The Soulmate Curse

Vision - Part 3

"It's good to have someone to come home to," said Tisha in a breathless sigh.

A streak of panic ran through Zhen.

"Don't worry, Zhen," said Tisha with a smile. "I know this isn't permanent."

"I'm sorry," said Zhen.

"Don't be," Tisha replied, giving her another kiss. "I've loved having you here this past week. But I've always known it's not going to be like this forever. I'm just enjoying the moment."

Zhen smiled. "I'm making dinner tonight. Go run a bath. Relax. I'll keep an eye on Richie."

Tisha nodded and kissed her one more time. "Thank you, love."

They spoke as they ate, listening to Richie regaling them with tales from play school. Apparently, he went on an adventure in the forest as a one of the Fae Knights with his friends, Cleo and Will. Zhen and Tisha let him talk himself out.

"What about you, Zhen?" Tisha asked. "Find anything?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," said Zhen, looking up at her with excitement. "I hit the jackpot. There's a warehouse..."

She was cut off by her vibrating wrist wrap. Zhen had been ignoring the numerous calls from Jack at the Think Tank and had set it up to ring only for family. And Finn. Family.

"It's my dad. I need to get this," she said. She stood up. "I'll be right back."

Zhen closed Tisha's room door behind her. "Hey dad."

"Hey Z. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine," she said.

"How was your mission at the space station? I watched your livestreams. You're good."

Zhen laughed. "That's just stuff I do for the PR."

"Well, you've got quite the following, and it's not hard to see why," he said, his voice dripping with pride. Zhen's heart swelled with feeling. "I thought you might come over for a visit after?"

"I was," said Zhen, guilt prickling her insides. "I just... I needed to do something first."

"Right. I understand," he said. There was a pause, like he was thinking about what to say next. Zhen patiently waited. "Um... I was wondering if you wanted to hang out? Just you and me?"

"Yeah?" said Zhen, smiling. They hadn't in a long time. When she was younger, they'd leave Akemi with mum and go out on adventures together, usually camping and fishing.

"Yeah," he replied. "I fixed the boat. Been working on it for the last few weeks. I thought you might want to join me for its maiden voyage."

"I'd love to," she said, close to tears at the painfully nostalgic memories. "Tonight?"

"Isn't that too soon? It'll take you a while to get here from your place in the city," he said.

"I'm actually not at my place," she said, choosing not to elaborate. "See you in an hour or so?"

"Yeah! Sure," he said excitedly. "I'll pack the boat."

"I'll bring food."

Zhen went back to the dining room and explained to Tisha that she was leaving. Tisha was understanding, even helping her pack. They had a quick little rumble in the sheets, making sure they didn't leave Richie alone for too long. They shouldn't have worried. He was engrossed in a video about how animations were made. He loved drawing and the concept of making his drawings move just blew his mind. Zhen gave him a hug and promised to return with more adventure stories like the ones she'd been telling him about traveling to the stars. Tisha walked her to the door.

"Will you come back?" she asked.

"Tish, I... I'm not sure about much at the moment," said Zhen. She hugged her friend. "Thank you. For everything."

"You're welcome, Z. Anytime."

They kissed goodbye and Zhen walked to the autonomous cab she'd called to pick her up.

"I'm glad you chose to come," her dad said as they packed up their camp gear the next morning.

"Me too," said Zhen. "How often does Akemi sleep over at Sorcha's?"

"Apparently they're forever sisters and forever sisters usually sleep in the same house, is how it's been explained to me," said her dad laughing.

Zhen laughed. "It helps that you guys have dinner over there almost every day."

"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I wanted to tell you, but I was waiting for the right time. Leana asked me to marry her."

Zhen resisted the urge to do anything but be supportive. It wasn't hard. Her dad was acting like a teenage boy, all giddy and effervescent. She tossed him a sleeping bag to pack into the back of the truck.

"I hope you said yes," Zhen said with a smile.

"I did," he said with that smile that she got from him. The one that she'd long since learnt to wield as a weapon.

"Akemi is going to flip," said Zhen.

Her dad laughed. "Yeah. One good thing from this is that she finally chose what she was going to design her curriculum around: marine biology."

"Isn't that Sorcha's core curriculum build?" said Zhen with a hint of concern.

"Don't worry," her dad said. "She's not going to lose her sense of self."

"How do you know?"

"Because she's adding astronomy to the mix."

Zhen looked up in surprise. "Like mum."

"Yeah. And I don't think it's because she knows that. She chose it herself," there was a little sadness in his voice now. "My girls all seem to love the stars."

"I'm sorry, dad," Zhen said. "I didn't mean to talk about..."

"No, it's okay," he said. "It hurts a little less these days."

"Because of Leana?"

"No. Because I finally realised that your mum would have hated the person I'd become," he said. "That hurts a lot more."

The person I'd become. The words played over and over in Zhen's mind. She thought about the person she'd become. She wondered if her mum would have hated it. Because Zhen didn't like who she'd become. She thought about Finn. How it hurt to see her with Jesse. She thought about why it hurt. It wasn't because she wanted Finn for herself. Not really. Seeing how happy her dad was, she knew that there could never be anything between her and Finn that could jeopardize that. No, that wasn't why she'd been upset. It was because Finn seemed happy. Genuinely happy. And Zhen was pissed because she was drowning in misery.

"Are you okay?" her dad asked. They were back home, unpacking the car. "You were really quiet on the drive back."

"I'm fine," Zhen lied. How could she have justified wanting Finn to be a miserable wreck. She looked over at the corner of their garage. "Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I borrow your motorbike for the day?"

"Um, I guess?" he said. "Just be careful."

"Of course," she said.

She was going to make it up to Finn for being a shitty friend, and she knew exactly how she was going to do it. They finished unpacking and putting away all the camping and fishing gear and then her dad headed out to pick Akemi up from the Darrow's, while Zhen put on her leathers and drove the motorbike to a warehouse on the other side of town.