Seonghwa's pov

  I finished my shower and headed towards the living room to find both Jay and Maria struggling to fix my Lego Star Wars set.

  I stood in the doorway of the living room and sighed silently. The pair continued to try to fix their mistake before Maria noticed me.

  "Hwa I'm sorry! I didn't mean to knock the set over! I was trying to put a new box of Legos beside it and they all fell!" Maria exclaimed as she jumped up from the carpet.

  "You got me a new set?" I asked. Maria nodded and scampered to grab the box of flower legos.

  "You are forgiven," I said, nodding at the gift. Maria smiled widely and hugged me tightly.

  "Thank you!" She exclaimed. I gently caressed her long purple hair with a small smile.

  "I didn't know exactly what you'd want for lunch today, but I got a pizza added to Domino's order of cheesy bread and lava cakes. And for McDonald's I added another ten piece of nuggets and a cola. Is that alright?" I asked. Maria smiled widely and hugged me again.

  "Thank you, Hwa! I swear if soulmates weren't real and you were straight I'd snatch you up real quick," Maria mumbled. I tried to bite back laughter as I looked at Jay.

  "You two truly were made for each other, huh?" I laughed. I separated myself from the short woman when the doorbell rang.

  As I walked back to the living room with our food, Maria was shouting fragments of sentences excitedly.

  "Maria, calm your titties! If Jay and I get one more flag down for noise pollution because of you then we'll lose our apartment!" I said as I struggled with the bags and boxes of food.

  "You found your soulmates? All seven?" Maria asked, a lot more quietly than she was speaking before. She helped me sit all of the foods and drinks onto our living room table.

  "Yeah, I did!"

  "Oh my god- tell me everything! Are they nice to you? Are they cute enough for him?" Maria asked the second question to her soulmate.

  "Mar, sweetheart, my love, my beautiful blue rose, once again, please quiet down before we lose this apartment." Jay clamped their hand over Maria's mouth. Maria nodded her head.

  "Who are they?" Maria asked. Jay put their hand back over Maria's mouth, causing her to look very confused.

  "So you remember how Jay and I got barricade seats for Ateez last night?" I asked. Maria nodded once again.

  "I made eye contact with both Yeosang and Wooyoung last night and they're both my soulmates. They all have my pink star soul mark, and I have all of their soul marks!" I said happily. Maria's eyes grew as wide as saucers as she tried to shout something.

  "Maria if you don't shush I'll keep my hand here and not let you eat lunch. When I take my hand away, you better be at the same speaking level as Hwa and I, okay?" Jay threatened that they wouldn't feed Maria when all three of us knew they would. Maria nodded and reached for the ten piece box of nuggets.

  "Hey that's my box of nuggets! You two get the forty piece!" I gently swatted her hand towards the bigger box of chicken nuggets.

  "Jay you truly did pick the best man in the world as a best friend. Bless you, Park Seonghwa, bless you," Maria fake cried and began to share the nuggets with Jay.

  "He's trying to fatten me up is more like it," Jay grumbled and continued to eat.

  "As your bestie I have to make sure you're well fed!" I exclaimed.

  "Hwa, if your phone buzzes one more gosh darn time I'm gonna smash it," Jay said, motioning towards my cell phone. I grew confused as I picked up my phone.

  My twitter, Instagram, and TikTok accounts were being flooded with follows, likes, direct messages, and comments.

  "Jay..." I spoke softly, growing a bit panicky as I slid my phone to them to see.

  "It hasn't even been twenty-four hours! How did Atiny find your accounts already?!" Jay exclaimed. They messed around on my phone for a bit before sliding it back.

  "I made all of your accounts private and muted their notifications in your settings. I would stay off those apps for a few weeks at least, Hwa," Jay said. My phone buzzed once again, but this time with a phone call.

  The number was unknown and not in my contacts list. I looked up at Jay again with wide eyes.

  "Someone got my number from my accounts!" I exclaimed. Jay grabbed my phone out of my hands and turned it completely off. They sat it under the couch and slid it far enough away that I couldn't reach it.

  "Eat something for now, Hwa. When you're done, you can use my phone to text Yeosang, okay? We'll go get you a new phone number after we all finish," Jay said. I nodded and began to calm down as I drank some of my dr. pepper.

A few hours later, I was setting up a new iPhone in my bedroom. The contract on my other phone had ended, so I upgraded.

Seonghwa, Yeosang

Hey Yeosang! This is Seonghwa, I had to get a new number

What's your soul mark and color?

I have a bubblegum pink star :D

HI HWA WE MISSED YOUU
I'm sorry, Seonghwa. Wooyoung snatched my phone.
Did something happen with your old number?

Yeah so I forgot how big of detectives Atiny are, and not only did they find my social media accounts, but one of them got ballsy enough to call my number connected to the accounts and I kinda freaked out a bit and got a new number

That's awful, Hwa, I'm sorry. We'll talk to our management about making a statement to Atiny if you'd like us to.

Won't Atiny get upset?

If any of our fans get upset at us for finding our soulmate then that is their problem, not any of ours, Seonghwa.
You shouldn't get backlash at our expense for any reason
Hongjoong is calling our manager right now, but I'll give you everyone else's numbers again before I get killed
*sent six contacts*

Group chat 2.0
Seonghwa
Hi it's Seonghwa again :D

Wooyoung
HWA
ARE YOU OKAY?

Yunho
Did anyone hurt you?

Seonghwa
I'm okay!
I didn't read any of the dms or comments
Jay made my accounts private then deleted all of the hateful ones for me so I didn't see them
Jay and Maria looked pissed as hell so now I'm curious tho

Mingi
I wouldn't check your mentions or tags either
That's where the hate tends to be more prominent

Seonghwa
Alrighty I won't
I didn't expect to be cyber bullied into having to private my accounts on a Sunday afternoon >:(

Jongho
I'm sorry Hwa :(

Yeosang
We'll try to fix this!

Hongjoong
Our manager wants us to do an Instagram live
Go get ready you six
Seonghwa, if you want to join in also, which is totally up to you! Then we'll go live with your account also
Don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to, okay?

Seonghwa
They already know my name and what I look like so there isn't any point trying to hide
I'll do the Live

I groaned and stood up from my bed to get dressed partially and do some light makeup. I changed from my hoodie to a long sleeve shirt then brushed my hair again.

@/Ateez_official invited you to join their live

"Hello, Atiny! By now, a lot of you have seen the recordings of last night's event at the venue, right?" Hongjoong spoke first, then glanced down at the comments for a few seconds.

I forced myself not to look at any of the comments coming on the screen and stayed quiet.

"Yes, this is about Yeosang and Seonghwa passing out at the venue. We never mentioned this before- we had no reason to- but all seven of us in Ateez have the same soul mark- we all have Seonghwa's soul mark. He has all seven of ours.

"Atiny, you guys know how exciting and happy it is to meet your soulmate, right? Although some first looks are a bit painful, it's all okay in the end, because you've met someone who will love you unconditionally.

"That pain of Yeosang and Seonghwa's first glance have passed, but you guys are paining Seonghwa and all of us by sending him hate. We're disappointed in those of you who did so.

"I know not all of you are doing so, but there was so much hate directed at Seonghwa that he had to change his number and private all of his accounts.

"This is our statement, Atiny: Seonghwa is our soulmate, and we are his. There is no other way around saying the truth than to just do it.

"Remember: we are all human at the end of the day. We still have thoughts and feelings just the same as any of you do. Please, Atiny, be kinder to him. He was one of you!

"Now that the hard truth is out of the way, do you want to say anything, Seonghwa?" Hongjoong asked.

"I don't have anything to add to that," I spoke a bit shyly. The seven of them smiled at me before Wooyoung spoke up.

"Atiny wanted to know who your bias was and how long you stanned us!"

"Are you sure that's not just you wanting to know?" I teased.

"I didn't have a bias; I couldn't choose, and now it seems I know why. I've stanned you guys since you were KQ Fellaz," I confessed.

"Did we get you into kpop?" Hongjoong asked.

"I would like to plead the fifth here-"

"What?!" "No!" "Who was it?!" They all spoke at once, making me laugh a bit.

"It was SHINee in 2010, but I'm a multi-stan," I said.

"We told you not to look at others!" Jongho whined.

"It's not my fault you debuted after SHINee and VIXX did!" I exclaimed.

"We'll let them slide, Hwa..." Yunho playfully glared at me. I scoffed back playfully.

"I should hope so! I'm not getting rid of my albums and photo cards! I finally got all of Leo's! That took so freaking long to do," I whined.

We continued to talk on the Instagram live for a few minutes longer before saying goodbye and ending it.

My chest ached a bit and I felt tired as I dropped my fake smile. Phone calls, even video calls, made me anxious. Even though I was speaking to my soulmates, I still felt awful. I turned my phone completely off and put it on charge.

"Tea?" Jay offered from the doorway a few minutes later. They held a mug of chamomile tea and the bottle of honey.

"Please," I spoke softly. Jay sat the mug in my hands and opened the honey. They began to add some and stopped when I said to.

"Maria went home a few minutes ago. Do you want me to stay in here with you while you recharge?" Jay offered. I nodded and scooted over under my blankets. Jay smiled sadly and laid under the blankets beside me.

"Do you wanna lay on me or do you want me to lay on you?" They asked softly. Jay always knew to speak quietly when I got drained from Anxiety. Their weight and my weighted blanket helped me decompress from overstimulation.

"Can you lay on me?" I asked. I finished my tea, sat the mug on my bedside table, and laid down. Jay laid all of their body weight on me and put their head on my shoulder. They pulled my weighted blanket higher over us and laid in silence.

"Do you think they noticed that I didn't feel okay?" I asked, breaking the silence a few minutes later as silent tears trickled down my cheeks.

"I'd say they did, which is why the live ended so soon. My phone is ringing the text alarm I set specifically for Yeosang. Do you want me to send him anything?" Jay offered.

"Just tell him I'll be okay, and I'll text them sometime tomorrow, please,"

"You got it, Hwa," they said and began typing away on their phone. They turned off their phone and laid back down on my chest.

"Thank you," I spoke quietly as I began to fall asleep. Jay squeezed me a bit in a hug as response.