Chapter 8

-Canta's POV-

I frowned when I saw my mother's name on my phone. I thought that this was going to be a normal day where I would be left to my own devices and could possibly have fun with the person who had been driving me insane for the past week. Alas, my mother managed to bring me right back down to earth without even realising I was floating away.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone, my voice was as monotone as I could manage.

"Canta, why aren't you at home?" my mother asked as soon as I finished speaking. "We have something very important to tell you."

"I told you that I was going out today." I had told them at dinner last night, and reminded them at breakfast this morning.

"But we have such wonderful news to tell you," my mother cheered.

I resisted the urge to groan. Whatever my parents thought was exciting, was usually something for me to despise. "What is it?"

"We found you a husband."

The words caused the blood to completely drain from my face. There was a sudden chill in the air, and I found myself stumbling backwards into the brick wall. All air had left my lungs, and I couldn't think straight.

A husband? That was it then. That was the end of my freedom and my happiness. There was no possible way that I would be getting out of this.

"Canta? Are you still there?" my mother asked.

"Who is it?" were the only words I could think of.

"Chang Leung."

I bit my lip and tried to remember if I had ever heard the name before. I hadn't. Or at least I couldn't remember hearing his name before, probably due to my shock.

"Who is he?" I asked with a slightly different tone, showing my mother that I had heard her, but I was still just as clueless.

"He's a powerful and rich fire witch," my father said through the phone. "He lives in China and he's perfect for you. Just a few years older, like you asked."

"How many is a few years?" I asked with a sigh.

"He's twenty-six," my mother answered. "He's a respectable adult.

And our marriage would be illegal in some countries.

I clenched my fists. "We'll talk about this when I get home." I then hung up the phone. There would be no way of getting out of this. My mother and father sounded so elated about the news, they must have already been talking to him at some point. The deal must already be in progress, because they wouldn't tell me otherwise.

I slid down the brick wall and plonked myself on the floor, phone falling beside me, clinking against the concrete. Tears were filling my eyes, causing them to sting. I tried to blink them away, but the fat tears fell down my face.

I sniffled and reached into my pocket for a tissue, clutching one and dabbing at my eyes before blowing my nose. Every time I thought of the phone call, or even the existence of my phone, it caused more tears and sobs to rock my body.

"Canta?" Juniper's voice came from in front of me. "Are you alright?" I wanted to laugh and ask her if she could see how alright I was. But I didn't have the courage.

I shook my head and another wave of tears flooded through me.

Juniper sat next to me and, after a few minutes, wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me into her, resting my head on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a whisper after the third person passed us by. "You can tell me."

I couldn't tell her, what would she know about arranged marriages and messed-up families? Maybe that was what I needed, a clueless person. I felt bad thinking about her that way, because she was the smartest person in my class.

"I have a fiancé," I blurted out.

Juniper turned into a statue. I had made a mistake, that was clear. I didn't know why I said that. How often do you go on a first date, and your date tells you that they have a fiancé?

"You have a fiancé?" she repeated. "What do you mean?"

I resisted the urge to lose my temper, that wouldn't help.

"I mean that someone is going to marry me," I exclaimed loudly. "I haven't even met him, but my parents won't call this off, I know they won't." I buried my head further into her shoulder, the scents of vanilla and apple mingling together comfortingly. The very thought that her scent was comforting caused another wail and sea of tears. I wouldn't be able to get this comfort again.

"Oh god," she muttered. "We'll sort it out. We will. We'll sort it out."

We stayed there for five minutes. She held me as I cried and sobbed, offering me a clean tissue every now and again.

Once the tears had slowed, I pulled backwards. I had made a mess of her shirt, my tears and minimal make-up staining it. "I'm sorry," I said with a shaking voice.

"For what? It's just a shirt." She shrugged, a poor excuse for a smile on her face.

"I'm a mess, I shouldn't have asked you on a date." I looked down with a large frown. "I really shouldn't have pushed, and I should've just gone on with life without even thinking about anything. There was something, something which was so stupid, but I had to try and figure out if it was true."

Juniper took a deep breath and turned completely to look at me. "What did you need to figure out?" There was a fierce look of curiosity on her face.

I inhaled deeply and blew my nose, prolonging the inevitable. "My grandmother left me a book, a spell book. It had a note in it." Why was I telling her this so easily? It didn't feel like a big secret, but it was a massive issue. I couldn't think about it as anything but a problem. "I don't even know if I'm talking to the right person."

"You're not explaining anything." She shook her head. "What was in the note?"

I chewed on the inside of my mouth, "She was a love witch. She didn't approve of my mother's intentions when I was born, and she wanted to protect me from them." I was hoping the random statements would create a picture in her mind, so I didn't need to say what she did.

Juniper looked at me blankly, waiting for me to continue my explanation.

"She put a soulmate spell on me."

There was a painful silence which followed.

"Why would that have anything to do with me?" she whispered, her voice so harsh that I flinched. "Tell me, Canta."

"I don't know if it has anything to do with you," I admitted with a small whimper. "There's no way of knowing who your soulmate is, well, before you've done the bonding thing."

Juniper snorted. "Bonding thing?" She almost spat the words out. "What bonding thing?" Her eyes were narrowed, but that's all I could register as I turned away quickly. I didn't want to see the anger which would erupt on her face, I didn't want to see her shun me. "I don't know what to think. You don't even know if it's me."

"I thought that it was, because I had feelings for you and the love potion didn't work," I whispered. "I felt so desperate for a second chance, to actually make things work. It all made me think that you were my soulmate."

She exhaled through her mouth. "Please, don't say that word yet." Then she became quiet again.

I had to give her a second glance, to see if she was so fuming, she couldn't speak. She was staring at me, it wasn't an angry or unnerving stare, but it caused butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

I didn't know what to say, so I remained still, watching for any sign of a change in emotion. She sighed and fidgeted with her fingers. She glanced at me, looked at her hands, and then glanced at me again. She moved to the side, looking straight at me.

"I'm going to try something." Her words were almost non-existent, she said them so quietly. She reached over with a trembling hand and took one of mine, her soft fingers entwining in mine.

I opened my mouth to speak, to ask her what she was doing, but she shook her head. She then began to inch forward, her other arm trailing up mine before her hand landed on my shoulder, no doubt ready to push me away at a moment's notice.

We inched closer, until our lips finally met.

It wasn't how I'd imagined my first proper kiss to be, sitting outside of a bowling alley after learning that I now have a fiancé, but who would imagine their first kiss like that?

I had, however, imagined it being with Juniper.

I melted into her touch. Her lips were soft and gentle, almost shy. Her grip on my hand tightened as soon as our lips made contact, but it wasn't painful, it was a comforting and protective grip. It made me feel like she cared, like she actually wanted me.

The butterflies in my stomach turned to fireworks, which lit a blazing fire of love and pain. Because I now have the answers I was looking for earlier. Everything clicked into place perfectly, but it was only held together by a single thread, which looked close to snapping.

We separated, but it didn't feel like we had separated. I lifted a trembling hand to my lips and stared into her eyes. Her eyes reflected all the emotions I was feeling, with a little bit more confusion and conflict.

"I suppose you got your answer," Juniper muttered dryly. I tried to evaluate her voice and expression, once again looking for the hidden emotions which I was sure she held.

"Yes," I confirmed. "What do we do now?" My voice was shaking, and my hands were trembling.

"I have no clue," she admitted. "I don't think I like this." She abruptly stood up, snatching her hand from my grasp.

"Juniper," I said. I initially intended to tell her that this didn't mean anything, that this was something which we could sort out together, but the words wouldn't leave my throat. I didn't want it to be sorted out. Finding out that I had a soulmate was one of the best things which could ever happen to me, but that was about to be thrown away because of a decision my parents made.

"Don't say my name like that," Juniper pleaded, putting her hands together. "I can't hear you say it like that, because then I just want to do whatever you want. Because then I'd just be like everybody else, entranced."

I shook my head wildly and stood up. "No, it can't ever be like that between us."

She flinched. She flinched at the very words 'between us'. It felt like my heart had been fractured as a pain shot through my chest.

"I don't know why I went on this date. It's true, I've had a crush on you for years, but I never thought that I would stand a chance, much less being..." She didn't finish her sentence, but I knew what she meant.

She would never imagine being soulmates with someone like me.

I knew not to take that to heart, but it still stung immensely. I'm not sure what she knew about soulmates, because they were an extremely rare occurrence.

"I'm so sorry."