Free The Lost Souls Dating Agency by Suneeti Rekhari

it’s Shalini,’ I said loudly through the closed door. ‘I know you can hear me! I’ve come to talk about Victor.’
    I waited.
    A few moments later I heard footsteps and Fiona, the usually gentle, genial Fiona, opened the door and roared at me. ‘Did you know? Shalini, did you know?’ Her voice cracked. She looked awful. Her hair was unkempt and she had dark circles around her eyes.
    â€˜Listen, I know you will never understand. But he, he came to me for help,’ I began.
    â€˜For help?’ she screeched loudly. I looked around and saw a neighbour discreetly peer through their living room curtains at us.
    I lowered my voice. ‘I run a matchmaking agency for supernaturals. Victor hired me to find him a partner. Fiona, if you give him time, I know he is not what you think he is.’
    â€˜Oh, so what kind of thing is he then?’ She sounded hysterical.
    â€˜Someone who wants the opportunity to love,’ I said slowly. ‘Look I’m sorry for not telling you, but I wanted you to give him a chance. To still give him a chance…’
    She put her head in her hands and started to sob uncontrollably. I felt supremely awful and reached out to her. She let me lead her indoors and we walked through to the living room. We sat on a large sofa. Half of its length was covered in piles of printed paper. It matched the cosy and cluttered room.
    Slowly her sobs lessened and she managed to compose herself. ‘Shalini, how could you put me in this situation?’
    The question was hard to answer. It raised all my old dilemmas. ‘In the beginning I was selfish and didn’t think,’ I began. How to explain that in my quest to assist supernatural love, I hadn’t considered its effects on human hearts?
    â€˜Never mind, I don’t want to know,’ Fiona said irately. She looked away from me entirely.
    â€˜Look I’m sorry for the part I played in this, but I know he cares deeply for you.’ Fiona continued to glance away from me. ‘Just look at the letterbox he left outside! Surely that’s some indication of his…’ Fiona’s face shot around and she interrupted me.
    â€˜How do you know about that? Can you see it?’
    I cringed. I really didn’t want to admit that I had followed her home the other night and watched or that I had spoken to Victor.
    â€˜Yes, I can,’ I said, trying to be as honest as I could without giving too much away.
    â€˜That’s strange,’ she said with a confused expression. ‘I don’t think anyone else can. The mailman doesn’t leave any letters in it and no one even glances at it when they walk past. I saw a dog bark at it today and the owner dragged it away with an apologetic look. He couldn’t see it!’ She stood up and stared out of her living room window at the ivory box. I joined her. I wondered why I could see it. Maybe it was because I knew about Victor and his world?
    â€˜Every day I hope it will disappear.’ She looked away from the window. ‘But no, there it remains, a painfully steadfast reminder of him ,’ she said savagely. I was reminded of the hurt I had heard in Victor’s voice.
    I felt rotten leaving Fiona after our conversation. But I knew there was nothing more I could do. Victor would have to prove his love to her. He would have to win her back.
    ***
    It was crunch time at uni, and my assignments were way overdue. I stumbled through classes. I’m sure my lecturers were concerned by my sudden lack of enthusiasm for subjects I had always shown such promise in. I found even my study time in the library was interrupted more and more by Will. Somehow, this year, it was harder to concentrate around him. We always found ourselves walking out and sitting on the grassy sunny patch outside the library. We were trying to catch the last of the autumn sun and it was always easier to converse and laugh in the fresh air outside, minus the stern