Step by step, slowly

You knock on my heart

"What?!"

Rain looked at all of them in the seating area, dumbfounded by what she had just heard. 

"You have seen him, you have sensed it and you have definitely heard him", Jin said.

Speechless, Rain just stared at him not wanting to believe all the nonsense she had just heard but she couldn't deny seeing all the strange things around her. After all, it was true that she had seen that boy- Yoongi, as she now knew- disappear into thin air earlier and she had definitely heard Hoseok's voice in her head and not to mention those creatures.

"So you are saying that all of you have come from a different realm and each one of you have special powers. And even if I believe all this crow shit, why am I getting involved? Certainly you and my bestie can continue doing whatever you do without me.", Rain said as she finally wrapped her head around the information.

"Your mother, she was the one who held us together", Namjoon spoke up

"You know my mother?", she asked, shocked. Mom would never do this to me.

"You both are doing an awesome job of confusing her," Jimin said as he crossed his legs over each other, sighed and sat upright on the couch, "let me explain". Jin just nodded while he continued to look at Rain's clenched fists.

"Let's treat this as a story, alright?"

Rain nodded. Smiling he continued, "There are different realms in the universe and just like earth, life exists on each one. In that way, we come from a realm called Velros. Ten years ago, seven of us were chosen to protect Velros. As you now know each of us has a power of our own. These powers are derived from elements or personalities depending on the person." He caught a fly mid air by its wing, and said, "I have quick reflexes" 

He looked at Hoseok who nodded and said, "I have telepathy". Sorry, I scared you earlier, he continued in Rain's mind. She acknowledged him by nodding.

"Water", Namjoon said. Just at that moment, water started running from the faucet and splashed itself on a protesting Jimin. Everyone snickered and she almost kept a straight face. 

"I got Nature", Taehyung said, smiling at her as her eyes landed on him. She looked so delicate after being bombarded by statements that questioned her existence. 

"Light for me", Jin said nonchalantly. An awkward silence followed when Yoongi didn't say anything, he continued, "He got teleportation". Rain agreed with another nod. 

"I have combat", Jungkook spoke up for the first time and his voice rang through the room as Rain felt as if she just heard the sweetest voice ever to exist. It felt as though a field of honeydew apparated into this room that instant.  

"Your mother, she was the strongest protector of all the realms in existence. She was the reason we came to know each other. Everything was good until five years ago, when one of the most powerful dark forces took over Velros. To protect us, she sacrificed herself and gave all of us enough time to get away."

"For the past five years we have been looking for you all over the world, Rain", Namjoon interrupted.

"Until finally a year ago we found Ashlene and she lead us to you, so don't blame her as we had planned to tell you everything when you came of age but the circumstances didn't hold good and we had to reveal ourselves in this manner", Jin said, searching Rain's now teary eyes.

"You are lying...all of you. My mother died only a year ago and for as long as I remember I have been here, on Earth, in Seoul not in some weird realm that you are talking about", Rain said as a tear rolled down her cheek. 

Jin exchanged a confused glance with Namjoon before both of them turned to Ashlene. Ashlene, who had quiet throughout the conversation sighed and said, "I need to speak to her". Her eyes met with each of the boy's before she continued, "Alone".

Namjoon nodded and stepped out of the room. All the others followed except Suga who disappeared on spot and Jin who stayed in his seat, a doubtful look in his eyes prevailed as he looked at Ashlene. Ashlene gave him a look of reassurance but on seeing that he wouldn't budge, she ignored him and walked up to Rain. Kneeling beside her, Ashlene placed a hand on Rain's knee making her look at her. 

"I know this is too much to take in and it is not the right time but I have no choice left after last night. All your memories were supposed to come back to you when you become twenty-two but yeah"

"What do you mean by my memories coming back?", Rain sniffled as she wiped her eyes.

"Rain, the woman you lived with for the past five years was not your mother..."

"You are lying...there is no way she was not my mother...sh-she knew everything about me...she loved me", Rain said, shaking her head as tears ran free down her face.

"I'm so sorry", Ashlene whispered as her vision too became blurry. Taking Rain's hands in hers she continued, "Jimin was telling you the truth, five years ago when your mother died while holding off the dark forces your father had come with you to the village where I lived in Velros. You had passed out then and he had said that your memories were erased when you were struck by one of the dark powers.

"He told the only person he could ever trust to take you somewhere far away, somewhere safe where you could start a new life. She was one of the closest friends your mother ever had. She took both you and me and brought us here. When you woke up five years ago, you had absolutely no memory of Velros or your parents. All you knew was that you lived in Seoul since you were born and that she was your mother.

"A year ago, the day before she died she told me everything. She told me that you will regain your memories when you turn twenty-two along with the powers you were born with. She later realized that the dark power that had struck you did not only make you loose your memories with it but also the very powers you were born with. The powers that would help you protect Velros. She told me to find these guys. I looked for several months before finding Jin's company. I had to pretend to go on a job interview so that I could meet and talk to him. We decided that it would be fitting to tell you everything once you regained your memories. She also gave me this", Ashlene said as she removed a folded piece of paper from her pocket and placed it in Rain's hands.

Unfolding the paper she cried even harder as she saw a photograph of a woman clad in a pure blue gown. A translucent veil ran from the top of her bun and fell across her shoulders and cascaded down till it reached the floor. A few of her rose gold strands ran by the side of her face as she had tilted her head up to look at someone, her rose gold eyes crinkled as she had a wide smile on her face. Her hands were placed somewhere Rain couldn't see as the photograph had been torn halfway through. She only saw two hands clad in a black suit's blazer clutching the woman's waist. 

"I-Is this my mom?", Rain asked and looked at Ashlene. Ashlene nodded and said, "This was the picture taken during her wedding".

Sobs racked Rain's body as she further asked, "Where's my dad? Why is this picture torn only to show one half? Where is the other half?"

"I don't know Rain but this was the only picture the woman who lived as your mother for the past five years could salvage"

"You told me that my father brought me to you...do you know if he is still-?", Rain said but when she saw Ashlene's eyes filled with pity she said no more. Fresh tears pooled in her eyes as she asked, "Do you know who she was? The woman who lived with me for all these years?"

"She was my mother...", Ashlene said as fresh tears ran down her face.

Rain paused as every moment she had spent with the woman she had thought of as her mother flashed through her mind. The first time she had come home late and been scolded by her. That night she and Ashlene had laughed about how Ashlene's mother had scolded them, politely and with honorifics. Now that she knew, Rain realized the woman had never dropped the formality while talking to her. Every birthday celebration had been extravagant beginning with a hug from the woman she believed was her mother until a year ago. 

That woman had passed away apparently from a chronic illness. She had hugged Rain the morning of her twenty-first birthday with tears in her eyes. It was the first time Rain had seen her cry but before she could ask if everything was alright, she had passed out. Ashlene had rushed to the hospital from her night shift at the conveineince store. As far as Rain could remember Ashlene had never exchanged more than a few words with the woman but that day she had cried her eyes out.

Slipping from the chair Rain kneeled beside Ashlene. Wrapping her hands around Ashlene's sobbing body she pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm so so so sorry Ash", Rain whispered as she caressed Ashlene's head.  "I had no idea....all these years that we lived together and I had no idea, I'm sorry, I'm sorry that you had to act as a stranger in front of your own mother. I'm so sorry that you had to go through all that because of me"

Ashlene just shook her head and said, "It was never your fault, don't you dare blame yourself"

A soft knock on the door made Ashlene remove herself from the embrace and look up. Seeing Hoseok standing near the door she stood up and ran to him, throwing herself at him. He held her tight before whispering to her, "I think both of you need a break, I'm sorry I couldn't help eavesdropping when the emotions got high".

Ashlene shook her head against him before taking his hand and following him out of the room.

Rain couldn't stop crying even when she felt Ashlene get up and go away. She felt so sorry for everything that Ashlene and her mother had to go through because of her. She felt nothing but sorrow at how things had turned out to be. She had a mother whom she didn't even remember and a father she couldn't even see the face of. She felt awful. Pulling her legs to herself she held her knees and cried on the floor. Everything she believed was a lie. No wonder the letters 'lie' is present in the word believe. But yet the betrayal she felt did not go away.  She was wondering why she's making herself vulnerable to these strangers and forced herself to regain control over her emotions.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder she looked up to see Jin kneeling beside her. Handing her a handkerchief he sat beside her. When she finished wiping her face, she said, "I'm sorry for my outburst earlier and for not trusting you." 

"It was only natural of you to do so", Jin said as he smiled at her. "This was a lot to take in, wasn't it? Do you want to take your mind off things for sometime?"

Standing up he held out a hand to her and offered, "Come with me"

Dear Readers,

You must be thinking that you got an early update for once. No worries I am thinking the same. 

So, this is a whole lot of information to take in not only for Rain but for a few of you all too but I'm pretty sure both Rain and you will let the information sink deep in your minds and proceed forward with this book's adventures.

The other boys are having quite a bit of time trying to warm up to her but I hope they at least make it easy for her to go through all this. 

Till the next update. Adios!

~RV