one year later

"zoe, please! he's my soulmate. i need to find him."

connor was begging his younger sister to accompany him to one more place, one more time, as zoe murphy was slouched over her cereal at the breakfast table.

"you say this every time, connor. look, at least you can see colors. why are you so hung up on finding this guy when you already got what you wanted?" zoe spat in jealousy, not making eye contact.

connor suddenly sat up straight. his eyes narrowed, and he growled, "because he is everything to me."

"you don't even know the guy! what if he ends up being a terrible person?" zoe exclaimed. she got up and started searching for the milk carton.

"you don't understand! how could you? you don't even have a soulmate yet!" connor banged a clenched fist on the table angrily.

this was the one thing that connor could hold over zoe. his perfect younger sister, the one that everyone thought would find her soulmate first just because she does everything first, completes everything first, was still seeing black and white.

of course, connor hated to hold it over her, but he would do anything to see the anxious blue eyes of his soulmate again.

zoe paused in her tracks. the kitchen was silent for a moment.

she suddenly grabbed the milk carton and held it up. "you finished the milk again," she mumbled, defeated.

"zoe..." connor whispered. "i'm sorry."

"i know," she replied, throwing the milk carton in the recycle bin. "you're also right. i'm sorry, too."

connor sighed, and a loud silence filled the kitchen once more.

zoe suddenly approached him. "are the colors okay today?" she asked gently.

"they're a little dim. it's not quite to pastel shades, but it's enough to be worrisome," connor admitted.

zoe nodded in understanding. she had done a lot of research on soulmates. so, the first time that this type of thing happened to connor, she could inform him that usually, when the colors became dim, it was because your soulmate was hurting. emotionally, physically, mentally - all pain was translated into the colors.

what was concerning to connor was that, if he was lucky, he only saw the colors vividly maybe once or twice a week.

zoe suddenly spoke. "i'll go with you. it's saturday. we'll stay at a hotel if needed. where do we need to go?"

connor sat up excitedly, just as his mother walked into the kitchen.

"hotel? leaving? are you guys doing another sibling trip this weekend?" cynthia smiled in joy.

"yeah, but we have to leave in like 10 minutes, and we still need to pack," connor replied, then he and zoe escaped to their respective rooms to pack their overnight bags.

his parents had no idea that connor even had a soulmate. about a year ago, after connor saw those blue eyes, he ran all the way to his building. when he finally arrived at his new penthouse, he ran past everyone to his new room and shut his door, still sobbing. zoe had gently knocked on his room door. connor let her in and explained everything to her, even though they weren't that close at the time.

so zoe was the only one in his life who knew, and he wanted to keep it that way.

the soulmate incident had brought them closer together. connor had needed someone to lean on, and zoe was happy to be there for him. they had had their struggles previously, but now connor was actually open about his pain, and zoe could understand why.

so, every time they left for the weekend to try to find connor's soulmate, their parents thought they were just doing little activities together and having fun sibling retreats. cynthia was ecstatic to see them getting along, so she never questioned anything.

connor and zoe met in the lobby, and then they started walking to the parking garage where connor's car was kept.

"so, what's the lead this time?" zoe asked.

"lead number 23: a guy who apparently went to school with someone who might match the description of my soulmate. jared kleinman is his name. he lives at this address," connor explains, handing the paper with the information to zoe.

when connor told her what had occured, zoe showed connor a website called lostsoulmates.com. he posted a description of his soulmate, the most intricate one he could muster, and then waited for the responses to flood in. so far, they had had 22 leads in the past year, none of which had led them anywhere. this one seemed a bit more solid to connor.

going by the slight smile on her face, zoe seemed to agree. "this address is a few states away," she remarked.

"nothing we can't handle, little sis."

they got to the parking garage and connor unlocked his bmw. "ready?" he asked zoe.

zoe smirked like she always did when she was determined to accomplish something. "of course."

"well," connor opened her door and bowed low to the ground. "your chariot awaits."

zoe rolled her eyes and got in the car. but when connor tried to close the door for her, she shook her head and grabbed the handle. "i am a strong, independent woman," she spoke, and then closed her own door.

connor shook his head and laughed, making his way to his side of the car. "her soulmate better be a strong one," he remarked to himself.

then he got in the car and started the engine, hoping that this would be the last lead he'd have to follow.