The Struggles Of Waiting ✔

TWENTY

2076

Alexander landed on the ugly red couch with a grunt, trying to ignore the nervousness that was eating away at him. He put his head in his hands, groaning loudly. The door swung open and someone made their way into the room. He could almost recognise the sound of the footsteps.

"Oh, God, not you too!" Isaac exclaimed. "I'm already dealing with one nervous dumbass, I don't want to deal with a second."

"You signed up for this," he replied, looking at the other man through his fingers. "And you can't tell me you weren't nervous. I was with you at your Ceremony. You were a mess."

"Yeah, yeah, but you didn't have to run between two different rooms because one guy doesn't have any other friends," Isaac replied. Alexander looked up at him, spying the messy hair and exhausted face. Jaden must have been tiring him out.

"That's a bit harsh," he said, frowning angrily at his friend. He didn't want to think about the real answer to that statement. That all his friends had died years ago. "I didn't ask you to sit with me, you volunteered. I would have been fine on my own."

Isaac sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he said. "Jaden is stressing me out. I kinda figured you would be the same."

"Of course he is," Alexander replied. "I'm actually fine. I'm nervous, obviously, but I'm okay."

"Well, good," Isaac said, taking a seat next to him on the ugly couch. "I'm going to stay in here for a bit anyway. I need a break and Jaden needs to calm down. I think Amelia is in there with him at the moment so she should be able to help."

"Good," he replied, not paying too much attention. He and Amelia didn't talk much, despite everything that had happened with him and Jaden. She didn't seem to be able to forgive him for his lies, especially now that he had come back from his sabbatical.

He and Jaden had been in the news a lot when he'd returned. Everyone wanted to know how they met, what it was like for Alex to have a soulmate after so long. Both of them had hated the spotlight on them and had only gone to one interview so that all questions could be answered. After that, not many people tried to bother them, even with their Ceremony on the horizon.

All of his lies had come back to bite him when he'd returned, but he'd been able to deal with it. Jaden had forgiven him for them long ago, along with Isaac and Lucy, which was more than enough for him. Amelia would come around eventually, but for now, it didn't matter too much to him.

He still worked for the big tech company and he'd moved back into his apartment in the city. Jaden hadn't come to live with him, only visited sometimes. He hated the cities too much to live in one. They saw each other more than enough and the distance wasn't too bad. Alex did miss him when they weren't together.

He was thinking of moving into the countryside after their Ceremony. He'd still work as a CEO but from a distance. He'd been there for years and the company had run just fine while he was on leave, he was sure they would be fine with him at a distance. He just wasn't quite ready to retire yet. He was getting ideas for other devices different from the AgeFinder.

"Oh, God damn it," Isaac muttered, bringing Alexander back to reality. The other man was on his phone, eyebrows furrowed in irritation. "Amelia just texted me. Jaden's freaking out, he wants you in there."

"Oh, well I can-"

"No!" Isaac said. "You two aren't meant to see each other yet, remember?"

Alex rolled his eyes and stood, looking down at his friend. "Does it really matter?" he asked. "He needs me. Why should some old tradition stop him from feeling better? We were going to walk out together anyway."