hello, it's me

More often than not, Adrian thought he was going to wake up from this dream he was in. He was living the life he had always dreamed of, with the love he was always meant to have. It wasn’t perfect, but he was happy. He knew Arthur was as well.

Eight years ago, Adrian had watched the love of his life, his soulmate, save him from his old master. But in return, he also thought he had lost him forever. 

Arthur had survived, but he paid a price for it. A painful price with the side of his face and parts of his body being covered in burn scars that would never go away. 

To Adrian, he was still perfect. 

The hardest was definitely witnessing the ups and downs of his beloved. To feel the internal pain he was going through. As soulmates, they could feel how the other was feeling emotionally. That connection was the only thing that could make Adrian understand what Arthur was going through. However, there wasn’t much he could do for him but to tell Arthur how much he loved him.

The first year was a challenge. Arthur tried to tell Adrian he wasn’t worthy of being the man for him that Adrian needed him to be.

Adrian, in return, told him he was so much more. 

The second year, Arthur became angry. He closed off that connection again while trying to hide from Adrian. 

Adrian found him, shouted at him that he could never do that again, before he hugged him and took him home. He stayed awake that night, holding Arthur in his arms while Arthur cried himself to sleep. He also stayed awake to make sure Arthur wasn’t leaving again.

The third year, Arthur still struggled, but he no longer ran away from his problems. 

This made Adrian happy. 

The fourth year, Arthur surprised Adrian by proposing to him. 

Adrian said yes. 

They got married three months later. A small ceremony with their closest friends and family, whoever was able to join. It was small, but it felt perfect to them. 

Four years of being married and they were the four happiest years of Adrian’s life. But even those weren’t the easiest either. 

Adrian was lying in bed. He had just heard the front door close, watching Izzy run towards the woods and disappear. She probably thought nobody knew, but this wasn’t the first time he watched her sneak out and run towards that area. He couldn’t be too certain who she was meeting up with, but he had a good guess. It was the only reason why he wasn’t worrying at the moment or waking up her father. 

That’s not why he couldn’t sleep. 

It was the empty spot in bed next to him. The spot Arthur is supposed to be sleeping, but he wasn’t. Adrian always slept terribly without Arthur. 

He sighed, staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Thinking about Arthur and knowing Izzy was outside, this was going to be a long night. 

His head started to wander to the man he has been calling his husband for four years now. The connection gave him some warmth and comfort, but still not enough to fall asleep. 

“I wish you were here.” Adrian sighed before sitting up in bed and turning the bedside table lamp on, grabbing his glasses and picking up the book he was reading.

He was fifty pages in when the front door closed again, footsteps running up the stairs and another bedroom door closing. Izzy must have returned. 

Adrian’s eyes looked at the clock. It was after midnight. Izzy’s birthday. She is sixteen now. This meant that she could meet her soulmate now. She was growing up so fast. It was unbelievable to think about, because thinking about Izzy, he still remembered that young girl he met so long ago. The brightness, the curiosity, how smart she was; there was so much knowledge behind those sparkling eyes.

Adrian had learned so much from her over the years and she continued to amaze him to this day.

Reading wasn’t going to happen with his head still being elsewhere. He sighed, placing the book and his glasses back on the bedside table and turning the lamp back off, before turning over on his side, towards the window and looking up at the moon that stuck right between the slit of the curtains. His thoughts went back to Arthur.

Arthur, his husband. 

Arthur, who didn’t want anything to do with Adrian at first, but who had shown so much change and development since then, being patient with Adrian while he was slowly letting go of the comfort of the past, which his old master had manipulated into his mind. 

His husband, who wasn’t here right now. 

Adrian reminded him that he couldn’t ask him to always be by his side. He was on a much bigger mission right now and he needed to be supportive of that, even if that meant he had to miss him for several days each month. He also couldn’t come with Arthur, because his place was here. He was still needed at the house. Just because he married his master’s nephew, he was also still their cook, their cleaner, and everything else that came with the job. He needed to formally ask time off and Adrian didn’t want to always ask for it. 

This worked for them. 

But that didn’t make Adrian miss Arthur any less whenever he did have to go, or when he wanted to go see his friends again. 

Their marriage wasn’t perfect, their relationship never had, but Adrian didn’t want to change it for the world. 

He managed to fall asleep after he could feel his heartbeat slow down and his head getting empty. Arthur could feel his discomfort and was trying to help soothe him, helping him fall asleep. Just another reason why he loved that man with all of his heart, because he was still there for him, even from afar. 

A sudden creek woke him up, followed by a dip on the bed and lips to his cheek. How long had it been since he had fallen asleep? Adrian turned his head in the dark, opening his eyes and tried to adjust to the darkness, only to find himself staring at his husband’s face. 

“Arthur?” Of course it was him. Who else could it be?

There was always that lingering thought that it could be him. It wasn’t possible; his old master was gone, but the thought creeped into his mind.

Arthur smiled, bringing his lips down to meet Adrian’s, like two lovers would. He pulled back too soon for Adrian’s liking.

“I could feel your unease from miles away, so I took a flight back tonight instead of tomorrow. Are you surprised?”

His considerate husband. Adrian couldn’t believe he was here, coming home sooner because Adrian hadn’t felt at ease being in their bed by himself. He should have known, because this wasn’t the first time in the past four years of their marriage that Arthur had cut his trip short to come back to Adrian sooner.

Adrian placed his hand on Arthur’s cheek, feeling that rawness of the burned skin that had healed now. It really was him; this wasn’t a dream. “I missed you.”

“I missed you more.”

“Liar.” Adrian chuckled after calling Arthur out, but he had no time to respond when their lips were together again. 

How easy it was to get lost in those lips, the touches, his thoughts; their bodies gliding together in unison. Distance definitely made the heart grow fonder. 

Clothes were dropped on the ground while the heat was rising in the room. They both always missed the other whenever they were apart, that heat burning inside them before it would set aflame when they were together again. It happened every time. Adrian didn’t want to admit that he loved that part of their soulmate connection the most, but for it to happen, they needed to be miles apart for sometime, which was also hurting his heart the most when he wasn’t around his husband. 

They had grown outside and inside the bedroom. No longer did Adrian need to feel validated or punished, but that part of him was still very much present. He did enjoy it when Arthur was both a little rougher with him, reminding Adrian who he belonged to, as well as being slow and attentive, show the kindness he carried around inside; when sex became so much more than just trying to get off. 

Their breathings came in quicker, rising, changing as they moved to higher grounds together, until both of them gasped and grunted mere seconds before that release, their legs trembling. 

“Maybe you have missed me more,” Adrian chuckled, breathless, looking aside before cuddling up to his husband when he laid back.

His finger was trailing the scar on his shoulder and other parts of his body. To anyone it would be ugly; Adrian thought it was the most beautiful part of Arthur, because it reminded him how he had come back to save Adrian. 

“I can feel what you’re thinking, Adrian.” 

Adrian had to hide his grin. That was the only downside to this soulmate connection, because they could never hide how they were feeling and especially Adrian was an open book with his emotions.

Arthur was harder to read at times, but Adrian knew him better by now. 

“Go back to sleep. We’ll catch up better tomorrow.” Arthur pushed Adrian’s head up from under his chin and stole a kiss before they settled to go to sleep. 

“I love you, Arthur. I’m happy you’re home again,” Adrian whispered into the darkness, his eyes already closed, but the smell of his husband was soothing him back to sleep. 

“I love you, too, Adrian.” 

It was three years ago when she met Oscar Cook for the first time.  It was just a normal Saturday, one like many others. Izzy was playing with her favourite dolls in the backyard. Maybe it was childish for someone of the age of thirteen to be still playing with dolls, but it was more than that for her: she couldn’t wait to become a mother someday. 

She jumped up, dropping her doll on the floor by accident when the back door shut with a bang.

“OSCAR RAMON COOK! We don’t slam with the doors at our home, we do not slam with the doors in the home we’re guests in!” A woman’s voice was shouting from behind the kitchen window, but the glistening of the sun in the window made it impossible for Izzy to see who the voice belonged to. 

The voice was very familiar. 

“Whatever,” he muttered, ignoring the request. 

His hair was dark, almost as black as the night, but his skin was as pale as looking up at the sun. If Izzy didn’t know vampires existed, she would definitely think he was one. He still could be, she wasn’t entirely sure. 

But him standing in the sunlight wouldn’t make sense, if that were the case.

“Why are you so pale?” Izzy was cocking her head a little to the side, keeping her eyes on him. But the boy didn’t even look at her as he made his way to the back of the garden, out of the sunlight and into the shade.

That didn’t stop Izzy.

She picked up her doll from the ground and carried her with her to where the boy was sitting under a tree. Oscar was his name, she had overheard. She hadn’t meant to pry, but how could she not when the lady had shouted his full name?

“Are you a vampire?”

Again, nothing but silence. It did look like he stopped picking at the few strains of grass before continuing.

“I know you’re not mute, because I heard you earlier. I’m Isobel, but you can call me Izzy.”

Without looking up, Oscar spoke, “Why don’t I call you Leave Me Alone?” To which Izzy’s mouth dropped in shock.

“That’s very rude!”

Nothing seems to bother the boy. “Aren’t you too old to be playing with dolls?”

“No, I’m never too old for that! I’m practicing for when I become a Mama.”

The boy had one eyebrow raised as he stared at her in utter disbelief.

“I wonder who would want to reproduce with you. Definitely not me. I like my girls a bit more… mature.” Her mouth dropped again when he said those words. 

Izzy was disgusted. “As if I want you to be the father. That is so gross! I don’t even know you!”

She stomped her feet before huffing, turning on her heels and heading back to where she was playing with her dolls before.

That was the day she began to hate Oscar Cook. 

♦

Her eyelids fluttered before slowly opening. What had happened?

“Hi, baby girl.”

Her father’s face started to become clearer as Izzy woke up more, focusing on his voice. She winced at the sudden headache appearing, or it had been there but she was only just noticing. 

“Adrian, some water and a painkiller, please. Hey! Take it easy. I heard you made quite a fall. Izzy, do you remember what happened?”

Izzy closed her eyes again, thinking. What happened?

She remembered talking to Jack. 

She remembered telling him that she couldn’t do it, that it would break her heart if he met his soulmate. 

She remembered leaving the room, leaving Jack by himself. 

She remembered bumping into someone as she was running away.

Her eyes grew big and round when she realised what had happened. 

“Oscar Cook!”

Her heart was aching to touch him, making her nauseous thinking about him in that way simultaneously.

Izzy had sat up  Looking around the room, she realised she was in her bedroom. 

“Sam and Winnie’s son?”

After Sam’s incident, he and Winnie had tried for years to have a child, but failed to succeed. This didn’t stop them as their focus shifted to adoption, which resulted into the adoption of Oscar when he was fourteen years old. 

Adrian came back with a glass of water and some painkillers. But the headache was no longer there. 

“I’m okay.” 

“Izzy?”

“I’m fine, Dad. I just got lightheaded and I fainted. A little too much excitement for today.” Izzy knew the lies would come back, but she couldn’t deal with the truth right now. 

She didn’t want to accept Oscar being her soulmate. It couldn’t be. It should have been Jack. 

The tears began to well in her eyes. “I’ll be down in a second. I need to fix my hair and makeup. I’m okay, I promise.”

Zane didn’t seem too convinced by his daughter’s words, but he got up from the bed and moved out of the bedroom slowly, Adrian following after placing the glass with water and the painkillers on her nightstand. He started moving to the door, but stopped and turned back around. 

“I know that look on your face. Your uncle used to look at me like that in the same way.”

Izzy gasped softly, trying to contain her emotions without showing too much how upset she was.

She had heard the story of Adrian and Uncle Arthur so many times, always enjoying it when either one of them told her after she asked about it once more. She couldn’t get enough of it. 

“I saw you snuck out last night. Don’t worry. I won’t tell your father about it. Were you meeting your boyfriend?”

“How do you know about him?” Izzy was a little shocked. 

Adrian chuckled, walking forward and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“I know you, Izzy.”

Izzy looked down. “He is not my boyfriend anymore.”

“Why not?”

Her eyes gazed away towards the window, away from Adrian. “Could you please go, Uncle Adrian?” She could only bring out a whisper right now. 

Adrian watched her for a moment, narrowing his eyes before the dots started to connect. “Oh. I see.”

Finally, after a moment of silence, he got up and headed for the bedroom door to leave. Before closing it, he popped his head in one last time.

“Izzy. Whatever you decide, make sure you decide it for you. Not what society tells you is the right decision.” With that, he closed the door and Izzy was by herself. 

She got up from the bed and headed over to the window. 

There he was. 

Her eyes immediately found him, sitting in the same spot under the tree and away from the sun. Like a vampire. 

Izzy had stayed in her bedroom for as long as she could. More people started to show up for her birthday party, which suddenly was of no interest to her anymore. She finally made her way downstairs, putting on her bravest face and making sure she was staying as far away from Oscar as she could. 

Which was easy, because she could feel exactly where he was. 

But it was also hard, as her heart yearned for him; gravitating towards him. 

This was not happening.

The party was coming to an end. Despite everything that had happened today, Izzy had an amazing time with lots of laughter and a father-daughter dance. People were starting to leave after saying goodbye, the backyard emptying until there were only a few familiar faces left: her father and Madeleine, her uncles Arthur and Adrian, Samuel and Winnie, and Oscar. Still in the same spot. Izzy couldn’t wait to go back to pretending her life was normal and nothing happened.

Except she and Jack were over.

Jack.

Her heart still ached for him. She couldn’t switch off these feelings she had for him.

Her eyes caught Oscar staring at her. Did he know who she was thinking about? Could he feel what she was feeling? He hadn’t looked at her all evening, but why now?

Izzy marched over to where he was, under that stupid tree, her brows furrowed. She was going to tell him exactly how she was feeling right now, even if he would make fun of her again. Heads turned for a moment, before the couples continued their dancing or their conversation with one another.

Oscar had gotten up when she came over. He looked different.

“This,” Izzy moved her point finger between the two of them, “can’t happen. We will not mention it to anyone and we will forget what happened, forever. Understood?”

“No.” He didn’t look confused or like she was speaking in a different language.

“What do you mean by ‘no’? It’s not that complicated to understand.” Was he stupid?

“I understood what you said, Izzy. I don’t agree with it.”

Izzy huffed. “Don’t call me Izzy.”

“Isobel.”

Her head was shaking disapprovingly. “No. Not that either.”

Oscar finally seemed to look confused. His eyes narrowed, trying to figure her out. Izzy could feel that stretch, reaching out for her. She could feel the urge to reach back, to connect with him and start this journey.

But she took a step back.

“I will tell everyone you’re making up lies.” It was better than nothing. If he wasn’t cooperating, then she would have to control the situation alone.

Izzy huffed again, letting him know she was visibly not pleased with his answer, before turning on her heels to walk out. The party was over anyway. She had her back towards him, but she had no time to respond when Oscar had reached out to grab her wrist to prevent her from stalking away, pulled her back around and pressed his lips against her.

For a moment, the world seemed to disappear.

The stars in the sky were shining brighter than they ever had.

Her heart felt warm and complete.

Izzy fell into his arms as she began to kiss him back, making that connection between them complete. It felt good and safe. All the stories Uncle Adrian had told her about him and Arthur were true, all the stories her father told her about him and her mother, they were all true. She felt it.

She felt it.

Izzy pulled away. She yanked herself free from his embrace, stepping as far away from him as she possibly could before he could pull her back in. Oscar was already moving closer with that happy smile on his face. She could feel the victory seeping off of him, making her nauseous.

“Stay away from me!” Izzy shouted, then started running back into the house. She already noticed Uncle Arthur turning towards Oscar, but she couldn’t see the look on his face. She thought she heard the others calling out for them, but she was already out of reach and continuing to run.

Out the front door.

Towards the woods. 

She didn’t stop.

Izzy felt tired when she woke up, only to realise that she had fallen asleep in her day clothes. She had hoped last night was just a bad dream, but it wasn’t. Her best friend Jack, who was also her secret boyfriend, was not her soulmate. She didn’t feel like celebrating her birthday now.

After a long shower, until she stopped crying again, she got dressed and headed downstairs. No doubt would her father and uncle be waiting for her to wish her a happy birthday. Sixteen was a big deal, which was why she had wanted to celebrate it with a big party, but now she didn’t want to party at all.

She followed the scent of waffles, her favourite kind of breakfast, which came from the kitchen. She tried to smile as she walked in to see her uncle, but smiling was hard at the moment.

Adrian turned around to face her. Seeing him smile so happily upon seeing her made her smile a little brighter. “Happy birthday, Izzy!” He came over and gave her a hug before he quickly moved back to check on the waffles. “I’m making your favourite breakfast.”

“Blueberry waffles?”

Adrian hummed. “It’s a special day today. Your father has left early to go to the office. Something about an emergency meeting, but he promised to be back in time for your party. You just missed him.” 

Izzy didn’t answer as she sat down at the table. This immediately seemed to draw Adrian’s attention as he dished the blueberry waffles onto a plate and placed it in front of Izzy, but a worried look was masking his face.

“What’s wrong, Izzy?”

She looked up. “Will you tell me how it felt for you when you first met uncle Arthur? When you realised he was your soulmate. Please, Adrian?” Her voice was soft.

“Again?” But there was a smile on Adrian’s face as he sat down with her after grabbing his mug of tea from the counter. “I wasn’t aware of it at first. Not because I didn’t feel it, but because I didn’t know what it meant. It was like this sudden warmth fell over me, like someone had wrapped me in a blanket. It felt safe and comfortable, but also frightening. 

“Do you remember me asking you about soulmates?” Adrian asked, and Izzy nodded. “You helped me a lot to understand what it meant that day. But how it feels like for me, it can feel different for you.”

Izzy remained quiet.

“Did something happen?”

Izzy hadn’t touched her waffles at all yet, but she looked up, a slight blush on her cheeks as she quickly shook her head. “No! Nothing happened. Why would something happen?” Nobody knew yet she even had a boyfriend and now they wouldn’t find out either as she and Jack were definitely going to break up. He would find his soulmate and Izzy would just be another girl in his past. 

A past time.

Before Adrian could ask more, the doorbell rang. Saved by the bell. He stood up and left the kitchen to open the door. Izzy was just staring down at her waffles, her fork trying to squeeze one of the blueberries that kept popping away. Only when her stomach started to growl, she finally picked up the knife and cut into the waffles to eat.

It was only when the voices came closer that she realised who was at the door.

“Happy birthday, Isobel.”

Madeleine, her father’s fiancée, came walking into the kitchen, followed by Adrian who was filling a mug with the freshly made tea from the pot before putting it down in front of the woman. She was still beautiful with her long golden blonde hair, which was neatly wrapped at the back of her head.

“Thank you.” Izzy was done with the waffles as she put the cutlery down on the empty place. She had devoured those waffles.

She liked her a lot. Madeleine was nice and beautiful, and she made her father really happy. He deserved that after being hurt for so long.

“Are you ready for our fun girls’ day?” There was a friendly smile on her face. It was clear that she had been looking forward to spending time alone with Izzy, as much as Izzy had been looking forward to it as well. Even if she had forgotten it for a little bit at that moment.

They were going shopping for a dress before they were going to get their hair and nails done for her party later. Maybe she would even get some new shoes. All she knew was that her father wanted her to look the prettiest and get whatever she wanted. A week ago, it was the best gift ever.

Today?

She wished Jack was her soulmate instead.

Izzy really tried to have fun and enjoy herself with Madeleine, but it was difficult. After leaving the house and they drove into town, she did get distracted for a little bit when they walked into the boutique and Madeleine made her try on all the prettiest─and probably most expensive─dresses they had, before she fell in love with an off-the-shoulders lilac coloured, knee height dress with a tulle bottom. They found a pair of beautiful similar coloured block heels for underneath her dress and the outfit was completed with a flower tiara. 

Once they were inside the salon after lunch, getting their nails done, was when Izzy’s mind started to drift off again. It was because she didn’t have the beautiful dresses to distract her again. Because she was sitting in the chair, relaxed, while someone else was taking care of her. Her mind easily slipped back to last night and a somber look fell over her once more.

“Are you going to tell me why you’ve been looking so sad all day long or am I supposed to start guessing?”

Izzy didn’t know where to even begin. Even if Madeleine had been there since she was eight years old, she wasn’t too close with her. As much as she liked her, she didn’t know how to connect with her. But she didn’t want to talk to her father about what was happening now either, or Adrian or Uncle Arthur for that matter. They might understand it the most, but they were boys. 

Thinking about it, Madeleine had done a lot for her in the past as well. When her breasts started to grow and her body started to change, she explained it to her and even went to get her first bra. When she got her first period, she had been really nice and explained everything before they had curled up together, eating all the chocolate until they were nauseous.

“Is it a boy?” Madeleine started guessing when Izzy took too long.

Her eyes dropped down to her lap. “Maybe…”

“You can talk to me, Isobel. I won’t tell your father. It will be our secret.”

It took her only half a minute before the tears came rolling down her cheeks and she told Madeleine what happened. She told her about Jack and how much she loved him, how she had snuck out last night to meet him before midnight, how she had wanted him to be her soulmate and ran away when she didn’t feel that connection with him. She told her about how they were planning to tell her father tonight at the party that they were together and that he couldn’t tell them no when he learned that they were soulmates, but that it wasn’t going to happen now. Izzy was pouring her heart out until she had no words left to say.

Madeleine reached her hand out to Izzy’s and held it. Nothing else. She just held it and let her know that she was there.

That’s all that Izzy needed, because she wasn’t looking for advice.

They ended up having a really good time for the rest of the afternoon, finishing up their nails on both their hands and feet before moving to the mirror to get their hair done. By the time that they were done and drove back home, they were smiling and laughing together. Madeleine didn’t bring up Jack or ask Izzy more about that and Izzy actually felt like celebrating her birthday again at the party later tonight.

They were bringing in the bags with their outfits for the evenings, which immediately was taken by Adrian after he had opened the door for them.

“You have a guest, Izzy,” he said with a smile. “He’s in the library.”

There was only one person that she hadn't seen in a couple of days: her uncle Arthur. He’d been gone for a couple of days now, but she knew he would be back in time for her party. Uncle had promised.

Izzy almost ran to the library and opened the door, expecting to see her uncle. Well, she did, but he definitely wasn’t by himself.

“Jack,” Izzy gasped.

It was Arthur who stood up from the couch he was sitting on across Jack, heading towards her. 

“No ‘Uncle Arthur’?” he asked her in a seriousness, until a grin appeared. His arms open up to take her into a hug. “Happy birthday, little one.” His hair was longer, half of it hiding the burn scar on the half of his face and neck.

It felt good to be in her uncle’s arms again. She’d missed him and was happy he was back just in time for her birthday party, although she had no reason to believe that he would purposely miss it.

“Thank you, Uncle Arthur. When did you come back?”

“Late last night, but you were all asleep. When I woke up, you were already gone for your girls day with Madeleine.”

They had missed each other by mere minutes. 

“I’ll leave you two to talk.” With that, he left the library and it was just her and Jack.

And the silence.

“What are you doing here?”

Jack, who had gotten up from the couch when she had hugged her uncle, walked towards her but stopped when Izzy stretched out her arm to him.

“Did I do something at the clearing?”

Izzy shook her head. She couldn’t find the right words to speak right now. Still distraught from realising that Jack wasn’t her soulmate, what was she going to do if he did find his? 

“It’s me, Jack. I’m not your soulmate and I never will be. I can’t do this with you only to have my heart broken all over again when you do meet your soulmate. I’m sorry.”  There were tears in her eyes as she stepped back when his hand reached out. “I think you should go.”

“Izzy.” It broke her heart the way he spoke her name.

“Please, Jack.”

One last look at him before she turned away, leaving the room. Leaving Jack. 

Letting him go.

Izzy was crying her eyes out the moment she was out the door, which made it harder for her to see ahead of her as she was running towards the staircase to hide out in her bedroom. Her path was crossed by a sandy-haired boy, his hair longer than regularly,refusing to get a haircut. Before Izzy noticed, she had bumped into the boy.

Her gaze met his before she felt that pull.

Oh, no!

Izzy stopped, her eyes growing bigger, realising who she had bumped into. 

Oscar Cook.

Isobel Gates looked behind her at the house that was disappearing into the distance while she was running towards the little alcove of trees. This was not something she would do normally, but it was for a good reason. She stopped running when she knew she was out of eyesight. If her dad or her uncle had seen her skipping out, they would’ve called her by now. Or chased her.

Nobody was following her.

She slowed her pace once the house had disappeared. It wasn’t long before midnight. Before her sixteenth birthday. Which meant, just a little while and she could get her very own soulmate connection.

This was what Isobel had been longing for since she was a little girl and learned about soulmates in her class. Only a few people in the world got blessed with it, her teacher had told her. Those who did, were some of the happiest people in the world, but they were cursed at the same time. You see, happiness comes with a high price. Sometimes the love only lasted so shortly as one or both of the soulmates passed in a deadly accident. It should be enough to scare the children from ever finding their soulmates, but it had never stopped Izzy. But there was only one person in this world she desperately wanted to be her soulmate: her boyfriend.

Her secret boyfriend.

John Linden.

Jack.

Her Jack.

Izzy arrived at their meetup spot. “Jack?” she whispered.

No reply.

She walked towards the big tree, where she and Jack had shared their first kiss a couple of months ago. He’d been her best friend since they were younger. The first friend she made in school. The first who stood up for her against Richard Martin, who bullied her because she didn’t have a mother anymore. The only person who kept writing her letters after she had moved to the other side of the country after her house burned down. The first to have welcomed her back when the house was rebuilt and they moved back a few years later. The first boy she started to like as more than friends.

She could only picture it to be him. 

More rustle came from the left. Izzy turned to look, to see if she could spot Jack, but there was nothing. A branch snapped. More rustling. Her heart started to pound. “Jack?”

Still nothing. 

“John Edward Linden, do not try to scare me, because I will smack you!” 

Laughter came from around the tree now before Jack appeared within her eyesight. “I’m sorry,” he was still laughing. 

“You’re not being funny right now.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she glared while he came closer.

Jack carefully placed his hands on her shoulders before moving them down her arms. “I’m truly sorry, Iz.”

There was only so long Izzy could stay mad at him. Even in the darkness, his green eyes looked so bright. He had grown a foot taller than her over the years, which she had noticed the first time she met him again after moving back. His sharp nose and the dimple in his chin are more beautiful than before. She took a deep breath before she unfolded her arms and looked up at him. “I forgive you. This time.”

Her lips were pressed against him after she stood on her tippy toes, her hand at the back of his neck. It didn’t take long before her lips parted and their kiss became more intense. She could only imagine what it would be like to be kissing those lips with their soulmate connection. It was already this good, but it would be so much better then, she imagined.

Jack pulled away too soon for Izzy’s liking. He pulled out his pocket watch. “Three minutes until midnight. Are you nervous?”

Isobel had ignored the nerves until that moment, but now she was. “What if we’re not soulmates?”

“Then I will still love you.”

“You say that now but─”

“Iz, stop.”

“─what if you’re not and you meet someone who is? What then, Jack?”

He only took her hand, lacing their fingers together before he lowered his face until his forehead was touching her own. She stared into those green eyes, searching for an answer she couldn’t find. She wouldn’t know what to do if he wasn’t her soulmate.

Jack was a few months older than she was. He turned sixteen a couple of months earlier, before they shared their first kiss. She had feelings for him for some time now, but she hadn’t known if he felt the same way for her. When Jack turned sixteen, Izzy had been scared that he would meet his soulmate and forget all about her. The entire weekend after his birthday, she felt a little heartbroken and had been avoiding him. But she could only avoid him for so long until Jack showed up at her home, wondering why she wasn’t talking to him. That’s when she confessed to him that he liked her and that she was scared that he would meet someone else.

Luckily for her, that hadn’t happened. Jack was her boyfriend now, no matter what would happen. Hopefully it wouldn’t be much longer and their soulmate connection would take away all of her worries.

Izzy wrapped her arms around him, her head against his chest as she listened to his fast beating heart. He was nervous, too. It made him feel a little bit better about her own nerves cruising through her veins. She didn’t want to ask him if it was midnight already. It wouldn’t be much longer now. 

Just a couple more seconds.

“Happy birthday, my Izzy,” Jack whispered to her.

Midnight. Isobel Gates was officially sixteen years old, the age for when soulmate connections could form. She didn’t want to look up, afraid that if she looked into those eyes, there was nothing there.

“Izzy?”

“I need a little more time,” she whispered with a shaky voice.

“Izzy…” He gently caressed his arms up and down her back, trying to soothe her. Until she was ready to face him.

It felt like forever before she finally pulled away from him. She could feel his eyes burning on her, waiting for her to look up. His finger was under her chin, moving it up to make her look at him. It was a gentle touch, not forcing her but she still let him until she was met with his eyes.

How is she supposed to feel?

Izzy didn’t feel any different, but her teacher had never told her how it was supposed to feel. Tears started to form in her eyes when the realisation started to sink in that Jack, her Jack, wasn’t her soulmate.

It was over.

Izzy turned around, tears already falling down her cheek as she began to run away as fast as she could. She didn’t want to be here anymore. She didn’t want to celebrate her birthday either. She didn’t want anything, but for Jack to be her soulmate.

But he wasn’t.

“IZZY!” Jack had called after her, but Izzy didn’t stop as she ran back to the house. 

She didn’t stop until she opened the door and closed it behind her, her back against the door before she locked it. Jack would be foolish to follow her at this hour. Her father would kill him if he knew she had gone out to meet a boy.

She ran up the stairs and straight to her bedroom. She forgot to be quiet when the door slammed shut and she fell on her bed, crying. Her face was in her pillow when she began to scream as loudly as she could.

Jack was not her soulmate.

Jack was not her soulmate.

Jack was not her soulmate.

Her heart was in pieces. The only thing she so desperately wanted for the past couple of months didn’t happen. He had told her they would still be together if they weren’t, but Izzy didn’t believe him. Every minute they stayed together, she feared that he would find his soulmate and then leave her. She didn’t want her heart to get crushed more than it already was. She couldn’t live with herself thinking that someday he would leave her for someone else. It wasn’t fair. He was supposed to be her soulmate. Izzy didn’t want anyone else to be her soulmate either. It was supposed to be Jack.

They had it all planned out. As soon as their soulmate connection was there, she and Jack would announce their relationship at her birthday party that day. He would arrive and they would announce their relationship, their soulmate connection. Everybody would be happy for them and it would be the best day ever.

Now it was ruined.