a little bit of black with a little bit of pink

Tied to you

Lisa has the special ability to see the strings of fate connecting people to one another. But though most people would see this as a blessing she has come to despise the gift. Because though love is all around her, she has no string of her own connecting her to anyone.

She has all but given up on love when one day she runs into a woman with a golden string. What does fate have in store for them?

-----

Red was the color of fate.

The color for destiny.

And red was Lisa's least favorite color.

Everywhere she looked she saw red.

Red strings connecting people across miles. Or when destiny had already brought them together, red that connected couples across inches.

Red bound people together by what the world called fate.

Connected them across space. Across time.

And Lisa was one of the few who could see these connections, these strings. A gift granted by fate for a special purpose.

At first Lisa thought her special sight was a good thing. That's what everyone said.

"Your daughter can see the red string of fate? She's so blessed."

"She must have a special connection with fate."

"I wish I could see the string. It could help me find my loved one sooner."

But the older she got the less Lisa felt her gift was a blessing and the more she saw it as a curse.

The first time she considered it a burden was the day her parents divorced.

It had been coming for a while, but Lisa assured herself that they would never really split up. Their strings were connected and that was enough to make her believe they would stay together.

The red between them vibrated like the constant heartbeat of destiny that connected them. The pulse of the love that remained alive between them.

Then they separated and she realized that even fate could not keep people together.

But the string did not go away. It continued to hang between them, beating like a promise that one day fate would again reconnect them.

And so she waited.

Though her parents' divorce disillusioned her to the red string she continued to believe that it was her fate to help bring people together.

Most people with her talent started their own businesses where people could come to seek help in finding their soul mates. At the age of twelve she did the same, starting her own agency which she named Manoban Connections.

It was an easy enough job to tell people yes or no on whether the person they were with was connected to them with the red string of fate. Her business flourished as her reputation grew and she acquired a steady list of customers.

Life continued on. Her parents staying apart, Lisa's business growing as people continued to search for their soul mate. Then came the day that Lisa learned she had more than just a gift to see the strings.

-----

Her parents' divorce did more than just cause a rift in her view of love and fate; it also caused a fracture in her family.

Her parents could not even stand to be in the same room. Every time they were together their string hung taught between them, taunting her with the reminder that it was still there. That, though they had once been together, they were not together anymore and might never be again.