Namjoon's POV

It's while I'm bringing the trash bag outside after going around the house to empty every bins that I hear a strange noise coming from the mansion's lawn besides ours.

A sound of something hard falling and breaking on the ground, and when I look to my left after dropping the bag in the garbage can to see what's going on, my eyes fall on a handsome hybrid with white hair and ears staring at something at his feet with a frown, his tail angry with the way it hits the air with strength.

He crouches down to get what appears to be a phone, and even though the distance between us goes against my human sight, I do manage to make out the broken screen when he unlocks the device to see its light all cracked.

"Damn it. Fuck this- fucking shit. Ugh!".

I wince a little at his sudden outburst, and his phone goes crashing on the ground a second time, but with a powerful swing that fully ends the device, the hybrid's anger felt from where I'm standing a few meters away.

My heart cannot resist turning empathetic to how he must be feeling right now, and I purse my lips lightly, unsure of what I can do to help the stranger from whom I can feel a strange but familiar pull.

I've had days like that too in the past, days where everything made me angry. Days where I felt no hope. I would have given up on many things had I not my soulmates by my side.

Walking back inside the house with my instincts guiding my actions, I pour two cups of coffee in the kitchen, then hesitate very briefly about adding milk and sugar into one before opting against it, after which I grab both cups before going back outside to where I can see him now sitting on the porch's stairs looking all dejected, ears and tail drooping powerlessly.

I should be surprised, really, when walking closer makes my mark itch and his ears twitch, but somehow, I'm simply sighing softly as I hand him the coffee while his gaze goes from me to his darkening mark and back to me in quick intervals.

"I saw the incident with the phone. Bad day?" I ask him with a small smile that he hardly returns due to his sudden daze, hands automatically grabbing the cup that I keep handing to him when he finally notices it.

His shoulders drop a bit before he takes a small sip of the hot liquid, trusting me enough to drink without worrying about the content, though it's not hard to guess that his coffee is as simple as it goes with how dark it is.

"Of course I had to meet my soulmate while I'm in a bad mood..." he utters under his breath, eyes apologetic when they meet my own once more. "Sorry, nothing against you. I'm just having a really bad day. Or bad week. Bad life? I don't even know anymore at this point, everything sucks".

I hum deeply, eyes taking in the sweat sticking to him through his shirt, in his hair, he looks like he's been working really hard on his own even though it's gotten quite late already, which seems to be recurrent with this place's many renovations.

Seeing a hybrid stuck here alone wouldn't be a first, as the previous times also had human workers staying as far from the mansion as possible while they'd make their vulnerable hybrid employees work overtime to cover their laziness.

I guess Y/N's disappearance didn't leave everyone unfazed, and rumors did start to spread about the mansion being haunted, cursed, after a few years of being inhabited.

Any families moving in there ended up moving out with a divorce looming over their heads and broken bonds between children and parents.

Seeing that kind of scenario happen from so close for so long... Maybe they're right, and this place really is cursed. If that's true... I pity anyone who's going to live here next.

"Where are the other workers? Why are you here alone?" I ask him, already having an idea of the answer, and he sighs again before drinking a bigger sip of the coffee, uncaring that it burns his throat. It helps with his anger.

"I don't know. They're probably all at home with their family while I take care of everything on my own. That wouldn't be the first time it happens and it certainly won't be the last. Hybrids aren't really... liked in my field. They keep calling me dog this, mutt that, and I hate it".

Gosh... I would hate my life too if that resumed my every days.

"Joonie, is everything okay? Why'd you go back outside?".

I look back towards my house to find Jimin peeking his head outside from the front door, eyes curiously taking in the hybrid besides me as I stand on the neighbour's land.

"He's a soulmate of ours, Jiminie. Can you get the others? I mean, if you feel able to meet everyone now? We're four at the moment" I turn my last question to the white haired man whose tail taps nervously on the stair beneath him.

"Uh... can we... keep that for another time, please? I'm not in a mood for that right now and I... I've really got to finish my tasks before I go back home" he requests hesitantly, ears flattened on his head as if afraid that I might get angry at him.

Oh dear... what have they done to this poor pup?

"Not a problem at all, I understand. Our house is right next door, this one so... when you're ready, at any time, any day, you can come, yeah? If it takes a week before you're ready, then it takes one week, we'll be fine. There's also the soul chat if you feel like registering your mark, if that might be easier for you at first" I inform him calmly, and he gapes at me for a few seconds before he slowly nods his head.

As if he was not expecting for me to go along with his wishes, as if I was supposed to get mad at him and complain.

"Yeah, uh, that'd be great, actually. I'm not too good with new people, as you can probably see, and I... I really stink right now, I feel gross. Not exactly what I want to show my... soulmates?".

He says the end with confusion as he looks down at his palm to see the seven flowers, and he stills when his gaze falls on the one that's much paler than the others, the saddest reminder of my entire life.

It's proof of my failure as a soulmate, proof that I failed her. I regret those years of neglecting her with all my heart.

"Does this soulmark mean I have seven soulmates? And why is one of the flowers different from the others? It's... strangely... lifeless" he asks with a growing frown, and I purse my lips slightly before nodding my head.

"Yeah, there's... things happened many years ago. One of ours rejected the bond, that's why that flower is paler than the others. We haven't met the others yet though".

His ears wilt immediately at hearing that the bond was rejected by one of us already, face falling with a sadness that he can't explain rationally, but can feel deep in his soul, and I feel terribly bad for bringing that news to him.

I wish it could have been different, if only we'd done better in the past, when she was still in our arms.

"It wasn't her fault so I hope you wouldn't hate her for what she had to do... she had a rough start in life and... we really want her back, honestly. We just don't know how to find her" I add, just to make sure that he doesn't start to despise her when he doesn't know the entire truth, which we barely know half of ourselves.

"That's... yeah, okay. Was she blocked from the soul chat then? Can't you send her a message?" the hybrid asks with a head tilt, eyes moving between my own as he tries to think of something with the little information he just gained, but I simply shake my head, I doubt there's much we haven't tried yet.

"Our messages don't go through. We've tried asking the registry to unblock her, but it's apparently a measure taken to protect anyone who wants out of the bond, so unless she registers her mark a second time, there's not much we can do on the matter. And again, I had to pull that knowledge from them by force, I don't know why they didn't want me to know about that".

He hums, the whole thing hard to believe as a whole, I don't blame him.

"I wouldn't trust them, honestly. The entire thing is... sketchy, it's bad enough that they give pills to children to activate the bond. I don't like that" he mumbles before finishing his coffee, broken phone - or what remains of it - kept on the ground as he stands up, I guess he'll throw it away later.

I make a small sound before drinking some of my own coffee before it gets cold, I'd almost forgotten that I was holding it.

"Maybe you're right. It does sound... pretty bad".

We remain there in silence for a bit longer, and then he scratches the back of his neck.

"Yeah... look, I'm really sorry to cut this short, but I need to work. Um. Thanks for the coffee, and thanks for being willing to wait for me. I'll register tonight so we can talk in the chat at least, and I'll see if I could maybe come over on my next day off. It's next week, on Tuesday".

I accept the empty cup that he hands me back, then smile at him.

"That sounds perfect. I'll let the others know, I'm sure we could manage to take a day off on that day so we can all meet at the same time. Of course, if you're alright with that. We can meet in smaller groups if you'd rather?".

He chuckles softly, the first positive sound I hear from him since we met, and he shakes his head, eyes creasing into a smile.

"No need, I should be good to meet three more people by then. So... yeah, I'll talk to you later, I'll be messaging the soul chat with a... brand new phone, most likely".

We part ways on that note, and I watch from my door as he goes back to work on his own with a heavy heart before entering inside to reach my soulmates who all - unsurprisingly - stand in the entrance with curious eyes, though it quickly turns to disappointment when the hybrid doesn't follow me.

"So?" Taehyung asks, tail nervous behind him as he stares at me, eager for more information about the man whose name I actually don't know. God damn, I never took a time to introduce myself either, did I?

"Er. He's busy, and will be for the next couple days until next Tuesday, but he'll try to visit us then. He'll message us in the soul chat after he registers his mark".

My three soulmates stare at me in silence, and I attempt a small timid smile.

"That's all I've got, guys".

"That's all?! But you talked to him during like... ten minutes!" Jungkook exclaims with a whine out of his lips, what have we talked about during that short amount of time, he would ask, I know him too well.

"We talked about his... bad time in this world, and we also talked about her, briefly".

That shuts them all up, and mouths close as silence comes back. Melancholy, this time. I can see it flash in their eyes as they look down at their mark, sadness always taking over when we take in the pale, sickly flower of hers.

"I never thought about that before but... we will have to explain why one of the flowers is paler than the others if we meet any new soulmates, won't we?" Jimin comments softly as he blinks the wetness in his eyes away.

He's too often tempted to draw over his mark just to trick his mind into believing that the bond is complete and that his deep sadness is fake. It's hard to remember the happy times with her when a never-ending darkness separates us.

I pat his head gently, aware that it's hard to keep our emotions under the carpet when we talk about Y/N. Try loving someone for years upon years while not seeing her for just as long.

"It's okay, Jiminie, I already took care of it with our new soulmate. Let's not bother him for the moment, alright? He's busy with his work and I wouldn't want any of us to get him in trouble. Seems like his job conditions are pretty bad".

"Tsk. Crazy that we still have to worry about that in this day and age. What's his name, hyung?".

"Oh, uh. I might have forgotten to ask him?".

"Hyung! Come on, that's the basics of meeting someone new! And he was our soulmate, too! You should've asked him right away!".

"Sorry, sorry! But we'll find out when he messages us later so it's fine, isn't it? Don't attack me, Jungkook- stop- oh you wanna play that game, huh? Alright, fine. Better start running now before I catch you, you little kitten".

Giggles break out into the house at my response, and I quickly forget about anything else as I begin to run after the fast panther while the others cuddle in the living room with smiles on their lips, this distraction one that works well for everyone.

Or almost everyone, anyway.