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The teacher tells them to stay together throughout the museum tour but it was awkward being tied to another boy. The red silk ribbon looped around Kyungsoo's and shy Chanyeol’s wrist against their will just as the power went out, causing the children to scream. Someone bumped Chanyeol by accident, sending both boys to the floor where their lips met. Kyungsoo pushed Chanyeol away in shock, untying his ribbon to run away. Chanyeol was worried so he searched for his partner on his own.
Kyungsoo got lost in a closed medieval exhibition, crying until someone held his hand and blinded him with a flashlight. "I found you!" Chanyeol smiled, handing Kyungsoo the flashlight as he tied the rest of his ribbon around Kyungsoo’s wrist. Kyungsoo hiccupped and held on, looking at Chanyeol in thanks while waiting for the light to return together.
A sigh meets the wind again as an apology hangs before Kyungsoo. Sorry, I don't like you. Kyungsoo smiles, pretending everything's fine which makes it more pathetic. Another confession fails so he dejectedly returns to his classroom.
Another sigh meets the wind again as Chanyeol apologizes. Sorry, I like someone else. Chanyeol shrugs as he toys with the red ribbon tied to his backpack and lets her leave. Another confession fails so he gazes at a classroom window across the field. To the one he’s loved for so long.
Kyungsoo stands in the train with his earphones on, thinking about when his soulmate would come. But his thoughts are interrupted by a stranger with his hood on, trying to find a spot to stand on.
Chanyeol fails to notice Kyungsoo behind him, holding the bar as he listens to his music but one of his earphones falls, dangling embarrassingly as he tries to catch it, only to hold another hand instead. Kyungsoo flinches at the contact, grasping his own fallen earphone quickly to plug it back to his ear. Both of them hear the same song but in different parts, one starting, one ending.
They switched earphones! Chanyeol notices the puppy earphone clip on the cord and they both drop it again, touching deftly and carefully without looking until Kyungsoo winds his own cord so the right earphone returns to him. Chanyeol smiles to himself, forgetting this happened but acknowledges the other’s taste in music.
The two stepped out of the train through different doors, amazingly dodging each other as an ad standing in the middle of the walkway catches Kyungsoo’s attention. Find your date with the red string of fate. Join the matchmaking maze every Saturday! Chanyeol sees it amusingly at a different exit with a scoff on his way out.
Kyungsoo joins the event without reading the mechanics until that day.
- Pick a red string from any entrance to tie around the wrist.
- Wait for the other end to be taken before proceeding in the maze to meet your match within five minutes.
- If you fail, please remove the string and exit the maze.
Organizers are not allowed to share participants' information.
He worries about the time more than getting tangled with others inside, rushing to meet his End. With a minute left, he desperately follows the string with occasional tugs but bumps into another participant, stunned to see it's Chanyeol. Chanyeol's about to speak but Kyungsoo runs away to hide, saved by the siren despite failing to meet his match. It's silly, but Kyungsoo signs up again on a random date, holding on to the thrill and belief that his End will be the one.
Back in school, Kyungsoo daydreams about his End until Chanyeol drops his mom's gift to Kyungsoo's mom on his desk. He notices Chanyeol's wrist has a red line and a familiar faded stamp, holding him to see it better. Chanyeol sees the same marks on Kyungsoo, hurrying to leave before he asks anything. Kyungsoo notices the ribbon tied to his backpack, finding it familiar. What if? Of all the strangers in the event, the chances of them being at each other's end are small but what if… Nah, that would be ridiculous.
Are they friends? No, they just know each other exists and their parents are friends. But Chanyeol's not the short, chubby kid anymore and Kyungsoo's flustered about it, blaming that museum trip. It’s the only thing they remember when they see each other and neither knows why exactly.
Moments like choosing books adjacent from each other and sitting behind each other relaxes their string of fate from the stretch. Chanyeol rises, hitting another student’s chair by accident. He apologizes, making Kyungsoo look and stutter as Chanyeol notices his earphones and clip similar to the one from the train. Kyungsoo’s phone also played the same song. Chanyeol notices Kyungsoo’s flushed cheeks as he leaves, thinking what if?
Kyungsoo tries the matchmaking maze again and chooses the same entrance and string, winding it fast around his fingers as he goes, only to rest against the wall as the seconds dwindle down. He failed again. If only he knew his End did the same thing on the other side of the wall, equally disappointed.
"Why do I feel like it's you? I'm going crazy thinking you're my End." Kyungsoo sighs.
"Me too." Chanyeol pants as he looks left and right to participants matched. His voice behind the wall stuns Kyungsoo as the power cuts and the timer ceases to exist. Kyungsoo feels his wrist being tugged as the organizers escort people out. "Can you feel it?"
That they share similar overlooked feelings for some time now or the tug? Kyungsoo nods to himself, realizing that bumping into each other before in here wasn’t an accident but fate’s answer. He runs to his End with hope, rounding the corner only to meet a blinding light from a phone. “I found you.” Kyungsoo whispers as the light lowers to reveal Chanyeol with the ribbon that bound them first tied to his free wrist, waiting for him all this time.