Serendipity: The Amazing Journey Of A Soulmate

49. Drown your demons

I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone whispering my name while trying to unzip the entrance of our tent. My heart starts racing in my chest and I quickly look beside me where Namjoon is soundlessly sleeping wrapped in the fluffy blanket. I don't know who might be, but it's surely one of the boys judging by the faint shadow he leaves on the fabric of the tent. When I unzip the tent and step outside, I am met with a tear streaked Taehyung.

"Tae?" I whisper unsure of what all this is about. He looks at me with impossibly sad eyes and lets out a heart wrenching sob before wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in between my neck and shoulder, like a little kid. I can feel his tears falling uncontrollably on my skin. He is so much taller than me and his body is bent at an awkward angle to be able to stay like this in my arms, but I don't move. Not before I find out what happened to him.

"Did you have a nightmare?" I ask him, gently caressing his head.

"You're a girl" he says through sobs.

"Last time I checked, yes," I reply and I instantly slap myself mentally for picking out the wrong time to be sarcastic. The truth is, I am terribly bad at comforting people.

"What's wrong, Tae Tae?" I try again, my voice soft.

"You're a girl, Inna. So tell me, why did she leave me?" he says, his voice muffled from where his head in buried in my shoulder.

"Who left you, Tae?" I ask, patiently waiting for his reply.

"Ella...she- she broke up with me. What did I do wrong?" he starts crying even harder and I feel my heart sinking in my chest for him. So that's why she was acting weird today. She was planning to break up with him. But why? I thought they are end game, power couple, Romeo and Juliet.

"Oh, Tae. I'm so sorry, sweetie. But please try to calm down a bit." He nods at me, but he keeps crying nonetheless. I have never seen someone cry so hard. He must be really heartbroken.

Just then, Namjoon wakes up and steps outside of the tent. "Inna, what are yo-" he starts in a husky voice, but the moment he sees the scene unfolding in front of his eyes, his expression turns grave.

"What happened? Tae, are you okay?" Pure fear is plastered on Namjoon's face as he takes in the state his little brother is in. Tae just shakes his head.
"No, I'm not okay." he seems to say with every part of his body. I look up at Namjoon and let him know through eyes only that I don't know much about it either.

"Joonie, can you light up the lantern in the tent, please?" I instruct and then turn back to the crying boy in my arms.
"Tae Tae, how about we go take a seat in our tent and you can tell me more about happened, okay?" He nods and lets me take him inside, Namjoon going to find a bottle of water for him. After I settle him on the floor of our tent, I try to make him stand on his own but he is just like a little bear, clinging to me. So I let him stay in my arms and cry for as much as he wants. Eventually, he calms down a bit and tells me the whole story: how Ella took him somewhere in a clearing and told him how much she loves him, but that she can no longer be with him.

"She said she has to deal with her demons, Inna. What does that mean? I don't understand. Weren't we supposed to fight them together? Love conquers all, right? That's what they say." he says sniffling, his head still resting on my chest. At some point, Namjoon returned with the water and took a seat outside the tent, in front of the entrance, since the space was too small for all three of us.
He didn't dare say anything, however. He knows this is a moment when Taehyung is in need of the comfort of a female friend, a motherly touch. I'm far from that. I can barely take care of my own feelings, but I'm doing my best.