Somehow, you know exactly who your soulmate is (it doesn’t matter how), but soulmate-hood is a unilateral thing. Person A might be Person B’s soulmate, but B is not necessarily A’s. There are some perfect couples, and they’re definitely the romance fairytales of this world, which everyone bases their idea of a relationship on, but the vast majority are mismatched.

On the romantic tragedy side of such a mismatched couple, B is A’s soulmate, but A is not B’s. While B still wants to stay with A, A won’t have it. They break it off and cut themselves out of B’s life, accepting the fact that they can never be with their soulmate and still provide for all of their needs, too. It ends with both people sitting on a rocky bluff - contemplating what might have been, if only - before pulling out to reveal they were both sitting on the same stretch of land, without knowing it.

And on the romantic horror side, B is still A’s soulmate, but B actively wants to leave because B refuses to even go a little out of their way to fulfill their needs. B won’t have it.

“Please don’t leave” turns into “we belong together” which turns into “You belong with me” which turns into “If you leave, I’ll hurt myself/go back to my old self because then I’ll know I really did deserve the abuse and neglect I received as a kid” which turns into “You’re my soulmate; you belong to me.”

All the while, B grows furious, not just with A but with themselves. They don’t want to keep investing energy into this, but they can’t help it. It’s in their nature to help. to provide. to care. to love. And it’s multiplied tenfold for their soulmate because isn’t this what it’s supposed to be like? They’re supposed to help them and look how broken they are, and look how sorry they are, and not helping would only prove to them that they’re as bad as they think they are. They just can’t deal with their emotions, the poor thing.