Soulmate

Twenty Three: Jin

August 20, 2019
Seoul, South Korea

I stare across the hotel room into her same dark brown eyes, the eyes I once found so beautiful. Now I know they were just full of lies.

"Thank you for not pressing charges," Min-hee whispers.

I drop her gaze and look down at the small ring on her hand. It's one she always carried, sometimes even wore, while we were on tour. I never thought anything of it before now.

"Is that some kind of promise ring?" I ask.

She plays out her hand as if to get a better look at it. "Yes," she tells me.

I die a little inside.

"Do you even feel bad?" I ask. "You didn't just steal money from me, you stole my life. You stole little pockets of my life, memories that will never be erased, memories I wanted to make with my real soulmate. Do you even feel any sort of remorse for that?"

Min-hee, Minato, takes a deep breath before her eyes finally meet mine.

"I appreciate that you treated me well," she says. "At first, everything was just about the money. My job was to pose as your soulmate for a while, maybe even forever, and slowly siphon money out of you through gifts and bank transfers. I stole your black card information from the Louis Vuitton website.

"After a few weeks, I guess you started to wear on me, in a way. I don't know at what point I separated you from the job, honestly. It took only about two weeks for me to see you as human and not an assignment. I think I really started to have feelings for you in Europe. For a time, I forgot about my own soulmate. She was loyally waiting for me to send money to her and my brother. We planned for me to still be able to see her even if you and I were to continue into marriage. But I started to forget about her a little more every day.

"You were different from anything I'd ever had, anyone I'd ever been with before. You touched me in ways I'd never experienced before and I found myself looking forward to it. I did start to feel guilty. I told my brother I waned to tell you secretly and either leave you alone or stay if you would let me. But he reminded me of Sarah." She pauses to take a few breathes. They're labored, layered with emotion. I try not to be effected by it.

"It hurt to want something so badly and not be able to have it," she says, voice thick with tears. "I loved Sarah, I do love Sarah, but I started to love you, too. Sarah was warm like home, but you were an excitement like a new roller coaster ride and every second with you was new.

"My brother made me keep working. He made me stay with you until we got back to Seoul and I left without telling him. It didn't matter, I'm his boss, but he wasn't happy about it. It wasn't until I saw Sarah again that I realized I wasn't sure what I really wanted. I didn't know if I wanted you or my own soulmate. I still don't know."

My fists are clenched, knuckles nearly white, as I simply sit and listen to her soft breathing. Her breath that used to shake against my neck, used to raise goosebumps over my skin before I'd kiss her soft lips. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to push the memories out of my mind but they fight right back with me. It's hard to breathe past the lump in my throat, hard to see past the memories flashing before my eyes.

"I fell for you, Kim Seokjin," she says desperately and I shake my head. Somehow, her saying my name makes it so much more real.

"No," I say.

"I fell in love with you."

"No!"

I stand from my seat at the table and look at her. She stares at the pain in my eyes, the tears on my face. My lungs pull in harsh breaths of air as we just stare at each other. Tears start to rise in her own eyes and I shut mine to keep from seeing them.