Beyond The Stage

Dead Ends

Jimin's POV

It's been two weeks. Two weeks since the others' bonds reacted at the concert. They were sad before, but now they've basically lost themselves.

The first week, they were waiting for the manager to figure something out. They had insisted on heavy investigation to find the girls. Hoseok, Taehyung and Jungkook all wanted nothing more than to find them. When the concert ended and the search was a dead end, they all freaked out thinking something had happened.

Before they could raise hell, our manager had everyone go through every second of footage, and every single fan camera they could find online that might have caught a glimpse of any of the girls. There seemed to be no struggles or fights, and everyone who used a ticket left at the same time, except one girl who left during intermission. The security who let her go said that she was sick, and she had full coverings on, so she was cleared to go without much inspection.

With no other explanation, the boys faced what they had never expected to happen. Their soulmates left.

Still, they didn't want to end the search. The manager promised to do something as long as we all continued to work for the tour.

I've seen the members in a lot of situations. We've been through everything together, but I have never seen them so disheartened before. Even with all the hate comments and death threats we had in the beginning, they still had passion.

But now, they were slowly getting worse and there was nothing I could do about it. Jin would try to joke around and play with the youngest as usual, but they would barely react. Namjoon and Yoongi didn't know what to do. Namjoon would recite some quotes or tell them it was okay. Yoongi was always watching them. I would make faces at them or stay by their side to give them some sort of comfort.

Nothing was working.

After the first week ended, our manager brought in a soul specialist as a solution to clear things up. He saw their passion deflate, and the light in their eyes dim further and further, as the days went by. So to try and get the boys back to normal, he called the specialist in during practice.

After asking the boys exactly what happened, the man looked surprised. As everyone knew, soulmate bonds were supposed to be activated by touch, but none of them had touched any of the fans' hands. When it had happened, the members had their arms around each other, but we've touched plenty of times, so being each other's soulmates wasn't it.

He explained that there were cases where being within a close range of your soulmate could activate the bond, but they weren't common. Apparently, bonds that don't require touch are significantly stronger than ones that do. Though the pair needs to touch to seal the bond.

What truly made them happy though, was what he had said next. After initial activation, soulmates will teleport to each other within two weeks until they seal the bond.

When the specialist explained all this, their hope returned for a while, but the absence of their soulmates got to them. All of the false claims made by fans had their hope skyrocket, but brought it down further than before when they found out each girl was lying.

By the end of the second week, thoughts of why their soulmates wouldn't want them swirled in their mind. I only know this because Taehyung would often break and cry at random times back at the dorm. When he would watch a movie, scroll through his phone, sometimes when we were all eating. Especially at night, I would hear him from the room he shares with RM.

Jungkook doesn't cry, but whenever Taehyung breaks, his eyes would get glassy. He would ask out loud why they would go and get lost in thought often. Hoseok never voiced his thoughts, so as to not worry the others, but he was spending longer hours in the studio. He practiced late into the night, even after he was able to perform every move flawlessly without a thought.

I know all three of them had discreetly hired some of the staff to look into security videos from the concert and go through every purchased ticket for the pit sections. They aren't going crazy and sending out every person, but they've never stopped looking. It was all in vain though, because there was no way to tell who they were without bringing every single girl without a documented soulmate directly to Bighit.

It's late at night right now, and most of the members have gone to their shared rooms. I'm scrolling through my phone when Hoseok comes in perfectly dry after taking a shower. The only reason I know, is because he still has a head towel around his neck, otherwise, every strand on his head is dry.

This is the first time I've seen him since we finished practice for the day. He opted to stay back to 'go over' some moves, so he probably went directly to the shower after coming home. He doesn't ask me what I'm doing or make conversation like he would before. He hasn't in two weeks.

He sits on his ironed and wrinkleless bed and immediately lays down to sleep. Every day, he does the same exact routine. Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, practice non-stop, come home late, shower, and go to sleep after skincare. He eats whatever the others bring him, or he'll forget to eat. Most of the time, I don't even see him in the mornings because he would wake up so early. Everything around him is perfect and organized, his perfectionist habit coming out strong lately.

I'm angry at the girls. If they teleport to the guys, I am going to have a hard time hiding my dislike for them. Maybe they don't know how much they are hurting my best friends, after all, they did run. But I won't be able to forgive the women who did this to them. Worse than never finding your soulmate, is finding a soulmate that doesn't want you.

This night, I finally talk to him. "Hoseok-hyung?" I ask.

He turns over and looks at me, "Yes?" His eyes are wide open, not a trace of sleep in them.

"What if..." I have trouble saying it, "What if, your soulmate isn't a good person?"

He stays silent. His expression hardens before he asks, "Jimin, am I a bad person?"

I immediately sit up, "No, not at all!"

I start to think that he is doubting himself until he continues. "Am I rude, ungrateful, unkind?" I shake my head. "Then why would the person who I was meant to be with be any of those things?"

"But she's already hurt you so much-"

"She probably has her reasons. I'm not going to judge her until she shows up."

At that moment, I realize that he hasn't given up. He has just being waiting for her. He was living day-to-day, because everyday was dragging by without her.

I feel a tinge of jealousy, but I could only respect him. I wonder if the bond is actually that strong. I've always wanted my soulmate, but seeing Hobi, who was so nonchalant about it before, have this much devotion makes me wonder what the bond actually feels like. And they haven't even sealed it yet.

I want Tae's Kook's and Hobi's soulmates to come to bring them back to normal. But I can't wait for mine to come either.