[i]And so… The date has finally arrived.[/i]

     The day had passed by normally for Nejmah Hassan: rise and shine at 6 AM, beauty routine, two-hour work-out, breakfast, photo shoot for Allure magazine, dress fittings for Alezzia Rosseau’s new evening gown line and just enough time to grab a quick dinner before getting ready for Solenne Nocturne's concert in the evening. The tickets had been a gift from a friend; an events correspondent for Allure magazine who couldn’t attend the event because of previous commitments, and had asked Nejmah the favor of attending the show and give her honest opinion on it. Nejmah had willfully agreed and invited the guy she was seeing to be her date to the concert, but she’d changed her mind at the last minute and made up an excuse for her to go alone. The 24 year-old Australian lead model of the new Hugo Boss line and Nejmah had been talking for a few months now (and the tabloids had been making a field day about it), but they were nothing more to each other than a distraction until they found someone worth their time.
	
     During the shooting, the photographer had jokingly complained that she was lacking her usual spark, and that she seemed distracted. The truth of the matter was that she [i]was[/i] distracted. No matter how hard she tried, Nejmah couldn’t put to rest the thought that today was the date that had been inked on her wrist since birth. It was today that she was destined to meet her soul mate, the man whose name had been permanently branded into her skin. Though she had always been skeptical about it (hell, she hadn’t even fallen in love with anyone in her life!), there was no doubt that there was a growing sense of anticipation and nervousness in her.

     What if the myth was true? It wouldn’t be the first time that an urban legend was proven to be real. It had happened with vampires, werewolves, witches, and even with her own kind; they were considered figments of a creative imagination up until they came out of hiding and made the humans understand that they meant them no harm (unless they attempted to harm them first, of course). But admitting that the tale of her tattoo was real would mean that the man whose name she had on her wrist would be the person who was destined to be her forever. What was the point in being tied to someone for the rest of your life when there were so many people left to meet? The level of skepticism in Nejmah was high, but deep inside her the reason why she had remained single for this long had been just in case the myth wasn’t as fake as she thought it was.

     A half hour before the concert, Nejmah was flagging down a taxi in front of her apartment in the Upper East Side (a coming-of-age gift from her father). Thankfully, the concert hall wasn’t far from where she lived, but walking there with heels would be suicide. During the ride, Nejmah noticed that a small burning sensation was coming from her tattoo. A little wave of panic swept through her. [i]‘Shit… Does this mean that today [/i]really[i] is the day?’[/i] Nejmah thought to herself, a worried scowl peeking in her beautiful features. But before her mind started racing and building up a variety of scenarios, she had arrived at the concert hall.

     The line to enter was ridiculously long, but the benefits of having VIP tickets were that you got to avoid precisely that. So Nejmah walked directly to the front of the line, presented her ticket and was allowed inside in an instant. The people in the line groaned and muttered as she went in, but Nejmah paid them no attention and haughtily made her way to her seat, the tail of her [url=http://upic.me/i/l0/1488024_10152281235238979_2097945016_n.jpg] black, long-sleeved mermaid gown[/url] trailing behind her.

     Nejmah's seat was in the center of the third row, which gave her a perfect view of the stage. Not long after she had taken her seat than a very handsome young man stepped up, which she assumed was the man of the hour Solenne Nocturne. He gave a quick introduction, then did something that left Nejmah and quite a few other people speechless. He closed his eyes as if focused on something, then his figure began to blur and divide until there were four other copies of himself, each of them dressed in a different outfit. [i]'I wonder what type of supernatural he is...[/i]' Nejmah thought to herself, still wide-eyed at what she'd just witnessed. Meanwhile, Solenne and his copies had already assembled themselves in their respective positions and we're ready to begin the show.

     The whole concert hall went the type of silent in which you could hear if a needle hit the floor after being dropped. As soon as the first notes of the piano started to play, Nejmah was instantly captivated, and the little burns coming from the ink on her wrist were quickly forgotten. The music that began was harmonious, beautiful and in perfect synchronization. It was a delight to her ears, which was evident in the beaming white smile that spread through her red-painted lips.

     Soon after the music gained momentum, the burning sensation in her wrist became more intense, until it was downright painful. Gritting her teeth, she impatiently looked around, knowing that the source of this pain had to be near. Her eyes fell on a couple who was making their way through the crowd of people in the back, and when her eyes focused on the man holding the woman's arm, the tattoo suddenly burned Nejmah's wrist like a hot branding iron.

     She let out a little whimper of pain, but turned to look at the inked name that was now glowing brightly against her skin. As soon as her eyes had gone off the man, the burning subsided a little, but when she looked back at him it returned full blast. She had to do that a couple of times for the shock to leave and for the reality to sink in: the stories had never been a myth after all.

     Nejmah didn't really know when she decided to, but before she knew it she was standing up and blindly making her way to where the man was now standing, each step that she took towards him making her tattoo burn more intensely. When she was behind him, she gently tapped his shoulder and waited for him to turn around.

"Are you my soulmate, sir?" Nejmah asked politely, waiting for the man's amswer. Strangely, there was no pain in her wrist anymore.