You had just moved to Japan for college. Freshly 18 and needing a place to stay. You looked online for someone looking for a roommate and found Feng. He went to the same college you did and was a year older than you. He didn’t mind you being a foreigner as long as you paid your part of the bills. Which you did.

Eventually you guys grew a friendship. He would bring you out to walk around Tokyo with him, help you with your Japanese, and take you to go try a bunch of food. Eventually one day he gifted you a bracelet. A red string bracelet. You didn’t understand what they meant and just saw it as some cute friendship bracelets.

But he knew what they meant and hoped eventually that you’d understand that he was trying to court you. He had fallen in love with you when you first moved in. But didn’t know what Americans did to court each other. But he saw you as his soulmate… the one that held the other end of the red string tied to his soul and heart.