Chapter Text
Chaewon doesn't believe in soulmates.
All her life, she was surrounded by people who were brought together by fate.
She knew they were soulmates because she could see it. Ever since she was born, she had the ability to see everyone's soulmates. How?
Well, by a single, red thread tied around the pinky finger, to which the other end of the thread is tied to the owner's soulmate's pinky finger.
But she's never told anyone about her special ability because she thought it was too ridiculous.
After all, her parents were not soulmates but they were happy together. For a while, at least.
A few years ago, Chaewon's parents had fought and her mother left with another man (which Chaewon saw that the end of her mother's thread was tied to the man's pinky finger, the thread glowing vibrantly), saying that he was "the one for her", leaving Chaewon alone with her father.
Her father barely handled the situation properly. He was heartbroken that he lost the love of his life but he struggled to be okay for the sake of what's left of his family. Of his Chaewon.
Chaewon on the other hand, blamed the concept of soulmates on her family's misfortunes.
It was bad enough that she didn't believe in it before, now she hated it.
Everytime her eyes wandered at the soft, faint glow of the thread wrapped around her pinky finger, she would be reminded of her mother's betrayal.
She swore that she would never meet her soulmate. She doesn't even want to see their face because she doesn't want herself to end up like her parents.
But fate had other plans.
Imagine the surprise on her face when she had bumped into a girl while walking down the food aisle of a convenience store and saw that the end of her thread was tied to said girl, glowing a vibrantly vivid red into the pocket of her black hoodie.
She craned her neck slightly to look at the taller girl in the eyes and what she saw took her breath away.
The girl was absolutely beautiful, eventhough her face was partially hidden by the hood of her hoodie.
Chaewon parted her mouth slightly to say something but the taller girl just pushed past her.
Talk about rude, Chaewon thought. This is exactly why she didn't want to meet her so-called soulmate.
She was just about to go back to minding her bussiness, muttering under her breath about how soulmates were a waste of time, when a small commotion at the counter caught her attention.
Not being able to contain her curiosity, Chaewon walked to where the commotion was happening.
She saw the hooded girl from earlier was being interrogated by woman at the counter. She was pointing at the bar of chocolate that was at the feet of the hooded girl.
"I'm sorry but you're gonna have to pay for that," the cashier lady said, glaring at the hooded girl.
"I'm not paying for anything," the hooded girl fired back.
"I clearly saw that bar of chocolate fall from your pocket. God knows if my eyes were deceiving me."
Seeing that the situation was getting messy, Chaewon interfered.
I can't believe I'm doing this, Chaewon thought. I'm gonna regret this later.
"What are you doing? Didn't you say that you left your money back at your house? If you wanted something, you could have just asked me, no biggie." Chaewon said, pushing her way in front of the girl, facing the cashier.
She picked up the bar of chocolate and put in on the counter.
"Sorry about my friend. She's just a little shy and moody. You know the whole emo thing," Chaewon laughed nervously as the cashier lady eyed her in suspicion, not believing her words. The blonde girl proceeds to hand her the money to pay for the chocolate.
"All right. But if I see any of you doing anything suspicious again, I won't hesitate to call the police." The cashier lady said.
"Will do, Ma'am." Chaewon replied and turned around to face the hooded girl only to see her already walking out of the store. She quickly followed after her.
"Hey, wait! What about your chocolate?" Chaewon yelled while holding up the sweet, which caught the hooded girl's attention.
She turned her body around to look at Chaewon, a mixture of boredom and irritation in her eyes. She looked slightly annoyed which caught Chaewon off-guard.
"Do whatever you want with it. I don't care," the hooded girl said. She then proceeds to pull out a lollipop from her pocket, taking off the plastic cover wrapped around it and shoving the lollipop into her mouth.
Chaewon just gaped at the girl in disbelief.
Like seriously, who does this girl think she is?
She just saved her hooded ass from being thrown into prison. A "thank you" would have sufficed.
The hooded girl then furrowed her eyebrows as Chaewon was still staring at her.
"What? You expected me to say something else?" the hooded girl held in the lollipop in her hand and pointed it at Chaewon. "Look, I didn't even ask you to pay for the stupid chocolate and I could've handled it back there if you hadn't interfered. So keep in mind that this was all your doing."
The hooded girl then went on her way, leaving Chaewon staring at the back of her hoodie. Chaewon thought that if she stared hard enough, she could bore a hole through the girl's head.
She really didn't want to see the girl anymore, soulmate or not.
(But she couldn't deny that she was even the slightest bit curious about the girl.)