"I'm home!" Samuel shouted as he opened the front. The first thing to greet his presence was a white, black, and gray fluff ball who scampered towards him as fast as they could. "Yes Pepper, I'm happy to see you too." He picked up the wag whose tail was wagging as fast as it possible could while trying to reach the man's face with its little pink tongue.
Pepper was some mixed breed or other of dog that someone had dropped off by his parents house a few years ago and had decided to adopt them. His parents being the soft hearted people they were couldn't deny him when he'd asked if they could keep him since he evidentially didn't have another owner.
"Come to the dining room." He heard his father shout causing Samuel to frown as he set the dog down. The dining room was only used as a meeting place during this time of day if there was something important that they need to discuss.
Entering the dining room he saw both his parents sitting at the table, his father a letter in hand looking very focused, his mother looked worried which caused the wrinkles on her pale face to become more apparent.
His parents were only in their late thirties as they had Samuel when they were rather young, but stress had caused them to look older than they actually were. His father's brown hair was speckled with gray hairs that could be only really be seen when he was out in the sun or in a well lit from and his mother had more wrinkles and stress lines than she should for someone her age.
"What's up?" He asked causing them to both look up at him. His mom offered him a smile and motioned for him to sit in the chair opposite of them.
"We know you're graduating in a few days, son. I'm sure there's something you'd like to do to celebrate, but it looks like we might have to plan on doing some of them beforehand." His father explained as he held the letter out to his soon. Samuel didn't have to guess who the letter was from as he took it from his father. The paper and seal told him everything he needed to know even before he started reading. His parents had received a number of letters such as these over the years though he had never really been allowed to read them except for a few peeks whenever his parents were discussing the contents and how to reply.
The letters which were always signed as being from a "Z. S." were part of a consistent contact between his parents and the mafia boss who he only know as being over a group called the "Red Scorpions" and and arranged marriage they agreed to enter with the other before Samuel was born.
His parents didn't have an easy life when they were first together. His father made a number of mistakes as he tried to start up his own business, one of those was taking out a rather large loan from a group of loan sharks that didn't not take kindly when he was unable to start returning the money at the date they agreed upon.
Although where his parents live technically fell on neutral land that was outside of the area of the Red Scorpions, Z still kept track of everything that happened in between his territory and the next exactly because of issues that Samuel's parents were dealing with. Certain groups didn't play by the right rules and took advantage of those who didn't know any better.
Z seeing how young the couple was and that the woman was not only pregnant but appeared to be a gentle of a spirit which reminded him of his own wife who was also pregnant at the time , he decided to step in on their behalf. In exchange for paying off their debt and offering his protection, he requested that they enter an arranged marriage that would have the two couples' children becoming engaged for marriage once they turned eighteen.
Samuel took his time reading the letter as he tried to get a feel for the man who he knew would soon become his father-in-law. From what he could tell the man didn't seem to be overly unfair or mean despite his parents position, instead his response were more of a polite nature akin to how someone would write to an acquaintance they were fond of.
"So he wants me to take some time to meet his daughter before I turn eighteen?"
"He thinks it would be for the best to make sure everything will work out okay ahead of the engagement and wedding." his mother explain, nervously tapping her right foot.
"But what does that mean for you guys?" Samuel asked, handing the letter back over to his father.
"We'll be fine. It would only be for a week after all and then I'm sure we'll be invited to come up there to discuss the marriage afterwards." his father assured.
"More importantly, are you going to be alright with this? I'm sure even though you knew what was going to happen, it's still come a lot faster than expected." His mother looked like she was about right to cry when she grabbed Samuel's large left hand with both her much smaller ones.
"It's only for a week now, besides I'm sure she must be a rather nice girl." Samuel replied, trying to convince them as much as he was trying to convince himself.
He was a bit disappointed that he hadn't been given a photo of the girl who would soon be his bride. Growing up he had always wondered when he was much younger if it would turn out that the girl he'd eventually end up marrying would turn out to be someone he knew but as he got older, he determined more and more that such a thing probably wasn't.
"I'll write him back later, but for now I think it's time we ate dinner. Once we are done Samuel, you can tell us what you'd like to do in this upcoming days before you graduate." Samuel nodded his head in agreement with his father. Even if he was slightly concerned about what the future would hold for him once he meet his future bride, he decided right then not to let the letter take away from him enjoy his current with his family.