As Xander entered the empty ballroom of his family’s mansion, he saw his mother enter the room from the front foyer. “Xander dear!” she called out to him as maids retrieved her sunhat, purse, and coat to put away. She took off her gloves and placed it onto a silver tray which another maid was holding then walked over to her son with open arms to greet him.
“Good morning, mother,” he leaned forward to hug his mother as he greeted her. “You finished early today?”
Hugging him tightly before letting him go, his mother nodded. “It was just a meeting with the country doctors, we had to discuss stocks, medical suppliers, distributing doctors to clinics and-” she cut herself mid sentence as Xander’s face darkened, talking business was not something he enjoyed, much less first thing in the morning. His mother smiled, “Will you join me for some tea?” she asked as she indicated to one of her maids to prepare light snacks and tea to have at their mansion garden gazebo.
Xander nodded his head, it’s not often he gets to see his mother home in the mornings. “I would love to.”
Xander’s mother changed from her outing clothes and into her day clothes which consisted of more comfortable clothing; a loose light pink blouse worn with a long pastel brown skirt which barely swept the ground as she walked. Her hair was let down into a loose plait which reached down to her elbows.
The two sat at the courtyard gazebo which overlooked the entire garden. In the distance some of the gardeners could be seen working, Xander searched for the small worker who wore baggy clothes but to no avail. Perhaps she really is done for the day, he thought to himself. “Xander, I hope you aren’t feeling... Pressured from your father’s request.”
He took a sip of his English Breakfast tea before reaching for a piece of shortbread biscuit. He leaned back in his chair as his gaze wandered over the beautiful garden. “I’m okay, mother. Though it is tiring having a party almost every weekend just to meet these girls...”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mother’s lips. “Yes, I must admit it has been pretty full on since your father has asked you to meet the bachelorettes. I hope you understand that it is all in good intentions, your father is just concerned that you won’t settle down soon.”
“I am barely 20 years of age, mother. I have my whole life ahead of me. I know you still somewhat feel a bit of the pressure of rushing into marriage and having a family in your early 20s, but mother. You must understand, there is no war, there are no dangers, and our family and the other families are all well off, so there’s no need to be in a rush to marry off your children. The country and its people are at peace at the moment.”
His mother gently set her teacup onto the saucer before placing the set down onto the table. Her eyes somewhat saddened as she had thought about her youthful days. “I know, Xander, and I know that you’re aware of the tough times that, not only your father and I, but everyone else in our generation, experienced.”
Xander noticed his mother’s sombre expression and looked down to the tea cup in his hand. His parents never spoke about their youth, as if talking about it made them relive a painful memory of their lives. Because of this, Xander never pried any further than he felt necessary and instead waited and hoped that there would be a day when his parents would let him in on what happened in their youthful days. But today, Xander was not going to let that pass and decided to take a gamble to see if his mother would open up. “Before your time, mother, were arranged marriages really necessary?”
His mother placed her hands into her lap as she closed her eyes, as if envisioning her younger days. She nodded her head in response and opened her eyes as she replied. “It was hard times, Xander... Your father and I were childhood friends, we spent most of our spare time together so naturally we developed feelings for each other. However, the day I turned 16...” Her eyes wandered off to the garden as she continued. She took a deep breath, “My father had announced that I was to be wed to some unknown family in the neighbouring town. They were also a family that was adept in the medical field, just like us. However, father’s plan was to unite the two families through marriage so he could have total control over it, he didn’t like the idea of having competition. Especially back in those times when disease was spreading quickly through the town, and people were going to the other family rather than ours.”
Xander stayed quiet as he let his mother continue at her own pace. How could grandfather do such a thing? Does he not know that it’s possible to work together rather than try claim everything as your own? Xander stopped his thoughts as he deemed them unnecessary, obviously things worked out in the end or he wouldn’t be here. But the real question was, how did things end?
“Your father was there of course when the announcement was made. By then we were already deeply in love with each other. I couldn’t bear to hear the rest of father’s speech and ran away from the ballroom that night. Your father chased after me, worried about what I’d do next. I wanted to run away with him and just start a new life. I was ready to sacrifice my family just to be with him, I truly was. But...”
She took a deep breath then picked up her teacup and took it into her hands as she continued. “But father, aware of my feelings, was one step ahead of me. Your father never caught up to me that night, I ran away to the gardens, crying my heart out until my maid found me. I didn’t see your father for almost a year, and it broke me. Someone who was in my life every day for as long as I remember, suddenly gone without any word...” she forced herself to take a sip from her tea to calm herself.
“Mother, you don’t have to-”
“It’s okay, Xander, this is something we should have told you about a long time ago. I am okay to talk about it now.” She smiled at her son. “A few things happened in between the time your father was forbidden to see me to the time we reunited: your father and I rallied up our friends and confronted our parents, our grandparents, the elders, and all the other guests during one of the balls and demanded to have arrange marriages cease. You could imagine it caused quite an uproar,” she chuckled, holding the teacup to her lips before taking a sip once again.
“I guess you could say we bribed them, telling them that we would all up and leave them behind. Because they were all too old to have children again, we were their only hope and only inheritors. They tried to threaten us with the whole ‘You won’t survive without my support’ thing, but we banned together and told them that money is not the essence of life. That as long as we have the essentials, we can start anew. Being the stubborn people they were, they thought we were all bark and no bite. So, we all took off together by foot, and formed a small village where we tried to start over from the basics that we managed to take from our households. It only took 6 months for the elders to swallow their pride and come search for us, begging us to come back to continue the family businesses and lineage.”
“As you now know, arranged marriages have come to an end. Sort of, there are still those who are avid believers of the old ways, but they don’t force it on their children like they did back in the day in fear of a rebellion forming once again. As for the competing medical family, we formed a friendly alliance and exchanged whatever knowledge we had and shared each other’s resources. We now operate as one big medical industry, working together to further improve medicines and broaden research.” she paused, as if carefully thinking of what to say next, leaving out minor details as she didn’t want to bore her son.
“An honest alliance, formed through friendship rather than marriage. Due to this, other families with their businesses starting following and thanks to that, it boosted the economy in the country. The “high class” and “commoners” gap started to diminish, even now it continues to do so as people are marrying whomever they want. Rather than the rich marrying the rich.”
“Never thought you and dad were the type to cause a riot.” He teased as he helped himself to another shortbread.
His mother chuckled lightly. “We did this so that none of you would have to go through the pain we did... If there are better ways of doing things, then we will always choose that way, especially if it benefits both parties involved without anyone having to sacrifice anything.”
“But mother, you are aware of the change in society nowadays, no?” Xander asked, leaning forward on the table. His mother tilted her head to the side in question. “Majority of people these days are trying hard to marry into the ‘Top wealthy families’ of the country just for social status reasoning. So that they can say they’re the most important in town.”
His mother huffed in disbelief. “Come now, Xander, who did you learn this from?”
“The young ladies at the ballroom parties,” he stated, leaning back into his seat. “And some of the bachelors too, I overhear them – only because they don’t know how to talk quietly – and they say things like, let’s see who can marry into the richest family. The stigma of marrying for power is still around, mother. Hence why I’m being fussy with who I choose for my bride.”
His mother nodded her head in agreeance. “It is a work in progress, but it will soon be weeded out. Which is why you and all the others, have been given the freedom. So that our struggles would not have been in vain.”
Xander and his mother continued to chat through to lunch time. And every now and then Xander would look around the garden to see if Lyrah walked past, he had seen Joseph in a few instances but not Lyrah.
“Oh my, it can’t be lunch time already?” his mother glanced at the clocktower that stood in the middle of their garden. “I’m supposed to be leaving to meet with your father, I’m going to be late.” She rushed out of her seat, her maid following behind her. “I will see you later, dear” she kissed her son on the cheek and gave him a hug as she rushed to the mansion to get ready.
“See you when you get back, mother.” As Xander stood from his seat to head back to the mansion, he saw Lyrah rushing through the gardens, following after her was the maid he saw the other day. It looked rather entertaining as he’d never seen anyone running through the gardens before; especially the workers. “It must be an urgent matter, but the other gardeners haven’t come to seek anyone from the household so it mustn’t be too urgent,” he kept his gaze to the garden for another minute before walking back.
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