Lifetime

Gift

"What do you mean end the prophecy?" I replied, raising my eyebrows at him. "Are you seriously asking me research questions right now?"

"It's not a research question. Can I come inside so we can actually talk?" He asked as a small family passed through the hallway.

I held the door open a little wider, letting him step inside knowing that the boundaries I called myself drawing were thinning every second.

"I don't know if I should ask more about your whole Charley Cloar thing or about you being curious about ending the prophecy." I sighed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed while he plopped down in a single chair by the window.

His lips pulled into a small smile, but it faded when he looked up at my serious expression. "I can do both, it's the same answer either way. "I thought you'd resonate with the drawing because I did. I've believed for a long time that I wouldn't have a chance at real love. I knew I'd never even try for it since it's always been the plan to marry Dallia."

"Sounds romantic." I responded instinctively. It was honestly easier to be annoyed and angry with him.

"It's not, it's practical." He replied. I could see the tension of the revelation in his shoulders as he hunched over, leaning his elbows onto his knees. "But you, I mean the prophecy, makes it really hard to do the practical thing when the possibility of something real is right there."

My heart raced and the energy between us picked up to a doubled beat. It was as open as he'd been about the feelings he had for me since we met, a sense of guilt and longing lingering in the air between us.

"And if Valeria can end the prophecy here?" I dug deeper.

He met my eye, holding his gaze for a moment before looking back down. "I'd choose the real thing."

I'd never entertained the idea that the gift could be erased or stopped in its tracks. Now, every possibility flooded into my mind. First of Namjoon, that we'd stop it, like some grand final act in a movie where we'd take down the force standing in the way of us being together. We would stop the prophecy and he'd leave his fiance for a love he never imagined. That would be romantic.

There were three more men who I thought of right behind him. If the prophecy was gone I could have a choice. I could fly to LA to find Yoongi, to make the universe disappear again, or I could go to Jimin, who felt like that first young love, one that didn't get the chance it deserved.

Then there was Hobi.

My mind reeled with scenarios, including one that erased the entire thing, every distinctive feeling I had for each of them ceasing to exist and another where with no barriers between us, we wouldn't have to fight temptation anymore.

"We should wait to talk to Valeria tomorrow. There's no use in speculating when it might not be a possibility." I deflected, able to feel that he was waiting for me to confess my desire to choose him too.

"You're right," he sighed, standing and walking back to the door with me following behind him, my focus scattered and his parting words leaving me even more so, "but if she can I hope you'll consider it."

That night I struggled to stay asleep, waking every few hours from dreams and distorted memories of the four of them until the sun rose again. My head was pounding so I tried to relax with a shower and coffee, nearly bumping chests with Namjoon when I opened my door.

He took a step back when I flinched, pinching at the bridge of my nose. "Are you okay?" He asked, leaning down to meet my eye.

"There's a lot on my mind. It's giving me a headache." I answered, keeping my head down.