They say that people are born with a red string that they can’t see, tied to their pinky fingers, and the end is tied to the one you’re fated to be with. But the thread is twisted this way and that, making it hard to find the other end.

What if you don’t have a thread?

What if you don’t have a fated person?

What do you do then?

Hi, I'm Youngjae, and I'm going to die alone.

No, I'm not being melodramatic and a PMSing teenage girl.

It's a fact.

My mom and dad have moved me around a lot, so I never had time to make friends.

And there is a that tiny little bump in the road: I have cystic fibrosis.

I won't live to see 21.

Don't pity me, though. I don't have anything to live for anyway.

Actually, it makes me a teensy bit sad that I won't ever be legal to drink, but it's okay.

Why? I'm going to do it anyways.

I have a bucket list of things that I'm going to do.

One of them was to see one of those BS fortune tellers.

I met Zinger. She's one of the tellers that won't take no for an answer.

I walked inside her crappy tent and listened to her story about the red thread.

She looked behind me and examined my hand.

"You don't have a red thread.... That's not good, hun."

"So I'm going to die alone?"

"Pretty much, sweet cheeks."

"Why are you calling all these weird names?"

"Does it bother you, sugar plum?"

"YES."

"Sorry, angel face."

"Are you kidding me?"

She chuckled.

Then, she looked into my eyes and said seriously,"Jokes aside, this is important. You have cystic fibrosis, so you don't have much time left. Go find your own mate, control your own destiny. Have fun while you do it, because you literally have one life to live, and time is running out. Now, don't get drunk off your , but do some meaningful stuff. Then, you can go get drunk off your ."

Her voice softened and she gave me a little, slightly sad smile. "Good luck, Youngjae-sshi. I'll be rooting for you."

She ushered me out of her tent and swung the flap closed.

Thinking deeply, I walked down the street until it hit me.

I never told her my name and that I had cystic fibrosis.

I ran back to that area, but she and her tent were gone.

"What... the ?"

Scratching my head, I started my walk to the hospital.

I had an appointment soon.

Almost there, I started to jog. I was going to be late.

I ran face first into someone.

I got pushed back and a voice rang out.

"Watch where you're ing going."

I tried to apologize, but the exhaust in the air from his motocycle was getting to me.

I started wheezing and coughing, trying to get some air in my lungs.

Hyperventilating, I fell to my knees.

"Hey, are you okay?"

His features were blurred by the tears in my eyes from the pain in my chest.

I tried to point to the hospital.

Before I passed out, I saw his worried face, with a black mask covering the bottom half.