Matilda remembered the exact moment she had first seen Sebastian. It was in the auditorium of their college, right after the orientation presentation when they were all leaving to go outside. He had been wearing a white T-shirt and was walking after Eric who was behind Phil.

"Goddamn, isn't the one in the jersey just too hot?" Mal had said to Ursula. The girls had been waiting for the crowd to thin out before leaving their seats. The back row gave them the perfect view of everyone else milling about.

"Eh, bulky guys scare me. I like the skinny one." Ursula pointed out the nerd in the sweater vest.

Matilda had said nothing about Prince Charming™. It was best to ignore such feelings. Still, her eyes could not help but seek him out as he left through the exit.

When Mal and Phil had first gotten together (with a little help), Mal had introduced him to her friends. A tall, bulky jock with the brain the size of a pea was perfect for Mal, who was shrewd enough to temper his aggressive attitude. He in turn, had invited the girls to socialize with the boys.

They had expected Sebastian and Eric to be frat boys like Phil but instead Eric was sensible, albeit incredibly arrogant and Sebastian was Sebastian. Matilda had immediately noticed the glow between Ursula and Eric and it had been amusing to see how Ursula's unfettered kindness wore down Eric's arrogance over the cognitive abilities of his brain.

With two pairings from each group, it seemed inevitable that Matilda and Sebastian would round off the trio. Except, Matilda was a witch and true love did not exist for witches.

While Sebastian had never seemed too enthusiastic about the supposed inevitability, he was never unkind enough to say it would never happen. It was Matilda who had broached the possibility of being just friends. Sebastian had seemed a little surprised at her suggestion but all in all, it turned out for the best.

The two indeed were different. Sebastian was a manly man with interests in cars, action movies and economics. Matilda was a strange person with contradicting interests in fairy tales and the occult, horror films and rom coms, suits and makeup tutorials. None of her choices made sense, although to be fair, her interest in the occult was purely an amusement over how the others perceived magic to be, as opposed to what it actually was.

The thing that made Matilda and Sebastian work was that both respected their differences. Sebastian was the one to take her to a showing of Wicked for what he assumed was her birthday, since she had not revealed that date to anyone.

"Why not tell us what the date is? I'm not asking the year." He had said.

"It's every Friday the 13th. And I don't mind telling the year." Had been her reply.

Matilda was the one who got him the rare collector's edition of the Obi Wan Kenobi funko-pop for his birthday, when everyone else had gotten him some expensive watch, wallet or some other generic thing to give a man who had turned twenty-two.

"Till! I love this!" He had pulled her into a hug and it was then that Matilda realized just how tall he was. Because he was tall, but he never felt as if he was standing over anyone. He always felt an equal.

That was what she loved about Sebastian the most. As a person of course, not as anything else. No, no. As a person, she loved his complete lack of an ego. Which she wouldn't have even blamed him for. He had earned the right to be arrogant and haughty. He was handsome, popular and rich, all of the qualities one looked for in the perfect man. But Sebastian still acted like he was just like everyone else.

Both Eric and Phil also belonged to influential families as well. The stark difference between their classes had been evident when Phil had invited him to his "vacation home". Matilda had been expecting some small, cozy cottage. Not the massive estate with two (not one, two) indoor pools, a stable, an archery court and an adjacent hunting lodge.

Matilda did have an inclination previously, that Eric and Phil were well off. Their gatherings at college, with the most elite and snobbish people, had sort of given hinted at their wealth. So had their expensive cars. But Matilda had not expected them to having belonged to a different solar system, one that revolved around them.

Ursula had even said it, "Till I think I'm reaching too far out of my league here. I don't think I belong with Eric."

Their glow said otherwise. "Trust me Ursula. You belong with him." Matilda had assured.

All three girls belonged to humble, blue collar families. The richest among them was Mal and even her family sometimes struggled to make ends meet.

Matilda had felt as if she had entered a fairy tale without wanting to and had inevitably fulfilled her role as the fairy godmother to the princes that were Eric and Phil and their commoner princesses; Ursula and Mal.

And I would rather be the evil witch separating them.

And then there was the third prince. The one who was perfect... except he did not like commitments, and never had a serious relationship.

He, she expected, would remain this way till his forties, when he would finally realize that maybe settling down would not be so bad and maybe, just maybe, he would look to his best friend and say, "Well Matilda, we've stuck together this far. Wanna take it all the way?"

That was Matilda's secret dream. And now it was shattered.

Matilda played the scene from The Nook over and over again. How Sebastian bumped in to that woman. How their eyes met and how the glow just crackled like fire between them. It pinched a sore bruise in her heart and she put it aside.

Who the hell cares anyway? I certainly don't. So what? He meets some random woman in a restaurant and now everything will change? Bullshit, nothing will change. He probably won't even meet her again.

But he did.

The first time, Matilda saw that woman coming out of their office building as they were going in after having lunch. She strode past them through the metallic lobby. Neither Sebastian nor the woman noticed each other.

Matilda got a better look of her then; golden curly mane, bright smattering of freckles on her nose and a curvy figure. A full, plump mouth that was pursed as she walked purposefully out of the building. Several men turned in her direction.

Now here was the catch, women turning towards a man was somehow additive to his reputation. Men turning towards a woman was the opposite; it was not admiration it was a leer, it was not appreciation of her form, it was objectification. Matilda saw the woman tighten her coat around her as she went out the revolving door.

Matilda felt bad for her. She could understand the discomfort.

The next time she saw the woman, was at a restaurant that she and Bas frequented for lunch. The woman was there with an olive skinned, black, curly haired friend. She saw Sebastian and immediately ducked. Sebastian had been facing away from her so he missed her. Again. 

Matilda saw her say something to her friend who leaned back and nonchalantly gave Bas the once over. Her smile revealed that she liked what she saw. Matilda didn't have to be a lip reader to see the friend encourage the woman to talk to Bas. The woman shook her head, grabbed her purse and with her face hidden behind it, left. Her friend followed her with a sigh.

These were surely signs from fate that Matilda should intervene.

Matilda would not.

Sometimes these true loves, these soulmates, found each other naturally. Most times, they missed each other—childhood sweethearts who moved away and lost touch, a meet cute that never went anywhere because the guy and the girl were too shy, soulmates who belonged to different social classes and hence never had a chance to get together; the reasons were endless.

This was why fairy godmothers were important. You needed them to ensure that soulmates at least found each other. Whether or not it worked out was up to them.

Sebastian's a grown man, Matilda told herself, He does not need a matchmaker running around after him.

This fact was evidenced by just how many women turned around when he entered any room. Even more so by how many women in office flirted around with him.

"Ooh, Bas, you're such a gentleman," Sarah from Accounting said, making doe eyes as he helped her carry the not so heavy files to her desk. Sebastian was never one to let a woman carry around anything heavy.

"Happy to help Sarah," Sebastian winked to her. She tilted her head to enjoy the view of his receding... form, yes, form, as he walked away.

"I've got a problem," Stephanie from reception leaned over her counter desk, "I've got two tickets to this Ed Sheeran concert and no one to take me." She fanned out the tickets, "Wanna be my date."

Sebastian looked at the dates, "Aw Stephie, I'd love to but I've got plans with my brother that day. Try Scott Weathers. He would love to go with you." Stephanie pouted in misery as she too, tilted her head to enjoy the view of his... form, yes, form.

"Hiya Bas," Cara, who had the desk opposite Matilda's stared at him when he came over to talk to her.

"Heyyy Cara. What's good?" He winked.

"I'm looking at the only good thing on this floor." Cara smiled and Sebastian ducked his head in laughter. The tips of his ears red in embarrassment.

"Hey Cara, how's Calvin?" Matilda reminded the woman of her boyfriend. 

Cara made a face to her, then she turned to Bas, sweetly. "You know I'm always available for you, don't you Bas?"

"Always, Cara." He flashed his charming smile.

Matilda rolled her eyes.

"Till, we have to go over to the Hotel early to set up the seminar room."

"Why me? That's an Admin job."

"Yeah and they did a wonderful job last time." He said, his words dripping in loathly sarcasm. Last year's release event had been a bit of a mess.

"Sebastian. I'm a Business Analyst. This is not my job." She told him firmly.

He put his hands on her shoulders, something he did every time he wanted something from her. "I know. It's mine. But I really need the help and you're the only one I can count on. Please help me out, Matilda. Pleeeease?"

He made his big puppy eyes and a very reluctant smile escaped her lips. She caved, as always. She could never say no to him.

"Fine!"

Every six months their company, Intellica, held a Major Release Event where they invited their clients as well as their employees to view the latest features and innovations in their software. It was a big deal, the CEO himself always gave a presentation on the corporate strategy of the company and what milestones they would achieve, moving forward. Such events usually fell under Marketing, who were always understaffed as per Sebastian.

The events were held at the banquet halls of La Fae Hotel. The staff was wonderful to work with but there was much to do so Matilda and Sebastian had to run around the place getting everything together.

"I told them a million times it was Hall E not Hall B. Idiots!" Sebastian was fuming as he carried the carton of pencils and the notebooks printed in company branding, that were to be given out to the participants.

Matilda was never happy when Sebastian got angry. He was kind of a firecracker like Phil except not quite as aggressive; all red and raging but it would quickly dissipate.

"Relax. There's still an hour left." She ran beside him as they tried to catch the elevator.

"Hold it!" Sebastian shouted to the closing gates. They missed it by a second.

"Shit!" He said, frustrated. By some miracle they reopened.

Oh whoever is in this car is a saint!

That saint had curly golden hair, lush lips and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and she was just as shocked to see them as they were to see her.

"Thanks." Sebastian said, remembering his manners. She stepped aside to let them in.

"Which-uh," She cleared her throat, "Which floor?"

Matilda waited but Sebastian didn't answer.

"Just two floors up." She told the woman, feeling suddenly ashamed that they didn't take the stairs. The woman must think they were lazy.

They were in the elevator car for only one, maybe two minutes but it felt like hours. There was a palpable tension between the woman and Sebastian; Matilda could tell by his tense shoulders and the fact that they kept sneaking glances at each other.

When the gates opened Sebastian immediately stepped out as if he had been bitten by a snake but Matilda held the door open.

"Hey, I'm Matilda, what's your name?"

"Kat." The woman said without thinking, taken aback by the abruptness of Matilda's question.

"Thanks for holding the car Kat." And now the woman had a name.

The release event was a success—more or less. In truth it was less than more since the demo for the new features ran into a glitch and her boss Andrew had to buy time with a badly executed, awkward stand-up routine. Still, it was better than last year and that's what counted.

Tired and exhausted, Matilda slumped against the car window as Sebastian drove her home. Since Sebastian lived near Matilda's place, it was understood that they would always carpool together.

"Hey, you asleep?" He asked as they neared her place.

"Nah." Matilda sat up and rubbed her eyes, "I'm awake."

"Listen, my brother is having a luncheon for Mal and Phil, for their baby."

"Um-hmm." Matilda hadn't met Sebastian's brother. He was known to be an elitist who only associated with upper class people with connections.

"You're invited too." Sebastian gulped.

"For lunch? At your brother's place?" Matilda was suddenly very awake. "Why?"

Sebastian hesitated, "Well he's invited everyone... of course you're invited too."

Ah, so it's a pity invite. Of course it would be weird if all of the friends gathered and only one of them got left out.

"Does he know I'm not some elite socialite?"

Sebastian chuckled, "Yeah he knows."

"Do I have to be there?" Matilda was dreading it already. She could already picture how stuffy and proper the entire ordeal would be.

The car stopped at her apartment building. Sebastian turned to her.

"It'll be fine. Just wear a pretty dress and put on your best smile and it'll be over before you know it." He made it sound so easy. But of course it was easy for him. Sebastian was already trained in the art of pretentious small talk.

Matilda sighed, "Fine. I'll be there." She could never say no to him.

"Don't wear a suit though." Sebastian quickly added.

"Why not? Won't he like me dressed formally."

"Suits on a woman aren't formal, they're corporate. Wear some dress or something. But nothing too flashy."

Jeez, he's actually worried about this.

"Don't worry Bas." She patted his cheek, "I won't embarrass you."

She swiftly unbuckled her seatbelt and tried to get out gracefully but instead stumbled and almost fell.

"I'm okay!" She declared when she got on her feet.

As Sebastian drove away Matilda wondered whethershe had promised Sebastian more than she could actually deliver.