Cuthbert Allgood had always been a romantic guy. Even if it didn’t seem through all his jokes sometimes, he had quite a heart for those things. And why wouldn’t he? The young ladies in Gilead that just started on getting interested in guys talked about him a lot, he knew that and grinned brightly whenever he approached them. He had broken more hearts - not on purpose, never on purpose - to the age of fourteen than most did in their whole life.
Alain always told him to cut it, he didn’t know just what effect he had, but the dark haired just grinned at him and waved him off.
So the whole concept of soul mates fascinated him, and actually, his clock didn’t read that many years after all.
And then the tet was forced to go to Hambry, and that pretty much fell together with his clock’s countdown. Roland’s had one that was a bit shorter than his, and when he returned to their camp the evening before they would enter the town, he grinned at his friend.
“‘s zero, right? You gotta tell me all about them. Come on. Is it a girl? I was always a bit envious I wasn’t your mate, you know that. We’re just conneeeected.”
But Roland shushed him, and didn’t answer him any questions, so he had to deal with it.
And they were invited the next day, not as Cuthbert Allgood but as Arthur Heath, and under that name, he met her.
His clock counted down to zero.
And how would he know that sometimes, destiny wasn’t all that nice to you? That it wasn’t always mutual? Because Roland and Susan were meant together, and he fell in love with the girl of his best friend.
And he hated himself for it.