"What do you mean end the prophecy?" I replied, raising my eyebrows at him. "Are you seriously asking me research questions right now?"

"It's not a research question. Can I come inside so we can actually talk?" He asked as a small family passed through the hallway.

I held the door open a little wider, letting him step inside knowing that the boundaries I called myself drawing were thinning every second.

"I don't know if I should ask more about your whole Charley Cloar thing or about you being curious about ending the prophecy." I sighed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed while he plopped down in a single chair by the window.

His lips pulled into a small smile, but it faded when he looked up at my serious expression. "I can do both, it's the same answer either way. "I thought you'd resonate with the drawing because I did. I've believed for a long time that I wouldn't have a chance at real love. I knew I'd never even try for it since it's always been the plan to marry Dallia."

"Sounds romantic." I responded instinctively. It was honestly easier to be annoyed and angry with him.

"It's not, it's practical." He replied. I could see the tension of the revelation in his shoulders as he hunched over, leaning his elbows onto his knees. "But you, I mean the prophecy, makes it really hard to do the practical thing when the possibility of something real is right there."

My heart raced and the energy between us picked up to a doubled beat. It was as open as he'd been about the feelings he had for me since we met, a sense of guilt and longing lingering in the air between us.

"And if Valeria can end the prophecy here?" I dug deeper.

He met my eye, holding his gaze for a moment before looking back down. "I'd choose the real thing."

I'd never entertained the idea that the gift could be erased or stopped in its tracks. Now, every possibility flooded into my mind. First of Namjoon, that we'd stop it, like some grand final act in a movie where we'd take down the force standing in the way of us being together. We would stop the prophecy and he'd leave his fiance for a love he never imagined. That would be romantic.

There were three more men who I thought of right behind him. If the prophecy was gone I could have a choice. I could fly to LA to find Yoongi, to make the universe disappear again, or I could go to Jimin, who felt like that first young love, one that didn't get the chance it deserved.

Then there was Hobi.

My mind reeled with scenarios, including one that erased the entire thing, every distinctive feeling I had for each of them ceasing to exist and another where with no barriers between us, we wouldn't have to fight temptation anymore.

"We should wait to talk to Valeria tomorrow. There's no use in speculating when it might not be a possibility." I deflected, able to feel that he was waiting for me to confess my desire to choose him too.

"You're right," he sighed, standing and walking back to the door with me following behind him, my focus scattered and his parting words leaving me even more so, "but if she can I hope you'll consider it."

That night I struggled to stay asleep, waking every few hours from dreams and distorted memories of the four of them until the sun rose again. My head was pounding so I tried to relax with a shower and coffee, nearly bumping chests with Namjoon when I opened my door.

He took a step back when I flinched, pinching at the bridge of my nose. "Are you okay?" He asked, leaning down to meet my eye.

"There's a lot on my mind. It's giving me a headache." I answered, keeping my head down.

"Hey, I didn't mean to cause you stress. I know this is your life and maybe I've been selfish, getting you to come down here so I can get answers but we don't have to do it. We can turn around and go home if you want." His fingers wrapped around mine. It was the clearest I'd ever seen him, willing to leave behind his incessant need for knowing and understanding if it was too much for me.

I shook my head, resting in the feel of his hand in mine before letting it go. "No, let's go. I think I need to see her."

The four hour drive we made to San Antonio felt different than the rest. We'd lost the light-hearted feel from the beginning of the trip and we weren't cold toward each other as we had been after the art museum. Still, there was an anticipatory quiet that filled the car with our contemplation of the answers we needed.

Valeria's shop was set in the middle of an old strip of businesses, with only a small handmade sign hanging over the front door to indicate its location. A curtain of beading clicked against each other as we walked through the front door, Namjoon tucking the notebook he carried under his arm and approaching the counter.

The store seemed empty so I took a moment to look around at the bins filled with crystals against the wall, shelves of books, and section of natural body care products. I was busy looking into the marbled lines of a block of rose quartz when there was movement from behind the shop, the beads of another curtain rubbing together as Valeria stepped through.

"How can I help you?" She leaned against the counter, the stacks of bracelets that covered her arms clinking together when she moved.

"Yes, my name is–" Namjoon started, quickly cut off by the raven haired woman.

She smiled, wagging a finger at him. "Not you. I'm asking her." Her sharp nail pointed to me.

I weaved through the shelves of products to the other side of the counter. "I was hoping to speak to you, ask you some questions. It's about my family. My name is–"

"Seline." She finished for me. "I know who you are."

I was both astonished and unsurprised. "I have some questions about the prophecy." I clarified though it seemed like she already knew everything before I said it.

"I'm sorry, I only do crystal work and natural remedies now. I've never tapped into the gifts you're looking for. That work ended with my mother, after she conducted your reading as a child." She shrugged.

Namjoon stepped forward, frustration in his tone that she responded to by smiling. "You could at least talk to us. We've come a long way to see you."

"I'm not looking for a reading. I just have a few questions. If you can't answer them I understand but I'd like to ask." I negotiated, watching the way she looked back and forth between the two of us, like she knew every secret that lived within.

"I'll talk to you, but he waits out here." She smirked, picking up on Namjoon's irritation before he could show it. She looked to me, her drawn-on eyebrows raised in an invitation as she turned back, pulling away the beaded curtain that led out of the shop.

More inventory lined the walls, creating a narrow space to walk through to her office, a small room with two single chairs and a table between. She took the chair facing the door, gesturing for me to sit in the one across. She studied me more, seeming to look into me with her piercing, deep brown eyes.

"His love for you is fierce but conflicted. I can feel the energy between you." She sat back casually, crossing one leg over the other.

"How much do you know about me, about the prophecy?" I started. It was so difficult to read her, giving the impression of someone who was all knowing.

She brushed her fingertips along her bracelets as she talked. "I know everything about the gift, which is what it is, not a prophecy. My family has been fulfilling the gift for centuries. Of course, you were the last to get a reading, which is why I've never had to do one."

"Do you know why I have seven soulmates?" I continued with my line of questioning, focused on getting answers.

"That is one question I don't have the answer to." She replied.

I sighed, thinking of the night before and of the question Namjoon would surely ask about when I returned. "Can you end it? Can you take away the gift?"

"Why would you want that?" She wondered, her mouth pressing into a frown.

"Sometimes having seven soulmates doesn't exactly feel like a gift. It hasn't always made my life easy." I answered.

She leaned forward, holding a hand out. "May I?" She requested, seeing my hesitation in the look I gave. "I've never done a reading, but I'd like to try."

When I offered her my hand she took it gently, rubbing her thumb into the middle of my palm. Her physical response was immediate, a sharp intake of breath and the hair on her arms standing to attention. She kept her eyes closed, muttering to herself and my body increasingly drained of energy the longer she held on.

A deep exhale moved past her lips when she pulled away and she looked at me with glassy eyes, sitting back in her seat again as she answered my earlier question. "If you want to end the prophecy I can try, but I don't know if it'll work or what the consequences might be." She leaned forward, able to see my confliction. "You should think about what you want, I'll be here."

"Did you see anything that would help me make that decision?" I searched for clarification.

The final response she gave only left me with more to think about. "My mother was right about the intensity of love in you. I'm sure it's been difficult, but it also feels like it's been beautiful. You should consider that as much as a gift your soulmates have been for you, your love is also a part of the gift. You can't imagine how special you have been for them, and will be for the ones who remain."