“Do you believe in destiny?”   Yerin looked up from the pile of assignments that were due that same week. Her lean fingers brushed her chestnut dyed hair behind her ears, letting the long length bounce off her shoulders. Through her hipster-like black framed glasses, she looked at her friend Hyun Mi who posed the question curiously.   “Yes and no,” she answered, leaning her body backward as she dropped the pen from her hand. She stretched a little, tired from sitting idly around the dining table for the past 3 hours with her housemates. Doing assignments in their dorm probably wasn’t a good idea.   “Why…?” Hyun Mi slowly asked, circling her hands to wait for more elaboration. This girl really had nothing better to do since she probably finished all her assignments the first day it was handed out.   “Because I have the ability to see who everyone is destined to be with, but I believe we have a choice to go against it,” Yerin said wisely.   “Why would you go against it? If it’s fate, then go for it. Like me and Tae Min oppa,” her other friend, Maerin, was sighing dreamily as she lost focus of what she should be doing.   “Plus, you can actually see it. Why won’t you share the information with us?” Seul Yi asked with a small annoyed pout as she was eating Pocky instead of doing her work.   “You know how much money you could make if you were to sell your gift as a service? You could stop being our BFF,” Hyun Mi muttered as she shook her head at the missed business opportunity.   “Now why would I wanna stop being your BFF?” Yerin protested.   “Our broke friend forever,” The three girls replied in sync with flattened eyes. The fact she had troubles buying a MacDonald meal was already worrisome. They knew Yerin had a harder time making a living ever since her parents divorced, but she never made it into a big deal.   Yerin only chuckled and hushed them to continue their work instead of uttering nonsense like this.   Out of everyone, she should’ve been the one who believed in those cheesy stuff like destiny and love at first sight, simply because she was very gifted. She was born with the ability to see the way soulmates were connected to each other. The red string myth was partially true. Instead of a string, it was more like a red ray of light, so thin and gentle looking with white orbs orbiting around in a flawless spiraling motion. These lights were omitted from the pinky finger of every single individual, even strangers she did not recognize. The closer someone was to their soulmate, the brighter the color will be.   At first she thought it was an amazing phenomenon, but soon realized it started to drain her out emotionally. Many times, she had watched these so-called soulmates get into a fight, break-up, or even get divorced. Just like her parents who left each other when she was barely even 10 years old, she had grown cold and lost faith in the entire soulmate concept since then. Therefore she believed people had soulmates yes, but they had a chance to defy fate.   “I wished you could tell me mine. Is Myung Soo oppa my soulmate? I’ve been dating him for five months already, so it would be nice to know,” Seul Yi’s loud question of the week interrupted her train of thoughts.   Yerin had shared this ability to her friends, and they were amazingly receptive of it without doubting it even once. Well, Maerin did doubt a little at first but was immediately convinced the moment she and her boyfriend Tae Min were proclaimed as soulmates. As for Seul Yi, she kept changing her boyfriend way too often simply because Yerin told her he wasn’t the one. They trusted her too much even though she could technically be lying to their face. She eventually felt sorry for the girls and decided to stay quiet, allowing her friends to make their own decisions.   “But have you never thought about finding your soulmate?” Hyun Mi suddenly asked on a more serious note.   Yerin was silenced and looked down at her fingers, seeing the red light beaming from her pinky finger into a long twisted flow that led outside of their living room. These fated strings were never idle, and they kept swirling around as their soulmates moved. It was omitting a beautiful red glow, and she would’ve lied if she said no.   “Even if I found my soulmate, he may still not be the one for me.”   However, something was different today. After having her eyes glued on her own connection, she noticed the color emitting a very bright glow like never before. Her soulmate was for once nearby.   “By the way, you should all quickly finish your work so we can go help the guys out. There’s a new guy moving in,” Hyun Mi suddenly changed the topic, standing up and closing her textbook.   “A new guy? Really?” Yerin could somehow feel her heart beat echoing loudly in her ears, giving her an uncomfortable anxious feeling. There was a small hope, or sheer curiosity if you will, whether the bright red light of fate was related to this new guy.   “Didn’t you hear? He’s gonna move in with Tae Min oppa, Myung Soo oppa, and Woo Hyun appa across the hall~” Maerin answered with a singsong voice.   “Why is Woo Hyun your appa?” Hyun Mi immediately asked at the mention of his name.   “Cause if you’re my eomma, it only makes sense for him to be my appa~” Maerin continued in a teasing tone, grinning as the older girl she referred to as her ‘eomma’ was laughing it off with an obvious red blush.   “I hope the new guy’s hot,” Seul Yi suddenly commented, receiving a stare of disbelief from the others, subtly reminding her she had a boyfriend. “What? I need to wash my eyes with new eye candy once in a while.”   Yerin laughed at the sight and right then and there decided she no longer wanted to do her assignments. She got up from her chair and told the others she will go ahead to check on the guys and see if they needed any help.   The moment she opened the door to the corridor of their dormitory, she was quite surprised at the welcoming visual of a guy dressed in a black wifebeater, exposing all his biceps when carrying moving boxes. The sweat dripping down and firmly pressing against his muscled outline created a fantastic first meeting.   “Well, hello,” she greeted him after silently swallowing her saliva.   The guy turned around with a quizzical look, but soon replaced it with a dazzling smile. He looked handsome - very handsome actually with his big round eyes, his sharp jawline, and a grin that looked goofier with each passing minute. The sweat was even drenching the tips of his jet black hair, one tear occasionally rolling down his cheek.   “Hi! I should introduce myself, I’m Chan Y- Ooooww!”   Yerin acted out of reflexes as she quickly reached out to the huge box that fell off his grip. For a big box, it was very lightweight to her and she had no trouble carrying it.   “Wow, you’re strong!” The guy complimented her.   Yerin wrinkled her nose proudly, grinning at the acknowledgement of her physical strength.   “You’re like a female Hulk,” the guy said with a grin.   The pride was immediately gone when his words made it sound like an insult. “Technically, I am not that strong. Maybe you’re just weak,” she suggested a new idea with a forced smile.   “The problem isn’t me. Normal girls I know of aren’t as strong as Dwayne The Rock Johnson,” The guy continued, returning that fake friendly smile.   “Lucky for you I am not a normal girl. I am special and unique,” she exaggerated her speech, seeing the guy grin at her words. Yerin wasn’t even sure what they were talking about anymore, but she sensed it wasn’t all too friendly despite their on-the-surface friendly grins. She handed the box back to him and released it from her hands as he tried to quickly adjust himself to the heavy weight.   “Since I’m feeling nice today, how about I help you move your stuff?” Yerin offered, her last attempt to be nice.   “I actually have the other guys helping me with that,” he responded, and gave it some thought. “Although I think you may actually be more helpful than them with your Hulk like strength. They couldn’t even unload this box from the truck.”   Yerin flattened her eyes, acknowledging those other guys were weaker than her, yes. Perhaps her strength was also another gift aside from her ability to see people’s connection to each other.   “I am Park Chan Yeol, by the way,” the guy unsteadily balanced the box on one foot in a flamingo-like stance, and extended a hand out to her.   “Hwang Yerin,” the girl muttered as she reached her hand out to firmly grab his in hers, deliberately giving him a tight squeeze for constantly saying her strength exceeded the normal human standards.   As she looked down to their hands, she realized the bright red light from her pinky was spiraling in a beautiful woven string that circled around them in a glorious and rich red color. The movements were faster as it moved in midair, white orbs gliding around giddily around the red swoosh like dancing fairies. And as she followed the flow of the red light, it reached the end of its length right at the guy’s pinky finger.   Park Chan Yeol was her soulmate.     Weeks passed after the discovery and she had not acted out on it. She was never a firm believer of fated destiny anyway when she had seen it fail so many times before her own eyes. It wasn’t like there was a sudden explosion of chemistry forming heart shaped puffy pink smoke, or a sudden physical attraction that made her want to spend the rest of her life with her soulmate. No. Things developed very differently from the perfect fairytale people imagined. In fact, she almost reached the limit of her patience whenever she was alone with him.   “We ran out of eggs, please buy them for us,” Maerin pleaded with her one day.   “But I’m so busy with my assignments. I’m lazy to go alone. One of you should come with me…” Yerin lazily reached her hand out in the hope of escaping the chore.   “We thought you might say that, so we got Chan Yeol oppa to accompany you~”   That was how she ended up grocery shopping with her so-called soulmate. She wasn’t sure whether her housemates were trying to set her up or not since the guys living across their dorm room were conveniently their boyfriends - though technically Hyun Mi and Woo Hyun weren’t dating yet, but everyone knew they might as well get married tomorrow and no one would be surprised. Her housemates were acting suspicious nonetheless.   “Ooh almonds!!!” Chan Yeol suddenly yelled out loud, though she was standing next to him at a very close proximity. This was probably the seventh time he had damaged her hearing that day.   “We don’t have enough money for that, so put it back,” she hissed at him, seeing the guy grab a pack of almonds in his hand and staring at it like it was some precious treasure.   “Have you no appreciation towards almonds, you bitter old lady? They’re the best!” Chan Yeol pouted at her cynically.   “I don’t like any nuts in general,” Yerin muttered.   “Oohhh!!! Pistachio!! I’ve been craving for some!” Chan Yeol obviously ignored her and was soon distracted with something else he wanted.   “Ya! Don’t keep taking stuff we can’t afford! I came here for the eggs! Go take your own basket if you want so many unnecessary things!”   “Fine! But you’re not gonna put your eggs with my nuts in my basket!” Chan Yeol stuck his tongue out to her as he grabbed his endless amount of snacks and other questionable items out of her trolley cart. Who buys a can of cat food when they don’t even have a cat anyway?   Since random passersby were staring at them like they were some sort of a quarreling couple on display, Yerin quickly took the stuff from his hand and placed it back in the trolley cart. She hated those judgemental stares, and Chan Yeol enjoyed her surrender.   Again, she had to watch the red swirl of light glow so brightly whenever their fingers accidentally brushed against each other. She suddenly felt sorry for herself for being paired up with this foolish guy as her soulmate.   He was definitely foolish, for he realized he left his wallet at home when they were about to pay at the cashier. Either that or he was a genius for playing with her kind and sympathetic heart. Hwang Yerin was forced to pay for her soulmate, feeling destined to the hole in her wallet instead.   “The guys told me something interesting yesterday,” Chan Yeol began as they were heading back to the dormitory building. He was eating an icicle and leisurely strolled next to her.   “What?” Yerin asked just for the sake of asking. She was holding all the bags of their grocery shopping, inwardly cursing him for being a big useless spoiled brat. Perhaps he was like the others, assuming she could carry everything because she was stronger than them and therefore allowed her to become forced labor.   Chan Yeol momentarily paused his steps and stared at the girl who did not seem to struggle at all despite the heavy weight. “Do you need help, Hulk-woman?” He asked, getting more or less creative with the nicknames.   “No, I’m good,” Yerin told him in annoyance.   Chan Yeol laughed and casually walked to her side. He smiled so gently as he brushed his hand against hers when he took over those heavy grocery bags from her.   “What kind of person would I be if I let a woman carry everything?” He told her and continued his leisure walk with the icicle in his mouth.   For one second, through that simple act, Chan Yeol looked reliable for once. She watched the string of fate radiate a beautiful red glow, suddenly moving in sync with her own racing heartbeat. She was sure her heart reacted because of the sudden nice gesture and nothing else.   “So what did the guys tell you?” She questioned in an attempt to bring them back to the initial topic after their silent walk.   “Something about you being very gifted,” Chan Yeol tried recalling as they reached the dorm. He held the front door open and headed to the second floor where their rooms were located.   “I am special and unique I told you,” Yerin grinned as they decided to take the stairs.   “I know. But they said something about soulmates and stuff?”   Yerin was surprised they had told him about it and had no time to respond. When she was about to unlock the door to her place, she realized something else was wrong.   She exchanged looks with Chan Yeol who was also equally alerted. They could hear voices from inside the room and immediately identified it as Tae Min and Maerin yelling at each other. There were noises of things being flung around and crashing unto the floor with rage.   “Don’t ever mention her name in front of me again!” Maerin’s voice was a little muffled through the door.   “She was just texting me, I didn’t even reply,” Tae Min spoke, a little weak compared to his girlfriend's fury.   “Block her! Delete her! She is obviously trying to flirt with you!” Maerin yelled, more audible when she raised her voice.   “Na Eun is just-”   “I don’t want to hear her name coming from your mouth! It’s taboo! It’s a sin!” There was another crashing sound followed by Tae Min’s groan.   Yerin knew she had to stop this before things would get out of hand. She quickly pushed the key inside and opened the door, surprised to see Maerin holding some of the sofa cushions she was about to throw against her boyfriend.   “If you’re going to keep in touch with her, we should just break up!” The young girl yelled with tears in her eyes.   Yerin was speechless, looking back and forth between her two friends. She could clearly see the red glowing light that connected her two friends by the pinky finger; such a bright red light that resembled a neon warning sign. The swirl moved in rapid and rigid motions; more dangerous and rougher than the usual gen