Suburban Residence

Vaughan

8:00 AM

"Stop right there! You're not really Melissa" exclaimed the man on TV. The main character of a hilariously low-budget, yet unbelievably popular TV show that revolved around the supernatural hidden in modern day. His name was Wes, and he was cheesy to a fault.

The exact reason why the lone resident of the two story semi-detach, smack dab in middle-class suburbia, watched with a casual enjoyment. A seemingly fair skinned woman who sat on a couch, garbed in a loose magenta V-neck and cotton pants, eating a bowl of cereal which sat on her lap.

Wes grabbed hold of Melissa, the surprised blonde, before quickly grabbing the skin of her neck, and ripping off the fleshy mask. Revealing Melissa to be a demon, her true face resembling a reptilian's. Scarlet, scaly, with piercing black eyes and an elongated snout.

Which mirrored the face of the house's resident, save for the eyes which were a piercing yellow, instead of black.

"Psssh" the demonic woman said, before shoving a spoonful of cereal into her reptilian mouth.

"Like that'd ever happen in real life – our masks are way harder to take off…" the woman said, while munching down some hardened bits of grain before swallowing them whole, alongside some milk.

And just to prove the show wrong, she pulled up the mask of her human disguise, which was lying beside her on the couch. And slipped it on, over her somewhat ghastly appearance. The fair skin folding over her otherworldly features, and transforming into a proportionally convincing human face.

White skinned, with long raven hair and hazel brown eyes.

Once the mask was put on, the woman tried to find any region around the underside of her face, to try and remove her mask. The same way that Wes ripped off Melissa's mask, but she couldn't. There was practically nothing to latch onto for leverage.

"Ha, see? I have to be willing to take it off" the woman commented, as she funneled another spoonful of cereal into her mouth when her phone, sitting beside her on the couch, vibrated to life.

'Oh hey, it's Sherry' the woman thought, as she took a look at the text she just received.

[Yo Lily, think you can hand me a copy of the financial files of the last quarter sales for KPMG? I've been looking through the files I have, and I don't seem to have that for some reason]

Lily typed up an appropriate response, and sent it Sherry's way.

[You got it]

Lily watched the remainder of the show that played off her TV, consuming the entirety of her cereal in that time before getting up and putting the empty bowl, and spoon in the kitchen sink. While washing her hands her phone, which was relocated to the countertop beside the sink, vibrated to life.

'A message…from James?' thought Lily, the name catching her immediate interest as she swiped past the lock screen, and into one of the chatrooms in the dating app Hinge. Her heart a flutter, while a smile worked its way onto her face.

Excited to hear whatever it was that James had to say, because in her mind she could only imagine nothing but good things to come her way. Since James was the guy she'd been recently dating, and the first two dates, as far as she was aware, went really well.

But then she saw what James sent her, and immediately her heart sank. Dropping deeper than the furthest pits of hell.

[Hey Lily, listen, I need to tell you something. I had fun with you, but I don't think this is going to work out. You're cool, and all but I just don't think I feel that spark I thought we would have. So I think we should see other people, I'm sorry if this sucks and I hope you find someone who's right for you]

Lily stared at the phone for a good minute, but it felt like an eternity. Really letting the message sink in, as a storm of other messages, hundreds just like it, swirled around inside her mind. Had this been her first time, she might've teared up, felt her heart rip in two, but fortunately this wasn't her first rodeo with rejection.

So instead of feeling distraught, she felt frustrated. Annoyed that despite having two solid dates under her belt with James, she got left hung to dry. Making matters worse was that she couldn't even ask why, as James had effectively unfriended her on the platform – leaving her forever disconnected.

So Lily just stormed off into her room, and got dressed for work. The bus she usually takes wouldn't be here for another 20 minutes, and it's only a 6 minute walk to the bus stop from her house. But she didn't care. She just wanted to do something to keep her mind off the fact that she'd been rejected for the 6th time since she started dating for the 3rd time since a couple of months ago.

'The nerve of the guy to just cut me off, without even giving me a chance to ask why' thought Lily angrily, as she threw on her work approved uniform of a black blazer over a white collared shirt, and black skirt.

'And what kind of response is 'I don't think I feel that spark'? What the hell is that even supposed to mean?!' thought Lily, as she picked up her laptop bag and came down the stairs. Before heading out the door, and slamming the door shut.

Goldwater Finance Headquarters

Financial District, Toronto

9:30 AM

On the fourth floor of the Goldwater Finance building, Lily stood there in the copier room waiting for the large printer to finish producing the financial files that Sherry had asked for. It's the first thing that she did after coming into the office, and getting past all the routine pleasantries that came with the territory.

The last of the papers printed, Lily grabbed the stack and gave it a good shuffle to make sure they were all organized. Heading out of the copier room, Lily walked past a couple desks, and cubicles before reaching the place of Sherry's work.

A corner desk that was immaculately decorated with tiny little trinkets, ranging from a framed photo of Sherry and her wife when they vacationed in the Caribbean, to a whole line of small stuffed puffles that were arranged all around the computer monitor. A birthday gift from one of Sherry's co-workers that she displayed proudly on her desk.

"Here you go Sherry" said Lily, as she walked up to Sherry, who turned around in her swivel chair to face Lily with a warm smile.

"Hey, are those the finance papers?" asked Sherry, as Lily placed the aforementioned papers on Sherry's desk.

"The one, and only".

Sherry looked at Lily, and could immediately tell that she was in a rough patch. She hadn't seen her up until now, and had expected her to be in a relatively cheerful mood – like she'd always been.

But that very much wasn't the case.

"Hey Lily, you alright?" asked Sherry, as she took in the sight of a woman who looked like she'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and then promptly fell down several flights of stairs.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. What makes you say that?" said Lily, who mentally kicked herself for adding that last part, and prolonging this conversation. Because she knew Sherry, and she was never the kind of person to just let sleeping dogs lie – unless said dogs made it blatantly clear that they want to be left alone.

"Aside from the fact that you look like you've been through a tornado. What's wrong?"

Sherry looked at Lily with a persistent gaze, the kind that Lily knew from experience was inescapable.

Lily let out an exasperated sigh, and after looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone worrisome within earshot she said "well, I just got dumped this morning".

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry…"

"Yeah well…" said Lily, as she looked off elsewhere for a moment.

"I didn't even know you were dating someone".

"Yeah, that's kind of the point" said Lily, as she returned her gaze to meet Sherry's.

"Right, well…like the old saying goes, it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" said Sherry, as Lily rolled her eyes.

"That'd be true if this was my first, but alas it is not".

Frustration was crystal clear in Lily's voice, and so she pulled up a seat from one of the nearby desks. Much to the momentary annoyance of the guy who sat there.

"Hey" said the dude, as Sherry ignored him and looked to Lily asking "wanna take a seat and vent about it?"

"Uh…well…I have some tax returns I have to prepare so…"

Sherry frowned, and patted the chair a couple of times saying "sit".

Lily didn't hesitate to accept Sherry's offer, and sat down to vent.

"Alright well if you insist" began Lily, much to Sherry's amusement.

Approximately 10 minutes later, Lily reached the end of her rant saying "…and he just ended it without even giving me a chance to ask why – all he said was 'I don't think I feel that spark' which like, gives me nothing to work off of".

Sherry was filled with deep concern for Lily after hearing her vent, initially she presumed that Lily was going to talk about a handful of failed romances, but after sitting through the rant she learned that Lily had far more than "just a handful".

"Jeez man, I had no idea you were striking out so much" said Sherry, as she reached over and rubbed Lily's shoulder. Compelled to do so by a deep rooted sense of empathy.

"Yeah well…" said Lily, while thinking 'outside of my best friend, no one else knows so you're not the only one'.

"So, what you gonna do? Keep on trucking or…?"

Lily shrugged, and replied "I don't know…maybe I'm just not relationship material…"

'No matter how many times I tell myself otherwise' Lily thought, while looking down.

"I get that, but you know…there's this match-making service I've heard some really good things about, if you're interested".

Lily looked up, and at Sherry.

"A match-making service?" asked Lily a little incredulously, while quirking a brow.

"Okay, I know that match-making services are seen as something for either the wealthy, or romantically desperate, and that many have hit or miss success rates. But there's this one I know that's really good. My cousin used their services, and now she's happily married with the girl they paired her up with. They hooked up right after their first date, aaand…" began Sherry, as she looked around to make sure that no one troublesome was within earshot before leaning in close to Lily, and saying in a whisper "they cater to demons".

Lily looked incredulously at Sherry, asking in disbelief "really?"

Sherry nodded, and replied "my cousin has a friend whose one, and she used the service to great success. So look, if you're good and ready to leave the dating world behind for good then it's probably for the best. But, if you wanna give that service a shot, then by all means".

Sherry opened a tab on her computer, and typed in the name of the match-making service on Google and clicked on the first result. Which took her to a website that belonged to a company called "Soul Mate Inc".

'Very on the nose' thought Lily, as Sherry looked to her and said.

"Give them a chance if you're interested, and who knows. Maybe you'll meet your ideal guy on there".

Lily sighed, and said "I don't know but…I'll think about it".

Sherry nodded, as Lily got up and gave her colleague and work friend a playful pat on the shoulder.

"But thanks, I definitely feel better than I was this morning" said Lily, her shoulders lifting ever so slightly.

Sherry smiled in response, and replied "no problem, happy to help".

"Well better get back to work, don't wanna be stuck here after hours…again…" said Lily, as she turned around, and headed back to her place of work.

Dalton Chemical Laboratories

North York

10:35 AM

"Hey, Shayan, you listening to me?" asked a short haired ginger in a white lab coat.

Shayan, the ginger's brown skinned cohort in a matching lab coat, blinked as he snapped to the present and out of his vapid thoughts.

"Wha-yeah I'm listening".

"Oh yeah? Well, riddle me this. What variable were we supposed to account for with the implementation of Vander Waal's gas law?"

Shayan frowned, as lines appeared on his forehead while his brain struggled to make sense of what his friend said.

"I don't know Larry, why don't you enlighten me?" asked Shayan, sounding more than a little peeved.

Larry let out a sigh, as he secured an Erlenmeyer flask onto a metal stand. Keeping the glass container over an unlit Bunsen burner.

"You alright Shay? Cause you've been in a deep state of agitation since the moment you came in".

Shayan, who had his hands knee deep in the internals of a fume-hood, handling a bunch of noxious chemicals, let out a sigh. One that was quickly sucked up by the loud fans of the overhead vent.

"Yeah I'm fine" Shayan lied, as Larry called it out for what it was.

"Really? Cause I beg to differ. So what's wrong? We can talk, it's not like we're strangers and besides, it helps to get things off your chest once in a while".

Shayan let out another sigh, as he used a micro-pipette to isolate a bit of diethyl ether, and relocate it into a small test tube that was filled with a slightly opaque, and crimson colored liquid.

"What are you my therapist?" asked Shayan sarcastically.

"If I was, then I'd definitely charge you a premium" Larry replied snidely.

"But seriously, if there's something you wanna get off your chest. Just know that I'm here, and especially since the other two that work in this lab, have currently gone out for lunch, and probably won't be back for another half-hour".

Shayan lightly chuckled, and replied "you drive a hard bargain Larry".

"Well, my mother did say I took after my dad".

"The con-artist who got arrested in Manitoba for tax fraud?"

"I always hope that she meant that in jest, in every waking moment of my life" replied Larry, as Shayan capped the test tube and moved it into a centrifuge – a machine that was borrowed from a different lab in the building.

"Well, since you're so persistent…it's about that girl I was dating – Jessica".

"Oh, the gastroenterologist?"

"That's the one".

"You know, I was meaning to ask – how was it going? The second date went well I presume?"

"It did, or at least I thought it did. But it's been a week and she hasn't said a word to me since".

Larry blinked, as he pulled himself out of the fume-hood which he and Shayan shared.

"Have you tried calling her? She gave you her phone number right?"

Shayan nodded, and replied "yup, but no luck. It keeps going to her voice mail. And after the second time, I stopped calling. Didn't want to come off like a creeper".

"And that's it? She hasn't contacted you?"

Shayan nodded sideways, and said "nope. As far as I'm aware, I've been ghosted". Before hanging his head low in an utter state of dismay.

"Oh, hey don't beat yourself up over it. As the old saying goes there's plenty of fish in the sea…" said Larry, his words ringing hollow from Shayan's point of view.

"Yeah well…after 4 consecutive dates, it's starting to look like the ocean's far smaller than I figured".

Larry let out a sigh, and said "alright look, if you're that woefully concerned about your romantic prospects…then might I make a suggestion?"

Shayan looked at Larry with a furrowed brow, and asked skeptically "this coming from the guy who has never dated in his life?"

"Harty har-har. But just because I have absolutely zero experience with the subject matter, doesn't mean I don't know people who do. Now my sister, she was just like you".

Shayan blinked, and asked "your sister? The one who got married about a year ago?"

"Yes, and while she may be married now. There was a time where she was throwing herself out there, and repeatedly getting rejected. And believe me, I was on the receiving end of that".

Shayan lightly chuckled, imagining what that might've been like that – given what he knew of Larry's sister. That she was dramatically over-bearing.

"I can imagine".

"Anyways, she came across a match-making service online and decided to give them a shot. Next thing you know, she's in a steady relationship with the person she was matched with and…well…I assume you can guess how it all went".

"You really want me to give a match-making service a shot? Isn't that just like admitting defeat?"

"And so what if it is? At the end of the day, if it gets results then wouldn't it have been worth it to sacrifice a bit of pride to attain one's goals?" began Larry, as he turned to look at Shayan and brought up his hands as to help illustrate a mental picture using gestures.

"Picture for a moment, if Morley and Michelson had simply refused to publish their findings on the aether. Would've been easy to simply pretend that their experiment was ill-conceived, and leave it at that. But they didn't, they pushed past any pride they might've had, in pursuit of the truth and tangible results".

"And the world as we know it today thanks them for it" said Shayan, more or less finishing Larry's sentence.

"Exactly" said Larry, as Shayan rolled his eyes and said.

"Alright, alright, I'll give the service a shot. You didn't have to get all science and philosophy on me".

Larry smiled, and pat Shayan resolutely on the back saying "ah, but where would the fun be in that?"

Shayan smiled back thinking 'and the resemblance to his sister is uncanny'.

The centrifuge stopped it's spinning, and dictated as such with an ever-present green-light. Opening the machine, Shayan pulled out a test tube that had two visible layers of liquid inside. Separated by polarity.

"So this service, what's it called?" asked Shayan, as he put the test tube in a test tube rack inside the fume-hood.

"It's called Soul Mate, funnily enough".

"You're serious?"

"Completely".

Picking up a micropipette, and carefully prodding its disposable plastic tube into the test tube. Shayan let out an intrepid sigh, as Larry said "irrespective of the name, it can't hurt to at least try".

With the release of a button, the micropipette sucked up the light red liquid in the tube, before the apparatus was removed from the test tube.

"Yeah, you've got a point there" said Shayan, as he looked at Larry and smirked.

Lily's House

Vaughan

8:30 PM

After a routine day of staring at nothing but numbers, Lily chose to unwind from the tedium of it all after coming home, getting changed, taking a shower, and grabbing dinner. One hand on a keyboard, and another on a mouse. She commanded the life of a Russian mercenary armed with a 150 pound minigun, through whose eyes she saw a desert landscape that served as a fictional battlefield between two teams of identical characters.

"So what do you think Audrey? Should I do it?" asked Lily, as she kept an eye on the checkpoint that she captured for her team. The minigun cautiously whirring, as she swiftly swiped around. Making sure there weren't any enemies that were making a beeline for her position.

"Hold on give me a sec" replied Audrey, through the other end of Lily's discord voice chat, who was currently preoccupied with trying to stop her in-game chop-shop operation of teleporters, automated turrets, and a supply dispenser from falling apart to a crafty yet stupid spy.

"Alright, so just to recap. Your work friend suggested a match-making service that caters to both humans and demons, and you don't know if you should go for it. Right?" asked Audrey, as she got to work fixing up her turrets, after beating a masked spy to death with a wrench, after running out of ammo.

"Basically" said Lily, as she spotted a member of the enemy team headed her way. Running at Mach speed with a lanky frame, and a single barreled shotgun. Making Lily panic, as she fired away like a mad man, while the blue shirted enemy zipped around her like a fly on crack.

"Shit! Shit! Where the hell's the rest of my team, I thought they'd be here by now!" exclaimed Lily into the microphone, as she watched her health get whittled away, before a chunk of it disappeared thanks to a random crit.

'Fucking random crit!' thought Lily angrily, as she began moving to try and find some cover. But before she could a baseball to the head took her out of the game. All thanks to yet another random crit.

"Fuck" exclaimed Lily, as she caught the username of the one who killed her.

BonkBoy6996.

'Of fucking course…' thought Lily, mildly annoyed as Audrey asked from her end.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Got killed by a scout" said Lily, as she leaned back in her chair. Waiting for the time to count down so she could respawn.

"So we've lost the point".

"More or less…" replied Lily, as she spawned into the game.

"Drats…DRATS!" exclaimed Audrey, as pandemonium manifested on her side of the game map. The turret she placed being disabled, and then exploding. After which a cascade of chaos unfolded, and ended with her swift exit from the game. At least until she respawned.

"Fiddlesticks! I'm out" said Audrey, as she lapsed back onto her stolen office chair, and indulged in her tall mug of tea.

"So, what do you think?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think about the match-making stuff? Think it's worth giving a shot?"

"Is it expensive?"

"As far as I'm aware not really…it's a onetime purchase, and they've got a money back guarantee if you're unsatisfied".

"Then I say go for it, I mean what's the harm? Worst comes to worse, you'll just end up filling that hole in your chest with a thousand cats you 'll adopt from PetSmart".

Lily jolted to life, straightening up from a surge of fear that zipped through her body like lightning.

"What?!" Lily exclaimed, fear echoing in her voice.

"Relax, I'm only kidding…mostly...but seriously though, consider giving it a shot. Who knows, it might be worth your while" said Audrey, as she returned to the game and immediately got to work rebuilding her fortress of steel and fury.

"Yeah, sure" said Lily, as she jumped back into the game and did so with a vengeance. Slowly making her way to the checkpoint that was currently under threat of being taken over by the enemy, and before long. She jumped right into the fire, unleashing a rapid barrage of bullets, alongside Audrey who had rebuilt her mechanized trench of doom.

The minute progress that the opposing blue team made was crushed in an instant, right as Lily found herself at the virtual death's door.

"Alright, so what's the plan Auds?" asked Lily, as she moved over to one of the dispensers that Audrey had built, and was in the process of upgrading.

"I'm gonna make a teleporter, and carry it as close as we can to the next checkpoint. You're gonna cover me".

"Sounds like a plan" said Lily, when right as she was about to be healed back to full health. A certain blue blur charged into the checkpoint, like a meth-head with death wish.

"Ah shit" said Lily, as she fired her minigun at the scout who bounded in an erratic pattern, before double jumping over her while repeatedly smacking her with a baseball bat.

"Damn it!" exclaimed Lily, as she lost much of her health to a random crit and before she could fall back on her only means of immediate health restoration. A volley of bullets did her in.

"God damn it, not again".

The game honed in on the identity of her killer, and lo-and behold it was BonkBoy6996.

"Fucking BonkBoy!" exclaimed Lily, as Audrey managed to put the energetic scout in the dirt.

"Scouts dead…and so are you…"

"Yup".

"Also who the hell is BonkBoy?"

"The guy who killed me before".

"Seriously?"

"Yup" said Lily, as she let out a long and exasperated sigh.

"Talk about terrible luck".

"Yeah no kidding. If only Shino, and Faire were here. Then BonkBoy would be running for the hills".

"Yeah, but Shino's got some project deadline she has to meet and Faire's got a fancy dinner party to attend" replied Audrey, as she worked alongside another player on her team.

Playing the same class as her – a hardhat Texan with a knack for engineering.

"I told her not to play with us last week, but she didn't listen…and now when I want her here to bonk BonkBoy's brains out she isn't" said Lily while frowning, as she waited for the respawn timer to reach zero.

"Uh…phrasing?"

Lily blinked, before lightly blushing and saying "s-shut up, you know what I meant".

Audrey's laughter could be heard from Lily's end, as she let out a sigh while rubbing the sides of her face.

Shayan's House

Newmarket

8:30 PM

"So apparently these Soul Mate guys want me to fill out some kind of survey" said Shayan over his discord voice chat to the only one who was currently online – Larry.

"Sounds rather typical" replied Larry from his end, running and gunning with the speed and attention span of a squirrel – knee deep in the depths of a nonsensical high-octane video game.

"Yeah, but some of their questions are kinda strange. I'm starting to think this might've been a bad idea".

"After you've already paid 40 dollars?" asked Larry, as he stormed a checkpoint that was being defended by a lone player of the opposing red team.

"I can still get it back, they have a money back guarantee".

"I hate to say it Shay, but I think you're being a tad bit absurd".

"I'm serious though, some of these questions are bizarre".

Larry scoffed, as he bobbed and weaved all over the place – much to the confusion of the minigunner whose end he swiftly delivered with a bat to the head.

"Alright then, elucidate me on what some of these strange questions are".

"Alright, here's a weird one for ya – what is one conspiracy theory that you secretly believe to be true?"

"Eh, that doesn't really strike me as weird and moreso quirky" replied Larry, as he continued running around before being gunned down by a sniper from a far.

"There's also this one – if you ordered a pizza, and it had pineapple on it and the pineapple began pleading with you to spare its life, would you?"

"It sounds like an imaginative take on the trolley problem, if you ask me" said Larry, who watched other players on his team try and whittle away at a checkpoint fortified by the opposing team. Biding his time until he could return to the game.

Shayan pursed his lips, frustration living inside the muscles beneath his face, as he moved onto yet another question to try and prove his point.

"Okay, well how about this one – if you ever ran across a talking rabbit, would you choose to pinch yourself or follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole?"

"Shayan why do I get the feeling that you're simply trying to find an excuse not to follow through with this?"

"I'm just pointing out how weird this stuff is!"

Larry rolled his eyes, and said "well the way I see it, you've already got one foot in the bucket that is this endeavor so you may as well go through with it. Regardless of the initial absurdity".

Shayan let out a sigh of defeat, before saying "yeah…"

Larry spawned back into the game, and made a beeline for the checkpoint that his team was currently trying to chip away at. All while Shayan went ahead, and filled out the remainder of the survey. Stopping every once in a while, when an unorthodox question came his way that required a momentary pause to postulate.

"Alright, I'm almost done" said Shayan, as he reached the final question while Larry reached the checkpoint and did battle with a minigunner of the opposing team. Jumping around like a crack-addled monkey, and firing off a volley of bullets from a shotgun.

"Just one more question left, and uh…" began Shayan, as he chuckled after reading the final question, "…this one's a doozy".

"Alright, well let's hear it" said Larry, as he hopped over the minigunner and resorted to melee combat using a baseball bat.

"Imagine you and your potential soul mate are shrunk inside a blender. How would you work together to escape, and what's the first thing you'd do once you're free?"

"I don't know about you, but that sounds like a summer rom-com I'd definitely watch" replied Larry, as he finished his opponent with a couple shots from his character's shotgun.

Before being taken out of the game by a volley of gunfire from a hard-hat wearing engineer.

Shayan chuckled, as he got down to answering the absurd question that remained. "Yeah, it'd certainly beat some of the summer rom-com's I've seen in the past".

"It's a bit of a dying breed isn't it? Summer rom-com's" said Larry, he faced the username of the one who killed him in-game.

TotallyNotADemon4279. A name that made Larry chortle, thinking 'funny'.

"It kinda is, but you know I like to think that, it's not so much 'dead' as it is dormant. A genre can't really die. Only go on hiatus until there is a spark of brilliance" said Shayan, as he finished typing up his response and completed the survey.

"Alright, survey's all done and over with".

"Great, now perhaps you can indulge yourself a little by joining me in my digital escapades for a bit?" asked Larry over voice chat.

"Are you asking me to join your game?"

"In my own indirect way".

Shayan let out a chuckle, and replied "alright, I'll be on in a bit. Just give me a couple of seconds".

Larry grinned from where he sat, and said "finally, now this can be a most enjoyable experience as opposed to a one-sided discussion involving a man who very begrudgingly answers a survey – while trying to bail at every opportunity".

'Good lord' thought Shayan, as he opened up the game that Larry was in.

Bella Notte

Toronto

6:12 PM

The evening rolled in like the smooth jazz played by a saxophone, the sky above darkening the second time elapsed past five. The air chilling to the point that fog escaped people's lips when they exhaled. A full moon hanging above, being the only thing to standout, as the stars were blot out by the lights of civilization.

'Damn it! Damn it! I'm gonna be late!' thought Shayan, as he hurried on out of a staircase that took him out of the subway and onto a bustling sidewalk.

It had been two months since Shayan clicked away his love life into the hands of an online match-making service, and two months since he was paired up with someone. He didn't know her name of course, and she didn't know his either. A quirk of the service, that their true names will only be revealed when they go on their first date.

Something that Larry found very poetic, while Shayan found to be mildly annoying.

Her name was AccountantfromHell, and one that Shayan got a good laugh from. His was SomeGuy24, which caught a lot of flak from Larry for being dull. Especially in comparison to his partner's.

Funny username's aside, the woman, Shayan assumed given what the service knew about him, seemed nice if a little clumsy on the initiation. She was an accountant, which made her chosen name make sense, and that they had a lot in common. Video games, reading, the hilariously low-budget yet unbelievably popular TV show Unnatural. They spent a lot of time talking, a good chunk of which was spent discussing pointless theories and ideas that he by, and large had surrounding Unnatural. All of which she happily listened to on midnight calls after dinner, and that was right around the time that the uncertainty in his heart began to wane.

That maybe this would all be worth it, that this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

If he doesn't mess it up, by being late to his first date with the girl first.

'Stupid subway, why did someone have to pull the emergency alarm TODAY of all days?!' thought Shayan, as he bobbed and weaved past people with agency, swiftness, and grace.

Running so fast, and in such a state of panic that he ran right past the place, he was supposed to have been at several minutes ago.

'Curses!' thought Shayan, as he slowed down like a speeding train slamming on the brakes, and skidding to a stop. Before spinning around, and charging back to the place. A quaint little restaurant, whose double doors he pushed open with the fervor of a crack addict on an unbelievable high.

'Oh, where is he?' thought Lily, as she looked around. Taking in the sight of many round tables all around her, many of which were fully occupied, unlike hers. Which was labelled "12" with a small metal sign sticking out of the flower vase in the middle.

Lily glanced down at the table cloth, she'd been waiting here for about ten minutes now, and was starting to get a worrying feeling deep inside her stomach.

Doubt springing to her mind like a nasty gremlin that fed on misery, and fear.

'He's not gonna show up' it whispered.

'He's just been stringing you along, all this time' it spoke, hopping around inside her mind.

Lily clutched the sides of her head, covering her ears in a thinly veiled attempt at keeping the anxiety-ridden worries from getting to her.

'You're never gonna find a man'.

"Stop it" whispered Lily in defiance.

'You'll be forever alone'.

Lily slightly shook her head sideways, unknowingly letting the grip of her façade weaken.

'No one wants to be with you…ever!'

Lily dropped her arms to her sides, and looked around to try and find something to focus on – before her eyes came across the vase in front of her. The flower inside wilting, and looking lifeless.

'Hey little flower, you alright?' thought Lily, as she occupied her distressing mind with the fruitless task of trying to prop a flower up.

It didn't take long to get boring, and right as her self-critical thoughts were about to break free. A voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and off to the side.

"Um…excuse me…"

Lily blinked, as she looked the man up and down. Two hands half-propping up a sad looking flower in its vase.

"Uh…can I presume that you're AccountantfromHell?"

Shayan wore a sheepish grin, as he thought to himself while sweating figurative buckets 'please be her, please be her, please be her, please be her…'

'Oh my god it's him he's here!' thought Lily excitedly, as she pulled her arms over to her side quickly and straightened herself up, before standing up, and saying "yup, that's me!"

And then laughing nervously, before stopping while thinking 'why did I just do that?!'

Shayan let out a huge sigh of relief, as Lily asked "and I take it you're SomeGuy24?"

Shayan nodded, and replied "yup, though you can call me Shayan".

"Nice name, y'know if you put the word 'super' in front of it, I'm sure Toei would come for your head" said Lily, as a brief moment of expectant, and vacuous silence befell them.

Lasting long enough for Lily to wonder if she'd messed up, whether the night was over and it was all her fault. But then Shayan laughed, not out of pity, or some other dreadful emotion.

But rather, out of genuine honesty.

"So you're corny in person as you are over the phone and over text?"

Lily smiled, anxiety banished into the shadow realm, as she said "yup, am as corny as they get".

Shayan smiled, as all woes left his soul and he sat down.

"So you uh…wanna sit back down or…"

Lily blushed, and quickly hopped back onto her seat.

"R-Right…"

"Oh, and uh I don't think I got your name, unless it's actually AccountantfromHell".

Lily blinked, as butterflies did flips in her stomach and she let out a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah no. Only my work friends call me that, but you can call me Lily".

"Lily eh? That's a very pleasant name".

"Aw, thanks" said Lily without really thinking, before blinking and lightly blushing.

"So uh…what took you so long?" asked Lily, quickly changing the subject while slightly averting her gaze.

Shayan let out a sigh, and replied "blame the TTC – not only was it packed but someone pulled the emergency alarm and I was stuck somewhere between Summerhill and Rosedale".

"Oof" said Lily, someone who felt that deep in her soul from personal experience.

"Yeah, but the important thing is I got here without too much time wasted…hopefully…" said Shayan, as a waiter approached their table to get their order.

The night flickered on through the tumultuous halls of time, burning through the stars and moon that fueled its unending flame.

Since Shayan's arrival at the restaurant, and meet up with the true identity of AccountantfromHell. The date had progressed rather smoothly, as far as either party was concerned.

They talked about everything from their favorite video games, to the meandering woes of sub-urban mundanity. In between spoonful's of spaghetti, tomato sauce, and probably way too much lasagna.

"And because of Fred's mishap, all the work HE was supposed to do gets dumped on me!" complained, and vented Lily, as she stabbed a slab of lasagna with a fork.

"Dude that sucks, and Fred got nothing for it?"

"Nothing more than a slap on the wrist, and being the laughing stock of the office. Which is nice, and all – but I would've preferred if Fred got the axe instead. I mean, this isn't even the first time he messed up".

"It isn't?"

"Nope, I have a list, and it keeps getting bigger".

"Dang, that's kinda messed up. But I can sympathize, I got this guy at work – he doesn't work in my lab, and yet somehow, somehow, he managed to muck up our experiment in our lab that'd been running for a whole year! And the worst part of it was that me, and my lab mates spent the latter part of a year doing damage control while he-who-shall-not-be-named, got suspended. Effectively getting free time off doing jack, while me and my buddies were killing ourselves!"

Lily looked aghast at Shayan, and was compelled to reach a hand across the table and place it on his shoulder, as a gesture of comfort. Which seemed to work, but also have the side effect of whispering a light blush onto Shayan's face. Which prompted Lily to pull back her hand with all the grace of a desperate penguin trying to fly.

"S-Sorry but uh…yeah…" trailed off Lily, who quickly shoved a piece of lasagna into her mouth to try and block up the awkwardness she was feeling.

Shayan nodded, as he jabbed a fork into a plate of noodles which was quickly diminishing by the minute.

"Yeah, life is rough…but hey, at least it makes moments like this worthwhile so that's something right?" Shayan said, trying to find the silver lining in life while spinning up noodles around a fork.

"Mufhm am rhel gus hav foal killa gahl arh ya?" said Lily, her mouth full of lasagna severely distorting her words.

Shayan blinked, while stifling a laugh asking "I'm sorry?"

Lily lightly blushed the second she processed what came out of her mouth, and swallowed down the lasagna bits.

"What I meant to say was, you're a real half glass full kinda guy aren't ya?"

Shayan shrugged, as he lifted up his fork, which was wrapped around by a dense bundle of noodles.

"It helps to stay positive" Shayan said, before shoving the fork and noodles into his mouth to be masticated and swallowed.

"How about you?"

"Mmm?"

"What kind of person are you?"

"Oh, well uh…hmmm…" said Lily, as she frowned a little. Jabbing at the shrinking piece of lasagna on her plate, while looking up in thought.

"I don't know, well I mean I never really thought about it…" said Lily, as she just played with her lasagna for a bit. Trying to determine how best to describe the kind of person she was.

"Buuut, if I had to say…" said Lily, as she carved out a piece of lasagna and stabbed it with a fork, before picking it up.

"…I think I'm more of the fill your own glass kind of gal" said Lily, as she ate the piece of lasagna.

Shayan smiled, and replied "sounds like a nice way to live".

"Oh yeah, real optimistic. Helps swallow the shoddier pills of life".

"Totally".

The atmosphere of the dinner had plateaued to a nice, and stable pace, like the balanced cantor of an elegant equine. Things were looking on the up, and up, at least from Shayan's point of view. From Lily's side of the table, the date was a blast. She was having fun, enjoying the company, the meal – she was having a good time.

Nothing could ruin this moment, nothing could make this night be remembered as anything other than an enjoyable romp. But unbeknownst to her, the fate of this date had already been sealed. She just didn't know it, until now.

When in a fleeting second of time, while looking down after laughing at a really funny joke that Shayan made, she felt the fibers of her mask wane and slip. Sliding off, and spiraling into an unstoppable avalanche that concluded with a weak "plop" and Lily's façade lying limp on her plate. Bits of the ceramic piece coming through the eye holes, and mouth slit.

Lily froze, and to make matters worse, her eyes locked with Shayan's. Who held up a fork with many rounds of spaghetti wrapped around it. The image that entered Shayan's eyes being that of a red skinned entity, whose face no resembled that of a reptile, with a slender snout and yellow slit-eyes. With long raven hair clinging to her scalp.

A dome of silence fell on table 12, as Lily was immobilized by panic, and a thousand different thoughts pulling on her mind. One of the waiters that tended to one of the tables, saw the disaster that was unfolding and stepped in.

'Help! Some help!' thought Lily, as the waiter walked over to the table, sparking to life a tiny ember of hope. Only to be crushed when the short haired blonde politely asked Lily "are you done with your dish?"

Lily clumsily, and clunkily nodded like a rusted over machine and the man simply took the plate but made sure to leave Lily's face on the table.

Her heart continued to race, pounding and pounding, sending reverberations throughout every fiber, every blood vessel, and every string of neurons in Lily's body. Reality began to crumble around her, as time rocketed forward.

But then, in an instant, Shayan let out a fake cough and shattered the dome of quietness that enveloped them.

"So uh…about that weather we've been having…it's been wild right? I mean, we had like a week of chilly days, then out of nowhere come two days of mid 20s, and now we're back to mid 10s again. Crazy right?" said Shayan, as he shoved the noodles wrapped around his fork into his mouth to be chewed.

Lily blinked, stupefied, as Shayan ate away as if nothing has happened.

"I mean, what is happening with Mother Nature?"

The fear, and panic that raged on inside of Lily like a dread storm simmered down, and was rapidly being replaced by a mounting sense of befuddlement.

"Y'know I think it might be climate change, now I know it's too close in the time-frame to come to that conclusion but I dunno…I just sorta feel like it…" said Shayan, as he sent his fork to find and gather more noodles to be consumed, from his plate.

Shayan chuckled to himself, and said "now I feel like I sound like all those climate deniers but in reverse".

"What'd you think? About the weather and stuff?" asked Shayan, as he looked at Lily with a straight face. Not an OUNCE of deterrence to be found.

Lily was now absolutely flabbergasted, and the astonishment welled up to every pore on her crimson face. Filling up the entirety of her lungs, and eventually escaping with a burst of dumbfounded laughter.

Shayan smirked, and asked after eating some noodles "what's so funny?"

Once the laughter subsided, Lily nodded her head sideways and said "oh it's nothing…but yeah the weathers been wild".

The full moon now hung close to the highest point in the sky, as darkness consumed all that which wasn't properly lit. The time of the moon's journey through space, gone largely unnoticed by the residents of table 12. Their dishes having long since disappeared, and the date having all but come to an end.

A waiter arrived at table 12 with a bill, and a handheld ATM machine as Shayan hopped off his phone and looked at the short haired blonde.

"Here's the bill" said the waiter, as he placed a small leather folder on the table which Shayan looked through.

The price of his meal was, in his opinion, just a tad bit pricey – which was when he got an idea. An idea that was scrutinized to no end by the frugal voice that lived inside his head, and kept on scrutinizing him until the idea turned into action.

"I'll pay for the both of us".

The waiter nodded, and Shayan pulled out his debit card which after a single tap, cleared the bill – along with a nice tip. The waiter smiled slightly, before leaving the receipt with Shayan and taking off with the handheld ATM machine.

About a minute later, Lily returned to the table. Having managed to put on her human face, and making sure that it would stay on this time.

'That was weird' thought Lily, as she lightly rubbed the side of her face while reaching table 12. Unsure of what could've caused the earlier incident.

"Hey" said Shayan, as he smiled and got up from his seat.

"Hi?"

"I uh…paid for our meals" said Shayan, as he waved around the receipt.

Lily looked at Shayan with an incredulous stare, before blinking and asking "really?"

"Yeah".

Lily chuckled, and said "dude that must've probably expensive!"

Shayan slowly nodded, and replied "immensely".

"I would've been fine with paying for mine…"

"I know, but I paid for it so too bad" said Shayan, as he headed towards the door.

Lily sighed, and nodded her head before following close behind. As they made their way outside, Lily's eyes lingered on Shayan's as a nagging thought hammered its way through her patience.

'You have to ask' was the thought that whittled its way into her frontal lobe.

By the time they were both outside, Shayan turned to look at Lily and wondered 'alright, now what do I do? The date's over so do I just…go home? Say good bye? Is that what I should say, or maybe something else? Something more poetic?'

'If you're gonna ask Lily it's now or never! But wait, if I ask now would that ruin the night? It was really nice, and I don't want to ruin it so maybe I should ask later, like over the phone or…' thought Lily when Shayan said.

"So uh…that was fun…"

Lily stiffened up, and nodded her head frivolously before saying "y-yeah it was…and thanks for the enjoyable night".

Lily rubbed her left arm, as the doubt gremlin from before creeped within the cranial folds of her mind and whispered into her consciousness 'ask him now or forever hold your peace…'

Lily gritted her teeth, and relented but before she could ask Shayan cut her off.

"So uh…do you…think that maybe…we could do this again sometime? Like, maybe a second date?"

Lily blinked before a nervous chuckle escaped her lips, and she asked "well that uh…that depends…you okay with the whole face…thing that happened earlier?"

Lily gestured to her face, before quickly adding "I mean don't get me wrong, it won't happen again, in fact I don't know what happened this time but I promise you it won't happen but…well…"

Lily then let out a sigh, and said "…that assumes you're willing to give me another chance for it to not happen again…"

Shayan, for his part, smirked, and replied "sure, I'll give it another chance not to happen again".

Lily looked up, and her face brightened before asking "really?"

Shayan nodded, and asked "so I guess that means yay for a second date?"

Lily smiled, and replied "yay for a second date. Just got to figure out time, and place".

Shayan smiled, and did his best to hold himself together saying "you got it". While deep down, he wanted to scream to the high heavens and all its gods.

Lily could feel the excitement emanating off of Shayan, and that in turn made her excited as well.

"Alright, so uh…see ya later and…good night…" said Shayan, as he walked past Lily before stopping after realizing he was going the wrong way, and turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

"Good night Shayan" said Lily, as Shayan walked past her, flustered and moving post haste.

Watching Shayan disappear down the road, Lily turned around and began her long journey home. Pep, and confidence in each and every step.