“To fate, for leading us here,” I say, quickly tapping his glass withmine before he can add anything more and take a sip. It’s a sweet, fizzy blend of citrus and ginger.
Jack leans back against his seat, a skeptical expression hanging on his face. “To fate, huh?”
“Why do you look doubtful?” I ask, bending forward.
“Just the whole fate thing. I feel like I’ve heard that word too many times today. You believe things in life are predetermined?”
“I believe that there are circumstances and situations that are beyond our control. That certain things in life are already decided for us,” I explain. “Like who we’re meant to be with.”
Jack reaches back to lift one end of the scarf. “Right. The Red Thread of Fate.”
I take another sip of my beverage. “We don’t know what or who, exactly, until it happens.”
“And how can you confirm that certain events are fate’s doing?” he asks.
“There are signs.”
“Signs,” he says as he rubs his jaw in thought. “As in?”
As in us meeting on the night of a full moon. As in us being paired together for our lantern release. As in us seeing each otheragainshortly after losing each other at the party. Like we’re following the same path.
But I don’t say any of that, of course. It would be too much too soon. To confirm that he’s the man on the other end of my red string, I need more signs.
After my stretch of silence, he asks another question. “How do you quantify fate?”
A laugh spills out of me, and I split my disposable wooden chopsticks apart with more force than I intended. “You can’t quantify fate, Jack. It can’t be measured.”
“Sure you can,” he says, like it’s completely obvious. “Otherwise how do you know it’s actually fate at work?”
“Fine. I’ll play along. Let’s take the lantern that we spotted, as an example,” I say, sticking to safer territory other than love. “If we hadn’t gone outside, we wouldn’t have seen the lantern. The lantern could’ve blown anywhere, yet it brought us here.”
“It could’ve brought us to a different restaurant,” Jack says, waving his hand around. “Who’s to say this is the quote-unquote fated place to be?”
“Did you just say quote-unquote?” I ask, amused. “Typically you use your fingers to convey that.”
“Mine are still thawing,” he says with a glimmer in his eyes.
I poke at my onigiri with an uneven chopstick. “Look at this place. You had to guess a code—correctly, might I add—to even get inside. You think that just happens?”
Jack crosses his arms against his chest, relaxing into himself. The musicians are still playing upbeat music, energizing the entire place. “We chose to go outside. We chose to follow that lantern. We chose to try this bar out. There was nothing forcing us in. I felt no tug or pull or sudden epiphany or moment of clarity.”
“It’s the timing of life, Jack. If you had left that print shop even three seconds earlier, we wouldn’t have met.” I hadn’t even considered this morning until just now. More signs? “If you hadn’t been late to the party and come solo, we wouldn’t have been paired together. Should I keep going?”
Jack smiles like he’s figured something out. “Okay. There. See. Timing is everything.”
Under the small table, I can feel his knee bouncing up and down against my leg. The connection point sends a shiver down my spine. When he doesn’t elaborate, I give in. “You clearly want to saysomething about it.” I sigh dramatically for effect. “Tell me. Hypothetically speaking, how would you do it? How would you measure fate?”
Jack grins. “It’s less about a mathematical equation type of measurement and more about operationalizing. In my world, we have tests. If I were testing fate, I’d say you could assess it by showing up too early or too late to a place you’re supposed to be. You do that. You see what happens.”
“But when you decide to show up early or late, you’re making a choice. Your logic makes no sense.” I take a bite of my onigiri.
“Doesn’t the act of putting yourself in a situation, whether you’re early or late, still have fate at play? You don’t know what’s going to happen when you get there.” Jack lifts his onigiri with his chopsticks. Before he takes a bite, he has more to say. “Take the example you yourself gave. I showed up late to the party. You were early. We were paired together.”
Satisfied with himself, he finally takes his first bite. “Wow. That’s delicious,” he mumbles.
I tap my chopsticks together. “If I chose to show up late after you had arrived, we wouldn’t have been paired.”
“You don’t know that.”
