SOULMATE

Once, a dear friend asked me.
"How do you define SOULMATE?"

I stopped my walking and stunned.
I had never thought about soulmate in my entire life.

Suddenly an image flashed.
A knight in a shining armor riding a white horse.
He was handsome, of course.
Or else, he wouldn't matter.
I believed I had a tranced version of Snow White and that handsome Prince.
Instead, I saw a face of a man with his old Bebek motorbike.

I answered,
"somebody that clicks?"
My friend was disappointed.
I was afraid she actually hoped for my enlightenment.
But, who was I to give her enlightenment?
And to explain to her about the Zen of Soulmate?!
I never had succeded in figuring out the wisdom of Pooh Bear.

She didn't give up.
"But, you must know," she said.
"You've been in the relationship for so long."
Eh?

"Like Barbie and Ken?"
I offered an answer.
And silently crossed my fingers.
She made that face.
I failed.

Another friend lent me the Notebook
finally... sigh...
I finished reading and suddenly felt ecstatic.
'This must be the answer of that Soulmate-definition thing!'

"Our souls were one, if you must know
and never shall they be apart;
With splendid dawn, your face aglow,
I reach for you and find my heart."
-Nicholas Sparks: the Notebook-

I turned on my PC and planned to Buzz.
That dear old friend must be very elated.
Years passed, still I remember her question.
But,
I stopped.
Something started to ring.

Not the phone!
It's in my head!

A picture of US was staring at me from the computer screen.
The same face was smiling to me.
Although now, without his old Bebek motorbike.

He is not a knight in a shining armor.
He doesn't have a horse.
So, don't even ask me about the color.
He is not the prince in Cinderella story.
Nor Ken, in Barbie.
He is not Noah Calhoun,
who is haunted by
images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier,
a girl he loved like no other*
And I,
absolutely am NOT Allie Nelson, the haunting girl.

The Noah-and-Allie story is so sweet.
Too sweet that it made my teeth ached.
Like an ultra sweet candy that
when you taste it
you will run for a bitter cup of tea.

My love story perhaps
is more like a bitter cup of tea.
Sweetened by sugar.
I also like to stir my tea
And put more sugar than I should have.
But, here, I found the Zen
of my love story.
"A bitter cup of tea is better for health."

So,
how do I define SOULMATE?
I must say...
and believe me I'm thinking hard
... it is another soul
that you DECIDE
to be YOUR soulMATE.

*excerpt taken from here and illustration taken from here.