Not the One

She sighed heavily as she reflected on the events of the night before, pushing back the tears wanting to escape. It had started out so wonderfully. There stood a man, interested in her. He had seemed sweet and nice enough. At first. She supposed strangers often appeared that way on the first meeting.

But when they'd seen each other again, the night before, things were... Somehow different. It was almost like he had relaxed and, a little too much and his true colours began to bleed through. It wasn't anything exceptionally bad, or particularly catastrophic, but for her, it was still somewhat off putting and she found herself feeling very sick.

She knew that sick was not something you were supposed to feel. At least, not with the one you were supposed to love. Not with the one you were meant to be with. There was supposed to be fireworks, and an overwhelming warmth of attraction. There was supposed to be chemistry. With him, there was none of that. When she looked at him, the smile on her face was forced as she shuddered uncontrollably inside. With him, there was no spark, and it wad because of that she knew. She knew that he wasn't the one. Not the one for her.

"It's all chance," said her mother, smiling kindly. "Some people go through a million 'not the one's' before they find their person."
She sighed again, heavier this time, defeat settling on her face.
"But the first time is always the most crushing." The older woman stared wistfully at the space over her shoulder, maybe remembering her first. "You have all of these hopes, all of these dreams of what might happen, and they're all crushed when you make that awful discovery. All these ideas and fantasies you've built up in your head are smashed into pieces."

Now, the young girl was half collapsed on the kitchen bench, her head resting on her folded arms. Her mother placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Don't give up, Darling. Your person will be out there somewhere. And with each 'not the one' you find, the vision of what your 'one' looks like becomes increasingly clearer, until one day, you find each other."

The brightness of her mother's beam could have powered the entire house as she turned round to see her husband approaching, his eyes shimmering at the sight of his wife. As if he were under her spell, and she his.
"It happened for us," he said, slipping an arm around his wife's waist, smiling at their daughter, "and when you know, you know."