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The unfortunate day had arrived.

Mark and Haechan's dads, as well as their mothers, siblings, and other family were arriving at the event center in which the funerals for the young boys were being held.

Knowing the relationship between them, their mothers opted for their services to be held on the same day, together.

Maybe so they could be together one last time.

Haechan's father sat down on the front row, next to Mark's father.

"I would ask how you're doing today if I didn't already know the answer.", he said.

"How unfortunate these boys were. To have this happen."

Haechan's father looked in front of them.

At the head of the room laid the two caskets. As the father stared, he noticed something in between them.

"What is that?", he asked.

"Where?", Mark's father responded.

"Between them. There's some kid of string."

The men stood up, walking towards their sons.

When they reached them, they got a good view of the string that connected their caskets.

"Hm, it's a red string.", Mark's father said, "I'm guessing you didn't do this?"

"I did not. I'm guessing you didn't either."

They looked at each other.

"I guess it is fate."

"What makes you say that?"

Haechan's father sighed.

"Have you ever heard of the red thread of fate?"

——————————————————————

"And so I told him to stop playing these games and confess. We are in college and we don't have time for these lies."

"And how did Sunoo respond?"

"He just stared at me...menacingly."

"I see."

Sunoo took a deep breath.

"Can you help me?", he asked, "I feel this unexplained connection to him and I don't know what to do."

The relationship expert's dorm was a clean and tidy little spot on campus where anyone could come for free and get advice.

The young man thought for a second.

"I say follow your heart. You will figure out what you need to do. If you feel such a connection, it's possible that this means you've met your soulmate."

Sunoo looked at his phone.

Park Sunghoon could be his soulmate?

Impossible.

Jay scooted closer to the expert.

"So uh...what about my relationship?"

"Jay I have told you 84 times that you just need to TALK to him."

"But Nikiiiiiiiii-"

"Im going to have to ask you to start paying for my advice if you ask me about him one more time."

Jay pouted.

Sunoo still looked at his phone.

Sunghoon was going to call tonight. So maybe, just maybe, he would say something to him then.

"Thank you, Riki.", Sunoo said.

"You're welcome. And good luck."

Sunoo bowed to him before gently yanking Jay away so they could leave.

When they exited the room, Jay wanted to vent his thoughts.

"You know, if talking to Jungwon was easy, I would have done it already! But he's just so..."

"So what?"

"Intimidating."

"Yang Jungwon, the boy who is barely bigger than me, looks like a cat, and could probably rival the sunshine itself when he smiles...is intimidating?"

"All those things you just said are why."

"You're worse off than me."

—————————————————————

Later that night, Sunoo sat awake in his bed, nervously awaiting a call or text from Sunghoon.

So when his phone rang with his signature ringtone of Shinee's "Replay", he jumped onto his bed and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi Sunoo, did I call too late?"

"No, not at all."

"Ah, good."

Sunoo smiled.

"So uh...why did you want to call?", he asked.

"Tomorrow is the first day of the faculty market."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. There will be booths promoting the different faculties, games, prizes, but most importantly...food."

"Hahaha, food? Is that your main priority?"

"Well after tasting your Hotteok today, I felt like I should learn more about cooking."

Sunoo was blushing, and covered the phone so he could quietly yell.

"That's nice of you."

"Thanks. But I was calling to ask if you would like to go with me."

"To the faculty market?"

"Yeah. We can talk and get to know each other more."

"Uh...sure. Yeah I'll go."

"Great! Meet me at the music faculty courtyard tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir."

"I can't wait to see you."

Sunoo practically melted when he heard that.

"Same here."

"Heh, cute. Bye Sunoo."

"Bye."

Sunoo hung up, quietly yelling now into his pillow and excitedly moving around.

"Hold on, is this a date?", he wondered, "What will I wear?!"

He jumped off of his bed, running into his closet.

As he ran, his phone fell from his pocket.

It lit up a few seconds later, showing a notification of a text message from "Mommyyy" with a heart emoji.

The message read "I Miss You, Honey."

——————————————————————

The next morning had arrived and Sunoo, carefully dressed in his best school uniform with freshly brushed hair, was walking alongside Park Sunghoon through the faculty market.

Music, Engineering, Science, Math, Cinema, and all other majors were promoting their departments for new students and prospective students.

But Sunghoon had one place on his mind.

The clubs. Specifically, the Korean Desserts Club.

"Sunghoon, why are you taking me to a booth for my own club?", Sunoo asked.

"Look, they have a game. We might have a chance to win food."

The two walked up to the booth.

A girl greeted them.

"Hi Sunoo! Hi Sunghoon. Welcome to the booth. Want to play our game?"

"Yes.", Sunghoon quickly said.

"Okay. It goes like this. I have this bundle of ropes. They're a bit tangled. Both of you choose a rope and grab it without looking at them. If you pull the rope and it is connected to your partners rope, you win a free dessert!"

Sunghoon was excited about this, and ushered Sunoo to play.

The girl held out the ropes and both boys grabbed one without looking.

"Okay. One, two, three, pull!"

Sunoo and Sunghoon pulled on their ropes.

When they looked down, they saw that they were both holding either end of a thin red rope.

They looked at one another.

"What are the chances huh?", Sunghoon said.

Sunoo blushed.

Seeing as they had won, the girl handed them each a personal sized chocolate cake decorated with an assortment of fruit.

The boys thanked her and walked off together.

"That was fun.", Sunghoon said.

"It was. And we got cake for it.", Sunoo replied as he tasted the cake.

Sunghoon once again smiled at him. This time, a smile slightly sadder than the last one.

His previous memory from the grocery store briefly flashed in his mind.

He stopped, gaining Sunoo's attention.

"Are you okay Sunghoon?"

Sunghoon looked down at the cake.

"We've had this cake before, haven't we?"

Sunoo also looked down as his little cake.

As he stared at it, he could hear the words "Happy Birthday" in the back of his mind.

Sunghoon watched his expression.

He knew Sunoo was thinking the same thing.

But...what did it mean?