The Soulmate Curse

CINNAMON (for luck) - Part 2

3 years later...

"Thank you," said the nurse, breathlessly.

"No worries," Finn replied with an awkward smile. She always felt awkward in these instances. She still hated being recognised for that stupid engine.

Keira waited until the nurse had left the house before she spoke up. "You're pretty clueless, Finn."

"What?"

"She just asked you to sign your contact details on her arm," said Keira, looking at Finn as though she was supposed to finish that statement. Finn raised an eyebrow. "With a body paint pen! It'll be on her for days."

"Okay, I'll admit that part was a little different from usual," said Finn with a shrug. "But people have been asking me to sign all sorts of things for years now. It's no biggie. Plus, I gave her the contact details that Ares handles. It'll be fine if you're worried about them getting too obsessive. Those are Ares' favourites. Sometimes I think that AI has a weird streak in her."

"Goddess!" Keira exclaimed in exasperation. "She was flirting with you. The whole time."

"She was?"

"You know you'll still find that soulmate even if you don't try to get into the game."

Finn sighed, the guilt slowly ratcheting up inside her. "Then what's the point of playing?"

"Well," said Keira, the same girl who had never shown any interest in men before quite literally falling into Lance's arms when she tripped on his feet at the beach and landed on top of him. "You're so aloof, you might need a little practice before you meet the one. Might give you a chance to hold on to her longer."

It had only taken her six days to lose it all. Finn cleared her throat and banished the thought. "I practice plenty. Been with lots of girls. On dates. And stuff. In bedrooms."

"Just the fact that you said that proves you haven't been with a single girl ever," said Keira laughing.

"I'll have you know that's a total lie," Finn couldn't stop the heat rising in her cheeks. Even now, years later, she couldn't tell if it was rage or affection, but it always happened when she thought about being in Zhen's arms that night, swaying to slow music, just about to have the perfect kiss. Before...

"If you say so, Casanova," Keira replied. She gently rubbed her pregnant belly and smiled. "Now, let's make a blanched kale smoothie for this little one before the tantrums begin."

Finn forced a laugh and headed to the kitchen.

To her belly, Keira added, "Hello my little one. The fact that you make me crave this awful green stuff already makes me terrified of you. Oh, you like that, huh? Kicking away a storm as you laugh at my terror, are you?"

Sorcha walked into the room and beelined straight to Keira on the couch with headphones and a belly microphone in her hands. The 11-year-old had taken to teaching the baby every fascinating tidbit she learnt about the ocean, having decided to customise her academic curriculum around marine biology and nautical engineering. She read Jules Verne's classic, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, for the baby whenever she got a chance.

"Are you sure Sorcha isn't scaring the baby with tales of giant squids and jellyfish?" Finn asked.

"Not a chance," said Keira. "Besides, Lance loves that the little one is being educated about the oceans. He just piles on more information when we get home."

That pang of jealousy at the mention of Keira's wonderful partner still by her side was just a background hum in Finn's mind these days. She couldn't even last a week. It was still too shameful too admit. Enough to stop her from telling anyone that she'd already met the one. Made it unbearable to be a part of conversations where the others still thought she hadn't yet. Her wrist wrap vibrated as she made the blanched kale, carrot, beet and banana smoothie that Keira had to have every day, or suffer the consequence of irritability that bordered on murderous rage.

"Hello, Finn," Said Ares as Finn walked into her room after Keira had said goodbye.

"Hey Ares. What's up?"

"A parcel drone will be arriving at the doorstep in seven minutes and thirty-three seconds," Ares said.

"What's the source? If it's junk mail or anything to do with the engine, please direct it to the recycling centre."

"I traced it back to the Treasury Department."

Finn made a sound that even she didn't know she could make. She almost flipped off her chair, and nearly swiped a bowl of rice next to her onto the floor.

"Are you alright, Finn?"

"That's not junk mail Ares! Allow access to the mailbox!"

Finn flew down the staircase.

"Don't run down the stairs Finn!" her mum called out from her office. "You'll break a leg!"

"I'll just build a better one, mum!" Finn shouted back, completing the little back and forth they had every time she ran down the stairs. It'd started when she was eight, after she printed her first prosthetic arm for fun.

Finn paced around the driveway for the whole six minutes and ten seconds that it took for the drone to finally arrive. She waited patiently as it dropped the parcel into the mailbox and completed its digital recording of the surroundings at time of drop off and secured the box with a one-time passcode sent to the house's residents. The passcode would last for only 12 hours before the mailbox was permanently sealed and would require another delivery drone to reset it, but Finn was already punching in the code a few seconds after the drone had left.

"Mum!" Finn shouted. "It's here!"

"What's that, honey?"

"My first UBI check just arrived!" Finn screamed, dancing in delight.

Ina walked out of her sound-proof music room and stopped suddenly, watching Finn do an epic happy dance. She couldn't help laughing.

Ina crashed into Sorcha's classroom. "You've got to come see this!"

Sorcha rushed out to witness the crazy dancing and before long, all three sisters were having a dance off in the middle of the living room, with the parcel changing hands as their dance prop.

"Everyone in the office is wondering why I have banshees screaming in the background," said Mrs. Darrow, walking down the stairs.

"Why are we so happy again?" asked Sorcha, taking a break from hyping everyone up. Finn laughed.

"Universal Basic Income!" said Finn, raising the parcel like a trophy. She collapsed into a chair and sighed contentedly. "I am officially an adult now."

They spent the rest of the day celebrating Finn, even though they'd just finished celebrating her 18th birthday the week before. This time was a little different, though. Now that she was financially independent, they all knew she was going to move out. Turning 18 had also meant that she could access the royalties that she'd earned so far from Finnegan's engine, but that money was laced with a boatload of negative emotions. So, she wasn't that keen on spending it, except on promoting as many projects in the Open Source Collective as she could. The UBI was a neutral resource that she was entitled to, and she found it easier to imagine spending it.

"When will you leave?" asked Sorcha. They were enjoying desert at the dinner table and she was trying not to cry.

"Soon. I found a company that's perfect for me a few weeks ago," said Finn. She looked up from the holo-screen of her wrist wrap. "And, yesterday, a dorm room became available ten minutes away from their main office. They accepted my application just ten minutes ago and I've just paid rent for my first two months."

"Why not work remotely and stay here, with us?" asked Ina, playing with her food. She seemed stoic, but if she wasn't shoving food down her throat like she hadn't eaten for weeks, you knew there was something bothering her.

"This isn't only about the work," their mum explained. "It's about the people. A new community. Getting to experience how it is to work and live with people you've never met, outside of the digital space. It'll be good for Finn. And good for us too."

"Don't worry guys, I'm still here for a couple more weeks," said Finn, smiling, even though she was also a bit sad. "And I promise I won't give you a chance to miss me."