Golden rays of light poured in through the window, cascading all over the room as Zak slept. The curtains were open enough that eventually, one ray of light landed directly on his face, pulling him out of his sleep.

He groaned and stretched as he sat up in bed, spreading his arms wide and then out in front of him. He rubbed his face groggily and tossed the covers off of his legs. He swung his legs over he edge of his bed and pulled himself to his feet.

Zak looked to the window framed by grey, translucent curtains. He walked over and peered out, taking in the world around him. It was just a few days ago he was sitting at this same window, wondering when he would be able to look at the sky and see the bright blue, or look down at the flowers in the garden and see arrays of reds and yellows. Now, he was able to see it all.

He smiled and sighed lightly, turning on his heel to head over to his closet. Once there, he pulled out a bright sweatshirt, a color which the internet had described as a "Turquoise". He had to look up pronunciations of that word, since he had never heard it before. It was very difficult to sound out.

He threw on the sweatshirt and then pulled on another pair of sweatpants, this time a dark grey. Once he was ready, he headed down to the kitchen to talk to his family.

When he entered the kitchen, his mom was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading a book. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at his color choice.

"That's a very... loud sweatshirt you have on today, sweetie. What did I label that as?" She asked, sipping on her coffee.

He grinned at her and looked down at his sweatshirt, "You labeled it as blue, but I think it's much more of a turquoise, don't you?"

When he looked up at his mom, she had a look of shock. She pushed her chair back and ran over to him, engulfing him in a bear hug. Zak hugged her back, laughing and she squeezed him.

"You met them? When? Where? Tell me everything!" She rambled, pulling back and holding him by the shoulders to look into his eyes.

At the mention of Darryl, Zak's heart sank, and with it sank his smile. His mother noticed, pulling him to sit at the table next to her.

"Zak, sweetie, what happened? Why don't you seem happy?" She brushed his hair back out of his face. He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands before he began to explain.

"Well, there was this one guy that always came into the shop, right? His name's Darryl, He's a little older than me, but I don't know how much exactly. Every time he came in, he always paid with a card or didn't buy anything at all. Yesterday, he came in and paid with cash. I went to take the money and my finger touched his, and then all of a sudden I could see color."

His mother sighed, looking at Zak. She smiled sweetly, touching his cheek.

"That's not all though, is it? Tell me what happened."

"As soon as I looked up at him, he ran out the door. He even left his game, so I tried to chase after him but I lost him after a few blocks. I don't know where he went and I don't think he's ever going to come back to the shop after that." He rushed to get it all out, not taking any breaths while speaking. When he was done, he took a large gasp of air, sighing it out as he looked at the ground. "I'm never going to see him again, am I?"

His mother looked at him and smiled sadly. He knew she wasn't sure, but that wasn't what she was going to say. She was a mother, after all. "Sweetie, everything happens for a reason. Obviously it's meant to be, the universe paired you two. I'm sure he just needs time to process everything, not everyone is excited as you to find their soulmate. Give him time, I'm sure he'll turn up again."

"Thank you mom, I really needed that," He sighed, looking up at her. He gave her another hug to show how much he appreciated it. "Now, what's for breakfast?"

She laughed, standing up and making her way to the oven. There, she took out a breakfast lasagna that she had found the recipe for on Pinterest the other day. She set it on the stovetop and took off the oven mitts, tossing them onto the counter.

"It's going to be very hot, so give it a few minutes to cool, ok?" She looked over her shoulder at Zak as she cut into the lasagna, setting pieces on plates for the two kids and herself.

At that same moment, Callie came running down the hall, tackling Zak off his chair. They rolled onto the floor and Callie pinned him against the ground. She looked at him with a bright smile.

"Did I hear mom say you found your soulmate, or am I going insane?" She laughed, giving him a playful glare.

Zak huffed, struggling underneath his sister. "Yeah, you heard right. Now don't go throwing it in my face that you met yours first or I'm destroying your laptop." She gasped, climbing off him and onto the floor next to him.

"You wouldn't do that! Mom bought it!" She whined, hitting him in the chest softly. He laughed, denying that he would, before pulling himself up to sit in the chair he was in previously. Callie got up off the floor and sat next to him.

Their mother walked over to them with two plates of lasagna, setting them in front of the siblings. She then went back and grabbed her own plate, joining them at the table.

As they ate, they made conversation about their soulmates and colors. Zak was especially excited to talk about colors since everything was so new to him. His sister had two more days to get used to it all, so she wasn't as thrilled. Still, she talked about how she could finally wear all pastels like some of her friends talked about.

Soon, it was time for Callie to head to school and his mom to head to work. Zak had off for the day, so he decided he would take a long walk around his neighbourhood.

Once he was outside, he remembered Vincent also had off that day and decided to see if he wanted to hang out. He pulled out his phone and pulled up Vincent's contact. Even though they didn't talk a ton, Zak still considered them friends.

He texted Vincent, asking if he wanted to go hang out downtown and walk around. Vincent replied almost instantly, saying he would meet Zak at the park near the shop. Instantly, Zak knew he meant the park that he had walked by last night.

Zak ran back to his house and opened the red front door. He grabbed the house key from the counter and slid on a better pair of shoes. He also remembered to grab his wallet at the last second, since he was sure he would end up getting lunch with Vincent.

He took the same route he always did, heading to the station. His head was in the clouds as he walked, thinking about Darryl. Really, he could be spending the time looking for him, but he didn't want to seem like a stalker.

Eventually, Zak got to the station and boarded the train right as it was about to leave. He knew he got lucky, since he wasn't sure of the train schedule other than the one that he took to work. It was a little later than normal, so he didn't know when the next one would come. He sat on the train and texted Vincent a little, letting him know he was on his way and that he would be there soon.

The train ride seemed to go by faster today, and soon Zak was hopping off at the normal station. When he got up the stairs to the street, instead of going straight like he normally did, he took a right and turned down the street that led to the park. Within a few minutes, he found Vincent sitting on a bench outside the park, sipping on a cup of coffee.

As he grew closer, Vincent noticed him and waved. He raised his arm and waved back, smiling slightly.

"Hey, thanks for coming," He greeted him with a fist bump. Vincent greeted him back and handed him a coffee from the seat next to him. "Thanks, what is it?"

"A mocha, I wasn't sure what you would want but I felt bad bringing myself something and not getting you one." He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. To Zak, it seemed like he was somewhat nervous. Zak sat next to him on the bench, holding the cup of coffee.

"Is everything ok? You seem nervous." He spoke, looking over the lid of his cup as he drank.

Vincent nodded, setting his cup down beside him, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just not used to being outside very often. When I'm not at work, I'm normally in my dorm studying." He laughed, kicking a pebble on the ground.

"Am I taking away from your study time? I completely forgot you're in school, if you need to go it's fine, I won't take it personally." Vincent waved him off, leaning back against the bench.

"No, it'll be fine. I have plenty of time to study later. A few hours out of the dorm could do me some good, I was up all night studying a single chapter for graphic design."

They hung out for a while, walking around the park and chatting. A food truck was parked on the side of the road near the park, so they decided to go grab something instead of sitting down in a restaurant for lunch. The food truck was selling Mexican food, so Vincent got some tamales and Zak chose the least spicy thing he could and went with a normal taco.

Soon, Vincent needed to head out and study for his exam the next day, so Zak decided he would just wander around the city.

He turned down random streets he had never been down, but made sure to stay near his work so he could navigate his way back. He stopped in stores he had never been in, from electronics, to clothing, to shoe stores. Zak tried on some new shirts, since he was now able to shop for himself, and ended up purchasing a few. He realized his new favorite color was turquoise.

The sun began to set and Zak realized he had been in the city for quite some time. He decided to head back home so his mom wasn't worried when he wasn't home for dinner. Normally, he opted to stay home on his days off, but now that he could see the beautiful colors around him, he couldn't get enough of the outside world.

Zak made his way to the subway station, but it was still a few blocks from were he was. He carefully crossed the street, making sure to not get hit by cars or cut in front of anyone. As he turned the corner to head down the steps to the station, he bumped straight into someone's chest. Hands grabbed his shoulders, helping to steady him. Zak gripped his bags from the shops, he didn't want to lose his new clothes.

He stepped away from the person he had bumped into and looked up into their eyes to apologize.

When he looked up, the air was knocked out of his chest. He tried to find words, but all he could manage were a few jumbled, incoherent sounds.

In front of him was the person who had been on his mind all day and night.

It was Darryl, giving him a tiny smile.