Linked // ambw

Deux

The Center is a stark contrast from all of the stories I'd heard as a child. I'd been terrified with tales of needles and forced scientific research but the view in front of me is a far cry from what I've envisioned. The building is made of sandstone and brick with roses of varying colors blooming everywhere. There's a small fountain out front surrounded by more flowers and couple stone benches. The entire setup screams love. That ideal is further cemented when we walk inside. Everyone is smiling and majority of the nurses moving through the halls are dressed in some shade of red or pink. It's absolutely nauseating. Tae squeezes my hand which is covered in his much larger one as we walk up to the reception desk.

"Hi! How can I help you today?" The peppy nurse asks as we sit in the two chairs set out in front of her desk.

"We have an appointment with Dr. Min. Kim and Garrison" Tae responds. I'm so glad that he's able to take over like this because I've been running on autopilot for the past three days since The Incident occurred. The nurse quickly checks us in then gives us at least 10 pages of paperwork to fill out.

"Since you two are new patients I'll need you to fill all this out for me. It's front and back so make sure you don't miss anything." She smiles brightly as she hands over the clipboard and a pen with a bright pink flower superglued to the top of it. We make our way out to the waiting room to bare our souls to all of this paperwork.

"When were we mated? February 27th" The documents don't take nearly as long to complete as I thought they would but the information they ask for is borderline intrusive. Have we consummated our relationship? If so, how often are we sexually involved? Tae wiggles his eyebrows at that question which makes me smile for the first time since we walked through those doors.

Thankfully we don't have to wait too long to see Dr. Min once we hand in our paperwork. He's not quite what I imagined he would be after seeing the other staff members. His smile is bright and wide when he greets us but I can tell he's a man who likes to show his happiness in ways other than a permanent smile. Nevertheless, his very aura is calming. There's a picture of a smiling toddler in the arms of a woman with a matching smile perched proudly on his desk.

"Dr. Min Yoongi, pleasure to meet you both," He says enthusiastically as he shakes our hands before rounding his desk to sit down. "So, what seems to be the problem?" Suddenly he's all business as he grabs a pen so that he can take notes. The shift is almost a little jarring but time is of the essence I guess.

Tae immediately starts rattling off the details of what happened that day in my apartment. I interject here and there but ultimately leave the storytelling up to him. Dr. Min listens intently, occasionally making a few notes in what I'm assuming is our file. His brow furrows the more Tae speaks. I can practically see the gears in his head turning as he tries to piece together the information that we're giving him.

"When you say the soulmate mark was fading, how exactly was it doing that?" he looks up from his notes to elaborate. "Did it go letter by letter? Were all of the letters fading slowly at once?"

"It-it was more like when you move a piece of paper over a candle flame. Bits and pieces of each letter seemed to just burn away but it stopped when he grabbed my arm." I realize that this is the first time that I've actually said this out loud since I'd called my mom in a panic that day. It sounds just as outlandish now as it did then.

Dr. Min mumbles a curse under his breath before hastily reaching for his phone. He looks as if he's been kicked in the knee. He punches a few numbers, glancing at his watch as he waits for his call to be answered.

"I need you in my office now." He opens his mouth to continue but whoever he's on the phone with interrupts him to which he rolls his eyes. "Shove that quesadilla up your ass and get in here now."