Seeing Hearts and Sorrows

part 1

Zach was just sitting on his couch, blinking his wide blue eyes at his parents in total shock and confusion. "Wait...what? You're kidding right?"

His parents looked back at him but never straight at those eyes. It was the same reaction that they feared, but expected. Of course their son would definitely refuse against something like this. "Sorry, we're not," his dad replied, "I wish we were though."

"But you're seriously not gonna make me marry a guy right? I mean, really? All this trouble because we went bankrupt?"

"I know it sounds crazy, and we were totally against the idea at first, but when Mr. Roquin had this conversation with me, he was very serious about the engagement between you and his son," his dad explained. "He also said that if this won't be done, his family will fall deeper into a curse........or something like that."

"A curse?" Zach laughed at the idea. "You seriously believed that? C'mon Dad, really..."

"I'm sorry Zach, but it's true," his mother said. "Mr. Roquin was showing us articles and newspapers about some of his family members been found dead in several places while few others went completely mental and has to be sent to the asylum. No one knows what happened and never did. And it's all just because they wouldn't follow the family tradition."

"Another reason why, is that the Roquins want to prevent disputes over family succession. Mr. and Mrs. Roquin's oldest son, Hiller, was married to a woman. If they had a daughter as their first child, Hiller's younger brother, Eran, wouldn't have to marry a guy, and you wouldn't have to be dragged into this whole marriage arrangement in the first place. But then they had a boy as their first child, so they've got no other choice."

"And besides," Mr. Ellman continued, "Mr. and Mrs. Roquin has been trying to ask other parents' sons for their hand in marriage six times already. And we're their last chance."

"You're not gonna be married to a guy forever, sweetie," Mrs. Ellman coaxed, "just until we're out of bankruptcy, and then you can divorce him right after. We'll have enough money until then."

Silence had hung in the air for several seconds which seemed like hours. Until Zach finally gave his answer, "And have everybody still laughing and look down at me like I'm the biggest fag? Forget it. I'm not gonna marry a guy and that's it."

"We knew you'd say that," his dad countered, "if that's what you want, we can always borrow our relatives' money so that we could move somewhere warmer...like say...Texas?"

Zach stared at his dad as if he just said the most ridiculous thing in history. "Texas?!! Okay, now you're definitely kidding! Do you realize how it's always so HOT over there?!!"

"What's so wrong with that?" his dad asked innocently. "You can stand a little heat, right?"

A terrible thought raced through the boy's mind. Moving to Texas means never seeing his friends again. Not to mention that over there is unbearably hot, which means it's always summer all year long. If it's summer all year long, that means no snow. And no snow means no more snowboarding. Zach has always live to snowboard. It's already a part of him for as long as he could remember. And now just thinking of abandoning this part of him made him want to cry.

His parents kept staring at him and at that moment, it was as if they could read his mind.

Zach slouched back with his arms crossed, pouted, and muttered angrily , "God! I hate this! Why couldn't they ask someone else?"

"Desperation, maybe?" his mom shrugged. "When Mr. Roquin first saw you when he comes to visit our family, he thought you'd be suitable."

"Oh yeah? How?" their son asked while glaring at their faces.

"Well, he did told me what a lovely face you have. And when he found out how much you love snowboarding, he said, 'That's great! I can actually see him have so much energy whenever he's nearby."

"...And that's it?"

"Um...I think so."

Zach rolled his eyes in frustration. "I'm still not gonna do it."

"All right then," Mr. Ellman concluded, "to Texas it is."

Even the word "Texas" made Zach's heart drop all the way down to his stomach. Worry began to form on his face, and his parents noticed.

"How about this sweetie..." his mom offered, "Mr. Roquin offered to let you see his son Eran before you'd make up your mind. Both of you should get to know each other first before the next big step. And if you still decide not to marry him, then we'll leave it at that. The Roquins will never mention anything like that again."

Zach stared at the ground growing deeper in thought. Should he? Maybe. Maybe not? It was only to see this Eran guy, right? Either way, he would still refuse to do this whole stupid marriage idea, curses or whatnot. Besides, Eran wouldn't be anything special --- he might be one of those pain-in-the-ass type of guys since he does come from a super rich family. Sure, why not? Just say it in his face what a total jerk he is and forget about getting hitched. Sounds like a good plan.

"Fine," he answered, "but I still think this is totally stupid."

"If that's what you want to think," said his dad. "At least you decide to give it a chance."

"And only this once," Zach confirmed with a dead, cold look in his bright blue eyes.