“But I love you, Charles!” the woman pleaded, tears running down her face.

“Veronica… you can’t.” The man said, turning away from her.

“Why not?!”

“I am your twin brother.”

Jacob gasped from his couch and then paused the TV to assimilate what was going on. Charles was her brother? No way… but now that he thought about it they did look eerily similar. He then started to remember the little things that had happened throughout the show, how Charles didn’t have a mom but she did. How Veronica said her mom told her once that her father was dead, and so was Charles’. Now it made more sense. Jacob took a deep breath, braced himself for what was about to come and just as he was about to resume his show the telephone rang for the tenth time that day. Jacob groaned and got up from the couch to get more veggie snacks. He opened the top counter as the voice message started.

“Sir, please. It’s Carl calling. Again.” Jacob rolled his eyes. “We need you in here. The meteorite has almost entered the mesosphere!”

Seriously?! The mesosphere?! Jacob picked up the phone.

“Carl?” he said in the calmest voice he could manage.

“Sir! Thank goodness. I…”

“Don’t call me again unless it entered the stratosphere.”

“What? But, sir…”

Jacob hung up the phone and sighed, massaging his right temple. Every single day at work was so uneventful it almost gave him physical pain. But suddenly, today of all days the world wants to end. Why did it have to be on his day off? No. Even worse. It had to end on the same day the final episode of his favorite soap opera aired. He took his bowl with veggie snacks and repeated his positive affirmations in low voice as he made his way to the couch.

“I am calm, I am light, I am love.”

When he sat down, Jacob had reached a high level of peacefulness. He had to put himself first, his therapist would agree… but she did tell him rather often that he needed to work on his procrastination. She told him that to find motivation to do things, he needed to reward himself. Alright, it was settled. He would go to stop the damn meteorite from crashing on Earth or whatever, but first he needed to motivate himself. Jacob made a mental list. First he would finish his soap opera, of course. How could he focus on saving the world if he was thinking about Charles and Veronica? No, a distraction like that would be dangerous. He wasn’t so irresponsible. Second, he would stop the meteorite. And third, he would fire Carl. Yes, that sounded about right. And so, Jacob resumed his show as he munched on a veggie snack.