Soul Bound

05 | Not Your Business

"It's going to be okay."

A muddled voice trudged through the madness.

"You're not alone."

Warmth seeped into the cold, wet grave. Easing her muscles.

"You're safe."

There was a hand on her shoulder and one on her cheek. Warm. Grounding.

"You're doing so good, little dove. So good."

The voice was gentle and melodic. It freed the chains around her rib cage. Opened up her lungs.
And she finally could breath again.

"There you go. That's it. Keep breathing."

Narae felt as if she was gently lifted from the dark. The fog in her mind cleared the steadier her breathing got.

"You're one strong lady, little dove. I'm so proud of you. You're doing so good. Keep breathing."

As she concentrated on the voice, the rush and ringing in her ears subsided. The rattling of the subway returned to her senses. Dulled and muffled but undoubtedly there.
The hand on her shoulder squeezed gently. Reassuringly. Grounding in reality. And the other fingers brushed away the wetness on her cheeks. Narae's brows furrowed.
She had cried?

"Can you feel my hands now?"

Narae nodded. Her head instinctively leaning into the tender fingers on her cheek.

"Can you feel the seat you're sitting on?"

Seat? Her brows furrowed in confusion.
She concentrated and felt a hard surface on her back and a softer one beneath her bottom and thighs. Steady. Grounding. She was not at the bottom of a lake. She was in Seoul.
Another nod.

"Come on, little dove. Open your eyes for me. I know you can do it. You are so, so strong and doing so, so good."

Narae opened her eyes.
It was a bit difficult from how her eyelashes were sticking together due to the tears but she managed.

The first thing Narae saw was a pretty smile. Warm and gentle like the morning sun painting the sky in beautiful colours. A smile so very reassuring that there was still good in the world that Narae wanted to cry again.
But she didn't. She looked into the eyes of the pretty woman leaning over her. The pretty woman with the pretty smile.
And a voice that brought Narae back into reality.

"There you go", the woman said gently and let her hand fall from Narae's cheek while the other hand staid on Narae's shoulder. For a moment the woman seemed confused. As if she had expected something different.
"Are you okay for now?", the woman asked and Narae nodded. She took the tissue the woman was offering her and wiped underneath her eyes. Her mascara was surely smudged.
While working to make herself presentable for public again, Narae looked around. She was glad there weren't many passengers anyway. Some were staring at her, few of them looked even slightly concerned. An older man gave her an encouraging smile and Narae nodded at him, not quite able to smile herself yet.
Her eyes wandered to where Park Jimin sat. He was still there. Head turned to look out of the window. Narae's lips pursed and her eyebrows twitched. He wasn't obliged to help her — Narae knew that — but it did hurt her that he obviously hadn't even bothered to think about helping.

Great friends her coven had there...

"My name's Solar", the woman next to Narae introduced herself and effectively brought Narae's attention back to her.
"Uh...I'm Choi Narae", Narae returned the introduction and bowed her head. "Thank you for helping me." She still felt out of it. Numb. As if she was packed in cotton and all sound was dulled. And she was so very exhausted, despite her still rather fast heart beat.
As the tiredness washed over her and the pounding of her heart slowly, slowly turned regular again, Narae suddenly and very urgently became aware of the panic positively flooding through her coven bond.