The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter twenty-nine

  Night was beginning to approach. Cyrus cooked for me, much as his own mother did.

  The dinner gave me a wistful feeling of the cottage and Aurora, but like Cyrus said, I shouldn’t forget my past. The more I thought about it, the stronger it made me. And as I sat there remembering Aurora, whom we had left behind, it determined me to return home as quickly as we could.

  Home.

  That cottage was my home now.

  It was strange to think about, but I had never been anywhere quite as welcoming and homey as Cyrus’s house.

  My house.

  After eating, we changed into red, silky pajamas, and climbed into the cumbersomely large bed. It was strange sleeping with Cyrus. It made me remember the Boy and how I betrayed him.

  I hated myself for what I did to him. I would do anything to undo that specific thing, but sadly I would never be able to do so. But the incident with the Boy made me even stronger. It reminded me of one of the reasons I hated HQ.

  It turned good people against each other.

  Even in our apartment, it was cold. Cyrus wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him. It was comforting. If Cyrus was at my side, it seemed like I would never have a nightmare again.

  But somehow, in all the luxury and the happiness, I couldn’t sleep. I turned to face Cyrus whose eyes were closed. The way his eyelids moved, I could tell his eyes were looking about frantically at the backdrop of his skin. He wasn’t asleep.

  “I can’t sleep.” I complained.

  His eyes shot open. With the aid of the little moonlight that leaked through the blinds, I could see the radiant blue of his iris.

  “At least I’m not the only one.”

  Our foreheads were pressed together now, so that if I tried to look into his eyes, they weren’t in focus anymore. But my senses were still very much alert, and I felt it with every receptor when Cyrus moved his hand to my lower back and pulled my body closer to his. I entwined my legs with his and we were quiet for a few moments.

  Without speaking, Cyrus reached towards the collar of my shirt and started to unbutton it. A warm feeling settled in the pit of my stomach, but at the same time, this feeling gave me chills. My brain told me to tell him to stop, but my body told me otherwise.

  But apparently, I needn’t be harping at myself anyways, because after the second button, he had stopped. With a single, delicate finger, he slipped it under the flap of fabric, and traced the crescent-shaped burn mark on my chest.

  He did this for a while, and it calmed me. My eyes had started to droop and my breathing slowed.

  “You know, for the longest time… I thought that necklace was a curse.” he whispered, as if he was afraid someone might hear him.

  I said nothing, and instead waited for him to finish his sentence.

  “And, you know, I don’t have much of a religion but… it feels like a blessing now. I used to be so against HQ that I had disregarded anything with their inclusion. That meant wearing the necklace. It also meant falling for you.”

  He moved his hand from the small of my back to my cheek, where it rested on my jaw line.

  “But, I thought about it… and tell me if I’m wrong but, what if HQ creating this whole Soul Mate system was another one of their ways to prevent war?” he moved his hand again, this time to fidget with my hair. “My mom always told me how most Soul Mates didn’t truly love each other. They never truly experienced what love was. And she also said the ones that did usually rebelled. Like my parents.”

  I thought about what he was saying. It made some sense, actually. My own parents hadn’t loved each other; something I had only figured out after witnessing the love between Cyrus’s parents.

  “I think that they’re afraid of people like you and I. People like my mother and father, who find love, and through one another, see their lies. That’s why the Soul Mates are chosen by chance. After all, what is the possibility of getting someone whose presence you enjoy, whose looks you find dashing, and whose personality you find enthusing? All of that with someone who is born on the exact same day as you are?” he awaited the answer to his rhetorical question. “Exactly. Those odds are very slim. After all, love conquers all, doesn’t it?”

  Cyrus was on to something. HQ was afraid of people like us turning against them, and ultimately, starting war.

  I smiled. “Cyrus, I sometimes wonder if you are a genius.”

  “So you agree? You think it’s a plausible explanation?” he questioned.

  “I think you have them figured out precisely, Cyrus.” I put my hand on his to assure him.

  We drifted off to sleep that way.