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He tells me everything when I ask: how he's twenty-six but has been for a while until he finally stops Drifting and he'll continue his mortal life. How there is another me and Owen in this other world, but they spell their names differently. He tells me how I'm Fated to Owen there, and the other me and Joshua are having a forbidden affair.

I pour myself another cup of tea. The thing is that it sounds completely ludicrous, it sounds like something from TV. But I can feel the truth flowing through me, and not one inch of a lie.

"There isn't much known about Drifters, because they're pretty much underground and hidden like the Segregated Ones are, you know?" Joshua says.

I remember reading Harry Potter when I was younger. It was so weird to me, and I couldn't get through it much because it's not my thing, but when I watched the films, I remember there being a mention of the Segregated Ones. Those who died, their Fated Ones mentioned how they became irrelevant and Segregated because they no longer had Fated Ones. I also distinctly remember how in the book Hermione was Fated to Harry Potter, but they changed it in the film, so she was Fated to Ron.

"What do you know?" I ask.

"Both Joshua and I have to Declare our want to change worlds. If we screwed up for whatever reason and chose the same world, we would... well, die. Or that's the rumour, anyway. We've been communicating by letters, which is a loophole. We've Declared our want to stay in the other world. So me here, and him there. Hopefully, the change has happened, but we don't know. Back there, I'm Fated to someone called Charlotte, who Segregated herself because we didn't get on. It was weird because, though our Knots match, I haven't felt the strength to her that I have with you. But there, Emilia, well, you, are Fated to Owain, the same man you're with here," he explains.

"So... how can we both have two Fated Ones?" I question.

"We can't. You get one Fated One per world. I've been theorising with a friend in my home-world. There are rumours that people fake their Knots for... various reasons. But mainly because they're Segregated; they have no Fated One, so they fake them."

"But if your Knot matches mine and you're not from this world... doesn't that make you Segregated?"

"Technically, yes, but only there. Here, no. That's why Joshua and I were born in the wrong world. My theory is that he is Fated to Charlotte," Joshua says.

My brain hurts. Yet, I know this must be true. I meet his dark eyes, something passes between us, and my lips start tingling.

Because I've been so desperate for the truth, the awkwardness between us hasn't really come to fruition. But now I take a break and look at him properly, I remember everything from last night; the way his hands started discovering me, the feel of his skin...

I thought I hated him. But it hasn't been him I've hated. I've gotten Joshua all wrong, and I didn't even know it.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper.

He knows what I'm talking about because we can feel each other. But I don't even think we need our tether for him to know.

"You don't need to be, Amelia," he says. "You've told me this once before, but do you not have the strength of the connection between you and Owen?"

I stare at him. His implication is silent, but it's so loud in my mind.

My chest hurts to even think about it.

"No, I don't. The thing is, though, I've known Owen literally all my life. Our mums were best friends, they were pregnant together. He's a week older than me. When we were five, he told me he was my Fated One. We've been together since we were twelve, sort of. You know what I mean. All we've ever known is each other. I've known his mannerisms and feelings like the back of my hand. I always have, so we've always assumed because of that we haven't had these strong connections that other people say they have with their Fated Ones."

Joshua sighs and sips his coffee. He's reacting to that. He has a theory, and I think I can see it etched into his face, but I deny it in my mind.

"Do you not feel him like we do? Fuck, Amelia, some nights I've been woken up because I can feel you simply waking up for the toilet. I can feel whenever you have a nightmare. I'm so attuned to you; I'm refusing to believe that you don't have that with Owen just because you've known him all your life. If he was Fated to you, you'd have that kind of thing still. It's just the way," he says eventually.

I stay silent.

"I could feel that you didn't want to kiss me last night. Before you got into it. I could feel it in my head. Our connection is so strong, it forces us to do things like that," Joshua adds. "Despite the obvious between you and Owen, it would've done that kind of thing to you."

I sip my tea.

"I'll leave it at that," he finishes.

"Fuck. I kissed you. You're my tutor—"

He chuckles. "No, I'm not."

I glance at him. "You handed in your notice, or, what?"

"No. I am technically not your tutor. The other Joshua is. I'm not qualified. I have my degree in sociology, but I actually work as the manager of the coffee shop your fiancé is."

I snort. "You do Owen's job?"

"Ironic, right? But seriously, I'm technically not. If things settle, I'll start applying for a job I am qualified for. It's difficult. I've been Drifting enough times to fill in for him for a short while. But I suppose to others, yeah, on the outside our positions would look strange. But if it's Fated, then people can't deny that either," he says.

"It is not that simple, and you know it," I say.

He doesn't respond.

I think the fact we're connected makes this easier to digest because it makes sense. It's just crazy and a ridiculous thing.

"I can try and answer any questions, I know you've probably got thousands. I just want you to know because you deserve to," Joshua says.

I pour myself the last tea from the pot and stare at the camellia flower in the middle of the table.

"What am I like... in the other world? Am I the same?" I ask.

He pauses for thought and I watch his eyes dull a little.

"Well, you have the same name, but spelt differently. But personality-wise, you're a little different. You're my employee, for a start. There are little differences, like there, you have a scar on your lip. But you are... a little more mellow. Emilia there, she's louder, brash, more opinionated."

I laugh. "That's a nicer way of saying I'm a bitch over there, right?"

He grins. "I wouldn't say bitch, probably just different. The thing is, you might be the same people, but individuals are just that, right? A bit like identical twins: they might look the same, but they have different personalities, and if you believe in souls, souls."

I nod and drink the last of my tea in one gulp.

The unspoken between us is like a long road of nothingness. Usually, silence is the most powerful thing, isn't it? A bit like magic, it's the bits the magician doesn't show you that surprise and make you gasp the most. How did he make that disappear, or when you see the end product and wonder how he got there.

Joshua and I are the end products but the space in between us is the most magical because we don't have to air it. We just know.

The chemical reaction happens when the ingredients are mixed, one touch and it flares, sparks, and explodes.

Like when our eyes meet across the table.

"I do not regret telling you." We both know he means something else.

"Joshua, this is a lot for me to take in," I reply. "I cheated on my fiancé last night. Meaning to or not, want to or not, Fated or not, that's what happened—"

"Amelia, what if he's faked his Knot?"

If you stick Mentos in Coke, it creates a ridiculous explosion. When I first saw it happen at school, I thought it was magic. What I quickly learned was that it wasn't magic, it was just a bunch of chemicals reacting together.

Joshua's words were unsaid, and that was fine because I didn't have to react to them, I could just store them away in my pocket. But now he's said it, it's out there and created a reaction.

"Why would anyone fake their Knot?" I demand. I feel his regret in saying it, and I assume he can feel my resistance to the idea.

"A lot of reasons. It's clear we are Fated—"

"I have two soulmates. You'll see when you meet him tomorrow," I mention.

He sighs and nods. His annoyance seeps through my veins like a river.

"I'm not sure where we go from here," he adds. "If you're adamant—"

"Nothing is happening," I say. "I'm engaged to Owen and that's it. Plus, we don't even know what's happening with your... Declaration yet. You're still my tutor, plus one kiss doesn't mean anything."

"I know full well that's a lie, I can sense it," he retorts.

My attitude will get me nowhere here. I can't hide anything from him. I stand from the chair instead and glance around the place. Books are scattered on the shelves, clearly placed in a hurry. Sociology books, fiction books, biographies.

The Fault in Our Stars lies there, the cover so obvious. I remember reading it a couple of years back; the boy had cancer, and they fell in love. But she was Fated to someone else; the best friend the love interest was supporting at the cancer support group where they met. It broke me when I read it; Owen had read it before me and refused to tell me the ending. I often see on social media people asking the author whether she got with the friend in the end or whether she Segregated herself because of the love interest's death. He never answers, though.

"I don't know what to do," I admit.

He stands behind me, his breath falling down my neck where he's so close. When you're scared, the ice rolls up your spine, but this is the opposite. He comforts me without even touching me. It's confusing, it's rightand it's everything I know I need.

His left-hand brushes against my wrist, stopping on my Knot. Immediately, all the bad emotions melt like chocolate and get devoured like we're in a chocolate factory. My eyes close and I let him envelope me in a hug.

I can't deny I want more than this because of the connection. I want to feel his hands over me, his lips on mine, I want to feel the heat and electricity we create.

But we can't. I also don't want it.

"We can't do this," I whisper, breaking the contact.

"We're Fated," he responds.

"That doesn't make this right."

"Nothing could be more right, Amelia," he whispers.

If I respond to that, the one thing I want to say would be a lie. The one thing my morals want me to say would be a mixture of confusion and a lie.

"I don't think you get this: I'm engaged, Joshua. I've just learnt that you're from a parallel world," I whisper. I grab my handbag from the floor and without saying anything else, I walk out of the house.

When the door closes, I feel his devastation hit me like a hit and run.

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When two chemicals aren't meant to be together, nothing happens. They just stay the same. When two are meant to be together, you get a reaction, or a new chemical will be made.

Owen and I are meant to be. We create a new chemical, we make an explosion of rightness. We always have and always will.

Except Joshua has made me think. Nothing has been the same since I found out about his Knot.

"By the way, I'm on the closing shift tomorrow—"

"Owen, we're meant to be meeting Joshua—"

He scoffs, making me shut up. "What, the guy claiming to be trying to take you away from me? Yeah, whatever. We need the money, Camellia. Rent ain't gonna pay itself, meanwhile, his lovesick delusions can wait."

"Fine, then I'll tell him to come to the coffee shop," I retort.

He rolls his eyes and turns the shower off. I lean against the door as he appears from the shower, the steam rolling off him like a curtain. If I didn't know any better, he would look like a villain.

"I don't understand why you're so tightly wound on this, Camellia. We have the same Knot; we have had since we got them. We're Fated, engaged. Some idiot comes by—"

"Owen, come on," I argue.

"Don't tell me, you've been having these little feelings again. What, do you think they're signs? Have you been reading shit on the internet again?"

"Why the fuck would I lie?" I snap. I could tell him what Joshua told me today about Drifting, but he told me in confidence, and even if I could tell Owen, he would laugh me out of the house and into a mental institute.

"It's not you that I don't trust, Amelia."

He wraps the towel around his waist, and normally I would be arguing with him about that fact, and we'd end up back in the shower together or having a fumble against the bath, but everything about him turns me off right now.

What the hell is going on with me?

"Fine, bring him into work tomorrow whenever we were due to meet. But I'm telling you now, this is all in your head, my camellia. Maybe after I prove you wrong, we can look at that wedding venue I sent you earlier," he says.

I don't even remember him sending me anything. I just nod in response.

"Owen?" I ask.

"Hm?"

I follow him into the bedroom. He faces me as I approach him. I know what he wants; a distraction so I don't keep going on about the Knot.

He pulls me into his hold, his lips kissing my neck. His arousal perks up against my thigh, but I ignore it. The swirl of bile in my stomach at the thought of sex is overwhelming right now. I move to give his lips more access to my neck, and he nips the skin ever so slightly. But I only care about one thing, and as his left hand reaches up to my chest, I put my fingers over where his Knot is.

Something happens, like the snap of an elastic band.

A small part of me expects me to start feeling Owen's desire in my head, but instead, I feel the pang of jealousy and anger from Joshua.

I step back from Owen.

"What the fuck? Amelia?" he asks. The towel drops to the floor, and I don't even have to look down to know he's fully erect, expecting me to have sex with him.

"I need to... this is too much," I stammer.

"What are you on about?" he demands.

I back out of the bedroom and run as the realisation hits me.

Owen isn't my Fated One, and I don't think he ever has been.

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