“There’s magic in the air.” – “This feels magical.” – “I wish I had a super power.” – “I found my one true love.” I bet you’ve already heard all of those sentences, probably you’ve also said at least one of them yourself. I know I have, though I hear those words more often than I say them by now.

I’ve always been able to see them. Thin, golden threads. When I first heard the saying of ‘following the golden thread’, I thought that’s what people meant. Turns out it’s not. The golden threads are not a theme or a topic, they’re the one true love. Some people even call the other person their soulmate and maybe they’re right about it. The threads are elastic, varying how long they are depending on how close we are to our destined partner. So far, I haven’t met anyone else who can see them.

I think I understood what those threads mean when dad left mom for another woman and I saw that they were linked with this golden thread. Mom’s thread has been torn for as long as I can remember, so I guess she’s met her partner before my dad but somehow wasn’t able to stay with that person. I think something bad happened to that person. So maybe it's better if mom never met them?

“Yah, Heechul! He’ll be gone soon if you don’t react.”

“Huh?” I blink and look at one of my close friends, Hyukjae, sitting across from me at our small, round table. We’re in Hyukjae’s favorite club. Loud music is playing and the air is already heavy even though it’s only close to midnight. Bright lights are flashing across the dance floor and the smell of artificial fog, sweat, and alcohol is in the air.

“Quick, look, over there, in the red jacket, do you see him?”

To be polite, I glance over into the direction Hyukjae mentions. I already know it’s not him, Hyukjae’s thread goes towards the stage and not the bar counter. “M-hm.”

“What do you think?” Hyukjae looks at me excitedly, his eyes sparkling.

“Are you sure? I mean, who wears a jacket in a club unless he wants to die of a heatstroke.”

Hyukjae huffs, a motion I only see due to the music playing. “You’re always so negative! Look at his legs! They look really well-trained!”

I glance over towards that guy again, but there are too many people between us for me to see what Hyukjae’s referring to. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Aish, if you’re so good at finding people’s partners, why have you still not found mine?”

“How should I know? And you know you’re not obliged to meet him or her-“

“Him!”

“-while I’m around,” I continue without letting Hyukjae’s protest bother me. I’m positive Hyukjae won’t waver about his ual orientation, I’ve known him long enough for that, but it’s become a habit for me to always mention the possibility that the partner I will find might have a different gender than formerly expected.

Even though I can’t make a living with it, I like to help people out with their love interests. Most of the time I can only tell people who come up to me whether their current partner turns out to be the right decision or not, but sometimes I see people’s threads and I try to give fate a little push into the right direction. Maybe some of them find the love of their life sooner like that, maybe it’s not time for some of them to meet when I see their threads.

“I know that, hyung. I’m not spending enough time with you to guarantee that.”

“A single minute without me could be enough for you to meet your partner,” I respond and raise an eyebrow, wondering if Hyukjae really wants to go over this discussion with me again when we’ve already led it so many times, always coming to the same result – I can’t actively help him until I see the right person whom the other end of the golden thread belongs to. Well, the end is never that direct because he doesn’t know about the threads, he thinks it’s just a general gift that I can tell whether two people belong together or not.

“But why don’t we get to know him first? His character could work,” Hyukjae tries to reason.

I shrug. “You can go ahead and get to know him, if you’d like. I won’t hold you back,” I reply and Hyukjae gets up as if on cue. I know he just wants to get laid tonight. It’s been a tough month for him at work, but finally he got his promotion, so he definitely deserves some fun.

I glance back towards the stage again and spot two people in dark clothes, one of them is checking the equipment for the band that’s about to go on stage while he’s talking to the other young man. The latter nods and points at something on his clipboard. His thread is vaguely going into my direction.

Two weeks later on Monday, Hyukjae, Jungsu, and I meet up at a café we go to almost every week. Their apple cakes are the best ones I’ve ever tasted, but today I’ve had to settle for their chocolate-caramel cake because their apple cake was sold out. There’s a TV playing music in the background which makes me assume the owner’s daughter has been here again – usually the owner turns on the news. Whenever his daughter is here, she turns on a music channel, though. The other employees usually let her do as she wishes and I have a feeling that some of them are actually glad to hear something else than the always repetitive and depressing news.

“How was work for you today, Heechul?” Jungsu asks and looks at me curiously.

I simply shrug. “It’s been normal as always.”

“Sounds exciting,” Hyukjae comments ironically and turns back to Jungsu. “Do you already have any plans for the weekend? You should come with us.”

“I’ll think about it, alright?” Jungsu opts and I know he doesn’t really want to come along to the clubs.

“That’s what you always say!” Hyukjae protests. “You should go out with us and enjoy life, it’s way too short anyway. And maybe Heechullie-hyung will be more successful for you with finding your partner. He’s already anything but successful with me even though we go out every weekend.” He flashes me an accusing glare and I just shrug. It’s not my fault that he doesn’t want to believe me that I can’t just tell him where his destined partner is. He could be anywhere from right next door to the other end of the world.

“You’re being unfair, Hyukjae. You know Heechul’s trying to help you and that he would tell you who it is if he knew.”

“He won’t even give people a chance! He always just looks at them from afar and says ‘No, that’s not him’. He doesn’t even want to get to know the people I choose,” Hyukjae goes on complaining and huffs.

Jungsu goes on comforting Hyukjae when I see it: Hyukjae’s thread moves. And it moves too fast for the other person to be far away. I quickly glance into the direction the thread is pointing and see a young man with a school bag swung over his shoulder as he is leaving with a few other young men who might be his friends. I can only see his slightly messy, dark brown hair, then he’s out of the door and leaves.

I curse myself for having been too slow. Where is he going? Is he a student? If I got up now, the other two would be suspicious. And I can’t just talk to that stranger while his friends are all over him. No, I can’t introduce him to Hyukjae like that. We’ll meet again, I promise him in my head and turn back to my friends. Jungsu watches me with a raised eyebrow while Hyukjae is watching TV.

“I wish I could dance like that,” he says into the silence and I follow the direction of his gaze towards the screen. My eyes widen as I take a double-take before I understand what’s going on. Two young men are dancing while a white ribbon connects them by their wrists. For a moment I had thought the ribbon was golden, but of course that can’t be. No one else knows about it.

I hear Jungsu and Hyukjae rambling on about the dance and realize in relief that neither of them noticed that the sight startled me. It’s better like this.

“Hyung, don’t you think that one guy in black looks kinda like you?” Hyukjae asks and turns to me, watching me expectantly.

I look at the screen again and watch the guy dressed in black for a while, tuning out the other man. I have to admit that Hyukjae’s right, that guy does resemble me a little, but of course I can’t admit that, so I shrug. “Are you sure? I think I’m a lot better-looking than him.”

Hyukjae laughs. “Of course you are!” he replies and I know he hasn’t really expected anything else. “I think I’ll do some research about them tonight. Until then, I’ll just call him your TV-double!”

“Yah, I said I’m more handsome! How can you call him my double?”

“But he is more famous than you are,” Hyukjae immediately deadpans with an obvious potshot at my dream to become an idol. I should’ve never told him about that…

“Whatever,” I grumble and finish my piece of cake, then I take my coffee cup into both hands and lean back. Hyukjae laughs at my defeat and turns back to Jungsu.

Another month passes and all I learn about Hyukjae’s destined partner is that he is actually the one who’s apparently in charge of anything technical on stage in Hyukjae’s favorite club. Even though that explains why his thread was going vaguely into my direction that one night when Hyukjae left the table, that doesn’t explain how I’m supposed to contact him or how Hyukjae can come in contact with him. I haven’t seen him outside of the club since that day in the café and even I know that waiting for that boy before or after his shift would appear extremely creepy, but it’s slowly getting frustrating. Finally, I know the answer to Hyukjae’s endless questions about who his partner could possibly be, but I still can’t help him.

At least I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s good-looking and he seems to do good at his work even though I can’t remember having seen him here for long because I surely would have noticed the thread connecting him with my friend sooner if he had been working here for a long time already. Because of that I assume that he’s either a hard worker or generally into music. If it’s the latter, I can at least be certain he and Hyukjae will have something to talk about. And since that guy is working in this club, I assume they more or less like the same kind of music. He looks like he’s going to the gym or something like that which is another point that Hyukjae will be happy about. His personality will certainly also work out with Hyukjae’s even though I can’t say much about that just yet.

“Who else is coming to the festival?” Hyukjae asks us and I look up at him again to distract myself a little. In two weeks, our town’s annual festival begins. There will be a pageant, all kinds of booths and attractions will be offered all around town. When it gets dark, fires will be lit on the market places and music will be played and many people dance, no matter their age or profession. It’s exactly the way I imagine historical festivals to be and it’s one of the reasons why I love this town and can’t imagine ever moving away from here. Then again, we also have many visitors during the festival, so if fate ever does take me to a different place, I could always return as a visitor for this special event.

“Isn’t everyone coming to the festival?” Jungsu asks back the most obvious question because yes, it usually at least seems like everyone comes to our festival.

“I mean who else is going with us? Of course everyone will be there, but who else will be part of our group?”

“Youngwoon asks if it’s okay for him to come with us. He texted me the other day,” Jungsu responds. Youngwoon is one of his friends from college and we have hung out with him quite often already.

“Of course it is,” Hyukjae replies immediately. “Junsu also asked me if he can join us.”

“Jaejoong also asked if he and his boyfriend can come along,” I add when I remember Jaejoong texted me a few days ago and I still haven’t given him a definite answer.

“I’m sure Shindong-hyung also wants to come,” Hyukjae continues with our list.

“So that’ll be at least eight of us… Is there anyone else?” We all look back and forth at Jungsu’s question, but neither one of us can really think of anyone whom we should invite to hang out with us for pretty much the entire evening. Like that our closest friends would be around and we’ll probably meet everyone else sooner or later anyway, so there’s not even really a reason to worry. “Then it’s set.” We nod and I finish my coffee, then I put the cup down and lean back in my chair.

“Where are we gonna meet?” Hyukjae poses his next question.

“Doesn’t the pageant start near your place, Heechul?” Jungsu asks further instead of giving an answer and I nod.

“Yes, it does. Should we say that we’ll meet at my place half an hour before the pageant starts?”

“Let’s say 45 minutes so everyone will actually be there half an hour before the pageant starts,” Jungsu suggests and we all nod again. Since I assume Yunho and Jaejoong will arrive together, I wouldn’t be surprised if they will run late again. When they arrive together, they almost always run late. And if they don’t then usually one of the others does.

Two weeks later on Monday morning, the doorbell to my apartment rings for the first time at 9:10AM. I go to the intercom and press the speak button. “Jungsu?”

“Bet cha.”

“I’ll be right there.” I grin and step away to grab my wallet and slip into my shoes. Jungsu is always early, so I had been expecting him to ring the bell. Lastly, I grab my keys and exit my apartment. After locking the door, I take the stairs downstairs and not even two minutes later I’m standing right in front of my friend.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he greets me back with a warm smile. “Who do you think will arrive next?”

I think about that question for a moment before I answer. “I think it’ll be either Youngwoon or Junsu.”

“I actually think it’s gonna be Hyukjae.”

“Wanna bet on it?” I smirk at Jungsu, knowing he won’t back out. It’s just something small, after all.

“Then you have to settle down.”

“Alright. I’m saying Youngwoon will arrive next.”

“What are the stakes? The next order at Ryeowook’s Café as always?”

I grin and nod. “Sure!” I reply and reach out my hand. Jungsu shakes it and we expectantly turn towards the street to see who will arrive next. We do these kinds of bets often because they’re fun and somehow our wins are distributed more or less evenly.

Not even half a minute later, Hyukjae’s slightly obese best friend Shindong turns around the corner and comes into sight. I huff. “What a shame. Seems like neither one of us wins…”

Jungsu follows my gaze and shrugs it off. “Maybe we’re luckier next time,” he replies and a moment later we wave in excitement while Shindong approaches us.

“Good morning, guys. Aren't the others here yet?” Shindong greets us with a grin as he comes to a stand beside us.

I shake my head. “Nope, you’re the second one to arrive.”

His grin widens even more and then he laughs. “Hyukjae was so sure he’d make it before me!”

“Yah! What are you already doing here?”

Shindong turns around and I glance past him to see Hyukjae arrive as well. He’s a little bit out of breath, making it obvious that he had tried to be here before his best friend.

“It’s not my fault that you’re too slow.”

“It’s not me, it was the subway!” Hyukjae immediately defends himself.

“Of course it was,” Shindong replies and laughs, but he makes some space for Hyukjae to stand in a small circle with the rest of us.

Hyukjae huffs, knowing that none of us believes him and that it’s true that it has just been him running late. There’s no one else to blame but himself.

Soon, Youngwoon and Junsu arrive as well and our circle gets a little bigger while we continue to chat. A family leaves the building. The two children seem to be quite a handful with how excited they are to go to the festival, but the sight makes me happy. I bow to the parents and smile when my gaze lands on the golden thread connecting them. It makes me happy to know that they managed to find the love of their lives and get married to that person because I know that by far not everyone is as lucky as they are.

It’s almost 9:35 when Yunho and Jaejoong finally arrive. “I’m sorry for the delay,” Yunho apologizes even before he comes to a stand.

Junsu and Hyukjae laugh. “Come on, none of us expected anything else,” Junsu teases them and Jaejoong blushes while Yunho is quick to defend himself.

“It’s not my fault a certain someone always takes forever in the bathroom.” He glances at his boyfriend who looks back defiantly.

“But it is your fault that you never wake me up sooner – and if you do, it’s not in adequate ways.”

“Hey, hey, hey, we want no details about that!” Shindong is quick to interfere and the rest of us nods. I’m happy for them, but I don’t want to know what’s going on behind closed doors. Jaejoong blushes an even brighter red and now Yunho blushes, too.

“Why don’t we get going?” Jungsu changes the topic, saving all of us from a lot of embarrassment and awkward silence. We nod again and our mood immediately brightens while we start walking.

Next to me, Jaejoong stretches a little. “What a wonderful day for our festival!”

I tilt my head up a little towards the sun. Even though it’s only spring, it’s already warm outside. Flowers and trees make the world around us bright and colorful and you can hear the songs of birds. “It really is,” I respond and smile.

“I have a feeling that something special is going to happen today.”

“Oh really?” I glance over at Jaejoong and see him nod, then I look ahead again. “I hope you’re right.” I watch Hyukjae talking to Shindong ahead of us for a moment before I continue to speak, “I finally found someone for Hyukkie.”

“You did?” This time it’s my turn to nod. “That’s wonderful! Do you think we’ll see him today? Does Hyuk know?”

I shrug and then shake my head. “No, he doesn’t know yet. I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to the other guy yet…”

“Then how do you know?”

I shrug once again. “I’ve seen him a few times and simply have a feeling that it’s him. He’s a student, I think, and he works at Hyukjae’s favorite club. That’s all I know.”

“Is he good-looking?” Jaejoong asks further and I can feel him watching me.

“Yes, he is. But I don’t think he’s muscular enough to be your type,” I and he laughs.

“Good thing I already found my type,” he responds and when I glance at him, he’s watching his boyfriend dreamily. I look down at his thread to see it shimmer with love and from the sunlight, just like it seems to always do. With a smile, I look ahead again. “I hope you too will find someone someday with whom you can imagine growing old. I don’t want you to die old and alone and even more bitter.”

I glance at Jaejoong at those words. He knows something happened in my past, but he doesn’t know what it is. “I wouldn’t be alone. I have Heebum and Baengshin,” I remind him, but he shakes his head to show me that my answer is invalid.

“And I have Jiji, remember? But I’m still much happier with Yunho by my side.”

“Of course you are,” I respond right away, “I have two cats and you now have one cat and one boyfriend, so each of us has two others by our side,” I reason and when I glance at Jaejoong again, he gives me a ‘You did not just say that’-look.

“Yeah, sure,” he replies, but his voice is dripping with sarcasm. He knows he can’t argue with me about that topic, but I also know that he doesn’t think I won.

Catching up to the others at a red traffic light, I hear they’re talking about what they want to do at the festival. I hear Hyukjae list pretty much all of the sweets booths – crêpes, ice cream, cotton candy, waffles, chocolates… Junsu and Yunho eventually interrupt him to tell him about a dance event that has been announced near our city hall and Hyukjae immediately agrees to go with them. As a group, we also decide to go on the Ferris wheel and Jungsu and Shindong suddenly really get into the idea of finding a booth where they paint children’s faces and participating as well. Experience tells me that we’ll also end up stopping at every game booth – whether it’s shooting balloons or fishing plastic ducks and being able to win prices like that.

In no time, we’re at the location where the pageant will start in a few minutes. Many people have already come together here. A quick glance towards Hyukjae’s wrist and into the direction the thread is showing tells me that his partner is not in sight. I look around and see children play and some talk to members of the band that’s already waiting here with us while the rest of the pageant is getting set up in one of the streets. More and more people join us here in front of the main station, but it’s mostly families who are out already. Somehow there aren’t many people like us who can literally join the festival in the morning and stay until sometime past midnight when the circles around the fire slowly become smaller until only a handful of people is left.

It’s a little past ten when the band goes over to one of the streets and gets organized there. Everyone makes space and conversations die down while we watch the band, then they start playing and we can see vehicle after vehicle pull out of the street. I can’t help but grin when I see the first one advertising equal rights for everyone because it’s still such a controversial topic in our country. Then all of the other cars pull out. There are fairytale figures and some historical ones that refer to our history and the reason why we have this festival. The mayor is there, a group of dancers has joined them this year, and then there are other sponsors. I see the mascots of the two universities in town as well as some cheerleaders who apparently volunteered. There are a few company cars that have employees accompanying them dressed up however the company saw as fit. In the end, more people of the band have joined the pageant to make sure as many people as possible can hear their music. Then people start to join behind them. When the end of the pageant comes to us, we also begin to walk with them.

The day passes quickly. The eight of us stick together all the time while we try out new games, new food, watch people perform, and chat with people we meet along the way. The entire time I’m trying to watch Hyukjae’s thread in hopes to see the mysterious stranger again, but if he’s on the festival as well, he seems to never be nearby.

When it’s around dinner time, we settle down at a stand that offers barbeque. It’s good to eat something like this after we’ve only had sweets all day! I’m standing at a table with Hyukjae, Junsu, and Shindong while the other four are at the table next to ours. No one is talking now because we’re all too busy focusing on our food.

That’s when I notice Hyukjae’s thread move again.

I quickly look up and see my mysterious stranger walking almost right past us. He’s chatting with some friends, but by now I’m past the point of caring. It’s been almost two months since I first saw him!

“Hyukjae, you’re coming with me,” I say and hurry to put my chopsticks down and grab Hyukjae’s wrist, pulling him with me without giving him the chance to protest. I know the others are staring at me weirdly, but I don’t care anymore. This guy is so close, I can’t let him escape again! Who knows when I’ll be able to see him again? Who knows if he and Hyukjae will meet even if I don’t do this right now?

“Heechul, what are you doing? Let go!” Hyukjae tries to get out of my grip, but I only hold on tighter. A quick glance at Hyukjae’s wrist shows me we’re still going into the right direction, but I can’t follow the thread far because there are too many people all around me, too many golden threads for me to only focus on Hyukjae’s. “Heechul. Yah!” I still don’t listen, still pull him further. When I glance at his wrist again, I come to a sudden stop. Damn it, the thread changed directions! I look up towards the side, trying to spot this stranger at one of the booths, but I can’t see him. A moment later, Hyukjae manages to tear away his arm. “Heechul, what the hell? What’s wrong with you!?”

I shake my head. “You don’t understand. Hyukjae, he’s here.”

“Who’s here?” I glance at his wrist again and see that it still hasn’t changed directions. Just when I’m about to speak up, Hyukjae continues, “And why are you always staring at my wrist? What’s wrong with you today?” I hurry to glance up into his eyes instead, but I can tell that whatever I’d say as an excuse now, he wouldn’t believe it. I grit my teeth. We’re so close!

Hyukjae huffs. “Whatever then. I’m going back,” he finishes and turns around to go back. A mere second later, he stumbles back. “Ow!” He holds his shoulder and looks up at another young man who also came to a stand. Hyukjae is now facing me while I only see the back of the other person and messy dark hair.

Within a heartbeat, my bad mood vanishes into thin air. By now, I would have recognized that hair anywhere. I glance at Hyukjae to see him still speechless, but then he gets a grip of himself. “I-I’m sorry…”

“Are you okay?” They both speak up at the same time and a soft smile sneaks onto my lips.

Now their golden thread is short, reaching from one wrist to the other, and I can see it shimmer a tiny bit. Finally they have met.

I look down to give them a moment of privacy and my gaze lands on my own wrist again, the reason why I have sworn to myself to help people whenever I can.

Donghae – I learn that’s the stranger’s name – doesn’t spend the night with us because he also went to the festival with his friends, but he and Hyukjae exchange their KakaoTalk IDs and it’s still that evening that I catch Hyukjae on his phone, texting with Donghae.

They start meeting up in private and even though Hyukjae disagrees, Jungsu and I insist on calling those meet-ups ‘dates’.

A little over a month passes. Hyukjae and I still go to his favorite club on the weekends, but Hyukjae shows no interest anymore in the people around him. Whenever a band is getting set up, our eyes wander to the stage to see a now familiar young man help on stage, but that’s the most I see of Donghae during all this time.

Another Monday comes and Jungsu, Hyukjae, and I meet at Ryeowook’s Café after work like we do on most Mondays. This time, Hyukjae looks incredibly nervous, though.

“What’s going on?” Jungsu eventually asks him when Hyukjae won’t stop fidgeting around.

“It’s just… Donghae said he’s off now, too, and he doesn’t have a lot of studying to do… I invited him to come meet us… I hope that’s okay?” He says the last sentence really fast and I can’t help but chuckle at his cute nervousness

“Do you have any idea how bothersome it got to hear about a guy about whom I know absolutely nothing? I don’t know what he looks like, what his personality is like…”

I can see Hyukjae is about to panic when Jungsu starts talking, but then he relaxes a little bit and smiles. “You’ll find out today. I’m sure you’ll like him!”

“I’m also really curious about him,” I agree and Jungsu shoots me a sulky glare.

“At least you already know what he looks like!”

“That’s true.” I grin at him and lean back, watching Hyukjae as he looks up and waves at someone by the door.

Jungsu turns around to see who it is and I also look up to see Donghae walk over to us. He has his school bag swung over his shoulder as he approaches and then bows towards us. “Hello, my name is Lee Donghae and I’m twenty years old. I’m a second year student at Nam University and my major is marine biology,” he introduces himself formally and I can’t help but laugh softly.

“Please relax, Donghae,” I reply and motion for him to take the seat between Hyukjae and Jungsu. At least I wasn’t mistaken when I assumed that he’s a student.

Hyukjae straightens to introduce us as well. “This is Park Jungsu. He’s a wonderful hyung and very understanding.” Donghae and Jungsu bow their heads to each other. “And this is Heechul, he knows who a person’s true love is. I don’t know how, but he can always figure it out simply by looking at a person.”

“Oh really?” Donghae asks and eyes me curiously. His nervousness slowly seems to fade.

Hyukjae nods excitedly and proudly. “Yes! He was also the one who made me leave behind my dinner during the festival at the time we met.”

“Really? Thank you very much, Heechul-sshi.” The new member of our small circle bows towards me and I simply shrug in response.

“No problem.”

“May I ask something?”

“Sure.”

“What about you? If you can see people’s true love, do you also know who yours will be?” Donghae looks at me with such innocent curiosity and an almost cute thirst for knowledge, but I can also see in his eyes that he’s not sure if he’s allowed to ask this question.

“I don’t know. Maybe there is no such thing as true love for me,” I respond quietly and look down at my wrist. The thread hangs towards the ground lifelessly, no longer than a foot, looking like someone ripped it apart violently. The formerly soft, golden glimmer that always shows you haven’t found your partner yet has almost turned gray, the gold only faintly recognizable.

I met him when I was sixteen. I had been on vacation with my parents and my sister. In the evening, we took the ferry back again and it was right there when we got off that I saw him. We were so close that our hands almost touched. I looked into his eyes and he looked back into mine, seeming rather confused at my wonder and surprise. I think he was from China and just on vacation here in South Korea. Then the moment was over and I had to leave even though I tried to get a better glimpse at him. I had made the plan to take the ferry back the next day to try and find him. Our bond would certainly lead me!

The next morning, my phone had been spammed with text messages from my friends. I saw my thread torn for the first time.

When we watched the news that morning, a reporter was talking about the ferry we had been on the night before.

The ferry had sunk on its very next journey.

No one had survived.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Please subscribe and leave a comment, I'd love to know what you guys think about this small piece of work. Thank to everyone who will subscribe (or already has subscribed) and especially to those who will leave a comment ♥♥♥