"Yeji, where is Ryujin vacationing? I'd like us to go visit her. I haven't seen her two months."
"I don't know cherry, all she said is that she's going away for vacation for a while and that we won't be able to contact her until she's back."
This has been the only answer Chaeryeong has gotten whenever she asks about her ex lover and best friend's whereabouts. No one, not even her parents seem to be able to reach Ryujin. Sometimes when she calls her mother to ask the woman just sniffles before hanging up the call telling her that she doesn't know where her beloved daughter is.
This entire situation was just wrong. How does no one, not even her ex lover's parents seem to have any knowledge of their daughter's location? It all just doesn't make sense, and to couple this with her friends and wife's recent change in behavior whenever she brings up the topic of Ryujin, it all makes her suspicious of everything and everyone around her. They talk about their best friend and older sister like she fell off the face of the earth and died. They've replaced 'is' with 'was' and talk about her like they're remembering things and behaving like they couldn't just call her and plan things.
'Where are you ryujinnie? Why can't I get you to pick up the phone just once to confirm that you're still around and that I'm just reading too much into things?' The red head mutters to herself as the tears well up in her eyes but she wills them not to fall. She will not waste time crying until she get's to the bottom of this mystery.
With a renewed resolve, the young woman begins to recount the very last encounter they had, at her engagement party. Some part of her felt bad seeing Ryujin there. She doesn't think she could stomach the view of someone she loved so dearly blissfully happy and unaware in the arms of another. They danced and talked about a promise they made to each other for the first time in two years since the nasty fight that was the final curtain call on their relationship. They often went out on dates and even just to hang out when one or the other needed silent company. They had a habit of taking pictures to remember with Chaeryeong's polaroid and writing little cliff notes. 'Wait! That's right, my polaroid camera.'
A rush of energy suddenly takes hold of the young adult as she clumsily runs to climb the ladder to attic of her house. She knows exactly where those pictures and camera are. The sudden intrusion of the woman's head into the attic space is met with dust and cobwebs but in her immediate line of sight was a plain white shoe box labeled 'Memories <3'. Chearyeong vividly remembers where she stole this box from. This was the box from Ryujin's favorite pair of shoes, midnight black Doc Martins that Chearyeong had gifted her for their one year anniversary.
Flashback
It was the middle of winter break from school and both Chaeryeong and a sulking Ryujin where walking home from the bus stop. "I cannot believe you forgot about today" Her lover grumbled, "We've literally been planning this all week!" the girl's grumbling slowly getting louder.
'Seems like my plan is working a little too well, she might actually be upset with me, ugggh how do i get myself out of this one' Chaeryeong thinks to herself as she masks her slowly building anxiety with a fond smile.
"I know baby and I am terribly sorry for forgetting. I promise to make it up to you anyway you want to later but it's freezing cold out here in the snow and we're already at my house," Chaeryeong points to the gallery in front her house. "Hang out at the table, I'll get us some hot chocolate and marshmellows and do our homework to make it up to you okay bun," the then ravenette lent down to give the pouting Ryujin a kiss on her lips and forehead before running off inside to get the gift she had planned for all along and the hot choco marshmellow drinks.
'I really hope she likes this, it costs my spending money for the next three months but it'll be so worth it to she face when she opens the box'
The teenager returns to her girlfriend with a tray with their drinks and a huge white box in her hands.
"What's that honey?" Ryujin asks as her trying to get a peek at the foreign object in her hands.
"Why don't you open it and see darling?" she giggled out as she saw the bright eyes of the shorter girl immediately grab the box once it was on the table to open it out. The surprised look of just pure excitement that followed the look of adoration aimed towards herself made the teen blush a scarlet red that seem to still unknown to man. Watching Ryujin instantly discard her signature red converse highs to slip right into the new shoes made her heart race.
As a fond look falls over Chaeryeong's face she couldn't help but think, 'Yeah, three months of spending money was totally worth it.'
Flashback Ends
Chaeryeong feels guilty when she can still feel the ghost of warmth that spread through her body from the kiss Ryujin gave her that day. She shouldn't feel this longing for something that clearly didn't work out, no matter how pure and true it had been at one point. She's married to someone else now and they love and care for her in a way that mends her broken heart and scars from the once beautiful relationship she had with the missing Ryujin but she couldn't help herself as she finally allowed herself to grieve the love they once shared. It all felt like too much and nothing at all. Just memories in a box, and sadly that's all they'll ever amount to be. So stricken with grief that she hasn't looked down yet the threads of fate slowly materialize around her little and ring fingers. One bright red that almost seem to be alive and pulsing in tandem with her heartbeat and the other a pale grey, it was withered, worn and seemed to be falling apart at the seams.
"Cherry? Baby where are you?" The woman who loved her whole again was home from work and looking for her. A sudden burst of heat, the kind that left you feeling all tingly inside spread throughout the red head's body and at that moment her eyes met her hands and she let out a shrill of panic.
"Chaeryeong! Where are you? What's wrong?" Yeji replied to her scream. "I'm in the attic baby, don't worry I just spooked by some spiders." She lied because how on earth was she supposed to explain that she can see a bright red string that seems to be able to phase through objects, bend, flex and move in what she gauges in her wife's direction but the other is taught and constantly under pressure and ready to snap. Like it's playing a game of tug of war even if Chaeryeong can't feel it.
'Okay, what the actual fuck is going on! Why can I see these strings and why do they phase through objects?
Gathering her thoughts, the young woman took the memory box and climbed back down the ladder to the hall way of the house, right in front her shared bedroom. Waiting there was a freshly showered Yeji, towel around her neck and her smile reaching her eyes as she finally sees the love of her life after a long day at the firm. Reaching forward to claim her lover's lips Chaeryeong hugs Yeji to welcome her back home. As they walk back into the bedroom she sets the box down on the bedside table and makes small talk.
"How was work today? Any outrageous clientele?" She asked while Yeji's back was turn as she looked for a favorite hoodie to sleep in. Chaeryeong took the chance to look at her left hand seeing a bright yellow string that fades to orange in the middle meet her red one.
"Oh baby you won't believe it, there was this elderly couple that came in to file for insurance fraud but it wasn't for them. Their son claimed that they had died, faked documents and everything and took all the money they had put away for their funeral plans and medical bills. It was just horrible and we had to guide them through the process of acquiring a lawyer because the son refuses to give them it back." Yeji explain as she puts on her hoodie, her voice slightly muffled by the cotton.
"Wow that seems like a lot and that's honestly horrible of their son to do that to them, how could he ever have a clear conscience if something happens to them and they can't do anything because he stole their money." Chaeryeong replies, not even noticing that she's spacing out on herself.
"I know right? It's just down right cruel." Yeji retorted as she comes to face her spaced out wife, she feels guilty because part of her knows that she's worried about Ryujin but she doesn't have the heart to tell her that she's been dead for two months now...maybe someday she'll tell her but not anytime soon, Yeji wouldn't be able to handle the look of pure malice she'd get for keeping this secret and for so long.
"Hey chaer, why don't you go for a walk? You're spacing out again, that hasn't happened in two years. Go for a walk, clear your head and then when you come back tell me what's been bothering you, okay?" Snapping out of her trance Chaeryeong nods slight getting up to grab her phone that she she left charging all day.
"Okay, that's a good idea Yeji. I haven't really been feeling all to well today, maybe a walk will help me figure it out." She answered while grabbing her purse too. "I'll be back soon, there's leftovers from the pizza we ordered yesterday you can have that until I get back and make us some dinner, bye love." Chaeryeong yells as she makes her way out of the house.
'Maybe I can use this moment to follow this grey string, clearly the red one tied me to Yeji so this one must tie me to someone else, right?'
Starting her journey to the end of this string Chaeryeong had to take a taxi to a park that was about a thirty minute drive from her house and then walk another ten minutes until she came to a clearing with view that over looked the bustling city below. It was a view she remembers so vividly. This was the spot of her very first and last date with Ryujin. But why would the string bring her here of all places? Add to that the string itself seem to relax, not constantly pulling and even the threads look a little healthy.
Continuing to follow the string she looked down as she saw a young cherry blossom tree, it was shorter that she was, with a few leaves here and there but still pretty to look at. At the base of the tree was a smooth black marble plaque with colourful engravings that broke her heart as she read the words out loud.
'Here lies one of many who have tried and failed yet again to weave their own fate, love was never destined for her but she was destined to create it for another. May her sacrifice not be in vain - Shin Ryujin, The weaver of Fated love. 2001 - 2026'