Chapter Text
"Yang Jeongin, are you even listening to me?"
He wasn't, that was for sure, but Jeongin chose to nod at his best friend. He'd like to think he earned the right to be nervous about things, given how he was finally a college student, as multiple thoughts invaded his mind as they walked. They were on the way to his school dorm on a bright Saturday morning, since he still had to officially move in before the semester started. Coming from the same neighbourhood and being in the same university himself, Seungmin had offered to help bring his stuff.
“I’m listening,” he added as an afterthought.
Despite his answer, Seungmin saw through him immediately as the older boy rolled his eyes, but decided to repeat his earlier statement regardless.
“As I was saying,” the brunette began again. “College is way different from high school. The subjects are harder, some professors don’t care, you’d think free time is great until you realize you’re suddenly running out of time, and you’re going to meet a lot of people. Like, a lot of new people, so you’re gonna have to be careful with who you befriend, too. I won’t always be around since we don’t even have the same classes.”
“I’ll manage,” Jeongin replied. “I’m sociable enough.”
“You’re adorable,” Seungmin stressed, earning him an annoyed scowl which he pointedly ignored because that was also cute in itself. It’s not like the younger boy ever really got mad, anyway, so he was safe. “People will definitely flock towards you and I just want you to be careful.”
The shorter boy nodded, “I’ll be fine.”
“Also, you should probably keep that a secret.”
He didn’t have to ask what that was, since there was really only one thing the other boy could be talking about, anyway.
For as long as he could remember, Jeongin could see the red string of fate; a thin, string of red that curled around a person's left pinky finger. The same red string that connected two destined people together, usually just a thing of myths and fairytales, but for him it had always been something very real. They only appeared whenever the two fated people were fairly near each other, so it’s not like he saw red wherever he went. It also explained why he couldn’t see his own red string just yet, since his soulmate probably just wasn’t around.
He thought it was normal at first, always careful not to step on the string that connected his parents together, incase they felt it and it bothered them. He would side step or jump over it constantly as a child. It wasn't until he was questioned about his actions did he find out that not everybody can see it; and no, they didn't feel anything when Jeongin first attempted to actually touch it. He didn't either, merely seeing his hand pass through the string instead, but he saw it nonetheless.
Growing up, Jeongin had also learned it was best to ignore the strings.
That was a lesson he had to learn the hard way, mainly since it consisted of how much he couldn’t keep his mouth shut as a child. His parents humoured him when it came to their own string, but needless to say not everybody liked having a child point out where there were red strings and even more so, where there weren’t any red strings present. It was a curious thing, and he was a curious boy, but some things just weren’t meant to be shared.
“It’s not like people would believe me, anyway,” Jeongin found himself saying, just as the two arrived in front of the boys dormitory. He handed the guard his ID as Seungmin did the same, waited a bit before the guard could give Jeongin his keys, before the two headed to Room 137. On the way there, the younger boy picked up from where he left off. “I’m not going to announce I can see red strings, people will think I’m crazy.”
“I believed you though.”
“Only because your grandmother could see them, too,” Jeongin pointed out.
The first thing Jeongin noticed upon reaching Room 137 was the distinct, sudden pull on his left hand. For a split second, he panicked, before realizing that it was just because Seungmin actually was pulling at his hand. With a breath of relief—and a personal reminder not to be so jumpy, although he blamed how their last topic were the red strings for that—Jeongin pulled his hand away before asking why the older boy was suddenly so excited.
Seungmin pointed at the name card above Jeongin’s own.
“I know this guy! Han Jisung, he’s—“
“What about me?” came a voice from behind the two, making Seungmin jump and Jeongin turn towards the sound. Standing there was a boy with brightly coloured—practically orange—hair, looking at them curiously. He must have been Jisung, since he stared at Jeongin with particularly more interest for a few seconds, before speaking once more. “Are you my new roommate?”
The younger boy nodded, “my name is Yang Jeongin. I’m a year lower.”
“Well, don’t just stand there, Jeongin; make yourself at home!” Jisung said with a small chuckle as he inserted his own key into the door knob and pushed it open, walking past the two and into the room. Jeongin quickly followed suit, glad that at least his roommate seemed like a really nice and friendly person. Before he could enter fully though, he was stopped by Seungmin tugging on his shirt sleeve this time.
“He’s the Han Jisung, one of the biggest names on campus since he already produces his own music and he’s my age,” Seungmin whispered in awe. “You’re so lucky to be his roommate! Maybe he’ll even feature you on one of his songs since you’re a music major, too.”
Jeongin glanced back at the other boy, who seemed to have began picking some clothes off from the floor, before turning back to his friend.
“Maybe. I’d like to focus on passing classes first, though.”
The older boy coughed out a small ‘nerd’ under his breath, which Jeongin chose to ignore in favour of entering the room some more. It wasn’t anything too big, but spacious enough to fit two people in. There was a table on each side of the room, while connected on top of each table was the bed, so it looked like each boy had their own specific side of the room. Jisung’s already had a bunch of stuff on it, from random clothes to dolls to what looked like professional equipment for his music.
“Sorry, I’m a bit of a mess,” Jisung said sheepishly, as he carried a pile of clothes towards his closet and dumped them inside.
“It’s fine,” the younger boy assured him easily, thinking back to how his room back at home wasn’t the most organized either, but Jeongin didn’t need to expose himself by saying that. Next to him, Seungmin was too busy checking out the equipment to further comment about things, otherwise he would have easily mentioned something about Jeongin’s messy bed.
At that, Jisung grinned, “I like you already.”
Eventually, Seungmin had to go back his dorm building, leaving Jeongin alone with his roommate for the first time. The younger boy wasn’t entirely worried about things, since Jisung really did seem like a fairly nice guy; he asked Jeongin about where he was from, his favourite food, along with more random small talk that last a few hours until he excused himself from the room to head to the campus studio.
Overall, it was a good weekend, so Jeongin was feeling better about things when Monday rolled around.
He had almost, just almost, forgotten about his ability until Jeongin left the dorm only to be met with dozens of people walking around, surrounded by rows of prominent red strings. Some strings were thicker than most, while some were stretched thinner and thinner until it disappeared from his sight, although he knew it was still there. It was strange to see so many in one place, especially since a good handful of them didn’t even seem to know who their soulmate was—although some walked hand in hand with their soulmate, most simply walked past one another.
If he were younger and didn’t know any better, Jeongin would have ran up to random people and pointed them towards the direction of their soulmate. That would be a good thing, right? He was technically helping people find their one true love, wasn’t that what everybody wanted? The answer was a surprising no; tried and tested. If he were younger, he would have also actively walked around campus trying to find his own soulmate in the sea of new people. Shouldn’t that be what he wanted?
Sometimes, he did wish he could meet his soulmate soon.
Most of the time though, the answer was also a no. Jeongin would remember the various times he would so desperately wish that he would randomly meet his soulmate, only to end up with nothing around his finger at the end of the day. It came with the notion that the red string of fate was a happy fairytale he wanted to experience. As the years went by, he became aware of a harsh reality: fate can bond two people, but in the end, it’s still a human decision to actually follow through.
If his soulmate chose not to accept him, what could he do?
Despite how much he didn’t want to be distracted by the red strings, Jeongin was still barely near his classroom building when the bell rang.
Although technically, the first bell signalled only the end of the previous class, Jeongin found himself practically rushing since he wasn’t sure if the ten minute interval between that bell and the next one would be enough time. The campus was huge, but he hoped he knew his way well enough. He must have been quite the sight—a lanky boy with braces, probably sticking out like a sore thumb being the only one who walked too quickly amidst the otherwise calm crowd.
Thankfully, he made it to his desired building with a few minutes to spare, although he still had to reach his classroom all the way on the 4th floor before Jeongin would consider himself successful.
He was casually walking past people when there was a tug on his left hand.
It couldn’t have been Seungmin that time—the boy didn’t have class yet at that time, plus Jeongin was sure he was walking alone this whole time. Nobody else he knew was around, especially since he didn’t exactly know anybody else yet except for Jisung, and maybe some of the people he was with during the campus tours, but even they weren’t exactly friends. He thought about things once, twice, before he felt the pull again and finally decided to raise his left arm in front of him.
For the first time in his life, Jeongin watched as the string materialized on his own hand; it wrapped around his left pinky finger delicately, and despite how he knew it wasn't really physically there, he could feel phantom sensations on his finger as if it were, similar to the earlier pull he felt. His heart began to beat faster when he realized how the string continued to lengthen as his eyes unconsciously trailed the movement.
The red string didn't go very far, slipping between students as it moved, finally stopping only a few feet in front of him; Jeongin almost didn't want to look up.
So he didn't.
At least, not all the way; he paused at the sight of slightly muddied sneakers standing by the lockers and averted his eyes. He quickened his pace as he walked through the hallway and up the nearest flight of stairs. After all, he still had a long way to go, plus the second bell had already rang, filling Jeongin’s ears with a much needed distraction from what just happened.
His soulmate, Jeongin figured, could wait until he wasn't late for class.