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Non-soulmates can only be married with the proof of being both Soulo or with the death of their fated mate.
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"You said you met your uncle yesterday. How was it?" Namjoon curiously asks as he finally puts down his phone on the coffee table and takes a chopstick to eat.
Aside from Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook who have a schedule, the five of them are in the suite's living room, eating their breakfast. Of course, the eldest has been extra attentive with her meal, sweetly feeding her food straight from his chopstick. His eyes are gleaming, still feeling euphoric from their bath. Yoongi has been casually giving her fruits to eat, smiling gummily from time to time. Hoseok has been complementing nonstop on the butter and strawberry jam combo for a perfect sandwich bread until the leader asks the question.
"It was awkward." She honestly answers.
"Why is that?" Hoseok asks confused.
Though it only happens sometimes, but Daun was open about her uncle. She talked about him at times. They know that she missed him so much. It would be expected for her to be excited to finally see him. Knowing that her meeting with the man had been awkward is quite confusing.
"It just felt so wrong. I don't know. He had been travelling, informing me that he would be away for months only to find him there. I never knew that he had been with papa. I don't even know how he knew I was there at that moment."
"Who is your uncle again? I'm sorry if it slipped from my mind, but I'm sure you didn't tell us his name yet." Namjoon eagerly asks. Somehow, knowing that the man is an artist piques his interest. Not that he is not interested with anything about Daun. However, he feels like he knows the man...maybe... just maybe.
"I didn't? Oh. How rude of me." Daun realizes how she had been occasionally talking about how a second father he is for her yet she didn't even introduce his name to them. "Han Geong-wan." She answers.
Namjoon stops munching his food and his eyes widen.
"Isn't he Hannah-ssi's father?" Hoseok inquires.
"Technically, he was her step-father. Though it didn't last that long, but Hannah still considers him as her father." Daun replies as she takes another bite of her fluffy omelet.
"You mean to say... Your uncle is one of the greatest Korean artists who ever lived?" Namjoon gawks in the information.
"Oh. If I could remember. You were there during his last exhibit in Seoul."
"I know him, Love!" Elation is obvious on his voice. "We talked a lot once and I love his works. I think he is one of the greatest artists I had ever known." Namjoon sincerely says his adoration. "I should had been more polite and gracious to him." He adds, mumbling.
"I think your appreciation is enough." Daun awkwardly laughs. As far as she knows, her uncle only loves showing his interpretation to the world. He seldom sells his creations. At least not for his own good. Once her uncle said that he only wants people to see how he views the world.
"Wait. How is he related to you? Are your mother and him related?" Yoongi asks.
Daun tilts her head. She is not sure herself as well. "Well... I don't know. He had been with papa ever since I could remember."
"Are they brothers?" This time Jin asks as he sits beside her at the couch.
"Best friends?" She is really not sure. She doubts that he is just a very dear friend to her papa.
"It would be crazy if he is also your mother's soulmate, or your papa's." Namjoon's brows cross in his loud thinking.
"That would be silly. How come he had married Hannah -ssi's mother then?" Hoseok chuckles and then stops when he notices Daun's round doe eyes. "Sweet? Is there something wrong?"
"How come I didn't think about that?" She gasps. Her hand covers her mouth in disbelief.
"What?" Yoongi gasps as well, knowing too well what she has been thinking. "That's a scandal Daun-ah. You know a person with a soulmate couldn't marry another, unless his soulmate is your mother. But that also doesn't make sense since your papa is still alive. He can't just marry another. That could be an indirect homicide through soul tear."
"Unless he didn't have a chance to bound with her mother before she died." Jin answers the second eldest.
Jin knows a lot about the complexities of marriages. At nineteen, he had considered it but opt not to do it and became a trainee instead. If ten years would pass and he wouldn't still have any indications of soulmates and the soulmate doctors would prove of him being a Soulo, maybe he would be marrying someone already. She could be a fellow Soulo or a widowed woman. Whoever could be compatible to him. It's very possible with the secret marriage mart with all the registered available men and women.
"That's so cruel." Hoseok stops from eating as well. "I'm sorry for your mother's death, Sweet." He feels a bit awkward talking about someone's death and anything that pertains to it.
"It's okay. I never know her so I haven't had such connection... However, what I feel for papa is different. Honestly, I couldn't hate him. I don't know. As what I know, he is not even my biological father." Her voice grows quiet. She wants to stay hating him actually, but with just an information of him being sick, that emotion melts down into worry.
"That's understandable since your biological father and him are both mated to your mother. A child born with the bound would identify everyone in that bound as his or her parents. But it doesn't explain your uncle's relationship with you." Namjoon caresses his chin in deep thinking. "It's plausible that he is part of their Soulmate bound but didn't have a chance with your mother."
"Or he was never allowed to. He had been so close with papa...but why?" Her eyes begin to well. "My poor uncle I thought he was a Soulo falling in love with papa."
"Darling. Don't think too much of it. We don't know what really happened." It saddens Jin on how her eyes marbles with empathy. Her heart beating nervously on something she fears. Their kind and loving Daun just easily despairs with others' suffering. The more to people that is close to her heart.
"No. Papa had been so selfish. It could be that he had blinded uncle from their soul bound! For all these years!" She starts to sniff.
"We don't know that." Yoongi pacifies her as he reaches for her hand and squeezes it to his warmth.
"I know Mr. Han is not someone that could be easily fooled." Namjoon says. "Maybe he is just a good friend and nothing else? Maybe we are just overthingking." Namjoon says. However, it doesn't help. Something in her eyes tell him that everything was like blurred writing that has finally coming clear one by one. It's as if, the truth had been hanging all her life and she just happened to grasp it now. It seems that these kinds of theories had been within her heart, but something just stops her to think more of it. If ever... there is more to this...
"We need to be there. I need to know the whole truth." She hiccups as Jin wipes her tears away. His huge dainty hands lovingly caressing her face. "Oppa. We should be there quick."
Somehow, it doesn't need a genius to deduce things. One just has the courage to ask the right questions to the right person.
"Yes. We will be. Just eat some more, okay?" Jin soothes.
**********
Beyond the gate is another road. A concrete that has grayed with time and obviously kept for decades or perhaps centuries. Same with the beautifully manicured trees, looking like giant century-old beautiful bonsais.
Hoseok can't help but squeeze the coldness on her sweaty palms. He doesn't need to have the soul feel to know how nervous she is, nor the soul hear to listen the chaos in her head. She had been jittery. Every scenery silently makes her gasp for air as if she had been swimming on a vast bottomless ocean with currents so strong it has been dangerously submerging her beneath. He needs to calm down for her. He needs to be that tiny life ring buoy. He needs to be...
"You know, I couldn't imagine a traditional mansion whenever you told me about your childhood." Namjoon breaks the tension as the car drives through the pathway and through the thick lush gardens.
"This wasn't where I grew up. I was mostly in Tokyo's residence. This is the old residence." Daun mutters.
"How come?" Jin asks.
Hoseok doesn't need to ask as she fidgets.
Growing up etched with deep tradition, Hoseok understands. There is always an ancestral house where rules couldn't be bent and always those who are deemed worthy are welcomed. Good thing in his clan, it has been changed with time. The strict compliance to multitudes of rules was diminished with modernization. Values had retained but only to let the clan coexist in peace. His is not like this grand though. They don't have acres of land and a name that lived through the country's history of constant wars.
She confirmed this morning that her father, Inoue Yoshi, has a name tied with the ruling daimyo during the Edo era. The same Inoue behind the leading pharmaceutical group in Japan. The name bares such significance that she had to change her own name as Lee – her mother's maiden family name, to avoid people associating her to the man.
The four of them - the hyung line, suspected on it since Mrs. Song – her therapist, mentioned the name once and Daun's father's involvement to her medication. How else could he manipulate Daun's medication with her own specialized suppressants without any power to do so? They knew that the man should at least have a research company of his own. Hoseok's question was only on her use of Lee instead of Inoue. It baffled him. Now, he knows that she purposely changed her own name whenever she's in Korea. That is why their hired detectives didn't have any background of her. They couldn't trace anything about her. She asked forgiveness about it, but they don't care. She is still their Daun, whether she is a Lee or an Inoue. After all, she has her own reason - a way for her to move on. However, on her passport, she couldn't still escape from that name.
The car stops and he feels the wailing of her pulse. There is that doubt again. Hoseok could see it in between the crease of her eyebrows and the thin line of her nervous lips. She is gnawing and thinking whether she really has to do this or not.
"Love. Aren't you gonna come?" Namjoon has already opened the car door. His huge dependable hands are reaching out for her to hold.
'She really needs that extra courage.' Hoseok smiles.
"Let's do this yeah?" Jin, who had been driving, smiles gingerly to her. His presence alone speaks of security.
With a smile, Hoseok leads her out of the car. He takes a deep breath with her. His eyes never leaving her uncertain ones.
"We are here." He has to remind her. She nods. With a small grateful smile, she tugs him towards the entrance where Hoseok can see a line of three women in kimonos waiting for them.
"Welcome back Daun-chan." An old woman in a plain gray kimono at the center elegantly bows to them as the five of them step closer. Her crescent eyes are warm on their Daun.
"Reo-san." Daun bows in greeting. The four of them follows.
"We have been waiting for you, little miss. Let me hug you." The old woman says and endearingly embraces their Daun. "It's so nice to finally see you again." She adds.
"It's nice to see you too." Daun replies.
This soothes Hoseok. It shows how she is still loved in the house. It may not be from her papa's but at least, to the people taking good care of her.
"And who are these young men?" Reo-san then curiously looks the four of them one by one. Then her eyes brighten when her gaze lands on Hoseok's firm hold on Daun's hand.
"Reo-san. They are Min Yoongi, Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin and this is Jung Hoseok. They are four of my seven soulmates." Daun bashfully introduces them one by one from her right to her left.
Hoseok doesn't like what he sees. The woman doesn't need to say anything with her great surprise. Her squinting eyes tells something foreboding. They only have to bow again in greeting with a tiny serious smile and follow as she herself lead them inside the Japanese traditional mansion.
It's quiet. So quiet. Hoseok almost couldn't hear their footsteps on the sleek floor boards as they walk through the long corridor. His heart's beating is louder than the ominous clumps of their soles on the wooden floor. He has to once again remind himself that he is her buoy right now. He should not feel like this. However, he couldn't help it. Though the interior had changed to match with the times and the tatami mats are accented with modern carpets, it still feels old and heavy. It suppresses a judgement on their shoulders. The closed paper-paneled walls at the sides magnifies it. Somehow the walls have eyes, studying and measuring their worth. He feels dread, because with tradition, Multiples such as them is never accepted. They are unwelcomed.
Hoseok looks at the same tensed faces of his brothers. Both Yoongi and Jin's brows creased a little. Though Namjoon's chin are up, but his jaws are gritting. He knows that all of them feel the same.
"Hobi-oppa, are you okay?" He hears Daun's concerned whisper.
He nods and smiles. He is the buoy. He is her strength. Not the other way around.
"The little miss is here." Hoseok hears Reo-san's announcement as they stop on the closed paper-paneled sliding door. The other two women, who he almost forgot have been with them, automatically slide the door open, revealing a very spacious tatami room overviewing the most beautiful zen garden Hoseok had ever did see. It's so bright, opposing the shadowy and gloomy hallways they had been trudging to. He has to squint to focus and there he sees two men. One is kneeling at the side of a the other on a wheel chair, seemingly whispering words to the sickly man's ears. The former stands and turns the wheelchair to their direction. The latter's head then slowly lifts and his sickly eyes shines a bit as he gazes to their Daun.
The one standing is definitely her uncle - Mr. Han Geong-wan. Namjoon had showed his picture to him this morning. So, the one who is sitting on the wheel chair could be...
"Papa?" Hoseok feels her freeze as she utters with the most vulnerable voice, he had heard from her. It sounds so weak, wavering and so unsure.
"Da-eun?" Mr. Inoue's voice sounds so deep but meek. Hoeok's heart clenches with how the man utters the name with so much gentleness and love. It's as if he has called that name a million times, and he only has that name remains in his tongue. "My beloved...Da-eun?" Mr. Inoue calls once again, a hand lifts to reach for their soulmate.
Hoseok's brows knit in realization. That is not their soulmates' name. Confused, Hoseok looks at their Daun.
Her hand let go of his hold only to cover her mouth. Her doe eyes are welling up, staring through the sickly pale man on his wheelchair. She starts shaking but she keeps herself up. With so much kindness and bravery, she takes her steps forward without the need of their strength until she stops right on her papa's feet.
"She's not, Yoshi. She's our Daun." Mr. Han has to tell Mr. Inoue but the latter stays still as his head tilts to peer through Daun's face. Hoseok can only see yearning on his eyes. It's obvious Mr. Inoue is not hearing anything. It seems that he sees another person with Daun in front of him. It's trapped on something that he could not fathom.
"Oh my God." Hoseok then hears Namjoon's surprised gasp. This snaps his head to the leader and see the man looking at the paintings delicately placed and scattered around the spacious room which he failed to notice as they get inside just a moment ago. Something tickles within his mind as he looks at each of the paintings. The painting technique is too familiar not to tell who paints all of them.
Hoseok looks at the same shock on Jin's teary eyes and on Yoongi's worried pair. He then gazes back to the standstill over him and gulps.
'What is happening?' Hoseok really wants to know.