His long dark hair was curly and worn in long braids. Praveen was a handsome man but he wore spectacles that made people in high school call him a nerd. He didn't mind at all since he didn't care about it. After all, what mattered the most to him was that he was studying and making his mother proud.
"Hey, Praveen!"
Praveen got out of his thoughts when he heard someone calling him, a familiar voice. He quickly got up and moved his eyes to the direction of the voice. He saw his best friend, a boy that was like a brother to him. His name was Mike and the two had been close ever since they were young.
In fact, since his mother's death, Praveen had been staying with Mike's mother, his aunt. She was his mother's friend, a great woman. She loved him so much and showed him so much care. She had been like a mother to him for the last two years and he loved her so much. Her name was Victoria and she had three children. The oldest had gone abroad to look for a job and her daughter and youngest son, Mike was with her.
"Hey!" Mike waved childishly when he saw Praveen. "I knew that I would find you here."
He started running towards Praveen and started gasping for breath when he reached him while chuckling like a little kid.
"Don't tell me you came here running from home."
Mike gave a teasing laugh, lovingly punching Praveen.
"As a matter of fact..." He breathed in deeply. "...I did."
"You are crazy." Praveen picked up the magazine from the ground. "What was the need? You know I was just about to come back home."
"Yeah, right..." Mike rolled his eyes. "...we both know how crazy you get when you are reading that magazine of yours."
"Yeah," Praveen smiled, chuckling softly. "I always like to..."
"I think I have heard what you are going to say to me before," Mike said before Praveen even finished his sentence. "By the way, your mother in law is at the house. She is waiting for you."
Praveen lost the smile on his face the moment he heard what Mike had just said to him. He moved his eyes and stared at the ground, getting lost in his thoughts. He knew exactly the person that had come to see him. It was Emilia Gonzalez, his mother's other friend.
Praveen was set to get married to her son, Antonio. He was a man Praveen had never met before, well he had seen him before in newspapers and magazines but that was it. They had never met face to face and honestly, Praveen was really worried and scared. Sure! The man was famous and he was rich but Praveen didn't care about that. All he was hoping for was to be happy with the stranger he was gonna get married to.
Praveen had come out as gay when he was fourteen years old. He had suddenly developed strong feelings for a guy and had once kissed another boy. He could still remember how his life had changed one day a few days after telling his mother that he was gay.
Out of the blue, Emilia had come and she and his mother had explained things to him. Unfortunately, her son was gay and that meant the vow they had made had to be fulfilled. He had no choice and the thing was that his mother had made him promise that he would get married before she died. He had no choice but...
"Hey!"
Mike shook Praveen, getting him out of his thoughts. Praveen looked at him, trying to put up a fake smile. But Mike saw through him.
"You know you are not fooling anyone with that fake smile, right?"
"What?" Praveen gasped, giggling softly. "I have no idea what you are talking about?"
"I can see through your fake smile." He teased, raising his eyebrow. "You are not fooling anyone. Besides, I don't think you should be giving me that fake smile. You are soon going to be the son in law of the great Gonzalez family and I don't need to remind you what that means." He wrapped one arm around Praveen's neck.
Praveen looked at his friend and took a deep sigh. "I know what you mean by that, Mike." He gave a gloomy sigh. "I know you think I am gonna be rich and finally meet my Prince Charming but..."
"What could be better than that?" Mike giggled, patting on Praveen's back. "He's famous... he's rich... He's handsome... He's sexy and I know that he'll make you happy. You will be famous too and I know that aunt will be happy wherever she is because her final wish for her son will come true."
His weakness... Mike just had to use his weakness.
"Yeah," He gave a half-smile, shrugging and shaking his head. "You are probably right, Mike. Thank you so much."
He opened his arms wider and hugged Mike. He was still unsure about his marriage but he had no choice. He loved his mother too much. All he was hoping for was for the handsome hunk to show him, love. He was hoping Antonio was the right man for him. He was hoping that with time, he was gonna fall for Antonio. At least, Emilia seemed nice enough. He hadn't met anyone else from her family.
"Let's go." He chuckled nervously. "I don't wanna keep her waiting."
"Ooh..." Mike teased, pulling away from the hug. "Someone doesn't want to keep his mother in law waiting."
"Shut up, you are just too crazy."
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