*Luna*

As I stepped out of the shower, I heard someone singing in another room and recognized that heavenly sound coming from Amir. He was singing a beautiful song from his homeland and sounded like he was in his living room. I ran downstairs and stared at him, while he continued singing in his dining room, his gaze my way.

Chase was outside doing yard work, and Sarah was in her bedroom playing with her cute little dolls. It's the Friday before Memorial Day, and we made plans to have a barbecue with Chase's work buddies and their families at a local park. Then tomorrow Sarah and I will drive to Houston to see Liberty and Ahmed; Chase had a work obligation he had to tend to.

If Amir is around (which was inevitable), I could show him around Houston and browse the small neighborhood I lived in before moving to Louisiana.

This Memorial Day was planned differently, and if I'd let Chase have his way, the both of us would be getting married in just a few days. I was glad I persuaded him to change his mind and think about things a lot more. I wanted time to sort out my feelings and not rush into a marriage straight away. I wanted everything to be perfect, and go like we'd planned.

However, seeing Amir now had my heart racing again. I hated having to postpone meeting him, but it had to be done. The day that we meet I want nothing to be in the way. Plus, I won't mind showing my city in person for once, possibly standing several feet apart. Of course, I would have the issue of Chase or anyone else conjuring up conspiracy theories of who he is.

But I came up with a plausible excuse. Well, not really an excuse, but a reason why anyone would notice me hanging out with Amir. I would mention that I was showing a nice tourist around The Big Easy since he didn't know much about America. But I also know how people can be and become judgemental at the first sight of him. Luckily, I'm not that way and never will be.

Maybe in a few weeks, Amir and I won't think of each other in a romantic way anymore. I'm not sure how the future will go. I just know that the both of us need to make our connection work, and the only way to do that was to let go. Neither of us should hold the other down on whatever we wanted or needed in life. It almost killed me to tell him the other day that we needed to stop what we have, but I had to do it. He would've continued living with that small hope of us, and I couldn't let that happen. I would be devastated if he lived his life alone because he didn't move on. Any sensible person would do that for someone they truly care about.

I shook those thoughts out of my mind and gazed back at Amir standing in his kitchen. He was wearing a brown shirt and tan slacks with brown shoes, and a brown tie. He must have plans for his evening since it was after eight pm here. He turned the volume up on his song that was on the radio and smiled my way while translating the music for me.

He doesn't realize that I know Urdu now. I've listened to many songs, watched a lot of Lollywood films (which have turned out to be my favorite thing to watch, aside from Bollywood and my love for Bride and Prejudice), and I've started understanding his language by tunning into his mind, one of the best telepathic perks ever. He was the most beautiful soul I'd ever had the pleasure of being acquainted with, and I loved knowing how he was and what made him the happiest.

When the song finished, he shifted closer to me and reached for my hand, bringing it up to his lips. Then I murmured something to him in Urdu, and it surprised him. It was like he was an alien who had a different language, and he heard it from the mouth of someone who wasn't like him.

Coming close to his ear, I whispered, "Tumhaari aawaaz khud hi mauseeqi hai." He smiled and laughed a little.

What I said translated to, 'Your voice itself is music.' I could sense it made him warm and fuzzy inside. He was shy when it came to anyone hearing him sing.

Knowing that he loved hearing me speak to him in his language, I added,
"Tum khush hotay ho to lugta hai jaisay saara jahaan khil utha hai," which was, "When you are happy, it feels like the whole world has blossomed."

He smiled down at me and said, "I have a lot of reasons to be happy. One reason is standing right here in my presence." I pressed my lips into a thin line and looked up at him, unable to peer my gaze away.

Before I could respond, we heard Sarah's door opening.

Standing in my living room, Sarah pranced down the hallway and she jumped straight into my arms, wanting to play with me. But I stepped back and gazed while Amir was playing with her instead. He's not only great with me, but he was also great with children. He picked her tiny body up and threw her around like he was playing an airplane game with her. I laughed and smiled while seeing how cute he was playing with her and how delighted she was being played with. Her little mind believed it was me because it was my body. But it was Amir who tickled her and ran around the couch with her.

When she ran off to play hide-and-seek, he gazed my way and straightened his back up. If he had children, he'd be a great father. Hopefully that will happen for him.

"She is a sweetheart," he said stepping toward me.

"She can be. But don't let her fool you. She knows how to get people to eat out of the palm of her hand."

"Like mother, like daughter." Smooth.

I playfully slapped his chest and gazed up at him. "Hilarious. But I shouldn't stand here for long. Chase is outside somewhere, and he doesn't need to see me talking to the air."

Amir nodded and looked around for a moment. "I know. I was about to finish cooking for a few friends who are coming by. I wasn't expecting to see you right now. It's Friday morning for you, and you are normally busy at this time."

"I know. My plans were to wake up and shower, then get ready for a gathering with Chase's work friends. I stepped out of the shower and heard you singing. I had to come down and hear your concert." I giggled his way, knowing my cheeks were flaming red. He knew I love hearing him sing sweet melodies.

"Oh yeah. It's pretty crowded in here. My show is sold out," he replied, making me laugh.

I wrapped my arms around my waist, and then realized that not only was I still in a towel, but my hair was down and dripping water on my hardwood floor.

He glanced down at me and turned around quickly, letting out a deep breath. "Sorry. I shouldn't be looking at you while you're wearing... that."

I cleared my throat and tried to hide my embarrassment. My face was on fire. Like someone had suddenly turned on an internal heater inside my system, and my pale skin slowly turning from a ghastly white to a shade of a ripe strawberry. The warmth had now bloomed into a full blown, a swelting heat wave bursting through my pores and triggering the waterfalls in my eyes. It wasn't like we'd never seen each other nude before, but this wasn't appropriate right now. I'd forgotten to throw on my robe upstairs before walking out of the bathroom.

Luna... get ahold of yourself, I scold myself.

"I-ahem-I should go put on a robe. I wasn't thinking when I ran down here like a bat out of hell."

He chuckled with his back facing me, and his sound reverberated the room.
But I didn't want him to disappear from my presence. I wanted to see him for a few more minutes, at least. We also couldn't continue standing here like this in the open. I didn't want anyone to catch me talking to myself.

I gazed around and made sure Chase wasn't peeking through the window and then checked to see if Sarah was in the hall. No prying eyes. So, I grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him into my laundry room. He walked into his in his house and switched the light on as I shuffled clothes for something to wear from my side. I really didn't need to be in a towel around Amir. Not when we were still vulnerable and wrecked by our mutual decision we made recently. I didn't want him to see me... indisposed. And I had to think quickly.

Sarah was still hiding and could wander off and listen in on me chatting to him. She doesn't need to see her mother talking to herself because of what happened last time.

I hallucinated her late father for months when she was two-years-old. I saw Sam everywhere and had actual conversations with him, especially during private moments. I later sought help, and things had gotten better over time. I don't want anyone to see me talking to Amir, because they wouldn't be able to see him. And anyone who knows me would think I was going insane again. Even I would if I saw me.

Although, this time around was different. Amir was a real-life man and not someone who was solely in my head. But nobody would believe that. That was why Amir and I had to stay discreet. I had to be careful when my lips were moving with no one next to me... physically.

Amir kept his body facing the wall like a gentleman as I pulled out a clean white T-shirt and black leggings, then quickly got dressed. When I was finished, I mumbled behind his shoulders, "You can turn around now. I'm decent." He whipped his neck my way and smiled, an eyebrow raised.

"Better?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry for rushing in here like this. Chase is out doing yard work. He doesn't need to see me talking."

"I understand. He may think the invisible man stopped by again." I looked down and nodded.

"True. He visits me quite a lot. I've gotten used to his visits." I exhaled a deep breath as he stood next to his dryer, and I stayed still in front of the washer. "So, you have a few people coming over?" He nodded.

"I'm hosting a small dinner for Faisal, Cyrus, Yousaf, and Faris. Faisal and I are the only ones who fast, and it's almost sundown here. So I went all out. Cyrus and Yousaf live in Lahore, and they rarely get to come to Islamabad."

"Oh, that's nice. Are they..." I wanted to ask if they were part of us, but I felt stupid inquiring about that. Amir still answered.

"Yes. Both Yousaf and Cyrus are Tethered Souls. Yousaf's companion, Jamal, is from Kenya; a young man in his late teens, and Yousaf is in his mid-twenties. Jamal looks up to him like an older brother."

"Oh, so not all Tethered Souls are the opposite gender?" He nodded. I didn't know that. I only knew of Faisal and Cassie, and yet, I still can't see her.

"That's correct. It's not always a male and female pairing, but each of us have the same goal. We help guide our partners with anything that goes on in each other's lives."

"I love the way our species work."

He chuckled and grinned a little, our eyes locked. "Cyrus' companion, Gabriela, is from Italy. She and Cyrus kind of remind me of us."

I smiled and let out a tiny laugh. "Oh, really? How so?"

His smile shinned brightly under the light in his room.

"They're really close and very attached. They're dating, if that's what they call it. They stay in their respective countries and see each other telepathically all the time."

I smiled a little and looked down, thinking of how it was between us. I am sure that if Cyrus was anything like Amir, then he worries over his companion just the same.

Amir kept his eyes on mine and then started laughing, shaking his head.

"What? What are you laughing about?" I inquired.

"I was just thinking about the time I went to Cyrus for advice," he replied.

"Advice? What kind of advice?"

"It's nothing really. It's just that Cyrus sort of became my Tethered Guru. That's a name I started calling him, and he loves to pick on me about it." Now that made me laugh out loud. I couldn't hold it in. I just hoped that no one could hear me through my thin walls.

"I'm serious," he added, chuckling and gazing outside the small window of his laundry room. The sun sparkled down in the distance.

"How did he become your Tethered Guru?" That sounded so weird, but funny at the same time.

"It was last year when I left you alone for that short time." I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth. "The time I distanced myself from you."

"Yeah. I remember. You ghosted me. You cut me off. I didn't see me for eons." That came out a little harsher than I wanted.

"I didn't mean to. But yeah, Cyrus was the person who helped me see the ignorance of my ways."

"The ignorance of your ways? I should say that is the right phrase to describe it. Leaving me in the cold and all."

His eyes went darker as he placed his hands on his hips.

I could sense his urgency to hold me and let me know how sorry he was, but we were both trying to hold off on doing that; trying not to reignite any feelings between us.

"For real, though. How did he help you?" I asked calmly, resisting the urge to hold his body and breathe him in.

Amir locked his eyes with mine as his nose twitched. "Cyrus gave me some advice about life and a few problems that I was dealing with."

"Oh, okay. You had some math problems that you needed solving." I laughed loudly as I saw him prop his leg up against the wall.

"Not exactly, Ms. Sarcasm."

"Hey, you like it when I'm sarcastic. Don't say you don't." He shook his head and snickered.

"You're something else, Ms. Sarcastic." He shifted legs and folded his arms across his expansive chest. "Actually, it was advice about connecting with you and how things went for he and Gabi."

I gave Amir a small smile and leaned gently against my dryer. The room almost felt stuffy while talking in here, but this was the only place I could hide out for a moment.

"That sounds cute. So he acted like a tethered guru?"

"Something like that. He has more experience than I do. It's kind of ironic, though. Cyrus and Gabi met a few years before their powers manifested. So they had a chance to get to know each other beforehand."

"Damn. Now I feel kind of envious here." He thrusted his hand through his hair and nodded back at me.

"They were lucky to meet before their powers and not become ill. I would've loved to have met you, Luna."

"Same here. I'm just wondering how they didn't get ill."

He shrugged a shoulder. "We don't know. They're the only ones I know of who met without any complications and are paired together. Their feelings for each other developed over time."

I cocked an eyebrow and smirked his way. "Like us, you mean?"

"Something like that." He narrowed his eyes to the floor, and then brought his gaze outside the window. "Before meeting you, I never believed in love before marriage. I always thought love would come after getting married. But maybe that also had to do with how I view arranged marriages."

I stepped away from the washer and stood next to his body, then laid a hand on his left shoulder and slowly brought my finger down to his hand, tracing his knuckles, my fingertip lingering on his third knuckle. "If you think about it, we were an arranged pairing. Almost an arranged marriage, but by the universe, and by Allah. Our souls were united after I was born, and we gradually became more than what we intended. I'm thankful to be arranged with you, Amir. I couldn't picture my life without you in it."

He turned his neck my way and looked deeply into my eyes. "How will I ever move on from the woman that I love? This is such a difficult decision for us to make. You mean the world to me, and I'm sorry that I'm over-stepping my boundaries again, but I know in my soul that you are meant for me."

I sniffled and wiped a tear coming down my cheek before he had a chance to remove it by his soft touch. His touch would make me succumb to what I desired right now, but I couldn't allow that to happen. Even though his aura was so warm and inviting, it wouldn't feel right to feel his comfort around me. I'd lose myself in his words and the depth of his eyes, and somehow go back to how we were with one another. I'd feel at home when I shouldn't. If Amir was the only water in a desert, I'd stand still and just watch, tempted but paralyzed, yearning for a taste.

And I shouldn't taste it. That would be giving into temptation, something I'm keeping control of.

"I know it's hard for you, but we can't continue doing this. I love-"

"Luna?" Chase's voice boomed from behind me while I was having a heartfelt discussion with Amir, seeing me talking to the wall. Crap. How am I going to cover this?

I wiped my eyes and turned around slowly. Amir had already gone back to what he was doing and here I was, feeling my heart pounding rapidly inside my chest. I looked at Chase and plastered on a fake smile. "Hey."

He took a step forward with a confused look upon his face. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded fervently. "Yeah. Everything's fine. I was looking for something clean to wear after getting out of the shower."

"Oh," he said, his blond hair dripping with sweat. It must've been hot out there. "Where's Sarah?"

"Oh. We were playing hide and seek, and I forgot to go hunt for her." He chuckled and then stepped to the side to allow me to walk through. "I'll go look for her."

He stood still with his eyes locked hard on mine and his eyebrows creased. I quickly turned the corner of the hallway and stood against the wall, panting. He knew something was up. I wasn't careful enough. And I guess I was so in tuned with Amir that I hadn't heard the laundry room door crack open. Who knows how long he stood there and watched me talk to myself through his eyes. Hopefully, he won't bring it up and this was just a blip. I hope so.

I stepped away from the wall and headed into the bathroom to get myself prepared for the barbeque. Then I found Sarah hiding under the cabinet and told her to go to her room and get ready. Once she was out of the bathroom, I started working on myself and kept messing up on my makeup and replied a light-pink blush to my cheeks. Now I looked like a clown. I glanced down and giggled, thinking of what Amir would say.

He'd tell me, "You're a very sexy clown." I shook my head and tried to think of something else, other than the man who I was just chatting with.

When I was finished, I made my way into my bedroom and slipped on my red summer dress and wedges. As I gazing in my long mirror, I saw Chase standing in the doorway with his arms wrapped over his chest and legs crossed.

"Wow. My baby looks very nice. I'll have to fend off my friends from hitting on you."

I slightly chuckled and clasped my necklace around my neck. "Trust me. You have nothing to worry about." I wasn't lying on that part when it refers to his single friends. I had no interest in any of them.

"I know." Chase stepped forward and held my hips with his large hands. "I'm going to shower and get dressed. I forgot to tell you downstairs that I mowed the front lawn and cut all those weeds around the side of the house."

"Oh. Thank you. You didn't have to do all that."

"Well it needed to be done." He walked over to the closet and pulled out a red silk shirt and a pair of black slacks, then grabbed a silver tie and picked up his hygiene stuff.

After he left the room, I checked on Sarah and helped her with her shoes, then we sat in the living room to wait for Chase. I tuned into Amir and gazed from his hallway while he passed around different dishes with his friends seated around the table. He smiled and gazed at each of his guests, showing how nice of a host he was.

I grabbed one of my strands and twirled the end around my finger, thinking about what I had done to him.
He devoted his heart and soul to me, and all I did was crush it.

Faisal cleared his throat and nodded toward me when Amir's eyes lock on his. Amir glanced my way with wide eyes, and he gulped down a glass of water. The senses in his body scattered, and the heat from his aura hit against mine.

I waved goodbye, and then appeared back on my couch. I kept my attention on Sarah as we waited for Chase to be finished. Then I felt a hand trace my fingers, and I turned to my right, gazing at Amir as he sat next to me.

He'd left the dining room for a moment and went into his bedroom as our scene changed.

"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes upon. That dress and everything about you is mesmerising." He wiped a tear off my chin and kissed my cheek. "I just wanted to tell one last time that I love you, Luna." He smiled at Sarah as she started coloring in her book. "Both of you," he whispered gently near my ear, staring deeply into my eyes.

Then he was gone, and Chase walked back into the room, adjusting his shirt and tie. Sarah looked up and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his leg.

"You look handsome, Daddy." He smiled down at her and picked her tiny body up. "Doesn't he look handsome, Mommy?"

"He does," I told her, and then got up from my seat, making my way to the front door. I grabbed my purse off the rack and turned around to face them, knowing my eyes were red and puffy from tears streaming down. "Everyone ready?"

They both grinned as we made our way to Chase's Porsche. All of us piled into the car and headed to Phil's house in Slidell, which was about twenty miles away from New Orleans. I laid back in my seat and brought my head against the window while juggling my thoughts and feelings that I developed between Chase and Amir.

I fell in love with someone else while I was engaged, and that wasn't right. I need to figure out how to find my way back to Chase. Breaking things off with Amir was something that had to be done. Even if I moved out on my own with Sarah, I still needed to cut our emotional ties. We have no future together, not one that I could see.

I'm glad that I realized it before it was too late, and I can figure out how to fall back in love with Chase. He was in my future before Amir, and he will always be there afterwards.

I needed to focus on how to be honest with him and explain that I fell in love with someone else. It was only right before we say our vows. But I definitely couldn't do that now. Maybe in a few weeks or a month from now. Being honest is always hard but worth it in the end. I had to embrace the inevitable, even though I was frightened of the outcome.

***

·Urdu translation credit goes to
Muaazics Thank You!·