The Wrong Soulmate (BTS OT7)

Chapter 3.17-Jin

Namjoon and I had become partners in the slow process of getting Yoona comfortable leaving the house. Every day we worked at getting her to go a bit farther. And every day going to the park seemed closer to being within our grasp. We took everything at Yoona's pace, constantly encouraging her to stretch herself but always with her in the lead. We knew that Hyunjin had taken away all of her freedom and agency over herself and our first priority was to restore that along with her confidence.

We could see that Yoona was trying hard for herself, not just because we asked her to be brave. Each day we would tie her shoes on and she would take the initiative to go to the door. And then the next day she opened the door. Then she looked in the hallway. The next day she walked into the hallway. Then the following day she took a few steps to the elevator. And finally she made it far enough on her own to press the down button.

We had some setbacks along the way. One time Yoona stepped into the hallway at the same time as a neighbor who had a big dog on a leash, causing Yoona to scurry behind us, terrified of both the stranger and the dog. We didn't try to force her to come back out, instead we just assured her that we would protect her and she was always safe with us.

Seeing her regain her confidence and courage was a labor of love, but we were beginning to see it really pay off. We could now have managers stop by the apartment. While Yoona usually made herself scarce, panic attacks and tears were largely a distant memory. She was often smiling and worked diligently on all of her therapies. She treated getting better as a full time job and it was a joy as a soulmate to finally see her begin to blossom and regain herself.

Yoona would inevitably follow close behind any time I went to the kitchen. She always wanted to help cook and I loved having her by my side. I was still nervous about letting her use a knife, her finger dexterity remained relatively weak. But we enjoyed feeding each other little bites and I found simple ways for her to help like measuring, stirring, and getting out and putting away ingredients.

Whenever we cooked together I regularly stole small kisses from Yoona, which would always leave her a blushing mess. It was beyond adorable and I found myself wanting to pinch her cheeks, but instead I'd wrap her up in a comforting hug.

Altogether Yoona had brought a surprising peace back to our soul group. Not just in our interactions with her but also with each other. I started to see more frequent kisses between our soulmates, gentle touches, small dates, and sometimes I'd see a few pair off at bedtime. It was hard to even remember when and why we were so angry in the past. Rallying around Yoona really had changed everything.

Well, almost everything.

Hobi was the most engaged that we'd seen in a while, but he hadn't yet committed himself to rejoining us fully. We all knew he desperately wanted to be a father and none of us begrudged that urge and yearning he had. We wished we could fill it for him, but we just couldn't.

Everything felt like it was falling into peaceful patterns until one day Yoona slipped and shared something that it seemed like she'd been holding back.

Each night Yoona still let me bathe her. She clearly was strong enough to do this herself, but she told me she liked our time together, and I certainly wasn't going to say no. It was something special between only us that had been ingrained into the rhythms of our life together. During the bath, when I was gently caressing her skin, we'd both fully open our bonds to each other letting the other have an unfettered glimpse into our deepest emotions. After her bath she was always carried everywhere, although that was usually only the short trek across the hall to Jungkook's room. I'd spend time rocking her back and forth while she buried her face in my neck. When she was fully relaxed I'd lay her on the bed, giving her a sweet kiss goodnight.

But this night was just a little bit different. Yoona had been relatively distant all day. It was the first time I'd seen her resist Namjoon when he went to put her shoes on to encourage her to explore further into the world outside our apartment.

By the time she was settled in the bathtub that evening all of my soulmates had noticed that Yoona had spent the whole day deep in her own thoughts. She seemed fully out of sorts. When I was bathing her she still opened her bond to me and I could feel the anger and fear radiating from her. Eventually I paused my washing and pulled out my phone to write her a note that she could read.

Why are you so upset today?

By now both Yoona and I knew enough basic signs that she could sign a few words back to me and hope I would understand. She sighed first before she began to sign the words for 'mother' and 'father'.

This was odd. She'd never mentioned her parents before and the one time Yoongi had brought them up she'd totally spiraled from what Yoongi's reported back to us. I knew this was sensitive territory.

Did they hurt you?

Yoona shook her head no and looked at me in surprise. We had assumed her parents were in league with Hyunjin based on her conversation with Yoongi. But based on her reaction now, that definitely didn't seem to be the case.

Where are they?

Namjoon had asked the company to see if they could find Yoona's parents but after a cursory effort they eventually concluded they weren't in Korea. Their search didn't get much further.

Yoona just shrugged her shoulders. It seemed she was equally unclear where they were.

But why wouldn't Yoona know where her parents were? She said she used to talk to them and they would come to visit. Yoona seemed to have a good relationship with her parents when she described the time before we first met her.

Unless...

Unless Hyunjin had hidden them...and was using them as leverage against Yoona. A way to keep her quiet and away from the kids.

If that was true, it changed everything. If we could find Yoona's parents and get them to safety then maybe we could get the kids too. It would require a lot of effort and great care, but it was worth exploring to confirm if that was the actual situation. I'd talk to the rest of the guys about it as soon as I'd tucked Yoona into bed.

In the meantime I flooded her with warmth and love and empathy for her situation. She really had been through so much. Her return had brought so much joy to our soul group and there was nothing I wanted more than to see her receive that same joy back, no matter what it took.

When I was done bathing her and had helped her into her pajamas I held her closer than usual, wanting to provide her any comfort that I could. Before long I felt tears starting to soak the collar of my t-shirt. It had been a while since we'd seen Yoona cry and it absolutely broke my heart to see her in this type of pain. We had to find a way to fix this. We just had to.

It didn't take long to find Namjoon after I'd tucked Yoona into bed and he'd agreed that he'd ask the company to check it out. Maybe this would be the breakthrough we needed.