Author's Note: So consider this a belated BTS anniversary present. I honestly have had about half of this finished, but the second half was just eluding me.

You might all be asking. WTF? Who the fuck is Neil?

Well, just be patient. It will be answered toward the end, although I am pretty sure most of you, if not all of you, will catch on pretty fast.

Oh also, there are slight mentions of M/M sexual relations in this chapter. It's pretty minor, and toward the end. Which would also make it ever so slightly NSFW as well.

4167 words

Posted 6/17/22

Neil age 3 - 1997

The toddler reached up to the sparkly item dangling from his grandma's right ear while she carried him to a room that was filled with her guests. Right before he could latch onto the shimmering item with his chubby little hand she stopped walking and turned her pretty smile down to him. "You must really like the earrings I am wearing today, Neil. Is it because of how shiny they are? Maybe how they sparkle?"

Now shiny and sparkle weren't words that the toddler completely understood. But, then his sweet grandmother asked him a much easier question; one he could more easily answer. "Do you think they are pretty?"

His mouth breaks out into a huge grin that puts his small baby teeth on full display, before nodding his little head to punctuate his sweet wonderment. "Pwetty gahmah."

Over the next couple years he grew to understand that any time lots of people would come to his grandparents' big house that his grandmother would always pull out the 'pretty sparklies.' Which is what he would continue to call them until shortly after his seventh birthday.

Neil age 5 - 1999

"Grandma!" A five year old Neil runs over to one of his two favorite people in the world after entering the large front doors. He couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of spending the weekend with the two of them while his parents go traveling to places unknown, leaving him behind.

His parents weren't really bad people, but they didn't play with him like his grandparents did. They were simply both two busy with their jobs and other ventures that he didn't fully understand.

Once he gets to his grandma, she kneels down so she can fully embrace him at his height level. "I've got an adventure planned for us to do together." She says once she pulls back to release his small body from her arms. She takes his small hand, and he looks up at her with immediate excitement shining bright from his eyes.

"An adventure?" His growing curiosity and enthusiasm has him repeating.

"We'll be going on a treasure hunt, but we need to first find clues to discover where the treasure could be hiding. We'll be doing that by playing games and doing other activities." She takes out a piece of paper she had tucked away in her pocket while guiding him to the kitchen. There they find a big clear square shaped plastic container filled with rice, and Neil is able to spy other items buried in it from the side closest to him. "Here we have to find the puzzle pieces buried in these grains of sand." She kneels closer to him once more and whispers. "Let's just pretend that the rice is sand." He smiles widely up at her before he climbs up on the chair to study the container more closely.

Neil notes that the couple of puzzle pieces he saw were letters of the alphabet. He pulls the first one out that isn't buried too deep under the grains of rice. "Now before placing the puzzle piece this note says you also have to name the letter you are holding as well as three words you know that begin with that letter. The clue won't be displayed to us until you finish." His grandmother pulled out a large notebook and filled it with the letters and the words he said out loud so he could start to connect the phonetic sounds with the spelling of each word.

It took them about twenty minutes before they were done, and his grandma decided it was time for a snack. She has her cook occupy Neil for a brief moment while she pretends to pull the next clue from the rice.

The next game they play is in the room where all their grand parties are held. Neil learned over time it was called the 'ball room', but he didn't understand completely why. There were no balls in it after all. Well not usually at least. Today there were several balloons scattered about, which are pretty similar to balls. Perhaps he should start calling this the balloon room instead. He looks around the room and notices large clear bins scattered about the room with words on them. He hasn't learned too many words, but he can identify these as color vocabulary due to the fact that the letters are in the color of the word represented. He also makes a quick connection that the balloons are in an array of each of the colors that the words represented. "In this room you will be putting the balloons in the proper containers. After you get them all cleared then you will stand by each container and name three things that are traditionally those colors.

His grandmother once again added the color words and underneath the items he claimed were that color. Any time he might have been wrong instead of telling him flat out he was wrong his grandma encouraged him to explain why it was that color, and this encouraged "aha" moments for him to correct his mistake. His grandmother also had a trick to handle 'I don't know' answers by saying, "If you don't know then why did you suggest it? I'll have to count it as wrong if you can't tell me." It's only a little frustrating to the preschooler when this happens. He knows that she is just helping him learn, and that knowledge helps him persevere to find the proper response.

Once he is done with that the next clue asks him to head to the den. There he finds his other favorite person in the world, his grandfather. The five year old spies the book beside the recliner the elder man loves and knows that this round will have his grandpa reading him a story.

His grandfather reaches down to the boy and immediately pulls him up into his lap. "Are you enjoying your treasure hunt, Neil?"

His eyes brighten happily at his grandpa and he nods enthusiastically. "So much fun." He points at the table beside the chair. "Read?" He asks hopefully.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I have to. I think we won't find the next clue until the end of the story after all."

When the story is finished there lies another paper at the end of the book. This clue leads them to a glass bookcase in the very room that they are standing in. His grandmother opens the doors of the bookcase and pulls out a treasure chest. She hands the treasure chest over to Neil, and when he sets it down to open it a look of pure delight lights his face. "It's your pretty sparklies! They were the treasure!" He holds up a particular piece that has always captured his attention. "Does this mean they are mine now?"

A confused look passes between his grandparents for a moment before his grandmother finally settles on a response. "Maybe someday. But, today I simply used them as the treasure in our adventure because I knew how much you loved to look at them." She sighs for a moment. "Perhaps, I should have had a prize at the end."

Neil turns to look at his grandma. "Prizes are nice, but I had fun today. That's a prize too." He pauses for a second. "Can we have an adventure like this everytime I come to stay?"

He stayed with his grandparents often due to his parents either being busy with their demanding jobs, or their globetrotting vacations. "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea! I might have to look up other puzzles and games we can play though."

For just over a year this was their tradition every time he would stay. His grandmother planned a few other games, but she cycled back to them also because familiarity and repetition was important as well.

Neil age 7 - 2001

Only a few months ago the adventures had stopped. Partially because he didn't get to visit as often due to school, but mostly because his grandmother had gotten really sick. He can't help but whimper, and is unable to control his endless tears as he watches his grandmother's coffin dropping into the ground.

His grandfather is almost just as inconsolable, and his mother isn't faring very well herself. They both hold one of his hands in their own, squeezing every so often as a reminder to let him know they are here for him. That it was okay to be sad.

It was hard to pull the young boy away from her gravesite. He stared at the ebony headstone that would be the marker for his grandmother's eternal resting place. He never knew her first name was Scarlet, but from this moment on he would never forget it.

Once they finally leave the gravesite they have to meander through guests offering their condolences at his grandparents' house. It's hours of agony wading through people he barely knows in the ball room as they celebrate and reminisce about the wonderful woman his grandmother was. When the last guest finally leaves his grandfather takes him aside. "I think your grandmother would want you to have this." He says before handing over the treasure box.

Even though the wooden box in his hand churns up the memories, reminding him of his grief that he managed to tuck away for a half an hour or so. He wraps the box within his arms, much like one would hold a cherished stuffed toy. She never had promised to give the treasure box to him, but he was so thankful to have such a wonderful keepsake.

Neil age 10 - 2004

Three years later Neil was still digging through his grandmother's jewelry box. Only now instead of admiring the way each of them shined he was starting to examine closely how the pieces were put together. He couldn't help but be curious about the different types of earrings especially. How they fastened, the way they drooped from the earlobe, and even each distinct piece that composed the ornamentation of the piece of jewelry.

In fact he felt he learned as much as he could about each piece of jewelry in his grandmother's jewelry box. His yearning to know even more though had him disobeying one of his parents' cardinal rules. Never enter their room without consent.

Cassandra, his mother, caught him studying the armoire that held all her jewelry. Instead of calling out his name to reprimand him for disobeying a rule she chose to watch him for a few moments. She couldn't help but be curious why he was so interested in jewelry.

And as much as she didn't want to worry about it yet. It had her subconsciously questioning his sexual awakening with puberty being right around the corner.

She wasn't ready to pour over her thoughts and feelings regarding how she might take it if a few years down the road if he turned around and announced that he was gay. She could only hope that she would be able to accept him despite his sexual orientation.

Skai age 13 - 2007

Cassandra Lancaster enjoyed watching (and sometimes attending) any celebrity awards shows. It simply gave her another reason for dressing up and going out. This year she was watching from the comfort of her own living room because Neil caught some stomach bug that was going around.

He had argued that he was old enough to take care of himself, but ever since her father passed a year and a half ago Cassandra realized she wasn't being much of a mother to her only child. Which is why she chose to sit with him instead of going out.

Her son seemed to have a lot to say about what each female celebrity is wearing. "I bet she will have a lot of wardrobe changes since she is hosting, but that runway dress isn't exceptionally flattering. It would look better without the black bow at the waist, and the froufrou shoulder strap should just go. Also, I can't decide what to think about her jewelry. The earrings are fine, but the thick emerald bracelet and chunky diamond rings both seem to take away from the silver clutch she has in her hand." He pauses to examine Cameron Diaz's red carpet look more closely. "Actually, the silver clutch just gets lost in general. I would have probably done away with the bracelet and rings and went for a more glitzy clutch. Like something by Judith Leiber." His words start to come out scratchy due to his sore throat so he reaches over and grabs a drink of ginger ale.

The detail he brought forth, in addition to his knowledge of a specific fashion designer, had Cassandra once again questioning her son's sexuality. She even found herself growing more open to the idea her son may be gay. However, her husband was a lot more conservative, and he probably wouldn't be as receptive to the possibility. She would have to work with him, and see if she could sway him to understanding should their son come out to them sometime in the years to come.

Neil age 15 - 2009

Neil found himself groaning out loud as the Quileute tribe walked out of the forest in a line sans shirts. Each of them only wore a pair of shorts that sat low on their hip bones. He even exhaled out his annoyance that Taylor Lautner's character came out wearing a sleeveless top and shorts before shifting. "That's just unfair." He barely breathed the words out loud.

Before he uttered the words, Jessica, who was sitting beside him, hadn't noticed his reaction. Her brownish blonde eyebrows arched in surprised understanding, before she sighed in disappointment. Jessica had asked Neil out with the intention that this trip to the movies would be their first date, but now she understood that wouldn't be the case.

It's about 9 PM when they get out of the movie, and instead of pulling out their cellphones to contact their parents the two decide to walk over to the elementary school playground a couple blocks away. Words elude both of them as they sit on swings beside each other. Jessica stares up at the stars above them before taking a deep breath to gather her courage before she asks, "When did you know?"

Neil wants to pretend he has no clue what she is talking about, but instead he shakes his head before giving her his honest answer. "I don't think it's ever been a concrete thought in my mind before now. I knew I wasn't attracted to girls..." He pauses to give her an apologetic look. "I just thought it was a phase. I just thought I wasn't as mature as anyone else our age."

"So, you realized after watching New Moon?"

He nods his head. "Yeah, I think that was my eye opening moment. I don't think I knew for certain until only an hour or so ago." He groans and rubs his eyes. "My parents are both going to ask me how tonight went. They both seemed excited to know I was finally going out with a girl."

"You don't have to tell them yet. Give yourself some time to wrap your head around the idea." She pauses for a second. "Are we still meeting tomorrow night after school?"

"Only if you want to. I heard about a class offered at Artfully Creative about jewelcrafting. I've been interested in jewelcrafting for as long as I can remember, but I understand if you aren't interested in joining me."

She shrugs her shoulders. "I have nothing better to do, and it can't hurt to go to the first meeting or two. I doubt I have the dexterity to work with the small intricate pieces, but I won't know for certain until I try."

Neil age 18 - 2012

Neil sighs out loud after his father's demand. "I'm not ready to get the serum injection. I know that you can sign the papers for me, but that doesn't give you permission to force me to get the injection. It's my choice. I need some time to get to know myself first." He looks out the window in an attempt to avoid looking his father in the eyes. "Besides, I've never been attracted to a woman before. I don't think the result will be what you hope it will."

"Richard." Neil's mother sternly calls out to his father. "I told you not to do this." She sighs in exasperation, obviously having had this discussion several times before now. "He isn't broken. This is who he is." She turns to her son and grabs his hand in hers. "I'm sorry he asked this of you. I support you."

His father runs his hand over his face before turning to his son with an apologetic look in his eyes. "It's not that I don't support you. It's–"

"It's the fact that I am your only child. Your only son. You were hoping I would take on your legacy, and that didn't only include working at your company. It also includes carrying on your family name." Neil sighs. "I wish I could be that for you, but I want no part of the company. Maybe I could carry on the family name by adopting, but I can't be with a woman just to conceive an heir to the family name."

His mom places a supportive hand on his shoulder. "You want to design jewelry."

He nods his head. "I do." He takes his turn looking at both of them. "And I want to do it on my own terms. I want to get my own apartment. I plan on opening a store on etsy to sell my jewelry off of for now."

"If you are wanting to do it on your own does that mean you will be using your inheritance from your grandparents?" His mother asks.

The melancholy swamps him for a moment. It's been eleven years since he lost his grandmother; six since he lost his grandfather. Yet, the loss still hits him the same way every time he thinks of them. He nods. "Yes, but only some of it to start out. I plan on trying to live off of what I make from my sales, but I know the life of an artist won't be an easy one. I might have some moments where I struggle, and I need access to more of the money to support myself."

"What are you thinking of calling your etsy shop? Neil's designs?" His father asks.

Neil chuckles. "No, not something so simple." He winces as he realizes that unintentionally came out rude. When he isn't scolded for his response he clears his throat before dropping another bomb. "I was running with the idea of changing my name first and foremost actually, and before you argue let me explain the name I chose. I plan on changing my name to Skai. Pronounced sky, but spelled S-k-a-i." He pauses for a second to let that sink in before explaining the spelling.. "Sk for Scarlet, my grandmother. Ai for Aiden, my grandfather. I was thinking of something like, 'Skai's the Limit', for the name of my shop."

His parents exchange a look between the two of them before wide smiles display on their faces. "Sounds wonderful." His mother enthuses.

Skai age 22 (4 years ago)- 2016 - First Person POV

The sheet lay in perfect disarray over my naked body as I watched my on again off again lover stand up and pull away from the bed. The two globes of his glorious ass immediately covered by his tight boxer briefs, basically only layering a thin barrier of cotton from my probing, and appreciative gaze. "You could always call in sick." I find myself saying automatically, and I inwardly flinch at the neediness conveyed in the cadence of my voice.

He shakes his head. "I'm not going to work." He admits as he walks over to the dresser across from the foot of the bed. It's a routine to watch him reapply his life with each item he picks up and puts away.

First is his wallet, which goes in the back pocket of his dress pants. Dress pants that annoyingly manage to stay perfectly wrinkle free. The only creases present the ones factory implemented.

Then, his keys. They go in his front pocket along with his cell phone and any rare loose change he might have.

It's the last item that has me immediately resenting myself for my actions. I can't help but loathe myself for my addiction to his body and attention. I look away as he slides the titanium band on the second finger of his left hand.

He has a wife. He has a family. Stop this. Stop being this person. "Oh. I see." I finally respond to his statement about not going to work, because I do finally grasp what he is saying. He is going back to his family this morning. His wife, baby, and toddler. I'm not meant to know about them. His wife is a given, due to his wedding ring, but he never told me about his children. I went snooping. I hated myself for a multitude of reasons after. I'm his secret lover, and I'm keeping him from a family who deserves his love and attention.

It's that moment I realize that I am tired of being the hidden lover. I am tired of feeling like I need someone who isn't emotionally available. It's time I start my own love story. "Malcolm?" I try to get his attention.

"Hmm?" He answers. Not really focusing on me, because now he has basically gotten what he wanted.

The man is not straight like he pretends to be. He likes cock way too fucking much for that. "This is the last time." I declare. "I won't be waiting around for you ever again."

He lets out a half laugh. "We both know that's not true. Hell, you have said the same thing three months ago, yet here I am once more."

I shake my head. "I mean it. I am better than this."

"Better than this?" He scoffs. "You are a trust fund baby who likes to take it up the ass. You are only a half step above a whore, in fact if you needed the money I would fucking pay you for it."

How did I overlook this aspect of his personality? I won't sink to his level and return his acrid attitude. "Yes, I may have a substantial trust fund, but that money doesn't define me. My art defines me, but I no longer want it to be the only thing to define me. I want to show compassion and feel love of my own, which is why I am going to set up an appointment to get the soulmate serum injection as soon as you leave."

I'll also be putting out feelers to quietly get in touch with your wife. I'm sure my family lawyer could arrange something. Let her know what a louse of a husband she has, and what he has been up to. Hell, if I have to I can even provide proof. There was that time he wanted to film us a year or so ago. He hadn't wanted my face on camera though, so I wouldn't incriminate myself that way.

Two days later

I arch an eyebrow at the mark on my chest. A postage stamp? Why a postage stamp? And what's with the tree, hibiscus, and magpie?

I quickly attempt to find out what those three things have in common by googling them. I first try to look up the three things altogether, but nothing pulls up for me. Then I search for state birds. The magpie unfortunately isn't one of them. So, I start to google 'state flower hibiscus', but after I type in 'hib' the word national pops up. So, I click on that link instead out of curiosity.

The first thing I see is that the 'hibiscus syracus' is South Korea's national flower. So, I look up a picture of it, and see that it appears in pink and purple shades. Pink like the one on my soulmate mark.

I quickly type 'South Korea national bird' in the search field. The first thing that pops up is the word 'magpies' in big bold letters. I gulp back the building saliva in my mouth. Further down the page are the words 'national symbols of South Korea' so I click that. "The national tree is the Korean red pine." I pull up several images and compare that tree to the one on the stamp on my chest. "I guess this means my soulmate is in South Korea."

I know it will take me some time, but at that moment I immediately decided to relocate to Seoul. I know the population is crazy, but I am a lot more likely to meet my soulmate there than I am here. After all, what are the chances that my soulmate ever even comes to the United States?  

A/N:  Sorry this took so long.  I started it shortly after the previous bonus chapter was written, but it simply wasn't coming together.  The plan is to work on Candace's backstory next, but I am a bit behind on my other projects so just like this chapter it will probably take awhile to finish.