opia | k. hitachiin

7 | soulmates

"So what's the colour of your dress?" Kaoru asked, phone wedged between his shoulder and ear as he eased himself into bed. Hikaru was in his own bedroom and left him with the feeling of security he needed when he called Ai. "I mean, do you know what it is?"

"Kei told me it's a light orange colour." He heard rustling on her her side. He looked at the bedside table where his signature orange rose lied and added this relation to the mental list of signs of why he and Ai were destined to be together. "Why?"

"Well, shouldn't my tie match?"

"Isn't that what they do at prom? It's okay, you can wear whatever."

Well, I'm wearing an orange tie.

He hummed in approval and they stayed silent for a few moments, listening to each other's steady breaths. He'd always thought that those kind of moments were a bit intimate. To have a constant rhythm of breaths sounding in your ears, only magnified by the phone, to listen to it intently and revel in any hitch or irregularity-in conclusion, he's going crazy.

"Kaoru?" she finally spoke. He could hear sleepy raspiness in her voice and felt a shiver run down his spine. "Do you believe in soulmates?"

His eyes snapped open and most of his sleep was erased by a single question. There had to be a reason for her to ask this. To wonder about soulmates with a boy on the phone at a clock close to midnight.

"Uh, yes, yes, I do," he sputtered. He felt his limbs jump, impatiently waiting for her to say something next.

"Well, I don't." He's sure he was not the only who heard his heart shattering somewhere. "I believe that not all the credit goes to fate and something being decided for them. I believe people love each other and work hard at keeping their relationship going. And I believed that my parents are the best at keeping their relationship going but now...I wonder with dad remarrying, I wonder if there were faults in the marriage I was too young to see."

Kaoru had never felt so self-absorbed. He kept thinking about how much he wished to be with her, he completely neglected her nerves and worries for the upcoming wedding. Maybe he didn't deserve to be with her.

"Listen, Ai, you told me your mum passed, what? Three years ago? The man's bound to have moved on. He will never forget your mother, the woman who was the first he was ever sure about marrying. I don't know much about love but I know that it could be the hardest thing to forget about. I'm just saying, that maybe he is ready to get back the same love in his life even if it's from somebody else. And you don't have to be completely happy about that but you should be accepting it."

He heard her groan. "I don't like it when people are right."

"More like you don't like it when people say what you don't want to hear."

"Shut up and thank you."

"They don't exactly go well together in the same sentence but you're welcome."

More silence, just the harmony breathing and him trying to match his breaths to hers.

"I just, I don't know, if I get married and die, I don't want to see my husband replacing me, you know, as a ghost."

"If it makes you feel any better, since I believe in soulmates, I believe that there's only one person for me. I hope you marry a guy like that."

Take it back, take it back, take it back.

"Thank you Kaoru, I'm so glad I met you on that day."

Nevermind, keep it.

"Trust me, I should be the one saying that."

A/N: a short chapter but something to get me started again. wedding next chapter and oh boy, lots of shit going down.