A/N:  This chapter was a pain!!!  And I know it will also be a pain to post it due to all the links I will need to provide in the comments!!  I sincerely fought to get this chapter down, and mostly just because the amount of research I had to put into it.  Any way...there's my rant.  I hope you enjoy this chapter and the effort it took to put it together...

Also, just an FYI.  Yes I did include all of the images of clothing in this chapter.  I just put them in a collage after all of the purchases are described to limit the number of photos since wattpad does have a number limit and I definitely would have went over it had I did them all separately.  Plus I did it by store that way each shop got credited.

Side note:  After seeing all the photos of beautiful Portofino I definitely think this is one of the places I want to visit in my life.

4862 words

From the images I have seen of Portofino I knew this would be one of the stops that I wouldn't be able to help but fall in love with. So, I had talked to my soulmates beforehand and suggested that we plan ahead these two days so we can make the most of the time we have here. Our plan is to linger over our breakfast a bit this morning and discuss it as a group.

Despite the fact Nikola is the ship's concierge I honestly haven't seen as much of him as I have of his twin brother, Feliċ. Yet here he is this morning before us. "Feliċ and Beppe are planning on making crepelles for you this morning. As you can probably guess from the name alone, they are Italian's version of crepes, although they are thinner and crispier than what you might be used to when thinking of the French version." He pauses for a second then remembers to elaborate his reason for bringing that up. "They would like to know what each of you would like in or on your crepes."

Generally I am one of the last to order, but this morning I know exactly what I want because I missed out on this very thing months ago since my appetite had disappeared the morning that I met Brighton Davis. "Fruit Salsa." I immediately answer without hesitation.

Nikola gives me a confused look. "Can you describe what that is just in case?"

"I can do you one better." I pull up a recipe online and show him.

"Ah, okay. Yes, I am sure they can do something similar. Although the fruit might be a bit different. Is there any fruit that you don't like or are allergic to?"

I think for a second but nothing immediately comes to mind. "I can't think of anything I don't like. Although, I will admit to being exceptionally fond of strawberries, bananas, and pineapple."

He nods. "I am sure that sharing that with Beppe and Feliċ will have them both insisting on those very ingredients."

Hobi, being my lovable punk that he is, orders the nutella and strawberries. Then smirks at me deviously. I roll my eyes at him. "You act like I am going to react every time you order nutella. No, I just won't willingly want a bite of the concoction."

Then my bunny shocks me by ordering a strawberry, banana, nutella crepelle. I turn to him unable to keep the shock from my face. "Not you too!"

He gives me his sweet bunny grin and shrugs his shoulders. "I like nutella too."

Then Jimin orders the same as Jk only he orders a whipped cream instead of nutella. Both Hobi and Jk mutter something underneath their breath that has Jimin kicking the leg of their chairs underneath the table since the two happen to be opposite them. Er, at least that is what I assume happened. Jimin dropped down lower in his chair, his whole body spasmed twice, then he promptly fell out of it.

I lose track of the others' orders honestly due to the trio's hijinks. But when breakfast is brought out I do listen to the wait staff as each plate is called out and passed around the table to the appropriate recipient. Namjoon ends up with a blueberry with lemon custard cream. Jin an apple and cinnamon. Tae had ordered peanut butter and chocolate chips. Yoongi is the only one of us that decided to go for a savory crepelle. He ordered eggs, ham, green onion, and fontina cheese. Because I am in more of a sweet mood then savory I will probably have a bite of all of the sweet ones aside from Jk's and Hobi's.

During the downtime of food preparation we each started searching for things we might want to do while in Portofino. We had decided today we would go shopping and visit Castle Brown. Normally I would have probably tried to argue that shopping wouldn't take that long, but then I saw a listing of what all the Piazzetta di Portofino had to offer, and I quickly realized there was no way that it wouldn't take hours upon hours to just look around at the many high scale fashion designer boutiques not to mention the few local stalls and stores scattered around the area.

Dior, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, Emilio Pucci, and Missoni all had boutiques in the piazza strictly for their label alone. Then there were other boutiques that specialized in a slew of top fashion designers.

A boutique by the name of Maltempi boasted names such as Tory Burch, Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Givenchy, and Alexander McQueen. And I only knew that because I briefly perused the homepage after selecting "woman" from the mainpage where it showcased some of their new arrivals.

Spinnaker, whose main webpage made me a bit dizzy with the model shots gif or video at the top, also was similar to Maltempi. From scrolling down away from the vertiginous model highlight I saw fashion designers such as Etro, Burberry, and Dolce & Gabbana. (Truthfully I hadn't heard of Etro before this moment, but their mixed patchwork patterns made me quite intrigued.)

Modes was another multi top Fashion Designer boutique I stumbled across, like the Maltempi website I had to dig a bit deeper into the website to see what designers they were sure to feature. So I clicked the "Woman" tag at the top and perused their selection. This shop featured top fashion brands such as Balenciaga, Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent, Dolce & Gabbana, Vetements, Versace, Jimmy Choo, and so many others I simply chose to stop scrolling through the list. Although, to be fair, the website was one based out of the United States and there was no clear way to know what this smaller boutique actually would actually end up carrying.

"I'll concede to shopping, but don't necessarily expect me to purchase anything. Also, can we start at the shops with multiple designers first? I think that will give us more variation in the long run, and I see it likely that we may not even have to stop in some of the specified designers shops unless we don't come across their designs in the other boutiques." Then I proceed to list those shops by name so we are all clear which ones I am referring to.

They are all in agreement for the most part. Although I'm not surprised that they point out that they will probably also want to stop at the Dior boutique no matter what.

There is a part of me that would like to get the shopping out of the way, but it's still early and some of the boutiques just aren't open yet. So, we plan to proceed to Castello Brown first. I know that the path up to it will be steep just because it is on an elevated strip of land that overlooks the port. So between that and the lower temperature today, 72°F (22°C), I plan my outfit accordingly. I wear my white bali pants paired with my blue striped smock top and the tennis shoes that Hobi kindly remembered for the trip. Perhaps tomorrow I might have more selections to choose from outfit wise. That is if I end up finding anything in the shops. I am truly not used to spending so much money on clothing. However, if I see something that I don't think I can live without I'll probably push myself to end up purchasing it regardless.

When we end up outside Jk surprises me by handing me an article of clothing. "What's this?"

He smiles coyly down at me. "An extra hoodie. Just in case the breeze becomes too bad."

Truthfully the one I had smuggled was currently in the laundry. I hadn't thought to steal another one from any of my soulmates, and I had forgotten to grab my cardigan. So, Jk's foresight is actually exceptionally welcome. "Thank you, Bunny."

It takes us probably about ten minutes before we ever get to the path leading up to Castello Brown. Once we do I definitely can agree with my prediction that the pathway is indeed steep. As we walk parallel to the port none of us can resist stopping periodically to just look down at the water below us. "It's so beautiful." I find myself muttering aloud.

Each of my soulmates offer a quick agreement before Namjoon encourages us all to move onward. Once we are at the entrance itself I ask. "So, do we know the purpose of the building? I imagine it wasn't truly a castle."

"Supposedly in the 1950s they had an excavation team do some archaeological studies on the area. They found evidence of it being used as a watchtower of sorts. It also supposedly lived up to its significant standpoint when it had a hand in saving the community from an attack by a Venetian fleet in 1435." Namjoon recites. Then he pauses to blush and shyly admit. "Okay, so I learned all that from the website."

I smile in response and we all usher ourselves inside. The art lover in all of us is pleased to discover the interior is flanked with many surprising sculptures and paintings. We linger and dissect each one. Each of us offers our own insight about the piece before us.

When we proceed through the highest exit of the facility we all linger and take copious amounts of pictures due to the striking image below us. "I don't know if this is my favorite sight thus far, but it definitely is up there." All of my soulmates quickly agree.

I'm not entirely sure how long we end up lingering, but it's my stomach that loudly embarasses me and announces our need for sustenance. Luckily we all had already settled on where we would be having lunch. The restaurant was called O Magazin and we all agreed that the menu sounded mouth watering.

Namjoon and Jimin both order something called Pappardelle Portofino, which according to the menu is a pasta with pesto, tomato sauce, and cream. Personally I find it intriguing for it to have all three sauces. Then they also proceed to order the beef fillet, which isn't really unheard of if I am understanding Italian menus properly. It looks like the pasta would traditionally be served as a first course entree after the appetizer and the beef would be a second course. Yoongi and Jin both order a dish of mixed fried fish. Jk orders the house specialty, Spaghetti Magazin, which is served with cream, mussels, and chili pepper. I order grilled shrimp. Tae and Hobi both order seafood risotto. Per normal we ask the dishes to be brought out at the same time, and we all end up sharing.

Instead of proceeding directly on to shopping we all decide to first take a pleasant stroll around the piazza first. We all agree that we want our food to settle before we potentially have to try on clothing. Yoongi settles his hand in one of mine, while Hobi takes the other one. I smile fondly up at the two of them. They both surprise me by pecking my cheeks simultaneously. It was agreed that kissing on the cheek or forehead would be allowed, but we haven't really been pushing that envelope much so I am taken aback by their forwardness. "What was that for?" I can't help but ask as my cheeks become warm due to the pink flush I am sure is infusing them.

They both shrug. "Can't we kiss our soulmate while we are on our...vacation?" Hobi does his best to cover up his near blunder. I could tell that he wanted to say honeymoon instead of vacation, and it is obvious that he is pretty worried about his near slip up due to the expression that tries to linger on his face.

Yoongi growls in my ear. "Trust me when I say that I want to be able to do a lot more than kiss you on the cheek, Honey."

It's too bad my night with Yoongi isn't tonight, but tomorrow night. I am curious if he has anything planned out.

After about a half an hour later I concede that it is probably time to start our shopping excursion. We first stop at Maltempi. We all fall in love with one specific t-shirt so we all agree to purchasing one for each of us. The brand, Golden Goose, isn't one I am familiar with but the t-shirt definitely makes a statement with the words printed on it. It makes parallels between uniqueness and authenticity and while a lot of it is in reference to their clothing in general, we all find our own parallels to the sentiment.

Aside from the one t-shirt Jimin, Jin, Jk, and Tae don't find anything else really jumping out at them at this particular boutique so they come over and try to help me out. Honestly it's mostly the 95s who are both starting a pile of clothing for me to try on. Hobi heads over to my side and pouts that he didn't actually find something himself. "Oh, I think I saw something over here you might like." I immediately remember.

Just because it is in the women's section doesn't mean he will turn it away. I mean I remember seeing images of a photoshoot where he was wearing a skirt. But, honestly the same can be said for the rest of them. They don't judge clothing by the gender assigned to them.

I head over to where I saw the sweater and pull it out for him to see it. The designer is Stella McCartney and it's a zipper sweater with a high collar. The sleeves are myriad shades of multiple rainbow-like colors. The rest of the front is a sky of varying shades of blue with white puffy clouds on it. It's the back that mostly reminded me of Hobi though. The top of the back both has a sun and rainbow on it. Underneath that is a cloud with the words smile on it. The rest of the scene at the bottom is a landscape. He tries it on by first trying the largest size available which proves to be a pretty perfect fit. "Yes, thank you Daisy! I love it!" He smiles warmly at me.

Then Namjoon and Yoongi both head over. They each hold up a flannel shirt by the designer Off White. They are nearly identical aside from color. Namjoon's is red, white, and black. Yoongi's is black, white, and gray.

"I guess that means I am the last one to finish this time around." I turn to look at the clothing that the two 95s have accumulated and feel my eyes bulge from my head. I mutter something about how long this will take before I end up in the fitting room.

Despite their best efforts I only end up with two additional purchases aside from the Golden Goose tee. The first is a coral colored sweatshirt also by Golden Goose. It's a partial star, missing one point to it, and the shape is made by a myriad of words in white. Admittedly the word 'hope' specifically jumped out at me, but I am honestly fond of all the words on the sweatshirt.

The second item is a dress by Moschino. I honestly didn't expect to either get another dress. However, this one not only fit me perfectly I found it both cute and sexy at the same time. It's white and printed with purses of bright shades of blue, yellow, coral pink, orange, and green. The straps of the purses formed heart shapes here and there giving it the cute vibe I referred to. The design of the dress itself was a wrap around with a low v-neck that did a bit more than hinted at my cleavage. The length of the dress had it hitting just below my knees. I probably wouldn't wear this dress during our vacation, due to the low neckline, but I did quite adore it.

One shop and already I was quite exhausted from trying on the clothing alone. I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that I had spent an hour in the fitting room. Our next stop is Spinnaker. In this shop all of my soulmates find something that is unique just to them. So, I get a bit more time to myself to look around. Before I head to the women's section