READ: jeongyeon and mina are soulmates but are on different timelines

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Jeongyeon lays flat on her back, watching the overhead fairy lights change color everytime her counting falls into an odd number. She looks at the digital clock on her bedside - 10:02pm, it reads. Her counting stops when a gush of cold air manages to slip through her small room. She hears her window sill shake and the wind whistles as the snow storm becomes stronger.

The thin string on her pinky flashes a dim red light. It glows for about 21 seconds until it stops.

She raises her left hand and holds the string with the other. It felt cold, like it had been left outside for too long. She pulls at it a few times - a habit she's acquired - hoping it'll somehow get the person's attention on the other end of it. She tugs at the string again but this time much harder. The string glows for the second time and Jeongyeon only stares at it until it goes away.

"You should probably stop doing whatever it is you're doing," Mina tells her on a cold December night, voice an octave lower. It sounded so foreign to Jeongyeon, the usual upbeat tone in the girl's voice nowhere to be found.

Instead of doing what Mina told her, Jeongyeon merely closes her eyes and tugs at the string again, "Tell me something interesting." she asks.

Their daily conversation always starts out like this. Mina tells her to stop pulling the string, "It distracts me," is what Mina would always tell her. But Jeongyeon knows she's lying so she doesn't stop. And then they'd continue to talk until one of them falls asleep.

"Well, I once tried to cut off the red string." Mina tells her like it's not a big deal. Like the thought of it doesn't bother her one bit.

Jeongyeon lets out a shaky breath. The prickling feeling inside her chest doesn't immediately go away like before, "Sounds like something you'd do." she lowly laughs and then, "What's stopping you?"

Mina shrugs. She pulls at the string until Jeongyeon does the same, "I guess, I just- I don't know."

The string glows a bright red making Jeongyeon smile. At least the string lets her know what Mina truly feels and it's enough for her, "Hey Mina."

"Yeah?"

"The flowers you were holding were really pretty."

Mina pauses, she waits for a beat and then, "Those were pink camellias."

Jeongyeon nods her head, forgetting for a moment that Mina can't see her. "Congrats by the way," she tells Mina this in the most sincere tone she could muster. "I would've been there if I could only warp back in time and jump to the 1900's."

There's a lull in the air, something that's been a constant ever since Mina told her about the news.

Jeongyeon sighs and feels her eyes becoming tired of looking at the fairy lights. She lets go of the string, letting her palms press against the soft fabric of her pillow that smells faintly of vanilla.

They're hanging between space and time and the only thing that connects them is a piece of string that does nothing but to constantly remind them that what they both want will always remain unattainable. Jeongyeon guesses that Mina wants out already but is too scared and too kind to say anything.

"I met someone by the way," Jeongyeon says, the rattling of her window stops and fairy lights flicker shut. The string on her pinky glows a very bright red, illuminating every corner of her room, "Her name's Jiyeon, Kim Jiyeon."

Mina doesn't say anything and stays silent for what feels like an eternity for Jeongyeon. She closes her fists, crumpling the pillowcase. "Chungha introduced her to me. And she-"

"Does she make you happy?" Mina finally speaks. Her gaze flickers to the vast garden now filled with white sheets of snow. The cherry blossom trees that was once filled with pink flowers lays bare infront of her eyes.

"She does," Jeongyeon answers her. Mina smiles - it's bittersweet. Painful.

And for the last time, Jeongyeon tugs at the string and Mina doesn't tell her to stop.

"You can let go now," the older girl tells her. Something Mina's been too afraid to do.

Jeongyeon's tired eyes drops shut and she doesn't fight the sleepiness away anymore. The hum of the wind seeming to lull her to sleep.

"Jeongyeon?"

"Yes?"

"The flowers were meant for you by the way." she hears Mina's voice, half-asleep and half-dazed,

"Goodnight Jeongyeon."

•••••

Three months have past since her last conversation with Mina. She stopped tugging at the string and stopped hoping it'll glow again when she's all alone in the confines of her room. It's better this way. They have to stop hoping for the impossible to happen.

The fresh air of spring greets Jeongyeon as she finds herself stopping infront of a flower shop, she picks up a similar flower Mina once held and it painfully pulls at her heartstrings.

"That means I'm longing for you," the florist tells her with a kind smile. "Must be so nice to be young and inlove."

•••••

Jeongyeon watches as her digital clock changes to 10:02pm. She tugs at the string and closes her eyes, "I bought pink camellias," she lowly says.

And in her dimly lit room, the red string glows a bright red again.