Music & Butterflies

Bonus Chapter - 18 July 2021

It was nice seeing everyone mingling and talking together. Sophie and Liam had run off to her room to play after dinner, and Mimi and Shaun unfortunately had to head home early when my aunt had been called into work for a delivery – 'babies wait for no one' she always says.

The rest of us decided to move from the deck and head down to the firepit in the backyard. While it was cold for us Aussies, my Korean family loved that they could wear shorts and t-shirts in the middle of winter.

"The suspense is killing me," Yoongi whisper groaned as he buried his face into my neck. I was curled up on his lap with a blanket draped over both of us; initially I was worried I'd be too heavy, but he insisted I wasn't. "They didn't accidentally brush against each other once during dinner or when we were out on the deck. We have to go to plan B."

PREVIOUS NIGHT

While Yoongi and I were lying in bed in each other's arms, I let him in on my suspicion that I thought Mia's soulmate was the one and only Jung Hoseok. I described her mark, which he confirmed sounded exactly the same as Hobi's. "When she first got her mark, we named the two fish J-Lo and Marc Anthony."

"But didn't they break up?" he had asked, chuckling into my hair as he kissed just below my ear.

"Yes, but they were together at the time."

"Hobi did something similar," Yoongi smirked. "He called them Gongjunim (princess) and Wangjanim (prince)."

"See, this just proves my point, they're meant to be, baby!" Together, we schemed ways in which to get Hobi or Mia to other so they could start the bonding process. We came up with the perfect idea.

We spent the night giggling and planning our covert operation like a pair of spies.

It was time to move onto plan B.

"Sweetheart, what's that game you told me about again?" Yoongi asked, acting naturally even though the question had been scripted.

"Oooh, I forgot about that!" I got everyone's attention. "Gabby, I was telling Yoongi how you and I became the flip cup queens against that guy we can never remember his name... you know, Stiffy Boy..." I had to go on a quick tangent to explain the story of Gabby and this guy in grade 10, who got an erection when she danced with him at the school dance; from that day on, he was known as Stiffy Boy. "Well, Yoongi wanted us to teach him and the others."

"Who wants to break out the cups again and show how real women drink?" Candice squealed, hurriedly trying to get everyone to follow her back up to the outdoor dining table on the deck. It had been a while since we played drinking games together and Candice being our party queen, well she was in her element.

As I stood on one side of the long wooden table, I looked down the table at my team. Yoongi had a sparkle in his eye, Mia and Hobi were chatting about the new song from Stray Kids that was blowing up, Adam and JK were looking at something on Jungkook's phone, and while Shell and Tae were animatedly chatting about something that to me only seeing the gestures, did not look safe for work.

Gabby had taken the lead of the other team. Jimin, Candice, Namjoon, Todd, Iseul, Nari and Jin were on her team. A warm feeling flowed throughout my body as I saw all my loved ones – old and new – getting on well together.

After quickly explaining how to play, the game was on. I was up first, against Gabby. I picked up my first full plastic cup of beer – the drink we had all agreed on – and started sculling it fast. It had been a while since I had done this, so the first cup was slow until I got into the rhythm. My stomach felt like it wanted to explode with the large volume of carbonated liquid consumed so quickly.

I pushed the feeling aside as I placed the cup upside down, half hovering off the edge of the table. I took a moment to breathe, then I started trying to flip it right side up. Our rules were clear, you can only use the tips of your fingers to flip; none of this palm of the hand bullshit. The first attempt was nowhere near close to winning, while the second nearly stuck the landing before it toppled over. It wasn't until my fifth attempt that my cup stood proud.

'I've gotten rusty.'

I picked up the smaller cup of water and quickly drank that before flipping it on the first attempt. I slapped Yoongi's hand, starting his turn.

I grinned as I watched my soulmate quickly inhale his cups and flipped both on the first attempt. Yoongi would have been king at beer ping if he attended our uni parties!

I watched keenly as Mia finished her water, taking a few attempts to flip. With a bated breath, I knew...

Plan B was now in effect.