My Little Secret

I woke up to the smell of coffee. Ivan was up. I could get used to seeing him in the kitchen. I was gazing at him for a couple of seconds and snapped out of it after he caught me. I felt sheepish.

"You're up" he smiled. He never made me feel weird for adoring him. If anything, it made him blush. I walked towards him.

"I could get used to you in my kitchen." I smile and kiss him on the cheek.

He smiled and gave me the cup of coffee.

"I gotta rush, early shoot today." He says and kisses me on the cheek.

I got back to my cookies after he left. I was going to surprise him today. I preheat the oven and bake them while simultaneously taking a shower. Last night, I was almost going to confess my feelings to him. I think I was beginning to fall in love with him. I wasn't sure about how he felt, but from what I could tell, I knew he felt something. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to tell him what I feel to hear it back, I just wanted him to know what I felt.

I packed the cookies in a jar with a golden cap and put a slightly glittering golden ribbon around it. I put it in a paper bag along with the letter I had written for him.

I was excited all the way to the set. To be able to tell someone you love them, to realise you are capable of such feelings was a wonderful feeling. I had so many scenarios in my head on how it would turn out to be, maybe reality would be way better. The ride to a destination never felt better.

"Hey Sofia." Bryan said as I parked my scooter near the entrance of the set.

"Hey." What was he doing here?

"Before you go in and do whatever you were going to do," he says looking at my bag. "I need to talk to you about something"

"Sure, but I'd really like it if you waited. These are warm and I wouldn't want him to miss out on it." I look at Bryan sympathetically. I'm sure he would understand.

"This can't wait I'm afraid." He says coming closer to me. "I was on my way to your place actually.

Let's talk at this coffee shop" he says pointing to the cafe across the street. I nod hesitantly.

We sit down and he orders coffee for the both of us.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" he asks sipping his coffee.

I looked at him, shocked. Nobody knew that.

"When you love someone, they become your weakness. Their happiness becomes your happiness."

He says pointing the coffee towards me when he said the last two words.

"What are you trying to say?" I ask him nervously.

"I trust you, Sofia. I know you'll do the right thing here."

I look at him, confused.

"The Radcliffe's are blessed or cursed; however you want to see it, with a gift of sorts. We know who our soulmates are."

I blinked at him, trying to sink in the information he had just given me.

"We would be given with details, to know who our soulmates are. The genesis of all this isn't important. Seems wonderful isn't it? You don't have to waste your time with anyone else. You wouldn't get your heartbroken easily." He smiled. I remember Ivan telling me that Bryan never fell in love except once, and he married her.

"Ivan insisted on being kept out of the loop. He did not want this, he said that nothing is pre-written and love is something that blossoms. Knowing who it is would kill the purpose of it all. Make it meaningless." He said shaking his head in disagreement.

"Until it was too much." He says and pauses to look at me. I was too stunned to say anything.

"Every magic comes with a price. The catch here? Every time you fall in love with someone who isn't your soulmate, you lose a piece of your soul. Once you meet your soulmate, your soul would replenish of course. Ivan has given out his soul too many times, it's too late to risk another heartbreak now."

"What makes you think that I am not his soulmate?" I ask him. I was surprised that I had the audacity to question him like that. I guess he was taken aback too.

"We were told that his soulmate would meet him at the Annual film awards ball. She would be the prettiest girl in the room and someone who was destined to do great things."

"Like Catherine." I whispered. He nodded.

"What if you're wrong?" I say, knowing he was right. Remembering the night, I spent at the ball. Knowing I did not meet Ivan that night. Knowing, I wasn't in the prettiest girl in the room, knowing I wasn't destined to do great things.

"You know I'm right, Sofia." He says softly. He seemed empathetic which wasn't what I was used to.

"I know you love him. He belongs with Catherine. His soul can only be complete with her. You two aren't meant to be. Being with you could possibly make him lose the little soul he has left in him. You wouldn't want that would you?" I remembered what Bryan said as we walked back to the set.

"We would like you to work on your book in the meantime. You wouldn't have to come to work. Ivan would be closer to Catherine; he'd forget about you soon." He says as I look at Ivan and Catherine from the gates. He was laughing with her about something.

"Could you please give this to him?" I say and hand over the bag to him. He could at least eat the cookies I made. I turn around to walk away. This was an unexpected turn of events. My heart felt so heavy and my vision got blurry. Sometimes, the hardest part of loving someone is when you have to let them go for their own good.

Feelings were a bitch.