The next morning, Jungkook woke up to see a figure standing next to his desk, unmoving, staring quietly at the photo lying there.
"Dino, you're still here?" Jungkook rubs his eyes as Dino slowly looks at him and shrugs.
"Sorry I'm in your room, but I couldn't stop looking at it." He whispers.
Pulling himself up to sit against his pillow, Jungkook tries to wake up more to listen to his friend, "Is something bothering you about it?"
"I'm just thinking," is the reply.
"About?" Jungkook nudges for him to continue.
Sitting on the foot of the bed, Dino lets out a sigh, "For years, I've noticed that there were these blank spaces that I couldn't see. They weren't still. They moved around. Since I couldn't make heads or tails of them, I ignored them. Anything to do with them, I ignored. I just accepted that they were blank spaces. I ignored anyone talking to them. I ignored them interacting with other objects. I just..."
"Just...?"
Dino stares into space for a bit, "I just refused to be curious about them." He turned to look at Jungkook, "Why would I ignore my mates?"
Jungkook shook his head, "Why are you a ghost and not moving on? Let's face it, you shouldn't be hanging around like this. You should have moved on, but you stayed. We need to find out why. At least we know where to start now. I can talk to your mates and find out what was going on at the time of your disappearance."
"Disappearance?" This startled him.
"Yeah, you just disappeared one day on them. They never knew what happened to you," Jungkook got up and started getting dressed, "Um, can you leave the room, I want to change."
Dino nodded and with a dazed look on his face, disappeared from the room.
"Hey!" Jungkook yelled over his shoulder, "Meet me for breakfast," He didn't get a response, but he figured Dino was listening anyway. He finished getting dressed and headed to breakfast.
Upon entering the dining room, Jungkook looked around and saw that Onew was eating breakfast with the doctor, Jin. He ignored that Jin looked over at his entrance and went to get breakfast. Once he had his plate filled, he debated whether he wanted to go sit at their table. On one hand, he needed to talk to Onew, but did he want to be close to his supposed mate?
"He's not going to bite you," Dino whispered causing Jungkook to shudder slightly. "You want to talk to my mate, and I'm pretty sure yours would like to spend time with you, too."
"That's the problem," Jungkook muttered under his breath. Stealing himself against the inevitable, he walked over to the table and sat his tray down in the chair farthest from the swan. Jin and Onew exchanged glances and continued eating.
"Onew, I talked to Dino," he began.
"You mean, Jonghyun?" the rabbit's ears perked up.
"Well, he prefers to be called Dino right now," Jungkook paused, feeling uncomfortable, "It seems that Dino hasn't been able to see you guys. He forgot he had mates."
"That's not encouraging," Onew said sadly. "How could he forget us?"
"It probably has something to do with how he died," Jin tried to comfort his friend.
Jungkook could only nod, "He talks about having these blank spaces that he avoided. But, he was able to remember you," This made Onew smile but his eyes were glassy with unshed tears. "I was able to confirm that he doesn't know how he died. He only remembers being a ghost in this place."
Onew studied his food, pushing it around with his fork. He was no longer hungry. "We had only been here a couple of years," Jungkook noticed his ghost appear behind Onew. "We were still getting used to having a home that we didn't have to be afraid of losing. Miss Kay was training us to help run this place. We had to turn away a lot of unsavory humans during those times. People who thought we were a slave market for hybrids."
Jungkook growled at this point in the story. He understood this only too well.
"There was one human who became unreasonable in her desire to own a hybrid from this place. We were trophies to her. Jonghyun has the most beautiful voice and she heard him singing while he was playing with the children. She was so determined to own him that she kept trying to get around our rules. Eventually, she went away, but it wasn't long after that that he disappeared." Onew's face grew somber, "I always wondered if she had something to do with it. But we never found him, we never knew."
"Humans are despicable," Jungkook muttered.
"Not all of them," Jin smiled opening up his arms to indicate the Center, reminding Jungkook that at least one human was honorable. He also remembered the man from the park. Could he even tell Namjoon this story? Would he believe him?
They finished their breakfast, each with a lot on their minds. When Jungkook went to leave, Jin followed and called out to him. Turning to watch Jin's approach, Jungkook just kept quiet, letting Jin say what he needed.
"Look, Jungkook, I feel we need to talk."
"About?" He folded his arms.
"About us." Jin paused, unsure now of what to say.
"There is an us?" Jungkook folded his arms, trying to look forbidding.
"Give him a chance" Dino whispered in his ear. This made Jungkook sigh and unfold his arms.
"I won't pressure you," Jin said first catching Jungkook by surprise.
"You won't?"
"No. I don't want you to be worried that I'm going to push myself on you. I know you know what we are to each other, but there's no happiness if both parties aren't in tune with each other."
Jungkook regarded Jin carefully. He looked at his handsome face and tried to ignore that his heart skipped a beat. "I have never wanted a soulmate. They were traps on the streets. I don't trust this at all."
"I know." Jin nodded, loving care shown in his earnest and kind eyes. "I know where you come from and I'm on your side. I would never want you to feel like I'm trapping you. But, I did want to warn you, my other mates are returning to the Center soon and they know about you. I've told them to give you space, but we've got a couple of them that are extra friendly."
Jungkook took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thanks for the warning, Doctor." Without another word, he turned away from the swan and continued, he had an appointment to keep.
After lunch, Jungkook headed to the park to see if his new friend was there. Sure enough, Namjoon sat on a bench near a tree reading a book. As Jungkook drew closer, he looked up and smiled. The human scooted over so Jungkook could sit down.
"I wondered if I'd see you today," Namjoon said, a dimpled grin covering his face.
"It was nice to talk to you yesterday. I didn't know if you really meant what you said about talking with you about things, but I don't have anyone back at the Center to talk to and this situation is getting crazier by the minute." Jungkook fiddled with his hands. He was nervous talking to Namjoon. He seemed like a nice guy and he didn't want to have him think he was crazy.
"How crazy is it?" Namjoon asked with a concerned look on his face.
Jungkook hesitated but Namjoon just sat there patiently waiting.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" This was it, Namjoon would think he was crazy for sure. Well, it was better to lose a potential friend now before he got to like him.
"Not really, but does that have something to do with your picture?" Namjoon sat watching the hybrid with no judgment on his face, just curiosity.
"Yes."
Jungkook then explained the real situation and Namjoon sat there, amazed at the story."That's some tale,"
"Tell me about it." Jungkook sat there, waiting for Namjoon to call him crazy and walk away.
"So, he only sees one of his mates, but can't see the other 3. I think that would make me sad if I were his lost mates," Namjoon said, looking thoughtful.
Jungkook was shocked, "You don't think I'm crazy?"
"Why would I think you were crazy?" Namjoon was honestly surprised. "You've been very sincere about your story. You don't strike me as a scammer."
"I'm talking about a ghost. I know I'd think I'm crazy," he muttered.
Namjoon laughed. "You are a funny cat." He ruffled Jungkook's hair and sat back on the bench, thinking. "You know, you should probably find something of each mate that would help him remember. Something specific to each one. They probably know what he liked about them. That might help."
Jungkook nodded, "but what about finding out how he died?"
"That's a little more tricky, I wouldn't worry about that right now. That could be dangerous."
Jungkook couldn't help but agree. Sometimes you just had to mind your own business.
"Listen, how would you like to go get something to eat? I know a great ramen place and we can talk more about your ghost."
Jungkook smiled and agreed and he spent the rest of Namjoon's lunch time enjoying his company.