The River's Gonna Give Us the Wedding Bands

Chapter 1

Watching his attending surgeons made Asher Wolke feel a little sick to his stomach. The two were so damn affectionate, with their red strings so intertwined around one another that Asher doubted they ever questioned it...
"I think it's cute."
The voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he turned to look at Jordan, "Seriously?"
"Yeah, I mean... everyone has their god-given soulmate, right?"
"Do you really believe that?"
"Of course I do..." she smiled softly, looking down at her wrist. Asher's eyes followed hers... of course, he could see her string. It faded as soon as it hit the floor, meaning her soulmate was far away... she sighed, "You don't believe in them."
"I believe in them, I see Dr Lim and Dr Melendez so wrapped up in their damn strings that I'm surprised one of them haven't gotten strangled by it... and I see yours. But I don't have one. I don't think I ever did."
"Asher, of course you do."
"No, I don't. Listen, you might have one far off, but I'm the one person in this world without a string..." he looked back at Audrey and Neil, the two nuzzling one another's face, "I wish I wasn't, but I am. We're supposed to be able to see our strings by now, when you turn 16, you see your string. I never saw mine, and that's fine. I'm fine with that." Asher walked away, and Jordan shook her head...
If only this idiot would see it wrapped around his ankle. She looked back at her attendings, and the chief surgeon's string was wrapped around her waist while the cardiothoracic surgeon's was wrapped around his wrist... it was nice to see people who had found their soulmate.

"Dr Wolke, I need you to go get me the patient's chart from room 413 from the station." Dalisay Villanueva said as she passed the resident, making him slow down.
"What, why?"
"Now, please."
"You're not my boss!"
The charge nurse slowed down, putting a hand on her hip. Asher quickly walked to the station, he knew better. If he pissed her off, he'd get a lecture from the charge nurse as well as the chief surgeon... that was not something he needed today, especially since Jordan was getting on his nerves. He reached for the file before looking up at the man standing at the station. For a moment, the man looked over at him... and his eyes seemed to wander over him.

Jerome Martel worked at San Jose St Bonaventure for approximately two months. He had started seeing his red string more and more, which usually meant that your soulmate was closer. He knew that his was wrapped around his thumb... an odd place, but one that usually made him laugh. He was still being introduced for his staff...
He found the two bickering doctors funny, a blonde doctor and a dark-haired surgeon, both with their strings wrapped around their wrists... he also found the autistic doctor to be interesting, as he and his fiancee both had their red and gold strings wrapped around their ring fingers... an odd and rare occurrence... they also were connected by a gold string, which was quite sweet. Best friends and lovers.
Jerome had seen plenty of his college friends find their soulmates... though he'd expected his own to sever the moment he was diagnosed with... well... the best thing was that it hadn't. His string of fate was still attached, and the medicine kept the viral load low enough that he didn't worry... but after that, he had decided to wait for his soulmate...
He looked up when a resident walked over... and he felt his heart nearly stop. His string wrapped around the resident. This was his soulmate...

"Umm... what are you staring at?"
"You." Jerome replied, before Asher grabbed the file quickly,
"That's... an interesting start."
"Right... Asher?""
"So you can read my badge... Jerome?"
"Yeah."
"Well... uh... nice seeing you..." Asher said before he blinked... this nurse's string seemed to stop at his own feet...
Guess his soulmate is far away like Jordan's.

Jerome Martel swore his heart never beat so fast as he sat next to Dalisay Villanueva, who was talking to Neil, two intertwined with their gold strings... best friends...
"Hey."
"Hey." Dalisay smiled as she looked over.
"I met my soulmate today."
"Really?!" the charge nurse gasped, "Oh my god, who?"
Neil looked over at the two, the conversation piquing his interest. He remembered to himself when he'd found out Audrey was his soulmate...
She'd shoved him in front of a gurney in hopes of severing it... which had failed, of course... they'd argued and she'd punched his hard enough to leave a bruise...
Hopefully Jerome had a better first impression with his soulmate.
"The resident, Asher Wolke."
"No way."
"Good luck with that." Melendez commented, taking a drink of his pop, "Your soulmate doesn't believe you exist."
"What do you mean?"
"Asher's is on his ankle. He can't see it. He's also... been through some personal stuff with his family."
"Oh. Is he..."
"No, he's gay." Neil replied, making Dalisay nearly laugh at the two.

Jordan laughed as she twirled her finger, showing off her and Asher's gold strings that were attached to their middle fingers,
"You can't be serious?! Are you dumb?"
"No, I'm realistic. I know I have a gold string, but come on, I don't have a red string. I've looked it up."
"Okay, you can't be real."
"Some people who are aromantic only have gold strings."
"Aro what?"
"Lacks romantic attraction."
"Yeah... but you're not. You said you're gay."
"I am gay, I would... highly theoretically, date someone. But I don't want to because I don't have a soulmate."

Audrey Lim and Alex Park looked at each other, laughing a little as they watched the two residents. Alex and Audrey had their gold strings wrapped around their heads, acting like crowns, making them laugh a little when they first noticed it.
"You gonna tell him? We're lucky we can't trip over that string." They looked at it as it dragged across the floor, both of them chuckling.
"I'm sure he's not THAT dumb, I mean... we both ignored our strings, it's why we had our divorces."
"Who figured my platonic soulmate was going to be my boss who threatened me with her heel when I accidentally startled her?" Alex laughed.
"Who figured your romantic soulmate was going to be the blonde that told you to 'go fuck yourself' the day you met."
Both of them laughed to themselves... it would be an interesting day.

"I feel like we didn't get off on the foot."
"Listen, I'm busy." Asher replied, not wanting to give the nurse the time of day... he was attractive to him in a soft-yet-strong way... but Asher wasn't looking for someone like that. Someone who clearly just wanted him as an experience and a way to kill time until he met his soulmate, "What's your problem anyways?"
"I just want to get to know you, since we'll be working together."
"And who are you?"
Jerome smiled before touching Asher's hand, "The man who's gonna marry you."
Asher Wolke swore on everything he felt his face get hot.