Well, that was certainly weird. He almost seemed to have some form of affection towards me. I wasn’t complaining, though, and quickly made myself presentable. It felt good to have something to do again.

I left the place, and again found myself in the bowels of London, finding my way across the entire city to find this one house on the other side, and one man who was nothing like a father. I owed Colin everything I’d found during the long wait. He took in everything I knew about my condition, about what had changed after the drug was first used on me, and made sense of it. I felt Aaron, but he was the one who discovered him.

Finding myself on the other side of London again, I didn’t need any directions to find his house anymore, even after I’d only gone down the path several times before. That house was the place where the important moments happened, and it had imprinted on me. I rang the doorbell, and Colin opened the door, shaking my hand before pulling me in to kiss my cheek.

“Good morning,” I said with a smile. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“We’re both surprised that you’re thinking about us,” he said. “It’s a lonely world out here. Come in, come in. You’re welcome to stay for lunch as well, if you’d care for it.”

“That’s very kind of you, Colin,” I said. “The world needs more people like you.”

I went inside to take my shoes off, and Laura immediately walked over. “Jordan! It’s so good to see you, come here!” I barely had time to make myself at home before she pulled me in for a hug. “I’ve missed you.”

“What’s with the sudden kindness, you two? All cold while we were working, and now this? How come?” I said, astounded by their generosity.

“You were our patient until a few days ago. You’re our friend now,” Colin said. “It really means the World to us both for someone to remember us and actively seek our company.”

“Don’t you have children of your own?” I said. “I’d have thought that-“

“No, we don’t, sadly,” Laura said. “The life of a doctor is difficult. We couldn’t afford the time to have a child and raise it properly. It was a difficult decision, but one we had to make, wasn’t it, Colin?”

“Yes. Some would say that I got the better of it, but I disagree. She was the one driving the decision not to have children,” he said. “But I had to be a reasonable person and let it go. I could never be a father.” With that, he looked down, as if pondering. He’d walled himself off again, knowing I could peek inside, but sometimes body language was enough.

He was imagining his children coming home for coffee, not some girl whom he’d met while on the job. All the warmth and beauty of a family home was something he would never have, replaced by the pervasive smell and infinite hours of a hospital. His patients were his life calling, and I was the closest thing to a child he’d ever had.

I wanted to grab his hand, to tell him that he’d done more than enough to keep his life as it was, but it would’ve been in poor taste. He was my doctor mere days ago, after all. I backed away to let him steep in his thoughts, and left his wife to comfort him if she felt it was needed.

“Anyway,” he said, quickly raising his head. “Coffee?”

“That’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?” I said. “If I may use your bathroom?”

“Of course,” Colin said. “Upstairs, first door to the left.”

I followed his instructions upstairs, and while I found the bathroom easily, it struck me how ridiculously clean the house was. Even for a retired couple, the amount of cleaning it would take to keep a house of that size clean would be immense. They didn’t have any robots helping them out, so the only way the maths worked out was if they didn’t do anything other than clean.

The same theme continued in the bathroom. Every corner, every crack was cleaned to absolute perfection, and the air freshened to sickening amounts, probably to stave off even the slightest hint of the sickening smell of decay that was a staple of hospital bathrooms the country over.

I was only there to wash my hands, though, and while I was scrubbing the grime of London off myself, I noticed that one of the cupboards was off ever so slightly. I continued looking at it, and noticed it had been closed hastily, so that the door was stuck slightly open. I wanted to open it, and a little nagging presence in the back of my mind told me to check it, but I thought better of it. I was their guest.

I descended to the lounge to see three steaming mugs on the table. The one situated at the far end of the triangle was obviously for me, and it only became apparent why when I walked into the lounge to see Laura cuddled up to Colin, caressing his face.

I cleared my throat. “Should I leave?”

“No, no, of course not,” Colin said, fumbling to make it look as polite as possible. “Forgive us, we’re not used to having guests in our house.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, walking over to the far end of the table. “I’m surprised you two still have clothes on.”

“How uncouth! The youth of today,” Laura said.

“I’m sorry. We’re more open where I’m from,” I said. “Not obsessed with rigid classes and the proper way to do things, as long as they get done.”

Laura scoffed. “Well, I’m not surprised about that.”

“What does that mean?” I said.

“Your accent, dear,” she said. “It’s very distinctive. Everyone you speak to pinpoints you down to a tee and starts judging you before you’ve said a word about yourself. It’ll make life difficult for you if you can’t dampen it. Later on, I meant.”

“I’m proud of my accent,” I said. “I’m proud of my roots.”

“I’m telling you this because I care,” she said. “You may be proud, but most other people aren’t proud of your roots, and won’t have anything to do with you purely because of the accent. Trim it out for your own sake.”

“So how about Aaron?” Colin said. Clever bastard.

“What about him?” I said. “I still haven’t met him. It’s on Sunday, as you know.”

“Yes, I know. Still, any more connections? Are you nervous?”

“Of course I’m nervous,” I said. “What kind of a question is that? Whenever I think about tomorrow, I think of all the possible outcomes, and of what would happen if he wasn’t real, or if he was butt-ugly.”

“Would it be a problem?” Laura said. “The way you talked about him made it sound as if you were going to have him for yourself no matter what happened between you two, and what he looked like.”

“Well, here’s the thing. I’ve dreamed about him before. From the second night after feeling him, to two nights ago. He’s always looked the same,” I said, and took a sip.

“Alright,” she said.

“Even after my second procedure, when I felt him again, and recently, he’s looked exactly the same. In my head, that appearance is Aaron,” I said. “I don’t really know what’s going on in there, but if there is some ethereal link to him, I’d imagine that would be exactly how he looked like.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the movie as well,” Colin said. “But if there wasn’t, if he looked completely different, what would you do?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’d like to think I’d be able to get over it and still fall in love with who he is, but I’ve spent so much time building this persona of his in my mind. It’s all too specific, too real to be random.”

“Life is strange like that,” Colin said. “I’ve done my best to unravel it, but thought is still a mystery to us. Let me know what happens on Sunday, will you? If he’s there, that’s the final piece of the puzzle. If he isn’t, well, I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll need help.”

“I’ll try to remember, as long as it doesn’t go like my dream from the other night,” I said.

“Should I ask?” Colin said.

“I think you better not,” Laura said, and I nodded along.

“Yeah, she’s right,” I said. “Personal details.”

“I’ll go and make lunch,” Laura said, excusing herself from being involved in this further.