Chapter 1
Part I
The God of Love
Adrian woke up to his usual alarm, even though he didn’t need one. During all his years on earth, he has learned that he enjoys a lot of mundane human things. Not that it changes anything.
His usual routine looked similar to that of any normal working middle-class adult. Wake up, brush, shower, check his own reflection in the mirror, make sure he still looks 30 and be ready for the day. Humans are fascinating creatures.
Adrian checked his assignments for the day; they were mostly straightforward, maybe one or two required checking in, just in case. So, he started getting ready; he doesn’t do things halfway; he is very good at his job, despite some people saying he is a nepo kid.
His ID card hung above his keys; it had his actual name. No, I am not going to read it; it’s ridiculously long and contains a lot of vowels to the point that it should be illegal.
He stepped out to the hallway, and was immediately greeted by the neighbour, a very cheerful banker man in his 40s.
“Hi Adrian. Good morning”
“Hi, sir”
“Oh, how many times have I told you, just call me James”
“Sure, sir”
The man sighed, clearly defeated.
“So, how goes the online trading?”
“It’s going pretty good”
“Nice. It’s really cool that you young people can stay home and earn money”
“Yeah, it has its ups and downs”
“Where are you going now?”
“To meet a friend in town”
“Okay, bye, take care”
“Bye, sir”
Adrian was, in fact, not going to meet a friend; he was going to work. Come on, you cannot be surprised that he lied to everyone that his job is ‘online trading’. The man or not man is hiding something, and for good reason.
Oh, I didn’t tell you his job? It’s not that serious. He is the God of Love. Yeah, the one and only Cupid, he hates that name though. Technically, Cupids are his assistants. That’s a whole other bureaucratic nonsense I don’t want to get into right now.
His work, like most current jobs, is fully digitalised. He just has to approve his set of assignments and go out on the field only if something actually requires him to intervene. That was pretty rare, and today he had a couple of stubborn relationships to moderate. He had to make sure the couple met, talked, either loved each other instantly, or hated each other with unnecessary passion or just be interested; it all depended on the case.
He has been doing it for centuries, staying on earth, interacting with humans, making their love lives fruitful. The problem is that he was neither satisfied nor happy because he had never experienced real love himself.
Of course, he dated a lot through the years, but he hasn’t found anyone who matches his spark. Which was unfortunate because he had to see happy relationships every day. It’s like a diabetic person who has to work in a bakery.
Lately, he sort of just gave up on all his hopes of finding love. Anyone would if they were getting continuously disappointed for centuries.
He came back home, after making sure every relationship was supposed to go however it was supposed to go, and collapsed into bed. Another miserable day over. It will get better, man, have some faith! Maybe tomorrow will be different; it likely won’t be, but one can hope.
