‘I think I remember reading about it somewhere but I didn’t take much notice of it at the time.’
‘Thousands and thousands of people did, though, and got in touch wanting to send me their DNA. We sent them testing kits so they could do it for free, but to turn it into a viable business we had to start charging for the results.’
Tim nodded. This part he would know. ‘Do people always feel love at first sight?’ he asked.
‘Studies show that ninety-two per cent feel an instant, arrow-to-the-heart attraction within the first forty-eight hours of meeting. With the other eight per cent, it can take longer. But that can be down to psychological issues, anything from a mental illness like clinical depression to emotional problems like whether they have trust issues or have built-up barriers. There are a few other mitigating factors as well. People might fight those feelings, but once they’re in their Match’s presence eventually nature will always prevail.’
‘What about a regular person and someone with a genetic disorder like Down’s Syndrome? Can they be Matched?’
‘Yes.’
‘Wouldn’t that be a bit … weird?’
‘Shouldn’t people with learning difficulties have the chance to find love too?’
‘Yes, what I mean is, well, what I’m saying is …’
‘That society isn’t ready for that yet, and yes, that’s unfortunately true. But that’s out of my control.’ Ellie was surprised that Tim hadn’t read about any of this in the news. It was something that was frequently discussed, with human rights charities constantly on her case.
‘We live only about fifty miles apart. Surely the chances of us being Matched must be miniscule?’
‘They’re not as small as you think. We found that sixty-eight per cent of people are likely to be Matched with someone in their own country. We don’t know if that has to do with the fact that hundreds of generations ago we were all more closely related – small differences in our DNA can even tell us which continent we originated from. It could be that our genes are more likely to be attracted by others from a similar environment or it could be just coincidence.’
Ellie waited for Tim’s next question. She’s anticipated he’d react like this, as many others before him had. It almost felt like she was being interviewed, but she was used to people’s curiosity and was happy to indulge Tim’s.
‘You mentioned how your discovery has affected so many people’s lives for the better and for the worse,’ Tim continued. ‘How do you get you head around that? If it were me, I don’t know if I could deal with the responsibility.’
‘It’s hard sometimes,’ Ellie admitted. ‘I’ve had hate mail and death threats from people whose partners have left them to be with their Match, and from people with no Match who think it’s my fault. For every ten Matches we put together, three regular couples will split up. We’ve put thousands of dating sites out of business across the world, but on the flipside we’ve given so much work to divorce lawyers and relationship counsellors; we’ve boosted the wedding industry as people are more willing to commit knowing they’re made for each other,’ she said, almost by rote.
‘So you don’t feel any kind of guilt or responsibility?’
‘No. Why should I?’
Tim ignored her. ‘How do you stop kids from taking the test, or paedophiles being Matched with them?’
‘Each country has its own laws based on the age of consent, and here in Britain, it’s sixteen. Our servers run a search through the International Criminal Database too and warn those who get a Match if they have a criminal record. Privacy laws mean we can’t reveal the exact crime, but we are allowed to rate the severity on a scale of one to five. But sometimes people slip through the net – if they’ve never been charged with a crime there’s nothing we can do, which is why there’s about forty pages of legal disclaimers on our website. I admit, it’s a grey area and I have a huge legal team that deals with the lawsuits, but so far not one case has got past the first couple of court appearances. We’re not to blame for the results. It’d be like suing gun manufacturers on behalf of anyone who’s ever been shot. It’s not the fault of the weapon, it’s the user. I’ve provided the tool to change your life but I can’t be held responsible if you abuse it. I usually take my security team with me to avoid situations like the paint incident.’ She gestured to where Andrei still stood silently in the corner of the room. ‘But the night you and I met for dinner, I insisted on going alone. I just wanted to feel like a normal person again.’
‘And, up until she attacked you,’ Tim said, ‘did you feel normal with me?’
Ellie blushed. ‘Yes, I did.’
‘I know you’re one of the eight per cent who haven’t felt that lightning bolt yet, but just for the record, I’m already there.’
Ellie’s cheeks went a deeper shade of red and she tried to prevent a huge smile from spreading across her face.
‘Andrei, would you mind looking away for a moment?’ Tim asked, then turned his head to kiss Ellie.
For the first time since they met, an overwhelming wave of euphoria began to charge its way through her veins like an electrical current.
Chapter 46
MANDY
After three nights with little to no sleep, Mandy had stopped off at Tesco on her way home from work and picked up some over-the-counter sleeping tablets.
She hoped that a solid night’s sleep might offer her some perspective on Pat’s unexpected and remarkable offer to carry Richard’s baby. Instead, the pills left her feeling sluggish and unable to think clearly the next morning.
Regardless, she went through the motions. She crawled out of bed when her 7am alarm went off and dragged her weary bones into the shower. Then, with a generous application of foundation and under-eye cream to make herself look less zombie and more office worker, she set off for work.
Mandy had started work as a team leader for an energy supplier’s telesales division four years ago and she hadn’t treated it as anything other than a job, and certainly not a career. Lately, she was finding it an increasing struggle to gather the motivation to turn up for work each day. In fact, after ‘meeting’ Richard, she struggled to put her broken heart into anything anymore. Her work, her family and her social life were all suffering and today, instead of trawling through spreadsheets of data, she’d been staring blankly at her booth’s front partition wall.
Barely a couple of hours would pass without Mandy feeling the need to look at the photos of Richard she had on her phone, picturing herself in another life, travelling the world with him, marrying him and beginning her much-craved family together. She’d even forwarded the footage of him masturbating to her own phone. Now it was in her possession and she could pretend he’d made it only for her.
She asked herself what Richard would do if he were in her position, working in a job he hated with no light at the end of the tunnel. He’d just leave, she thought to herself. He’d pack up his bags and go travelling, in search of a bigger and better adventure. But Mandy didn’t have the guts to simply quit her job, although, of course, his mother had offered her the opportunity to go on a very different adventure. Her mention of Richard’s frozen sperm had come out of the blue and opened up a whole new potential path – if she dared.