unfinished

iii. koi no yokan

koi no yokan! it's a small novella i once planned about half a year ago, when i wasn't actually quite active on wattpad and i wanted to write a big project - note that throughout the span of my writing career i have had a lot of "big project" dreams and each one was, in my mind, slated to be the next Harry Potter series and i'd earn big bucks from them. 

i digress. 

koi no yokan is a concept of "inevitable love". when you meet a person, you feel that you could inevitably fall in love with them. the protagonist ally is a young girl of 18 returning to her hometown after a long time of studying abroad, and rushes home because her mother has passed away. she reunites with her childhood friend kuro, who is a mature and fiery young man with a well-off family. the story is based off a lot of reconnections with past acquaintances, flames, or else strangers - ally questions the concept of inevitable love with the people around her and connections get tangled so haphazardly that she doesn't even know who to treasure anymore. 

that was a bad synopsis. but enjoy.  

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prologue.

恋の予感 / koi no yokan (japanese phrase) the feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love with them.

Ally has never known the phrase itself, but she has experienced it only once. That tightening of red strings, that line of fate tugging gently but persistently on her wrist. It happens, as fleeting and beautiful as a lightning bolt zigzagging down the sapphire sky, and a thousand times more dangerous. 

chapter one. 

Ally's chest feels like air. Carbon dioxide accumulating and weighing her down. She watches the city flash by in a blur outside her window as she slumps deeper inside her oversized hoodie and tries to disappear in her train seat. 

It is the first time she's been here in years, and the time on her wrist-watch trickles away slowly as the train moves at an infinitely slow pace. Time moves at a relatively sluggish pace here, she has learned, like sunlight sluicing down the rafters of a newly painted porch. 

-Station, the loudspeaker blares, and she hurries up as the crowd sloshes in waves out onto the platform. She is buffeted out, and she clenches a firm hand on her suitcase in fear of it toppling over. Her sneakers squeak on the floor as she heads out, head down, bumping her waist painfully on the ticket booth, and she tastes fresh air as she nears the end of the stairs. 

Ally allows herself to breathe as the salty tears wash down her cheeks. She exhales, and the smell of home is heady on her lips. 

*

Kuro's car is waiting for her as she turns the street. She can't stop the audible gasp from escaping her lips as she takes in the sleek Mercedes lying silently at the corner. 

Her grip on her suitcase tightens involuntarily. It is a rather shabby black suitcase, one that's a bit tattered and worn at the edges, and she swallows as Kuro emerges out of the car, a shining grin on his face. She hasn't seen him in years, and yet she recognises him at first glance. 

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a.n. can you believe it? this is as far as i'd gotten with this "big project". considering i wasted a lot of time making pre-manuscript notes that never took place. i don't even know why my writing gets so erratic sometimes. but i think this was one of my better (?) ideas.