I was very numb and honestly didn't pay attention to anything else till I reached home. Now that my school years were done, I was finally back. Two years away from home, it wasn't heaven. There was no Mom to make me eat on time and no Dad to help me. Anyway, I preferred being home.
A cannonball launched at me before I entered the room.
"You are heavy," I poked my brother's cheek and told him.
He hugged me and pouted.
"I'm not heavy. You are weak. That's what Mom says," he answered back.
Yeah, I couldn't say no to that. As a ten year old kid, he was right in everything he said, according to him. So I didn't argue. He thoughtfully opened the door and tried to pull my luggage in. I never told him that it could be levitated because it was funny seeing him huffing and puffing. His cheeks turned red and he looked really funny. I would be yelled at if my parents were home. But they weren't there, so I had my fun.
There were barely any changes in my home. Everything was basically the same. I think the only difference would be Sidhya's height. He grew taller. At the rate he grew, I'm sure he will surpass me in a few years. I made a quick lunch for us and then got him to take a nap. Which he took as a permission to play his VS. Virtual games on Virtual Simulator are the hottest in the gaming world. And I didn't really like playing so I went to my room alone to mope.
As a firm advocate of becoming an Unmatched girl, how did I get a match? I then realised I didn't know who my match was. So I opened the notification from the Science Department and opened the encrypted file. That file was something only I could open. With some trepidation, I finally opened it.
There wasn't any clear picture because that idiot might have changed his picture after becoming Unmatched. He clearly took an advantage of this loophole. Because the first year, his profile would be strictly watched and then after becoming Unmatched, its encryption would be changed. So now I was seeing a hologram of an angry cat. It would be a very funny prank on someone else. But as it was for me, I was furious. I had to admire him for his courage. The cat was still trying to scratch my face and I pushed it away. Then I looked at his information.
Name Yuvi
Age 20
Status Student
And then there was his contact information.
I paused before touching the button. Because of my mental loss for his profile hologram, I decided not to message him. Anyway, I would meet him later, atleast before we get married. Even one day before will count with me.
Then I felt like released from all the stress so I did the only thing I could do at this time, I slept. In fact, I slept too good that I didn't wake up from all the noise my family was making.
I woke up in the evening to eat. I was really hungry. My brother looked at me like I was an alien. I figured, with my depressed mood and unkempt appearance, his opinion seemed all right. Our family had a rule, eat first then talk all you want.
So when we retired to do entertaining activities, my brother being the most concerned, I waited to talk with my parents. Sidhya, being the angel he was, seemed to misunderstand something and went to do his own thing. He should have thought, I would be getting scolded, like he did everytime he got home after tests. Anyway that worked out in my favor today.
"You unhappy?" my mother asked me.
"Read it right."
"Why?"
"I got matched, Mom," I grumbled.
She looked at Dad and smiled.
"Like everyone else. It's not something bad. Happens to all of us. You know what, even we did not want to get matched, but yeah, it turned out good later."
"But I want some control in my life, I just don't like this and do you know the weirdest part? I got matched with a guy who was unmatched for two years. You know it never happened before."
My dad finally reacted.
"As much as I don't want you to be matched, but someday it will happen eventually. And you are very very lucky, I can say."
"You mean unlucky, Dad. I was this close to being Unmatched and then bam, I got a match."
"You know what, you can try to see in a different perspective. That guy had been waiting for you for two years. You should be like an angel to him. It's like you are reunited now."
My mother, the ever romantic, turned my car crash scene to a ridiculously sweet romantic proposal. She didn't know that the guy was probably happy with his Unmatched status, if his choice of holographic picture was something to go by.
Anyway, they were encouraging me to accept this situation so I accepted their heart. Even I knew, I had no other reason to reject all this other than that I didn't probably select this guy. This system is good but it took the choice away from my hands. If by some chance, without this system, someday I met this guy. Maybe we would like each other and be in a relationship and then get married. I would have some control over my life. But the same result with theis system took away my choice and control. It was the only thing that irked me.
"When you are ready, send his information to us. Though we didn't select him for you, we would very much like to know him and see if he is good for our girl," my Dad said.
I laughed at that. No one could believe that a stern decision maker would like to consider thoughtfully for a while. I think this is what being a parent is. No matter how much correct the decision is, when it comes to your child, you will still hesitate. My parents were the best in what they did. My Dad worked for the government making plans for the citizens. He was the team leader in the Control and Management Department. My Mom was the lead researcher in development of better yield crops in the Science Department. But they never forced me and Sidhya to learn or do anything else. I still remember the words my mom told me when I failed a test when I was young.
"Sumi, passing and failing don't matter to us. We just want you to do your best, give your everything to what you do. That's what we care about and the most important thing we want from you is for you to be happy."