Feel My Heart Beat

Chapter 1: Soulmate

Akihito wondered what it would be like to find his soulmate. Would anything change? Would it be a platonic soulmate, an ultimate best friend like Takato and Kou had found in each other? Or would it be a romantic soulmate like his parents? A partner for him in all ways possible. Or would he stay like most of the world, left wondering, waiting and hoping that maybe he would get his answers. Less than half the population ever found their soulmate. Some researchers argued that with the amount of people in the world and the need to touch the other person to get the reaction, it was no wonder so few people did. Others suggested that with today's busy lifestyle, people were less in tune with themselves and The Pull, the legendary feeling of being drawn to another person, is drowned out in a sea of instant and easy entertainment. Why go chasing a fleeting feeling that you cannot decipher when you have everything you need right here? Even if you found your soulmate, there's a good chance that they will just stay as a friend. It was becoming more of a divided culture, particularly with the younger generations, some would have their heart set on meeting that one special person and would not date anyone else while the others brushed off the idea and continued their life as normal, dating, working, not leaving their little sphere of comfort just for such a small chance. It'll happen if it was meant to be, Akihito himself had heard people say that. He wasn't so sure that was true but then he had yet to meet the person that would light up his chest and while he was a wanderer by nature, no set job, no set working location, ready and able to move on short notice, he also had never experienced The Pull. Akihito had never felt like he needed this mysterious other person, never felt drawn to them, never truly felt like he was missing out. Only on the loneliest of nights when his mind wondered did he question what he was missing out on and then all he could feel is a dull ache of what if and maybe.

It was Akihito's most recent job that had set his thoughts on this rather depressing spiral. He had been commissioned to take the photographs for a magazine piece on an elderly gentleman had felt The Pull and not just in a small way. Every day for nearly 20 years, he sat on the same park bench at a park in a sleepy suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo. He sat and waited and felt that pull; that need to be there. Sometimes the time of day when he was drawn to it changed but mostly it stayed the same, early evening, just after dinner. And then one day, about a month ago, that drawn feeling stopped. Suddenly that intense Pull just never came back. The elderly gentleman had smiled sadly while he told his story, sitting there on that same park bench.

"At my age and after so many years of being drawn here, I think it's safe to say that my soulmate has passed. I'll never know if they were as drawn to me as I was to them but maybe I'll meet them in another life. I still come here every day at the same time. It's been nearly 20 years you know? It's become a habit although the feeling is more nostalgic now."

What chance did he have compared to someone who felt drawn so strongly and yet still never got the chance to meet their soulmate? The old man could describe all the changes of the park, all the things that went on over the years. He said he could walk there blind he knew the path so well. And while he recounted his sad story, he traced the grain of wood on the park bench and admitted that the bench itself was like a lifelong friend to him. Would it be better to never get to meet this destined other person so that in the event of their passing, one wouldn't have to feel quite so much pain or better to have known and lost than to have not known at all. This man seemed to have been stuck between the two concepts and his sad smile tore Akihito's heart to pieces.

Takato and Kou had found each other in high school however this was rare as most people who actually found their soulmates, found them later in life. His parents were also relatively young, being only a little older than he was now. How many years would he have to wait? Would he wait in vain? He wondered if maybe finding that person would remove the feeling that he was just drifting by. He wasn't lonely, didn't miss this person but he did sometimes feel purposeless. Maybe that was his form of The Pull? Did they feel it too?