Follow Your Heart

Maybe it's the providence of the universe.

Minhyuk's left hand is wrapped in red, red, red.

He's tangled up his string again, winding and winding it through his fingers until there's barely a bit of skin left to be seen. His fingers feel stiff, but they're still movable.

The soulmate string is different, he's learned. Had spent one of his classes, when he was much, much younger, tying up an actual red string - around his right hand to mirror his left - and playing with it.

He hadn't unwrapped it until his teacher had called him aside as everyone went out to lunch, fascinated by the way that his fingers were turning blue and that he could actually no longer bend them.

His teacher had crouched down, taking his hand in hers.

"What did you do this for, Jeon Minhyuk?" She had tutted, gently beginning to unwind the string. He watched, intrigued by the way that this was a string that others, not only himself and his soulmate, could see and interact with.

He didn't really have an answer. He had just wanted to see the differences, the similarities. Between his soulmate string and a real piece of string. It just seemed a lot more fascinating to him than the math written on the board.

"You shouldn't do this," she scolded, "People may think you haven't got a string if you do."

"But I do have a string," he frowned, glancing at his left hand, where the soulmate string was tied on his pinky, the end of it fading into the distance.

"I know," she reassured, as she had finally finished unwrapping the string. "But if you make up a fake one, people may think you don't have a real one."

He considered this, humming. "How will I know my soulmate just hasn't got a fake string on, then?"

She laughed, her hands fiddling with the air. "Have you ever tugged on the string, Minhyuk?"

His eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head. "Why would I?"

"Just try it," she encouraged, standing up from her crouch. "But you need to tug on it with your other hand, like you're trying to find the end."

"I thought only fate could bring them together," he replies, remembering his mother's stories. As much as you may want it, or not want it, fate is the only one who controls when you meet.

His teacher smiles at him. "Yes, but fate deserves a helping hand sometimes."

Still confused, he had wrapped his fingers around the string - real and tangible to only him, for now - and had tugged it gently. Are you there?

He turned to the teacher, ready to question his own actions, before he felt it. His string being tugged back. A light pressure on his pinky, the first time he had ever felt the weight of it.

Not quite like a real string being tugged if it was tied to his finger, but it was definitely a strange sensation. Like pins and needles had suddenly wrapped around a tiny part of his finger and faintly pulled at him, beckoning him to go somewhere.

He gasped in surprise, and his teacher smiled at him.

"Say hello to your soulmate, Minhyuk."