ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ | ᴍᴀʀᴋʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

ᴘᴀʀᴀᴅᴇ

Ten months. It had been ten months since Mark had discovered the fact that Donghyuck was his soulmate. Ten months of constantly watching the red string shorten as he neared Donghyuck, the hairs on his skin rising and his heartbeat fastening. Ten months of hearing Donghyuck complain about how he was going to get a string of fate, and end up tied up to someone (literally) that he doesn't even know, or care about. Mark had many opportunities where he could tell Donghyuck that the soulmate he was dreading to meet so badly, was in fact just standing right in front of him. But seeing the way Donghyuck's eyes dulled, his mouth tugged into a frown, and his voice carried a heavy amount of anger and disgust, Mark couldn't find it in himself to ruin the friendship he had. 

It was Donghyuck's birthday in 2 hours, and Mark was panicking. He was worried that in the morning, he would go to school, the string would get smaller, and Donghyuck would look at him with that face of revolt and irritation that he only displayed to couples who were holding hands, or showing a large amount of affection. Mark couldn't handle seeing that face. 

And so, he took a deep breath, brought his phone out, and searched up the same thing he looked for only nearly a year ago. The results began to show and he scrolled through them, his hands shaking in anxiety and his lips getting drier by the second. The website he visited months ago finally popped up, and Mark tapped on it in a hurry, his eyes darting to the clock. 22:30. He had an hour and thirty minutes till 12, he could do this.

Mark skim read over the words again, the memory of his one year old self sitting in the exact same position flashed in his mind, and he wondered what could've happened if he had done this a year ago. Would he still have felt the same way towards Donghyuck? 

Cut the red string of fate. 

He was going to do it. He was going to cut the string if fate, damaging a part of his relationship with Donghyuck, but if that meant avoiding being the cause to the younger's distress, he would do anything for that. Mark hastily grabbed the pair of scissors on his bedside table, and then scrambled back to his bed, tucking his feet under his knees and taking a deep breath. What if he didn't connect with someone after this? What if he ends up becoming soulmate-less? Perhaps that would still be better than getting hated on by Donghyuck till the end of time.

Anything is better than being the source to Donghyuck's sadness. 

With one last deep breath, Mark raised the scissors, his fingers clamping around the handle and the sweat pricking at his skin, making him even more nervous than before. To check if what he was going to do would work or not, Mark tugged on the string with the scissors, his breath hitching as he saw the thread react to it, moving up as he lowered his hand. 

"Okay—okay just—just cut it." Mark said to himself trying to find the courage in himself to finally get rid of the problem he had been facing for the past few months. He slowly closed the gap between the handle, shutting his eyes as he did so, and let out the breath he was holding. A fizzing noise rung in his ears, and he could see from behind his eyelids that the room had lit up. Cracking open one eye, he watched as the string, which had now erupted into thousands of small particles, fell to the ground, before jumping up again, lacing around themselves like they had done before, and tied another knot around his finger. The feeling was different than before, a lot stronger, and Mark reached out to touch it, watching in amazement as it bounced against his finger. 

He had actually done it. He had broken the bond that connected him with Donghyuck. Mark didn't know what to feel about this. He almost felt horrible, angry that he let himself lose the battle of winning Donghyuck's heart, or his trust, or even just his faith in love. He failed to make the younger believe in something so important, and Mark gave up, not even trying his level best to make his soul— ex-soulmate fall in love with him. 

"I just hope," Mark sighed, dropping down on his bed and discarding the scissors somewhere along the floor. "Donghyuck finds someone who can help him fall in love, or at least believe in the concept of love."

Unfortunately for Mark, he couldn't be that person.