Betrothed

Part Five

At seven, dinner time, Brandon was back to his grandmother's house. He parked his bike by the driveway and headed to the front door. He smiled thinly when he heard the usual voices of his grandma's friends. He knew it was games night.

As he entered the house, Bran was stunned to see Finn playing the mahjong with Thalia and two other ladies, the latter's best friends.

Four heads turned to the newcomer.

"Here comes your little prince, young man." One lady said while poking Finn by his arm. "What strong muscles you got there." She then got up to greet Bran by the door.

"Well, it's time for us to go." The other lady said. She turned to Thalia. "Lia, we'll see you tomorrow. Be sure to be on your dancing shoes. Old man Wyatt wants to dance with ya." She said and winked at Bran's grandmother.

"I'll make sure to do that." Thalia said with a soft smile. Sundays are for the elderly's little gathering at the local community hall, chatting, eating, dancing. Sometimes they get lucky when their grandkids from out of town would come to visit and play songs for them.

The area Bran lives with his grandmother has been turned into a local retirement community. It's peaceful and a bit far from a major city. Thalia and Bran liked it there.

"Bring your little boyfriend and come sing us a song at the hall, will you?" The first lady to get up told Finn. He latte nodded delightfully.

"See you tomorrow, Brandy." The two ladies passed by the frozen eighteen year old by the entrance hallway.

"As much as the crotons love your company, dear child, we have dinner waiting." Thalia said, gesturing her grandson to get to the dining table.

Bran glanced to his side, the two potted plants seemingly approving of his presence. He didn't notice to the hand that reached for him.

"Come on." Finn softly uttered. "Grandma made our favorite."

Slowly pulling away from the warm hand that grasped his elbow, Bran walked across the room and into the dining area. The house has an open floor plan living space. Half of which is where the dining table is and the kitchen.

The dinner was almost quiet. Finnegan didn't want to behind asking questions as to where Bran went, a little wary that the latter would ignore him more or worse, leave the table.

Pieces from Thalia's favorites -- a Beethoven followed by a couple of Chopin's played in the background. Bran always turned the CD player on for he grandmother during evening meals. It's one of the tradition and he doesn't have plan to change it. He hated changes.

After the meal, Finn offered to clear the table and load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Thalia gave an okay. She kissed each boy on their foreheads before she headed back to the living room to watch a re-run of an old TV show sh used to like.

With a smile, she listened intently to the growing sqaubble between he boys in he kitchen.

"Bran...please talk to me."

"What for?" The younger one spat. "I don't wanna hear a thing from you, your empty promsies and all that."

"Bran..." Finn stopped midway, asking the other to at least meet his eyes. "You know, it wasn't just a promise. It was a proposal. I basically asked you to marry me."

With Bran still not looking at him, Finn continued to clear the table. "...yet you ran away." He murmured.

"M-Marry you?" Brandon asked as he turned around, the towel he was supposed to clean the stove with, falling to the floor.

Finn stopped taking the dirty plates into the sink. "Yes. I was proposing. But you ran away and that hurt."

Bran was tongue tied. Finn picked up the towel he dropped then grabbed clean ones to wipe both their hand with.

"You could have said you needed time before running off like that. I sat down with three lovely ladies just to somehow ease my heartache."

Brandon couldn't help but chuckle. "Heartache?" He asked then bit his lip when Finn started kneading on his hands.

"You broke my heart by running away." Finn whispered enough for Bran to hear.

"So...did the three ladies able to minimize your heartache?"

"A little." Finn answered and stepped closet to grab Bran by his arms. "Mahjong is hard to learn. I had to concentrate and that took my mind off the pain somehow."

Thalia shook her head while softly laughing at the exchange of words between the boys in the kitchen. She was happy that two had made a little progress.

"So..." Finn raised Bran's chin to make the latter look up and meet his eyes. "Will you mend my heartache now?"

(To be continued...)