Crystal shut down her laptop, feeling rather accomplished. She'd managed to get three assignments done in a fairly short amount of time. She also felt good about everyone following her lead in eating actual food for lunch, taking her up on her offer to order from a nearby restaurant she was getting her lunch from. Yoongi's eating habits weren't the only ones she was concerned about. With the high energy performances they were putting on, they definitely needed to put a little more care into what they ate before shows. Ultimately, it was their choice though. Yoongi was the only one she had any say over when it came to that.
Speaking of Yoongi, he'd been giving her space it seemed. Other than sitting on the same couch, he hadn't tried to talk to her again save when they were ordering food. He looked like he wanted to a few times, but decided not to—probably preferring to talk in a more private setting.
Currently, the show was about to start, so Crystal was tucking her things away in her bag, getting ready to stand backstage with Sehee and staff.
"You look pleased," Sehee notes, shooting her a smile.
"I got 3 assignments done when I was aiming for 2," she says, walking out of the lounge with her.
She fought the urge to sigh as their surroundings got louder and busier, something that would definitely take some getting used to.
"You go girl," Sehee says, making her smile.
They find a place amongst the chaos, watching as the boys practically get pushed onstage after the finishing touches on their clothes and makeup. The screams from the crowd were deafening, making it sound like they were right out there with them. The fanchant starts as the music for ON starts to play.
"This dance break is epic," she says, watching on one of the monitors as Tae leads the dance break in ON.
ON turns into N.O and N.O turns to We are Bulletproof Pt. 2. After this, Joon would be doing his solo, Persona, so she and Yoongi would only have about 5 minutes at most for skin contact considering he had an outfit change.
Nurse Choi pats her shoulder as she passes by, a notebook and pen in hand as she finds a place behind them somewhere.
"Excuse me! Delivery for Crystal Min," Crystal hears, turning around with her brows furrowed in confusion.
A delivery man escorted by security held a bouquet of flowers in his hands.
"Right here sir," Sehee grins, pushing her forward a little.
"Here you go, enjoy your flowers," he says, giving her a friendly smile as he passes her the flowers.
"Thank you," she says, admiring the pink and white long stemmed tulips as security escorts him away.
She plucks the card from the card holder and reads it, the words, written in Hangul, bringing a smile to her face.
내 사랑, 미안 해요.
나는 새끼이지만, 나는 당신의 새끼입니다.
- 사과하는 소울메이트, 민윤기
Translation:
My love,
I'm sorry.
I'm an asshole, but I'm your asshole.
-Your apologetic soulmate, Min Yoongi
"Those are beautiful. Are those tulips? I didn't take him for a tulip type of guy," Sehee says, making her chuckle.
"White tulips mean forgiveness and pink ones mean love and care, amongst other things," Crystal informs, her thumb stroking one of the waxy petals.
She looks up from admiring her flowers and blushes when she notices there are eyes on her.
Great Yoongi, they probably think we eloped or something.
"Ah, young love. How cute," Nurse Choi teases, making her blush.
"Aww Crystal unnie's flustered," Sehee teases.
Before she could respond, the boys came running down the steps backstage, ready for their wardrobe changes. Yoongi smiles at her as he passes, seeing that she'd gotten the flowers.
A few short minutes later, Joon came walking passed them, getting ready to perform his solo, Persona. It seems that the set list had changed today seeing as the day before, Yoongi's solo had been first. The rest of the members file in just as he goes on stage, having completed their wardrobe changes.
Sehee joins JK at his station as he gets his makeup touched up and Crystal does the same when Yoongi comes out and sits at his.
"I see you got the flowers," he says and she nods, looking down at the bouquet tucked in her other arm.
"Thanks, they're beautiful. The message was...entertaining," she says, not wanting to say too much with the makeup artist so close.
"I figured you'd enjoy it. We'll talk more later. We have to read that info Nurse Choi gave us too," he says.
"Yeah, I've been tempted to peak all day," she confesses.
He lets out a little hum of agreement, his head tilted back as he gets his lips touched up. They watch Joon's performance on one of the many monitors and it seems that it comes to an end faster than usual. The two release their hood on each other and Crystal feels her energy drop, but not as severely as the day before. Yoongi's must've noticed it though because he frowns, giving her an apologetic look. She shoots him a small smile and breaks one of the white tulip stems in half, tucking it in the pocket of his blazer so that the top was able to be seen. She sends him off with a kiss on the cheek that makes him smile shyly before rushing over to the other members, who of course took the little time they had teasing him silently.
"How are you feeling Crystal?" Nurse Choi asks over the sound of Boy In Luv starting to play.
"My energy dropped, but not as bad as yesterday. Yesterday, I got a headache immediately. Now, it just kind of feels like I've just worked out," she says and Nurse Choi nods, pulling her stethoscope in position so she could check her heartbeat.
"Good, do you have any snacks to eat between sets? Water?" She asks and Crystal nods.
"I've got these energy bars in my pocket and I have this green tea I ordered earlier, but I've been drinking water all day since my morning coffee," she replies.
"Good, green tea is good for energy, especially if it's sweetened correctly," she says.
"It's sweetened with honey," Crystal assures and Nurse Choi smiles.
"You're making my job easy Crystal," she says.
"Is that shade Nurse Choi?" Sehee teases, knowing she and JK made it anything but.
"If the show fits," she replies, making them laugh.
Crystal sat and ate an energy bar, the healthy treat making her feel much better.
The rest of the show went similarly. She and Yoongi would hold hands between sets for as long as they could and she would eat or drink something afterwards in an attempt to replenish the energy he'd taken.
She felt much, much better after this show, but she did have a slight headache coming on to which Nurse Choi had given her some pain relievers to combat it.
Just like the night before, Crystal and Sehee stayed downstairs to get the food while the boys went up and took their showers. To her surprise, tonight they were eating Roscoe's chicken and waffles, something she hadn't had in a long time.
Sehee gathered the paper plates while Crystal took all the food out of the bag and put it in the middle of the table, her mouth watering at the smell. They fixed their food first and went to the kitchen to make some tea while they waited for everyone to come down. They finished just in time, the men already at the table making their plates when they made it back to the dining room.
Crystal smiles at the sight of Yoongi amongst them and pours them both some tea before sitting down and digging in.
They all talk about the show as well as their upcoming appearances at the AMA's in just two days.
"Our dresses will be here in the morning," Crystal tells Sehee as she gives Yoongi her plate and cup to toss.
"I can't wait to see them. Your mom has immaculate style," she says, making her chuckle.
She and Yoongi head upstairs to their room together and he closes the door behind them, stifling a yawn as he does.
"I'm gonna take a shower. I'll make it quick so we can talk and you can sleep," she says, peeling off clothes on the way to the bathroom.
True to her word, she washed away the day thoroughly and got out, doing her skin care routine and wrapping her hair up for bed. She slipped on an oversized T-shirt and some panties before making her way out to the bedroom where Yoongi was waiting for her sitting up against the headboard and scrolling through his phone.
Once on her side of the bed, she sits with her back to him and grabs her body oil off the bedside table, rubbing her arms and legs down with the pineapple scented product. When she was done, she grabbed the folders Nurse Choi had given them and passes one to Yoongi, placing the other on her lap.
"Before we get into this, I just want to get a few things off my chest," he says and she nods, setting the folder in front of her and angling herself towards him, letting him know her attention was on him.
He does the same, sitting his phone on the nightstand and setting the folder aside, drawing his knees up to his chest and leaning against the headboard with his body angled towards hers.
"I already apologized for my behavior, but I want you to understand why I reacted that way. As an idol, there's a lot of pressure on us to be...perfect. There's a standard we're expected to uphold, especially when it comes to looks—specifically weight. Our nutritionist, who was fired a month or so before you came, was really hard on us. He'd been our only nutritionist for years and I suppose he probably gave us some not so healthy advice along the way. He was fired for putting Jimin on a water diet for three days when he'd asked for advice on how to slim down for a photoshoot. Needless to say it didn't work out well. Jimin ended up passing out and having to spend a day in the hospital for monitoring," he sighs, a faraway look in his eyes as he relived the scary memory.
"That's terrible," Crystal frowns, pulling her knees up to her chest as well.
"Yeah, it was scary and we were all pissed when he said Dr. Kim was the one who suggested it. Anyways, some of us like to diet on tour. Like Nurse Choi said, we eat a lot of things we can't at home and by the end of a world tour, we'd gain some weight. It's bad enough that netizens point out every single fluctuation, but we also had to hear it from Dr. Kim. After years of being berated about it, I guess I've internalized this need to be the perfect weight after tour. He always pushed the intermittent fasting diet for me and my body type, so I fell back into the routine yesterday without thinking of how it would affect you. I guess I reacted so rudely for a number of reasons. I was tired, hungry, and in denial, and sleep is the only thing that helps me ignore the hunger until I get myself adjusted to the 6 hour window," he explains.
"Everything makes so much more sense now. Thank you for sharing that with me. For the record, I don't think you necessarily need to diet, but I'm not against it. I think you can eat healthier without having to actively diet. It's completely up to you though. I don't want to come off as if I was berating you for selfish reasons. I was and still am genuinely concerned for your health, which just so happens to affect mine as well. I just want you to do it the right way and for the right reasons now that I know your concerns. I'm sure Nurse Choi will find some good options for you," she says, placing her hand on his knee.
He places his hand over hers, a small smile playing on his lips as he plays with her small fingers.
"I knew you'd understand. Your understanding nature is one of the many reasons why I love you already," he says, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing each finger.
He didn't miss the look of relief that flashed across her face before she hid it in her knees, the shy action making him chuckle.
"Don't get shy on me now. You said it back the other night," he teases.
"I know—I'm just...surprised, I guess," she says, making him tilt his head and squint.
"Why?" he asks and she sighs.
"Don't get me wrong. I didn't doubt that you care for me, but I thought you may have just gotten caught in the moment when you said that the other night," she says and he can't stop the offended look that crosses his face.
"Why would you think that? Were you?" he asks and she shakes her head.
"No, I meant it, but we didn't acknowledge it the next day and then all that shit happened and my mind just went there, okay? I had a moment. I get insecure too," she explains and he sighs, pulling his legs down and pulling her to sit between them.
"Crys, just because we got into an argument the day after didn't mean I loved you any less. Don't ever think like that. I know it came out during sex, but I would've never said those words if I didn't mean them, okay? I. Love. You," he says, pecking her lips three times.
"Love you too," she says, a shy smile on her lips.
"Cute. Let's check this out so we can lay down. You owe me cuddles. I woke up cold and alone," he says, making her giggle.
"I knew you'd try to talk to me if we woke up together. Besides, I wanted to make breakfast, which I'll continue doing. I'll help you stick to whichever diet you choose when you decide. All of you need to eat more frequently at least," she says, grabbing her folder.
"You don't have to do that—" he starts.
"I know I don't, but I want to. Besides, it gives me a sense of normalcy. I used to getting up early and making breakfast for the kids. It'll be like that, but with 8 kids instead of 3," she jokes, making him laugh.
"7 kids and a husband," he corrects.
"Nah, I think I said it right the first time," she says, making him pop her on the thigh.
"That's just rude," he says, grabbing his folder.
"Guess I'm an asshole, like you," she cheeses, grabbing hers as well.
The two go silent as they read, the first page being things they already knew. It mostly mentioned sharing energy and strong emotions. It went deeper into that on the next page though, listing the most common symptoms of sharing strong emotions.
Colored sparks may be present in your vision when sharing certain emotions and/or when your soulmate is feeling an emotion rather strongly. Colors are reported as being most noticeable when you are in close proximity to each other.
This is a general list of colors and their associated emotions. Colors and their meanings may vary.
Gold-general affection
Red-anger
Blue-sadness
Yellow-excitement
Green-jealousy
Purple-appreciation
Gray-confusion
Black-despair
White-fear
"This color list is interesting. I guess we're pretty mellow people because I've never seen anything other than gold," she says.
"I saw red and blue the day we met and I see gold a lot, so I guess you're right. I'm surprised I didn't see any red last night or today for that matter," he says.
"I was upset, but calm. That day we met I was really pissed," she says, her eyes still on the paper.
"This is interesting. It may come in handy one day, the internal GPS thing," he says, making her chuckle.
The next paragraph talked about how over time and with practice, they may be able to locate each other no matter how far apart they were.
"I hope you mean one of us trying to find out which room in the house the other is in," she says and he quirks a brow.
"I meant more in case of a kidnapping or something, but that's good too," he says, making her shake her head.
"Not a thought I wanted to acknowledge," she chuckles, their dark thoughts having both went there.
"All thoughts are with acknowledging," he shrugs.
"What are you, a psychologist now?" she asks sarcastically and Yoongi's eyes narrow at her witty use of his words against her.
"No, but I could be if I wanted to," he replies, sticking his tongue out at her.
"Childish," she "coughs" and continues to read.
"Ho-ly fuck, telepathy?" she asks, subconsciously switching over to English in her state of shock.
"Holy fuck is right. With practice, we may be able to send each other telepathic messages and even learn to read each other's thoughts. Once tapped into, these powers will grow stronger over time as the relationship progresses," he says, reading from the paper.
"I don't know about trying to read each other's thoughts. That's a bit far don't you think? Thoughts are private," she says.
"Agreed. Sending each other thoughts when we want sounds cool though. We could communicate without talking. I'll bet it'll come in handy in public and in interviews, all kinds of situations," he says and she nods.
"That does sound cool. We could try," she says, flipping the page so she could read more.
The last page was all about the ability to heal each other as well as how deep and sacred their connection is and how it could enhance their quality of life in many ways.
Soulmate magic is said as old as time—it's origin untraceable, but consistently present throughout the years of life on Earth. Although less common now, they aren't any less sacred. Before you existed, your connection was destined—two halves of a soul separated and fated to meet again. Some bonds are stronger than others, but equal in potential. If you accept your bond for what it is—embrace it, nurture it, and cherish it—it will reward you in ways beyond the understanding of our teachings and research.
The two close their folders and put them on the night stands, turning the lights off and snuggling into each other's arms with a new perspective of their bond—both having made up their minds to do their best going forward.