Cursed Fate

Chapter 70- birthday

(Y/N) POV:

I glance at the calendar with a feeling of giddiness. The end of the year is coming and so is my birthday. It doesn't matter that I've spent the last few with my soulmates, the novel feeling doesn't fade. The exhilaration and elation that makes me feel like our relationship is still in the early stages- where everything seems bright and bold and beautiful.

But the beauty, boldness and brightness hasn't faded. Rather it's increased with time. Each experience brings emotions flooding through me, each touch, each kiss sets me alight with an even stronger passion and surge of love.

It'll be my fourth birthday with them. When tomorrow dawns, it'll be the fourth time celebrating my birthday with my soulmates. Somehow, they'd managed to turn birthdays into something magical, unexpected, and new. They never did the same thing; they always had a surprise up their sleeve. Planned and plotted away, feigning ignorance, and acting like they didn't know, always pretending until the last day- holding it in somehow before showering me with endless love.

I can't wait for what tomorrow holds.

And I happily snuggle into my blankets, knowing that at some point in the night or whilst I'm asleep, one of them will make their way next to me.

----

When I wake up, there's only blankets and pillows that greet me. No warm body cocooning mine, no arm flung around my waist, no legs entangled with my own. No breath that shares the same air as me, and no face, sleeping or awake, that greets me when I blink my eyes open.

It's a foreign feeling. It happens so rarely that it makes my skin prickle with the beginnings of discomfort, from the days when I avoided them to now where their absence is unsettling. I reach out across the empty, undisturbed end of the bed but my fingers clasp on nothing.

I slip out of bed, determined to not let that deter me, bounding eagerly to my wardrobe to carefully choose my clothes. A grey sweater dress, thick woollen tights before I walk over to the bathroom, stripping and stepping under the hot cascade of water- allowing the steam and heat of the shower sluice away my morning disappointment. No one enters through the door, even though it remains unlocked. No sounds of life save for me.

After I've towelled myself off dry, I slip on a matching grey silk lingerie set, slightly darker than the knitted fabric of my sweater dress, the soft fabric glides gently against my skin and sits there lightly. I pull on the sweater dress and tights, allow them to rest against my skin with all the warmth of being wrapped in a blanket.

It's a weekday but I took the day off- wanting to spend it with my soulmates so we can make the most of today. But when I get downstairs, half of my soulmates aren't there and Joonie oppa, Tae and Yoongi oppa sit around the breakfast table, hastily gulping down their hot beverages and scarfing down breakfast with a tempo I recognise too well—'the I'm going to be late to work' pace. They notice me, small smiles coming out but they're already hastening to their feet, quick squeezes to my arm, a quick kiss brushed across my head but in the hurried nature of the gesture skims the air as the three of them leave, all busy with the agenda of getting to work on time.

Their hurried loud yells of goodbye echo in the silent living room, amplifying my loneliness now that they've all gone. I sink down onto the couch, that sinks gently under me but there's no warmth cocooning me from either side. No arms that scoop me up to hold me against a warm chest, no kisses or cuddles or teases or chatter. Nothing.

But this is part of their surprise. Even though they know this part is there only for the theatricality of it all. So they can present to me with flourishes an incredibly thoughtful plan that never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Even though waiting isn't my forte, not when it comes to spending time with them.