Soulmate

Twenty Seven: Ophelia

September 7, 2019
San Francisco, California

Twenty three days. 

It's been twenty three days since the news was released all over the world. There couldn't be a single person on the planet who hasn't at least heard of Seokjin's soulmate scandal. The incident exploded—not only because it was a member of BTS that it happened to, but because the crime was so detailed and so disrespectful to the idea of soulmates. 

For the first few days, all that could be heard around the streets was gossip and talk about the scandal. 

"Did you hear about that K-POP guy who got scammed?" 

"She bought an illegal tattoo gun and everything!" 

"She already had a soulmate. Isn't that disgusting of her?" 

"I bet she was hired and framed because he didn't like who his real soulmate was." 

Hearing it all and staying silent was torture. 

On top of all the talk, I started receiving congratulations form friends. Everyone would tweet me, text me, call me, anything they could do to get my attention to express how happy they were for me. Finally, after about two weeks of me not responding, the messages ceased. After only one week, talk around town stopped as well. 

My classes started a week after the news broke loose and spread like a wildfire around the globe. As I'm in my final year of studying for my Master's degree, I had no time to waste on talking about a K-POP scandal, no matter how badly I wanted to say something. Even now I'm only a few weeks in and I'm already drowning in work. As much as I'd like to think about my soulmate, it's impossible with the amount of work I have to do. Between school, work, and caring for my grandmother, there isn't a spare second in my days. 

The doorbell rings, interrupting my researching, and I jump. My eyes land on the time, causing me to sigh. It's nearly three pm. I've been working for eight hours straight without much of a break. 

I rub my burning eyes and make my way down the stairs to the front door. 

"Ophelia, honey, can you get that?" my old grandma calls weakly from deep inside the house. 

"Already on it!" I return as I pull open the door and reveal Ara, Rose, and baby Violet's smiling faces. 

I blink a few times to help my tired brain process. "What...what are you guys doing here?" 

"Surprise!" the two women say in unison. The little baby squeal with excitement and reaches out her chubby hands to me. I take her into my arms as my friends push past me and make themselves at him. 

Another squeal erupts form the hallway behind me. I turn to face my grandma. 

"You're here!" she cheers. I'm pushed into even deeper confusion. 

"What's going on?" I ask to whoever will answer me. Violet grabs a fistful of my fading purple hair and yanks, causing me to wince. 

"We came to visit you!" Rose tells me. 

"I ask them to," Grandma clarifies sweetly. "You've been so busy lately I figured you could use some time away from that computer screen. It's a Saturday!" 

"That's very kind of you, but I need to get back to work. My paper—" 

"Your paper  isn't due until November," Ara says. "You told me. You can take a little break so we can chat for a while." 

"Why've you been hiding away for so long?" Rose asks, a teasing lilt to her voice. She unzips Ara's backpack and pulls out a thick photo album with a little bow on the cover.