sᴏᴜʟʙᴏɴᴅ • ᴠᴍɪɴ ᴀʙᴏ ᴀᴜ • (ᴏɴɢᴏɪɴɢ)

🌵chapter 2

"Taehyung-ah! Bring the green basket from outside!", Jin shouted as he arranged few potted succulents on the shelf. All green and plump, newly watered, wearing a fresh smile.

"I'll be there in a minute, Dad!", a deep voice replied back.

"His exams are coming up, let him study hyung", Namjoon offered to help instead.

A green basket full of little cacti buds planted in loose soil were kept near the display shelves outside the store. Picking it up, he dropped it near Seokjin.

"He is majoring in agriculture. What's wrong with helping out in a flower shop?"

"This is physical work. What's it got to do with learning about plants even? I'll do them hereafter", said Namjoon, defiantly.

"I would like that but then I don't want the baskets broken", Jin teased him.

Rolling his eyes at him Namjoon turned to see his son leaning on the wall looking at the couple with a fond look.

"Aren't you guys bored bickering non stop?", the boy walked towards his father who shrugged his shoulders. After 14 years had passed by, Taehyung was almost the same height as his fathers.

"That's how we love", Jin replied winking at his husband. Namjoon winked back.

"Gosh! The cringe is giving me goosebumps", Taehyung's face twisted funnily.

"You know what's real cringy? This-", Jin pointed at few cacti buds in the basket and immediately Taehyung's face flushed.

"I was just eight years old then! Who knew cactus meant lust?", he yelled feeling his ears turn hot.

"So it was an innocent gift? Won't you ever gift him another cacti in your life?", Jin asked folding his arms like he knew every inch about his son. And yes he did.

But Namjoon mouthed at him to not speak further. After all it was a delicate matter to Taehyung.

With a confident smile the boy replied, "Ofcourse I will give him a cactus because I will meet him soon. He is my soulbond after all"

Having heard the words of trust through the whole 10 years, Namjoon and Jin still felt it hard to believe that their son had never wavered from his decision.

Because soulbonds do exist. And so did Taehyung's and Jimin's.

"That's my boy", Jin walked to his son and have him a kiss on the forehead. He really wished Taehyung would get to meet Jimin soon. Because his son has waited year after year, going through painful nights just because he couldn't forget the sweet smell.

And that's the reason they moved to the capital. Leaving Namjoon's mother to take care of the flower shop in the town, the Kims opened a new one in the capital 6 years ago.

Because what if Jimin was here.

Going back to his room, Taehyung pulled his chair to continue studying but stopped midway and walked towards the window. Looking at the small cacti that sat in it's white porcelain pot, he let out a habitual sigh, "You know what? I really wish you would bloom this year atleast.... I really miss your scent"

It had been 14 years since Taehyung had met Jimin for the first time as well as the last. Since then he has waited everyday holding onto the sweet fragrance that was embedded in him along with the memories of the boy. He was so hopelessly confident that they were going to meet again. Never even uttering his emotions of missing him all these years, he lived with a never wavering smile. He was patient in waiting for the day when he would get to hold the boy just like in the past. Even when the wait turned painful at times, he could never think of forgetting the scent. And it was not like he could anyway. His soul that he had promised to grow well for Jimin, was so deeply stained with the other's scent. Though he might've had thoughts on letting go of everything, his first rut proved him wrong.