Hurriedly, Ivory grabbed a sack of ripe apricots that she had just harvested three hours ago. She had promised the boss's son, where she worked as a restaurant waiter every day, to sell dozens of her apricots. She didn't want to disappoint him. It might make her lose her favorite job.
She put on her shoes carelessly, ignoring the shoelaces that were not entirely tied. Her feet sprinted towards her boss's house. It's not far, only about 3 miles away. It's not a problem for her.
However, if she was being honest, that sack of apricots was quite a pain.
Ivory ignored her gasping breaths or her burning chest. She kept running while checking the time on her old cellphone stuck in her pocket. Time seemed to pass quickly.
"Almost there," she hissed.
After about twenty minutes of running non-stop, she finally arrived at the gate of the elite area of the Primary in her city. Ivory never stops admiring the beauty of the buildings there, which are inversely proportional to their surroundings as the Secondary. If she usually saw buildings that were worn, barren, old, and utterly unattractive, this time, it was a hundred and eighty degrees different. The building in front of her eyes towered over unique and distinctive architecture. No matter how many hundred times she came to this place, she was always stunned.
She fell into the charms of the Primordial realm.
"Ivy!"
The warm, cheerful voice drew a wide smile on Ivory's lips. She entered the courtyard of his boss's luxurious house and fell down. Luckily for her, she didn't make the apricots she brought fall.
"Whoa, be careful." The man in front of Ivory stretched out his hand towards her.
Ivory chuckled as she grabbed the hand to stand up.
"Roger, sorry for being thirty minutes late," Ivory said frantically.
The man named Roger replied to Ivory's words with a soft tap on her shoulder. "Relax, Vy. My dad's out. He won't know if you're late."
Ivory bowed several times as she thanked the person for being so kind to her.
"Here are the apricots. There's not a single flaw. I just harvested it."
Roger took the sack from Ivory's hand. The young man chuckled with satisfaction while looking at the fruit in the sack. Before handing her the black envelope tucked between the apricots, he glanced at it.
"What is this?"
Ivory was taken aback as she took the envelope from the Guardian she had brought with her by accident. "This is from the Guardians. It contains the name of my potential partner for my first Copulation."
Roger roared with excitement as he reached for the envelope.
"Copulation! Woah, I forgot that this year is your first Copulation!"
Ivory laughed blandly. "Yeah, the first one."
"I envy you, Vy! I really want to join Copulation, but yeah, you know it. My gene is S. I can't go on that show."
The third and final gene is Gen S—Sterile. This gene is owned by people with Gene E who cannot give birth to offspring. Even so, they belonged to the Primary because of their origins having the direct lineage of the Supreme Council. Like Roger and his family.
Ivory hid her sad expression behind the white hat she was wearing. She felt so bittersweet. Roger's words made her mood even worse.
"Do you already know who your partner is?"
Ivory shook her head since she wasn't excited about it at all. She tried not to care one bit.
What's so great about having sex with a stranger you don't love, then getting pregnant and giving birth to a baby soon to be snatched from your arms? Please explain to Ivory what's so great about it? She hated Copulation, the Higher-ups, the Supreme Council, and the people who created these strange systems.
"May I open your envelope? Who knows, I might know your potential partner."
Ivory tilted her head slightly. "Just open it. I don't really care."
Roger opened the envelope excitedly. He took out a piece of thick black ink paper with a name engraved with a calligraphy-like stroke. He read it in a firm, steady voice.
"Aaron Magnifico."
A second later, Roger shouted loudly. It knocked the apricot sack next to him and nearly fell before Ivory caught them deftly. Ivory looked in wonder at the figure of the son of his boss.
"I know him, Vy! We used to be classmates!"
Ivory shifted the sack of apricots with difficulty. Keep it out of reach of Roger's body, which was jumping with joy. Ivory was still surprised by Roger's enthusiasm.
"He's very handsome. I swear. The number one idol in the class," he said. "Wow, I can't wait to see what your child will be like. You are beautiful. He is handsome. Your child will definitely be very good-looking!"
Ivory swallowed hard.
Really.
The thought of her being pregnant with an unknown stranger made her feel sorry for and ashamed of herself. She had never actually dated a man. How could she ever allow strangers to invade her body?
"Oh yeah?" said Ivory halfheartedly.
"I'm being serious!" Roger answered wholeheartedly. He still looked as enthusiastic as before, even though Ivory didn't seem interested in his opinion. "Ah, I don't have his picture to prove it. But no lie, Vy. I swear he's so attractive. If I were a girl, I would probably like him."
"But you're a boy and you're straight," Ivory reminded.
"I know. Too bad, right?" asked Roger, pursing his lips. "Aaron used to be liked by many people because he was handsome as hell. I remember even one of our teacher openly showed her feelings for Aaron. Even though that teacher is already married. Wow, that's really funny and chaos when I think about it."
Ivory's head throbbed. Roger's words made her mind even more bitter. She really didn't care about Aaron's physical appearance for now. She is still confused about how to live her life with this stranger for a year. She spent half of her life living with her sister and the other half fending for herself. She wasn't sure that she could survive alone with someone she didn't know well.
Ivory rubbed the top of her nose, trying to imagine herself in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant.
Damn, that shadow was too terrifying for her.
She couldn't stand the nightmare coming her way, but sadly she had no other choice, right? Nothing can stop the Copulation. No one can refuse the orders of the Supreme Council.
Or will ... will there be?