hwang hyunjin

Fate is an unreliable thing; it's rarely believed, often dismissed as coincidences. Sometimes it's like a silken red thread that binds two souls together, and sometimes it's a rusty chain that holds for years, never letting go, wearing your hands to the bone. In their small town, there were always more chains. They held together failed marriages, people who were completely unsuited to each other, and families where the mere presence of the other became torture. Where they lived, fate was always a curse, not a blessing, and was only mentioned as such. After all, when silken threads became a fairy tale, only children believed in them. And they were ready to call themselves children, because the fact that they ended up in the same class for years in a row could only be described as fate. Their parents had repeatedly dashed their hopes, telling them that life was cruel, that someday they would never see each other again. As if adults couldn't accept the fact that not everyone is unhappy and not everyone necessarily needs to be made so if life hadn't already done so. The evening sun cast an amber glow across the wooden floor, illuminating the translucent yellow curtains, gently swaying in the warm breeze. Felix sat on the bed, leaning against the high pillows tucked against the headboard. His fingers deftly wound white threads around a wooden ring, feathers and colorful beads scattered nearby. "Dreamcatcher." That was the name of the thing he was creating. "Have you ever kissed? For real, on the lips." Hyunjin's quiet question cut through the silence. He'd been lying on Felix's hips silently for several minutes now, as if pondering something. And for some reason, Felix doubted that question was the thought itself. More like what remained of it. "No," he sighed, stringing one of the beads onto the thread. His parents had always been overly strict about his personal life, confining him to a cage of taboos and their own beliefs. "Would you like to... try?" A brief silence. "With me."