The Soulmate Curse

LAVENDER (for love) - Part 2

They decided to leave the room for dinner at the underwater restaurant. The underwater common areas were beyond cool. The hotel lit up areas around their perimeter, and schools of fish came in to watch the humans with as much, if not more, interest and curiosity as the humans themselves. Walking in Finn saw Kara. Her back was towards them as she worked on a digital console at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Maybe we should hold hands?" said Zhen.

"I will, if you promise that none of your girlfriends will ever touch my toothbrush again," Finn replied.

"What?"

"Remember when I asked what's in this for me?"

"That's your request?"

"For hand holding? Yes," said Finn. "So? Girlfriend, toothbrush. Take it or leave it."

They were getting closer to the entrance. Kara was bound to turn and see them any second now.

"That happened once," said Zhen.

"Is that a no?"

"Fine. No more toothbrush using... house guests," said Zhen with a sigh.

Finn slid her hand into Zhen's, just as Kara turned to face them. She smiled, her eyes quickly going to their joined hands and then back up to Zhen's face. She never really looked at Finn.

"Good evening, lovebirds," said Kara, walking up to them with a smile.

"Hi Kara," said Zhen. Finn smiled, knowing Zhen enough to hear that slight annoyance in her voice. That was the voice she used when she was frustrated at work after a fruitless brainstorming session.

"Are you enjoying your room, Zhen?" Kara asked, moving a little bit closer to Zhen.

Zhen pulled Finn closer to her. "We, my girlfriend and I, are enjoying the room. Thank you."

"I'm glad to hear it," Kara replied. She turned to Finn, as if seeing her for the first time. This woman was a piece of work. "I'll find you two a table."

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep with her?" said Finn after they were both seated and Kara had walked away. "She's gorgeous and blatantly offering herself to you. I definitely would."

"Focus Finn," said Zhen. "She's just trying to get under your skin."

"I think it's working," Finn replied. She saw a flash of emotion cross Zhen's face when she looked down at the menu. Was that... sadness?

"I never asked you about your mum," Zhen suddenly said.

"She's fine. She loves her room and will be staying in tonight," said Finn. "She hasn't been on a vacation in years. She's going all out. Long bath, warm robes, binge watching series on VR and ordering in."

"Sounds great," said Zhen, poring over her menu. "Good for her."

"What about your dad?" Finn asked, tentatively.

"He's at the casino bar," said Zhen. "I hacked their system. He's within his budget."

"You mean your budget," said Finn.

Zhen lowered her menu. "What made you choose your mum over your dad as your plus one?"

"Easy," said Finn. "It's just my mum. My dad left when I was young."

"Oh."

They entered their drink order onto their digital wrist wraps, which had seamlessly hooked into the restaurant's system on their arrival. They were silent, Finn looking down at her wrist wrap. It wasn't long before an actual human server came over with their drinks, which was a bit disconcerting, having gotten used to being served by robots in all the restaurants in the city. After he left, Finn gulped down her double shot of whisky and pseudo-slammed the glass on their table before she stood up.

Zhen looked up at her. "Finn?"

"Let's get out of here."

Zhen sculled her glass of apple cider and then stood up too. "What did you have in mind?"

Finn smiled. "You'll see."

Before long, they were at the dock to the quarry lake, walking past the few boats that were anchored there. Finn jumped into one and turned to find Zhen looking at her in shock.

"Are you coming?" asked Finn, mischief in the glint of her eyes and the slant of her smile.

Zhen jumped in after her and watched as Finn got the boat started and reeled in the anchor. It wasn't long before they were skimming over the lake's surface. It was a gorgeous summer night, warm and the slightly sticky, thanks to the lake. The moon was full and bright. The fishing boat smelt like fish and had no autonomous elements to it. It was a throwback to old naval vessels. A relic. Finn was surprised at how efficient the design was. The fisherman who owned the boat was a marine architect named Aaron. He was in his late 30s and physically built for the demands inherent to running his boat.

"I didn't know you were good with boats," said Zhen as Finn slowed down the boat.

"I don't," said Finn, laughing. "Aaron only shared the basics with me."

"Aaron?"

Finn told her about the man she had met online just a few hours into their stay at the hotel. He was a fan of Finnegan's Engine and had reached out to her when he recognised her name on the conference delegate list. She usually ignored those messages but accepted this one because he turned out to be one of the hotel's fish suppliers and had a custom-made boat that he'd built himself. At first, she'd just wanted to know if he knew how she could get fresh fish delivered to her in the city, but after a while he started talking about his boat and just kept talking and talking. It was when they were waiting for drinks at the underwater restaurant a few minutes ago that Finn had reached out to him and asked if she could borrow it in return for drawing him a schematic for a new boat engine.

Zhen laughed, pointing out that this was a very Zhen thing to do. She was lost to the wildness of it all, even taking the wheel. It was rare to find a driving system that didn't, in any way, incorporate AI. Kind of quaint and idealistic, really. Finn instructed Zhen on the boating basics and she was driving the boat like a pro in no time. Eventually, they stopped next to a part on the lake that Aaron had mapped out for them. It had a large rocky underwater overhang that numerous fish called home. Finn and Zhen spent the next hour or so attempting to follow Aaron's instructions on night fishing while talking about engines and robots and seafood recipes. Zhen turned out to be really good at fishing. She was reeling in her third fish while Finn hadn't even caught one.

"I used to fish with my dad a lot when I was younger," Zhen explained with a smile. "Night fishing too."

That night, eating freshly caught fish roasted in the juices of herbs and citruses from Aaron's pantry hold, and watching Zhen's walls come down around her as they enthusiastically designed a new boat for Aaron on an old tablet, Finn knew that she was in love. That she'd always be. She couldn't see her future without Zhen in it. She was going to do everything to keep her in her life, curse or no curse.

That night, Finn walked out of the shower and found Zhen watching something on her VR headset while under the covers. She slipped beside her and the bed suddenly rose into the air and the LEDs all turned dim and deep red.

"Woah!" Zhen called out, pulling off her visor.

"It wasn't me," said Finn laughing. She consulted her wrist wrap and laughed some more. "The bed is programmed to levitate when the couple are on it. The LEDs are part of the program."

"This is kind of nice," said Zhen, feeling out the slightly undulating bed.

"Yeah, no pounding sounds for the neighbours to hear," Finn said.

They laughed, disabled the maglev platform, and switched off the sexy deep red lights.

Zhen sighed into the darkness. "I really enjoyed tonight. Thank you."

"It was nothing. Just me slogging through this whole 'being the best fake girlfriend' thing," said Finn with a laugh. "Goodnight, Zhen."

"Goodnight, Finn."