The Numbers on Our Arms

Chapter 33

"John." Seraphina's room shown out behind her from the laptop screen. "I wasn't honest with you the other day."

"About what?" He frowned whilst he tried to think over their previous conversation to what she could have lied about. "Is it about your safety?"

She sighed. "The real reason why I wanted to start dating."

"You don't need a reason," he replied. "We're soulmates; we always meant to get together at some point, even if I had previously wanted to keep us as friends whilst I recovered."

"The reason I wanted to start dating was due to my safety," she said, looking down to below her own screen.

"What's happened over there?"

"Did I ever tell you that I was engaged?"

"No." He shook his head. "What do you mean your engaged? We're no engaged?"

"You know your level throughout your childhood. My parents never wanted us to get together and there's always a possibility that we would never meet or realise who we were. I mean, I doubt that your level needed to be low in childhood for them to arrange a marriage for me – they probably would just be more accepting of you. But that's what I mean, I have a fiancé. Don't get me wrong, I don't want this fiancé, but I do have him."

"When's the wedding?" he questioned.

"After I graduate next year."

"And it would automatically be cancelled if we start dating."

"Yes. I guess it might not fully work until we get back to school, or if that doesn't work, you could gate crash the wedding and that would stop it. Though, that's a lot more stressful method."

"How's that more stressful?"

"We have no guarantee of you getting there in time and even if you do, you might not be able to get in. And then it could turn bad with the guests. Half of them will be his and I think they'd be more upset than mine. Plus, the majority will be high-tiers."

"But your parents are the ones who are arranging it even though they know you know your soulmate? Why would his family be more upset?"

"They're the ones marrying up." She shrugged. "However, they are starting to plan the wedding now and I think it could work better if they don't get that far with planning it. Less deposits to get upset about."

He laughed. "Would they really get upset about that?"

"Probably. They would want the money to go elsewhere otherwise."

"So how do you suggest we make it look like we're dating to them?" he asked. "It's not like we can physically meet up."

"But there should be some physical evidence."

"Gifts?"

"It could just be letters. That would convey more emotion too."

"Is this going both ways or just for me to send something to you?"

"If it goes both ways, then they may take more note of what I'm doing. I'm not sure how much will they call about the mail I receive."

"It could surprise you," he replied before he took a pause. "I don't think this is the best method to get out of it."

"Then what would that be?"

"You leave there. There's no other guarantee that they would leave you alone unless they have no idea where you were."

"But then I wouldn't be at Wellston next year and somehow I would have to enrol in a different school without revealing who I was." He started to say something. "Yes, I know that Headmaster Vaughn may easily take me back if I ran away, but I wouldn't be paying fees then. I didn't need a scholarship to enter Wellston, so I don't have one and my parents are paying."

"Headmaster Vaughn may offer you a scholarship due to your circumstance. It doesn't even need to be one for good grades. I have one for my ability level (and I somehow still have it). And you mentioned from your sister running away that they didn't send anyone looking for me, you should be safe there."

"I'm not sure they would do the same for me. I'm their last daughter and I don't quite have the same relationship with them that they had with my sister. They considered her a failure – yes, she still scored top grades but she wasn't quite so high and her ability level was never quite so high. She wasn't the strongest in the school, though she was still Queen, and she didn't take care in it. I think to them, if you compare her parents levels to hers at the time, she didn't appear to be their daughter. It wasn't so much a lose to them even as the first born, she turned out to be the spare."

"So, you're saying that you think they would care more about you running away because you are their last daughter and also the better daughter."

"Yes." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "And also that they are paying for my college tuition."

"Wouldn't that mean you would have to do the course they chose?"

"I don't think what they want me to do as a course and what I want to do for university vary that much. I think it would more be what I did afterwards."

"So you want to stay in contact with them throughout that time?"

"I'll see how it goes."

Seraphina took a seat in the reception room with a pad of paper out in front of her. She took the pen in her hand and began to write 'Dear John' when footsteps sounded out in the hallway beyond.

She glanced up temporarily but saw no one. If they see me, maybe they'll get the message more. She continued to write more about what she had been doing recently. Which turned out to be close to a mini-book reports but this time the whole report was made up on different reports.

Someone cleared their throat and she looked up to see Dianne standing there, a notebook under her arm. She wore a skirt of brown tartan with a similar cover that stretched down from her shoulders to her waist. Beneath the skirt and cape was a cream blouse with dark brown buttons in a poet sleeve. "Oh, who are you writing to?"

"My soulmate," she replied.

"Is that your fiancé?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"No."

"Oh." She looked away and then focused on pulling out her notebook, flicking it to the right page. "Well, I'm here to ask you if you had any more thoughts on the wedding. Do you have any ideas?"

"Can I change the groom?" she asked her.

"Unfortunately, I don't have that authority. You would have to discuss that with your parents," Dianne replied, her face an unreadable expression of low. "But have you had a look of the mood board of cakes?"

"I like the design of the two tier cakes. The bottom one that is shorter but thicker than the top with a gold top and those flowers.

"Which one or two is that?" she asked and flicked her notebook to the collection of cakes. "You can circle it."

She took the notebook from her and circled a few of the cake photos before she gave it back to her.

"Thank you. Your parents want you to go over the invite designs tomorrow."

She nodded and turned away from her, back to what she had been writing.

A/N: I realise last chapter that a lot of people were confused with Seraphina's motives. This work is unbetaed so if it was, this issue may have been sorted beforehand. I hope that this issue would be explained why in further chapters as that specific plot point is expanded upon. 

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