Bridging Destinies

Chapter 62: Careful Strategies

Much of the time, the chemicals that humans used in their everyday lives acted as a poison to the biological systems of Felina's people, and to be in the human world, was to often internally fight against them. With her injuries, and the blood poisoning caused by the metals she was exposed to from the knife wounds, Felina did not have the ability to easily process these poisons from her body, and being intimately aware, Melusine took pains to insure anything going into Felina's body would help her, rather than hinder her.

Within an hour of leaving, Melusine returned from the organic market with Seokjin and began to cook a new broth to feed to Felina, to aid in her healing. The two worked in tandem cutting vegetables and preparing stock bones for the new broth, working around each other. Hoseok found himself watching them, fascinated by the way Seokjin would barely make a gesture that Melusine would pick up on, almost before the man was able to begin to make a suggestion or move in a way as to communicate his thoughts. It was evident to him that there was an alien element to their communication that was rare to see.

Eventually, Taehyung, Jungkook and Jimin had also joined the audience in the kitchen to watch them work. Sometimes Melusine would directly speak to one of them, temporarily bringing them into the dynamic of the work, but mostly it was she and Jin working as a cohesive force. In a way, it reminded Hoseok of their perfectly timed choreography that his band engaged in during concerts, which took hundreds of hours of practice. But in this space, it was nothing to the woman who danced around Seokjin as if he was a stationary object, rather than a living being also moving in the kitchen space.

From his position, Hoseok could hear Namjoon speaking with Daniel in the living room but only paid half a mind to the ongoing conversation in the other room. It did not capture his attention the way the show before him did. Seokjin was truly caught, it seemed, and Melusine was his siren, luring him to her shore.

~~~

As the broth simmered on the stove, Melusine and Seokjin cleaned up, while the other men grew louder, less observant of the entertainment that the two had created in their intricate dance and more interested in speaking between each other. At times, Seokjin and Melusine would join in, and into this milieu, Namjoon, Yoongi and Daniel walked, no longer deep in discussion.

Namjoon sat next to Hoseok at the counter, with Yoongi and Daniel standing near him, and announced into the semi-chaos, "Guys. We need to form a plan for the next week. Daniel tells me it will be less than a week for Felina to be fully healed, but we should at least plan for the entire seven days. Felina is going to need the time to get her strength back and her friends need to be with her. They could move her to a different house, but being that we are public figures, this place is more secure for them, for now. We are less likely a target with all of us here, because of our public position." He paused, looking between his brothers, "But we also have to start back to work tomorrow. I can't pretend to be sick forever and Sejin will become suspicious if we start making excuses that we can't work."

Taehyung spoke into the next pause created by the cessation of Namjoon's statement, "Why can't we just tell Sejin?"

"Because the less others know of us, the better. If your manager knows, he will be forced to tell others, as well. It is enough that all of you know. It is too great a risk." Daniel explained, cutting off anything Namjoon may have said.

The pause following Daniel's statement deepened as each man thought over what he had said. Namjoon spoke up again, suggesting with authority, "So what I am suggesting is that we each see if we can adjust our schedules some. Yoongi has already agreed to work from home, here, when he can, instead of spending time in the Genius Lab, and I will reschedule some of my time, as well, with the excuse that I want to make sure I'm recovered from being sick. Other than our dance practice, we should have at least one or two of us here most of the week. Maybe one of you could pretend to catch what I 'had', too, that way if one of us stayed home, it wouldn't be too suspicious."

Both Seokjin and Taehyung spoke up, Taehyung raising his hand, as Seokjin leaned across the counter in Namjoon's direction. Their voices both clashed with, and flowed in conjunction of, each other as they volunteered, explaining, "I can do that! I'm great at acting!", and, "I can stay. I'm sure that I can fake a cold. Besides, Melusine might need my help cooking and getting ingredients, if we need them." Seokjin's voice faded away at his statement, having overcome Taehyung's shorter sentences. Melusine almost grinned at him, who glanced at her, then looked away with a faint blush on his cheeks, his ears red.

Daniel pointed at Seokjin decisively, "You will need to go into work. Do not adjust your schedule. The path suggests it is better if you do." He then pointed at Taehyung, "And you will do fine. Put your acting skills to work, but no longer than three days. We will manage the rest with the others."

With Daniel's speech, Namjoon pulled out his phone and pulled up the app that held his calendar, "So, let's make our arrangements. This is what my schedule looks like," He elucidated, as at his cue, the others, also pulled out their phones to review their schedules.

~~~

It didn't take the group long to arrange their schedules to fit the needs of their guests. The following day all but Namjoon would return to their normal schedules, and revert back to it the next day. Taehyung would pretend to be coming down with what Namjoon 'had' and spend the next three days after his performance at the dorm. Much to his disappointment, Jin would maintain his normal schedule, with Namjoon and Yoongi working partially from home. This arrangement would leave Jimin, Jungkook, and Hoseok to make slight adjustments to their schedules so that they could spend some of their time home, interweaving the time with work away from home, into their regular itineraries. They needed it to look as fluid as possible without alerting Sejin to the unusual circumstances. It would be a challenge, but they worked well together as a team and Daniel had helped them adjust their ideas as he looked at the paths, his eyes fading in and out of focus as the men strategized.