"I remember mum and dad trying to contact Aunty and Uncle Kang, when they hadn't arrived at the BBQ place. We were sitting there so long none the wiser to what was happening, my parents and grandparents began to wonder what was holding them up. Grandma kept saying how the rain was a bad omen but nobody paid mind to her babbling"
"Suddenly we could here sirens getting louder and louder, we didn't know what was happening, but Grandma was passing worried glances at the door, it was like she knew something bad was going to happen . . was happening. Then someone came into the BBQ place and they began to explain how the roads were all being diverted because a car had fallen off the side of the mountain"
"I recall mum and dad looking at each other and then at grandma, something flashed in their eyes although I didn't understand what, I was only 8. They didn't tell me what was happening at the time, and I didn't truly find out what had happened until later but my family learnt that it was my aunt, uncle and Yeosang who had gone over the cliff face"
"Yeosang's father, my uncle, died from the fall, both Yeosang and my aunt were unconscious, their bodies broken, but still alive, barely. My aunt passed away in the ambulance, yet somehow Yeosang held on. He's always been a fighter and it was no more clear than when his body was fighting to keep him alive. The doctors believe that Yeosang was able to hold on so long because his mother had the soulmate ability of healing. Even though the strength she passed to him wasn't as effective as it would have been on her husband, that tiny ounce of power was what kept his weakened and frail body alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive, and giving him the strength to survive the trip to the hospital"
"Yeosang went into a coma, and he stayed that way for a whole 2 years. His body needed time to heal his broken bones; his legs, his ribs, his spine and the worst, his skull. His injuries had his body painted in purple, yellowy-green and red. I remember dad taking me to see him and he was coddled so tightly in bandages, tubes and wires coming out everywhere to keep him alive. Yeosang looked unrecognisable, it was hard to look at him without feeling pain in your chest. Seeing him so small and weak broke my heart"
"When Yeosang finally did wake he was never the same. He was completely paralysed, vegetative, his ability to speak gone, his once bubbly former self swept away like sand. He was no longer in control of his own body, completely unresponsive. Mum and dad took him in since he was now an orphan. But he obviously couldn't do anything himself, he was like a doll that my mum had to feed through a tube in his stomach, wash and change. We moved into the country manor, Yeosang's home. Mum liked to think that Yeosang would like to be in a place that was familiar for him since he had only ever been to our house rarely twice a year. It was usually our family that drove out to see them"
"We prayed every day that Yeosang would suddenly come to life again. We even employed a bunch of people with the soulmate ability to heal, to try and mend him, although as expected their efforts achieved nothing"
"Mum and dad now live a little ways down the road and I live here with Taeyeon and our daughter Chaewon. We always thought of you, his soulmate. We always wondered whether you would ever be able to find Yeosang while he was like this. I'm sorry Yunho . . I'm so sorry"
Broken bones, spinal injury, fatal impact to the brain, Yunho was suddenly understanding why Yeosang didn't know a thing. It was a wonder Yeosang was alive at all after going through all that, and to lose your parents in such a tragic way, that loss would cut deep.
Maybe it was better that he didn't recall the moment his whole life changed. It would be so traumatic if he remembered the fall, and Yeosang would be a very different person if he could. Yunho couldn't even begin to imagine the feelings and emotions he must have felt, the things he saw when the car was falling.
As horrible as it sounds, Yunho was thankful that Yeosang couldn't remember, he was rather glad actually, because he wouldn't wish that kind of pain and loss on even his worst enemies.
The impact from the fall that fractured his skull and spinal cord; that impact would be the reason for Yeosang's memory loss. Yunho felt so much sadness knowing that from between the age of 6 and 16 Yeosang was trapped in the darkness of his own mind.
Being in darkness so long it made sense for Yunho now as to why Yeosang believed himself to be 6 and not 16 when they first met, why he had acted so much like a child over and over again. It's because in reality he was a child, his mind's age was indeed 10 years younger than it should have been.
Yunho looked at his hand that was still tightly linked with Yeosang's, and it suddenly became even clearer just how lifeless Yeosang was from the lack of grip between their hands. Yeosang's silence beside him was deafening.
But something else was becoming clearer. His whole life's purpose writing itself in the stars beneath the darkness of his eyes and along the horizon of his tears like the sun dawning on a new day.
Soulmates are gifted their soulmate abilities for a reason, and there's always a moment in a soulmates life where they understand why they were gifted with such ability.
Yunho's healing ability was suddenly a godsend. He knew exactly what to do.
As soon as Yeosang's cousin, Eden Kang was his name, was done talking Yunho stood up, he placed a gentle kiss on Yeosang's forehead and closed his eyes that were still wide open, before he crouched back in front of the younger taking his hands in his and placing a soft kiss on the back of them.
He then gently lifted Yeosang's shirt, seeing the hole for the feeding tube Yeosang had. Yunho knew that through healing and based on all his knowledge in soulmates and as a doctor that healing meant that tube would have to come out at the same time otherwise his skin would try and heal around it and cause problems.
"It'll be over quickly Sang, hang in there ok" Yunho sobbed. Yeosang couldn't hear him and Yunho hoped to god that he wouldn't feel the pain of removing that tube either.
Yunho heard Eden and Taeyeon gasp as he gently pulled the tube, this was something that most definitely should have been done in a hospital but Yunho was desperate, and the want and need to see Yeosang healthy was eating him alive.
Yunho knew he could do this.
He felt the energy flow through his body and he summoned his inner force towards his hands and into Yeosang as he pulled out that horrid tube. The simple touch of skin and proximity was all that was needed to tranfer his healing energy.
There was the usual tingling that told him his soulmate ability was working. It was a bit like pins and needles, except less painful.
Inch by inch. Minute by minute Yunho pulled that tube, and by the time it was out of his body, the space where it had once been was pure and clean, not a drop of blood spilled and Yunho breathed a sigh of relief as he tossed it into the grass.
His own body was weaker now and going numb as Yunho took Yeosang's hands in his again giving the younger everything he had.
He needed to push through despite his toes, ankles, calves, thighs, waist, chest, his neck, his face, their feeling all disappearing as if his body was turning to stone as he healed Yeosang.
Yunho closed his eyes as he persisted to stay upright, refusing to stop or let himself fall like his body so desperately wanted he had to heal Yeosang, no matter what.
He'd never felt such a strong numbing feeling before when he used his ability to heal.
"Just a little longer" Yunho told himself "Just a little longer"
His body felt like stone, it was frozen, but Yunho didn't miss that distinct twitch of Yeosang's hands in his. An ever so slight tremor. Yunho's heart speeding up as his own body slowed down.
Yunho opened his eyes, straining to look at Yeosang as his own vision faded and became hazy as if he were in a dream trying to wake up, except he knew that this time his body wasn't trying to wake him up, but send him off to the world of darkness instead.
He looked up to Yeosang's face his eyes opening. They were blank, empty, staring at nothing . . but then they were staring at him.
"Yeosang?" Yunho whispered through dry lips.
Yunho didn't get to hear anymore, a pain jarred through his head as if Yeosang's name was a spear that ricocheted through his skull, he screwed his eyes shut, his own world going black. A final tear escaped his eye and then he fell forwards his mind fading to nothingness.
~🌅~