TASTE | KTH

soulmate

Every funeral Taehyung has ever been to, it has rained.

Given, he has only been to a handful, but the rain is consistent nevertheless. There was his great uncle that he had never met who had died of some heart condition when he was six. All he remembers about that one is his father scolding him and Taeho for splashing in the puddles during the burial. Then, a friend he had in high school died in a car accident and left the whole community reeling. President of the student council, captain of the soccer team and did community service every weekend at the old folks' home. They wanted to have a candle light vigil on the soccer field, but the rain was too heavy for the candles to light. Most recently, there was his grandmother when he was a sophomore in college. That one was most detrimental to Taehyung, considering his grandma helped raise him and Taeho. Taehyung felt numb after the initial heartbreak, and he remembers not being able to distinguish his tears from the rain on his face as he helped carry her casket.

Taehyung looks from the headstone up to the sky. The clouds are charcoal gray and puffy. A hint of electricity is in the air, and humidity makes him feel like he's swimming through it, but no raindrops fall yet. It's like the universe is buffering, waiting to decide his fate.

Waiting to decide her fate.

"Halmeoni." He murmurs, looking back down to the headstone. "I found her." He says quietly. His grandmother was always his biggest fan in whatever he did—even the saxophone, which was not his strong suit. She was especially enthusiastic when it came to his soulmate. She always said how much she wanted great grandchildren, and how she wanted to make his soulmate food and talk for hours and hours. She said that she would know if his soulmate was the right one for him if she loved him as much as she did.

"Her name is Yura. She's...extraordinary. You'd love her." He says. "So...I don't know if you have any leverage with the big man upstairs, but...please." He says, voice breaking as he rests his hands atop the cool stone. "If you do, please don't let her die." A hand rests on his shoulder. Taehyung looks up at Jimin, and that's all it takes for the other to pull him into an embrace.

After the paramedics took Yura away in the ambulance, Taehyung had wanted to go follow her to the hospital so much. But, he technically wasn't immediate family, nor was he a real cop, so he had no permission to be there unless she woke up and asked for him. Namjoon called Jimin to come be with him, putting the tension between him and Jimin aside for Taehyung's sake. Jimin tried to suggest that they order ice cream and put on a movie, but Taehyung couldn't stop thinking about Yura, couldn't stop checking his phone for updates from Namjoon.

So Jimin suggested they visit his grandmother's resting place, something Taehyung does often when he needs to feel comforted and close to her. Jimin has accompanied his best friend to the cemetery a few times before, but he has never seen Taehyung this bad. He had been with Jungkook at the time of Namjoon's call, and Jungkook and Taehyung are friends, but Jimin was worried about even Jungkook seeing Taehyung in such a fragile state, so he had told him he would call him later and left. 

Jimin still doesn't know how to tell Jungkook that they're soulmates. Jungkook gets better and better each therapy session, but the damage abuse does to someone doesn't just go away. There are times when Jungkook will stare off into space and Jimin can see the cogs in his brain turning, can see the way his memories haunt him. Jimin doesn't say anything, but he notices that Jungkook's lock screen is a photo of him and Hana. Subconsciously, Jungkook isn't quite ready for information with such magnitude.

But all thoughts that plague Jimin regarding his soulmate are completely banished at the sight of his best friend, the man who might as well be his platonic soulmate. Taehyung's bright personality is now dim and dull. He has stopped crying, but Jimin would rather tears than the solemn, empty expression on Taehyung's features. He's numb. Jimin had carefully helped Taehyung out of the clothes stained crimson with Yura's blood, and he had no idea how to comfort his best friend because none of the usual methods were working. Thus, they ended up at the cemetery.