"Does this look ok? I don't want to be too casual or too formal"
Emily was on her third change of outfit. She had on some black skinny jeans with a white shirt half tucked in at the front. She had pinched Jimin's belt and had a black tank top underneath.
"Emily you look beautiful, you always look beautiful" Jimin rolled his eyes, looking at his soulmate. Her red curly hair pulled into a high ponytail, with some stray strands left loose around her face. Her make up was light, and just gave her a little glow.
Putting on a chunky silver collar necklace. She checked her outfit in the mirror. Making a sound of contentment.
"Vans, ballet slippers or ..."
"These!" he smiled holding up a pair of chunky platform leopard print sandals.
"Fine, but I just need to change my necklace to gold to match" She smiled at him, walking over and kissing his soft lips, stealing some lip balm. As he deepened the kiss, she pulled back.
"If you keep doing that, we will never leave" She frowned at him
"One more?" He smirked
"One more" Emily hated how easy it was for these guys to twist her around their finger, but loved it all the same.
Leaving the house, the boys knew she was nervous, she had that air of going into battle, her clothes and jewellery radiated confidence, but they knew it was her armour. They were nervous both for her and for themselves. This was her brother, and his parents as such, and his sisters, and one of them is a fan. Choi and Han had agreed to stay outside in the car so as not to cause too much alarm.
Emily had already made sure she packed drinks and snacks in a little cooler for them and made a mental note to bring them out some food later on.
Emily had made sure to buy some drinks and a box of little cakes from the cafe she had previously visited, to take with her, she hated arriving at any event empty-handed, and the boys had bought some flowers for Carol and Oliver and a small model train for Joseph, that the model store assistant assured them he didn't have yet.
Pulling up outside of the large terraced house, Emily took a deep breath, as her car door opened, Jin's outstretched hand came into her view.
"Ready?"
"Yes, we can do this"
"We can"
As she walked up the path, followed by her soulmates. She knocked on the door using the heavy brass door knocker. Just as Emily was about to knock again, the door swung open to reveal Oliver and Joseph, both grinning.
"Emily! You look lovely! Come in, come in, all of you"
"Thank you Oliver, Hi Joe, are you ok?" Joe nodded eagerly.
Walking through into the hallway, and taking their shoes off, replacing them with slippers they brought with them. Joe smiled at them, signing something to Oliver.
"A Korean custom?"
"Oh, yes, sorry, we can put them back on" Emily smiled
"Oh no, Our Joe was just explaining, he's been researching a lot"
"Oh that's amazing"
"CAROL?! They're here" Oliver's voice boomed around the high ceilings, the house looked so tiny on the outside, but inside it was like a tardis. Decorated in a homely style, with mismatched furniture and family pictures on the wall, it reminded Emily of her Grandmothers house.
"Oh Hello love, sorry, I was just finishing off the salad" Carol came through the doorway wiping her hands on her blue floral apron.
"Oh aren't they all so handsome" Carol smiled eyeing Emily's soulmates with a smile.
"Yes, they sure are!" Emily smiled widely
"Let me introduce them, this is..."
"Jin" They each took over introducing themselves. Shaking hands with each of the three.
"Joe wants to know where Charlotte is?" Oliver smiled
"We left her at home, we didn't want to assume we could bring her, especially to a family barbecue. But I'm sure she would love to FaceTime with you Joe, hmm? Maybe tomorrow?" Emily smiled
Joseph nodded eagerly. Handing over their gifts, to many protests mainly from Carol, they all were shown out to the large garden, with fairy lights twinkling in the wind, cosy seating areas dotted around, and a flaming bbq in what looked like a specially built area.
"Oh Joseph, we got you this. They said you didn't have it yet" Yoongi handed over the small bag containing the model train.
Joseph eyed the bag suspiciously, slowly taking it from Yoongi's grasp and looking inside. Smiling wildly he ran over to Eliza, who was deep in conversation, tapping her on her shoulder until she looked at him.
"What Joe, it's rude to interrupt! Oh, that's nice of them, where are...OH MY FUCKING GOD. MOTHERFUCKER. I AM FUCKING DEAD" she screeched
"ELIZA! Why are you screaming"
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME HER FUCKING SOULMATES WERE BTS"
"Who?"
"For god sake Dad, that band that I have pictures of everywhere and play their music 24/7"
"Oh yeah them"
"Oh yeah them? They're in our fucking garden. I'm going to faint, I'm going to die. Min Yoongi is in front of me" she screeched as Yoongi looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
"Eliza, calm down, they're just people"
"Hello Eliza, my name is Namjoon" he held out his hand to her, as she looked between his face and his hand. Putting out her trembling hand, she nodded swallowing heavily.
"Hello" she managed to squeak out.
"And this is Jin, Yoongi, Hobi, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook" as he pointed to each one they each gave a small wave.
"Err hi" Eliza's face was puce.
"Emily, boys, this is Christi and this is Laura and their soulmates Eddie and James. Hopefully, they'll be a little less hysterical" Carol laughed rolling her eyes.
"Nice to meet you" Emily shook hands with the four of them, Christi smiled widely, whilst Laura was the shyest of the three, eyeing Emily suspiciously and smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
"These are my soulmates" introducing them by name, and all shaking hands, Emily was glad the formalities were out of the way.
The boys all seemed to stay together in one corner by the barbecue, even Joseph. While Emily and the girls were in another. Eliza was still silent.
"So Emily? How do you cope with seven men in one house? I can't even cope with one" Laura asked.
"It's Erm, a learning curve. There are scheduled days and a lot of patience, mainly on their part. But they're pretty good really. I'm just glad I've got a female dog otherwise I'm surrounded by men, even their dogs are boys"
Sitting chatting, about their lives, their jobs, Emily felt happy, especially watching the boys mess around, laughing and chatting. They still kept taking sneaky glances to check she was ok when they thought she wasn't looking.
"So we're you a fan when you met them, I mean?" Eliza suddenly spoke
"Oh god no, I had no idea who they were. I was furloughed and the shop I worked at didn't look like it would reopen, so I applied for jobs and they had posted a fake ad sneakily looking for their soulmate, I applied and the rest as they say is history"
"Wow, it's like a fairytale"
"Oh believe me it's been hard, it's not been all love hearts and roses. But we've worked hard. I wouldn't be without them" Emily smiled.
"I saw on social media they'd met their soulmate, and then Jimin's speech was beautiful. How come you never do v-lives or anything with them?"
"I don't want to, I'm around when they film some things, but for me, that's just their job, and they don't need me following them around, and they like to keep our relationship as private as they can. I don't want to get bored sitting at filming, and have them worry about me. I also learned the hard way not to look at the comments on social media"
"Eliza! Stop interrogating Emily! She's here to enjoy herself!" Carol smiled warningly at her daughter.
"I'm just interested, that's all, it's not every day the worlds biggest boyband is standing in your garden and their soulmate is practically related to you" Eliza frowned back at her mother.
———
As they all tucked into well-burned sausages and burgers, Emily smiled at Joseph, who had ketchup dripping onto his shirt. Handing him a napkin, he nodded his thanks.
"Gets that from Oliver" Carol nodded at her husband with the same drips on his own shirt.
It felt like a real family barbecue, everyone chatting, eating slightly charred meat with some delicious sides, Joseph had even made some kimchi, he had found a recipe online that meant it didn't need to be fermented for a few weeks beforehand. The boys were all impressed, by both his effort and the taste.
Emily had taken a few plates of food out for Han and Choi, who had been invited in, but politely declined, thankful to stay out of the way, watching sport on their iPad.
Emily attempted to stifle a yawn, between all the food and the comfy seat she was feeling her lack of sleep from the last few days.
"I think we better be going soon, otherwise I'm going to be asleep!" She laughed
"You're more than welcome to stay, we could make room for you all" Oliver smiled.
"Oh no, we couldn't possibly impose, and I need to get back for Charlotte. Some other time maybe?"
"You're all welcome anytime, just pick up the phone and check we're in. You've got them well trained " Carol smiled as the boys all helped with the dishes and clearing up.
"Oh I didn't have to train them, their parents did a good job in raising them, and they're amazing men. They probably do more than I do" Emily laughed, she hated when people thought that they were incapable of looking after themselves, needed a woman to 'train' them, or to keep them in line. She wasn't their mother, she was their soulmate, their partner, their equal. Well except for the singing, she was not even on the same scale.
"Joe, Emily's going now" Oliver called
"Joe, I'll call you tomorrow, before midday so you can see Charlotte, and we will set up a time and day for us to chat on messenger ok? I've loved meeting you properly, but please promise me one thing?"
He tilted his head
"No more unplanned trips to Korea. Promise?"
He held up his little finger
"Pinky promise?"
He nodded, as Emily linked her finger with his.
He pulled her into a tight hug, his tears splattering onto her head.
"Oh Joe, I'll be back soon, and we can see each other on the phone, ok? Please don't cry" Emily reached up wiping his tears. He nodded forcefully, walking away, the sound of his footsteps echoing up the stairs.
"He'll be ok love, he's just sad. He doesn't like people leaving. He's not good at goodbyes" Carol looked at Emily sympathetically.
"Thank you again, both of you, not just for tonight but for everything. If you need anything, anything at all you have my phone number. Day or night, call me"
"We will. We will take good care of him"
"You have done this whole time, I don't doubt it for a second. I'm the stranger in his life, not you" Emily rubbed Carol's shoulder warmly as she was pulled into another bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you for being so accepting of him, I know after what he did you didn't have to. But thank you" Carol cried into Emily's shoulder.
"God Mum why do you always have to get so emotional" Eliza laughed, passing out tissues.
"Oh Eliza, I heard you quite liked Shooky, so there's a little present for you in there" Yoongi passed over a little gift bag. Eliza couldn't look him in the eye, as he stood there smirking, she managed to stutter out her thanks.
Oliver just rolled his eyes, at the scene before him. Shaking each of the boys' hands, and showing them out, a flurry of footsteps made Emily turn around. Joseph stood there holding a train out at arm's length.
"For me?" Emily asked
"Gosh that's his favourite" Carol exclaimed with wide eyes
Joseph signed something to Oliver quickly.
"He's asking if you could keep it with you, so you always have a bit of him, wherever you are"
"Of course I will, I will treasure it, I'll take photos of it if you like? When I, or the boys go somewhere?"
Joseph nodded as though his head might detach from his neck.
"Right, I'll see you tomorrow for FaceTime Joe?"
Getting into the car and waving until they were out of sight, Emily let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Still clutching the little model train in her palm.