All That Shimmers [Seungmin]

19

Seungmin tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and kissed me softly.

You're so beautiful, he thought, and I blushed from the compliment.

We'd yet to move and our wings beat gently behind us, and he still remained inside of me. I relished being connected to him in every way possible.

"Do you want to practice some magic while we're here?" he pondered.

"I thought we couldn't do magic in here?" I questioned. At least that is what he'd told me about the box each time...

Soulmate magic.

There's soulmate magic?

Seungmin reached for my hand to hold it in his.

"Mhm," he replied. "We can control what thoughts we share with each other. After all, it would be a pretty bad deal if we could never surprise one another because of our bond."

"Oh..." I realized. I should have noticed that he'd have more thoughts a day than I was hearing.

"What's wrong, my love?" he asked, though I knew he could hear my worries.

"I guess I never realized you'd been holding back," I pouted.

"I haven't," he assured me. "I just didn't think it worth sharing exactly how many steps I took or which food I noticed had gone bad. I only share the important things."

Like how much I love you, he thought as his hand came up to caress my cheek.

My heart fluttered and I faced him shyly.

"How do I selectively share?"

It couldn't be that hard if he passively did it all day long.

"It's not hard at all," he began. "It's sort of like the difference in catching a ball versus holding one in your hand. If you're constantly trying to catch balls (or stop thoughts from leaking) over and over again, you'll exhaust yourself. But if you're just holding them, they're there to stay, and you can just toss out the thoughts you want to share as they come to be."

"Okay..." I tried to imagine it but was already confused.

"Basically, instead of having your brain default to sharing everything, you mentally change the setting to holding them back unless you want purposefully throw them out."

"I'm still confused," I shook my head a breathy laugh.

"What's confusing you, Aerin," he hummed patiently.

"I guess it's just...I mean my brain doesn't have a switch. So how do I just change the setting?" I questioned, using his own phrasing.

"Close your eyes," he whispered, and I did as he told me. He placed one of his fingers from his hand that wasn't entwined in mine against my temple. "Do you remember how we could view imagined versions of ourselves by our bond?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Do that again for me. Open your mind until you can see yourself."

I took a deep breath and allowed my mind to relax. Seungmin massaged my hand with his and the Aerin from my mind appeared. Once Seungmin could see her, he massaged his finger on my temple.

"You're going to make her walk towards my finger, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed. I loved how easy it was to trust Seungmin.

I'm glad you trust me, my love

Brain-Aerin turned towards the temple Seungmin was working, and she slowly walked towards it, stepping over knotted roots as she passed through a dark forest until he moved it slightly towards the center of my forehead.