Stigma Love's Algorithm [ A BTS x Reader Poly ]

Chapter 16: When Life Shakes You

Nurses came in and out, checking on her, adjusting the machines around her.

But it didn't feel real.

It didn't feel like my mom.

She was there, but she wasn't.

I watched Nari fall asleep in the chair next to me, exhausted, her body trembling despite her efforts to rest.

I stayed awake, keeping an eye on the machines, trying to keep the panic at bay, trying to hold onto the hope that she would wake up-that she would be okay.

I looked down at the phone in my hand, the same app on my screen, like it was there to mock me.

But in that moment, I didn't feel like worrying about it anymore.

I wasn't worried about soulmates, not anymore.

I was just hoping for my mom to wake up.

And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.

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The next day passed in a blur of white walls and the incessant beeping of machines, nurses moving in and out of the room, checking on Mom as if everything was just another routine.

But it wasn't.

Every movement, every passing minute, felt like an eternity.

Nari and I didn't leave her side. We stayed, hour after hour, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest, clinging to that as a sign that she was still with us.

But that was all we had-the hope that she might wake up, that she wasn't gone yet.

If there was one thing good about these endless hours, it was that Nari and I were finally able to talk-really talk.

We opened up in ways we never had before. Nari shared her struggles at work and the pressure she was under.

She also talked about her two soulmates, Hannah and Jeoff. They had been bouncing back and forth from the hospital, doing everything they could to help us.

I couldn't help but feel a little lighter, knowing Nari was so well cared for.

Even more surprisingly, I found myself talking with Hannah and Jeoff too.

It felt good to see Nari surrounded by people who genuinely cared about her, people I could trust to look after her.

It was a relief to know she wasn't alone in all this.

I also found myself sharing something I hadn't fully processed until now-the way I felt for Y/N, how I thought there was some kind of connection between us.

She felt like someone I was meant to meet, someone my heart seemed to recognize.

I even found myself thinking Mom would really like her if she were awake to meet her.