The Greeks Contract Marriage

Demetrius sat in his office chair, facing the once beautiful landscape from his twentieth floor office window. He remembered choosing this exact office, so that he could see how everyone around the city moved. As it is, he liked knowing about the happenings of Hollywood after all. All that had seemed beautiful about this view had simply vanished and been replaced by cloudy weather or was it that he simply had a lot on his mind. Demetrius could not help but smile at the image of his mother’s excitement. When last had he seen his mother that excited? In all honesty, he did not remember. Demetrius had flown all the way to visit his parents in Greece in his private jet, one of the many luxuries of being a prince and a great property investor. Dinner had been great, or as great as it could at the Evan household, with his mother chatting in between to lighten the mood between Demetrius, his father and brother, Giovanni. Demetrius had one job and he admitted that he had messed up completely, there was no doubt about that. All he had to do was tell his mother of the diagnosis the doctor had given him, now he was here in his office, regretting how wrong things had gone. Demetrius’ eyes grew wider at the excitement in his mother’s voice, as she stood up from the dinner table, walked around to his side of the table and hugged him in her embrace. Then quickly releasing Demetrius and looking into his eyes, while her eyes were tearing up. “I can’t believe that you are getting married, I’ve been waiting for this news almost all my life!” His mother Squealed in excitement, whilst Demetrius sat on the chair, pupils widened, wondering where his mother had gotten such an absurd idea. With his mother’s hands resting on Demetrius’ strong shoulders and her eyes filled with hope in them, she asked Demetrius the one question that would seal his fate. “You are getting married right? I assume that is what you wanted to announce?” his mother asked him. Her eyes filled with hope to the point where it almost glittered like stars. He could not break his mother’s heart; she had always been there for him when he was younger. Whilst other parents had shipped their kids off to boarding schools, his mother had stayed home, put her life on hold to take care of Demetrius and his younger brother, Giovanni. “Yes! Yes mother, that is exactly what I was about to announce to you mother” Demetrius replied. In his chest his heart pounded, slamming against his ribcage. From Demetrius’ peripheral vision, he could see his brother rolling his eyes. Giovanni, his little brother knew that he would do anything to make their mother happy. From across him, he father showed no emotions, clearly, his father was calling his bluff, apparently, everyone knew his stance on marriage, and unfortunately, his mother was not getting the memo. Demetrius shut his eyes as his mother squealed loud enough that she might have been the cause of Miranda, their house help dropping a glass or two in the kitchen. “Miranda!” his mother yelled out, causing the middle-aged woman to run into the dining room with worry in her eyes. “Yes Mrs. Evan, has something gone wrong?” She asked, worried to the point of panic, as her eyes grew wider, anticipating an answer. Demetrius’ mother turned her attention towards Miranda, not once did his mother lose the smile on her face, as she walked up to Miranda. “Get me the fifty year old Sauvignon Blanc” Demetrius’ mother requested. Everyone’s eyes grew wider. Demetrius stood from his seat, walked up besides his mother, laid his hands on her shoulder and lowered his lip to his mother’s ears. “Mother we don’t have to do such a thing, that wine is for special occasions only” Demetrius begged his mother. Mrs. Evan turned to face her son and the smile on her face was gone, replaced by a serious facial expression. “And you getting married isn’t serious?” His mother asked him with her do-not-dare mess-with-me tone. This was Demetrius’ warning to back off and everyone knew best than to argue with mother. Mrs. Evan turned back to face Miranda and she nodded at her, their helper left the dining room to get the wine. Meanwhile Demetrius was running circles around himself, thinking of a way to get out of this mess, for the last time. Demetrius could not eat the last of his food, he had lost is appetite and to make matters worse, Miranda had just showed up with the family wine, the fifty year old family wine. He watched as his mother popped the cork and poured for each and every family member, including Miranda. “To my son and his fiancé, may they have a happy married life” she toasted and Demetrius tried to put up a brave smile for his mother’s sake and for his. The night had pretty much gone downhill from there as his mother talked about all the preparation that she would have to make. Between his mother’s constant talking and planning, Demetrius’ brother sat beside him and whispered in his ear. “Mom is going to be so furious when she finds out that you are lying” Giovanni told him and the last thing Demetrius needed was for his brother to pour salt onto his injury. Demetrius wanted so badly to walk over to his mother, pull her aside and tell her that he was not making plans to get married but he could not bear the thought of breaking his mother’s heart. His mother had done so much for her and he had to repay her somehow. “So when are we meeting this young lady?” Demetrius turned his attention to his mother, for a moment he had forgotten that he was still stuck with this dilemma that he had found himself. Demetrius did not answer his mother right away, instead the smile on her face disappeared and just then, Demetrius thought that he had been caught out. “I hope that it is not one of those tramps that you are occasionally photographed with, because if it is Demetrius Eros Evan, I will—“ “It’s not! I mean it is not them. You see my fiancé is different, she’s so reserved that she has never been on any gossip columns” Demetrius slapped himself mentally, although the smile on his mother’s face had appeared he knew that he was digging an even bigger hole for himself by lying. Mrs. Evan moved away from everyone else and she sat onto the couch, facing her eldest son, Demetrius. His mother’s eyes glaring right into his, as if she was looking into his soul. She placed his hands in hers and her smile grew even brighter. “I always knew that you would make me proud, not that you haven’t made me proud before. I don’t know how to say this but I’ve always thought that you would be one of these players, which would jump from one woman to another without ever falling in love” Demetrius listened to his mother and she had no idea how right she was, for Demetrius s*x was simply s*x. Men like himself made sure to never become attached to these women, the deal was simply, he bought them what they wanted and in return he got physical gratification for it. “I have heard everything that you have told me mother and I will keep them to heart” Demetrius answered his mother; his heart breaking at the thought of lying to the only woman he had ever loved. “Great, so I’ll be expecting her next week for dinner” Demetrius’ eyes grew wider at his mother request. He knew that he could not bring his fiancé home to his family when she did not even exist. “Mother I don’t think she can make it, because—” Demetrius tried to explain but yet again his mother would not allow it. “I’m so sorry my dear but you would have to bring her, I have waited long enough for a daughter in-law and I cannot wait another lifetime to see her” Demetrius swallowed the lump in his throat and simply nodded a yes to his mother, as she turned on her heel and walked away from him. “Demetrius!” a familiar voice called out to him, causing Demetrius to look away from the view of the city and refocus it to the direction of his door. “Good afternoon Louise, I’m sorry, I was just deep in thought” Demetrius apologized to his business partner of almost five years. A smile appeared from the corner of Louise’s lip as he walked towards Demetrius, pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Demetrius. “Yeah, I could see that you were indeed deep in thought” Louise joked and Demetrius rolled his eyes. Louise had no idea what was going on with his friend. Demetrius was not the type of man that ever showed his emotions to the world. “What is wrong, business taking a hit because last time I checked our numbers were doing great?” Louise mentioned to Demetrius who did not seem impressed at all. There was no doubt that Demetrius liked talking about business and how he could make his next billion dollars but today was not the day to talk business with anyone. Demetrius looked at his friend deep in the eyes, studying Louise as he sat in his seat. Demetrius was not the type of man to make friends. Surely Louise was loyal to him but he also knew that Loyalty had an expiration date and he was not sure that he was ready to bear his soul to Louise. He sat himself in his seat, leaned in forward, his arms laid properly onto his dark wooded oak desk. “Boy what I’m about to tell you will not only shock you but it might just wound you, like it did me” Demetrius got down to telling Louise about dinner at his mother’s house, three nights ago. Demetrius kept in mind to keep the little details away from his friend. When Demetrius concluded, he looked right into Louise’s face as though he was waiting for some kind of solution to his predicament. “What do you think I should do?” Demetrius asked Louise, shocking; he was not the type to ask for opinions from anyone. Louise positioned himself, properly onto the office leather chair, Demetrius could tell that Louise was as lost as he was but he really did need his business partner’s answer. “I think you should tell your mother the truth. Stupid! That was all that Demetrius could think of his friend. He thought of that already, but every time he picked up the phone to dial his mother’s number, he thought of how heartbroken she would be. “I can’t do such as thing, Louise” Louise raised his eyebrows; the poor guy was clearly confused or was it just Demetrius confusing him? “And why may I ask?” Louis asked his business partner, Demetrius who now looked like he was panicking. A behavior that Demetrius had never displayed at least not to Louise. “If I tell my mother the truth, it would break my mother’s heart and I can’t do that to my mother” Louise had no idea of Demetrius’ relationship was with his parents but from the way he spoke about his mother, showed that his business partner had a heart somewhere beneath that icy exterior. “I think it will hurt your mother more if you keep it from her. I say just tell your mother the truth” Louise advised but Demetrius was simply not having any of it. “I can’t” Demetrius emphasized it the more. “Then keep it up and get one of those models you date” Louise suggested but Demetrius had already thought about that. “I can’t, mother hates those kinds of women” Louise stood up from the leather seat and looked down at his friend, Demetrius. “Well you could always go to the strip club and who knows you might find your, Pretty Woman” Louise joked but just then, Demetrius got an idea. In his mind, he was slowly assembled the idea while his business partner looked at him. “No— No Demetrius, you can’t go looking for a wife at a strip club” “Why not? It happened in Pretty Woman” Demetrius could not believe that he was comparing his own reality with the work of fiction. What other choice did he have at this point.