Today was Emily's first appointment with her therapist, and to say she was dreading it was an understatement. At 8.30 Namjoon had knocked on her door, she said she was getting up. At 8.45 Jin had knocked on her door and opened it, she said she was getting up. At 9am she was manhandled out of bed, and unceremoniously put on her toilet seat and told to be ready in fifteen minutes, she glared up at Jimin, who wasn't usually this stern with her but he knew this was an important appointment.
"Babygirl after me, it's Hobi, and then Kook" so you can take your pick, you can get dressed and eat breakfast with or without a sore ass!" He chuckled leaving the room.
Emily slowly did her morning routine, putting a beanie over her messy hair, and chucking a hoodie and some leggings on.
"Well, there she is! I've made pancakes for you, and after your appointment, I thought maybe you might want to go and get some ice cream with us?" Jin smiled making an effort.
"Mmm, yeah." Emily nodded, still looking downcast, as she got up to get her purse and shoes, the boys all glanced at each other worried about her.
"She'll be ok, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but she will be" Yoongi mused.
———
As Emily walked into the private counselling office, it was homely, clinically so, but at least it wasn't white.
Her name was called by an older looking gentleman with a beard. Emily internally sighed, great, I don't want to talk to an old man who won't have a clue, she thought as she followed the man down the corridor and stepped into a sparsely decorated room.
Two chairs, and a coffee table. That was it.
He pointed to one of the chairs and smiled, his smile was warm and reached his eyes.
"So Emily, you're here to talk about a few things I think? My name is Sora, you'll be meeting with me twice a week, and hopefully, with talking therapy we can manage to address any issues and put together an action plan to deal with them. Why don't I tell you a little about myself first?" Emily nodded lightly, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
"Ok, so I was born in Japan, but moved to Korea 6 years ago when I met my 4 soulmates. It was hard at first, I had a new language and new people to contend with, but with time it worked out" Sora smiled thinking about his soulmates.
Emily was curious, he knew how it felt to have multiple soulmates and to change to a different culture.
"So why don't you tell me about you?" Sora smiled
"Well my name was Emily Potts and now it's Jeon...."
Emily explained about her parents, her soulmates, and why she was there.
"And I stopped taking the pills, but now I don't know if I need them and the boys, the boys are are great, but I slept with two of them in twenty-four hours and I worry they'll judge me and I don't want them to think they pressurised me or think I'm a slut and..." Emily finished with tears rolling down her cheeks. It was as though every worry, every fear just rolled out of her. How did this man do this? She'd met him 45 minutes ago.
"Emily you know you need to continue to take your medication for your condition. You can't just stop taking it. But to put it into perspective you are generally anxious about what other people think of you? But what about what you think? Do you judge people who sleep with their partner more than once a day? Was it a pleasurable experience for you?"
"I know I will start to take them again, and No, no of course not. That's up to them. But yes, it was... amazing I just want to keep doing it!" Emily realised where this was going.
"And have your soulmates ever given you any reason to doubt their feelings for you?" Sora continued raising an eyebrow.
"No, not at all. They haven't. Not at all" Emily realised how much she put on herself, rules that didn't exist.
"Ok Emily while our hour is almost up, I want you to do something before your next sessions ok? I want you to talk to your soulmates about your condition" Sora wrote something in his notebook. Emily just nodded.
"Next time we can start to look more at your past, but for now I think we need you to start taking your pills. You will always need to be on some form of medication. You know that" Sora stated as Emily nodded, that's all she felt like she did, emotionally vomit and then nod.
"Ok, Emily I'll see you in a few days and we'll meet twice a week for now, does that sound ok, and if you don't feel up to coming in, I can do zoom sessions too, just call the reception the day before. The numbers on this card" he smiled as handed her the card.
As Emily turned to leave Sora stopped her "it will be ok you know. You're strong and you have some wonderful soulmates supporting you but you need to let them in" he gestured outside where the seven boys were standing all in masks and hats but she knew it was them, Yoongi was holding the most beautiful bunch of pink roses. She immediately smiled so widely her cheeks hurt.
As she rushed out and greeted the boys and the dogs that jumped up at her. She was so happy to see them. They all walked to the park, which was almost empty much to the boys' relief. Jin went with Emily to buy ice cream whilst the boys took turns at playing fetch.
As Jin and Emily stood in the queue he turned to her
"Did it go ok?"
"Yeah, it did you know, he's a nice man, I swear he's magical, I'd told him my life story within the first forty-five minutes. We've agreed to me having sessions twice a week for now."
"And.. you're ok with that?"
"Yeah, it's going to be tough at first. I suppose I have a lot to work on. But I need to do this"
Emily finalised just as they got to the counter, Jin knew what the others ordered by heart, so when he finished placing their order he looked to Emily for hers
"oooh I think I might try the pistachio please"
As Jin handed her the cone, she reached up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He turned his head, to look at her and kissed her lips softly, they both forgot where they were until the assistant cleared her throat loudly waiting for Jin to take the others' ice creams and his change. Giggling they left the store in search of the others' as they each handed out ice creams. The dogs running over, all with different size sticks in their mouths, all of them far too big.
Emily couldn't wait for her future with these seven men, her soulmates. They were so precious to her. But when should she tell them?
Could she tell them at all?
"I love you, you all know that right? And I'm sorry if I'm moody and grumpy and I don't do things how you would like and my cooking isn't always great and I can't sing and I know I'm not experienced in the bedroom but I'm trying and I just wanted you all to know that I love you, I love you all the same and I don't want you to think less of me because I've been with some of you and not others, and I know I'm a nightmare and needy and ... yeah. " Emily blurted out.
"Ok Baby breathe. Are you ok?" Yoongi frowned down at her.
"Yes, I just, after my therapy session I just wanted to tell you how I felt" if only she could tell them the real truth.
"Maybe, maybe tell us before everything builds up? So it doesn't all come out as a big block? But we love you too, shall we walk back home and sit and talk about this?" Namjoon offered standing up.
———
"So" Jin announced carrying a tray of hot chocolate into the lounge and setting it on the coffee table.
Everyone took their mug, as Emily snuggled into Taehyung's tight hold on her. He hadn't spent much time with her and realised if he wanted skinship he needed to grasp at the moments he could.
"So let's address what you said first Emily and then we'll each take a turn at speaking, is that ok?" Emily nodded at Hoseok as he began.
"Firstly I love you. You're my soulmate and yes you are grumpy but you're so cute when you are. You might not be able to speak or cook Korean, but you're perfect to me. You don't need to change, and that includes in other ways" he smiled as he kissed her forehead.
"You know if you maybe stopped judging yourself so harshly, you might see how wonderful you are" Jimin laughed lightly as Namjoon stood up.
" I think we all agree on that Emily, you criticise yourself so harshly. We each want things to move at their own pace, develop our relationships with you too, not just as a group. Things take time. Be patient with yourself" he finished as Emily loudly sobbed into Taehyung's neck
"And before you say it, don't say sorry. How about we have a family meeting each week for any concerns, it doesn't need to be formal, but just to talk about things? Hmm, Ems?"
Jungkooks idea was a good one, it kept them talking, so hopefully, she wouldn't build everything up.
The boys all hoped Emily's therapy sessions would help her too. Outside of them and Mattie she didn't have anyone else to talk to, to convey her worries and fears to.
"Sorry to ruin this, but yeah Ems, you really can't sing, I thought Joon's singing voice was something but even the dogs whine when you try" Yoongi laughed, breaking the tension. Emily picked up a pillow, throwing it at the still cackling man.