In Turkish romantic TV shows and movies, the legend of the Red String of Fate is often depicted—an invisible cord that ties together those destined to meet, winding around their little fingers or thumbs. Whether it’s true or not, neither of us can deny the feeling that some unseen force brought us together. It all began with a girl walking into a bar. Most people warn against meeting strangers in such places, but we would recommend otherwise. It was a cold, crisp November day, ironically, the 11th of November (11:11). Melissa and her sister went out for drinks in a Chicago neighborhood called Logan Square and when inside the bar they noticed a woman drinking alone. As fate would have it, that woman’s first date was using the restroom, the reason for which he was not there (yet), and according to her the date was going poorly and needed help. Melissa, feeling bold and heroic, decided to tag along, reaching out to two strangers with nothing but the intention of making the night memorable for the group. The woman’s date (shoutout to Karim), invited them to the next bar down the street, and asked if he could include a friend who happened to be from Turkey. Melissa and her sister had long been captivated by Turkish rom-coms, where the Red String of Fate weaves through every twist of the story. Excited to meet this stranger, they brushed up on the handful of Turkish phrases they learned from those shows and movies. Little did Melissa know, she was about to meet the very person on the other end of that invisible string, just as the legend promised.