*******Mairette's POV*******
"Did he say why he wants to meet with us?" I asked them again, fidgeting with my fingers.
"No, Yeobo," Hobi said, reaching for my hand. His voice was scratchy, like he had a really bad cold. But at least he was audible now. "Like I told you, he asked if he could have a meeting with all three of us. He was...upset the last time that we showed up without you."
"Upset?" I asked him. "Why would he be upset?"
"He was looking forward to meeting you," Jungkook said, leaning into my side. His voice, on the other hand, was almost back to normal. "He was really happy for us, that we had found our soulmate, and couldn't wait to meet her."
"But I ran back to the ship." It wasn't a question or a statement. It just kind of....was.
"Yeah," JK said. "No more of that, okay?"
"I promise baby," I told him. I turned my head to kiss his temple. "I'm not leaving again. I can't handle the fact that the two of you lost your voices because of me."
"It wasn't just because of you," Hobi said. "We could have come to you sooner, when we first started losing our voice, and especially when we went to the doctor and found out why. But we didn't want to push you."
"At least we figured out how to get them back," Jungkook pointed out to us. He reached for my hand, grabbed it, then set it on top of Hobi's on my knee and held both of our hands there.
It had taken us a few days, but we had finally figured out how to get back the things that we had lost. The more we did for each other, to show each other how much we love the other, the more that we got back. It started when Kook let Hobi top him. He had prepped himself in the bathroom, to show Hobi how much he wanted it. Apparently our soulmate bond thought that that was a sign of the true love that JK has for Hobi, so it gave JK some of his voice back.
Next, I let my men sleep and I went to get them breakfast and bring it back to the room. I noticed that I could read a few of the smaller words on the menu. By the time that I had gotten back with their food and set it out for them to eat, I could read the words on the hoodies that they had both pulled on.
After that came Hobi feeding Jungkook his own food with his chopsticks, because JK was too tired after a long, frustrating day in the studio, without his whole voice, to go and find food for himself. Hobi had fed him all of it, without JK knowing it, since his eyes were closed in exhaustion. By the time that Hobi snuck back out to get himself some more food, he could talk just enough to order it without having to write it down like he had for the food that he fed Jungkook.
It continued on like that for a week. They'd bring me flowers. I'd cook them dinner. Jungkook or I would protect Hobi from a moth. Hobi would do the dishes so that we didn't have to, because he knew how much I loved to cook, but despised the clean-up.
Even when Hobi had given Jungkook his window seat on the flight back to Seoul, it helped. Hobi got a good bit of his voice back for that one, even though he hates the window seat, anyway, because he doesn't like heights.
The boys had to cancel their 4 nights worth of shows in Japan, because of Hobi and Jungkook losing their voices, so we had gone back to South Korea, instead. We'd been back three days when they got a call from one of their managers telling them that Bang PD had asked for a meeting with them. No...not just them. With us.
So here we were, sitting at a table in a conference room at HYBE, waiting on him to come in.
When the door opened, I looked up, expecting to see the man that Jungkook had shown me a picture of. What I didn't expect to see, was Yoongi and Jimin to walk in, with Mandy close behind them.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "What're you doing here?" I asked as I stood up and walked over to her, giving her a hug.
"Umm...I found my soulmates," She told me. She held her fists up next to her head and shook them with a sarcastic look on her face. "Yaaaaay." Her tone was anything but excited.
"You got a mark? Really? Let me see!"
She frowned and shook her head. "No, My-My, I haven't gotten a mark."
"Then how do you know that they're your soulmates?" I asked her.
"They both have a mark for me," she explained. "Yoongi has my old number on his finger, and Jimin has my name on his ribcage."
"How are those marks?" I ask her. "They're not even where marks go."
She shrugged her shoulders at me. "I don't know, but I saw Jimin's burn itself into his skin. It was...kind of incredible."
"But you don't have one?" I ask, and she shakes her head of silver-lavender hair. "Weird." I looked up as the door opened again and three more people flooded in. "Kris? What're you doing here?"
She hurried over and threw her arms around me and Mandy. "I know that I am not usually mushy, but I am so fucking happy to see you both."
"What's going on?" I asked her. "Why are you here?"
"Joon and Jin are my soulmates," she said, rolling her eyes.
"You don't seem very happy about it," Mandy says, looking at the two men that came in with our best friend. They sat down at the table, as far away from each other as possible.
"None of us are very happy about it at the moment." She turned to look at me. "Can I come stay with you?"
"Uhhh...I'm with Jungkook and Hobi, Kris," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "You'd have to ask them."
"I can not stand another moment in their tension-fueled condo, Mairette," she tells me. "They're mad at each other because they're both my soulmates. They're mad at me because I'm both of their soulmates. They're mad at fate because they were happy before I came along and screwed it up. I can't take much more."
I stared at her for a moment. "I need more words."
Kris sighs. "They've been together, dating or whatever, for something like 9 years. Then I came along and screwed everything up. They're each other's soulmates. But they're also both mine. You'd think that they would be happy that we're all each other's...but nope. That's too much to ask."
"I'm having the opposite problem," Mandy tells us.
"What do you mean?" I ask, turning to look at her.
"Yoongi and Jimin are soulmates, too," I tell them. "Not just with me, but with each other, too. But they're so cute and happy together, and they just want to bring me into it and love all over me, and I'm not like that. You both know that's not how I work."
"So your soulmates are happy together and happy that you're their soulmate and they just want to live happily ever after with you?" Kris asks, her voice low and even. "Gee. I feel so terrible for you, Mandy. I just don't know how to fix that for you."
"You don't have to be a bitch," Mandy tells her.
Kris opens her mouth to answer, but the door opens again, and a new man walks into the room. He motions to the chairs around the table.
"If you could all take a seat, we can get started," he says as he takes the seat at the head of the table. "Those of you that I haven't met before, I am Bang Si-Hyuk. I'm the CEO of HYBE." He turns to Namjoon. "I have to tell you all something that is not public knowledge, yet, so it has to be kept quiet for now."
Joon nodded his head, then we all did the same.
"Good," Bang said. He folded his hands on the table in front of him before continuing. "Next week, the South Korean Government is going to announce a new exemption to the Military Conscription Law. If you have found your soulmate, then you won't have to serve your two years."
"We've all found our soul mates," Joon told him. "So no worries there."
"Taehyungie hasn't," Jimin pointed out. "Does that mean that he'll have to join now?"
Bang shook his head. "No. He still has until he's 30, thanks to your other exemption. But we should probably be actively trying to find his, which is part of why we're here. And he should be, too, not sure where he's at. There is also a problem with all of your bonds."
We all looked up as the door banged open and Kim Taehyung fell into the room.
"Sorry, sorry," he said. "I got lost. All the hallways in this building look the same." He paused to bow to his boss, then took a seat next to Jimin. "What did I miss?"
"We've all found our soulmates except for you," Namjoon said, filling him in. "And apparently we're supposed to be looking for yours, but I don't know how."
"Jiminie doesn't count?" Tae asked with a pout.
"You know that he doesn't," Joon told him. "Now shush."
"As I was saying, there's a problem with your bonds," Bang continued from where he left off when Tae busted into the room. "Well...Not a 'problem' so much as they've obviously changed. Mutated is the word that the team of doctors said, but I'm going to say 'evolved' because it sounds better."
"Doctors?" Yoongi asked from across the table.
"Yes, uhh..." Bang paused to pointedly look each of us in the eye before continuing. "We are so happy that you have all, except for Taehyung, found your soulmates. And elated that the government is adding this exemption, since none of us were prepared to let Jin join the military later this year. But, that being said, we also have to stop to consider the feelings of your fans. ARMY may not be as happy and receptive of this as I am."
"You have a plan, though?" Namjoon asked. For the most part, the rest of us were staying quiet and letting the leader ask the questions.
"I do," Bang said, sitting back in his chair. "As always, you are more than welcome to say no to this plan, as I've always allowed you guys to choose your own destiny, if you will, and only do the things that you truly wanted to. After speaking at length with the managers, we think that we've come up with a way to get the fans involved and let them feel like they are a part of what is happening, while also, hopefully, helping Taehyung and some other idols find their soulmates."
Everyone was quiet, staring at the man at the head of the table with rapt attention.
"We would like to do a soulmate/idol variety show. Well...dating show, really."
"You want us to go on a dating show?" Namjoon asked, sounding skeptical.
"We want to create a dating show that helps idols find their soulmates," Bang clarified.
"But we already found our soulmates," Jungkook quietly said from beside me. He reached out under the edge of the table to set his hand on my thigh.
"Right, I'm aware," Bang said, giving the youngest a soft smile. "But we think that if the fans are involved, they will be more receptive to your soulmate bonds in the end."
"Involved how?" Jin asked.
"Voting," Bang told him. "Each week, the fans will get to vote on who goes on dates with who. It might be with your soulmate, or it might not. We will be bringing in idols from other groups, both male and female, as well as 'normal' people. And the fans get to chose who each person goes on a date with each week."
"I don't know if I like the idea of my soulmate dating somebody else," Namjoon said.
"Yeah," Jin said, glaring at him. "You don't even like the idea of your soulmate being around her other soulmate."
"Now is not the time, Seokjin," Namjoon growled out at him.
"Of course, not, Namjoon," Jin said, with just as much spite laced into his words. "It'll never be the time. I'm the oldest, but I still have to bow down to whatever in the Hell the leader says, right?"
"That's not what I said, and it's still not the time," Joon said, shooting daggers at him with his dark eyes.
"What's going on here?" Bang asked.
"Nothing," both Joon and Jin said at the same time.
"Even a fly on the wall could tell that it's not nothing," Bang said. "But hopefully it's something that the show will help sort out."
Hobi ducked down in his chair next to me. "There's a fly? Where?! Kook! Kill it!"
"There's no fly, dummy," Jimin told him, rolling his eyes. "It was a metaphor."
"Oh," Hobi said, sitting up straight again, his handsome face red with embarrassment. "Sorry. Carry on."
"As I was saying," Bang went on with his idea. "Idols from other groups, TxT, Ikon, some of the girl groups, will also be joining the show in hopes of finding their soulmates, along with normal, every day people.
"Oh! Ikon?!" Kris said, perking up for the first time since she'd entered the room.
Joon and Jin both frowned at her, but said nothing.
"Ladies...I have a job for you," Bang said. He rested his hands on the table as he leaned forward a little to look at us. "Seeing as how you are all friends, we think that there is a good chance that Taehyung's soulmate might also know one or all of you. So I would like for you to give me some names of people you think might be willing to join the show."
I looked at Mandy. "Hey, what was the name of that friend of yours that we met when we stopped in South Carolina? I liked her. She seemed like she would fit in with the three of us," I paused and pointed from me, to her, to Kris. "really well. Do you think that she would do it?"
"You mean Kit?" Mandy asked, and I nodded. "I can always ask her. I don't think that she'd have a problem. She keeps texting me about being bored since I started teaching on the ship."
"Excellent!" Bang said. "If you can ask her as well as getting her information to one of the managers, I would really appreciate it."
"Not a problem," Mandy told him, pulling out her phone and typing out a text. It took no time at all before her phone dinged. "She's all for it and wants to know when she should be here."
"You said that there was something wrong with our soulmate bonds?" Jimin asked softly, reminding his boss.
"Ahhh...yes," Bang said. "As part of the show, the fans will know that some of you have already found your soulmates, and that they are also on the show, but they won't know who goes with who. We will explain the new ways that the marks have evolved and doctors will also be a part of it, to examine each of you and your marks. Along with phycologists who will get more in depth with questions to see if you actually fit as soulmates, or if the bonds and marks could be wrong."
"No," Yoongi said. "Absolutely not. There is nothing wrong with my marks or my bonds with my soulmates. I'm not doing it."
"Yoongi..." Jimin said, reaching for his hand.
"I said, no, Jimin," Yoongo told him, turning to look at his soulmate. "I'm not letting some doctors come in and tell me that what we have together is wrong, or that Mandy isn't meant to be with us."
"Baby, even you have to admit that us having marks for her, but Mandy not having any for us, is weird," Jimin told him. "I'm not saying that she's not meant to be with us, she is, but I want to find out how to bring her marks out of hiding, don't you?"
"Am I a science experiment now?" Mandy asked, frowning.
"No, Mandy, of course not," Jimin said, turning to her. "That's not what I meant. But...don't you want your marks to appear? Don't you want to know and have proof that Yoongi and I are your soulmates?"
Mandy cocked her head to the side, examining Jimin's face. When she reached her hand up to touch his cheek, both Kris and I gasped at the same time.
"What?" Yoongi asked, looking at me, then at Kris.
"She touched him," I said, my amazement evident in my voice.
"She only ever touches or hugs the two of us," Kris added to my explanation.
"How?" I asked, looking at Mandy.
Mandy shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. We think that it might be the soulmate thing. But I can touch them, and they can touch me."
She turned to look at Jimin, who raised his hand to brush his knuckles down her cheek, making her smile.
"Woah..." I said, still surprised by this turn of events.
"I never thought that I'd see the day," Kris said. "I'm happy for you."
"Me too," I told our friend. "If that's not proof enough that they're your soulmates, then I don't know what is."
"I know that they are," Mandy told us. "I can feel in it my bones...in my soul. I just don't know why I don't have marks for them."
"That's where the doctors come in," Bang said. "I didn't know about this interesting development in your soulmate bond, but it'll just add to the pretense of the show. It's perfect. All of your bonds are different, all of your marks are different. I spoke with a scientist at the South Korean Soulmate Institute earlier today, and she told me that bonds and marks are changing all over the world, but people are scared to come forward. Hopefully, once people see that this is becoming common, they'll be free to be who they are and enjoy their soulmate bonds. You can all make a difference."
Joon looked around at his bandmates, then back at his boss. "I don't want to kick you out of your own conference room, but can we have a few to discuss it?"
"Of course," Bang said, standing up and walking to the door. "Soojin will be outside when you're ready to send for me." With that, he left the room.
We all sat quietly, not wanting to be the first one to say anything.
"Well?" Joon asked, breaking the silence. "Should we take a vote?"
**********************************************
A/N: I've been toying with the idea of having the dating show be in a sequel book. I'm not really sure, yet. Thoughts? Hope you're all staying safe and healthy. Say some prayers for our Kookie. I can't wait to see them at the Grammy's! -------Kat
We're getting full-group smiles today. It's only fitting.