"why did our lives intersect if they were going to diverge eventually?" chaewon asks, as her voice cracks, filled with raw bitterness.

the lady looks up at her. she untangles the strings from her hands and places them onto the table. she gets up from her chair and walks towards chaewon.

"oh, dear… the both of you are bound by this..." the lady stops before chaewon and reaches out to grab the red string chaewon was holding. "or would you rather," the lady swiftly pulls out a pair of golden scissors and brings it to the string, "i do this?"

chaewon's eyes widened. she lunges forward and snatches the string from the lady's grasp. she cradles the string in her hands.

the lady chuckles wryly before turning to walk back to her table.

"minju is your fate, but..." she stops before her table and sighs.

she turns back to chaewon and throws her a strained smile.

“never meant to be yours.”