The Missing Piece

Chapter 38

Narae fell into Namjoon's arms the way she'd fallen in love with all of them; not knowing it was going to happen and then all at once. She'd intended to carefully, sensuously peel him out of his well-chosen clothes, but her hands were working alongside some primal part of her mind she had no control over, and she tore at the barriers between her skin and his own.

Distracted though she was, from all around and with equal clarity, she felt the steady anchoring presence of the other six pieces of her soul. They'd already felt each other's skin from every direction and now were basking in a new completeness of love they hadn't known before.

Namjoon, moments ago the weakest of their company, was himself reunited with the animal that lurks within everyone where their mates are concerned. He hoisted Narae up, pulling her body to his and extended the desperate kiss they were sharing to the sides of her mouth and her lips and jaw. His love, his missing love. How he'd missed her.

Everything she'd known was wrong before. All of the missteps that had led them up to this point were just the actions of madness. How gutless they'd all been in the beginning. How selfish they'd been as time went on, and finally how blind they'd become to each other and to their own needs. And anyway, even if none of that was true, how could they have ever, for a single second, not tried to reach for this feeling, this oneness with each other. Why didn't they spend every moment fighting for, trying to for it, forcing it into existence? Because now that it was here and she knew how much of her life revolved around the love she had for her mates, she would fight for it. She'd thought she was dying for it before, but she'd been wrong. She was just facilitating a reality where this didn't exist, where she didn't live and breathe for Namjoon's mind and Hobi's smile and Yoongi's words. Jimin's eyes, Tae's obscurity, Jungkook's affection and Jin's lips.

Too much. Too much to love of them, too much regret at what she'd nearly lost. At what the idiot's she loved had nearly lost. Her euphoria mingled complicatedly with the trauma of the entire episode, and it shook her to her core.

Namjoon felt her slowly break in his arms. Every one of them had the same feelings she did, although none of them had been hurt so badly. As one they watched and waited while she fell apart in Namjoon's arms. He held onto her tightly as her kisses dissolved and in their place tears and desperate cries started to fall into the silence across the room.

Namjoon held her tightly and sank back into the chair he'd been sitting in, taking her with him onto his lap. He rocked her body instinctively as her great wracking sobs shook both of them.

This wasn't a relapse into Hanahaki. She had no problem breathing, and no compulsion to cough. Her lungs, her whole body, were well and she had no doubt of the love her mates all had for her. This was just the pain that she'd never had the opportunity to express to them before. She could let it out now, knowing they'd love her no less for it.

They all watched on, listening to the horrible sound of their beloved crying out. They felt every part of her abjection as though it was their own and they all absorbed it, knowing it was only right that they all took their share.

"It's okay. We're here. We're all here." Namjoon hushed, swaying her body back and forth. He gave her no pressure to quieten or hush. He wanted this all to come out of her, and he'd hold her for as long as she needed. Every hour of every day for the rest of their lives if that what it took.

Driven by instinct, not to temper her, but to sooth, all the boys crowded in around them, laying their palms to her skin, letting her see the tears of their own glistening on cheeks, whispering their own comforts.

Narae stilled by degrees, suddenly feeling a little silly, the way one does after a good cry, but she cuddled in closer to Namjoon, letting him know that she was doing better. It was like stepping closer to a winter bonfire and feeling the heat lick at her skin.