· · ──── ·𖥸· ──── · ·

Joshua had believed for as long as he could remember that there was beauty in everything and everyone. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder; and while he might find the beauty in someone's smile, someone else might find their beauty in their eyes. But he had believed everyone had beauty somewhere.

Until he met Owen. Though he didn't outwardly seem abusive, he could see how entwined Amelia was in him. He supposed it was natural if they had known each other since birth, but Joshua found it difficult all the same. He could feel the guilt rolling from her as they kissed, he could feel the shame hidden beneath her excitement and arousal as she clambered off his lap and told him she didn't want to make him second best.

He chuckled. "That's the funny thing, Amelia, I know I'm not. I haven't been since we were in the coffee shop." His words were the truth: she'd run after him, she'd scolded Joshua, she'd realised she was not Fated to him.

Whatever was happening, she'd admitted to falling in love with him, and he could feel it. She'd said for so long that she didn't really believe you could have one soulmate in life, yet he could feel her own words biting her.

And he loved that fact.

"It's not that easy, Joshua," she whispered.

He stood from the sofa, acutely aware she could feel his arousal, but he didn't care at that point. They could feel each other's, it was thick in the air as well as their minds like fog.

"It might not be, but I can feel you questioning everything you ever knew about him. You were embarrassed in that meeting with him, you ran away from him, and the first thing you did was tell him that you weren't going to shut me out, and then you ran after me when we were done. I'm not... I don't expect you to leave him right now, or at all in fact, as much as I'd love you to—"

"Joshua," she cut in.

He shook his head. "You need the truth, and you need to hear it from him. But the thing is, Amelia, you might think you love him, I can feel your confusion over it. But can you honestly love a man who fucked you over? If the government finds out about him... well, he'd be risking both his life and yours. You'd be Segregated, or worse, and it won't matter if you knew about him faking or not."

She blinked, her mouth moving to reply, but she thought better of it.

"I don't think he's done it out of malice, but he clearly didn't give you one thought. What is even worse is that he was faced with the truth, and he just laughed it off, threw it away and decided for you that you'd pick him. He might have been your childhood sweetheart, Amelia, but you're not a child anymore."

Joshua felt proud of himself; his argument was fool-proof. He was giving her the choice, but they both knew she had no choice. She either faced the truth or she Segregated herself. The fact was, he might have been backing her into a corner, but he was doing it because she'd confessed her love for him, and he could feel it shining like glitter around them. Every moment since she got off his lap, he could feel her resisting the urge to go back to him.

"You're not giving me the choice either," she argued quietly. "The government clearly have been tricked into thinking Owen is my Fated. My card says Owen, look—" She grabbed her purse, a hot pink leather thing, and pulled out the baby blue card everyone got alongside their Knot Art. She unfolded it and showed it to him.

In calligraphy handwriting, it said clearly Owen, England.

He snorted. He grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket and found his. Baby blue and folded, he took it out. Amelia, England.

In black, typed writing.

"Why is mine handwritten? Owen's is like that, too. I've seen Sam's but I don't remember; I was drunk. Owen said he watched his Artist write it out when he got his tattoo..." Her voice stopped when she realised what she was saying.

"I thought you were Fated to someone in the other world as well?" Amelia asked him by way of stalling.

"I am. Because I'm a Drifter, I have one Fated One per world. Charlotte is a Segregated One, yet special. She can live without her Fated One because she's Segregated. But if I stay there, we have to be Fated. Sort of... I suppose it's like magic in a way. Her tattoo will sort of morph once the Declaration has taken place," he explained.

Amelia nodded, though he could feel her confusion. "You get to pick if you're a Drifter?"

"Sort of, I suppose," Joshua said. "Our connection has always been more intense. My connection to Charlotte was never... I suppose it's easier to compare it to what you and Owen have, but with more tether to it."

"I see," she said. "So have you only picked me because we have a magnetic Tether so to speak?"

He stared at her, his eyes narrowing a little. She was deflecting from her problem with Owen. He lifted her chin until they were staring into each other's eyes.

"I picked you because I'm in love with you," he admitted. It was the first time he'd said it properly without hiding behind a mask of hatred. It was true; he hated how much he was in love with her, he hated how messy it was. He hated the situation, not her.

He knew their confrontation about hating each other the day before was heated, truthful and a little overdramatic. They clearly had strong feelings about each other, and it was messy.

"So, if you got two Fated Ones, why is it impossible for Owen to be—"

"You'd know if he was, and I know that you know he's not. That's why this is not real." Joshua held up her baby blue Fated Card. "I learnt this years ago in my home-world. My friend that I told you about; he's a Segregated One. He was a Drifter, chose to stay in the world where his Fated One was. She died not long after. I've known him for a while, thanks to other Drifters."

He took a breath and carried on. "Some Drifters have had cards like these. I've seen Segregated Ones with these as well, who fake their Knot Art. They are fake. Look at mine. Not only the name and country should be typed out, but feel the difference in the card, Amelia. The one you have, if you shine into the light, is see-through. Mine? Thick, and there's a tiny little watermark in each corner. Look."

She did as he told her and shone both into the light. When she held his up, the watermark of a knot – a Celtic Heart Knot – came up, but they couldn't see through the card. Hers was transparent, with no watermark.

"The watermark in each person's card should be the type of Knot they have. We have a Celtic Heart. That's why that's there. This card is fake, Amelia. Owen's been playing you. I don't know how; maybe he paid the Artist off, or he did it himself."

She took her card back without a word.

"I... it is no secret that I want you to get rid of him and be with me, Amelia. But... if you really do love him, then it's your choice. More than anything, I don't want to see you hurt, and I want you to have all the facts before you Segregate yourself for him, because that's the reality."

"But for all intents and purposes, if I picked him, he's done a stellar job of making it look like we're Fated," she pointed out.

"Sure, and if that is a risk you're willing to take, then I'm not one to come between you and what you believe is true love," Joshua said. "I can feel you're questioning him, especially after his actions earlier."

"He... he's feeling threatened," she said.

"As a liar would. Does he usually speak to you like that?"

She shook her head. "But he's never been confronted like that, either. I love him; he's all I've ever known. But then you come into my life and make me question everything I've ever known. I don't know what to believe anymore, other than we're Fated and Owen's lying about something."

Joshua didn't respond. His lips still tingled; his arousal was still obvious, but it was going down.

"I... I'm fighting a war here, Joshua," she admitted. "I'm magnetised to you... I'm attracted to you... I'm falling for you. But I'm with Owen."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes."

"Are you in love with him?" he asked. He wanted to ask her the same, but about himself. But he kept it silent.

She glanced at him with a curt look. They both knew she didn't need to answer out loud because he could sense her answer about Owen.

She wasn't sure.

"I need to work out the truth before I have a proper answer," she muttered.

He nodded. "I understand."

"But... here's my... I don't know, because I..." Amelia's voice trailed off.

He knew where she was going, but he didn't say anything. He wanted to hear her say it, and as they faced each other, he knew she could tell he did.

"I want to be with you."

He inhaled. "Despite how much you hate me, you mean?" He was teasing her, and they both knew it.

She chuckled. "Yeah, despite how much I hate you."

He kept quiet and perched on the arm of the sofa. The black fabric of it made him stick out with his jeans and red shirt. He didn't want to say anything; he wanted her to make every first move here. He knew if he said anything, he wouldn't be able to control himself, and he knew she could feel that.

"I just don't know what's going on with my life. You've come in, swooped in with your Knot and these feelings and I'm five steps behind. I'm still processing that you're from a parallel universe, Joshua. It's hard to distinguish my hatred for the you that's meant to be here to you."

She moved a little. "It's hard to process how the man I've loved every single day of my life could be faking this, it's hard to process that for the first time I'm developing feelings. When I realised I loved Owen, it wasn't developed, it was just a realisation. Whereas with you, I'm falling. I don't know if it's the connection or whether it's real, as weird as that sounds. But I want to kiss you all the time, and it's strange. But I'm engaged. I've never looked at another man before. But now I cannot physically stay away from you."

"Come here," Joshua said. He opened his arms and moved his legs. She walked into his hold without hesitation, buried her head in his chest and closed her arms around his waist. He rested his chin on her head. He could smell the sweet scent of apples; her signature scent. He'd always hated the fruit, but he now took a liking to it.

"It'll all work out, whatever happens. I promise you," he whispered.

She looked up at him; her dark, intriguing eyes met his, and her lips parted again. He knew it was coming, but he would wait for her to ask.

"Kiss me," she whispered.

"Amelia, full disclosure: this is driving me nuts. I cannot control—"

She chuckled. "Full disclosure back? I hate that you keep warning me against it. I need this. We both do. The more I'm around you, the bigger the chemistry gets, right? So, let's just give in."

Joshua groaned, but not out of annoyance. The twitch in his jeans began again, and he swore he was getting whiplash in there; she was seriously annoying, and she knew what she was doing.

"You're engaged," he whispered.

"I think with everything I know; I highly doubt I will be for much longer," she admitted.

He sighed. "Amelia, you need to sort your feelings out—"

She placed a lingering kiss on his lips to quieten him. His whole body reacted; he relaxed, the desire rolled through them both, and he instantly – against his better judgement – kissed her back.

But that was when her phone buzzed against the table.

"Answer it," Joshua whispered.

She kissed him again before shaking her head. "I'd rather not."

It died down as his tongue drank her in; apple scent, coffee flavour, the sound of her breath as she inhaled. His hand wrapped around her waist, and though he knew he probably shouldn't encourage her, his hand squeezed her behind.

She moaned into his mouth, fuelling him to do it again. She was wearing a dress with no tights, so his hand took advantage and roamed under the thin fabric as her hands began unbuttoning his shirt just as quickly as they'd begun their intimacy.

Her phone buzzed again. He swore it was louder that time.

She broke away and groaned.

"I better get it," she said in a low, sultry tone.

It fuelled him even more, and he hated it.

He stood up and stood behind her as she swiped answer on the phone. He saw the caller ID: it was Owen. But at that point, he didn't care. He could tell through their heightened connection that she was all his. Their connection was heightened because she was near him, because they were intimate, because despite the situation, she had subconsciously chosen him.

He leant down and silently pressed a kiss on her neck, where he knew Owen had merely the day before.

"Owen, no you're at work," she said.

He couldn't hear what Owen was saying, but he could tell it was in a pissed-off tone.

He pressed a second kiss into her neck. He felt her pulse slowly pumping underneath his lips.

"No, you acted like a twat! I don't care, we'll talk about it later—"

He placed one more, the last place where Owen had tried to mark her. His hand traced her waist over her dress. She was fighting it, but he felt her fidget under his touch.

"Fine, fine. But I'll be there later. I need to calm down," she snapped back down the phone. "You're there till late, anyway. I'm busy doing uni work, and when I'm done and calmer, I'll come over all right—"

He could tell Owen was arguing, so Joshua put his hand just under the hem of her dress.

"—no, fuck you, Owen. I'll be there when I'm ready. Goodbye."

He watched her as she pressed the red button on the phone. Her home screen lit up and quickly closed again as she threw the phone down.

"You're a distraction," she said.

He smirked. "That's what happens when you have an attitude."

She arched an eyebrow. "I thought you hated my attitude. You called me a brat."

"Oh, you are. A massive one," he retorted.

In response, she shook her head and grabbed the gaped material where she hadn't finished undoing his shirt earlier. She backed towards the door into the hallway, pulled him by his shirt.

"Where are we going, Amelia?" A smirk danced on his face.

"I thought it was about time I got a tour of the house," she teased.

He stopped her in her tracks at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you sure about this?"

She nodded and kissed his lips.

That was all he needed; he had been fighting it for too long, so he took her at her word and led her into his bedroom, kissing her on every other stair.

For so long, Joshua believed that there was beauty in everything, but for the longest time, he hadn't seen the beauty in the Fated One concept. He thought it was because he just didn't get on with Charlotte, and he hadn't yet met Amelia. But as he lowered himself over Amelia after she took her dress off, he realised that there was, in fact, beauty in the Fated One concept. She was staring at him, and that was all he needed to know.

· · ──── ·𖥸· ──── · ·

I've made a bonus scene out of the happenings after this chapter (an erotic bonus scene) which is published by or from this link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/300024444-tethered-destinies-bonus-scenes (also under my profile on the reading list "My Work In Other Places")

It's mature, naturally, so that's your fair warning LMAO but if you do go and read it, let me know what you think!