Colors are something of a privilege in this world. Whenever you’re born, you’re born with vision that’s entirely grayscale, black and white, colorless. And that’s how you have to live until the day when you finally meet your soulmate. The “one”, your forever. Only then will the world explode into bright, beautiful color, said to be enough to nearly blind you with its radiance.

Even though everybody has to deal with it, sometimes Andrew feels rather isolated. His entire childhood, his parents told him that someday he’d lock gazes with someone and everything would just…click, and the world would come to life in front of his very eyes. He kept his optimism until he was about 27, at which time it slowly but surely began to lessen…until he was convinced that maybe he’d never find his soulmate. Maybe he’d live in this monochrome hell forever—it’s happened to people before. Maybe his “one” died somehow, or they’re locked away somewhere he’ll never find them. Either way, now he’s 34 and waking up every day to black and white never exactly gets easier.

On another one of these days, as Andrew is on tour and sightseeing the town with his band mates, he gets split up from them. He doesn’t know why, but something in his gut urges him towards this one specific store—a bookshop of some kind. Giving a vague excuse to his band, Andrew wanders through the door and glances around; he wonders if this place is vibrant. Are there rainbows on the walls? Are the spines of the books dull or littered with dozens of hues that he just can’t see? He sighs, stuffs his hands in his pockets, and begins lazily perusing the shelves.