Soulmates Aren’t Always Romantic ✨

Soulmates Aren’t Always Romantic ✨

The night I learnt what a soulmate is

I thought soulmates meant wedding rings or the person you kiss at prom. The one you write names with in heart emojis. The forever person.

Mine is a guy who’s seen me throw up, question my sexuality, fail at life but still calls me on discord.

He showed up at my hospital bed at midnight with fruit. I never even told him I had surgery. He found out I was in the hospital from someone else, and still showed up at 11:47pm holding a plastic bag of apples.

I didn’t tell him I was getting my appendix out.

I didn’t text him.

I didn’t want anyone to see me like that in a hospital gown, gross, drugged up, scared I’d wake up and everything would hurt.

He came anyway.

It was late. Visiting hours were over. The nurses were doing their last rounds. My parents had gone home to sleep. The door creaked and I thought it was another blood pressure check. It was him, holding a ripped grocery bag. Three apples and a bunch of grapes rolling around inside. Hair messy like he ran here. His hoodie on backwards.

He just grinned and said, “Heard you tried to die from a body part nobody needs.”

I couldn’t even laugh. The meds made everything fuzzy. But I remember thinking: How is he here?

Romance asks but soulmates just appear. A boyfriend would’ve asked “What time can I visit?” A girlfriend would’ve texted “Omg are you okay???” and waited for me to reply. But soulmates don’t ask. They don’t wait for permission to care.

He sat in that ugly plastic chair for an hour but didn’t make me talk. He just put on some stupid YouTube video and let me drift in and out of sleep.

I was pale, had a tube in my arm. My hair was greasy. I probably smelled like hospital soap.

He didn’t treat me like I was fragile. He didn’t treat me like I was brave. He treated me like I was still me. He stole my apple juice, made fun of my hospital socks and told me about some dumb meme I missed.

When he left, he fixed my blanket and said, “Text me when you’re not dying. Or if you are. Whatever.”

That’s it. No “I love you.” But him showing up made me know I’m important and I mattered a lot no matter any situation I’m into.

So here’s what I know at 17… Romance wants to be invited. Romance wants you pretty. Romance wants a good story to tell later. Romance needs attraction.

But soulmates survive you being a human disaster, show up uninvited, at midnight with fruits, when you’re at your ugliest and most scared. They don’t need you to be okay. They just need you to be alive.

He’s not my boyfriend. He might never be. And I don’t care. He’s my person. He might not want me forever but he wants me to be okay everyday.

Romance is great but if you have someone who’s seen your worst and stayed? That’s your soulmate. If you’re still waiting for yours, they’re out there. Sometimes they come unexpectedly.