Honestly, it was all romantic and dreamy in theory. You have this little red string tied around your pinky that only you can touch and it supposedly ties you to your soulmate, varying in shade depending on how far your soulmate is away. If its barely there chances are high your soulmate is somewhere in another country, maybe even on the other side of the globe but the redder it gets, logically, the closer you two are.
Little kids would learn about it in elementary school and run back home whining and complaining to their moms that they’d never meet their significant other with the moms trying to offer comfort while telling them that fate would lead everyone together eventually. Most times it would work and the kids would go back to playing with their friends without a care in the world. Park Siyeon was one of these kids too, always the little princess who couldn’t wait to meet her Prince Charming. At least that was her until the age of 15.
After so many years you get kind of bored of the oh so romantic concept and now, at the age of 17, Siyeon was completely done with it.
It was only a normal school day spent staring at her pinky and when she finally got to go home the blackhaired had the honor to witness her friend Yehana walking head first into her apparently soulmate Bae Sungyeon. How the girl hadn’t recognized that her pinky was practically burning bright red was a mystery. Meanwhile Siyeon had walked home grumbling about how unfair life is and there was only option to solve Siyeons grumbling: ranting.
Since her usual favorite person to rant to was on a date her other favorite person had to endure her lengthy phone call now. “Hello?” “Jaehyun, life is unfair.” “Well ,” the older boy sighed at the end of the line, “tell me something I don’t know.” With a sigh Siyeon fell on her bed, her phone on speaker beside her. “Yehana found her soulmate today,” she said, lifting her hand over face. “Oh really? How good for our sunshine, I’ll make sure to text her my congratulations later.” Jaehyun had his phone pressed between his ear and his shoulder as he simultaneously tried to turn a page in a physics book and write something down. The empty hum he got as an answer made him drop the pen. “Something is bothering you.” Another hum. “What is it, Ddiddi?” She wanted to hit him for using her old nickname but choose an eye roll he couldn’t see yet definitely feel instead. “When is it gonna be our turn? The strings colors say that they are at least in the same city as us, why can’t we just walk into them?” “Because unfortunately Seoul doesn’t consist of only us four people and fate hates us. Trust me, I’ve had it too. In my opinion there should be like a spell to lure them in or something,” Jaehyun said nonchalantly as he closed his book but his words made Siyeon shoot up straight in her bed. “Jae?” She asked. “Ddiddi?” He asked back.
“You are a goddamn genius.” Getting praise from Siyeon was rare, something was definitely up. “Not that I’m denying it, but why?” The brown haired boy regretted asking that a second later.
“Because I have a plan.”

“Your plan is stupid,” Jaehyun said the next day, walking beside Siyeon through the busy streets. Their destination was the park.
“You are stupid,” the blackhaired girl snapped back without looking at him. She had a very big blanket secure in her arms and was striding forward so fast even Jaehyun with his long legs had trouble to keep up. “My plan is magnificent and is going to work 100%. I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough of waiting for the all mighty, currently failing, universe to pull itself together.”
Suddenly Siyeon stopped right in the middle of the way and Jaehyun, ever so loyally following, almost ran into her. “We need snacks. We’re gonna be there for a while.” Her head turned to the left and her friend followed her vision. Oh wow, when did they arrive at the convenience store? With a deep sigh Jaehyun finally gave up his resistance. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said to no one in particular because Siyeon was already halfway through the door. “I certainly hope you’re right.”
10 minutes later they exited the store again, Siyeon still only with the blanket but Jaehyun now loaded with three plastic bags containing a wide range of drinks and snacks. It was way too much for two but Siyeon argued that they wouldn’t be only two for long and that they didn’t know what the others would like. Jaehyun was just following her by now, partly already regretting his choice to accompany the younger girl on her quest. No one told him he had to do all the carrying.
Eventually they arrived at the park and spread the blanket out on a place they deemed right. They sat down, opened a few snacks and drinks and talked for awhile. Somewhere through the chat Jaehyun got lost in thought as he stared at his hand. “Shall we?” Siyeon asked after smiling at him fondly. He wanted this infinite guessing and watching all his friends fall in love instead of him to end just as much as her.
“Yeah, lets get them,” The boy sighed and together they shuffled around until they faced the general direction of the parks entrance. Slowly Siyeon looped her string around her wrist two or three times before taking a deep breath.
“Okay, one, two, three and go!” And at the same moment they started to pull at their strings.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the city, Kang Rena and Lee Taeyong were utterly confused as to what the hell was going on. One second they were peacefully sitting in Taeyongs apartment playing video games and in the next they were both practically yanked out of the door.
“You know, I’d ask you if you feel this too,” the longhaired brunette said as she barely managed to grab her and her friend's jackets from the coat hanger, “but I’m running after you so I'm guessing you feel this too.”
The pinkhaired boy wanted to flip her off or yell something back but the moment he opened his mouth another yank went through him, sending him stumbling down the stairs. He barely caught the jacket Rena threw him before he had the next flight of stairs to master. Rena actually didn’t had to run, the yanks she had were strong yes, but it at least left her to lightly jog. For the sake of her and Taeyong's friendship she decided to run with him though.
“What the is-, wow,” he almost ran into the front door, “what the is going on??” The two barely managed to get on their jackets when they reached a cross road and suddenly the penny dropped.
“What if, and this is only an idea, what if our soulmates have decided to say you to fate and are forcing us to meet?” Taeyong had to hold on to a street light to not be pulled into very busy traffic as Rena held onto him, putting her heels in the ground. “Very possible but goddammit, whoever’s mine they are ing strong, woah!” The older boy said through gritted teeth and as if on cue the light switched to green and he, and Rena with him, got dragged over the street into the subway station.

“You think they know each other?” Jaehyun has been at it for a good 15 minutes now and slowly he was getting out of breath. Siyeon beside him looked up from her very focus needing task and looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “How come?” “They always stop or resist at the same time.” “Ah.” The blackhaired looked deep in thought as she seemed to examine her string and how it led straight ahead. The plan was definitely working because both strings had started to turn a more intense red.
“Could be, I think it’d be a pretty big coincidence if they actually do though. But it would be pretty cool.” Siyeon stopped wiring the string up for a minute and reached for one of the bottles between them. After taking a sip she gave it to Jaehyun and adjusted her sitting position, glaring at some people that gave them weird looks.
“I just hope they get here fast,” she sighed and started doing her thing again, more forcefully this time and Jaehyun smiled at his friend's eagerness before he got to it as well.

Rena jumped over the subway station control barrier. And Taeyong got it on video. She really regretted choosing the gold skirt today.
Of course she would have gone through the barrier like any normal person would have, showing her metro card like Taeyong did because his yanks conveniently stopped for a second there but because fate and her soulmate apparently hated her, she got very forcefully and unexpectedly dragged right as she was about to do the same thing. So, in order to not make a 360 turn, break her back and flash the public the brunette somehow managed to jump over it rather gracefully. A few guys stared at her with an open jaw and what suspiciously looked like heart eyes, immediately getting glared at by Rena’s male companion.
“I’ll make sure to show that to your soulmate someday,” Taeyong laughed as they rushed down the stairs to jump on the train. Well, Rena walked in like a normal person and stood near a pole where she could hold on, unlike Taeyong. As soon as the pinkhaired got on he was dragged to the end of the wagon and the dragging didn’t stop there. Poor him had to spent the whole ride with his face mushed up against a window, quite possibly scaring the living hell out of some little kids and several passengers. Rena took a photo and couldn’t stop laughing, she loved karma.

“Ah, this is tiring!” A thud was heard next to him and Jaehyun didn’t had to look to know that Siyeon was laying on her back, still lazily looping the red string around her wrist. She was tired, not giving up.
“You think they’re gonna be here soon?” She asked and curled up on the blanket. It was a pleasant day out, rather warm and sunny and some sun rays hit the blackhaired's cheek. It reminded the older boy of a cat. He took a moment to remember their childhood, when little Siyeon would always want to play prince and princess, Jaehyun always doomed to be the prince although he was the princess once and it was glorious. The other girls in elementary school would always be jealous because the pretty boy only played prince with her and if asked he wouldn’t and couldn’t explain why. Siyeon always seemed like the little sister he never had and he hoped whoever was her soulmate was going to treat her like the princess she always wanted to be.
“I think they’re close,” Jaehyun answered, holding up his string that had turned significantly more red before yanking on it again.

At the same time two individuals stumbled out from the subway station into blinding sunlight. People gave them weird looks as they stepped on a large free area lined with cafes, bars, various shops Rena would’ve liked to take a look at, and restaurants. A big artsy fountain was placed right in the middle and people were sitting all around it. The area went on for quite a while and in the distance a few trees were in sight.
“Something tells me we’re going to the park,” Taeyong concluded and promptly walked into a random girl, apologizing thoroughly until yet another yank urged him to move. God, his soulmate was one strong son of a- “Watch out!” The random girl called out but too late. Taeyong stumbled into the fountain. Luckily he managed to catch himself but the better part of his jeans and his sleeves, where he caught himself, were soaked. Again people were staring at him and a familiar snickering was heard behind him. Rena had one hand over and was holding her phone in the other, recording the whole thing. “Now I will show that to your soulmate some time.” The brunette giggled and sometimes Taeyong regretted how he choose his friends.
“Oh yeah?” He asked, voice very deadly, “then show them this too!” Despite his shoes and everything getting totally ruined Taeyong just continued stomping through the water like nothing happened. His friend, being able to resist her leash, made her way around the fountain while keeping the camera on him. This one was for the books for sure.
After leaving a decently sized puddle on the floor and shaking himself like a dog, making a few drops actually hit Rena, he had no time for a malicious comment cause, who would’ve thought, the violent dragging appeared yet again. At this point Taeyong downright saw it as rude.
“And on we go, shouldn’t be far anymore,” Rena murmured behind him after putting her phone back in the pocket of her leather jacket and looking at their strings.
Both had turned a vibrant red.

Jaehyun saw them first. “Siyeon, close your eyes.” She complied but still caught a glimpse of the boy tripping and stumbling through the parks entrance.
Well, the blackhaired thought while blindly getting up, so he’s it, huh? He looked a bit scrawny for Siyeon's taste, although he was undeniably handsome. Yet she felt like something was off. Her parents and literally every person that ever met their soulmate would always say how the moment you laid eyes on them was the most magical thing on earth. You shouldn’t be able to tear your gaze away from them and a warmth was supposed to spread through your body.
Still, Siyeon found it awfully easy to close her eyes and still feel the same as before.
Maybe she just needed to get used to him,  maybe talk to him, maybe look at him when he wasn’t soaked to the bone. How did that happen anyways?
“Everything on three?” Jaehyun asked beside her, apparently he had gotten up too, and Siyeon just nodded. “Okay one, two, three!”
The way she pulled grew impossibly stronger and the blackhaired refused to stop. This is it, she thought, this is really it. Repeating that phrase over and over in her head, Siyeon kept pulling until finally, there was no more string.
Instead her hand wrapped around a wrist and because she still kept tugging Siyeon was suddenly hugging someone. Oh, well that felt different than expected.
She thought he had looked taller and his wrists weren’t so thin. Same for his waist. Also she expected to feel water droplets on her skin and not something tickling her arms that suspiciously felt like hair. He even smelled entirely different than she expected, a lot more feminine, not that she didn’t like it. Quite the opposite actually.
Siyeon was about to continue her studies when suddenly a deep voice spoke next to her. And it wasn’t Jaehyun.
“Hi, I’m Taeyong. Sorry, I fell into a fountain.” Wait, if Taeyong, as his name apparently was, was there, who was she hugging?
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Jaehyun nervously scratching his neck and stuttering out his name. He reached for the hand Taeyong was extending and the string between their hands practically burned orange. Just like hers probably did.
Only after witnessing that she turned to the person in her arms and oh, now she knew what everybody was talking about.
Prince Charming, the girl in front of her was way more beautiful than everything she’d ever seen. This position was really weird for a first meeting and Siyeon should probably let go but she stared at deep brown eyes and a teasing smile instead. The girl had long brown hair and full lips and wore a leather jacket with a gold shimmery skirt and was as tall as her and Siyeon didn’t care about other opinions, she thought the girl was equal parts mesmerizing and hot.
“I’m Rena,” hot girl, now known as Rena, said and Siyeon could’ve melted on the spot because why the hell did such a pretty being had to have such a nice speaking voice? It was like a doublekill.
Siyeon being Siyeon she of course totally forgot to tell Rena her own name, still staring at her with a slightly open mouth. Her luck that Rena found that rather endearing. The brunette herself was kind of awestruck as well but she played it off way better than the blackhaired. Rena decided to flick the other girl's forehead. “Siyeon! My name is Siyeon!” The girl exclaimed and immediately felt her cheeks go red in embarrassment.
And goodness gracious, she still hadn’t let go.

Two feet to the left the situation didn’t look any better. The boys still held their hands in a supposedly serious handshake and no one was making a move to let go. Jaehyun was on one hand fascinated that a human being could be so good looking while he was on the other hand deeply interested in the story behind Taeyong's very soaked state. He wondered how the pink hair would look like completely dry while Taeyong was busy mentally putting the other boy in a suit and placing a crown on his head because well, if he didn’t looked like a Disney prince Taeyong may start boycotting Disney.
“You wanna drink something?” The brownhaired boy suddenly asked, snapping himself and the other out of their trance while looking around for their supposed food supply. There was still more than enough left. “Uhh, sure. Mind if we sit down?” Of course he didn’t mind and he appreciated how he had included his friend that Siyeon still got in a death grip. Speaking of which, the girl was very pretty and looked nice, Jaehyun thought the two looked good together and approved so far.
“Hey, you two planning on joining us or are  you going to stand there all day?” Taeyong said with a smirk and Siyeon immediately let go of Rena, cheeks going even redder while the other girl's smile went even wider. Siyeon and Taeyong introduced themselves to each other properly and the latter laughed when Rena and him were presented a very wide range of foods and drinks that Siyeon had to describe every piece of because they didn’t know what they liked so they got almost everything. Jaehyun facepalmed in the back.
20 minutes later they had placed the blanket in the sun because they had to get the pinkhaired mob of a boy dry somehow and as someone actually dared to ask how that happened to him Rena practically leaped over Taeyong, who was trying to hold her back, to show Jaehyun the video of his soulmate stubbornly stomping through a fountain. Naturally Siyeon had to see Rena jumpfalling over a subway station barrier next.

In the end it hadn’t taken Taeyong and Rena three weeks to get fully integrated in Jaehyun's and Siyeon's circle of friends and everyone was just glad that everyone got along.
Sungyeon jokingly said that she didn’t believe the universe really did find someone for Siyeon and that the photo the blackhaired had was definitely a random girl from the internet but shut up immediately as Rena stepped through the school doors once to pick her soulmate up.
Jaehyun and Taeyong were dubbed ‘Jaeyong’ by now and did something together as often as they could, whether it was going out with the others or staying at Taeyongs apartment to play video games all day. Sometimes Siyeon and Rena would join them and be their arch nemesis team, but sometimes they just sat on Taeyong's bed, watched the boys play and held hands while whispering to each other.