JIN POV:

I let my hand drop as I saw her recoil away from me. Did I scare her? Was I so fearful? Did I give off an unwelcoming aura? I didn't know why it was bothering me so much, but I couldn't deny it hurt to see her flinch from me as though she truly believed I would hurt her, and I didn't know why.

I wanted to check up on her, but it seemed as though every word I had spoken had caused her to mentally retreat further into herself. And I felt horrible for it.

I didn't instigate contact with girls, it was always them swarming and smothering me and my soulmates. So why did I feel the need to comfort (Y/N)? JB returned looking puzzled as he scanned the room, realising (Y/N) wasn't there. I don't know why but I seethed silently. Why did he care so much?

"Where's (Y/N)?" JB asked, concern settling onto his features.

"Gone. I think I scared her away." I laughed but there was no humour in it, it was an empty sound.

His eyed widened. Without saying another word, he dashed off, throwing the door open. Presumably, off to go coddle her some more. She had him wrapped around her little finger, I thought grimly. And for some reason, that didn't settle well with me.

JUNGKOOK POV:

"Hyungs!" I waved them over eagerly as they walked over to our usual table for lunch. They smiled as they reached me, leaning over to ruffle my hair or peck my cheek, settling down onto the seats around the table, Namjoon hyung sitting down next to me as he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"What is it baby?" Hobi hyung asked, beaming in response to my wide smile.

"It's out! The next episode is out!" I said, waving my tablet around drawing excited murmurs from the group. Namjoon hyung rested his head on my shoulder, reading over it as we eagerly looked at this week's episode of 'Cursed Fate'.

----

The door shut, the warmth of her father slipping away as he left for the day. The house shrouded in a mist of iciness and a shadow that seemed to descend onto the household despite the cloudless blue sky and the dazzling sun that tauntingly shone from beyond the four prisoning walls of the building.

Dae Hyeon backed up slowly, flinching away from the cruel face of her stepmother.

"You're worthless. You're a reminder of his past mistakes. You don't belong." She venomously spat, snarling as she approached the small girl who cowered where she stood.

Her stepmother closed her eyes, a malicious grin stretching across her painted lips.

Dae Hyeon clutched her head, whimpers leaving her throat before a pained tortured scream tore out of her throat, body trembling before her body collapsed onto the ground.

Her stepmother's figure now towered over her, eyes shining with evil intent as they took in the miserable plight of the young girl who's screams were rising in volume mingling in with the sobs that threatened to choke her.

The tears that coursed down her smooth cheeks were a balm to the stepmother, soothing that sting of hate and betrayal whenever she saw the young girl. Her eyelids fluttered shut, long lashes damp and sparkling with tears as she fought to remain conscious.

The stepmother's eyes furrowed before the girl's body fell to the ground as though cut by the strings that controlled her, head smashing painfully against the tiled floor before a trail of blood began to seep out from under her splayed hair, eyes slipping shut but the fear and sorrow evident in them in the last moment.

A rustle of fabric before the stepmother knelt down next to her.

"You don't deserve love. You don't deserve to live." A hissing voice sounded in her ears before she lost to the abyss that pulled her in.

And the words that remained unspoken but troubling to the young girl's heart and mind as she lay there on the floor, emblazoned above her body.

So there are those who abuse their power, there are those who never find their soulmate(s) and there are those who settle down with someone else only for that perfect life to be disrupted when one fateful day they come across their soulmate and that meeting is what tears their world apart.

And from underneath her shut eyes, a tear slid down.

----

"Poor Dae Hyeon!" cried Tae, expression upset as he reached the end of the episode. Sorrow and anger coursing through me as I desperately curled into Namjoon's side seeking comfort.

"And this is why you shouldn't get too immersed in the world of webtoons." Yoongi hyung scolded as though he hadn't just finished reading too, having whipped out his phone when he'd heard of the update.

"I feel sorry for her." I mumbled later as we walked back to our home, expression still downcast, even though rationally I knew it was fake, fiction, a webtoon created for the sake of entertainment. But that didn't mean my heart didn't go out to Dae Hyun trapped in the nightmarish world, unable to break free from the confines of the webtoon, fated to live a miserable life.

"Aigoo...our maknae's heart is too tender for this world." Hobi hyung dramatically announced with an extravagant flair of his hand.

I pouted as the hyungs began to tease me, we entered through the door noticing Jin hyung was home. His bag was discarded on the side. Huh, that's odd. He never leaves his bag there. He's a stickler for putting things in their proper places.

I walked in, hyungs following as we entered the kitchen. Jin hyung's true home I thought more times than I could count.

I walked over, wrapping myself around him from the back whilst he mixed something on the stove. Something that smelt like it was burning. My nose recoiled from the smell and I stepped around to take the pan off the stove.

"Hyung, it's burnt!" I yelled, taking it to the sink to soak, the smell of the burnt cooking quickly travelling through the kitchen, the guys' noses wrinkling in response.

He seemed unfocused. I wonder why.

Just then his face contorted with anger as he went and flung the mixing spoon into the sink, a splash of water as it contacted the soapy pan.

He stormed out the kitchen and we rushed behind him. What on earth had happened?

"Hyung what is it?" Jimin hyung asked, worry twisting his angelic features.

It was like a dam exploded, his words pouring out like a cascade of water. Unstoppable and a force to reckon with.

"I don't know why (Y/N) flinched away from me, am I horrible? Am I so disgusting? Do I look like I could kill someone with a stare? Is there something wrong with me?! I only wanted to check up on her, see if she was okay but she looked worse than a kicked puppy. Oh god, I felt so BAD and I didn't even know what I did! And then I don't know why but I wanted to comfort her but then she ran away from me. And told me that we shouldn't ever be more than strangers!" he poured out, confusion and hurt lacing every syllable. My heart ached and I knew it wasn't just my own feeling but of all of my soulmates as we shared in his pain.

"Hyung. Stop. There's nothing wrong with you. If anything, the problem is (Y/N). If she doesn't recognise what a kind soul you are, then her loss. She sounds horrible." Joonie hyung reassured him, his words calming the erratic beating of our hearts as Jin hyung settled slightly.

"I could persuade her..." Tae suggested before Jin hyung's eyes blew open.

"No Tae. Do not, and I mean do not use your hypnosis on her." He warned.

I didn't like the sound of this girl. Who on earth was she that she was messing with our lives and had now hurt or upset three of my soulmates?!

We all settled down in the living room, our hearts calmed after Jin hyung returned to his normal self after his outburst. The sound of chatter and laughter filling it soon. But the atmosphere was suddenly shattered when Yoongi hyung spoke up.

"Do you think we'll ever find our last soulmate?" he asked, igniting in us the suppressed fears and worries.

I placed a hand on my upper chest, hand pressed on my black t-shirt over my mark. The bond filled with sorrow but more than that a sense of longing. When would we find the last piece of our soul? When would we be complete?

(Y/N) POV:

The further away I got from Seokjin, the pain in my mark seemed to worsen. I panted, breaths coming out shallow.

Suddenly my phone rang. I glanced at it quickly before answering it.

"Annyeong Editor-nim! Ah, the new episode is up? Thank you, I'll get back to you with the next update soon. Take care. Bye." I hung up quickly, trying to will the pain away before clicking onto the episode. The reads were going up and the comments were streaming through. I scanned through the comments briefly, smiling at the waves of support and sympathy for Dae Hyeon, she was an extremely favoured character. She wasn't perfect, she had her flaws. And she was accepted as the main role despite them.

The pain in my side slowly dulled and soon dissipated completely and I continued on my way back to my dorm, hiding out for the rest of today until late afternoon tomorrow seemed like the best option.

----

"Soo Jin, for the last time...NO! I don't want to go grocery shopping, no I don't want to go shop for new clothes and no I don't want to go to a café." I refused.

She grabbed onto my arm, latching on.

"(Y/N)-ah, who knows when we'll both get this rare overlap when we're both free. The stationary shop also got this super new cute collection I know you'll love. I'll treat you to something too." She bargained watching my resolve waver. I did love collecting cute stationary, and I sighed resigning myself to a day of exposure out of the safety haven of my dorm.

I grabbed a mask as I left, it couldn't do to see anyone I wanted to avoid. A certain group of 7. I had had enough encounters to last me a lifetime. Grabbing my wallet and phone I allowed myself to get pulled along by Soo Jin's excited form.

We entered the cute stationary shop, it was fairly empty, I could see a couple of mothers with their little children but that was about it. I hurried along to their display for new stationary, squealing in happiness when I saw the cute stickers and washi tapes. I had to get some! Soo Jin watched with amused eyes as I contemplated which design to buy before she rolled her eyes and grabbed both options placing them into the small basket.

"I'll buy one for you." Before steering me away and to the checkout. I was satisfied, it was worth leaving the dorm. Now, I didn't care where Soo Jin took me, I was put into a good mood.

Just as we were leaving, we bumped into another figure who was walking pass at that moment sending me staggering for a bit.

It was Yuna. The girl who had been lusting after the Bangtan Boys for as long as I could remember. She had lost her soulmate before university, if the rumours were anything to go by, and that had made me sympathetic towards her, seeing her behaviour as a way of coping, albeit an unhealthy one.

She glared at me as she stared down, face plastered with makeup and each feature expressing disgust as she looked on.

"I didn't think you had it in you (Y/N). Set your eyes on seducing my Bangtan Boys? You dirty, ugly orphan...." She hissed.

The words 'dirty, ugly orphan' ringing in my ears mocking me, the tone so similar, so mocking, it was a haunting familiarity. The words stung, more than they should've. They just struck at an old wound; one I was desperate for to heal but instead just left an ugly gaping hole instead.

Soo Jin stepped forward, looking at her at eye level as she glared at Yuna.

"Back off, have you seen the way you desperately hang around them? Even though they're not your soulmates and your one died after seeing you cheat? You're cheap and sick." She spat.

Her soulmate died because of her? The act of cheating on your soulmate could potentially cripple and weaken your soulmate and for someone to go through that, I shuddered with fear but also sorrow.

I looked at Yuna but instead of wanting to strike back, I saw someone who wasn't worth it. Who, no matter what would always be a shell of what she could've been. And I pitied her for it.

I tugged at Soo Jin.

"Let's go, it's not worth it." Before walking off ignoring the splutters and insults she threw at our backs.

I knew I was dirty. Soiled, tainted, unworthy. I knew I was ugly, that word had been spat on me so many times. And I knew I was an orphan, that was what stung at me the most, the memory of my parents looking at each other with adoration, now a lingering fading remnant of my past.

I knew, no-one had to tell me.

(I WANNA CRY NOW. POOR (Y/N)! ANOTHER BUILD UP OF SADNESS, SO! JIN HAS FELT AN UNEXPLAINABLE NEED TO COMFORT...HMMM?? I WONDER WHY? TAE'S ABILITY IS HYPNOSIS- HE CAN REALLY USE IT ANY FORM, AND HONESTLY? IT'S ONE OF MY EXPLANATIONS FOR THE DUALITIES!! ANYWAYS...NEXT CHAPTER, A BIT OF A FLASHBACK TO THE PAST. MAYBE ANOTHER FATEFUL ENCOUNTER?? WHICH MEMBER SHOULD IT BE?? BECAUSE I DIDN'T UPDATE YESTERDAY- HERE'S A DOUBLE UPDATE TODAY! BUT.... COULD IT BE?? ANOTHER MEMBER SHE'LL BUMP INTO IN THE AFTERNOON LESSONS?! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS!! I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!)

I have a newfound hope, I'm feeling really happy these days and more positive for tomorrow. Hopefully, this horrid pandemic will soon be over. I hope you're all safe, healthy, happy, and doing what you want to do!

BORAHAE! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3