Bound by Blood

Chapter 101- stories unfold

JIMIN POV:

I don't know how to feel when we return home, feeling a longing to remain just a while longer in her childhood home- wanting to soak up as many memories as I could, feeling those emotions linger and wound around my heart, the atmosphere a mixture of the pain that had spilled and seeped into the walls of her parents' bedroom but also the love that shrouded it in its entirety. 

But when we return and I note that (Y/N) only allows herself a small period of time to remain curled up with Tae, allowing him to comfort her before she detaches herself from him, a look of determination and steadfastness as she leaves; missing the look of worry and dejection on Tae's face- several pair of eyes following her as she leaves.

But if she wants space then we'll happily give it, because her behaviour isn't unusual even if it makes our soul pang with the need to comfort- seeing the hidden vulnerability in her posture.

"She had such a beautiful childhood stolen from her." Jin hyung says sadly, eyes still trained on the doorway, hoping for her to re-enter.

"It's not fair hyung, this is why the Ims had been so protective over her all this time. Why they never cared for what others thought for her being their nestling." Kookie murmurs, voice soft and eyes full of empathy, pained and hurting alongside her, allowing Hobi hyung to tug him into his side.

There's murmurs of agreement. And all of them carry the silent undertones of guilt- that we'd never picked up on the fact she'd been hurting so deeply, that when we'd outpoured our own hurts and experiences into our judgement of her at the beginning, she never had.

The memory of cold crisp weather and a park bench come to mind and I feel shame sit heavily in me, burdensome and heavy. Now holding infinitely more meaning because now I knew the pains she'd talked of had been this.

"I'll go check on her in a while. I think she just wants some space and time to think." Yoongi hyung says, eyes contemplative and thoughtful.

Joon hyung has taken to reading a heavy volume on the current law system- mumbling he was trying to find how many laws Chul had broken and how many he could be punished by. He had an intense look of concentration and hadn't realised in his deep focus, that his inner turmoil was being reflected with the way the potted plant near him was wilting- drooping sadly as a reflection of what he was feeling.

Tae's curled next to Jin hyung, distractedly fiddling with the cushion in his arms that he hugs tightly- as if to fill his now vacated arms with something else to busy himself even if he continues to dart glances at the doorway with a look of deep longing to just bolt over to find her. Unsettled by the emotions thrumming through the bond- the faint thread of pain and hurt that had been present for a few days now.

And Jin hyung. Jin hyung has uncharacteristically picked up his phone to call his parents- something I haven't witnessed for decades, which is a stretch, a lifetime in a human's eyes; but for us, it sometimes flew by in a few blinks of an eye.

And the last time he'd talked to them had ended in a huge argument. When his parents whilst had accepted us as his mates, hadn't hidden their disappointment that all of us as males couldn't produce and bear the offspring that would carry on the famed legacy of the Kims. It had been brought into conversation through offhanded comments- remarks on the delicate beauty Kookie was but a sigh of disappointment that yet again he wasn't the mate they'd been waiting for. A female.

And Jin hyung had bolted, eyes burning red- pulling Kookie into his side and declaring that if that was how it was going to be, then they didn't have reasons to keep meeting. No need for politeness. And so every invite, every request to meet again had gotten declined.