The Wrong Soulmate (BTS OT7)

Chapter 4.6-Namjoon

The next few days were spent learning what life would be like with the children around. Jina was the easiest. While she often clung to Taehyung she was friendly with anybody who paid attention to her, particularly if they offered her fruit or any type of sweets. Needless to say she'd become very close to Jin very quickly since he was always trying to fill her belly with good food. She'd become relatively comfortable exploring the house on her own. The only problem was that we lived in a big apartment and sometimes it was hard to find the little girl if she snuck away.

She seemed to love to hide but also had uncontrollable giggles. She loved cartoons, snuggles, and looking at books. She'd sit on my lap for hours while I read stories to her, enthralled with the pictures and the narrative. Whenever she would tire she would go to Taehyung and begin to whine until he strapped her to his back, allowing her to rest her cheek against him until she fell asleep.

We'd learned the middle child's name was Jiwon. He was almost painfully shy but had become comfortable with Jimin and Hobi. I'd discovered that if I approached him directly he'd scurry away but if I played it cool I might just get a small interaction. If I passed by him I'd stick out my hand for a high five, never making eye contact. Often he'd high five me back even though I could tell he was nervous.

A few times I'd sat down near the table in the living room and dumped out a puzzle. If I took long enough he'd eventually sit nearby and work on the puzzle too. But as soon as I talked to him, looked at him, or tried to hand him a piece he'd quickly pull away.

He'd become confident enough to sit at the table with others and would even help Jimin and Hobi with basic chores around the house. I'd found some simple educational sticker books for him, leaving them where he could find them. He gobbled them all up, the next day handing them to me fully completed so I'd know he wanted more. Hobi and I tried to convince him to come to the bookstore to pick out his own books but he refused so I kept up his supply for him.

The oldest boy, Jihoon, remained troublesome. He had a smart mouth, a feisty personality, and was as stubborn as you could imagine. Yoongi continued to sleep in front of the door every night trying to avoid another breakout attempt. Jihoon cast a dark pallor over our home, constantly sulking and complaining.

I guess after a few days Kookie had enough. He dragged the kid out of our apartment by the collar, not even giving him enough time to put on his shoes. I ran out after him to ask what he was thinking but he only would tell me that he and the boy were going "on a little trip" and he'd be back later.

They were gone for almost three hours and we were getting a little worried. Kookie wasn't answering his phone and nobody knew where they were. Jungkook had the least tolerance for the boy's attitude, and we were becoming a bit anxious about what was happening.

When they finally came back the boy was smiling and talking animatedly to Jungkook about his favorite superhero.

I was shocked but I couldn't help but burst out laughing when I saw Yoongi's face. He'd been battling this belligerent kid almost non-stop for the past several days and here he was chatting with Jungkook like nothing ever happened.

"Kook, uh, where were you?"

"Jihoon went to the gym with me. I had my boxing training session and I thought Jihoon might like to learn too. He seemed to enjoy fighting, so you know..."

Jihoon hadn't totally changed his attitude. He continued to sulk much of the time except when he was with Kookie. It still wasn't great, but we were starting to see a pathway to progress.

Yoona and the kids' relationships were complicated. We'd learned she'd spent very little time with them, maybe only a few days. She hadn't even known their real names. They were essentially strangers to her. Based on what Jihoon would share it was obvious Hyunjin actively badmouthed our poor soulmate to her children, telling them all kinds of terrible things about her. In some ways it felt like Yoona and her children were the farthest apart of anyone in our soul group. Yoona being deaf distinctly wasn't helping matters considering it was very hard for her to communicate with or understand the children.

Each of my soulmates worked hard to find ways to build that relationship up. Taehyung was always gravitating to Yoona when Jina was strapped to his back. While Jiwon would only do activities in parallel to me, I always tried to do those with Yoona next to me.

I'd seen Jiwon peeking in on Yoona's sign language lessons, moving his own hands in the same way. He was clearly exceptionally smart and I knew if we gave him enough space he'd eventually come around.

Jihoon remained the hardest nut to crack, having heard the most negative things about Yoona from his father. It would take time and patience to figure that one out.

We were falling into workable patterns but at the same time I didn't want to forget that Yoona still needed our focused attention for her own recovery and to continue to settle into our soul group. It was only a few days after the children arrived that I needed to go to the company to work on some music. Yoona had never been there before but as always we were trying to expand her experiences so I asked her to come with.

Bringing her into my music studio at the company I showed her how everything worked. A few weeks before I realized there was still so much of our music we could share with her if we approached it from the right angle. She could feel the beat. She could conceptualize the music by watching it blend together on the production software. Lyrics could be read. She could get a feel for the overall rhythm and style through our dance or music videos. In so many ways we could include her in our passion and work if we just thought about it differently.

I slowly walked her through everything in my studio, showing her how the song was building together. While some things were difficult to explain I could see her catching on, surprised even for herself how much she could experience if she allowed herself to believe it was possible.

She held my hand as much as she could, feeding off of my excitement while her own excitement grew as each layer built on the next. While it was slow and it required intention it seemed she really understood the music and the song, more than I could have hoped.

We were sitting on the couch but she hopped up to grab a piece of paper and pen from my desk.

I like this song, will you record it soon?

I slid the paper back from her so I could respond.

All of us are recording this together for you. We're giving you your birthday wish.

Yoona's eyes became wide with excitement and a look of joy took over her features.

She remained next to me and signed.

Thank you.

She scooted closer and signed again.

Thank you.

She then came to straddle my lap.

Thank you.

She put her forehead against mine, but I could still see her hands between us.

Thank you.

And then her lips were on mine. I wasn't really expecting it. It was quite unusual for Yoona to take the lead in this kind of way. It was perfect, soft and subtle just like our sweet Yoona.

I'd heard from Jungkookie about their trip and how Yoona had felt more comfortable guiding their intimacy and I wondered if I was seeing that now. I knew for myself I was willing to go as far as she would be comfortable, I hoped she'd allow me to make love to her. Or perhaps for her to make love to me.

Our make out session became more heated with Yoona scooting tighter and closer against me, grinding experimentally. I was fully responsive but continued to allow her to guide our interactions. Just as I thought she might progress further I saw her draw back, looking around as if in realization that we were in a public place she slid backward off my lap and gave me a shy smile.

Today had required a lot of bravery on her part and openness to new things. I was immensely proud of my little one. I understood her reluctance to take things further in my studio, afraid we could be interrupted.

I leaned forward to give her one last lingering kiss and then intertwined our fingers. Yoona had made incredible progress today, it was time to go home.