Chapter 1: Visible Red Threads
[Ella’s POV]
I’m at a coffee shop with my best friend, Ashton Grey. We’re both in our final year of Business Administration at Oxford University.
My name is Danielle Reid—Ella, for short. I’m 22 years old.
Ashton looks up from his laptop and asks,
“When do you think we’ll find our fated pair?”
I roll my eyes and sip my coffee, just as the rain starts to fall outside.
“I’m not planning on finding mine.”
He smirks.
“Don’t say that. You might eat your words one day.”
“Do you really think that’s what’s on my mind right now?” I raise a brow.
He chuckles and leans back in his seat.
“Your mind is always on your studies, your company and your dad.”
He’s not wrong. My dad means everything to me.
He raised me alone—never remarried, never looked back. And honestly? I want to be just like him. I don’t need a husband. Maybe someday I’ll have a child. But love? Fate? Soulmates? That’s not in my blueprint.
My parents were never connected by a red thread. Their marriage was arranged—business, not love.
Fifteen years ago, my mother left us for her fated pair.
A year later, they divorced. When the judge asked me who I wanted to live with, I didn’t hesitate. I choose, Dad.
I still remember what I told her after the trial:
“You left us, and now you expect me to live with you? I hate you for walking away and never looking back.”
That was the last time I saw her. She vanished from our lives like a chapter closed too soon.
Since then, I’ve poured myself into school, work, and being the daughter my father deserves.
I glance down at my pinky.
The red string of fate—thin, crimson, and glowing faintly—drifts above the clouds, reaching out toward someone I’ve never met.
But the truth is... I have no plans to follow it.
Ashton nudges me gently.
“What if one day, he shows up at your doorstep? What would you do?”
I sigh and glance at him.
Honestly, I don’t know why I’m still friends with this guy. He always asks questions about the future—about things I won’t let myself dream of. We’ve been friends for eight years now. He brings light into corners of my life I’d rather leave dark.
Sometimes, I ask the Goddess of Fate, Why not him? But I know... she must have her reasons.
“That one, I still don’t know,” I answered quietly.
---
[Yuki’s POV]
Tokyo always feels quieter after a match, no matter how loud the crowd was.
I sit by the window in my apartment, hair damp from a shower, watching city lights blur against the glass. The hum of traffic, the ache in my muscles—this is my routine. This is my life.
My name is Yuki Ishikawa. I’m 29. A professional volleyball player for Japan.
Some say I’m too romantic for someone in my profession. That athletes should focus on wins, stats, and strength—not on things like fate.
But I’ve never been able to shake the feeling…
That someone’s out there for me.
That I’m meant for her.
It’s not about fairy tales. It’s quieter than that. More certain. More real.
It’s the red string of fate.
“I believe she’s out there,” I told Ran, one of my teammates, just last week in the locker room.
“Maybe not in Japan. Maybe not today. But someday, I’ll find her.”
He laughed and said I watch too many dramas. Maybe I do.
But I grew up with stories.
My grandmother used to say we’re all born with a red string tied to our pinky finger—one that leads to our fated pair. No matter how far apart you are, across oceans or lifetimes, it never breaks.
And I believed her. I still do.
Maybe it’s because my parents were living proof. My father met my mother while she was studying abroad in Japan. He was a quiet man from Osaka. She is a bold, laughing woman from Hokkaido. They barely spoke the same language at first. Everyone thought it wouldn’t last. But somehow, they made it work.
They said it was fate.
That’s what I want. Not just a relationship—not just a partner.
I want one.
The person who silences the noise.
The one who makes everything finally makes sense.
I glance down at my pinky.
The red string glows faintly, still trailing into the clouds—like she’s still far away.
But I swear… I can feel it tugging.
Whoever she is, wherever she is…
I’ll find her.
---
[To be continued]
BINABASA MO ANG
Red String of Fate
Romance"Two souls, worlds apart, bound by an invisible red string of fate-seen only by their hearts." --- Danielle "Ella" Reid was a college student at Oxford University. She never believed in fate. Raised by her father alone, she grew up with a front-row...
