Strings of Fate

Chapter 17

Color Code:

Bright Red= love for a significant other (it shines when they officially get together in some way whether it be dating or marriage)

Dark Red= love between children and parents

Pink= love shared by siblings

Blue= Friendship (pinkies=superficial; wrist=meaningful; heart's= deepest level of friendship)

Dark Blue= Platonic soulmate

Purple= distaste (side=slight; shoulder=avoid as much as possible; heart=hate)

Yellow= Respect that is earned for going above and beyond what one expected from you

White= unknown

Green= unknown (but is related to intelligence in some way)

Orange= unknown

Gray= a relationship that is broken beyond repair

Black= dying

Texture Code:

Hot: extreme anger

Cold: Sadness

The weekend passed by rather quickly. Jimin and Jihyun spent most of their time with their grandfather. They helped him around the house and just kept him company for as long as they could. Their mother and father would be in and out of the house as they checked up on their grandmother as well as took care of things that needed to be taken care of. Jimin tried not to think about the very real possibility that his grandmother might die. Black only meant dying not dead. Dead was when the black that was starting to form reached the other person at the end of the string. And after that happened, the string would break about a fingers length away from the person's body and form a really tiny bow.

Jimin knew this because he had seen many black bows on people and had even seen some strings turn black, break, and form a tiny bow within a minute right before his eyes. He, however, hadn't figured out what those strings meant until five years ago. His grandma on his mother's side of the family had lost her sister and he had seen a string that was a little black bow on her, the only one at the time. So Jimin deduced that it was the pink string that his grandmother used to have, and now it was a black bow which symbolized her loss. His mother never had a string connecting her to her aunt so there wasn't any black bows on her. Jimin had also seen that these strings tended to glow when the person was thinking deeply about the person who they lost.

"Jihyun, Jimin, we're going to have to leave soon, have you packed?" Jimin heard his mom ask as she entered the living room where the two brothers were playing chess with their grandfather. The brother against their grandfather who was a chess legend in this area of Busan. Jihyun looked up at their mother and pouted, "Do we have to go so soon?" he asked.

"You both have school tomorrow so yes." She answered.

Jihyun sighed and nodded saying he'd pack right after the game and that he promised it wouldn't take him more than ten minutes.

"What about you Jimin?" She asked.

"I'm packed." Jimin answered with a small smile and then decided to ask, "How long till we go?"

"Thirty minutes." She replied.

"Can we stay for longer than that please?" Jihyun requested.

"No." Their mom said.

"Please?" Jimin pleaded but their mom just shook her head.

"Grandpaaa please convince mom to let us stay another hour," Jihyun whined.

"Jihyun.." Their mom sighed.

"Can they really not stay a little longer Jiwoo? Do you really have to take my lovely grandkids away from me so soon?" Their grandfather asked also giving their mom a puppy eyes like Jimin and Jihyun were doing. THeir mom bit her lip looking ready to deny them but finally gave in with a loud sigh. "Fine, an hour no longer."

"Yay!" Jihyun cheered and then went back to focusing on the game.

"Do either of you want to go with me to pick up your dad from the hospital and see grandma before we leave?" Their mom asked as she picked up her car keys.

"No...I think I'll stay with grandpa." Jihyun replied.

"I'll go. I think Jihyun can handle this game on his own." Jimin replied though Jihyun protested saying he was only leaving cause they were losing to their grandpa. Jimin just chuckled and then went over to his mom and followed her out to the car.

At the hospital, Jimin sat beside his grandma, while his mom and dad talked with the doctor who had stopped by and asked to meet with both of them. He held his grandmother's hand while watching heart rate on the monitor beside her bed. Jimin was sad to see that the black color was still spreading and was almost halfway up the string now. He really wished there was something he could do to stop the color from inching up the strings. He wished he could do something to help his grandma wake up again. The thought of her dying was scary for Jimin and he really hated thinking about it.

"Grandma...please fight...please wake up." He whispered as he let his free hand grab the string right were the salmon color met with the black on his own string. Salmon was the color that signified love between relatives. Like the love between him and his grandma. Or the love that his mom had for her uncle and aunt on her father's side of the family. She shared no such bond with any of the relatives on her mother's side of the family. Jimin had always thought salmon would be a common color but had only ever seen a few of them on any one person. As far as he knew Taehyung had the most with seven salmon colored strings.

Jimin, himself had only three since he wasn't fond of any of his aunts and uncles or his grandmother on his mother's side of the family (his father had no siblings). Jihyun only had two salmon strings since he actually slightly hated their mother's parents. Jimin didn't blame him for it either. Their mom loved her parents but even she didn't like being around them and as such would keep her children away from them.

"We miss you grandma...so so much. Dad and grandpa are trying to be strong, but I can see them falling apart by looking into their eyes. They want you to get better but are so scared you won't...mom too. You know she always considered you more of her mother than her own mom. That's why she even has a dark red string connecting her to you, grandma. She doesn't have one to grandpa but she does to you. That's really rare. I haven't seen anyone else who's daughter or son in law had that sort of bond."

Jimin kept talking like this with his grandmother until he heard a knock on the door and then his parents stepped in along with the doctor. The doctor smiled politely at Jimin before moving towards the machine by his grandmother's bed. She checked the settings and wrote a couple of things on her clipboard before nodding her head and bidding them a good night.

"Did she say anything about grandma's condition?" Jimin asked his parents.

"Not really...she was just informing us about the bills and a couple of experimental treatments they have going on for these situations." His dad replied.

"Oh?" Jimin replied curiously.

"I'm going to look into the treatments before we decide on anything." His mom said and Jimin nodded thinking that was best. His mom was bound to understand the treatments better than any of them.

"So are you ready to go?" His dad asked as he smoothed back the hair on grandma's head.

"Yea," Jimin replied giving his grandmother's hand one last squeeze.

New Colors:

Salmon: love between relatives

Black Bow: Death