Soulmate

Fifty: Ophelia

"I guess you're right." We're both quiet for a moment, just taking in each others' presence. Seokjin reaches up again and wipes the half-dried tears from my cheeks. I find it in myself to smile at him.

"There she is," he says sweetly. "My pretty girl."

I feel my face heat up at his words. His thumb rubs my cheek gently. I push his hand away and turn away from him.

"Whatever," I mumble. "I'm hungry."

Seokjin smiles at me. "Let's eat then."

—

"I'm studying astronomy. You know, stars and space and stuff."

"Wow," Seokjin mumbles around the fried chicken in his mouth. "That's cool. You don't strike me as the type to study a science. You seem like a psychology person."

My brows furrow. "Psych is still a science."

Seokjin looks up to the ceiling. "Yeah, whatever."

"Anyway," I snort. "My dad was a well known astronomer in San Francisco and he would always teach me about space. When I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut but after he died, I wanted to be more like him. I realized that I preferred my feet on the ground, anyway. I'm in graduate school right now. I work part time as a lab assistant in the research center my dad used to work at. The rest of the time, I'm at school or taking care of my grandma."

"No free time allowed, huh?"

"I want to conduct my own study before I turn thirty. That's my goal. I only have seven years to do it and I still have two degrees to finish before I can do anything of my own."

Seokjin smiles at me. Our heads jerk up at the sound of the front door opening and Jungkook freezes when he sees us sitting on the floor in the living room, eating our food.

"Oh," he says. "Hey, guys."

"Hey," I say as casually as possible.

"Where's Hope? And the others?" Seokjin asks.

Jungkook shrugs. "Hope's staying with Areum, the other guys are staying the night at the building." He drops his massive black backpack behind the couch and climbs over the back of it to sit down.

"JK," Seokjin mumbles.

Jungkook looks between the two of us. "Oh! Oh, sorry, you guys. I'm stupid, I'll go on to bed. It's late anyway—"

"No, no, it's okay," I say. "You're right, it's late. We were finishing eating anyway."

I stand up and stretch my arms. Seokjin reaches for my hand and, after a quick goodnight to Jungkook, we make our way back into the hallway. Instead of going into the guest room, Seokjin pulls me down the hall toward his bedroom. My eyes widen, but I follow him anyway.

He closes the door behind us and I sit carefully on his bed. He sits beside me, taking my hand.

"I wanted to ask you before we go to bed, since we were talking about your family and everything," he says. "Do you think moving you and your grandmother out here with me would help take some of the burden off your shoulders?"

I'm shocked by his question. "What?"

"I don't want you to feel alone," he continues. "If it would help, I want you to move here. After your semester ends, of course. She could live with you or...with us if we decide to live together. Or there are lots of senior memory care places here. We could probably find one that speaks English. That way you don't have to feel responsible for taking care of her by yourself."