ALL THE STRINGS ATTACHED | COMPLETED

01.

THEODORE.

The hallways were empty this time of the day. Most of the students were packing their bags, rushing to get themselves out of the compound. For them, the day was finally over.

Not for me, it wasn't.

I had the weight of the world pressed down on my shoulders, even if there wasn't anything bad happening to me. My feet both weighed like tankers and I was dragging them all the way back to my desk in the teacher's room.

The door was lazily flung open and my body was thrown onto the arm chair that I could hear calling my name. It was telling me to sit down and put in extra hours tonight.

"Age must be catching up to me," I thought to myself.

To be fair, 32 ain't young, but it ain't old either. In my culture, I'd be at what they call "The Golden Years". By now, society would expect me to have the 5Cs; car, cash, condominium, credit card, country club membership. If you count insurance as cash, and forgo the country club membership, I'd be one hot bachelor that was still on the market.

Only thing was, I wasn't exactly exactly looking for any bait to bite on. For the most part, it's because I have no idea who I was looking for.

"Not going home yet?" a colleague of mine asked as he sat himself down comfortably on the edge of the table. "It's almost six."

"As if I could. I still have a bunch of essays to look through. I think I might have to prepare a pail for myself just to barf in later. The grammar mistakes I spotted just from skimming through are already enough to kill me."

A laugh escaped his lips as he pointed to the stack of papers on the left. "Look Theo, it's a Saturday night. We both know those papers aren't due for another two weeks. Why not we throw our priorities aside for a night? Let's hit the club!"

"Al, can you seriously stop trying to get me to go outside?"

"Come on," Alex gave me a slap to the arm. "You really need to get out there and start getting it on! Nathan and I can't stand to see you so... miserable looking."

Alex was Nathan's husband. Nathan and I have known each other since sixteen. Though these days, I was a lot closer to his husband since he was teaching at the same university.

I took a second to look at Alex. Young, full of smiles. Had a great doting husband and an advancing career. Yet here I was, stuck and stagnant. Teaching the strawberry generation how to write a proper essay using the APA format.

I can't help but compare myself against him. We were only six years apart and he was doing so much better than I am. The wave of envy washed over me and I turned my eyes away from his that were radiating life.

Mine were probably just dull in comparison,

"Thanks, but no thanks," I politely declined. "Maybe next time."

It's not like I didn't want to date, but I just never seemed to find the one. None of the people I dated ever made me feel the jitters and butterflies that people who were in love were talking about.

"Use tinder or a dating app!" "Go out more and socialise!"

These words were thrown to me more times than I could count. I tried, but it just never worked out. Dating isn't really my thing, and trust me. I've tried almost everything out there. I once thought that I was no longer interested in women, so I tried dating my own pool of people. Double the chances, right?

Nope.

It just didn't work out either way. At some point, I think I just gave up. It was like I was fated to be alone for this lifetime.

"My friend, you are going to the club with us and that's final." He started to pack his my bag, picking up my phone among many other things and stuffing it into the briefcase.

"I have taken 'no' as an answer for way too long. You are not going to mope around your whole life, no fucking way." Alex pushed the now fully stuffed suitcase into my hands.

"Alex, watch your profanity if you want to make it to a senior lecturer." I warned light-heartedly.

"Whatever man. It's past working hours." Alex stood up from my desk and whipped out his phone. I'm guessing it was to call for his ride home.

"I'm serious, Theo. I want to see you outside the club at 10:30pm. If not, I'm personally driving up to your apartment to get you out." He pointed his phone at me just before answering the call.

"Hey, Nathan. Yeah I'm-" his voice trailed off as he walked towards the direction of his own table.

I let out a deep sigh, something that I was doing a lot these days. I know it wasn't really good to be sighing so much, but there's no other way to let out my pent up feelings.

To be honest, I really didn't understand how going out to club would equate to me finding the one that I was looking for. Aren't people that you meet in the club just looking for someone to chill out with? Not necessarily lifetime-partner material for me.

Thinking twice about it, maybe it would be better for me to go tonight. Alex did seem dead serious about dragging my ass out to party. I surely didn't want to see him appearing at my apartment, giving me a million and one reasons why I should be out fishing.

I stood up and walked out of the teacher's room, heading for my own ride home.

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A/N: Well, well. Hello to you too! 

Welcome to my new story! It's currently still in the works and very much unedited. 

What do you think of Theodore? 

Any guesses on what will happen in the club?

I just had to include Nathan and Alex in this story because I love them a little too much. If you're curious to know more about them, please read my first story 'The Engagement'! (sorry, shameless plug here xD)

Please leave me some comments. I really enjoy reading them. It's huge motivation to keep me going! 

See you all in the next part! 

Stay safe everyone <3