Chapter Text
The room was dark, nothing there but a dark figure cast by the light of a lamp. The boy looks at his hand disgusted, yet a bit flustered. It is an unfamiliar feeling, a feeling pushed deep down. He grabbed the scissors that had been waiting on the desk and cut the red string connecting him and his potential romance. There was a sense of relief in the boy, but he knew the string would come back to him. It did. He was still left confused as ever.
His phone alarm woke him up from his slumber. He looks at the red string tangled and moving towards the door. He hears clamoring on the outside of his door. He assumes it was his roommate and his soulmate. A soulmate, a red string, why should something silly like that define you?
He didn’t care, not then, not now, not in the future. He got up from the bed and walked towards the mirror. Could someone like--no, love- someone like him? He scratched his dark hair and started to head to the showers.
“Gene!” his roommate called for him. Gene had turned to face his roommate snuggling with his girlfriend. “ I’m throwing a party this weekend, I was wondering if you wanted to take a break from studying to-”
Gene cuts him off, “ Sorry I’m going out of town for the weekend. Um, touring the university I might transfer to.”
“What a shame. Maybe next time”.
“Yeah…”
Gene knew his penpal, Leper, had attended the university in Boston. The timid boy had agreed to let Gene stay at his apartment. Before he was off, he texted Leper. He dreams, well it’s usually like nightmares, but he dreams for once. For once, he dreams, he dreams of what could happen.
A diploma
A career
A family who is proud of him
A person who loves him, for himself
He awakes almost shaken by his dream. His plane just arrived at his destination. Was he disappointed by his dream? Doesn’t matter, it never does, he needed a way to get to Leper’s. But it was dark, so he just took a cab there.
“Hey Gene, how are you?” He smiles, it was 10 in the morning. He doesn’t respond but just gives a fake smile, he never smiles genuinely these days. “ I know I said I’d take you, but I just remembered that I have a session today.” He knew from his letters that Leper had to go to therapy since he was in eleventh grade, for past traumas. He understood, didn’t protest, besides Gene had only asked for help out of the blue. It didn’t mean that Leper had to change his schedule for him. “ I feel bad, I’ll make it up to you, we’ll hang out”, Leper pauses for a moment then he springs up, “ I know a guy who is hosting a party tonight”!
“ I’d like that” The lonely boy gives a faint smile.
Leper recommended a small coffee shop that he and a couple of uni friends go to frequently, it’s good, it’s alright. Gene doesn’t really like coffee, but still drinks it. He gets his usual, black coffee.
Gene never asks about the string to anyone, not to his roommate, not to his parents, not to his brother, not to Leper. On the other hand, If anyone asks he just says that he is waiting. He isn’t. He barely notices it, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t want to care as much as he did. Almost all of his peers found their soulmate, including Leper according to the last time they talked. As he walked up the street wondering how in the world anyone would want to waste their life away, he felt a tug on his hand. He ignores it. It tugged again. And again. And again.
“What do you want-” He freezes.
A handsome boy with tan skin and brunette hair stands there hugging the pile of string that connected them. He is mesmerized by the boy’s vivid green eyes.