Jungwon Writes Fan Fiction: A JayWon Story

@actuallyyangjungwon: Soul(less)mate

Let me explain to you a little bit more about a "match".

Heeseung always thought that the man who saved us actually had been led to us.  That he found his match - and his match turned out to be our mom. He chose us instead of her, so we will never be sure. But after he left us, we never saw him again.

The whole 'match' thing wasn't explained to us. Not at first. When everything started with Heeseung, that's when we began to learn.

Along the way, vampires meet other vampires. I'm not sure how it happens. We just know. There's no password or secret handshake. A lot of being a vampire is connection with others, which people don't realize. When we move to a new city or travel, we're drawn to others like us. Using telepathy usually helps us communicate once we've found them.

One morning in the 1920's, Heeseung had a vision. None of us had ever had a vision before. He didn't know what it meant. But he had it over and over again. The vision was him walking into a building and seeing someone that he realized needed help. He ended up talking to this person he couldn't recognize. Like, literally couldn't recognize because in the vision the person was blurry.

But everytime Heeseung had the vision, he felt a pull that was so significant he stopped being able to ignore it. He said it felt some invisible force was trying to move and direct him but wasn't sure where to go. 

We all thought it was going to drive him insane.

A couple of weeks after the visions started a lady knocked on our door. She was middle-aged, dressed in flowy, old-fashioned clothes, and she just walked right in and asked to speak with Heeseung.

Heeseung led her into the study to sit down and from the hallway (where we were NOT listening AT ALL), we heard her ask if he felt the pull of the string.

She explained that, like the red string of fate that you hear about in so many ancient stories, our kind has a similar experience. Each of us has a match. That match is what propels us to thrive throughout time. When you feel the pull, you have to go. If you don't, and you miss your match, you will cease to exist. You will start to age as a human and, eventually, die.

I know what you're thinking: 'but vampires are already dead'. That's what I thought, too. But I guess we can become MORE dead. Un-dead death. Apparently, a stake through the heart isn't the way to get us. Keeping us away from our match IS.

Which is why Heeseung later said he thought the man that saved us was supposed to be with our mom. When she died in the fire, that was it for him. Your match is meant to be alive when they turn. Death is too late.

Anyway, by this point Heeseung asked her to explain this to the rest of us, so Sunghoon, Riki, and I came into the living room to hear the story the mysterious woman told. She didn't seem to be a vampire, either, because I could see a reflection in the window behind her (the whole 'can't see their reflection' thing IS true).

Heeseung gestured for her to tell us the story. Since we absolutely had NOT already heard the beginning from outside the door, she started there.

"I came here today because your brother has some work to do. If you are planning to stay together as a family, you'll need to be part of it with him - and for one another.'

"What gives a vampire eternal youth, riches, and happiness is not actually drinking the blood of others. Eternal life can feel very eternal when one is lonely.'

"After a certain amount of time - no one knows exactly how long, but at least 100 years, a vampire will feel the pull of fate. It is absolutely imperative that this pull be followed. That pull will initially lead you to the location of your match. I can't tell you how long it will take to find them. For most, it's rather quickly - just a couple years' time. For others, it could be a decade. No one knows for sure"

"You will never know who your match is until you find them," she said, "Then, you will just know. An awareness will wash over you that this is the person you are meant to be with. In a moment that you will again simply feel, you will turn them.'

"Once you turn them, the emotion that humans describe as love will be felt for the first time. It will be indescribable. You - and your match - will feel this emotion so big and so intensely that you'll wonder how you ever lived without one another at all.'

"Other human emotions will return as well. This is the down side. You will no longer live eternally oblivious to sadness or worry. But you will also be able to feel joy and happiness at a level you may never have thought you could.'

"But this love will sustain you for eternity."

My brothers and I all looked at each other. How are we just now finding this out? This feels pretty big. Besides, love isn't something I've even thought about. When we were human we thought about it. Sunghoon spent a lot of time staring at the girl who used to walk back and forth to the market in front of our field every day. But he hasn't mentioned it since we turned.

None of us have.

"There's more," the lady said, "Forever knows no bounds. Love knows no gender or race. That can be tricky in these times, but others have made it work before. I don't know who Heeseung's match is, but I wanted you to be aware that it could be anyone, and that may be difficult.  (Author note: HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE! - YJW).

"In your world, these things don't matter. But the human world hasn't quite caught up.

"With the four of you as brothers, that makes it tricky as well. If you are to stay together, your match will likely come one-by-one, usually every 40-50 years. It can take even longer after you find the location. That means that if Heeseung finds his location and match soon, Sunghoon, you will find your location sometime between 1960-1970. Jungwon, for you it would be between 2000-2010. Riki, 2040 - 2050.

"None of you will feel impatient about finding your match. But those who have theirs may start to grow impatient if you decide to remain together. You will want to go live your life and will spend a century waiting on your brothers. To be honest, most families don't make it long together."

"That WON'T be us," Sunghoon said, "We have no reason to ever leave each other".

"I just want you to have all of the information. I am not saying you will not remain together."

With that, just as quickly as she came, she got up to leave. As she walked toward the door, she turned back to Heeseung.

"Follow the pull," she said again, "When it tells you where to go, you MUST go right away."

Heeseung closed the door and turned around to find all of us staring at him, questions all over our faces.

"Well, that was unexpected," Riki said, "and also I've got over a century to wait, so I'm good for whatever happens next."

"We aren't meant to be waiting," I said, "we're just living our not-life, enjoying things like we always have. I realized as she was talking that I have no idea what love is. If I've ever had that emotion before, I can't even recall it".

We turned back toward Heeseung who still had his back to the front door, leaning against it. He was staring into space, eyes open wide.

"Guys." He began, slowly looking down at us with a mixture of confusion and relief, "We have to go to Australia."