Sort-of Soulmates

Chapter One: Dylan

Gosh I am so excited to start! This will be an alternating POV style book between Dylan and Alex. I hope you enjoy it. AAAAAAA.

Love, Cam ❤

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Chapter One: Dylan

Today, I'd get my happily ever after.

Literally, in my case, because I was due to meet with the CEO of EverAfter, the popular dating app.

Joshua was one of my closest friends, alongside my sister, Minty, and my assistant, Sammy. I had great respect for him; we'd met at university, and even back then he was already beta testing EverAfter. Ten years later, it was the biggest dating app among those without soulmates. I had come into it two years in, and become the head of marketing. I'd helped him grow EverAfter from a small, London-based app, to a global phenomenon.

And today, it would all be mine.

Sammy drummed his fingers on the desk, practically bouncing in his seat. I loved the kid, but he didn't do 'subtle'. I leaned over and said, "Sammy, you're going to give this away to everyone in the office."

He settled, but his face did not. "Sorry," he beamed his smile at me like a lighthouse signalling a ship. "I'm just excited! You've worked so hard. You deserve this. And I deserve the payrise."

I smiled. He was right; I had worked very hard here, harder than Joshua in the last year or two. He and his wife had just adopted their third child, and I knew him well enough to know that he would step down soon. I almost entirely ran EverAfter now.

"When I've got kids, a family," he would always say to me, wistfully. "Then I don't want my life to be about EverAfter anymore, I want it to be all about them."

I knew he would step down, and I knew I was the logical choice to take over. I knew EverAfter better than anyone else here, and he loved me like I was his brother. I checked my watch; it was time. I stood up and clapped Sammy on the shoulder, saying, "No hugs until it's official."

Sammy tried not to tap his feet on the floor. "Got it."

I left the reception of my department, where Sammy's desk was, and took the lift two floors up. The floor above me was a huge conference room, along with supply closets that supplied the entire building. The top floor was Joshua's office. It barely differed from mine, but gods did I want it.

I knocked on his door, and heard him shout 'come in at your own risk! Hyperactive child alert!'. I grinned and opened the door, catching and lifting up Joshua's eldest child, Tabitha.

"Hey, Tabby," I laughed, seeing she was wrapped in toilet paper like a mummy from a cartoon. "You playing dress up?"

She giggled and wriggled out of my grasp, so I shut the door quickly so she couldn't toddle out of the room. She went back to her original plan of action; running around screaming delightedly. I looked at the father, my old friend, who was holding a very angry-looking 18 month old. Joshua gave me a weary smile and said, "Sorry. Angela got sick, so I had to take them." He turned back to his middle child, Serena, and pleaded, "Please, baby, just eat the yoghurt."

I laughed in sympathy, and held out my arms. Joshua gratefully handed me Serena, and her expression changed from angry, to confused, to happy. She announced, "eat!" gleefully, and clapped her hands together. I took the yoghurt and offered her a spoonful, which she ate happily.

"How do you do that?" Joshua groaned.

"I'm not her dad, that's literally all it takes," I grinned. "It's the same with Minty's kids."