I think there had been an hour of soulmates panicking about my reaction to their leaving.They stuck to me like glue and the apologies came without pause. My body and mind had gone back to its abnormal normality once they had stepped into the room and I'd almost forgotten the pain of their absence the second my eyes rested on their frames in the doorway. They wouldn't believe my promises to be fine, wouldn't listen when I told them not to worry. At some point I gave up trying to brush off the event as nothing and just let them do whatever they felt they needed to do to make sure they knew I was alright.
"Jin was freaking out" Jungkook muttered, his face scrunched up into the pillow next to me.
"He could feel your pain and panic, but he couldn't reach you. None of us could. He was screaming at us to get home as soon as humanly possible the entire way home without rest, it was quite terrifying." He continued.
I swirled my head around to look at them all in confusion.
"I'm sorry I worried you, but what do you mean you couldn't reach me? I was talking to Yoongi the entire time!" I said the last part a little louder than intended in my surprise of Jungkook's statement of not reaching me.
All three men sighed in unison and their eyes met each others in understanding, leaving me alone in my confusion.
"I forgot he could do that." Hoseok whispers
"He never does that anymore" Taehyung adds
"He shut us out?" Jungkook asks looking between the two men.
"Can one of you please tell me what you're talking about?" I didn't like not being in the know about something that obviously had a relation to me.
"I don't really know how to explain it" Hoseok spoke up and took my hands in his. His facial expression made it apparent he was really thinking hard about something.
"Yoongi's thing is dreams, he can visit your dreams, alter them, or just be a viewer. I'm sure he can explain the whole thing in more detail himself once he's here. But to sum it up there's a weird side-part to his skill, and when he uses it you end up in kind of a half-asleep half awake state. And because you're half asleep we can't reach you, only he can."
"It's very calming once you're there, almost like an overwhelming hug and the warm melody of his voice surrounding you like a blanket. But he hasn't used it in years, we don't really know why. Suddenly he got mad when we spoke of it, and told us to not bring it up again. Jin sensed how serious he was about the matter so we did as he said and never spoke of it again"
I hummed in response. Lost in my own thoughts about Yoongi. Like an angel he had appeared just when I needed him, said just what was necessary for me to calm down and then stayed with me to ensure I wouldn't revert back to my previous state of panic. I couldn't understand why any of that would be something he wanted to keep away from anyone. Nonetheless I am happy he stepped in and helped me, his words still resonated in the back of my mind, reminding me even now.
"There's no us without you"
Hoseok squeezed my hands in his, making me look up at him. His eyes were brimming with tears and an emotional but happy smile was resting on his beautiful face. "I'm okay" I told him, knowing he was in my head.
He nodded, closing his eyes. "I believe you"
We had breakfast together in the kitchen. Hoseok and Jungkook turned out to be a surprising chefs' duo and the food was so good I ate more than I usually did, leaving me feeling like a stuffed turkey by the end of the meal. Jungkook wouldn't let go of my hand the entire time we were eating, still in doubt that I was actually okay, and when Taehyung offered to do the dishes he practically dragged me out of the kitchen and down the hallway.
Upon entering my bedroom once again a suitcase I hadn't seen before was stationed on the bed, open and empty.
"I saw you only had a bag here, but you're going to need more space than that for our trip so I got you a suitcase" Jungkook hid one hand in his pocket, trying to shy away from the gesture but still wouldn't let go of my hand in his other.
I smiled up to him when I squeezed his hand in mine before placing them behind him as I embraced him in a hug. His body was warm against mine and brought an immediate calming effect, I didn't want to stop hugging him once I'd started. Resting my head on his chest and feeling his arms eventually tangle their way out of his pocket and out of my hand behind him to wrap them both around me effectively burying me in his larger frame. I could smell his cologne on his sweater and I could smell that distinct smell that was only his on his skin. It left me in a mindless fog, lost in the sensation of him, the house could quite literally be burning and I'd feel safe standing right here.
It was Jungkook who was forced to end our embrace. He kissed my forehead softly and looked down to me with his kind eyes.
"I kind of need you to pack your stuff like right now." He looked down and bit his lip before he continued. I studied his face, lost in the sight of his unique features.
"We thought it would be nice with a longer road trip, which is why we had to get the second car today. So we could leave tonight and take all the time we wanted to get to where we're meeting the guys"
That caught my immediate attention and had me excited. I spun around and leaped towards the small cupboard that held my clothes. Grabbing what I could fit in my arms I threw it all down onto the bed in a big pile to sort out what I wanted to pack with me.
Less than five minutes later I had pretty much put everything I had brought to the apartment into the suitcase, unapologetically indecisive about what to bring I had just brought it all. I hadn't even noticed Jungkook leaving, but he suddenly came back into the bedroom rolling his own suitcase in one hand and Taehyung's in his other. I'm not quite certain when Hoseok had found the time to pack, but his suitcase was apparently also finished and ready for travels, a confusing fact as I could swear it was only yesterday he unpacked the entire thing.
We walked out into the living room finding Hoseok snuggled up into the side of a tired looking Taehyung watching YouTube videos on the tv. I slumped down onto the sofa next to them meeting an open arm from Taehyung that pulled me into his other side. Jungkook joined us in his unique way and let himself fall on top of all of us, stretching his already long body as even longer than it was before he relaxed with arms behind his head and feet curled up on Hoseok's lap.
"Kook you weigh a ton get off!" Taehyung complained while contradicting himself by grabbing his legs and holding them in place on his thighs. His head was resting on my lap and I looked down to his bright, happy, almost disturbingly pretty face.
"You're rather pretty from this angle" I whispered, the surprise apparent in my features once I realised I'd actually said it out loud.
"Am I?"
Jungkook looked back up at me and for a second it seemed like he was concentrating hard on something before his face once again assumed the bright joyful eyes and the big smirk I couldn't ever tire of.
"Oh, yes I am" He said confidently, puffing his shoulders for show, then letting his deep warm eyes settle on mine.
I could feel a blush surface on my cheeks when it clicked that he'd looked at himself through my gaze and I couldn't help but let a giggle escape my throat as I kept the eye contact with him.
"You're also very pretty from this angle... but I can't show you so you'll have to take my word for it" He winked at me and I immediately felt shy and flustered, compliments never made their way into the list of things I handled with ease.
"We should really get going" Hoseok chimed in from the side. "My phone says now is a good time to leave if we want to reach the hotel today!"
Jungkook whined but eventually removed himself from on top of us and straightened his shirt when he walked over to the suitcases we had abandoned by the door. "Hannah would you like to share a car with me?" He asked.
I cheerfully got up from under Taehyung's arm and skipped towards him taking my suitcase in one hand and his free hand in my other.
"Only if I can drive" I looked up at him with the sweetest smile I could produce. He chuckled at my attempt at being cute and hugged my side. "Of course you can!"
We were headed towards a secluded hotel in a town I'd never even heard the name of before. The drive would take about six hours and would have us passing through the town we were going to meet the rest of the group in a couple of days. Six hours was quite the drive, one that I had tried to assure the man next to me several times that I had no issue with doing. However I still had Jungkook on my side telling me about every 10 minutes to let him know if I needed to switch and that it was completely okay if I wanted to stop somewhere for food or a break.
I curled my hand around his and pulled it with me onto my lap, caressing small circles to the back of his palm to try and calm his thoughts.
"Jungkook can I ask you a question?" I asked, attempting to move the subject away from his constant worry about my wellbeing and abilities as a driver.
"You can ask me anything" I could feel his eyes on me searching for a hint to what I wanted to know.
"Why is it that I only occasionally hear the voices of the guys that are in Korea in my head these days? When I first found out about all of you being my soulmates I felt like you all were constantly there. Now it's almost always silent. How come?"
Jungkook smiled at me, that much I could see from my side vision before I turned towards him quickly to make sure it wasn't a frown. I stared back at the traffic, glad I had the distraction of driving to stop me from overthinking any and every reaction potentially coming from the man next to me.
"Jin told them to wait" He chuckled before he continued.
"The first days we all got very excited. We always thought we were it, the seven of us against the world. Yoongi was losing his mind trying to comprehend that this nagging feeling he had of something missing hadn't been his brain messing with him. Jimin couldn't talk about anything else but you, he would talk holes in our heads with every hope, thought or observation. I got so jealous of Taehyung getting to see you first that I literally managed to make myself sick. And Jin was uncharacteristically calm"
His ending to that caught me off guard.
"Calm?" I asked. "Why is that uncharacteristic?"
"As you know, Jin is an empath... And in his case he almost feels the emotions of his soulmates more strongly than he does his own. He could sense from the second we linked that you were emotionally distraught for some reason surrounding the connection to us. Once he realised it was because of a current relationship and knew Taehyung was on his way to see you to avoid the connection yearning, he made us swear to not overwhelm you. As you probably noticed, some are better at listening to Jin than others" He sighed through his smile as he stared out onto the road in front of us.
"Namjoon, Yoongi and Jimin" I said
"What about them?" He asked.
"They listened... They are the ones I've barely heard since I first saw Taehyung at the airport"
"Wait, what about Jin?" Jungkook turned towards me once more and I didn't have to look at him to see he was eager to know.
"Jin's there. Most days. Not in the same way Hoseok was before he came here though. He's there in a subtle almost unnoticed way. He's like a hum of a soft melody in the back of my mind, I can usually feel him right as I wake up or when I go to sleep. Like he's checking up on me to make sure I'm alright. He also usually asks me how my day is and if there's anything I need."
Jungkook laughed out loud. Really loud. His whole body was shaking in his apparent joy over the statement and he had to curl up like a ball in order to try to calm the rubbing laugh escaping him.
"Jin hyung" He spoke out into the air when he'd finally caught his breath after his laughing fit.
"You freaking cheater"