Oliver Cobb doesn’t believe in soulmates. It is, perhaps, one of his more optimistic views.

Oliver Cobb does believe in love. It is, perhaps, one of his more pessimistic views.

For while Oliver believes that love does exist — that he’s had it, that he’s seen it, that it’s real — he’s not entirely convinced in its longevity. Love may not happen in an instant, but Oliver knows that an instant’s exactly how quickly one can lose it.

A soulmate means destiny, a couple fated to complete each other. Two halves that fit so closely together it leaves no room for someone to come along and question the cliché. Soulmates means ease and perfection and finality.

A love means working towards understanding, and sometimes getting caught up in misunderstandings. Love means effort, which is to say love means struggles and hangups and arguments and consequences.

But a soulmate means one. One chance, one person, one type. It means taking away choice and replacing it with fate. Oliver's not a romantic by any means, but even he scoffs at the idea of someone else assigning him love.

And while Oliver may look at love and see it as danger, he looks at soulmates and sees it as meaningless.

Love, for Oliver, is rare but sudden, a spark that catches when he least expects it (he never expects it). It's discovering a person and choosing to accept their everything. There's passion and the burning in his chest at the idea of being truly known. There's falling in love and discovering with joyous relief that the person you chose, chose you too.

With a history littered with abandonment and helplessness, choice is important.

Oliver may fear he's doomed to fuck up every chance he has with love, but he's never regretted choosing it.