Yoongi emptied the contents of his stomach in the downstairs toilet while Jin called the company. Hobi was upstairs waking the other members.
He had never felt so sick in his life. He hated it. He hated himself for being so careless. He hated what was about to come next.
Just like when JK had bonded with his soulmate at a concert, managers and nurses would fill their dorm and fuss over him. They would formulate a plan to find his soulmate while he would be reduced to just lying somewhere trying to stay alive.
If bonding was that hard on JK, he knew he'd be done for if they didn't find his soulmate soon. He wouldn't last as long as the maknae did and he knew it. He was older and had less energy, less fight. That thought alone was enough to cause him to hyperventilate right there on the bathroom floor. He wasn't ready to die. What about his members and ARMY and his family? He couldn't leave them like this, but what choice did he have? None.
This is exactly why he despises the thought of having a soulmate. His life was literally in his/her hands right now and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. If he lived, he'd be linked to them forever.
Forced to depend on them.
Forced to make changes in his life to accommodate them.
Forced to coexist when he was an introvert to the core.
Forced to feel things for them.
He would be a prisoner, trapped in a life he never asked for forever.
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
Crystal and Bora sat in front of their floor manager, Choi Seojun, awaiting his answer after explaining their plan. They needed a licensed and seasoned lawyer for their plan and he would be the perfect person to help. After working together for three years he'd become like a father figure to her and she trusted him more than any of the other lawyers there for sure.
"Bora can I talk with Crystal alone please?" he asks after a moment of contemplating.
Bora nods and squeezes Crystal's good hand before taking her leave, closing the door behind her.
"First of all, I just want to ask how you are. You look like you just ran a marathon kid," he says, getting a bottle of water out of his mini fridge and passing it to her.
"Gee, thanks. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I'm okay. It wasn't that bad yesterday but it's getting progressively worse today. My head feels like it's about to split in half, I can't feel my arm, the thought of food makes me nauseous, and now I can barely walk from my office to yours without panting like a dog," she says in between slow sips of water.
"I'm sorry this happened to you kid...and with an idol at that. I know it's not what you wanted. I'll do what I can to help though. I'm at your disposal until we get all this straightened out. We should work on those lawsuits first though since they're time sensitive and with the way that bruise looks, we don't have time to waste," he says, pulling some forms out of his desk.
"Thank you so much Seojun-ssi...and thank you for being someone I can count on. You've been in my corner since I got here and I can't express my appreciation enough," she says sincerely.
"Don't you go saying goodbye kid. You're not going anywhere. So, let's get started. You want me to file a negligence suit against both Bighit and the security that was in place that night at the venue. Find out who was security while I get started on the paperwork for Bighit. We'll file this one privately so that we have the threat of going public just incase it comes down to that. I'll let you know when I need you to recount your experience with bitchy mystery employee," he says, making her chuckle.
"Got it. I'll go and get my laptop," she says, standing slowly.
She makes her way back to her office, ignoring the stares she got since her arm was facing out towards the common area.
She knew what would be in their gazes: curiosity, jealousy, pity.
She grabs her laptop case and shoves a few bottles of water in it before slinging it over her good shoulder and making it back down to Seojun's office. She closes the door behind her and sits on the floor in front of his coffee table, resting her back against the couch.
He watches in worry as she closes her eyes tightly and scrunches her nose, seemingly in pain. It felt like seeing one of his own children in pain. Ever since she'd stepped foot in the door, she had to work hard to prove herself. Women already had it hard in the workplace and the fact that she's a woman of color, a foreigner in Koreans' eyes made things all the more difficult for her. He watched as she poured her all into everything she did despite being given the worse cases out of all of her peers and that's what made him take her under his wing. She was fierce, determined, intelligent, and hard working—often reminding him of himself. She'd become his protege and was next in line to take his position. It was too bad that that was unlikely now. Even if she survived, she was bonded with an idol. There was no way she'd be able to continue working in the office—not physically at least.
"The security company is SSK security, located here in Seoul," she announces.
"Okay I'm almost done with the paperwork for Bighit. I need you summarize what happened for me," he says, looking over his glasses at her.
"Towards the end of the concert, Suga was close to our side of the stage, interacting with fans. He dropped one of his rings and it landed right in front of me so I picked it up and handed it back to him. His fingertips brushed mine when he grabbed it and thanked me. It should be in the concert footage because it played on the big screens. My hand started to tingle and I noticed a bruise forming so I grabbed my sisters and I got out of there because I didn't want anyone to notice. The girls in our section were rowdy enough as it was. They were upset that I managed to pick up the ring before they did. I took my sisters to the bathroom and gave them a rundown of what happened and we went to look for a staff member. We came across a set of doors guarded by two security guards. I told them that I needed to speak to a Bighit employee, preferably a member of management and they told me they could only radio their security team. I asked if they could ask their team if they were close to any Bighit employees and this woman walked up before they could. She had on a smock, like one that a hair or makeup stylist would wear and it had the Bighit logo on it. She also had a Bighit lanyard around her neck that held what I assume was her ID card. I didn't get a good look at it so I don't know her name or anything. I greeted her and told her I needed to speak with a manager urgently. She asked me how she could help and I showed her my hand and told her that I bonded with one of the boys. She asked me how I knew it was one of the boys when I was in a crowd of people and I told her that this happened right after I had direct contact with him. My sister told her that the interaction was caught on camera and that it showed on the big screens; and she told me that there was nothing she could do for me. Next she said and I quote, "I find it hard to believe that you knew it was one of the boys when you were in a crowd full of people and that could be makeup. I don't put anything past saesangs these days." After that, security let her through and told me I had to leave. The concert had just ended and I had to get out of there so that nobody would see the bruise."
It was a quiet for a few moments, the only sounds in the room being her heavy breathing and his typing.
"Will you put a clause in there that states we'll drop the suit once they find and fire that employee. I know we're doing this to get their attention but I don't want to sue a whole company over one person's actions. I would like to just sue her personally once her identity is revealed so please put TBD(to be determined) for the amount of money."
"You're too kind kid. As a company, they're responsible for her her behavior. You are well within your rights to sue the company but I'll do what you ask," he says.
"I know. I just don't want to start off on the wrong foot. I don't want them to think I'm some money hungry person considering that I'll probably be spending time with these people," she sighs.
"I get what you're saying but they should be grateful in any case. Without this suit, they wouldn't know that they're working with a vile employee that doesn't care about the boys' lives. I wouldn't want someone like that woman working around my idols if I were them," he replies.
"That's true," she says, gulping down another bottle of water.
"Okay, I've filed it electronically and marked it as urgent so the courts should push it through to Bighit sometime today. Hopefully, their legal team will get to it today and give us a call. It's only around 9am right now so if they don't call us by 1pm, I'll call and see if the courts will give me the direct contact number to Bighit's legal team. I'll start on the security company now. It won't take long. I'm basically copying the Bighit suit but I'm including a dollar amount and I'm adding pain and suffering too. How does $175,000 sound to you?" he asks.
"Sounds good. Don't forget to add a non disclosure clause. I don't want them to get butt hurt to go public with any of this when they pay up," she says, making him grin.
"Of course," he says, typing away on his computer.
Crystal lies her head on the coffee table, enjoying the way the cool glass felt on her forehead.
"Crystal you should go home and rest. I'll take you and come back and finish this," he says.
"No, I need to get one more thing done while I'm still able to," she says, picking her head up from the table.
"And what would that be?" Seojun asks, crossing his arms .
"My will."