The warmth of sunlight on her face woke her up that morning. She opened her eyes and saw the bright blue sky over the sunroof above her bed. The first thing that went through her mind that moment was if this was the view that she always see when she woke up back when she was alive.
 

"Ugh.. I gotta stop moping.." she muttered, frustrated with the negative thoughts that had been haunting her mind since she was told that she had died. She knew there was nothing she could do about it. And moping like a spoiled child certainly wouldn't make her feel better.

She still hadn't made a decision about being a Cupid. But she admitted that she was curious of the whole ordeal. She was actually kinda looking forward to come with Daesung to see him working later that day.

So she got up from her bed, freshened herself up with a quick shower, and got dressed. At first she was tempted to wear that cute red plaid dress in her closet, but she changed her mind when she realized that she was not sure if it was fit for a day of a Cupid. So she chose a shirt and black jeans with a red jacket instead.

After she got dressed, Daesung still hadn't arrived. And she just realized that she didn't know how to contact him. Should she look for him at the cafetaria or somewhere else? But the risk of getting lost in the weird place without Dae beside her made her reluctant of leaving her room.

So she just sat on her bed, with nothing to do. She took a glance on the guitar at the corner of the room, wondering if she should try to play it again. When Dae still hadn't showed up a few minutes later, she finally grabbed the guitar and started playing it.

That melody flowed easily from her fingers to the strings of the guitar once again. It was as if she knew them by heart. Considering the fact that her memories have been erased, there was a big chance that she really did remember that melody by heart when she was still alive.

And then she felt that sadness again. There was a longing feeling for something, or someone, that she didn't know anything about. That feeling of loving something so much, but she just couldn't have it. Suddenly she felt like she had open a secret Pandora box in her heart that she didn't even know she had. And all of those feelings that she hid well inside that box suddenly ambushed her, making her feel horrible. And the worse thing was she didn't know why she felt that way.

"Ok, guitar. You're scaring me." she muttered to the music instrument while quickly putting it back on it's place. She made a mental note to prepare herself well before playing the guitar again. She didn't like the flood of feelings she had every time she played it. Every strum of her fingers on its strings brought emotions that she couldn't handle. How was she supposed to handle it when she didn't even know why she felt that way? It was troubling, actually. Cause she really did enjoyed playing it.

A knock on her door stopped her from staring at the guitar even longer. She opened the door to see Daesung and his bright smile.

"Hi! Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yup. Let's go."

They went down the circular stairwell and out of the building. As they walk towards that lush field she saw yesterday, she asked him, "So, how does this thing go? How do Cupids chose the couple they're going to match?"

"We just follow the order. Before every assignment, we would get an order complete with the couple's names, pics and stuff. Kinda like this one." he said, showing her a folder with papers containing infos of a boy and a girl.

"Gosh.. this is so.. formal." she said, examining the folder. "I thought 'love' works randomly." she said sarcastically, putting an airquote on the word love.

"Well, sometimes an order is needed." he chuckled. "It does work randomly most of the time. Not every couple happened from the work of Cupid. Some, if not most of them, happened from free will or because of red strings of fate."

"Red strings of fate?" she snorted. "Those things really do exist? I thought it was a myth?"

"Nope. It's real."

"If it's real then why do we need Cupids anyway? Why don't we just let those strings do their work?" she asked, still with that sarcastic tone on her voice. She was surprised by her own attitude towards the whole situation. Why did she sound so cynical?

They finally arrived at the lush field. They continued walking through it when suddenly somehow they were on the busy street of Seoul.

"Whoa!" she said, looking around. "That's... practical.. "

Dae just smiled and said, "Yup. No traffic jams for Cupids." Then he continued walking and said, "Anyway, to answer your question earlier, sometimes the couple that are matched by a Cupid were already bounded by the red strings. So Cupids act just like a catalyst that pushed them together."

"Wait, so on some other times, the couples that are matched by Cupids are not even bound by the red strings?" she asked, confused.

"Yup."

"But what if someone met their red string match after they're already a couple with someone else?"

"An invincible red thread connects those destined to meet, despite the time, place, or circumstances. The thread might be tightened or tangled, but will not be broken. So, if a person met his or her red string couple, they will eventually be together, even if he or she was already with someone else."

"What? That is so messed up! I mean, why would you match a girl and a boy if you knew that there is a big possibility that one of them would leave the other because of some stupid predetermined string? Sure, it's good for the red string couple, since they get to be with their soulmate. But how about the ones that were left behind? They're definitely not having fun."

"All the people that are matched by Cupids usually have a thing in common: they need Cupids help, whether they realized it or not. Even if they got heartbroken in the future, at least they've experienced love and learn something from it."

"Yeah, right. Try telling that to the girl who got left by a boy for another girl. I bet she'd be happy to hear your positive point of view. It's ok to be heartbroken as long as you're learning something, right?"

Her sarcasm somehow didn't anger him. Instead, Dae laughed out loud and said, "It's all part of a bigger picture, Aerri. The reason might not be obvious on the first glance, but there is a reason for this."

"I can't see the positive side of giving your heart for someone who was going to reject it in the end."

"Here's an example. I once matched a girl and a boy, lets call them A and B. At first I was confused of the couple, because they don't match really well. But in the end I successfully brought them together. However, they didn't last long, as I expected. But during their relationship, B introduce A to one of his close guy friend, lets call him C. After A and B broke up, somehow A kept in touch with C, cause they've grown pretty close with each other. And after a few years, A and C became a couple, even without Cupid's help. I was also told by my boss that apparently they were soul mates. Somehow, I pushed A and C closer together, cause if A and B weren't once a couple, A wouldn't have met C." Dae explained.

When A didn't say anything, he continued, "Of course, sometimes the reasons why we have to match a certain couple with each other are not always clear. But we just have to follow the order. It's part of a plan."

"So you just follow the order? No matter what? Even if, hypothetically, the guy was an abusive person that beats his girlfriend? Or if the girl was already in a relationship with someone else?" she asked him.

"Sadly, yes. Like I said, it's all part of plan that we don't know about."

They finally arrived at a small music store that sells both CDs and musical instruments. There are some people inside, listening to some songs from the CD, trying out guitars, etc. There were a boy and a girl standing behind the counter, watching the visitors while chatting with each other. They were laughing and giggling, acting as if they were really close friends.

"Yes. He's my target." Dae said, pointing at the boy behind the counter.

"And the girl?" Aerri asked.

"My other target will be here in a moment."

A few seconds later, the door of the music store opened and a girl walked in.

"She's my other target. My job is to match her with that boy behind the counter." Dae said.

Aerri watched the boy behind the counter. She noticed the change in his facial expression the moment the other girl walked in to the store. "Oh gosh, she's here again." the boy whispered to the girl beside him. "Do you think I should ask her out?" he asked his friend again.

"I don't know. I guess you should if you want to." his friend shrugged, suddenly looking not so eager to engage in a conversation.

"But what if she said no?" he asked her again.

"Then you'll die of heartbreak." she , though Aerri could hear a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"You're not helping, Hana." he said to his friend, earning a grin from the girl.

The boy hesitate, taking a glance at his crush who were listening to a CD across the room. After a while, he suddenly said, "Ok. Here I go."

Hana just looked at her friend who were walking slowly to approach his crush. She looked as if she wanted to stop him. But instead she just looked away, pretending to fix the headphones on the shelf behind the counter.

After a while, the boy went back to the counter. Hana asked him, "So? Did she say yes?"

"I couldn't even talk to her. I just stood there staring at her like an idiot. It's a good thing she didn't realize me standing there, or she might have asked the police to make a restraining order against me."

Hana just gave him a soft "Hm.." to acknowledge her words, still fiddling idly with the headphone display.

Aerri stood near them, invisible and unnoticed, feeling bad for Hana. The jealousy in Hana's attitude was so obvious that Aerri wondered how in hell the boy didn't realize it. She failed to understand why Daesung was tasked to match a boy to a girl he knew nothing about instead of a girl who seemingly was his bestfriend. What did Daesung say earlier? That it was all part of a plan? Well, what a cruel plan it was to make a sweet girl like Hana got a broken heart from her friend.

"Are you ok?" Daesung asked Aerri.

"A part of me wished that you're bad at your job so the boy can be with his best friend instead." she said.

"How do you know that the boy's best friend liked him?" he chuckled.

"Duh.. it's obvious. How do you know that she liked him? You've been watching your other target at the other side of the room since minutes ago."

"Cupids can hear the living's thoughts down here. It helps to decide which arrow we're going to use."

"Huh?"

"It is said that to make a couple, you would need 3 things: chemistry, timing, and courage. Lose one of those things, then 2 person would have a hard time to be together. No chemistry, there's no way they'd be into each other. Wrong timing, they can't be together. No courage, then none of them would make the move. So, to help 2 people became a couple, cupids would use one of those 3 arrows. But we have to use the right one, according to what they need. If you use the right one, then you'll help them."

"How do you know which one to use?"

"Observing. That's why we usually take some time before using the arrow. We'd watch both the target before deciding which ones they need. Being ab