Astrid Fraser has been looking for her soulmate since she received her soul mark at 10. After 18 years, she began thinking she'd never find him... until fate decided to step in.
Will he accept her knowing that she is different?
Will he accept her...
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I did what I'd wanted to do every time Astrid had told me about the shit she was experiencing at work – I held her in my arms as she ranted about her job. When I thought that there was something going on with my soulmate all those weeks ago, it was her boss treating her like garbage because he was resentful because she was resigning. All I wanted was have her happy, and here she was miserable and anxious. Her boss sounded like a right asshole; a bully who was butt hurt that he lost his eye-candy.
"None of that matters anymore anyways," she uttered so matter-of-factly. I was confused and caught off-guard and I suppose my face showed that too. "I quit last week."
I was furious, not at her, but that the dickhead had forced her to leave the job she loved so much. I was torn between my eagerness to bring both her and Sophie back to Korea with me, and being responsible in not interrupting Sophie's education prematurely.
'Is she going to be ok financially?'
'Should I offer to support her and Sophie, or will that look like I am wanting to control her?'
"Sweetheart, I am here whenever you need me. If you need someone to talk to, or if you need some money, I am your man. I want to take care of you two; you're my girls after all."
Astrid told me she was ok, as she had savings. I didn't quite get everything she mumbled, since she did it in English and very fast. Something about family? I asked her to repeat it for me.
"I said, my family inheritance came through."
I still didn't understand completely. Astrid explained that when her mother was in hospital, the week before she passed, Mrs Fraser had set up a trust in which the family inheritance would be put into. Since Astrid was an only child, upon her mother's death, all money from both her families would be left for her; both the maternal and paternal inheritances were hers. My respect for Mrs Fraser increased when I learned that in order to protect her daughter from being taken advantage of by someone who may have had ulterior motives, the inheritance would only be accessible to Astrid when she either met her soulmate, or turned 45 – whichever came first.
"45? Why that specific age?" I asked.
"Like America, people can have a prenup before they get married," she started to explain. "But, unlike America, those documents don't hold the same power here in Australia. Courts can overturn a prenuptial agreement very easily here. Well, to prevent that from happening, if I was to marry someone not my soulmate, the inheritance would remain inaccessible until I turned 45... so he'd have to play the long con in order to get a cent of the money."
Ok, I was starting to see what Mrs Fraser had done now – it was her way of protecting Astrid and their family money. Smart woman. I admired how she put her daughter's needs above all else; she was an inspiration for the type of father I wanted to be.
'If she went to that length to protect the money and Astrid, how much are we talking about?' I pondered that thought for a minute, before deciding that I didn't care about that. I had more than enough money of my own for Astrid, Sophie and I to spend in our lifetimes.
