CHAPTER ONE   “The introduction”

 

ITALICS are Jisoo’s thoughts!

 

It’s 9:23 AM.

The alarm clock had played 4 Minute’s Is It Poppin’ almost to the end of the song for the fifth time but Jisoo was still in her slumber.

After the song has ended, the room fell into silence for another 5 minutes. Then the song began to play once again. Pissed at the constant noises, Jisoo wakes up and shuts the alarm off. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the digital wall clock straight ahead of her.

9:30AM

She now had only 30 minutes to get ready and leave.

 

That's my normal life.

My name is Park Jisoo.

And I am a normal twenty years old girl.

I wake up to same alarm tone for every morning and get ready to go to work but somehow I always end up being late.

I have never gone to school…

So I just graduated high school without going to school and simply taking the GED to get my Certificate of High School Equivalency…

The reason behind it isn’t the main point, studying was never my thing anyways.

I live in a fairly big house for a twenty years old girl.

But I got that with my own skill… I mean I am a CEO of my own business…

Okay maybe it’s not that big AND it might be just a regular dating agency BUT my agency is the best…

Do you know why?

Because I have 100% success rate! My way doing it…

Look for the destined pairs through ‘The Red String’

 

I take a quick shower and get ready to leave. But I made sure that I looked like I had hours to get ready. I dried my hair and made it look like it was naturally pin straight, ending it with a nice baby blue headband. I wore a blue shorts and a high-low white button down that I held to ether with a cute blue belt. I pulled out a black sneaker heel and left the house, picking up my bag on the way out. Since I left the house five minutes before I planned, I walked nice and slowly while enjoying the warm breezy weather.

 

 

I reached the usual café, Flower Café. I don't own an office so I usually meet my clients outside. Plus why use money and get an office if you are the only one working. And meeting in a place like this made things a lot easier for me.

I saw my client sitting at a table staring at a boy by a table of girls.

Then I saw it. The Red String.

The red string that was tied to her small pinky led to the boy taking the order from two giggling girls.

"Sorry! Am I late?!" I said interrupting her daydream.

"Oh, no, I just got here too. Would you like a drink? My treat." The girl said with a small smile.

"It's okay. I think we should talk a bit first. My name is Park Jisoo. It's great to meet you."

"My name is Park Kyungri.”

"If you like someone, why did you sign up for this?"

"Huh?" Her eyes becoming big and round.

Good thing we didn’t order anything to drink… I’m sure she would’ve spilled it all over the place. Actually, it would’ve been better if it did… he could’ve came over and it would be over by now. Oh darn!

“You’ve been looking at him even before I got here.” I said, stopping my own thought.

“Was it too obvious? I wasn’t trying to stare at him.” Kyungri said playing with the ends of her hair.

“It’s not that obvious, I guess. If it was too obvious, then he would’ve noticed but it seems like he doesn’t even know you exist.” I bluntly replied. She looked down at her hand. “Sorry, didn’t mean to upset you…”

“It’s okay… I know it already. His name is Jaehwan but every worker here has a nickname and his is Ken. A lot of girls like him because he’s funny and he has a lot of aegyo. I like the fact that he treats everyone with a smile all the time. His smile makes me feel happy. But that doesn’t matter if he doesn’t even know me… so I wanted to get to know someone else, forget him and move on. I was hoping you can do it for me…” Kyungri explained.

“My agency has 100% success rate, you know… I think you might drop that…” I paused. I noticed how her eyes became round and big once again, “IF you give up like that.”

“I don’t understand what you are saying.”

“There’s this old tale about a red string of fate. Have you heard of it?” I asked her and she quickly replied with a no. “Well, the story says that everyone has an invisible red string is around the pinky that lead to the person you are destined to, regardless of time, place or circumstances. The string may stretch or tangle, but never break.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I thought you should know. And don’t give up. I think you guys are destined to be together.”

“How would you know that?”

“Let’s say, I know something like the story of the red string of fate. I think you shouldn’t give up. That is all I can tell you. If not, I don’t think there is nothing I can do.”

“Can’t you do something? Other agencies make you answer questions about the types of people they like and stuff. How can you be so sure about something like this with the way I am acting?” Kyungri complained.

“That is why my agency is special. I don’t work off what people think they like, but how they act and actually like. Give some thoughts into this and you can contact me again.” I explained. Kyungri nodded and got up to leave. I noticed how on the way out the Ken guy came over to her and said bye with a big smile.

He’s got to stop that…

“I’ll get a choco latte.” I said to Ken.

“Ah! Ordering has to be done at the cash register.” He replied with his dashing smile.

“Sorry! I didn’t know…” I said walking to the register with him.

“Don’t lie, you come here every day.” The blonde cashier with rather thick eyeliner said. I glared at him and pouted.

“Aren’t you observant… I’ll get a choco latte.” I mumbled out.

“If you knew, why did you act like you didn’t?” Ken asked, leaning by the register.

“You should be more observant like him. I bet you don’t remember half the people you serve here.” I stated as I handed the cashier my credit card.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ken questioned with a pout.

“I get that you don’t mean to do so, but your little act with the smiles, jokes, and aegyo is going to confuse a lot of girls. And if you continue to do that, even your destined lover won’t notice and go further away from you.” I explained as I signed the receipt and put my card back in my wallet.

“And who are you say that?” The cashier snapped.

“Well, Mr. I-Have-An-Attitude-Problem, I am talking to your co-worker, Ken here, not you.”

“Yeah, Ravi, just be quiet. It’s none of your business.” I glared at the boy named Ravi.

“Let me introduce myself, I’m Park Jisoo. I’m an owner of a 100% successful dating agency called The Red String. Sorry if I annoyed or offended you but I guess I’m a workaholic.” I said putting my hand out for a shake.

“Hi, Jisoo, my name is Jaehwan but you can call me Ken, as you already know.” He replied shaking my hand.

“I might have sounded a bit rude but I mean it. You need to look around more and be more careful, or else you will miss your destiny.” I added as I got my latte from the counter. While doing so, I noticed the barista. He was staring at a couple sitting at the far corner of the store by the window.

“How am I supposed to believe what you are saying?” Ken asked. I smiled at his question.

“Sounds like you are asking me to prove to you that I’m trustworthy…”

“Maybe I am.”

“Okay then, how about I show you that I’m more than worth being trusted in the time frame of about two days?” I suggested with a smirk. Ken looked at me with his eyebrows raised while Ravi frowned at me.

“How would you do that?” Ken asked.

“What’s your name?” I asked the barista.

“Huh? Me?” He said and I nodded. “Oh… my name is Hongbin but you can call me Kkong if you want.”

“Okay, Hongbin, how come you can’t man up?” I asked him and he looked taken aback. “Is it because she’s with her boyfriend?”

“What are you saying?” Ravi snapped at me.

“If you like her, you should at least try to get to know her. How much she come? Every day? Once a week?” I asked Hongbin, ignoring Ravi completely.

“She comes here twice a week with her boyfriend. She sits there all the time. But he has been here couple of times without her and with other girls.” Hongbin explained.

“I can see that he’s a playboy from here too. So why don’t you go talk to her?”

“She’s here with him, I can’t disturb that…”

“You don’t want to be the bad guy… Would you go talk to her if I break them up for you?”

“What kind of dating agency breaks apart a couple to create a couple?” Ravi complained.

“My agency doesn’t create ordinary couples that will break up when they are out of my sight but a couple that is destined to be together. And to me, Hongbin and the girl is destined to be together. My job is to get them together and the rest will be just simply their job.”

“Okay then, how are you going to break that couple up? To me, they look like they are deeply in love with each other.” Ravi said with a teasing tone.

“Like this.” I said and walked over to the couple while I undid a few of my buttons on my shirt. I stopped right in front of the chair that was between the couple.

“Can I help you?” The boy said as he secretly checked me out.

“What a waste…” I said, not leaving my eyes on the boy.

“Excuse me?” He said.

“I said you are such a waste.”

“Me?”

“Oh, no, not you. Her.” I said turning to the girl and smiled.

“What is this girl saying?” The boy exclaimed.

“Hi! My name is Park Jisoo and I own a dating agency that has a 100% success rate.” I said turning my body totally away from the boy.

“I’m Zinni, but why are you here?” She asked.

“Well you see, it is said by Plato that humans were originally created with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces. But Zeus was afraid of the fact that humans might overpower him, he split them in two. Zeus said that they will have to spend their live searching for the other half of their lives.”

“Okay, you are crazy.” The boy stated.

“Mir! I’m sorry… that’s an interesting story but what does that have to do with you coming over here?”

“You see if humans were split in half to search for their other half, you must meet a lot of people to see who that other half is. Through my personal experience as a person who helps people get together, this person in front of you is not the right person.”

“You need to go away now.” Mir yelled out.

“Mir! Stop being rude! If she came over, she must have a reason and I want to hear what she has to say.” Zinni demanded.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Mir sighed out.

“Did you notice how the moment he saw me, he scanned me from head to toe and when I sat down, he tried to pretend like he didn’t care but try to see if he can see something when I bent over?” I asked and Zinni shook her head no.

“Well he did and I can see that he does it on a daily basis.”

“How can you tell that?”

“Since my job has to do with meeting people to get people together, I met many flirts. There are two types. A good one, where no matter how many times he might cheat on you, he will forever remember you and go back to you because he knows you are something he can’t live without. And a bad one, where they will meet every girl that falls for him and when they want to break up, he willingly let’s go because he knows he can simply find someone else.”

“And you think Mir is the bad one?”

“When you look at someone, you can tell how one is with the way one acts and treats others. Your boyfriend here is not treating you like a girlfriend. He might listen to you but he doesn’t act like he cares. I’m sure you could feel that yourself, right?” I asked and Zinni didn’t reply but she swirled her drink around with her straw.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Mir retorted.

“Because she knows what I mean but she believes in you too much to say anything. Please you already have like five girls you can run to behind her back, just stop treating her like she isn’t worth anything and give her up.”

“And who are you to tell me what to do?”

“Just a suggestion… give it some thought, Zinni. And if you need help, you can call me.” I said as I handed her my business card. I waved bye and walked away.

When I got back, there was a pile of money on the counter.

“Did you guys bet on this situation?” I asked.

“Ravi hyung started it!” A boy with an eye smile said. “Ah! My name is Hyuk!”

“He thinks you are going to make a fool of yourself.” A tiny boy with a rather thick eyeliner, who had a tall creepily smiling boy next to him, said.

“But I, Chanyeol, and my boy here, Baekhyun, said you could do it.” The tall creepily smiling boy said as he patted the tiny boy, or maybe he looks small because the creepily smiling boy is really tall…

“I put my vote on you too!” Hyuk said.

“Okay then, I’ll put my vote.” I said as I put down two 50,000 won (~$100) and smiled.

“Am I seeing something wrong or did she just put down two orange bills?” Hongbin said.

“It’s either that or Hongbin and I are going crazy…” Ken said, rubbing his eyes and checking the bills again.

“I bet 100,000 won that Zinni will be here tomorrow, y, free AND single.” I sang out before I turned around and noticed how Zinni looked up to see me. I purposely gave Hongbin a high-five to drag the attention to him and walked away as I saw how Zinni was staring at Hongbin. I couldn’t help but smile big at the sight.

 

 

The next day came and once again I only woke up when 4 Minute’s Is It Poppin’ played for the tenth time. Though I didn’t have a scheduled meeting, I needed to be there just in time. So I got dressed as fast as I can and ran out the door. When I got to the café, the boys were already working and Ken was by the door to greet the people that came in.

“GOOD MORNING!” I said and rushed over to the counter.

“What do you want?” Ravi asked as he stared at his phone.

“Is that you treat your customers?”

“You are asking for too much…”

“Cappuccino.”

“One cappuccino…” Hongbin repeated as he began to brew the coffee.

“Actually no. I’ll just get an iced coffee with only milk.”

“Well that’s a surprise… nothing sweet.” Ravi mumbled as he changed the order.

“Because I can sense that in like a minute I won’t need anything sweet. But maybe later, I’ll get one of those cakes.” I said as I paid for my coffee and leaned on the counter.

“Noona!” Hyuk exclaimed as he ran over.

“Hi~” I said to Hyuk and the two boys, Baekhyun and Chanyeol, that followed him.

“You guys ready to lose?” Chanyeol said to Ken, Ravi and Hongbin.

“Here’s your coffee.” Hongbin said with a smile.

“Don’t worry, Kkong! I keep my promises.”

“How are you so sure you will win?” Ken asked. I stared at Ken then Ravi then Hongbin then the other three boys then back at Hongbin.

“Because! 10… 9… 8… 7…” I began to count with a wide smile.

“What are you counting down to?” Ravi questioned.

“4… 3… 2… 1!”

At soon as I finished, the front door opened and Zinni walked in. I turned around and waved at her.

“You come here often, don’t you?” Zinni asked.

“You can say I kind of work here.” I answered.

“Thanks for the heads up, by the way.” Zinni said with a small smile.

“Heads up?”

“Actually after we left, I fought with him about how he treats me sometimes and how I can tell he has more than me to take care of. So I broke up with him.”

“That wasn’t entirely my plan but I’m happy that you noticed what I wanted you to see.”

“Here you go.” Ravi said as he handed Zinni a cup of Iced Latte.

“I didn’t order, though.”

“Yep you didn’t, but that guy over there knew you get Iced Latte every time so he made it the moment you came in.” Ravi explained. Zinni cautiously looked over the counter to find Hongbin making more coffee.

“See?! This is why I need a non-sweet drink!” I exclaimed. Zinni looked at me confused while Hongbin smiled as he shook his head. Hyuk, Chanyeol and Baekhyun was jumping around happily that they had won. I turned to realize that Kyungri had walked into the café. I quickly ran over to the girl and pulled her over to the crowd.

“Welcome to Flower Café! How may I help you?” Ken asked.

“This is my friend, Kyungri.” I introduced her extra loudly. Zinni was shyly talking to Hongbin so I now can pay attention to her.

“Kyungri… why does that sound so familiar?” Ken whispered.

“You talked to her before she left the café yesterday. See, you need to be more observant.” I complained.

“Ah! I remember! It’s nice seeing you again!” Ken said brightly. Seeing this, Kyungri let out a chuckle and Ken looked at her with awe.

“Well, you guys talk… I think I want that slice of cake.” I said as I walked over to the cake display fridge and picked out a delicious looking chocolate fudge cake.

After devouring the cake, I was joined by the trio.

“How do you do it?” Baekhyun asked me.

“Do what?”

“How did you make the two couples over there?” Baekhyun clarified his question. I turned around to see how happy the two pairs looked.

“It’s just my job.”

“And you do a hell of a good job.” Chanyeol commented

“She did say her agency had 100% success rate.” Hyuk added.

“And I am right! But hey, who makes the cakes?”

“The cakes?” The trio asked

“Mhmm! They are really good but I never saw any of you working on it.”

“That’s because the person who makes it is our boss.” Ravi answered as he joined the conversation.

“Why aren’t at the counter?” I said with an annoyed face.

“Don’t give me that face… There are no new customers and if anything, Ken hyung is right there.”

“But he’s right, our boss makes them.” Baekhyun stated.

“He only comes in to check up on the cakes so you probably didn’t see him around.” Chanyeol added.

“Taekwoonie hyung might be cold but he does make the best sweets huh?” Hyuk asked. “Whoever this Taekwoon person is definitely makes the best cakes.”

“Oh, Taekwoonie hyung!” I heard Hongbin say. Soon all the girl customers attention was on the boy who had just entered the café through the back door.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

He doesn’t have bad features. In fact, they are nearly perfect. No wonder the girls are going crazy for him. Nothing seemed to be wrong but he doesn’t have much emotion in his eyes… I wonder why…

Snapping out her thoughts, I ran over to the cake display once more.

“Hello!” I shouted. He just stared at me bowed a little and went back to the cakes.

“Hyung, can’t you be a little nice? She’s one of our VIP customers!” Ken said.

“It’s okay. I just wanted to tell you that your cakes are just splendid! I tried almost every single one but I have yet to dislike any of them. They are all pretty in design and sometime I feel bad for ea-” I was going on and on until my eyes landed on his hands.

His Red Strings….

“Noona…” Hyuk softly said.

It’s… not there…

 

 

 

 

 author's note FIRST CHAPTER!

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