He had a dirty mouth when he got angry, a perk he learned from Ezra who spat fire on a daily basis.
"My soul bond is everywhere on the fucking internet. You don't even know how many of our fans have sent us mail saying they are my soulmate! And you dare to just claim all this crap?" He snorted, the huff of laughter escaping his lips sounded sad to Oliver's ears. In his meanest, rawest state, MinJae was also at his weakest and he was more hurt than ever. "At least, they did some fucking Photoshop. At least they tried to make clay models and shit. What about you? Where are our Flower Crowns then?"
"That's the thing..." She swallowed and Oliver's heart skipped an ugly beat, not from love but from fear. He knew this part, he had heard this part from Deok-Su and he could scarcely believe his ears.
The guy had sent them a medical report. It was easier to see the evidence, was what he had said. But the evidence in its most clinical and detached form had hurt Casper and Oliver in more ways than ever. It had left them shaken, blood drained from their faces at the lengthy report.
The injuries were endless. It started with scrapes on her knees, continued to concussions and wounds on her head. Hair ripped from her scalp, her tongue and lip bitten from impact and bruises all over her body. It ended with ruptured soul roots, with flowers pulled from her head and torn from her soul, the newness resulted in increased sensitivity.
It must have hurt much more than the ache in his heart and what made him angrier than ever was the fact that the perpetrators had escaped unscathed. He rose and he noted the nod from Casper as he stepped towards her, ready to take her to safety as long as she asked.
"I—um. I—" She stammered, her voice escaping her in a hush but cracked whisper. She struggled, her tongue flopping in her mouth as she attempted to explain.
Oliver couldn't take it.
"She was soul violated and had to eat suppressants," he said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She flinched, but still, he could feel their souls unfurling and the warmth seeping through, like a plug connected to a power outlet. The electricity rushed through them, calm and gentle.
"Because of me," Oliver continued, his voice sad as his mind repeated Deok-Su's words. Crazy fans had assaulted her because they had seen her flowers and because they had been following her to get the sunglasses he had given her.
Oliver never expected something like this to happen and he should have been more careful. He had forgotten himself in his state of love and yearning. He had forgotten how vicious people could be and how crazy his fans were. They all knew exactly how much the glasses meant to him. And he had forgotten how much they knew about him, despite all his attempts for utmost privacy.
Soul violation.
It was the reason why he was never adopted. It was the reason why he kept everyone away because for a while he didn't believe in love, trust and family. The memories came in the form of a crying man who would weep tears of gold as he held him in his arms. Later it was to the memory of watching gold and red flow down the streets and into the drain as he huddled close to his father's body for warmth. Oliver remembered begging him to open his eyes because he was hungry and cold.
"Papa, I'm hungry." He had wailed. The temperature had been below zero and snow was swirling in the air, covering his skin in layers of white crystals. "Papa, wake up! Let's go home." He cried. "Please Papa. Please. I'll be good. I'll be good. Mama won't hurt you anymore if I'm good."
His father never opened his eyes again and for a week, baby Oliver would return to that same spot to try to feed scraps to his father's dead body. He didn't understand the concept of death or the concept of soul violation. It was only later that he found out the truth in police reports. His mother, in her drunken and high, had ripped out his father's soul with her own hands, killing them both in an act of suicide and murder.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry please, please forgive me," Oliver spoke, his voice cracking with regret.
He would hate himself forever for this because it was not only a violation of his father's memory. But it also made him wonder if he could be capable of becoming someone like his mother. Amber looked startled. She was surprised at how easily he blamed himself, surprised that he knew.
"No, no. It's nobody's fault," she shook her head, her brows furrowing at his words.
"This is fucking sad and all but I'm not going to just believe her!" MinJae's voice was getting annoying to his ears. "The doctors told me my soulmate is dead!" MinJae spat out. Oliver glanced at him, pity in his eyes. MinJae just didn't know when to give up and accept it, did he?
"The doctor didn't know about the multiple bonds. The situation might have been different if he knew Amber had touched you in JieMi's body," Casper rebutted carefully, pronouncing his words clearly.
As the team leader, the members would listen to him and it seemed to have some effect on MinJae because his eyes widened at his words. His expression was fumbling as his mind grappled for the next excuse. Oliver would not give him any.
"We checked. Dr Eugeum confirmed her words. She does have seven soul bonds," Oliver told them sternly, rubbing the knots in her shoulder.
He hated how tight her body was, how wound up she seemed even though she was in the presence of her seven. She would burn out like this if she continued, stressing over her situation and Oliver needed her to be calm. He didn't want her exerting herself too much.
Perhaps, it was time to bring her away.
"And? Are the bonds labelled with our names? Our birth dates? Our age?" Ezra scoffed, the smile on his lips bright with his pessimism. Oliver was quiet at that, suddenly hating how stubborn Ezra could be. How logical he could be when their hearts were screaming for them to give up. "You're just guessing. Guessing on what basis?"
"Don't you like her?" Oliver snapped back, fury running through his veins, hot and thick with his anger.
Couldn't he just shut the fuck up and accept her? Amber winced and Oliver dropped his hand, feeling like an asshole. The emotions were influencing him as well and he hated the negativity that stunk to high heavens in the room.
"I just want to fuck her, so what?"
The minute the crude word dropped from Ezra's lips, Oliver's heart clenched as he saw red. How could he? How could he? How could he treat her like this? He opened his mouth, wanting to chide him for his words but Hikaru stepped in quickly. His eyes flashing with his anger and shock.
"Ezra!" Hikaru snapped. "Must you be this crude?"
"What? Don't tell me you fucking love her. You only just met. Love? Please," Ezra shrugged. "She could be lying. Her seven soulmates could be just some Tom, Dick and Harry on the damn street." He spoke too quickly, his words too harsh and it bit into him, fanning the flames in Oliver's heart. He wanted to speak up but Ezra, as always, was the best rapper in the team. His words snaked in before he could even begin.
"She's only after our damn money. Our damn fucking money." Ezra's eyes flashed with his rage, dark and beady with his anger. In his stubbornness and his stupidity, Oliver had never hated his best friend this much until now. "Just because we're desperate for a soulmate doesn't mean you can prey on us like that! This is fucking bullshit. Seven? Seriously?" Ezra snorted, shaking his head.
Amber spoke. "I understand that I don't have a proper method to prove what I say, but I never once asked you for money in my situation. Not once. Even though you know..."
Amber murmured, her voice tight as she kept her eyes steady on Ezra. "You know exactly how tight money was for me." Her voice hitched at the words and Oliver's eyes narrowed at the stiffness in Ezra's face. "You know exactly what I could do for money." Ezra bit down onto his teeth, the muscles moving at her words. The more she spoke the more he simmered down into an angry acceptance. "You know that more than anyone else here."
What had she done?
"Isn't that an even better reason for why you would want us?" MinJae snapped back. He got to his feet pulling out his wallet. "How much do you want? USD I presume?" He asked, his voice clipped with false professionalism. "TenK? HundredK? Is a fucking million enough? I can write you a cheque right fucking now!"
His words must have hurt her more than enough because she froze. Her body was trembling at his words. Oliver wanted to bring her into his embrace and hold her close because he could see just how hard she was trying not to cry. He could see how much effort she took to hold herself up so that they wouldn't see her break.
"MinJae!" Sieon protested, his voice loud with his plea. "Please!" He was angry and yet he sounded disappointed at MinJae for saying all that shit. "She's telling the truth!" He said and he swallowed, licking his lips as he stammered out the things he had been bottling up inside his body. "I-I had a dream. A soul dream that had you and her in it. I've been wanting to say this. That was why I wanted to introduce you to her!"
Sieon inhaled, shaking as he spoke, his body trembling as his eyes drifted to Amber. They were sad and apologetic, guilty and horrified, red with the tears that had yet to flow.
"Please. We had kids. Kids. Please!" Sieon's voice broke as he spoke, cracking with his emotions. Children were always a top on his list and Sieon loved kids. Oliver exhaled softly at the thought of what he must have seen in that dream of the future.
Their children.