Intertwined Fates

Kang Iseul and Jung Nari have been best friends ever since they can remember. Despite not following the traditional story of "best friends since birth", the two ladies have known each other since their elementary school days and have been attached by the hip after they met in first grade. At the mere age of 8, the two took interest in the concept of soulmates and spent one too many nights in their local library to educate themselves on the subject, flicking page upon page until Iseul ultimately decided that all signs pointed to Nari as her lifelong companion.   "It's confirmed, Nari," Iseul snatched the light book from her best friend's lap, marching through the makeshift blanket that surrounded their waists until they were pressed thigh to thigh, "you agree with me, don't you? Soulmates are real! There's no doubt in my mind that you're the one for me!"   They were only three nights in to their agreed week of studying on the topic when Iseul had thrown caution to the wind and dropped the bomb. Nari, the oldest of the two, was more mature and couldn't be easily swayed. The rusty pages in front of her spoke of how soulmates often had each other's name imprinted on some part of their body: the wrist, the inner thigh, even in obscure places such as the patch of skin that was hidden behind the earlobe. She had checked all of those places a few nights ago and was disappointed to find that they were all clean from any ancient markings. Her flesh remained free from Iseul's name. Other books wrote of how when soulmates met and touched for the first time, a series of random numbers would magically appear of their wrist to confirm their bond. However, she and Iseul met two years ago and the amount of skinship that passed between them had been numerous at this point in their friendship. Still, there was nothing.   No name, no number. Nothing.   As the nights dragged on, Nari was starting to feel as if everything was hopeless; that soulmates really were just a source of fiction that authors played around with until they were satisfied with the originality of their work. Perhaps her and Iseul simply became best friends through circumstance and that the universe didn't mean to bind them together after all.   "How can you say that?" Nari's disgruntled mutter didn't go unheard to the girl beside her. "None of these situation matches with ours Iseul. Maybe... I think it's fake. Like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy."   "How can you say that about Santa Claus?!" Iseul's petulant exclaim was met with a scrunched up expression from her best friend, now immune to her childish tantrums as she folded another book shut and stored it away. Noting how Nari wasn't giving in, the youngest quickly tried to appease her depleting emotions. ing her own novel forward, one that was clearly worn away from the state of its wrinkled pages, dust compiling at the seams of its spine, she shed new light in the dwindling concept. "Please just listen to this one- Have you ever heard of the 'Red String of Fate'?"   The Red String of Fate; it's an age-old approach to the modern idea of soulmates but it binds two souls nonetheless. Originating from Chinese folklore, it depicts of two individuals who were tied together by an invisible red string presumably around their ankles or pinkies. Its deity, Yue Lao, an old man who lives a peaceful life under the guidance of the moon, careful constructs each silky string to a child during the eve of their birth, its red hue vibrant and glistening to nobody's eyes but his own. Everybody has that special someone and it's up to fate to decide when these two individuals will be born, and thus, the Red String of Faith shall remain limp at the side of the first born until their lover is conceived, the gravitation so great that it tugs the cord to its limits, stretching as far as it can until one day, it snaps; forcing the two predestined souls to bump into each other in a union that nobody could've prevented, regardless of time, place or circumstance.   "Iseul," the strain in Nari's voice was clear as day, innocent eyes fleeting upwards to gaze at the child with pigtails. "This book says that this applies to lovers. Isn't that what our parents call each other? I don't think that it's right for us... We're just friends, right? I don't want to be married yet and mother always said that I should marry a nice m-"   Having heard enough, Iseul's hand immediately flew up to cover Nari's mouth, her lips set into a firm line that couldn't be shook even when her best friend's unusual black eyes drooped in defeat. Thankfully, Iseul was the fighter between them and she would never give up on something that she firmly believed in. "We'll keep looking, okay? I know that we're soulmates. Just keep looking and I will too. There has to be something that explains our bond. You feel it too, don't you?"   Left with no other choice but to give