Soulmate

Nine: Ophelia

May 20, 2019
San Fransisco, California

"Hey, Rosie, I'm on my way."

"Have you seen anything form the concert last night?"

This is the first thing my best friend says to me over the phone when I answer her call. I'm already in my car driving over to her house. My brows furrow, confused over her rushed and breathless speech.

"No, I've been pretty busy this morning. Why?"

"Get over here immediately."

"Rose!" I say urgently to catch her before she can hang up on me. "Is everything okay?"

"No," she says. "Everything is not okay."

That sentence alone is enough to have me speeding to her doorstep in worry of what could've happened.

It's a perfect Monday morning; beautiful, sunny, cloudless. However, I'm barely able to notice it as I run up Rose and David's driveway in panic.

I fling open the painted door of their modest home and come face to face with a happily gurgling Violet and a flushed looking Rose.

I take in the peaceful scene in front of me as I catch my breath.

"What's wrong?" I ask. My voice is a confused whisper as I feel Rose's anxiety from her frizzy strawberry-blonde hair. Her hair always pops a few extra baby hairs when she's upset. Little Violet's eyes focus on me and I reach for her. Rose's hands shake as we trade off the baby.

"Rose, what's going on?" I say firmly.

"You definitely didn't go to New York, right?" Her voice is softened I'm confused by her question.

"What? No! I told you, I had finals last week. I couldn't go, remember?"

"Then who the hell is this 'soulmate' Kim Seokjin has trending on Twitter?"

I frown at her question. "What?"

Rose huffs with frustration. She leads me into the living room, grabbing her phone off the coffee table and opening one of the many Twitter notifications on the screen. She turns the trending page to me and I only feel my confusion deepen at the top five hashtags.

1. #JinSoulmate
2. #BTSSoulmates
3. #seokjinsoulmate
4. #BTSMetLifeFinal
5. #soulmate

The words "Seokjin" and "soulmate" taunt my confused mind. I've never understood the two words less in my life, not even when I first heard them in 2013. I trade Violet off again, this time taking the phone and tapping on of the hashtags trending for the whole world to see. 

I'm met first with my beautiful soulmate's crying face. I frown at the sight of his tears and tap the play button on the video. 

"I...I have no words to thank you all for the support and love I've gathered over the years in BTS. You've all done a good job in helping me to love myself. I hope you all can focus on yourselves now and not me. And I hope that we'll all do even better in loving ourselves. Just as you've all helped me, there's someone else with me who can help me, too. You see...I've met my soulmate here on this tour." 

My ears go deaf to the rest of the video and my eyes turn blind to everything except the shock of the other members' faces, the flash of anger on Jungkook's, before the lights shut off and the video ends. I'm left alone in silence. 

"I don't understand." My voice is brittle, almost like it could crack at any moment. "Did he find me?" I don't know why I ask when I already know the answer.