Chapter 24: Honesty

"He left?" everyone asked in unison when Namjoon told them about the note.

"Apparently so, but we will get him back," he replied.

"The note says he won't change his mind," J-Hope quoted.

"Whenever we do find him, I will talk to him. We are close, you know," Jimin told them.

"But where could he have gone?" Jungkook asked.

"That's easy, if he left with Erika, then they went to the next tour stop of the circus," Juliette said.

"And that would be?" Namjoon asked.

"Got it!" Jin exclaimed, "The next city Cirque Du Soleil is going to is...Toronto."

"Toronto? That's all the way in Canada!"

"What are we going to do? We leave for Paris in a few hours," Yoongi asked.

"We'll just have to figure it out once we get there," Namjoon said.

"But what do we do about him being gone? ARMY will be expecting an OT7 concert," J-Hope shared.

There was a silence that took over the room and then all the members turned to look at Juliette.

"Why are you looking at me? I don't know what to do," she said.

"I hate to ask this but...can you please be Taehyung at our Paris shows?" Namjoon suggested.

"No, no, no, no, no! I am not going to impersonate one of you again, and most definitely not at a concert where the giant screen behind me will project my face in full HD. People will know I am not him! I also invited Valerie to watch us and I want her to watch me perform as myself thank you very much."

"What other choice do we have?"

"Maybe telling the truth?"

"Here we go again, you know why we can't do that."

"Because it puts the soulmate in danger of being hunted down and yada yada yada. I hate this! Aren't you guys tired of lying to ARMY? They deserve to know the truth."

"I'm actually going to second Juliette on this one," Jungkook jumped in, "I've kept telling you guys we should be honest but you always say no. This time, I'm sticking by that choice."

"You guys have to stop worrying about what people will do, you're only assuming. If it really was that dangerous, no celebrity in the world would ever reveal their soulmates but there have been countless celebrities who have. They're not dead or in danger are they?"

"You don't know that for sure," Namjoon said.

"That's true, but I think we would know if someone was kidnapped or killed because of being exposed as a celebrity's soulmate."

"You know what? I support her too," Jimin said and stood up by her, "After what we have been through with our lies, I don't want to have to do that again."

"Not to mention," Yoongi added, "I think Taehyung wants us to be honest. His letter says to tell ARMY he'll miss them so he's expecting us to tell the truth."

"You know what? I'm tired of the lies too," Jin added, "I vote to tell the truth."

"All of us who think we should tell the truth, raise your hand," Juliette said.

All of the members except Namjoon raised their hands. He looked around at everyone and noticed how determined all of them were. With a sigh, he raised his hand too. The boys gathered around him and gave him a big hug, tackling him onto the bed behind them.

"You guys are grown up kids," Juliette said with a giggle.

With their determination to finally be honest, they prepared themselves to head off to Paris. Upon arrival, they stayed at Juliette's mansion since it was big enough with all the rooms. Juliette was able to tell Valerie everything that had happened and she agreed that telling the truth was best, just as she had done with the "Venus" scandal. That night they all planned on exactly what they would say. Since they were in Paris, Juliette offered to translate what they would say from Korean or English into French so that the crowd could understand them better.

The following day, at the soundcheck crowd, they broke the news.

"We would like to inform you all that V has stepped down from BTS to live with his soulmate," Namjoon began, "We know this is sad for you, as it has been for us, but we hope you understand and respect his decision. He wanted us to let you guys know that he will always love you and thanks you for the love you have given him all this time."

Juliette translated and once it sunk into the people's minds, they grew sad but there was no booing. People whispered and mumbled amongst themselves, some people even left the concert all together (probably V solo stans).

"With that being said, we will go on with soundcheck as usual and the remaining six of us are BTS from now on. We apologize for him leaving."

The crowd that remained cheered for them as they began their soundcheck, heartbroken, but still amazing. Afterwards, they went backstage and prepared for the concert as they always had. They still were very sad and missed Taehyung a lot. Ten minutes before starting, someone knocked on their dressing room door. Juliette opened it as the others were finishing their final touches.

"Taehyung?" Juliette said as she opened the door.

"Taehyung?!" the others asked immediately afterwards.

He walked into the dressing room, ready for the concert and followed by Erika, who was in normal clothing this time.

"But you...the note...you wouldn't change your mind...and we told...and they...TAEHYUNG YOU'RE BACK!" Namjoon said with tears forming in his eyes and ran to give him a big hug.

The others followed shortly after and had a huge group hug with Taehyung. When they pulled back, Jimin punched his arm, playfully.

"Ow, what was that for?" Taehyung asked him.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again," Jimin said.

"We thought you were in Toronto with Erika," Yoongi said.

"Erika only wanted to do the tour up until the London location because of the talent switch so they found someone to take her spot for the remainder of their tour. She will be with us now until our tour ends and we go back to Korea," Taehyung informed them.

"But why did you make us think you left?" Namjoon asked.

Taehyung said that he knew he'd have to lie about Erika if he stayed in BTS. So, he did originally leave because he was tired of lying. He gave himself and Erika two VIP tickets with soundcheck and disguised himself very well and stood in the crowd, towards the back. He heard them all tell the truth about why he left and it compelled him to return, knowing that he would no longer have to lie about her.

"And now, when we go back out, we will just tell everyone more of the truth, that I did leave but came back last minute. However, I would like to introduce Erika as my soulmate; no more secrets."

"If he does that, then I will introduce Juliette as my soulmate," Jimin said.

"And I am totally ok with that," Juliette said.

The concert began and the soundcheck crew lost their minds when they saw Taehyung join them during the first song. Once they finished performing their first set, they took the time to talk to ARMY. Through Juliette's translations, ARMY was able to understand what was going on. Taehyung explained that he did want to leave because he was tired of lying. They all said that everyone had found their soulmates except for Jungkook but they knew his time would come too.

"Do you guys want to know two of the member's soulmates?" Namjoon asked them.

The crowd roared with excitement!

"You will find out at the end! We hope you enjoy the rest of the concert!"

They ran off the stage to change into their next outfits and the concert went on as usual. Everything was amazing, the crowd was pumped, and the members were happier than ever. The end came so fast that they didn't want the concert to end. However, after their goodbyes, Juliette and Erika approached the members and held Jimin and Taehyung's hands.

"Everyone, this is my soulmate Erika who is a very talented aerobatic performer!" Taehyung introduced her.

Erika shyly waved at everyone as they all cheered again.

"And this is my soulmate Juliette," Jimin began, "A very talented painter who has been one of our backup dancers through tour and tonight's translator."

"Hi Paris," she said in French, "It's a pleasure to finally come out of hiding right in my hometown."

"We hope you all can be respectful to our soulmates as you are to us. This is a big step for us as idols and for the k-pop community as no one has ever revealed their soulmates before," Jin said.

"Thank you for having us Paris, we hope you enjoyed the show!" Jungkook said in English.

With that, they performed their final song along with Erika and had the best concert of their lives.