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Ever since he was a child, Kaveh had been intrigued by the concept of soulmates. The idea of two people born to complete each other was so fascinating. For him, having a soulmate meant that he was not alone in the world and would never be.
When his father died and his mother sailed away to Fontaine, leaving him behind in Sumeru, Kaveh clung to this belief with all his strength. It was the only way to keep from being suffocated by the overwhelming loneliness that plagued him.
There’s someone in this world born just for me, as I was born for them. I am not alone. I am not alone...
Then Alhaitham walked into his life and Kaveh's world began to shine with a new light. The words his mother had told him as a child echoed in his mind every time he looked at his junior.
“Mother, what’s a soulmate?” he had asked her.
“My dear son, a soulmate is like a best friend, but more.” She had replied. “It's the one person in the world that knows you better than anyone else. Someone who you carry with you forever. It's the one person who believed in you before anyone else did or when no one else would. And no matter what happens, you'll always love them.”
And that's what Alhaitham was to him, even if things didn't turn out the way he'd imagined.
In his childhood fantasies, Kaveh had assumed that his relationship with his soulmate would have been similar to that of his parents, based on love and total mutual understanding, rather than heated debates and strained communication. But despite everything, it was clear that he and Alhaitham completed each other. They were two sides of the same coin.
Their debates served to broaden each other's perspectives, to see the world from a different point of view. While Kaveh helped Alhaitham understand the emotional approach people had to life's challenges, Alhaitham's pragmatism kept Kaveh grounded and prevented him from being overwhelmed by his altruism and selfless ideals.
And Kaveh was happy, so happy, to have found Alhaitham. Many people had to wait years before they finally met their soulmate, while others might never meet them in a lifetime...Kaveh felt so lucky to have him already by his side.
But fate had never been kind to Kaveh and the clashing personalities that had held them together until that moment, soon became source of a major conflict. And so, one fateful morning, Kaveh saw his world shatter, along with their thesis, which lay in pieces on the floor between them.
“I regret ever speaking to you.”
Mother, you were wrong.
“I regret becoming your friend!”
Soulmates do not exist.
“I wish I had never met you!”
I am alone.
For years, Kaveh carried on with his life, dismissing the idea of soulmates that had been so dear to him during his childhood. Now nothing could comfort him during the nights he spent in what was a cold and empty building, and not his home. No more hope for a person who would eventually find him and made him whole.
His soulmate, if that is what Alhaitham really had been for him, was now gone.
Hiding behind a mask of courage, which prevented people from getting close to him, from getting to really know him, Kaveh completed his studies, graduated with the highest marks and in no time became one of the most renowned architects in all of Teyvat. The Light of Kshahrewar they called him, and what name could have been more appropriate for someone who seemed to radiate everything around him with his dazzling light.
No one could have known that behind that light there was a thick layer of darkness, made of pain, loneliness and guilt. Only one person knew Kaveh's true nature. Only one person had truly seen inside him, into the depths of his soul. Only one person had seen what was behind the mask he wore every day.
One person who, even after years of separation, had still been able to understand all the turmoil and despair that Kaveh was concealing within himself with a single glance.
“You look terrible.”
A soulmate it's the one person in the world that knows you better than anyone else.
The architect slowly looked up, searching for the face to whom that voice belonged, although he already knew it quite well. Alhaitham was standing in front of him, their bodies separated only by the table on which far too many glasses of wine had been drunk over the past two weeks. It had been years since they had parted, and yet it felt like not a second had passed.
“I had a terrible day” he simply replied.
Silence fell between the two of them and for a few moments everything seemed to freeze. It was as if, at that very moment, fate was about to be written. As if a single decision could, in that instant, change their future.
Then Alhaitham sat down in front of Kaveh and time began to flow again. “Tell me what happened.”
Their eyes met and Kaveh realised that there was no point in trying to hide his suffering, his problems, from him. If he lied, if he pretended, Alhaitham would have known. Alhaitham had always understood him.
The mask he had worn for years shattered into a thousand pieces as he poured out a flood of words upon his old friend, telling him everything he has suffered, his difficulties in finding employment in a city that was becoming less and less art-friendly, the chance to create a work so magnificent that it would be remembered forever, the Withering that had destroyed all his hard work just a few weeks before its completion and everything he had had to give up in order to complete the Palace of Alcazarzaray.
It was so easy to let himself relax with the only person who already knew the worst parts of him, the one who had already seen him as his lowest. It was so soothing to be himself for a night. To simply be Kaveh and not the renowned architect, Light of Kshahrewar. He had not felt so free in years.
Is this how it feels to be with one's soulmate?
Kaveh immediately put that thought aside. He had convinced himself so firmly that soulmates didn't exist, he couldn’t let that hope grow in him again.
Someone who you carry with you forever. And no matter what happens, you'll always love them.
And oh, how true that was. Cruel words and years of separation had not been able to erase the affection that Kaveh felt towards Alhaitham.
Alhaitham, who had silently listened to everything Kaveh had to say, even though he was not obliged to, since the blond had disowned their friendship.
Alhaitham, who had supported him with an arm tightly wrapped around his waist as they walked in the night through Sumeru’s streets.
Alhaitham, who had found him and saved him when he was at the lowest point of his life, giving him a place to live and allowing him to get back on his feet.
Alhaitham, who, after so many years, had made Kaveh feel at home again...
“Ehy, Haitham?”
“Hm?”
“Do you believe in soulmates?”
A couple of years had now passed since the day Kaveh had won the Interdashan Championship and yet the memory of that event was still a firm presence in his mind.
Too many terrible emotions were associated with it, rising from Kaveh’s distant past, and yet fate tried to erase those old memories, replacing it with new wonderful ones. The architect will never forget Alhaitham's expression when, that day, he revealed to Kaveh the truth about his father's death, thus freeing him from the guilt that had shaped his decisions for a lifetime. The memory of his family was now less painful and he owed it only to the stoic Scribe.
It's the one person who believed in you before anyone else did or when no one else would.
Alhaitham had always believed in him. He had always supported him from the shadows, in silence, without asking for anything in return. Now it was obvious to Kaveh. He had come to realise it that very day.
The Scribe had participated as a judge in a tournament he was not interested in, for the sole purpose of helping Kaveh, to free him. He had spent days researching, travelling all the way to the desert, just to discover the truth, to shed light on the past. And no matter how much Alhaitham denied it, no matter how much he kept claiming that his interest was in Sachin's research, it was now clear to Kaveh's eyes what the reality was.
Upon realising this, all the other pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly.
The reason why Alhaitham had welcomed Kaveh into his home was no longer a mystery. He had done it because he cared, there was no ulterior motive, nothing he would gain in return. Alhaitham had asked him to pay the rent because he knew that Kaveh, blinded by his prejudice, would have never accept the idea of a selfless Alhaitham. Moreover, the blonde’s guilt would have prevented him from accepting free goodwill.
Another thing was now clear to him: Kaveh had finally realised, to his shame, that those hurtful words spoken by Alhaitham during their childhood quarrel, were coming out of concern. His junior was afraid of seeing Kaveh getting carried away by his guilt and destroying himself in an attempt to please others. What a fool he'd been to deny their friendship, everything they'd shared just because Alhaitham had been a little too rough.
For so many years Alhaitham had known Kaveh better than Kaveh had known himself. Why had it taken him so long to realise it?
Alhaitham had been his soulmate all along.
“Hey, can you answer me?”
Alhaitham gently slipped a bookmark between the pages of the book he was reading, closing it and turning his gaze towards Kaveh. “My thoughts on the topic should be somewhat obvious to you, even without me answering.”
Kaveh plopped the pencil he was holding on the table, making himself more comfortable on the sofa of their living room. “I still want to hear it.”
The Scribe sighed softly “The idea of an immaterial force binding two people inextricably together is fanciful to say the least and it is only suitable for novels. So no, Kaveh. I do not believe in soulmates. Nor do I believe that some people are born to complete each other's existence...”
Kaveh snorted. “I should have guessed that-”
“What I do believe in,” Alhaitham added, interrupting the architect before he could finish his sentence, “is the will to fight to stay together. The desire to walk with someone on the same road, always heading in the same direction, despite all of the obstacles that try to keep us from moving forward. The commitment two people put into understanding each other and being by each other’s side despite all the arguments, despite all the hardships, despite all the misunderstandings.” In that moment their gazes intertwined, and Kaveh could see the Scribe’s eyes were full of emotions. “We create our own destiny, Kaveh, through our choices.”
Kaveh was so taken aback by the other man's words that he fell silent for several moments. Alhaitham was still looking at him, his eyes still shone with devotion and adoration while a sweet smile adorned his lips. “Woah, Haitham!” the blond man replied, suddenly feeling flushed all over. “That's a lot of words to say you love me,” he joked, looking away.
Alhaitham stood up from his sofa, approaching Kaveh and kneeling in front of him. With one hand he cupped Kaveh's face, forcing him to turn around and lock their eyes once again. They had been dating for almost a year now, but these gestures still had the power to make Kaveh's heart beat wildly.
“Actually,” Alhaitham whispered, intertwining his other hand's fingers with Kaveh's. “I think that's the exact number of words needed to ask you to spend the rest of your life by my side.”
Kaveh's eyes widened and his lips parted slightly with surprise and happiness. “Haitham...!” With no further delay, the architect threw his arms around his fiancé's neck, holding him tightly and showering him with short, sweet kisses on his neck, cheeks and finally his lips. “There is no other place I'd rather be than by your side.”
That day Kaveh realized one thing: maybe soulmates really existed, maybe they didn’t. But in that moment, as he sat in front of Alhaitham who was looking at him as if Kaveh was the most important person in the whole universe, he didn't care, because they were walking side by side on the same path, heading together towards their future.
And wasn't that the only thing that truly mattered?