Restart My Heart

Yuanfen

Beta read by @samkil211. And also my mom, but that isn't important.

Hey, guys, I've taken my go at happy stories because I've grown tired of reading the constantly depressing stream of books that come my way and I needed to, uh, restart my heart a bit. This is the first in a collection of short stories that should make you feel good inside. 

song from my writing playlist: Stay with Me by Hannah Trigwell (I'm in love with this Sam Smith cover!!)

If you like it, don't forget to drop a vote and tell me what you think :) 

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BRIEF SUMMARY: In this world, everybody is born with heterochromia. The right eye is the natural color and the left is the soulmate's natural color. It's only once the two meet and recognize their own eye staring back at them that the eyes change to match.

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Today, February 14th, is the day. The Yuanfen festival. The Soulmate Ceremony. Cesar Kelley, pacing his room, can hardly believe that it's actually going to be him. That he, Cesar, will be among the main subjects of this ceremony, picking out the person he's destined to be with.

It's his first year participating in the Yuanfen Ceremony. Those are the rules: until you turn eighteen, unless you are legally an adult, you may not participate icxn the traditional soulmate ritual. This is for many reasons, but largely it is because in the past, younger people were permitted to find their soulmates, and it was chaos. People dropped out of school to be with their significant other, got married at a young age, or had a kid way earlier than they were ready to, or all three; honestly, the list was about a mile long.

Minors and their families are certainly permitted to attend the festival, as many do in celebration of their friends and peers finding love, but the ceremony is a different story. Finding your soulmate is... intimate. It is always a one-on-one experience, as Cesar is told. Because it is such a sacred experience, the protocol is not very known; no one talks about how they found their soulmate in the ceremony. Some people are lucky enough to find their soulmate before the day of the ceremony even hits, or before they are eligible—that is the only exception. But that's a whole other story. All he knows is that he's finding the rest of his life today.

"Cesar? Can I come in?" Bettie, his older sister, asked, knocking on the door.

He startled at the sound of her voice, but invited her in anyway. "Hey," he told her, a huge grin on his face. Bettie grinned right back.

"Hey," she replied. "How are you feeling? Excited? Scared?"

"Yes."

She laughed. "Well, it's good that you're excited, but there's nothing to be nervous about. I promise. My ceremony went just fine."

That was true. Bettie and her soulmate—a beautiful woman named Sabrina—had gotten married two years ago in the fall. His sister, unfortunately, had to go through the ceremony twice; Sabrina is a year younger than her, and therefore was not eligible to participate. They have been together for many years now, and both have finished all of their education and obtained respectable jobs in the city. Cesar often wishes that he got to see them more, but they're busy people, especially with the little girl they adopted this fall in honor of their wedding anniversary.

"Speaking of," he asked, "where's Patricia? How's she doing? I'd like to finally meet her!"

"Right here." In the corner of his eye, he saw Sabrina enter the room. They hadn't seen each other for about a year; his sister and her wife had just now come back to watch him (hopefully) complete the Yuanfen ceremony. She looked exactly as he had remembered her: tall (but a little shorter than Bettie, who's giant), a little on the heavier side, with straight and dark brown hair that only reached the nape of her neck. Sabrina had dark brown eyes, which complimented Bettie's hazel ones surprisingly well before they had met.