The Missing Piece

Chapter 9

Jimin was having to steal himself to get out of the car he'd driven home. With no passengers to take, no one to wait for, and nothing to do, he'd spent most of the afternoon in this car.

He'd tried to stay and practice a little in the room where he'd taken the phone call from the others, but it was no use. His mind was all over the place. He wanted to distract himself from thoughts of what all the others might be doing right at that moment, but there was no way he could.

He gave up dancing and tried instead to sit down and work through some of the thousands of Weverse posts from that day, hoping thoughts and kind words from ARMYs might cheer him up. But instead, he was confronted by a torrent of pictures and praise for all the others and it made him wonder what words they were saying to each other right then.

He couldn't settle anywhere in the building. Aside from the three rappers' studios, their small broadcasting lounge, and the practice rooms which were reserved for them, they had no real private area in the building to just relax, so Jimin decided to take himself elsewhere.

In his car, Jimin drove to the outskirts of the city and found a small anonymous restaurant on a main road to eat some lunch. He thought one of the servers might have recognised him but if they did, they didn't bother him while he was here alone. Jimin almost wouldn't have minded; he'd have been quite glad of the company.

He'd never felt so lonely in his life. Most of the time when he thought about it, he still could hardly believe what he'd been told, but putting that aside, he then felt like his six most solid anchors in this world had been taken away from him.

They let him sit in the café for as long as he liked but after a while he became stiff just occupying the plastic chair and he was sure it would only be a matter of time before someone photographed him, leading to further questions. Jimin got back in his car and dedicated himself to driving back into town but doing nothing to avoid the major traffic spots.

He called his mum, wondering if that would make him feel better, but she only asked after the rest of the guys and sent them her love. See, everyone knew how attached the seven were. How could he untangle himself from them in any kind of meaningful way?

When he thought about the night to come, he had no idea what lay ahead. Jimin knew that despite what had happened, the six others still felt for him the way they always had done. They were family, that's what they'd always said. They wouldn't leave him out to dry, they wouldn't want him to feel like this. But things weren't that simple when it came to soulmates. People had abandoned their actual families, husbands, wives, children to be with their one true love – or in Yoongi, Taehyung and Hoseok's case, two true loves. They wouldn't put him first, they couldn't.

And was that even what he wanted? When Jimin pictured his life, it always included a soulmate, but just the one, probably a woman, and definitely not one of his group! It occurred to Jimin as he headed back into town, that he was lucky in a way, he was the only one who'd been given a choice in the matter. The rest had just touched and Kaboom!

Great, so you have a choice! What is it that you want exactly? Jimin didn't know. Anyway, did he even have a choice? Would the others let him choose?

In the underground parking garage, he'd pulled in. It wasn't four yet. That was the time they'd agreed on but he sure as hell didn't want to get up there early and interrupt Namjoon and Jungkook alone. Better to be the last in, he thought dryly. When they're all already talking. And dressed! His mind added. Jesus!

With just over fifteen minutes to go, Jimin heard another car pull in and head straight over for the service lift. He recognised it as one of the company vehicles. They must be dropping someone off.