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The red string of fate.
Potentially one of the most cliché stories you can hear.
The idea that two people are destined, connected through an invisible thread. How do you even know it’s red?
The remnants of a bright Christmas celebration shine the way through Taiwan in preparation to welcome the New Year. The whole city glows beautifully and the city buzzes busier than usual, which is one of the biggest appeals Taipei offers its tourists.
Nicholas hates how crowded it gets. His parents make him come along every year despite his objections, he’s too young to stay home and frankly, too much of as scaredy-cat as well to stay on his own. He watches from the sidelines how the stalls prepare food, the smells are carried through the cold wind that gently swings the red lanterns creating what in his opinion looks like a red labyrinth in the sky.
*crack*
*bang*
He recognizes the faces of his classmates and neighbors, kids running around throwing firecrackers around and playing with sparklers. The loud sounds sometimes become too overwhelming for Nicholas. He feels how the explosions vibrate through his entire body and how the ground beneath him seems to shake along. He hates this feeling.
*boom!*
His eardrums feel like they’re about to burst as the countdown starts.
He doesn’t know if he can take much more.
It’s too much for a young boy.
10
9
8
7
The smoke is getting heavier, the lights get brighter and he tries to ground himself.
6
5
4
His parents and sister are celebrating along, they can't hear him.
3
2
1
“Are you okay?” Unknown words barely reach him.
Nicholas’ eyes try to spare a glance.
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
*BANG!*
Something takes over and Nicholas sprints off, he can feel his head in his throat. His eyes can no longer hold his tears and he just runs. It’s all his body can manage at this point.
“Hey!”
Before he can fully process it, he finds himself under the stairs of an abandoned shop. He also learns he’s not alone. There’s another boy beside him, who’s trying to catch his breath. “I found you!” There’s that made-up language again. Nicho blinks and looks at the other boy who is just watching him with a cartoonishly curious look on his face.
His eyes are so big.
Euijoo realizes the boy is too scared to even speak, or so he assumes considering the way he’s shaking. He reaches then to place a hand on his chest, indeed his heart is racing. “You’re scared…”
Nicholas furrows his eyebrows, this foreigner doesn’t seem to realize he’s not understanding what he’s saying.
And the boy just reaches carefully to pat his back, his touch is uncharacteristcally gentle for someone his age. Normally Nicholas would object, but the loud rumbling of the fireworks has reduced him to a shaking mess that finds comfort in otherwise unwelcome touch. He slowly leans against him and closes his eyes, trying to tune out the constant booming.
Euijoo humms and shrugs his red button-up shirt off, placing it over both as if offering an additional shelter against the menacing explosions. “You’re safe now…” He says softly, with a smile.
It doesn’t take long for Euijoo’s parents to come looking for him.
“I have to go…” He says, looking worriedly and Nicholas who looks disoriented as the other moves away. The boy can’t seem to shake off the feeling that he shouldn’t leave him alone yet little can his protesting do against his parents who want to continue sightseeing.
His big eyes find a loose thread on his shirt, he doesn’t spare a second thought and pulls on it until it breaks. He runs back to Nicholas and smiles a little, wrapping the thread around his wrist. “You’re safe…” He whispers, quickly getting back to his parents.
Nicholas just watches him leave. His cheeks are somehow damp again.
Sometimes, just like a firework, childhood encounters are something beautiful yet fleeting.
Sometimes, they stay with us for life.
For a whole 15 years until, as Nicholas exits his train in Tokyo, he is met with those big eyes again.
His hand tightens around the strap of his backback, finger adorned with a piece of red string that seems to be a little worn out but has somehow held through the years. However those eyes look right through him, as the boy scans his pass to ener the station Nicholas is on his way of exiting.
Nicholas looks around franctically, furrowing his eyebrows. Did the boy not remember? Maybe he didn’t see him properly.
He feels himself starting to panic but goes back inside, he scans his pass and starts dashing through the white halls of the train station. He thinks back to the red labyrinths back home.
He needs to find him.
Soon, a familiar figure comes into sight. He’s still taller than himself, he really didn’t change at all.
Nicholas however, has changed a lot. He’s taller, his hair is longer and his ears are pierced. His eyes are somehow more intimidating too.
Maybe that’s why the boy didn’t recognize him. “You’re safe…” He repeats like a prayer.
He doesn’t know his name. He doesn't know his age.
The only thing he knows is that the made-up language he spoke and the words he religiously repeats to himself are Korean. He has learned Korean.
“You!”
“Me?” Euijoo blinks, looking back at Nicholas.
The eldest feels it in his chest. He knows it’s that boy.
“Excuse me… But do I know you?”
7 words.
He has also learned it takes 7 words for his heart to break.
“I’m… Sorry, I thought.” Nicholas clears his throat. “I thought you were someone else.” And with a sad smile he turns around, heading towards the station’s exit.
“Are you okay?”
The words like a trigger push Nicholas’ steps faster and further away. Before he’s realized, he’s running again.
He feels everything. The rumbling in his ears, the pressure in his chest—sudden, overwhelming, and impossible to control, leaving behind a trail of chaos and a lingering sense of unease.
He’s back in Taipei.
“Hey!”
Nicholas is not familiar with this city, he just looks around and starts dashing through the streets that twist around Shibuya until he finds a relatively secluded spot in an alley where several bars remain closed in preparation for the night.
It takes him a few minutes, but Euijoo manages to find him. There’s something strangely familiar about this scene that he can’t quite place.
“Are you lost?”
“…No. Why did you follow me?”
“You didn’t look okay.”
Nicholas attempts to glare his way out of this, but Euijoo’s kind eyes seem to know better than flinch at someone like him. “Leave me alone.”
“I can’t. You’re not okay.”
“I’ll be as soon as you leave.”
Euijoo can’t understand the bitterness behind his words. “Did I do something to offend you?”
Yes. “No. I-“ Nicholas holds himself back.
*BANG*
The night has slowly fallen, and with that the alley illuminates with the soft flickering of reds and oranges. The fireworks of a distant festival taking place adorn the sky like delicate, fleeting petals unfurling in the air.
They outline Euijoo's silhouette beautifully.
Oh, the light that falls
Is a wishful shooting star
Oh, you're the one I was looking for
"I'm safe." Nicholas whispers reaching to place in Euijoo's hand a piece of red string carefully made into a ring.
An all too familiar red string.
The youngest turns to look at him, taken aback.
The red lights, the fireworks, the way Nicholas looks at him as if he was the only one in the world. It's all come back to him.
Light me up, just like magic
You and I, will never forget
That moment when our eyes met
Bang, bang, fireworks bloomed in the sky
Euijoo smiles sweetly, slipping the red string around his finger. "I found you."