It was a windy spring evening. The flowers were in full bloom, dispersing their sweet scent within the passages of the city.

Siwon was on his way home from a long and stressful day of work. Whenever there was enough time he would take the long way back which led through a park lined with cherry trees. In the spring, when the blossoms opened and revealed their light pink colored petals, it was always a stunning view. Personally, Siwon also found it rather relaxing to be able to escape the busy buzz of the city for a while and just be surrounded by nature. But today, he was not alone in the park. Just when he had decided to have spent enough time here and that it was, unfortunately, time to go home now, he noticed a young man sitting on top of a branch of one of the cherry trees. He looked like he was in his twenties. His face and the long black hair framing it seemed eerily familiar but Siwon couldn’t tell where he had seen it before. Intrigued, he stepped closer. A loving smile graced the man’s features as he observed the crowds of people on the other side of the park. Weirdly enough, the man’s body somehow seemed to melt into the petals of the cherry blossoms. 

“Good evening, sir. Might I ask what you are doing up there?”, Siwon asked politely, seriously wondering what was going on. The man now directed his attention downwards and his eyes fell on Siwon.

“A good evening to you too. I am waiting for my soulmate.”, he replied, the smile never leaving his lips.

“Are you saying you just spend your free time sitting on this tree, waiting for your soulmate?”

“Yes. I have lots of free time.”, he answered, losing himself in the miraculous red and gold painting that was the sunset.

“Then why don’t you use it for something better? I am sure that your soulmate will come to you one day even if you’re not actively searching for them.”

The man now lifted his gaze from the sky and smiled at Siwon again.

“You don’t understand. I am not searching for him. I have already found him.”

“Then why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be with him now?”

A little sigh left the young man’s mouth and he returned to watching the sky.

“I wish I could be. But I can’t. My physical body has left this world many years ago.”

A ghost? Now that Siwon looked closer, he could see the outlines of the man’s body shimmer slightly as if he was made out of liquid glass. The melting into the petals also suddenly made sense.

“And your soulmate is still alive?”

The man nodded.

“Is he the reason why your spirit is still stuck in this world?”

The man shook his head and closed his eyes for a short moment. When he opened them again, he looked at Siwon who saw nothing but love and warmth in the other’s eyes.

“I am not stuck. I am waiting for him so that we can go into the light together. So our souls can be united in the very end.”

Siwon was too stunned by this revelation to reply. Was this what true love was? To wait for your soulmate after your death so you could be united with them in heaven?

“I am sure your loved one is also waiting for you. You should quickly go home to them.”, the man broke the silence and the smile fell from his face. But he didn’t look unhappy. He simply seemed a little concerned about Siwon, yet still completely content with his life. Or his death? How did you call the existence after death but before heaven or hell? Was it called life as well? Or did it have a different name?

“I will. And I hope you won’t have to wait much longer for your soulmate.”

The man shook his head again.

“The longer I have to wait, the longer he gets to enjoy his life. So I’m hoping to sit on this tree for many years more.”

Siwon nodded in agreement before turning around and starting his walk home. The conversation he had just had brought a lot of thoughts to his mind. Would he notice something different if he would meet his own soulmate? Or had he perhaps already met them? If so, was it his husband? What if not? What if he had married the wrong person? Did that mean that they would eventually get divorced? Was he supposed to break up with his husband and search for his soulmate if he found out that it wasn’t his husband? Could a human only live happily ever after with their soulmate? Would all other relationships end up breaking apart?

Siwon’s thoughts whirled into all kinds of different directions and worry was eating at his heart. He didn’t want to lose his husband. He loved him so much. So when he opened the door to their apartment, he immediately called out for his partner, hoping for some kind of reassurance that he was his soulmate.

“Hangeng?”

“I’m over here.”, was the answer, seemingly coming from their bedroom.

Siwon went over there and sat down on the bed next to his lover. He immediately kissed him passionately and when their lips touched, all his worries seemed to wash away like they always did when he was with Hangeng. The tension fell from Siwon’s shoulders, his anxiety grew silent and he relaxed. Soulmate or not, he loved his husband with all his heart. He had done so for two years already and didn’t expect that to change any soon. And wasn’t that all you needed for a relationship in the long run? Being with a soulmate might be a great thing but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be happy with each other just how they were. As long as they loved each other, everything was good, right? He wasn’t going to give up their relationship just like that because of some conversation he had had with a ghost. Which maybe hadn’t even been real. It was quite possible that he was so tired after a full day of work that he had just imagined that whole experience.

But when Siwon noticed that Hangeng wasn’t reacting to his kiss at all, he opened his eyes, his anxiety quickly growing in size again due to the fear of being rejected by his partner. A tiny voice inside of his mind told him that maybe Hangeng really wasn’t his soulmate and that this was the reason why he was rejecting his kiss today. Siwon dismissed that thought with a quick shake of his head and instead focused on finding out the actual cause of his husband’s odd behavior.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just a little sentimental today.”, Hangeng answered, smiling a little, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Siwon didn’t answer, sensing that his beloved wasn’t quite finished yet with what he wanted to say. So he just encouraged him to continue with a silent nod. Hangeng sighed but did so anyway.

“I’ve been going through my old photos today and there were some of Heechul and me.”

Heechul. Siwon had never gotten the chance to meet him, but Hangeng had told him a lot about him. Heechul had been Hangeng’s first and only boyfriend before Siwon. They had been together for over seven years when Heechul had suddenly passed away in a horrible motorcycle accident. Hangeng hadn’t gotten a chance to properly say goodbye to him. Siwon had gotten to know Hangeng about two years after that. And from the start, Hangeng had been completely honest with him. Yes, he was ready to move on and find new love, but he would never be able to completely forget him. Heechul would always hold a place in his heart. And Siwon had accepted that.

Suddenly, a thought overcame Siwon.

“Can you show me a picture of Heechul?”

“Sure, but why?”

“I just want to look at something.”

“Okay.”, Hangeng shrugged, swiping through his photos for a moment before turning his phone towards his husband. The picture visible showed him kissing a young man on the forehead. The young man had long black hair. Looking at the date visible on the bottom half of the picture, it seemed to have been taken a few days before the fateful day.

Siwon nodded. No wonder the man on the tree had seemed so familiar. It was Heechul, waiting for Hangeng. Now Siwon also realized that the reason why Hangeng had never seemed to be able to let go of his former love was because they were soulmates. He had thought that the realization that Hangeng wasn’t his soulmate would break his heart and hurt him deeply, but it actually didn’t. He knew that Hangeng loved him now and the fact that he would one day return to Heechul didn’t change that.

Suddenly overcome with affection for his husband, Siwon hugged him tightly.

Don’t worry, Heechul, I will make sure that Hangeng lives a happy life until I have to return him to you. I will take care of him for you.

And it seemed to Siwon as if the wind coming from the open window whispered soft words in his ear.

Thank you.