The man sipped his coffee as he watched Ms.Lee implant another countdown bar on these two guys that looked like they were in their late teenage years. After finishing, they caressed their wrist as if it was fragile. The man decided to talk to Ms.Lee after she finished.

"Care to talk? It'll be no more than 5 minutes."

She didn't bother to look at who came up to her, but she nodded as she stacked her papers neatly.

"What made you create these so called 'meet your destined one' countdown implants? Not to bring any offense to your invention, but it sounds ridiculous. How in the world would you even know when they would meet? You're totally getting a ton of money, it better be an actual legit invention, or you're going to have people slamming your door down at 3 AM, asking for their precious money back."

Ms.Lee twisted her body to face the random man that threw plenty of amusing questions at her. She shook her head and chuckled, "If you're looking for answers, then don't ask, figure it out yourself. You think it's ridiculous? Alright. However, if you're in a state of curiosity, instead of wasting your time questioning, why don't you go ahead and try it out? I don't plan on telling people how I know. I'll give you a discount since you look like you're struggling with your life."

The man scoffed and took what she said to heart. He abruptly stood up and left without a bye. Ms.Lee just grinned. She acknowledged the fact that people thought her invention was a scam.

 "They're in for a big surprise. Let the games begin."




"I can't believe I got this implanted with you. We both said this was stupid, so why did we get it?" Bobby complained, while looking at the countdown number that was implanted onto his wrist.

Hanbin shrugged, and threw his hand on Bobby's left shoulder.

"Relax. It's probably a ridiculous joke. I just want to see this specific person I'm supposed to be destined to. The person that made this probably just wanted to scam everyone to get money."

They both laughed it off, not knowing that this was actually a legit product.
"I guess we should begin our adventure then."

They grinned at each other and threw their hands on top of each others.

"Sinosijak!"



"Jinhwan, you're lying, right? That implant is totally a scam!" you scolded him. You shook your head at how desperate your friend seemed
to be. There's no way some ridiculous countdown implant can tell when you'll meet your destined one, it's just way too absurb.

He slouched in his chair and blew out air onto his bangs. "There's no harm in trying, right? I'm just a little curious. It seems to be the trend lately."
Jinhwan suddenly jerked up and grinned at you. "You should come with me. If you're not busy, that is."

You laughed and rolled your eyes, "Is this supposed to be a date? If so, I'm excited to see my best friend hand $50 just to get an implant on his wrist.
How do you think they'll even put it on you?"

He rubbed his arms up and down, not knowing what procedure he'd have to go to. You decided to teasingly poke him in the arm with a smirk forming onto your face.
"You can always change your mind if you're..you know, afraid." you emphasized the last word, causing Jinhwan to flick your forehead.

"I'm not afraid of anything, Park Hyemi." 

You rolled your eyes yet again, and imitated the noise of vomiting. 

"You should stop that eye rolling habit. I'm a bit afraid if your eyes will get stuck to the back of your head. Who would date you after seeing that?"

Let's just say he got a bruise on his arm from the fierce pinch you gave him.




"It feels a bit disturbing in here." Jinhwan laughed, as he examines the white plain walls. There was absolutely no decorations, but a clock on the wall.
Not only that, but the tiles were plastered completely white too. However, the smell wasn't so bad. You closed your eyes in pleasure as the scent of berries
crept near you. 

The sound of heels clicking on the tiles made you open your eyes to realize that the lady was here. She sported a high messy bun with the lightest makeup to
the point where you thought she had no makeup. Her shirt was a plain white blouse with long sleeves that had frills on the cuff. Her pencil skirt was plain black,
but if you squinted hard enough you could see that a rose thorn was engraved onto the skirt. 

"You both are here for an implant?" she questioned, glancing back and forth to us.

You shook your head in response and pointed at Jinhwan, who nodded his head. 

You patted his back and threw a thumb up to show him your support.
"Good luck Jinhwan, don't piss yourself during the procedure. I'll be here waiting." 

"Oh no, he'll be asleep during the procedure. The pain is too crucial to stay awake for. It'll take at least 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes at the most. 
I'm not sure how well you take in pain, but if you can't handle it well, your wrist will hurt, so move with caution."

You threw a whistle, and nervously laughed at Jinhwan. "Are you starting to regret this?"
He playfully bumped his shoulder on yours and handed her the money. "I told you, I'm not afraid of anything. Can't you be more supportive?"

"Yeah yeah, I'll go ahead and be your supportive friend by digging your grave for you." you joked. You wanted to stop him from getting it, but
he looked quite excited to find out his destined one, so you just let him get it. 

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to get this done. More people are going to come soon so I need this done as fast as possible." she said in a monotonous tone.
You nodded your head, understanding the situation, and pushed Jinhwan forward. He looked back at you, and you smiled with your thumbs thrown up.


You stood there confused as you watched Jinhwan walk out with his money back in 5 minutes. The look on his face had the word "disappointed" written on it.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and blew on his bangs, which became a big habit when he's a little upset.

"She did a scan before we started to make sure it'll be safe to do it on me." He started off. You raised an eyebrow, and circulated your hand to address him to continue.
He took a deep breath before he continued.
"She said I've already met my destined partner. I asked her if she would tell me who, but she flat out rejected me. I'm so disappointed. How am I going to find out now?" 

You walked towards him and rubbed his back to comfort him. "It's alrigh-" 
"No, she said that your destined partner will have more than one person linked to her. It all just depends on who can win her heart. Think of it like a game
that has normal, happy, and sad endings. Your actions influences your chance on getting one of them. I'm at a big disadvantage since I don't know who I'm linked to."

You slowly moved your head up and down, getting the gist of it. "What if.. you don't win?"
His shoulders deflated, and he look like he already lost the girl. 

"Then you don't end up with anyone."

You tilted your head in confusion. "This is sounding like a game she setted up. Forget it Jinhwan! It's fake, I'm sure each and every person on this world has
someone they're destined to. This preposterous implant is just linking it to random people, I'm sure of it."

He softly knocked his fist on your forehead, with a soft "tsk" coming out of his mouth. "No, not everyone ends up with someone Hyemi. I think this is a
wakeup to reality for some people."

Sighing, you both walked out of the little place and loitered around the street. A comfortable silence was amongst the two of you as you both walked. 
He decided to walk you home since you were tired from school. You both bid your goodbyes, and you threw yourself onto your bed while blankly staring at
your ceiling that had colorful paper cranes hanging from it. 

Questions about the lady begin to wander in your head. What was her motive? How did she create it?
You rubbed yout head, frustrated that she was firm on her answer on not giving away anything. 

"I hate not knowing the answer to questions!" you turnt on your belly and faceplanted onto the pillow, yelling out your frustrations.





Hanbin laughed along with his friends that threw horrible jokes at each other. The jokes weren't funny at all, but their laughing style was. Hanbin began
to feel a curious about the countdown, so he pulled it down to see that his countdown tremendously lowered to one more day.

His eyes enlarged to the size of Earth and he slapped Bobby's shoulder to get his attention. 
"Yah, look! Remember it was 10 days? It suddenly went down to 1 day and 53 minutes. She's getting closer to me! I'm going to see her soon!" 

They both looked at each other and laughed stupidly, while slapping each other in excitement. 
Bobby decided to mess around with Hanbin by saying he was going to see no one when it gets to 0, meaning that he doesn't have a destined one. However, that
soured Hanbin's mood which made Bobby regret saying that.

"Hey hey, I was kidding. You're going to hit the bullseye, I bet! She's going to have a stunning personality too." With that said, Hanbin lifted up his head with
a bright expression. 

"But we need to work on your awkwardness with the ladies." Donghyuk added, earning a high-five from Yunhyeong.
Hanbin glared at the two, and quickly denied their assumptions. "I'm not awkward. It's Bobby that's awkward. He couldn't even sit next to a girl and pushed
me over to sit next to her. "

"C'mon now, why are we bringing me in? I just didn't want to sit with her, that's all! You're the one that hasn't fell in love for your whole 18 years of living!" Bobby retorted, not wanting to admit that he is indeed awkward with girls.

Junhoe, who became easily bored of the conversation, decided to come in to knock some sense into the two.
"You guys are so indenial. Let me break it to you both, you're both awkward." 

With that said, they all laughed at Junhoe's straightforwardness to his elders. 

Hanbin scoffed, grabbed his bag, and got up. "Whatever, I'm going home. See you guys at school tomorrow." 

"Are you upset?" Chanwoo asked, feeling a bit guilty for agreeing with Junhoe and the others. 

"No, not at all. I'm just trying to end this day quickly by sleeping so I can see her." He replied, and headed towards to the door.

Once he was outside of the building, he let out a "WOO" and jumped up in the air. Hanbin never dated, liked, or fell in love with a girl. So you could say
his 18 years of living was sometimes lonely, but now, he was finally going to find the one. He was definitely going to work hard to win her love.

Hanbin began to whisper to himself, "I wonder how she'll be like. Maybe I can introduce Hanbyul to her. It'd be great if she could sing so we can do a song together."
He paused, and slapped his forehead. "Didn't I call this implant stupid? Why am I so excited?" 

He walked pass a convinience store, then suddenly stopped to stare at it. "Icecream is calling for me." 
Rather than casually turning around to walk to it, he moonwalked backwards and smirked at how brilliant that idea was. 

Hanbin made his way inside the convinience store that was quite empty today. 
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." He muttered while laughing at how odd he was.

He spotted his favorite brand and quickly ran to get the last chocolate bin. With success, he was going to make his way towards the cashier, but saw a girl  glaring at his ice cream. 

She slowly raised her index finger and pointed at the chocolate bin he held. "That's..that's the last one, isn't it?" 
Not letting him answer, she threw out a fist and placed it flat on her other hand. 

"Rock, paper, scissors." 

Hanbin stared at the girl in bewilderment. Who the heck even does this in real life to strangers? 
He looked over at the desperate girl and shook his head, "First come, first serve." Then decided to walk away.

She decided to run infront of Hanbin, and threw out her arms to stop him.
"Are you afraid to lose? They'll restock tomorrow, I just need it now because my sister is cranky and wouldn't shut up about ice cream."

Not really wanting to give up the icecream, he went under her arms, and without looking back said, "Your sister can come to this place tomorrow and get it. The next day is in 3 hours. Just tell her to sleep."

"No way! She really wants it right now. She even texted me constantly, begging me to get it. Look!" She reached out for her phone, loaded the texts, and placed it
infront of Hanbin's face.  Hanbin sighed. Being the nice guy he is, he handed the ice cream over to her and left. 

"Thank you!" she yelled out. Hanbin just waved his hand without turning back, and left the store.

With a frown, Hanbin kicked a random rock and muttered, "I've been ice cream robbed."
With that said, he began to walk home and decided to come back tomorrow for ice cream.

Little did he know, that his countdown updated before he walked into the store to 30 seconds.

 

( w/out author note ) characters: 10931 & words: 2342 
wooooo! first chapter. if you didn't understand the last part,
basically it means he found his destined one but didn't even
know his countdown updated. 
i'm pretty excited for the upcoming chapters~ i have ideas that has been popping in my head left & right.

thank you all for subscribing and sending motivational comments! it really means a lot to me, and i will
never stop thanking you guys. have a great day. ♡