혼자 No Longer Alone •Reverse Harem•

Chapter 7: Promise

Chapter 7: Promise

 
There is only one day left to the last concert in the American tour, but the boys have not been able to dance or sing in the last two days. They don't even have the strength to eat for the nerves and the sense of discomfort they felt.

They don't speak to each other or even to their staff members, except for brief nods and a few greetings.
They look like zombies dragging themselves around for no apparent purpose. Each of them thinking about the woman they had never heard or seen. The younger ones seem to want to cry with every passing minute, while the two older ones wear expressionless faces: as if life has left their bodies.

After yet another wrong choreography and out of tune, the leader looks around seeing that his partner, Hoseok, is watching him.
From the outside it appears that the two have silent communication with each other. Looking for answers in the eyes of the other: failing, however, to find anyone.
Time seems to have stopped, although the staff is moving, no boy in the band moved, everyone lost in their own head. Until an external commotion brings them out of their trance.

They hear a woman shouting English words from outside asking to see the band. Their Manager looks around and after noticing that, despite the security explaining that she could not enter and trying to physically remove her from the entrance, the woman does not move, so she decides to go to see what to do.

Namjoon, being the leader and worrying about the safety of his companions, decides to approach too, noting that besides the screaming woman there was also an older woman with Asian features, calm and composed waiting, looking around and seeming to ignore the woman with she who keeps screaming.
When the two men approach, the screaming woman stops and whispers something to the lady who was with her.

Before either of the men could say anything, the Asian lady speaks to them in Korean: "I guess the tall guy is my stupid daughter's soul mate." And then she smiles. With her eyes closing and little lines forming on the sides of his mouth.

This made the young man freeze in his footsteps, opening his eyes wide and looking at the woman in front of him.
“My loving Desiree may be the strongest woman I know, and at the same time the most cowardly. A truly strange mix. But I can understand the reasons behind it resulting in this utterly stupid way. Now, young man, I know, that you are not my daughter's only soulmate. Can you take me to the others? " the woman continues without losing her smile and looking Namjoon in the eyes and at the same time handing a sheet to her Manager.

The leader, despite being considered the smartest and most communicative, at that moment forgets every word he had ever known, continuing only to stare at the woman, who now he knew was the mother of their soul mate.

"Miss... Kim Aetae" says the Manager after reading the identification document and checking that it is Desiree Lai's mother: "You can follow me to our backstage and in the meantime Namjoon will go to call the rest of the band."

The Manager gives a gentle push to the man still frozen in place, and then accompanies the two women backstage to accommodate them.

Meanwhile the remaining members on stage they look around, waiting for their leader returned the to explain exactly what was going on.
When Namjoon finally returns, his face is still frozen in an expression of shock and confusion.

"We must to go." He simply says, and then heads to the room they used to relax during rehearsal.
The boys look at each other in confusion, but move quickly to follow their leader.
Once all seven enter, they see two women sitting on a sofa.

“So it's you. You are very beautiful. I'm Kim Aetae" Says the older woman in Korean standing up and making a slight bow, to which the boys respond hesitantly and confused.

"This is Mrs. Kim Aetae, Desiree Lai's mother." Says their Manager for information.

Hearing this the boys open their eyes wide and bow again, this time taking a deeper bow and introducing themselves all together. The only one still standing is their leader.

“There is no need for all these formalities” the lady says jovially and sitting down again, she continues: “I guess it is a bit of a shock to present myself in front of you like this. I didn't know how else to come to you. Fortunately my daughter's friend Regina contacted me and brought me here to you. "

Regina looks at the men in front of them with wide eyes. After all, she is still their fan, and she still does not believe he is so close to them. Although she does not understand anything of what is being said, she senses from their expressions that they are talking about their soul mate.

The boys are still stuck in their seats, not knowing what to say and how to behave. After all, the woman in front of them is Desiree's mother, their future mother-in-law. They wished the meeting was different. They wanted to make a good impression.
Instead she is there, but their soul mate is not. They are afraid that you think they have kicked her out. That they don't want her in their midst.

Kim Aetae looks at the terrified men in front of her with a heart full of anguish. She wished none of what had happened in the past had happened. She wished she could take her stupid daughter by the ears and put some salt in her pumpkin. Instead she wasn't there.

"Sit down and let's talk." The lady says, after waiting a few minutes for someone to speak, or simply for someone to move: “I know perfectly well that this is not a good first meeting. Eventually we could pretend it never happened and meet again when Desiree feels ready. "

Upon hearing the name of their soul mate again, the men move to take their seats and talk.
“Hi Mrs. Kim Aetae, I'm Kim Seokjin. I am the greatest of his daughter's soul mates. I'm happy to meet you madam. "

"My pleasure. And you other young people, what are your names? "

One at a time they are presented in order of age. Stammering, whispering and fidgeting. When everyone shows up, the room becomes silent.

“I'm sure you have a lot of questions about my daughter and her sudden disappearance. It is not my job to explain the reasons behind her behavior, and while I may understand that you are reluctant to find her or want to be with her, please understand that whatever she does has reasons why she does this. I hope you will find yourselves soon. " Kim Aetae says looking each of the men in the eye, trying to make them understand his sincerity.

To the amazement of all the people in the room, the elderly woman kneels on the ground begging them to find Desiree and keep her close.

“Mrs. Kim, please get up. We ... we want her in our life. And we all assume there is a reason for her behavior. She doesn't need to kneel in front of us. Never. We promise that we will find you again. " Says Min Yoongi getting up and helping her future mother-in-law to get up.

The woman with the shining eyes watches the men nod at their bandmate's words.
“I guess you are very busy. I learned that you are international stars. Not quite what I expected as a gender, given my daughter's character. " she replies with a laugh: “Desiree is not responding to any of her friends or to me. There are few places she could go for solace. And since she didn't come to my house, I guess she is in Italy, to her father's relatives. I'll write you the address if you want. "

The Manager hands over a pen and paper so that she can write down the place where they might find Desiree.

After the boys feel they can find their soul mate, they immediately relax and start talking to the two women in the room, and despite knowing it was going to be a long journey, perhaps even more difficult than they had calculated, they felt better.
They have a goal to reach. And they wouldn't stop.
They want happiness. To finally be able to feel complete and more united. They finally want to become the family they have always wanted.

Meanwhile Desiree, unaware of what was happening on the other side of the world, finally manages to fall asleep. As if her soul knew she had nothing more to worry about.