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

Chapter 48: A Reckoning in Motion ⚠️

There's ringing in my ears.

A soft, high-pitched hum, drowning out every rational thought. My brain struggles-fails-to process the weight of this moment.

I feel untethered.
Like I'm floating.
Like I'm falling.

I don't know which.

Because sitting before us, in the grand, imposing office of one of the most powerful criminal defense attorneys in Seoul-

Is our soulmate.

And he's Dara's fiancé.

The realization slams into me like a tidal wave. It steals the air from my lungs, crushes my ribs with its sheer force.
It's too much.

Too surreal. Too unexpected.

I need to move. To react. To do something.

But my body betrays me, frozen in this moment where time stretches and compresses all at once, trapping me in its cruel grasp.

Beside me, Yoongi is deathly still.

But I see it.
His fingers-twitching ever so slightly against his thigh. His only tell. The only sign that he is just as rattled as I am.

And then there's Taehyung.

Rigid. Wide-eyed. His body locked in place, as if he's been caught in the crosshairs of something far bigger than he can comprehend.

And then-
Him.

Our soulmate.

For a single breath, his deep, knowing eyes widen-a flicker of shock breaking through his composed exterior.

It lasts only a second.

Then-stillness.

A quiet, soundless eternity where we hover in something unspoken, suspended between fate and disbelief.

But then-
Something shifts.

He moves-not in panic, not in hesitation-but with the fluid grace of someone who knows exactly what has just happened.

The initial shock vanishes from his face, smoothed over by something softer. Something careful.

And then-
He smiles.

It's subtle, just the barest tug of his lips, but it's warm. Gentle. Soothing.

Like he's afraid to startle us.

Like he knows-feels-that the ground beneath us has just irrevocably shifted.

"Please, sit down," he says. His voice is smooth, steady-anchored in something quiet, something sure.

Like he already understands the gravity of this moment.

The warmth in his tone reaches through the storm raging inside me, pulling me back down. Grounding me.

He gestures toward the chairs, and I notice-
His hands.