Red String Of Fate

Your POV

It’s them… again… 

The exact same stranger and almost the exact same vision. They must’ve seen it too. They look just startled as me. 

Again, the adrenaline floods my body, my survival instinct kicking in. I run to the back of the bus and curl up in the corner seat, shaking and quivering. I can’t stop. 

I rock myself to cope with the fear grabbing my entire body. It’s giant talons piercing the skin on my shoulders and injecting fear into my bloodstream. It’s worse than last time.

Again? Why am I seeing him again? Why is this happening again? I focus on regaining my breath. Nothing bad is going to happen… So why do I feel so scared?

The bus moves out and I see him glance at me through the window. A confused expression in those dark brown eyes. Does he understand? 

As he looks at me shocks send through my entire body. The bus pulls away and I find myself turning back to look at him, becoming smaller as the distance becomes greater. 

My body yearns for him. I want to be close to him… but I’m still petrified. I shake my head. I have to focus. I need this job. 

I run through the things I want to say in my head as the bus pulls up at the stop and I get off the bus, walking up to the building. I walk through the door, “hello?”

A smiley face peeks around a corner, “oh y/n right? You must be here for the interview!” I nod with a smile, relaxed at his kind-hearted manner and beckons me over, “right this way, please follow me.”

He leads me to a small, cramped room with a table and two chairs, “please take a seat, do you want a drink?”

“No, I’m fine thank you.” I say, with a nervous laugh.

The man opens the cupboard getting two mugs out and turns on the kettle, “bit nervous are we?”

You get taken off guard, “uh… yeah… I just… I just really need this job.” You say, looking down at your hands in your lap.

“Well, welcome! You’ve got the job!” 

I look up at the man with a frown. Am I really going crazy? I thought he just said I got the job, “sorry?”

“You’ve got the job,” the man repeats, pouring the boiled water into the two mugs, along with a bit of milk and mixing it with a spoon. 

He walks over setting a steaming mug in front of you and one in front of himself as he sits down, “we’re very low on staff at the moment. We need anyone we can get. And you arrived five minutes early which is more than can be said about my other employee.” 

He sips from his mug while you follow suit, “thank you.”

He chuckles, “it’s really no problem. The shop’s closed today but we’ll need you just to help load the deliveries from the store on the shelves and that’s it. So tell me about yourself, where are you from? Not Australia I’m presuming, you don’t have a very Australian voice!”

“Well, I lived in Malaysia when I was really young but then I had to move to England because of my father’s work but now I’m here!” You say with a little smile.

“Why Australia?” He asks, his voice thick with an Australian accent.

You frown, pondering over his question. Why did you choose Australia? Out of everywhere in the world, why here? 

“I… I’m not sure… Just… It just felt right. Almost like I’m being pulled by a thread.” 

He nods and you talk, finishing your drinks and then he proceeds to show you around, explaining what you’ll be doing, sorting out payments, going through safety precautions and paperwork with you.

Time flies by without you noticing since you’d been too busy. He checks your work and nods before checking his watch with a hopeless sigh. 

“He should be here within a minute…” He looks over at you with a smile, “let’s see if he actually shows up on time.”

You laugh and watch as he starts to count down, “10… 9… 8… 7…"

“I’m here! I’m here! I’m not late!” A voice yells from the doorway. 

He smiles at you, “there he is.” You follow him out of the back, storage room and into the main store, “so he’ll be training you up while I do the financing however you can train him on how to be on time.”

“But Chan hyung, I’m technically on time,” the boy whines. You feel him before you see him. Again. It’s him.