When Emily woke up she had a feeling of deja-vu. Her eyelids were heavy and what was that beeping sound, as reached her arm out to find her phone and turn off her alarm, it collided with a body. Making her turn her head to look she saw Mattie.
This is a dream. Why is Mattie here. Why am I in hospital, this is a dream. I'll just shut my eyes until I wake up.
"NURSE, NURSE, SHE'S AWAKE" Mattie's screaming rudely punctuated her thoughts and as a small army of nurses rushed in, checking the machines beside her, shining lights in her eyes. Emily confirmed within herself. This was infact not a dream.
As Emily realised Mattie was there, but no sign of the boys, her boys, she started to cry, once the tears started it was though a river had been unleashed.
The nurses slowly left, bowing, and closing the door. As Mattie swiftly scooped her best friend into her arms as she sobbed. All Emily could murmur was " they hate me, they don't want me" over and over.
"Who? Who hates you?"
"My boys, they hate me" Emily choked out.
"BTS? Your soulmates? Hate you" Mattie burst into laughter.
"Those bunch of saps couldn't hate you if they tried, you've got them whipped Ems. No, they can't come to the hospital because of paparazzi..."
"Dispatch" Emily corrected
"What?" Mattie looked quizzically
"It's called dispatch over here" Emily said smugly
"Yes, right, and they didn't want to create a media storm, and jeopardise you. So they have been calling every fifteen minutes for updates on you. Seriously Ems. I thought I loved you but shiiiiiit " Mattie laughed.
"What happened, the last thing I remember is reading the messages " Emily began to sob again, throwing her hands down on the bed "all I do is fucking cry, for gods sake, and how the fuck are you here? I'm still in Korea right?"
"Yes Ems, I got to fly private for probably the first and last time, and you are still in Korea, Ok, I'm going to get a coffee, text the boys that you are awake and then we can talk about what happened, and what has happened since you have been in dreamland for six days" Mattie was halfway out of the door.
"SIX DAYS? Oh that would explain why I'm wearing this adult nappy.. oh god someone's changed my nappy" Emily looked down facepalming.
"Yep, oh and you do still fart while you're asleep" as the door closed behind her , Emily was sure she could still hear Mattie cackling down the hall.
———
As they waited for news on their unconscious soulmate, the boys had used their time to fully research into Emily's family, the messages they had read on her phone peaked their interest. They had instructed Seijin to employ private detectives to scour the archives and present day records. To find out as much as possible about Emily's past and her family.
When Seijin let himself into the boys dorms, on the same morning that Emily had woken up, holding a large box file, he knew what he had to tell them could blow their soulmates world apart, but they had to know and more importantly, she had to know.
———
The boys faces ranged from disgust, to sadness to anger.
Seijin had slowly looked through and explained every single piece of information his detectives had gathered. Like a jigsaw puzzle being put together before their eyes, a horror story was unfolding. How were they going to be able to tell Emily that almost every trauma she had experienced was a lie. A lie to manipulate her into believing what they wanted her to. A lie that had shaped every thought she had.
How were they going to be able to protect her? This was going to rip her heart in two, everything she knew to be her life had been part of lie. The only truth was that she was their soulmate and they loved her, they all loved her.
Seijin finalised his evidence, by presenting the boys with paperwork for restraining orders, and for paperwork incase Emily decided to change her surname making her harder to find.
As her soulmates, they could sign on her behalf, and her name could automatically be assumed to the first alphabetical surname of her soulmates. Jeon, she could be Emily Jeon. Jungkook looked like he had won the lottery, this wasn't the time to be happy but he was. He was the youngest, and his name rarely came first, but he was thrilled.
While the boys could sign on her behalf, they didn't want to press ahead without talking to her, without knowing just how she felt.
Right now, they needed her to know, She needed to know, however painful the truth. Just as they finalised that thought, their phones all bleeped, with a message from Mattie.
Mattie- Emily's friend
She's awake. Worried about you all 🙄 but she's fine. Nurses checked her over. I said I'd tell her what happened, just getting a coffee. Is it ok if I tell her or do you want to?
The whipped ones- Namjoon
If she wants to know, you can tell her. She doesn't need to be any more confused. We have been told all the information. We have paperwork for restraining orders and name change for her here. Don't want to sign without her.
Also, can you tell her we love her.
Mattie- Emily's friend
Yep, will do. Fuck you guys work fast. But good thinking.
Will tell her now. Then will set up FaceTime for you all, will make sure I have a bowl nearby so
I can vomit into it. 😂
The whipped ones- Jimin
Don't think we didn't hear you on the phone Matilda! "Oooh Archie..."
Mattie- Emily's friend
Fuck. Off. Or I'll show her all the photos from your debut.
The whipped ones- Jin
Too. Far. Matthew
The whipped ones - Jin
*Matilda
———
Emily screamed, she sobbed, she shouted that none of it was true. She blamed Mattie, her soulmates, everyone. She ripped out her IV with blood spraying onto the floor. She attempted to stand up, and was met face first with the cold linoleum floor.
She lashed out at whoever picked her up, and then collapsed crying into their arms. As she sniffed a familiar smell entered her nostrils. Yoongi. Yoongi was here.
As he sat down with the heartbroken girl on his lap, he sobbed. Sobbed as he knew her world had just been fractured irreparably. He wondered if she could ever recover, if they would ever have their little dragon back.
———
Emily looked through each piece of paper twice, three times, crying on to each page.
Her parents weren't her parents. She had been adopted by them for her late developing soulmark.
Not one of her family members died because of their soulbond. That's what she was told keep her under their control.
The fairs her parents took her to, were anti- soulmate rally's.
As a child the medicine they gave her daily for 'allergies', was a drug trial to stop her soulmark developing. But it didn't work.
The private school she attended was chosen for it's anti-soulmate stance.
Her birth parents had tried to find her, but were told that she died soon after she was adopted. Sadly her birth father died from cancer and his soulmate, her birth mother soon after from a broken soulbond. It's said that can only happen if true love is present.
As she sobbed, Yoongi gently rubbed circles on the small of her back. As her sobs turned into silent screams, Emily reached up and started to claw at her face.
Yoongi tried to remove her hands, only for their little dragon to unleash her anger.
"GET OUT! GET. OUT! If you hadn't have come looking for me, none of this would have happened. I would never know. My parents are psychos, I'm essentially a fucking orphan, and everything I have memories of is a FUCKING LIE. JUST FUCK OFF" Emily spat at a shocked Yoongi as she turned over, crying more into her hands.
Yoongi sadly got up and left his angry soulmate. Mattie sat outside sadly looking at his forlorn face
"She's best to get it all out, otherwise it just gets worse. She'll be ok. The doctor came by with her discharge papers, they just you to sign them, and then I'll bring her home. Maybe you should go and warn the others back at the dorm?" Mattie offered.
Yoongi picked the the papers, signing them, and wordlessly handing them to the receptionist as he pulled on his hat and put his mask on, walking out of the hospital.
——
As Emily walked back into the dorms, she was split she wanted to be there but she didn't. Her soulmates all hung back, careful not to rush toward her.
"What?" Emily glowered at them.
"Err nothing, we're just glad you're back" Taehyung offered.
"Well I'm glad you're happy, I'm going to my room. ALONE." Emily spat the last word before stomping down the hall.
As her door slammed hard enough to make the pictures on the walls rattle, the boys and Mattie just looked at the each other and shrugged, sitting on the sofa waiting for someone to come up with a plan.
Their silence was shattered, literally by the sound of breaking glass and things being thrown at the wall. Mattie stood up, sighed, smoothing down her trousers, as she went down the hall, and opened the door, just as a picture frame missed her head.
"EMILY ELIZABETH POTTS, PUT THAT PICTURE DOWN RIGHT NOW, STOP ACTING LIKE A PETULANT FUCKING CHILD." Mattie screeched as the boys jumped.
"OH FUCK OFF MATTIE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL, WHAT ARE YOU MY MOTHER? OH WAIT, I DON'T FUCKING HAVE ONE. YOU WITH YOUR PERFECT LIFE, PERFECT FUCKING PARENTS AND YOUR PERFECT FUCKING SOULMATE" Emily screamed.
"Are you joking? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I flew halfway across the world to help you, you have seven fucking men out there who worship the ground you fucking walk on, who want to literally give you the world and you, think my life is perfect? My parents put so much pressure on me to get a promotion, my soulmate and I have been trying for a baby for a year with no luck and YOU THINK MY LIFE IS FUCKING PERFECT. FUCK OFF EMILY, JUST FUCK OFF!"
The boys at this point all were staring at the floor wondering whether they should intervene. The consensus was no, not at all, leave them to argue it out.
———
Several hours passed and Emily's bedroom had been quiet for a few of those, so as the boys crept down the hall to her open door, they saw their soulmate asleep in Mattie's arms, her face mottled, her eyes swollen and her hair stuck to her still damp face.
"She cried herself to sleep" Mattie whispered.
"I'll stay tonight, but I'll have to go tomorrow, my flight is at noon, I have an appointment with a fertility specialist to get back for" Mattie sadly sighed looking down at her broken best friend.
"We'll take care of her. We will keep in touch with you, no matter what. Your appointment is important. She would want you to go."
Namjoon sadly looked at his soulmate, he truely had no clue how to try and begin to fix her.
———
The next morning Emily woke up, and while she was still angry, she was silent, the boys didn't realise that this was more dangerous than her screaming.
As Mattie packed her case, she didn't want to leave, but her flight was in a few hours, and she had to check in.
As she said goodbye to Emily, she sobbed, because she was leaving, because she wanted to fix the broken girl infront of her. She promised to call, message and FaceTime her. Emily just nodded, she hadn't said a word all morning.
As Mattie sadly said her goodbyes to the boys and made her way down to the driver the boys had arranged for her. They turned back to see Emily staring into space, her legs tucked under her, tucked into the edge of the sofa.
Suddenly she stood up, and walked towards the kitchen, returning with a bottle of unopened liquor, no glass. The boys didn't know whether to risk trying to wrestle it out of her grasp.
"Just let her get it out of her system"Yoongi sighed walking in the direction of his studio.
The boys hovered around her as she took mouthful after mouthful of the dark liquor.
She eventually finished the bottle, laying on her side on the sofa sobbing. The boys put down a bowl and a towel, and sat nearby keeping an eye on her, but no one said a word. The tension in the air was so thick, it was almost as though no one dared breathe and anger their little dragon.
———
The next few days passed in the same way, Emily had almost cleared their liquor stocks. Yoongi had hidden a few bottles in his studio for safe keeping. She hadn't washed. She hadn't changed. She hadn't eaten.
All she had done was spit venom at whoever dared cross her path, and the boys were beginning to lose patience with her. Especially Jungkook.
So when Emily appeared in the living room, washed, dressed and sober the boys thought she had finally turned a corner. Until she announced she was going out to find a drink.
Jungkook had enough
"You aren't going anywhere right now, especially not for alcohol" he snapped.
Emily walked up to him and poked his chest "who the fuck are you to tell me what to do? Hmm little baby?" She snickered
With the last word Jungkook had hoisted Emily over his shoulder, his lips set in a firm line a dark look in his eyes. The others just shrugged as he walked down the hall Emily screeching for them to help her whilst hitting anything her fists came into contact with.