The Soulmate Curse

ORANGE (for fun)

The sandwich Finn was eating was only slightly tastier than cardboard. It wasn't the sandwich's fault. Taylor Swift's classic "Mirrorball" was playing in the background at the café that she sat in, eating lunch alone on her first day of work. That was their song. Her and Zhen. The song that had been playing three years ago on that dancefloor, right before everything fell apart. The lyrics swallowed up all the colour and taste from reality. Everything around Finn turned grey, taste went bland, the only sound being those lyrics.

"Hush, I know they said the end is near..."

The words seeped into her and stole more and more of what painted the world with life. Being around Zhen for the last week or so had calcified a particular piece of information for Finn. Once you found your soulmate, that was it. It didn't matter that it lasted for a mere breath. She was lost to everyone else. Zhen was the only one who made her insides flip and chest hurt with longing. And so, it was excruciating knowing that she wanted nothing to do with her. No matter what, she'd always be walking this tightrope, trying to get her attention. Her affection. Trying and failing.

Just before she spiralled into total despair, Finn's wrist wrap buzzed. She cleared her throat and summoned her AI, as her hands were still full of sandwich.

"Ares, who's calling?" Finn asked.

"The caller is Darren Whit. He's calling from the Lunar Base," said Ares. "Would you like me to answer? Ask him to call later?"

"That's alright, I'll take it," Finn replied, cleaning one of her hands and pressing on her left cochlear bud. "Hi Darren."

"If it isn't the ever-elusive Finnegan Darrow herself," said the cheery voice on the other end of the call. "How's Earth treating you?"

"Pretty good, actually," Finn lied. "I'm still eternally grateful to you for fending off the paparazzi. This last year has been the most tolerable of the last three."

"See, you say that, but I don't believe you," said Darren.

"Are we still on this?"

"It's a trip to the moon! Who wouldn't want that?"

"Me?"

"You owe me, Miss Darrow."

Finn sighed. He was right. She did owe him. After being awarded for that darn asteroid mining engine, she'd spent a year with an Open Source Collective design team to bring it to life. That had included a slew of PR stunts that had turned her to the go-to "Girl Power" symbol and forever role model for kids everywhere who suddenly started adding engineering courses to their custom curriculums. And Finn hated every second of it. Zhen had been right. This engine hadn't been all her idea. She'd borrowed heavily from their conversations about their projects. Not with malicious intent. Never with malicious intent. However, what she'd been trying for had horribly misfired and now every photo, interview and fan letter about the engine just made her feel like the worst human being on the planet. Seeing Zhen again had just intensified that feeling a million-fold over the last week.

When the engine had finally been launched and successfully landed on the chosen asteroid, Finn became a rockstar overnight. She could barely step out of her house without a horde of barbarian reporters and obnoxious drones all up in her business. It was spiralling out of control, together with her sense of self-worth and her insecurities. Then Darren reached out and, suddenly, their front yard was empty, and she could go online without immediately being bombarded by thousands of messages and requests. He never told her what he did. She was still well-loved and drew crowds sometimes, but other than that, she was at peace.

"You're right Darren," said Finn. "Let me think about it?"

"Like you've been thinking about it the last three months?"