The Missing Piece

Chapter 30

Over the next few days, time slowed to a soupy thick consistency. It dragged all around them, pushing them lower. In the grey, fluorescent lit environment, they measured the passing hours by the nurse's rounds, by the medication schedule and by the steady beeping of the monitor fitted permanently to Narae's finger, checking she was still with them.

Seokjin, Jimin and Namjoon all stayed in the room with her around the clock, leaving only to use the bathroom or to make the quick telephone calls that couldn't wait. The rest, including a small contingent of staff from HYBE kept them company in shifts, bringing well wishes, non-hospital food, and unimportant information from the outside world. Everyone would have liked to stay but there wasn't enough room.

Narae's brother had arrived about an hour after he'd been telephoned. He, and then shortly thereafter, her mother and sister, had been siphoned off into a room with Jimin and Seokjin and Sejin to explain matters. The boys' own personal attorneys had wanted the family to sign the usual paperwork before they could be told anything but Jimin and Seokjin waved away all their rights.

"I don't understand. I mean, I know you work together, but why are you here? And when can I see my sister?" Tam had tried hard to keep his tone civilised but he wasn't as starstruck as others might have been.

Carefully, Seokjin and Jimin had explained that they were Narae's soulmates and that whatever information she'd been feeding them since her twenty-first birthday was, at least not to the whole truth.

They'd all quickly made the decision to tell anyone relevant, including Narae's family, about her being bonded to Seokjin and Jimin, but not about the wider Soul group. And of course, no one thought to ask.

Tam first, and then Narae's mother and sister, Mariko had been staggered at first, to learn that she had this double life including celebrity soulmates, but more so that she had deliberately tried to end her life in some way. But nothing prepared any of them for their reactions when they saw Narae for the first time. Buried under blankets and equipment though she was, her transformation was still stark.

"What the hell's been happening to her?" Tam barked over this shoulder at her chagrined mates once he'd looked Narae over and lost a few tears of regret of his own.

Jimin and Seokjin knew it was hopeless to try to answer that for him. They didn't know themselves. "We're so sorry. We had no idea she would ever do anything like this." They'd answered, lamely.

"But she looks terrible. She's... she's so thin, so frail." He didn't look at them, just kept running his eyes over his tiny sister. So many times over the last few months they'd reached out and been kept at arm's length because of 'how busy she was' and 'how much she had on.' He'd let it go and now he might lose her because of it.

"She's been keeping us away." He spoke mostly to himself. Then he turned. "Was she allowed to tell anyone? About you? She wasn't was she."

Jimin and Seokjin looked at each other uneasily. Sejin started to get up to speak on their behalf but both of the young men put up their hands.

"No, not really. None of us have told our families. Our situation is very complicated."

Tam barked out a hollow laugh. "Well, it will be a whole lot less complicated now won't it!"

The boys bit back their reactions.

"I don't know what's happened here, but she was just fine the last time. She never would have done anything like this. Something about your company, or your world, or just bonding with the two of you has done this to her."

No one spoke. Tam turned back to Narae, pulling a chair up and taking her hand. He cried a little more. They watched a few of his tears hitting the pale blue hospital blanket and staining it darker. The boys felt each one of those tears like a truck load of guilt piled on them, although they still didn't know why.