The room was silent but our minds: chaotic. I sighed in exasperation. I hadn't meant to say the words out loud. It was all very abrupt- the feeling can never be perfectly expressed. I looked at Ethan, whose expression was dumbfounded.

"What? Don't look at me like that," I frowned at him.

"Yeah, of course. I thought that time will tell. Never knew time was this fast though," He narrowed his eyes at me.

'Time flies, huh?" I smirked.

"Does Leah know about it?" Ethan furrowed his brows.

"I myself didn't know it until today. How do you expect Leah to know it?" I wrapped my hands around a fluffy pillow.

"We'll do this Blakie. Don't worry. We'll find her. Let's check out the other characteristics," He reverted his gaze to the journal.

"The next characteristic is that your soulmate has a kind and tender heart." Ethan read out.
"I am so sure this characteristic is meant for Leah," He snickered.

"Yeah maybe. I don't know. I don't have any freaking clue," I threw my hands up in the air.

"You can't lose hope like that. Try to think." He spoke calmly.

"Guess that's what I have been doing all this time," I nodded.

"Just proceed," I demanded of him.

"Your soulmate has a tattoo. Hmm...this might lead us to something." He turned to me with hope.

"Leah doesn't look much like a girl who likes tattoos though. Her personality is far opposite. Fiona is more like a tattoo girl. In fact, she has a butterfly tattoo on her back."

"When did you notice the tattoo on Fiona's back though?" I smirked.

"I'm a keen observer. Nothing else." Ethan smiled sheepishly.

"Jokes." I chuckled.

"So is that all?" Ethan ignored my insulting remarks.

"There are three more left, but they haven't been revealed yet."

"For now, I guess Fiona is the one Blakie." Ethan put a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged him off.

I was in a state of quandary. I was so bothered that had Ethan not been there, I would have ended up dead with a questionable guide in my hand and I would have made history-

Ethan brought me back to reality as he snapped near my face. "What about my plan?" He asked me.

I hadn't been paying any heed to his idle talks since the past ten minutes.

"What's the plan?" I tittered.

He rolled his eyes dramatically as he  restarted with his plan.

"Look. You love Leah. I am pretty sure it's mutual too. Why do you even have to listen to this crappy guide? Just hold her hands and tell her. Simple." Ethan spoke as though it was just another piece of cake.

"No Ethan. You don't understand anything. I'm bound," I took a deep breath in.

"Why are you bound? Tell me. You can't keep hiding things." Ethan was acting like a philosopher and it kind of pissed me off even more.

"The guide says that if I hook up with the wrong girl, she will meet a tragic end. I don't want anything bad to happen to Leah. I can't even imagine seeing her hurt because of me." I hit the side table with a loud thud in frustration.

"Tragic end? That sounds...dangerous." Ethan's eyes widened in horror.
"Being brutally honest here, I don't think it's Leah. I really don't." Ethan sighed.

"I feel that too, and it terrifies me. I have to stay away from her or things will get worse." I replied instinctively.

"Stay away from Leah? How will that be possible for you?" Ethan asked with a worried expression.

"It's...hard, I know. But I don't really have much of a choice." I trailed off.

                                               *****

"Blakie. Where are you?" I could hear Ethan's faint voice from my room upstairs.

Seeing the terrible weather conditions, I had insisted Ethan to spend the night at my place. The weather was much better now. In fact, it was pleasant. I stood at the kitchen counter, making omelette and black coffee for both of us when Ethan came and stood right next to me. He sat on the counter and stretched his arms to shake off his lethargy. His wore an intense black t-shirt and he was still in his boxers. Rather, my boxers.

"I've got things to tell you, early bird." He cheered excitedly.

"What are those things?" I asked as I sieved the coffee and poured it cautiously into the mugs.

"We're going for a movie today." Ethan clapped his hands together.

"What kind of a movie?" I asked him. "When did you book the tickets, by the way? "

"Hold on. One question per breath please." He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Oh God! Tell me."

"Rachel has booked the tickets for the six of us. We'll watch Night of the Puppet People. It's a horror movie and you know that I am a sucker for paranormal genre." Ethan
announced excitedly.

I dropped the saucer in my hand and it touched the marble floor with a thud.

"Jeez! Blake, you almost killed me. What happened?" He exclaimed surprised.

"We had a deal last night. I have to stay away from Leah. Tell them I am not coming." I swayed my lips in annoyance.

"Blake listen. It's a movie plan. All you have to do is stare at the screen and come back. Plus, you have to stay strong right? Rachel was very excited about it, so I couldn't say no to her. Please understand Blakie. Please? " Ethan showed me his puppy eyes.

I sighed in defeat.

"Who are the six people coming?" I asked him.

"Oh it's just Rachel, Leah, you and I." He smiled sheepishly.

"I suppose you mentioned six people," I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Umm... Yeah. Fiona is also coming along. She directly asked Rachel if she could join so, she couldn't refuse. You know, it doesn't look good." Ethan made a please don't mind expression.

"What could be worse?" I shook my head. "Who is the sixth one?"

"I don't know. Rachel is not telling me. She says that it's a surprise." Ethan replied with a toothy, annoying grin.

"Surprise person... As though my life being full of depressing surprises was not enough already." I rubbed my eyelids.

"Come on Blakie. Let's get ready. This is gonna be super fun." He gave me a fistbump.

"I hope so." I returned his fistbump lackadaisically.

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