only hours left, but most of the time it stayed at maximum time. A smile tugged at his lips as he remembered that he had just moved into the part of the city where his timer used to jump.

Almost as soon as he had turned the key of his apartment building, the numbers had dropped and Kai had been floored. He had been at max time for so long that to see so many zeroes threw him off. He had thought at first, that it would jump back up soon enough, but he'd been in his new place for three days and it had only ticked downwards like most timers did. It gave him a sense of almost childish glee.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. It was his father, asking where he was. Kai shot back a text saying he was on his way and that he had been unpacking and had lost track of the time. It was mostly true. His dad didn't need to know that he'd been getting some extra sleep after staying up almost all night unpacking.

He stuck the device back in his pocket and stared out the window. He had a few minutes left of his commute and his mind drifted off to the girl he'd met on the way to the bus stop. She had had tanned skin and dark hair tied into a ponytail and she'd been wearing very casual clothes. He'd crashed into her unceremoniously, which had been embarrassing, and he hadn't even really apologised before he had to make a run for it.

To make it worse, she was beautiful. She had had sharp features and intelligent eyes and a kind of beauty that was understated but still hard to ignore. He had wanted to ask her for at least a name, but time was not something that had been on his side so he'd practically run away from her. Still, his mind was stuck on her.

Kai shook his head to clear it but was unable to wipe the smile from his face as he remembered the smudge of grease on her forehead. It must have come from a mechanics shop, and as dirty as it should have looked, he found it almost cute.

He pulled a hand through his hair. Distracted and late. His father was going to love him today.

The meeting was painful for Dehaui Corporations, as every meeting with Lunar Enterprises was. Kai hated Levana Blackburn. There was no doubt she was a brilliant business woman, and that she was exceptionally beautiful, but she gave him the creeps. She always seemed to look at him like he was a piece of meat that she couldn't wait to eat, even when giving a business presentation.

Lunar Enterprises had been proposing a company merger for years now, and Kai's father had been successful in warding Levana off, but her proposals were getting more and more insistent as she continually bought out Dehaui Corp's investments. It was infuriating. Kai knew that if he was in charge of the company he would have just cut off all dealings with Levana as soon as possible. His father instead had been countering Levana's moves and playing a dangerous game of chess.

It was only a matter of time before someone was put in checkmate. When it happened, Kai wanted to be as far away from Levana as possible when it happened. Levana was only thirty, having inherited her company at twenty-six, and it wasn't a secret that she had eyes for Kai. He could only hope that his father would refuse to use him as a pawn in their game and leave marriage off the table.

Kai shuddered at the thought of marrying Levana. Since he had a soulmate, the very idea of marrying anyone else seemed ridiculous. Plus it was Levana. Levana.

He sighed and sunk down in his seat on the bus. His father had offered to have him chauffeured home, but Kai had insisted on public transit so that he could at least feel normal. A giggle drew his attention and he saw a group of girls sitting nearby stealing glances at him. They were dressed to go out, but Kai was tired so he offered them a smile and turned back to staring out the window.

He got off on his stop and walked the short walk back to his apartment, unable to not smile as he passed the corner where he'd met the girl. He turned the key in his lock and practically collapsed into his home, exhausted. He wasn't sure why as the only thing he'd really done since waking from his nap was go to a meeting, but he also reasoned that Levana Blackburn could exhaust anyone by just looking at them.

His hung his coat up in his closet and collapsed face first onto his bed. After a long minute, he rolled over and began to strip out of the rest of his dress clothes, changing into something more comfortable. He undid his watch and moved to place it on his dresser only for his hand and jaw to simultaneously fall slack.

00:00:00:00:00

It was the most unexpected thing he'd ever seen. His timer had zeroed. He knew they were silent but he had always thought that he'd be able to feel it when he met his soulmate.

Kai let out a frustrated groan and rubbed his hands in his hair, pulling at it. He knew that it had said around ninety-three hours before he left for the meeting, so it must have changed almost immediately after he checked. Plus he'd met maybe twenty people on the way to the meeting and double on the way back. That wasn't even counting the people he had passed by on opposite sides of the street and given brief glances to or the ones he'd seen while on the bus.

In a city this size, there was a very real possibility that he might never see his soulmate again.

Kai threw his watch at the wall.

Because of her gloves, it took her hours to realise. Now she sat on her bed, her prosthetic hand gripped her flesh one, staring at her wrist and the row of tiny zeroes that were basically laughing at her. Her timer, the one she thought would never even blink from maximum time, had zeroed. She had met her soulmate.

And she had no idea who it was.

The door to her room opened suddenly and Cinder slammed her wrist into her lap, hiding what felt like a deadly secret. Iko was staring at her from the doorway, looking confused.

"Everything alright Cinder?"

"All good," she replied quickly and flatly, trying her best to lie. Lying from her best friend had never felt good, but Cinder knew she needed to sort out whatever was going on with her soulmate herself first. Plus, she didn't even know if she'd see them again.

Iko narrowed her eyes. "It's definitely not, but whenever you feel comfortable telling me is fine." Cinder let out a long sigh.

"Iko, I'll tell you once I've figured this out myself," she assured.

Iko laughed. "I'm only kidding, but thanks, Cinder." She turned to leave but paused and glanced back. "If your timer jumped, don't worry about it too much, right? Scarlet said that sporadic can sometimes mean that your soulmate is closer than you thought. Mine skipped around twice today, so we'll see what happens I guess."

Cinder took a deep breath and smiled. "Right."

"Scarlet and Wolf are bringing take-out in like half an hour and I think Thorne invited himself too," Iko informed her, shaking her head.

"Cool," Cinder lied through her teeth. Iko smiled one last time before she shut the door and left Cinder alone.

She groaned. So not only was she supposed to hide her timer from her best friend, but from Scarlet, one of the most perceptive people she knew, from Wolf, who had incredible instincts, and from Thorne, the most persistent and annoying person she knew. Tonight was going to be difficult.

At least she could wear her gloves and cover it up. She supposed that if anyone asked she could just lie and say she was still supposed to meet her soulmate in eight days.

Kai woke up the next morning to the blare of his alarm and he slammed his hand on it habitually, not even moving from his bed. His phone buzzed next and because he has no idea who it is, he rolled onto his side and grabbed it from its charger on his bedside table. He had an unread message from Winter, presumably about the conversation they had had last night.

The cousin I mentioned that lives in your area might be able to help you find someone who's timer has zeroed. Her name's Cinder. Linh Cinder. Apartment 543 in Two Falls Towers. -W

Kai read the message a couple of times. He had told Winter about his timer because she was the only one of his close friends who had already met her soulmate. Plus he knew her cousin lived in the area and he would need all the help he could get to find his soulmate in such a busy city.

He decided half-heartedly to pay Winter's cousin a visit. She couldn't be a bad person if she was related to Winter, the nicest person that Kai knew. If she was related to Jacin, Winter's soulmate, he might retract that thought and be a little warier. Still, Winter's cousin lived in his building, for God's sake, so really, it would be plain stupid to pass up on her advice.

He dressed casually, in jeans and a jacket and busied himself doing menial tasks around his apartment, keeping a close eye on his phone, until around eleven in the morning. He figured that eleven was a reasonable enough time to drop by, so he left his apartment, his key swinging between his fingers–a habit he had developed as a kid.

He took the stairs up the two flights to the fifth floor and easily located the apartment that belonged to Linh Cinder. Kai took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He counted two seconds before there was a click and he was staring at the face of a woman about his age with a hand on her hip and her eyes narrowed curiously.

After an awkward second, her eyes widened and her fingers snapped in a clean, crisp sound. "You're Kai Dehaui!" she realised.

Kai flinched. He had been trying to forget about his near celebrity status and live normally, but when his face was on magazines for 'Most Successful Young Entrepreneurs' it was a little difficult. He gave the girl a smile. "That's me. I'm looking for Linh Cinder. Is this her apartment?"

The girl beamed. "Of course! Cinder's my best friend. I'm Iko." She spun around, her blue hair whipping out and nearly hitting Kai before she turned back to him. "I think she's busy right now, but I'll grab her. You're welcome to come in."

Iko opened the door wider and beckoned Kai in. He stepped in and involuntarily took in the main room. It was a mix of clutter and neat spaces, but it felt loved and like a home. Iko immediately left him standing there and disappeared down a hallway. She opened a door and went inside, vanishing from Kai's view.

She emerged moments later and cast him one more smile before disappearing into a different room. Kai watched as a young woman he recognised stepped out of the door, looking curiously in his direction. It was the girl from the street corner the other day.

When Iko stepped into her room, Cinder's work on her foot was interrupted. She stared at Iko, not amused. Iko just rolled her eyes.

"You have a visitor," her friend said.

"Cress?" Cinder inquired. Thorne's girlfriend sometimes dropped by unannounced to see some of Cinder's projects.

Iko's eyes glittered. "Even better. It's Kai Dehaui."

Cinder wracked her brain for the name was surprised to recognise it. He was a young businessman set to inherit one of the largest international companies in the world. Apparently, he was quite the entrepreneur himself too. She wondered what on Earth that Kai Dehaui wanted in her apartment.

She quickly reattached her foot and pulled on a sock to disguise it. Her gloves went on next, both to hide her mark and to cover her left hand. "Uh, okay. I'll be right out."

Iko nodded and slipped out of the room, and Cinder followed her, leaving her screwdriver sitting on the carpet. She stepped into the hallway and immediately noticed that Iko had invited the guest inside. To her shock, she not only recognised his name, but also his face. It was the really attractive guy she'd bumped into on her way home from work.

"Hi," he greeted when he saw her, smiling. "You must be Cinder. I'm Kai."

Cinder walked towards him. "Yeah, Kai Dehaui, I know."

He smiled sheepishly. "And again the reputation precedes me."

"Is this about yesterday?" Cinder asked.

Kai shook his head. "Funnily enough, that was just a coincidence. I'm actually here on a recommendation from a friend. Winter said that you're her cousin and you might be able to help me out with something since you've lived here for longer than four days."

Cinder blinked. Winter Hayle was indeed her cousin, but the two girls rarely saw each other. They had been close when they were younger but had grown apart as their paths took them different routes.

"She said I could help you?" Cinder inquired, wondering exactly what Winter had signed her up for with her billionaire friend.

Kai scratched the back of his neck and looked almost bashful. "I need to find someone."

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "That's specific."

Kai shrugged. "That's literally all I've got to go off of."

Cinder laughed. "Well, that's great. I'm sure we'll find them in no time." She hadn't meant for it to come out so sharp and sarcastic, but Kai laughed, appreciating her humour, and Cinder felt no regrets after hearing him laugh.

"I mean, if it helps, their soulmate timer would have zeroed between four and nine in the evening yesterday," he added.

Cinder waited for him to admit he was kidding, but he looked serious and her heart pounded. Kai Dehaui, quite possibly one of the most handsome guys she'd ever met, was looking for his soulmate. And he asked her to help. And according to him, the person's timer would have zeroed within the timeframe that hers did. And she had run into him for the first time ever yesterday.

Stars.

Kai Dehaui was her soulmate. Maybe. But, she didn't know anything about him other than the fact that he was a billionaire and that he was friends with her cousin, Winter. He seemed nice, from the brief conversation the day previous and the impression he was setting upon her now, but that was hardly enough to judge his whole character on.

An idea spawned in the back of her mind. At first, she thought it was a horrible idea, but then at the same time, it made sense in many places. It could prove whether she and Kai were soulmates, and if not, could help them both find their soulmates.

"I mean," Cinder started, "I know most people in the neighbourhood and where people with timers hang out. We might be able to find something about them," she offered.

Kai grinned. "I knew this was a good idea. Thank you, Cinder."

She gave him the same half-smile she had the day before. "No problem."

Kai's feet were starting to hurt. He and Cinder had been wandering around the neighbourhood for most of the day. Cinder had been introducing him to so many people by saying that he was new to the neighbourhood, which wasn't a lie, and that she was showing him around, which also wasn't technically a lie. Unfortunately, Kai hadn't really seen anyone that stuck out to him.

They talked about all sorts of things, and currently, Cinder was talking about Iko and how the two came to be friends. It was a long complicated story that involved high school classes and cheerleaders and a broken sink, but they were both laughing really hard by the time she was done.

Kai wasn't quite sure what was going on in his head. He was out looking for his soulmate, who he knew existed, but he was hanging out with another girl he'd just met and was having a blast. Cinder was sharp and sarcastic and she had some great stories. It didn't help that he thought she was incredibly pretty, especially when she was smiling or laughing.

Still, he forced the thoughts to the back of his mind. He had a soulmate to find and he figured that Cinder already had someone waiting for her.

They had currently made their third loop around a block five minutes from their apartment building when Kai spotted a cafe.

"Do you want to take a break and get some coffee?" he asked suddenly.

Cinder's eyebrow rose, but she shrugged. "Sure."

They entered the cafe and the bell over the door chimed cutely. Kai smiled. They both ordered drinks–Kai got an Americano and Cinder got a double shot latte–and sat at a small table near the front windows of the cafe. Kai noticed, as Cinder took a sip of her coffee, that she hadn't removed her gloves.

"So," Cinder drawled, catching his full attention. "What caused you to pick this part of town to settle in? Especially in such a cheap apartment building. No offence."

"None taken," he replied easily. "Really, it was the fact that when I was younger, my timer seemed to be stuck at maximum time all the time. The only time it ever changed, was when I came to this part of this city. I guess I was just hoping it might change permanently if I moved here permanently."

Cinder nodded slowly. "Well, I guess it did."

Kai sighed. "Not how I was expecting, unfortunately. When I woke up yesterday it said like ninety-three hours and then it went off while I was completely distracted so I have a five hour time period to search. It's not ideal."

"But not impossible," Cinder reminded.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, not impossible." He took a sip of his own coffee. "So what's your soulmate story?"

Cinder looked out the window. "Well, it hasn't really happened yet. I had been stuck at maximum time for so long and then it suddenly dropped. I'm at eight days right now."

Kai contemplated that. "Did it ever feel weird?"

"More like hopeless," Cinder corrected. "Maximum time was never something to brag about."

He nodded. "I get that." His gaze drifted out the window where he saw the first few drops of rain splashing down against the patio.

Cinder shifted uncomfortably at the sight of the rain. "I somehow doubt our investigation, if it can be called that, will be continuing much further today."

He studied her and she looked pointedly down in her lap. "Are you okay?" he asked, feeling the waves of anxiety practically radiating from her.

"I was in a fire when I was a kid and now I'm disfigured," she blurted out.

Kai blinked in surprise. Cinder was staring at him, searching for a reaction, but the only thing in his mind was shock. She swallowed and peeled off the glove on her left hand. Kai couldn't help but stare. It wasn't flesh, but instead, a complex looking false hand with visible gears and metal plating, but it look complex and on Cinder, it seemed perfectly normal.

"It's plated in titanium," she muttered under her breath.

"That's really cool," Kai said. Cinder stared at him. "I mean, obviously not the fact that you have it, but rather that you're so attuned to it and it looks freaking awesome."

She cracked a small smile at that. "My left foot is gone too," she added.

"Still cool," Kai assured. "You really don't let anything get in your way."

Cinder shrugged. "I'm used to it."

They shared a smile as the rain started to come down harder. It was almost coming down in sheets now. Kai almost wanted to forget about his soulmate and ask Cinder out right then. She was great–funny and charming and spirited–and he wasn't sure that he'd ever met anyone he clicked with as easily as he did with Cinder.

Cinder had been frying eggs for breakfast when her phone went off. She recognised the custom ringtone instantly and shut the stove off, practically diving towards the device. She swiped on her screen and held it up to her ear, waiting for the greeting she knew was coming.

"So it's a beautiful day and I heard a rumour about a fair in the park. Since you're my designated tour guide, do you want to come with me?" Kai said, could completely skipping his usual greeting.

Cinder laughed. "I mean, I'm not working today, so I guess you're lucky enough in that regard?"

"Is that a yes?" Kai asked. Cinder could hear the genuine excitement in his voice.

She spun away from the stove and walked towards her room to get a sweater. "It's a maybe. I have conditions."

"Let's hear them, then."

"I want to get breakfast first since you interrupted my cooking," Cinder demanded.

"I'll grab something on my way to your place," Kai agreed instantly.

Cinder shook her head fondly. "Kai, you live two floors below me. That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm already out," he insisted. Cinder knew he was probably lying, but she wasn't going to complain.

"How does one hour sound?" she asked.

"Perfect!" Kai replied cheerily. "You better be ready to get owned at carnival games."

Cinder laughed again. Iko's door opened across the hall and she stared at Cinder incredulously. Cinder gestured to the phone and mouthed Kai's name. Iko grinned and nodded. Cinder had told her friend about being Kai's soulmate a few days after she discovered it herself, and Iko had kept her secret surprisingly well.

"Something tells me you've done enough research on the fair to go by yourself," she told Kai.

"But going alone is no fun," he shot back easily. "Plus I need to prove I'm better than you after the disaster that was the arcade."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night," Cinder teased.

"I'll be by in an hour," Kai said and Cinder could still hear the lingering challenge in his voice.

"See you," she replied and ended the call.

Kai Dehaui had easily worked his way into Cinder's life. After the first day of "searching" for his soulmate, they'd exchanged numbers and Cinder had offered to help him look more. Soon enough, their searches turned into hangouts and they became close friends. Now, when he called, he never mentioned his soulmate and he simply wanted to be around her.

It wasn't fair of her to hide the information from him, but she wanted him to figure it out himself. She hadn't said anything else about her own soulmate after her supposed time period had passed, but Kai never asked. She figured that he had simply forgotten in the search for his own. She wanted to tell him, but at the place they were, she wasn't sure how he'd react. The last thing she wanted was for him to be angry.

So Cinder bit her tongue and became close friends with Kai. She'd even introduced him to her close friends and they'd welcomed him in nicely, expanding their circle of friends to include him. Funnily enough, Scarlet and Kai had already met the day his timer went off in the elevator. Despite Iko's urging, Cinder still said nothing to Kai, content with being his friend first and secret soulmate second.

Besides, she reasoned, he was smart. He had to figure it out eventually.

Cinder owned him at the carnival games. He didn't even stand a chance. After getting destroyed on the third game in a row, Cinder finally told him she'd been coming to this fair and playing these games since she was little. Kai had immediately complained that it was then unfair, but he had been teasing.

He bought her an ice cream cone, despite her protests, and they sat together on a park bench, watching people bustle around them. The fair was popular and Kai was a little surprised that he'd never heard of it before. Then again, he grew up with private business functions and rented out stadiums for his parties and celebrations. Public fairs were a change, but a good one.

After Cinder had heard about how dismal his childhood had been, experiences wise, she had immediately given him a list of things to experience. According to her, her step-mother had not been a very nice woman, so Cinder had spent a lot of time out with friends like Iko or Thorne.

Kai finished his ice cream faster than Cinder and he stole a glance at her. She wasn't really paying attention to him, so he let himself keep staring, as weird as it may have been. He liked Cinder. She was a great friend and an even better person. His only problem was how much he liked her.

Traditionally, if a person had and met their soulmate, they would settle down together. But Kai couldn't see him doing anything even remotely domestic with anyone other than Cinder, and even that would be a far stretch from domestication. She was fiery and bright and undoubtedly beautiful.

And Kai loved her.

"You okay?" she asked, peering at him curiously, her own ice cream now finished.

"Yup," he replied quickly. He leant back on the bench and stretched his arms up before dropping them back to his side contentedly.

His gaze wandered across the fairgrounds and settled on a young girl who was staring at another man. After a second the man looked back at her and held up his wrist. The girl's face split into a huge smile and she nodded. The next thing he saw was the girl throwing herself into his arms and the crowd around them applauding politely. They were soulmates, Kai realised.

"Do you still want to find your soulmate?" Cinder asked suddenly and Kai realised that she had also been watching the couple.

"I do," he replied. "I just need to meet them, really," he admitted. "What about you?"

Cinder shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really care either way." Her gaze dropped to her lap and she turned her metal hand over so her palm was facing upwards. "I guess I don't really believe in love at first sight and stuff like that."

Kai nodded thoughtfully. "It seems weird. We're assigned someone in the world, from anywhere, when we're born. How can the world know if our personalities will fit and if we'll even like each other?"

"I guess it's a matter of fate," Cinder said softly.

"Nah," he disagreed. "Fate was me meeting you on that street corner and you being the cousin of Winter, one of my close friends."

Cinder's lips twitched. "Yeah. Fate."

Kai smiled and closed his eyes, breathing in the peace and good company in the moment. "Besides," he added, "I'm not sure I'd be able to love my soulmate anyways." He added a mental note that he wouldn't love his soulmate because he was already in love with her.

To his surprise, Cinder tensed, suddenly seeming uneasy. "Really? You wouldn't love your soulmate?"

Kai studied her. As usual, her expression didn't give much away, but he was still getting a slightly weird vibe. "Like you said, love at first sight isn't real."

"Yeah," Cinder replied slowly. The optimism in her mood had vanished.

"You okay?" he asked.

She took a visibly deep breath and uncertainty settled in Kai's gut. Something he said had thrown her off. Something about his soulmate.

"I just remembered that I promised Iko I'd swing by the shop today to finish the work on her car. I have to go." Cinder stood abruptly from the bench and Kai's heart sunk. He really had screwed it up. "Thanks for the ice cream. Today was fun." She smiled at him before walking off at a brisk pace.

He watched her go and once she disappeared into the crowd, he set his head in his hands and pulled at his hair.

Of course.

Cinder let his call go to voicemail. She'd run away from him. She'd been terrified and had completely cut him off and now he was calling her. A lot. He'd given up leaving her messages after the third day, but a week later, he was still calling her. She tugged on her ponytail as she paced impatiently back and forth in her room.

She'd listened to his first three messages well over a dozen times. She wanted to call him back and to tell him that he didn't do anything wrong, but every time she tried, she froze completely. She couldn't do it. She couldn't call him back and tell him everything she needed to. Cinder had told Iko and her friend had simply called her stupid and left her to her wallowing.

Cinder needed to tell him a lot. She was terrified to admit that she loved him. She was even more scared to admit that she was his soulmate. Especially after he admitted that he wouldn't love his soulmate. It just made the rejection hurt even more.

She knew that cutting him out completely wasn't the answer. It was far too extreme, but she had panicked. Any of her friends could attest that she did not think clearly when being controlled by her emotions. Now she was paying the price and she wanted to scream and throw her phone out the window.

She sat down on her bed harshly and dropped her hands uselessly into her lap. Her timer stared up at her and she glared at it. It seemed to be mocking her. Because she loved him. She loved him more than she wanted to, more than she intended to, and more than she believed she could. But she did, and now she was shutting him out.

Cinder flopped backwards on her bed and rolled onto her stomach. She pressed her face into her pillow and screamed.

Iko let him in.

It had taken him a week to gather the courage to do anything besides calling her and stare miserably at his phone. Something was wrong and Cinder had completely cut him out. Like a poor little lost puppy, he needed to know why, even if it was because she could never love him back. He had to know.

As soon as he knocked on the door it was opened and Iko let him in without a question, pointing down the hall to Cinder's room. Kai nodded to her slowly and shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to quell the shake in them. He wasn't succeeding so he eventually swallowed his pride and knocked on the closed door.

Someone was moving around inside and after a moment the door was thrown open. Cinder was wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. Her hair was thrown up into a messy ponytail and her face was devoid of makeup. Even her ever-present gloves seemed to be absent. She looked beautiful and completely stunned to see him.

Kai barely managed to catch the door before she slammed it in his face. He pulled it back open with little resistance and studied her face. "Cinder, what is going on?"

She laughed. "Of course, you're here. Of course, Iko let you in. I shouldn't have expected anything less." She threw her hands up and yanked on the end of her ponytail in frustration, a habit he recognised as one of Cinder's nervous ticks.

"Cinder," he cut in before she could ramble. "Can we talk about what happened? Why did you freeze me out?"

She rubbed her temples and let out a long, heavy breath. "Because I was so sure that I was going to die alone, and that would have been fine with me. My friends were meeting their soulmates and moving on. After twenty-three years of being stuck at maximum time, I'd given up hope of my timer ever changing. I thought that as long as Iko was around I could just forget about it. Then she almost met her soulmate and I had a moment of very real panic."

She stepped away from the door back into her room and Kai stepped after her. Cinder began pacing, her hands gesturing wildly as she continued to talk.

"Of course, of all times, this was the time that you chose to move in and my timer jumped. Then I met you on that street corner eight days before schedule and I didn't even notice that my timer had zeroed until hours later. You came poking around looking for your soulmate and I figured it out almost immediately."

Kai stared. Her timer was zeroed. Now that he realised it, it was easy to catch the row of perfect black zeroes inside her right wrist. His mind was reeling. Cinder's timer had zeroed on the same day as his. And she also hadn't noticed until later. And she figured something out. Something that he hadn't quite managed to wrap his mind around.

Cinder kept talking. "I helped you look, stupidly and selfishly, because I wanted to know what kind of person I would be getting involved with. And, I started to really like that person and then you said you wouldn't love your soulmate and I freaked out."

It finally clicked in his mind. His soulmate, the person he'd been waiting for his entire existence, was pacing in her bedroom looking stressed and wary and on edge and he loved her. "Cinder," he breathed, "we're soulmates."

"One would think someone as smart as you could have figured that out sooner," she retorted sharply. "I think you should leave now."

He blinked at her. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you wouldn't love your soulmate!" she snapped, whipped her head to glare at him.

He laughed and stepped closer to her. "Cinder, if you'd let me explain, this whole thing might make a little more sense. Yes, I do think I'm stupid for not considering you to be my soulmate until literally this moment, but if I had, there's not a lot I would have changed. Being with you literally changed my life. I loved every moment of it."

His hand brushed against her cheek and she didn't flinch away. Her brow was creased and she was waiting intently.

"If you had let me explain earlier, it might make more sense. Last week, at the fair, I said I wouldn't love my soulmate. That's because I didn't know it was you."

"Kai, what do you mean?" she said softly, confusing flashing across her expression.

"Cinder, I wouldn't have loved my soulmate because I was already in love with you!"

She stared at him.

They stood motionless for precious seconds. A timer ticked on in Kai's head and he waited patiently for Cinder to react. She gave nothing away as her eyes roamed his face in her surprise. He dropped his hand back to his side and waited and waited.

Cinder's mind was reeling. It was times like these that she wished she had some mechanical parts in her brain so that she could process things more easily and with less feeling. Still, it wasn't often that boys waltzed into her apartment, having been let in by her best friend, and announced that they loved her.

It was even less often that the boy was her soulmate. And that she loved him too.

She couldn't help it. She started to laugh. As soon as she did, she saw Kai's serious expression break and soon they were both laughing hard enough that they nearly fell to the ground. It was so stupid. They were both so blind and stubborn and stupid and they were a perfect fit.

Cinder took two steps towards him, intruding on his personal space and threw her arms around him. He easily consented and she crashed her lips to his, kissing him like he was the air she needed to breathe. She kissed him until she felt lightheaded before she pulled back, but he didn't let her get far, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Let's agree to never let anything come to that again," she pleaded, laughter and breathlessness making her voice light.

"Deal," Kai promised before he leant in to kiss her again.

So this wasn't supposed to be this long. Maybe the Wolflet companion fic won't destroy me like this did. Anyways... It was fun to write.

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AO3: nicole_writes