Soulmates - k.yc • p.jh

•vi•

He was here and then he wasn't. I was there, then I was here. Moments after Chan and I had found each other for the first time, fully, I was close to breaking down into tears. "Never let me go, please." I didn't care about anything. Everything my dad did to me, my uncle, my mom leaving. I didn't care. Chan was there and he saved me. They couldn't take me away from him. At least, that's what I thought.

We left the bushes since it had quickly become uncomfortable to hide behind with two people. We talked for what seemed like hours, getting to know each other. "I don't live with my parents, I live with my cousin, Donghun. Kinda. He comes home from the dorms about three days a week. I guess I live alone?" Chan asked, laughing a bit at his struggle to define it.

"It's fine," I smiled. "I get it. I live with my dad... I wish I lived with my mom." The sadness stuck out to me even.

Chan took my hand, holding it softly. "Tell me. If you can. I have you now and he's not going to hurt you again."

I smiled softly. "Well, he can't hurt me again anyway." Chan cocked his head slightly. "I came home and he overdosed. So, I'm not sure if he's gonna make it this time. Usually, he tells me to let him sleep it off, but this was so different..." Chan nodded, wiping a tear that I guess had started to fall. "Is it bad that I don't feel bad? I'm more terrified that his actions will make me a Deviant, and I won't have you to save me from my uncle." That would be my worst fear.

"No," Chan shook his head. "I saw what he was doing. Sometimes I saw it all, sometimes it stopped. I'm not sure why, but... I do know that it's okay that you don't feel sorry about it." I nodded, looking down at my lap.

I wanted to hear more about him. He seemed so mysterious. I rarely ever saw visions of him. "So," I said. "What's your story? I know you're cousins with my best friend now. But why don't you live with your parents?"

Chan shrugged. "We never got along. Every day, we used to argue about who my soulmate would be. They prayed to every god they could that it wouldn't be a man, and it pissed me off. Why was it such an issue to them? Especially when it was never their decision. They were close to making us Deviants just so we wouldn't have any issue about it, but I moved out so I couldn't be associated with them. My best friend is a Deviant. He's looking forward to his 18th birthday so he can dispute his status. But he's kinda mad at me right now," Chan sighed softly.

"You called his name out," I shrugged. "Why is that such a bad thing?" Obviously, we knew nothing about Deviants except we didn't want to become one.

Chan nodded. "He's not supposed to be in the main hospital. He can go to our public school and since that's a uniform, he doesn't stand out. But in anything else, he's supposed to wear grey. Or what he said was grey. Obviously, I couldn't see color for almost three years." Why were we segregated like that? It made no sense to me. Especially if it was Deviant by association.

At that moment, Officials approached us and a doctor walked outside. "Park Junhee?" One of the officials checked his list before holding his hand out for my identification card.

"Yes?" I asked, standing up and reaching in my pocket for my lanyard.

The doctor came to stand next to the Official. "His father is here due to an overdose on illicit drugs."

I was concerned but then I realized. "He fucking died, didn't he?" I asked. The doctor didn't say anything, giving me the answer I needed. "Please, wait. My mother, she's still here. Let me find her. Twenty-four hours, don't send me to live with my uncle, please." The plea deal seemed to sway the Official handling this case.

"At midnight tomorrow, you're going to be declared a Deviant." Chan stood up, taking my hand.

I looked down at our hands. They glowed softly in the night. "We're soulmates. We've found each other. Doesn't that mean he loses all previous associations? Even though his father was a drug user, he's with me now and I'm with him? Doesn't that mean that he's saved?"