fanfiction.lol^{fun, silly, low-stakes fandom}

Chapter Text

It’s always smelled like lavender, charcoal, and soot in my cabin. The scent is basically trapped into the floorboards and my hair by now. On the stove, my pot is always boiling with something bitter, but I’ve learned to tune it out, just like I tune out the train that chugs along the tracks right outside my bedroom window every night. I’ve lived here my whole life, mostly because I don't have another choice. The kingdom would never let me past the gates anyway, me being a witch and all.

But honestly? Maybe it’s better this way. People have always been terrified of me. They won’t even look me in the eye because they’re scared I’ll hex them or something.

I HAVE hurt people before. When they were mean to me, or when they had stupid opinions and wouldn't stop talking, I didn't bother using my words. I chose actions instead. I knew no one would ever really listen to a girl like me anyway, so why bother trying to explain myself?

No one would listen.

Except for Sua.

She’s the princess of the kingdom I usually sneak into when I need to find herbs for my potions. The first time we met, I accidentally cast a spell on a mushroom to make it explode, I was just frustrated and blowing off steam, and I totally thought she’d scream for the guards. But she didn’t. She just grabbed my hand, her skin feeling so warm against my cold and dirty covered fingers. She looked at me with these wide, gorgeous eyes that looked like a whole universe full of bright stars and cosmos, and she just whispered.

"Please. Show me more."

She was… beautiful. Like a goddess I’d actually pray to if I thought anyone was up there. She looked like she was literally made of starlight, like the gods had gifted her to me as an apology for everything else. Like she was made for a witch like me.

I looked down at our hands. Mine were stained with potions and dirt, and hers were so clean and perfect. My nails bit, disgusting. Hers were well maintained and manicured, but she didn’t seem to care at all.

"Aren't you scared?" I asked her, my voice sounding way smaller than I wanted it to. I kept waiting for her to realize I was a monster and run back to her palace.

But Sua just stepped even closer, letting her expensive dress drag through the mud. She squeezed my hand and gave me this tiny, smile that made my stomach flip. "Why would I be scared?" she murmured. "I’ve spent my whole life waiting for fun. Why get rid of it when i finally have the chance?"

All I could hear was my heart beating so loud I was sure she could hear it, too. I felt like I was finally seen, not as a curse, but as something worth looking at.

It had been a few months since the incident in the garden. I still never left my cabin. I didn't feel welcomed to go to the village though I was friendly with the princess. I never visited, to scared that I wouldn't be welcomed and to scared if I came at the wrong time it would be off with my head.

Despite my fear Sua had always visited me. It made me feel guilty. She made time for me but I had never felt due to fear. I don't know why I was such a wuss. Did I not care for her? I could've swore I did, she would be my first friend after all! But it always felt like she was trying more than me.

She was on my couch, her white dress flowed down to her knees. She looked more cute than elegant since her small black bob made her cheeks more child like and the way her large eyes looked like they were pleading me to stop working on my new potion. I let out a shaky laugh and walked over the the couch, sitting down next to her. She laughed and scooted closer. I scooted back.

"Whats wrong Mizi? Have you been feeling okay?" She spoke in her soft tone as she fixed her clip in her hair. She wore it almost every time we hung out after I complimented it once.

"Yeah, of course I am! Why?"

"Because I know YOU and I know your not, Mizi. What's wrong?"

I love and hated how she could tell. I loved that I knew someone cared. That someone had found my feelings interesting. That someone made me feel seen and...and loved.

But I hated that needed to SAY what was making me upset. That I needed to talk about myself instead of pushing it aside and saving it for another day. I don't WANT to talked about it when I'm making a big deal out of nothing. That I'm just a huge overthinker, that I don't deserve Sua's love and happines, that if she finds out my horrible mindset and feelings on things that she'll just leave me regardless. Who WOULD want to talk about that.

"Why...why are you even asking. You shouldn't be asking me how I feel. You should be worrying about yourself silly!" I said in a cheerful tone but even I could hear the shake in my throat.

"No... no, don't say that, you dummy," Sua whispered, her voice dropping the playful edge and replacing it with something heavy. She reached out, her manicured fingers catching my jaw and turning my face toward hers. "I care because it’s you, Mizi. Not because I have to, but because I want to."

I tried to look away, trying to hide in my own mind, but she wouldn’t let me. The smell of the potion on the stove mingled with the floral perfume she always wore, something expensive that had no business being in a place like this.

"I'm a mess, Sua," I choked out, the honest truth finally cracking through my ribs. "I’m stained with pain, and you’re... you’re the princess. You should be in a ballroom, not sitting on a couch in a swamp. I’m scared that one day you’ll realize I’m just a witch. Nothing special."

Sua didn’t flinch. Instead, she moved suddenly and gracefully crawling closer until our knees were against each other. "Then lets be nothing special together." she breathed.

She didn't wait for me to overthink it again. She leaned in, her lips brushing against mine in hesitation. I froze for a heartbeat, my pulse hightening, before I melted into her. I reached up my rough fingers tangling in her soft black bob, pulling her closer until there was no space left between the witch and the princess.

The kiss tasted like the honey that she drank from my cabinent. It was desperate and messy, a collision of two worlds that should never have met. Sua let out a small, needy sound against my mouth, her hands sliding from my face to my shoulders, clutching my tattered shirt as if she were the one afraid I’d disappear.

I pushed her back gently against the cushions of the couch, my heart racing so fast I thought I might actually explode. Her eyes fluttered open, dark and dazed, filled with that same universe i’d seen the first day in the garden.

"Mizi," she murmured, her breath hot against my lips.

I didn't give her a chance to say anything else. I leaned back down, catching her bottom lip between mine, showing her with every touch that I wasn't going anywhere. For the first time in my life, my mess didnt matter. The only thing that did was the warmth of her skin and the way she held onto me like I was the only thing in the world worth seeing.

Sua’s hands shifted from the shoulders to the back of my neck, fingers tangling in my pink and blue locks. The kiss deepened, turning from hesitation into a demand. The heat between them provided a sharp contrast to the chill of the cabin. There was no desire to pull away, only to sink into the moment until the boundaries between them seemed to vanish.

As the weight shifted, pinning Sua gently against the back of the couch, her breath hitched—a small, broken sound that sent a jolt of energy through the room. She tasted like the expensive sweets she always brought, but underneath that was something raw and real.

"Mizi," she gasped, her eyes hooded and dark rarely seen in a princess. "Don't stop. Please."

Hands that were usually steady when working with herbs and magic were shaking while sliding down her sides, tracing the curve of her waist through the fabric of her dress. Every inch of the moment felt like a dream. The lips trailed down her jawline to the sensitive skin of her neck. Sua arched her back, her fingers digging into Mizi's arms, grounding the both of them.

A hand moved to the hem of the white dress, dark-stained fingers contrasting sharply against the pristine fabric. A silent question lingered in the eyes, a fear of crossing a line that could never be uncrossed.

"Can I your highness?" I shuddered.

Sua didn't hesitate. She reached out, her gaze never leaving mine.

"Please." She said in a moan, a beg, she must know i can't hold back if she does that. Leaning back in, mouths found each other again with desperation. I gripped her thighs and swiftly lifted them up. I looked down at Sua, her flushed face making me smile softly. She looked beautiful. I gently pushed Sua's thighs apart, positioning myself between her legs. I slowly planted kissed against her inner thighs as I traveled up.

I felt everything. Every clench, every shiver, and every gasp. I kiss even closer to her intimate area that is covered by a cute pair of where lace. I felt Sua shiver with anticipation as I looked down again, seeing her cover her eyes with embarrassment.

"J-just do it already dummy...why are you teasing!" She said as she let a glare poke through her fingers. I let out a sharp laughter as I pull forward and pull down the lace covering her most intimate area. I leaned in and slide my tongue around her sex. Her taste was intoxicating. It tasted just like her mouth hut so much better. Sweeter. Like a strawberry. I dived in deeper, my tongue savoring every drop of arousal.

I gripped tighter against Sua's hips as soft moans and vibrations came from Sua's end.

"My god...Mizi don't stop please..." i heard Sua pant as she threw her head back into the couch cousin, covering half her face but it couldn't hide her struggle to keep in her moans. I pull back, her excitement was obvious on my face. I pick my lips as I look down at her with heat and desperation in my eyes.

I pull back, dropping her legs from my shoulders as I position myself over her, straddling over Sua's inner thigh as I grind our bodies together slowly. I grab onto the small of Sua's back and pull her upwards to me. The friction of our bodies intertwining sent sparks through my core. I lean down and capture her small cupid bowed lips into another starving kiss. Sua moaned into it and wrapped her arms around her neck in even more desperation than before.

"Mizi!"

That night. That night was all about love, passion, the truth. I had learned that Sua had loved me regardless. Regardless of me being a witch, messy, not knowing how to love and how to receive being loved. We had spent the night tangled up in blankets and our own heat

As the night turned more into when comfortable silence I watched the rise and fall of Sua's chest aside understood...I understood i didn't need to be perfect or tidy just to be hers. She wasn't that evil witch everyone told her she was and she believed it. No. She was Sua's. And that was enough.

Chapter Text

The first time I met Sua, I was having probably the worst day ever. It had been raining since the morning, and of course my umbrella decided to break when I was literally halfway to school. My shoes were soaked, my hair was a mess, and I was already annoyed before I even got through the front doors. Then I forgot an assignment I'd stayed up until two in the morning working on, almost walked into a teacher because I wasn't paying attention, and spent lunch listening to people argue about something so stupid that I didn't even bother trying to understand it. By the time school ended, I was exhausted. I didn't want to go home yet, though, so I decided to stop at the little café across from the school. I figured I'd get something warm, sit by myself for a while, and pretend the day never happened.

The café was almost completely empty when I walked in. It was warm, and it smelled like coffee and cinnamon, which already made me feel a little better. I ordered a hot chocolate and looked around for somewhere to sit. There was one empty chair at a table near the window, except there was already a girl sitting on the other side. She had really long dark hair and was reading a book like she was completely disconnected from everything around her. I stood there for a second because I didn't want to bother her, but there weren't really any other places to sit.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked.

She didn't look up.

"Hi?"

This time, she slowly looked at me. Her eyes were purple, which I honestly wasn't expecting, and for some reason I completely forgot what I was going to say. I pointed at the empty chair. "Can I sit here?" She looked around the café and then back at me. "There aren't any other seats." I stared at her for a second. "Yeah, I know. I just thought I'd ask because it'd be rude if I just sat down." She stared at me like she was trying to figure out if I was serious. Then she gave the tiniest smile. "Sure."

I sat down across from her and tried not to make things awkward. For a while, neither of us said anything. She went back to reading, and I started drinking my hot chocolate while staring out the window. Eventually, though, I got bored. I glanced at her book and asked, "What are you reading?" She looked down at it. "A novel." I waited. She looked back at her book. "That's it?" I asked. She looked at me again. "You asked what I was reading." I laughed. "I thought you'd tell me the name." She shrugged. "You didn't ask." I couldn't help smiling. "You're kind of mean." She closed her book and looked at me. "I'm honest." I rolled my eyes. "That's what mean people say."

She actually laughed at that. It wasn't loud or anything, but it was really cute, and I remember thinking that I wanted to hear it again. She told me her name was Sua, and when I told her mine was Mizi, she said she already knew. Apparently, we'd been in the same literature class all year. I was so embarrassed when I realized that I'd never noticed her. "Oh my god, you're in my class?" I asked, and she just nodded like this was completely normal. "You've seriously never seen me?" she asked. "I mean... obviously I have. I just didn't know you were you." That probably made absolutely no sense, but she laughed again, so I decided it didn't matter.

I probably should've just finished my drink and gone home that day, but I didn't. We kept talking. It started with school, then books, then music, and somehow turned into us talking about random stuff that didn't even matter. I found out she hated really sweet drinks but loved pastries, and she found out that I hum when I'm nervous. I didn't even realize I was doing it until she pointed it out, which made me incredibly embarrassed. By the time I checked the clock, I'd been sitting there for almost two hours. It felt like maybe twenty minutes.

After that, we started seeing each other at the café almost every day. At first, we'd pretend it was just a coincidence, but eventually it became obvious that we were both showing up because we wanted to see each other. I'd walk in after school and find her sitting at our table with her book, and she'd look up at me like she'd been waiting. Sometimes I'd bring homework, although I barely got anything done because I would end up talking to her the entire time. She'd always complain that I was distracting her, but she'd never actually tell me to leave. I think that's when I started realizing how much I liked being around her.

We got close really quickly. We started walking home together after school, texting each other all the time, and sending each other random pictures whenever something reminded us of the other person. I'd send her pictures of ugly dogs I saw on the internet, and she'd send me pictures of the moon because she knew I liked it. We started telling each other things we didn't really tell other people. Sua was quieter than me, but I eventually realized that she wasn't cold. She was just careful. Once she trusted someone, she actually cared a lot. I think that was one of the things I liked most about her.

The problem was that somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking of her as just my best friend.

I realized it on a random Tuesday.

We were sitting under a tree after school, sharing earbuds and listening to music. Sua had gotten tired and rested her head against my shoulder. I remember becoming completely still because I didn't want to move and accidentally wake her up. I looked down at her and suddenly realized how much I loved everything about her. The way she pushed her hair behind her ear. The way she tried to hide her smile when I complimented her. The way she always pretended she wasn't listening when I talked too much, even though she remembered basically everything I said.

My heart started beating so fast.

"Oh no," I whispered.

Sua moved slightly. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You said something."

"I didn't."

She lifted her head and looked at me. "You did."

I panicked.

"I think I like you."

The second the words came out, I wanted to disappear. I started talking way too fast because apparently my brain had decided that making the situation worse was the best possible idea. "I mean, I really like you. Like, more than friends. And you don't have to say anything because I know this is probably weird and I don't want to ruin our friendship, but I've been thinking about it for a while and I don't know how to stop thinking about it and—"

"Mizi."

I stopped.

She was smiling.

"I like you too."

I just stared at her.

"What?"

"I like you too."

My face immediately felt like it was on fire. "Like... you actually like me?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Like romantically?"

She laughed. "Yes, Mizi."

I covered my face with my hands. "Oh my god."

She gently pulled my hands away. "I was actually waiting for you to figure it out."

"You could've told me!"

"You never stopped talking long enough for me to."

I stared at her before laughing. "That's so mean."

"You'll survive."

I smiled at her, and for some reason everything suddenly felt lighter. I looked down at our hands, which were resting next to each other in the grass, and then I slowly reached for hers. She let me take it. Our fingers fit together, and I couldn't stop smiling.

"So... what does this mean?" I asked.

Sua looked at me, and her cheeks were slightly pink. "It means we're dating, I guess."

I swear I almost screamed.

"Really?"

She laughed. "Unless you don't want to."

"I definitely want to."

She smiled. "Then we're dating."

I looked down at our hands again and couldn't stop smiling. "I have a girlfriend."

"Don't say it like that."

"I have a girlfriend!"

"Mizi."

"My girlfriend!"

She covered her face, but I could see her smiling.

Dating Sua didn't really feel that different from being friends with her, which I actually liked. We still went to the café after school, still studied together, and still argued over stupid things. The only difference was that now I could hold her hand without wondering if it was weird. Sometimes we'd walk home together and she'd quietly reach for my hand first. Every time she did, I'd get that stupid happy feeling in my chest.

We weren't perfect, either. Sometimes we'd get annoyed at each other. Sometimes I'd talk when she wanted quiet, and sometimes she'd shut me out when something was bothering her. But we always figured it out. I think that's what made me love her even more. She wasn't some perfect person from a movie, and neither was I. We were just two girls trying to figure things out together.

A few months later, we went back to the café where we'd first met. It was raining again, which made me laugh because apparently rain was just part of our story now. We sat at the same table by the window, and I looked across at Sua.

"Do you remember the first time we met?"

She nodded. "You were soaking wet."

"And you were mean."

"I'm still mean."

I laughed. "You liked me."

"I tolerated you."

"You loved me."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

I reached across the table and took her hand. "You know, it's kind of crazy that one random day brought us here."

She squeezed my hand. "I think I'd still choose it."

I smiled. "Even the rain?"

"Maybe not the rain."

I laughed and rested my head against her shoulder. Outside, the rain kept falling against the windows, and the whole café felt warm and quiet around us.

I used to think that day was the worst day of my life.

My broken umbrella, my ruined shoes, my forgotten assignment, everything going wrong at once. But if none of that had happened, I wouldn't have walked into that café. I wouldn't have asked a random girl if I could sit at her table. I wouldn't have met my best friend.

And I definitely wouldn't have met the girl who eventually became my girlfriend.

Sometimes I think the universe has a really weird way of giving you exactly what you need.

And for me, somehow, it was Sua.

Chapter Text

In some parts of the world, people are born with an invisible red string tied around their pinky finger. It connects them to the person they're destined to meet. The string can stretch across oceans, twist around buildings, and become tangled in the lives of thousands of strangers, but it can never break.

At least, that's what everyone believes.

Unfortunately for Mizi, her string has been leading her to the same girl for seventeen years.

And that girl absolutely hates her.

Mizi had always thought the red string theory was stupid.

Not because she didn't believe in love. Actually, she believed in love a little too much, which was probably why she found the whole idea so terrifying. The thought that somewhere in the world, there was a person she was supposedly destined to fall in love with, someone she'd never met but was apparently connected to by some invisible force, made her feel weird. What if she didn't like them? What if they were a terrible person? What if she met them and they didn't love her back? And, most importantly, what if she fell in love with somebody else?

Apparently, none of those questions mattered to the people who believed in the theory. Her mother had told her that the string would always lead her to the right person, no matter how many wrong turns she took. Her grandmother had once told her that she'd known her husband was the one because the string around her finger had practically pulled her across a crowded train station. Even her classmates were obsessed with it, constantly comparing strings and making ridiculous predictions about who would end up marrying whom. Mizi had always laughed along, pretending she wasn't curious about her own.

Until her seventeenth birthday.

She'd woken up that morning with a thin red thread wrapped around the pinky finger of her left hand.

At first, she'd thought it was a piece of fabric from her blanket. She tried pulling it off, only to realize that the thread continued past her fingertip, extending into the empty space beside her bed. It was impossibly thin, almost transparent when she looked at it directly, but whenever the sunlight touched it, the thread glowed a deep, beautiful red. She followed it with her eyes until it disappeared through her bedroom door, continued down the hallway, and slipped through the front door of her house.

Mizi stared at it for a solid five minutes.

Then she screamed for her mother.

Her mother cried. Her grandmother cried. Her father took approximately two hundred pictures of her hand before asking whether she could feel anything if he gently tugged on the string. Mizi threatened to bite him if he tried.

By lunchtime, her entire family had decided that this was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to them.

Mizi, meanwhile, was beginning to regret being born.

Because the string didn't lead to some mysterious person living in another country. It didn't disappear into the distance, leaving her to wonder when their paths would cross.

No.

It led straight to her school.

And, as she discovered on her first day back after the weekend, it led to the most insufferable girl she had ever met.

Sua.

Mizi had known Sua since their first year of high school, although known was probably a generous way of putting it. They shared a few classes, occasionally ended up in the same group projects, and had developed a mutual dislike for each other that was practically legendary among their friends.

Sua thought Mizi was obnoxiously loud, overly friendly, and incapable of taking anything seriously. Mizi thought Sua was unnecessarily rude, painfully judgmental, and possibly born without the ability to smile at normal human beings.

Neither of them was entirely wrong.

Their first argument had happened during a group assignment when Sua had told Mizi that her presentation was "a little difficult to follow." Mizi had responded by asking whether Sua had considered getting a personality instead of criticizing everyone else's work. Their teacher had separated them before the situation could get worse, but the damage had already been done. Since then, they'd developed a habit of arguing over absolutely everything.

So when Mizi walked into literature class on Monday morning and saw a bright red string stretching from her pinky finger directly toward Sua's desk, she seriously considered dropping out of school.

"No," she whispered.

The string glowed faintly in the sunlight.

"No, no, no."

She pulled her hand closer to her chest, as if that would somehow change the direction of the thread. It didn't. She turned around, walked straight back out of the classroom, and stood in the hallway staring at her finger.

Maybe she'd misunderstood the theory. Maybe the string was connected to someone sitting behind Sua. Maybe it was a weird coincidence. Maybe she was having some kind of extremely elaborate mental breakdown.

She slowly leaned around the classroom door.

Sua was sitting by the window, reading a book with her usual expression of complete disinterest in the world. The red string stretched from Mizi's finger, across the room, and disappeared beneath the sleeve of Sua's uniform.

Mizi immediately pulled her head back.

"Oh, I'm going to throw up."

"Are you planning to stand there all day?"

Mizi nearly jumped out of her skin.

Sua was standing directly behind her.

For a moment, they simply stared at each other. Then Sua's eyes moved toward Mizi's hand.

More specifically, toward the glowing red thread wrapped around her pinky.

Her expression changed.

It was subtle, but Mizi noticed it. Sua's eyes widened slightly, and the color seemed to drain from her face. For once, she didn't have a sarcastic comment ready.

Instead, she slowly lifted her own left hand.

There was a red string around her pinky, too.

Mizi stared at it.

Then at Sua.

Then back at the string.

"You're kidding."

Sua looked equally horrified.

"Unfortunately, no."

Mizi let out a laugh that sounded dangerously close to a sob. "Absolutely not. There's been a mistake."

"That's what I was thinking."

"Good. Great. We agree. We're going to figure this out, and then we're going to get these things off our hands."

Sua crossed her arms. "You think I want to be connected to you?"

"Trust me, the feeling is mutual."

"Wonderful."

"Fantastic."

They stood in silence for a few seconds, both glaring at their respective strings.

Then Sua turned around and walked back into the classroom.

Mizi followed her.

Because apparently, the universe had decided that ruining her life wasn't enough. It wanted to make sure she had a front-row seat.

The first week was a disaster.

Mizi discovered that the string was not, in fact, removable. She tried scissors, which passed straight through it. She tried tying it around a pencil and pulling, which resulted in Sua yelling at her from across the room because apparently she could feel the tug. She even tried wrapping it around her finger so tightly that the thread disappeared beneath her skin, only for it to reappear the moment she let go.

Sua, who was somehow even more determined to get rid of the thing, spent hours researching whether the red string theory had any documented exceptions.

Neither of them found anything useful.

Worse, the string seemed to have a personality of its own.

Whenever Mizi walked too far away from Sua, it stretched. When they were on opposite sides of the school, it became so taut that Mizi could feel a faint pull against her finger. If Sua went down a hallway and Mizi took a different route, the thread would tug gently in the direction Sua had gone, as though it were personally offended by Mizi's decision to take the stairs.

The most humiliating incident happened on Friday.

Mizi was in the middle of eating lunch with her friends when she noticed the string had become unusually tight. She glanced toward the cafeteria entrance and saw Sua standing there, looking directly at her.

Mizi immediately looked away.

The thread tugged.

She ignored it.

It tugged again.

Mizi frowned at her hand.

Across the table, one of her friends noticed. "Why does your finger keep doing that?"

"It doesn't."

"It literally just moved."

"It's a medical condition."

Her friend narrowed her eyes. "Is Sua your soulmate?"

Mizi choked on her drink.

Across the cafeteria, Sua looked like she was considering walking into traffic.

"NO," they shouted simultaneously.

The entire table went quiet.

Mizi wanted to evaporate.

Her friend slowly smiled.

"Oh, this is going to be interesting."

"It is not interesting," Mizi insisted. "It's actually the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

"You're being dramatic."

"I'm being realistic."

"You're blushing."

"I'm experiencing a medical emergency."

And, to make matters worse, Sua had heard every word.

For the rest of the day, she refused to look at Mizi.

Mizi told herself she didn't care.

She repeated it in her head on the way home. She repeated it while brushing her teeth. She repeated it while lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering whether the universe had some personal grudge against her.

She didn't care.

She didn't care.

She definitely didn't care that Sua hadn't looked at her once all afternoon.

And she absolutely did not care that the string had felt strangely warm whenever Sua stood close to her.

The worst part about being connected to someone by a red string was that it made avoiding them practically impossible.

Even when they weren't talking, Mizi knew where Sua was. She could feel the faintest tug whenever Sua moved, and if she paid enough attention, she could almost tell when Sua was standing nearby without even looking.

It was annoying.

It was distracting.

It was becoming a problem.

Because, somewhere between arguing over homework and accidentally getting dragged into the same school club, Mizi started noticing things about Sua that she'd never bothered to notice before.

She noticed that Sua always stayed behind to help their literature teacher organize papers, even when she complained about how much she hated the class. She noticed that Sua quietly left food on the desks of classmates who forgot their lunch. She noticed that whenever someone made a joke at another person's expense, Sua was usually the first person to tell them to stop.

And she noticed that Sua was lonely.

Not in an obvious way. Sua had friends, although she seemed to keep most people at a distance. She could spend an entire lunch period surrounded by classmates and still look as though she was somewhere else entirely. Sometimes Mizi would catch her staring out of the classroom window, her expression unreadable, and wonder what she was thinking about.

The realization that Sua was more complicated than Mizi had assumed made her uncomfortable.

It was much easier to dislike someone when you could pretend there was nothing worth liking about them.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed determined to make that impossible.

Their teacher announced a literature project in the second week of October. They would have to work in pairs to write a short story about fate, free will, and the question of whether people could choose their own futures.

Mizi nearly laughed.

Of course.

Of course the universe would do this to her.

And, because apparently she hadn't suffered enough, their teacher assigned the pairs herself.

"Mizi and Sua."

The classroom erupted into laughter.

Mizi dropped her head onto her desk.

Sua closed her eyes.

Their teacher looked between them. "Is there a problem?"

"No," Sua answered immediately.

"Several," Mizi muttered.

"Then I suggest you two work through them."

And just like that, Mizi was forced to spend three afternoons a week with the girl who was apparently destined to be her soulmate.

The irony was not lost on her.

Their first meeting to work on the assignment took place in the library.

Mizi arrived ten minutes late with two drinks, a bag of cookies, and absolutely no idea what she wanted their story to be about. Sua was already seated at a table near the back, surrounded by books and notes.

"You're late," Sua said.

"I brought snacks."

"That doesn't change the fact that you're late."

"It should."

Sua sighed, but accepted the drink Mizi offered her.

They spent the first hour arguing over the assignment. Mizi wanted to write a romance about two people who kept meeting in different lifetimes. Sua wanted something more realistic, preferably without the characters making stupid decisions for the sake of destiny.

"So basically," Mizi said, leaning back in her chair, "you want to write a story about two people who hate each other."

"I want to write a story about people who make their own decisions."

"That's boring."

"Not everything has to be romantic."

Mizi opened her mouth to argue, then paused.

"Do you actually believe in the red string theory?"

Sua stopped writing.

It was the first time Mizi had asked her a question about it that wasn't a complaint.

"I don't know," Sua admitted. "I used to."

"What changed?"

Sua looked down at her notebook. "My parents."

Mizi waited.

"They have a string," Sua explained. "They've had it since they were young. Everyone used to talk about how perfect they were together, how lucky they were to have found each other. But they fight all the time now. They barely speak unless they have to, and whenever they do, it's usually about something they're angry about."

Mizi's smile faded.

Sua continued, her voice quieter than before. "I remember asking my mother why she stayed if they were so unhappy. She told me that their strings were connected, so they were meant to be together. She said that sometimes love was difficult and that I would understand when I grew up."

She let out a small laugh, but there was nothing happy about it.

"I just remember thinking that if being someone's soulmate meant staying with them even when you weren't happy, then I didn't want one."

Mizi didn't know what to say.

For once, she didn't try to fill the silence.

She looked down at her own pinky, where the red thread curled around her skin.

"That's kind of what I'm scared of, too," she admitted. "Everyone keeps telling me that this means Sua is the person I'm supposed to love, but what if we don't work out? What if we're only together because some stupid string says we have to be? I don't want to spend my whole life with someone because I feel like I owe it to the universe."

Sua looked at her.

Mizi shrugged, suddenly embarrassed by how much she'd said. "I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it."

"No," Sua said. "I think you're right."

It was the first time Sua had ever agreed with her without adding some kind of insult afterward.

Mizi looked up.

For a second, they simply stared at each other.

Then Sua pushed the cookies toward her.

"You should eat something. You get annoying when you're hungry."

Mizi laughed.

And, for the first time since the strings appeared, the thought of being connected to Sua didn't feel quite so terrible.

By November, Mizi had developed a problem.

She was starting to look forward to seeing Sua.

Not because of the string. She told herself that repeatedly. It had nothing to do with the fact that she could feel the thread growing warm whenever Sua approached, or that she had begun recognizing Sua's footsteps in the hallway.

She simply liked spending time with her.

She liked the way Sua listened when she talked about things that mattered to her. She liked how she would remember tiny details Mizi had mentioned weeks earlier. She liked how Sua pretended to be annoyed whenever Mizi stole her pens, even though she always brought extra ones because she knew Mizi would lose hers.

She liked the way Sua smiled when she thought nobody was looking.

And that was the problem.

Because Mizi was beginning to wonder whether she would still want to be around Sua if the string disappeared.

The answer came to her one afternoon when Sua didn't show up at their usual meeting place.

Mizi waited in the library for twenty minutes before checking her phone. There was no message from Sua, which was unusual. She tried calling, but it went straight to voicemail.

She told herself it wasn't a big deal.

Maybe Sua was busy.

Maybe she'd forgotten.

Maybe she had decided she was tired of spending time with Mizi.

That last possibility bothered her more than it should have.

Eventually, Mizi packed her things and headed toward the front entrance. She was halfway down the stairs when she noticed the red string pulling sharply toward the opposite side of the building.

She stopped.

The thread trembled.

Something felt wrong.

Mizi followed it.

She found Sua sitting on the floor of an empty classroom, her knees pulled toward her chest. Her schoolbag lay beside her, and her phone was face down on the floor. She looked up when Mizi entered, immediately wiping at her eyes.

Mizi froze.

"Sua?"

"I'm fine."

It was such an obvious lie that Mizi didn't even bother responding to it.

She closed the door behind her and sat down beside Sua.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Then Sua let out a shaky breath.

"My parents are getting divorced."

Mizi's heart sank.

"Oh."

"They told me this morning. They said they've been unhappy for years, but they kept trying because they thought things would eventually get better." Sua laughed bitterly. "They have matching strings, Mizi. They've been connected since they were children. And they still couldn't make it work."

Mizi looked at her hands.

Sua's fingers were trembling.

"I know it's stupid to care about something like that, but I can't stop thinking about it. What if that's all this is? What if we're just two people who happen to have the same string, and one day we'll wake up and realize we don't even like each other anymore?"

Mizi felt something twist in her chest.

She wanted to tell Sua that everything would be fine. She wanted to promise that they would never end up like her parents, that they would always love each other, that the string meant something and that neither of them had anything to worry about.

But she couldn't promise any of that.

Nobody could.

So instead, she reached for Sua's hand.

"I don't think it's stupid."

Sua looked at her.

"And I don't think a string can make someone love you," Mizi continued. "I think it can make you meet someone. Maybe it can bring you into the same room or make you notice each other when you would've walked right past. But it can't make you care about them. It can't make you forgive them when they hurt you, or make you stay when things get hard."

She squeezed Sua's hand gently.

"That's something you have to choose."

Sua's eyes filled with tears again.

Mizi swallowed.

"And I don't know what's going to happen to us. I can't promise that we'll never fight or that we'll never hurt each other. I can't promise that we'll feel the same way about everything forever."

She paused, trying to find the right words.

"But I know that right now, I want to be here. Not because of the string. Not because we're supposed to be together. I want to be here because you're my friend, and I care about you. And if you don't want me to leave, then I'm not going anywhere."

Sua stared at her for a long moment.

Then she leaned forward and buried her face in Mizi's shoulder.

Mizi wrapped her arms around her.

She held her while she cried, running a hand gently over her hair and whispering that she didn't have to figure everything out today.

For the first time, Mizi stopped thinking about what the string meant.

All she cared about was the girl in her arms.

After that afternoon, things between them became different.

Not in some dramatic, life-changing way. They still argued over their assignment, still complained about school, and still fought over which café had the best pastries. But there was a new kind of closeness between them, something neither of them seemed to know how to talk about.

Sua started reaching for Mizi's hand when they walked together. Mizi started saving the seat beside her in class, even when there were other people who wanted it. Sometimes they would sit in the library without saying anything, their hands resting together beneath the table, and Mizi would find herself wondering how she had ever thought being connected to Sua was the worst thing that could happen to her.

She was happy.

And that terrified her.

Because she couldn't tell whether she was falling in love with Sua or simply convincing herself that she was supposed to.

The distinction became impossible to ignore when the strings changed.

It happened on a Thursday morning.

Mizi was sitting in class, doodling in the corner of her notebook, when she noticed something strange about the thread around her finger. Usually, it glowed a steady red, but now it seemed duller, almost faded. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.

The thread was still there.

But it was no longer pulling toward Sua.

Instead, it hung loosely between them.

Mizi's stomach dropped.

She glanced across the classroom.

Sua was staring at her own hand.

Their eyes met.

Neither of them said anything.

For the rest of the day, Mizi couldn't concentrate. She kept looking at the thread, waiting for it to brighten again, for the familiar tug to return. It didn't.

By the time classes ended, she was convinced that something had gone wrong.

Maybe she'd misunderstood everything.

Maybe the string was telling her that Sua wasn't actually her soulmate.

Or maybe it was telling her that she had already met the person she was meant to be with, and that person wasn't Sua.

The thought made her feel sick.

She found Sua waiting outside the classroom.

"Have you noticed?" Sua asked quietly.

Mizi nodded.

They stood in the hallway, surrounded by students rushing toward the exits, but neither of them moved.

"Do you think it means something?" Mizi asked.

Sua looked down at the thread.

"I don't know."

Mizi tried to laugh, but it came out wrong.

"Maybe the universe finally realized it made a mistake."

Sua's expression changed.

"Mizi—"

"It's fine," Mizi interrupted quickly. "I mean, it's probably a good thing, right? We don't have to worry about all the soulmate stuff anymore. We can just go back to normal."

"Do you want to?"

Mizi looked at her.

Sua's voice was quiet, but there was something fragile beneath it.

"Do you actually want to go back to how things were before?"

Mizi opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

Because the answer was no.

She didn't want to go back to arguing with Sua without knowing what she was thinking. She didn't want to sit beside her and pretend that holding her hand didn't make her happy. She didn't want to return to a life where Sua was simply another girl in her literature class.

She wanted the afternoons in the library.

She wanted their stupid arguments.

She wanted to hear Sua laugh.

She wanted to be the person Sua looked for when something went wrong.

And she wanted all of those things even if the string disappeared completely.

Mizi looked down at their hands.

Then, slowly, she reached for Sua's.

"I don't want to go back."

Sua's fingers curled around hers.

"Neither do I."

Mizi looked up.

For a moment, she thought Sua might say something else. Instead, Sua simply stood there, holding her hand in the middle of the crowded hallway, her cheeks turning pink.

And somehow, that was enough.

Their literature assignment was due the following Monday.

They submitted a story about two people who were connected by a red string but chose to fall in love on their own terms.

Their teacher gave them the highest grade in the class.

Mizi thought that was pretty funny, considering she'd spent most of the semester complaining about the project.

But there was one part of the story that Sua had written herself, and Mizi couldn't stop thinking about it.

Maybe fate is not about finding the person you're destined to love. Maybe it's about meeting someone who makes you want to choose them, even when you have no idea what the future holds.

Mizi had read that sentence at least twenty times.

She wanted to ask Sua what she'd meant by it, but every time she tried, she got nervous and changed the subject.

Until Friday afternoon.

They were sitting on the school rooftop, watching the sunset. The weather had finally started getting colder, and Sua had brought an extra sweater because Mizi had forgotten hers. They were sharing a pair of earphones, listening to a song neither of them was paying much attention to.

Mizi looked down at her pinky.

The string was glowing again.

Not as brightly as before, but enough that she could see the red thread stretching between them.

She smiled a little.

"Sua?"

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Sua turned toward her. "You just did."

Mizi groaned. "I'm being serious."

"Okay. Go ahead."

Mizi took a deep breath.

"Do you believe we're supposed to be together?"

Sua was quiet for a while.

Then she looked at their hands.

"I think we're supposed to meet."

Mizi waited.

"But I don't think that means we're supposed to fall in love," Sua continued. "I think that's something we have to decide for ourselves."

Mizi's heart started beating faster.

"So what if we didn't have the strings?"

Sua looked at her.

"What?"

"What if we weren't connected? What if we were just two random girls who happened to go to the same school? Would you still want to be with me?"

Sua stared at her for a moment.

Then she smiled.

"Yes."

Mizi blinked.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Even though I'm annoying?"

"Especially because you're annoying."

Mizi gasped. "That was so mean!"

Sua laughed, and Mizi couldn't help laughing with her.

Then Sua's expression softened.

"Mizi, I don't want to be with you because a string tells me to. I want to be with you because you make me happy. Because you listen to me, even when I don't know how to explain what's wrong. Because you make me laugh when I don't feel like smiling. Because you're the first person I want to tell when something good happens, and the person I look for when something bad happens."

She paused, looking almost embarrassed by her own words.

"And because I think I've been in love with you for a while now."

Mizi stopped breathing.

For a second, she genuinely forgot how to speak.

Then she grabbed Sua's hand.

"Wait. You're in love with me?"

Sua's cheeks turned bright pink. "I literally just said that."

"No, I know, but I need you to say it again."

"I'm not repeating it."

"Please?"

"No."

"Sua!"

Sua laughed, shaking her head.

Then she looked Mizi directly in the eyes.

"I'm in love with you."

Mizi felt like her entire world had just lit up.

She smiled so hard that her cheeks started hurting.

"Well, that's convenient," she whispered. "Because I'm in love with you, too."

Sua's expression softened into something Mizi had never seen before. She looked happy, but also nervous, like she was standing at the edge of something she wanted to jump into but didn't know how deep it was.

Mizi understood the feeling.

She was scared, too.

But for once, she didn't want to let that fear decide what happened next.

"So..." Mizi began, rubbing her thumb against Sua's hand. "Would you maybe want to be my girlfriend?"

Sua stared at her.

Then she laughed.

"You're asking me that now?"

"What do you mean, now?"

"We've spent months holding hands, spending every afternoon together, and acting like an old married couple."

Mizi's mouth fell open.

"Are you saying I missed my chance to ask you out?"

"I'm saying you're an idiot."

"An idiot who's trying to ask you out!"

Sua smiled.

"Yes, Mizi. I'll be your girlfriend."

Mizi made a noise that was probably not human.

Then she threw her arms around Sua, nearly knocking both of them sideways.

Sua laughed against her shoulder and wrapped her arms around her in return.

For a while, they stayed like that, holding each other as the sun slowly disappeared behind the buildings.

Mizi didn't think about the future.

She didn't think about whether they would last forever, whether their strings would stay bright, or whether the universe had some grand plan for them.

She just held Sua.

And that was enough.

A few weeks later, Mizi discovered something strange.

The red string had changed again.

It no longer tugged whenever she walked away from Sua. It didn't pull her through crowded hallways or drag her toward the classroom where Sua was waiting. It simply rested around her pinky, stretching gently between them whenever they stood close.

For the first time since her seventeenth birthday, Mizi could walk in whichever direction she wanted.

And so could Sua.

They could sit together because they wanted to. They could hold hands because they wanted to. They could choose to spend their afternoons in the library, argue over pastries, and walk home together beneath the streetlights.

The string was still there.

But it no longer felt like a command.

It felt like a reminder.

One afternoon, Mizi and Sua were walking home when Mizi stopped beside a small flower shop. She stared through the window for a moment before turning toward her girlfriend.

"Sua?"

"What?"

"Do you think we'll stay together forever?"

Sua looked at her.

It was an unfair question, and Mizi knew it. They were still in high school. They had exams to worry about, futures to figure out, and an entire world waiting beyond the streets they walked every day. Neither of them could possibly know what would happen years from now.

But Sua didn't laugh at her.

She simply reached for Mizi's hand.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I want to."

Mizi smiled.

"Me too."

Sua glanced at their pinkies, where the red string glowed faintly beneath the evening light.

"Maybe that's what it's supposed to mean."

"What?"

"That we're given the chance to meet someone. Not a guarantee that we'll stay together, but a chance to choose them."

Mizi thought about that for a moment.

Then she leaned over and kissed Sua on the cheek.

Sua immediately turned red.

"Mizi!"

"What? You're my girlfriend!"

"That doesn't mean you can just do that whenever you want!"

"Actually, I think that's exactly what it means."

Sua rolled her eyes, but she didn't let go of Mizi's hand.

And Mizi, who had once spent an entire week trying to cut the red string off her finger, found herself hoping that it would stay there for a very long time.

Not because she was afraid of losing the person fate had chosen for her.

But because, given the choice, she would choose Sua anyway.

Every lifetime.

Every universe.

Every single time.

And maybe, Mizi thought as Sua pulled her closer beneath the evening sky, that was what the red string theory had been trying to tell her all along.

Not that she was destined to love Sua.

But that, somehow, fate had given her the chance to meet a girl she would want to love.

And that was a chance she intended to take.

The End.