Soulmate

Forty Three: Ophelia

a/n: please read chapter 42 first! 

February 25, 2020
Seoul, South Korea

[ERROR] 

"Hi! What's your name?" Hoseok says enthusiastically in English. 

"Ophelia," I tell him, pronouncing my name in Korean. "I speak Korean." 

"Whoah," he says, jumping back and covering his mouth. "Seriously, your Korean is so good. Wow." 

I smile shyly and place my album in front of him. "Thank you. I practiced for a long time." 

He smiles widely, signing the page I marked for him with a sticky note. He reaches his hands out and I place mine in his. He squeezes me, his eyes dropping to my neck. His eyes flicker for a second and he looks back up at me. I tighten my grip on his hands. 

Did he see my tattoo? 

"I hope to see you soon, Ophelia," he says genuinely. 

I swallow and wave bye when he waves to me. 

I slide down to Taehyung without another word. I'm suddenly nervous again. 

"Wow! Purple!" Taehyung laughs, reaching out for my hair as he has for many of the other ARMYs. Still, I find myself giggling with him and ducking my head. He twirls my hair around his finger playfully. 

"I'm Ophelia," I tell him. He jumps and exclaims something about my Korean just as Hoseok did. I have a feeling I'll be hearing a lot of that today. I have absolutely no problem with that. Not when they all seem to smile so widely. 

"Tell Yeontan I say hello," I tell him before I slide away and we say goodbye. 

Taehyung grins and quickly signs his assigned page in the photo book and on the album cover and I slide down the line again. 

Yoongi's on the calmer side. It's the first thing I notice about him. 

"I'm Ophelia," I tell him first. "You're my grandma's bias wrecker." 

He laughs at that, instantly going to sign his place in the book. "Your grandma? She has good taste." 

I breathe out a small laugh, feeling my cheeks grow warm from his deep voice. "We've followed BTS since 2013." 

"Well, I'm happy to finally meet you," he says. "You've been waiting a long time." 

a/n: MY HEARTBEAT RIGHT NOW KSJHFOIEAHKDLS

You don't even know the half of it, I think. 

I simply smile and wave goodbye. He doesn't reach his hands out to me so I keep mine to myself, respecting his distance, and slide down the table. 

"Hello," Namjoon says in his beautiful English. I feel comfortable when he smiles at me. He signs the album gracefully. 

"I like your hair," he tells me. 

As I'm about to answer, Seokjin's loud laughter down the table throws me off and I freeze. 

Namjoon notices. 

"Did Jin make you nervous?" he asks genuinely." He takes my hand and I get even more nervous. "Don't be nervous." 

"It's...yes, it's sort of that. I—" I stop myself, unsure of how to put my thoughts into words. I look down the line. I can't see his face. I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse. 

"Is...is that...your tattoo?" Namjoon asks in a breathless voice. 

I look back at him instantly and our eyes lock, his lifting from my collarbone that I thought would be well covered by my shirt. 

His brows are furrowed. He's serious, he's confused. 

"Are you...?" 

I snatch my album off the table. It's a good thing he signed it quickly. "Thank you," I breathe, sliding immediately down the line. 

"Wait—!" 

Jimin pushes his hand onto Namjoon's chest. 

"My turn, my turn," Jimin says teasingly. He faces me with his classic heartbreaker smile. He's so handsome I can't believe the tunnel vision I've gotten just from eye contact with him. 

"Jimin," I whisper. "My grandmother loves you." 

That comment, combined with my Korean, catches his off guard and he laughs loudly. He tosses his head back, nearly flopping out of his chair onto the stage. I laugh when he grips the edge of the table to catch himself. 

"Tell your grandmother I love her too," he says. 

Nanna will definitely die when I tell her this. 

"She says you're the loveliest most handsome boy to ever walk the earth," I continue. "This is her picket fan. Would you sign it for her?" 

Jimin laughs again. His smile is breathtaking and he nods his dark haired head, signing the fan with his face on it enthusiastically. 

"Please write a message in English if you can." 

"Is 'I love you' okay?" 

I can only nod. 

She's going to ascend straight into heaven at this point. She'll skip dying. Just straight up into the sky. 

When I slide to face Jungkook, I'm painfully aware of Seokjin directly to my right. My heart gets stuck in my throat and I can hardly say hi to the man in front of me. 

"What's your name?" he asks to try and coax words out of me. 

"Ophelia," I whisper. I'm so distracted I forget to say it in Korean. 

"Pretty name." His smile is so cute. 

"We're the same age," I blurt out, suddenly remembering my years of language studies. "I was born in ninety seven, too." 

Jungkook's taken aback by my sudden switch of languages, but handles it gracefully. He signs his place on this album with an almost flirty smirk. "I guess that makes us friends then, huh?" 

I smile nervously, watching him sign the book. 

"Sorry, I'm nervous," I apologize. 

Jungkook shakes his head. "It's okay." He reaches for my hands and squeezes them. "No need to be nervous." 

He's definitely wrong about that. 

920 words