Deru walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of iced tea. His father sat at the table, reading the morning news on his tablet while his mother sat across from him, eating.

  “There’s some extra ingredients I chopped up if you want to make an omelet before you go,” she said when she saw him enter the room.

  “Oh, no thanks,” he said, downing his tea quickly and turning to leave.

  “Your girlfriend is waiting outside,” his father said without looking up. “Make sure to drop her off at her workpce.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Maybe not yet, but she’s still your fiance.”

  “I’ll see you ter.”

  “Mmh.”

  “See you ter,” his mother said with a smile.

  Deru opened the door and found Mica standing outside, dressed in her usual high end clothes.

  “Sorry to make you wait.”

  “No, I wasn’t waiting for long, and besides, the weather’s nice,” she said with a slight smile.

  “Mmh. Let’s go.”

  Deru boarded his hoverbike, and Mica climbed on after him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  It’d been just over a year since the Seynian Empire had invaded Temure, taking control of the entire pnet in just three months. Recently, they’d divided up the pnet’s surface into regions to make administration easier.

  A small Seynian military force was put in charge of each region, including the newly formed Helma region that the town of Mek was now part of. They’d bulldozed the church along with a few houses in the center of town to make space for a new military complex. They’d also started construction on a spaceport in a different section of town.

  They rounded a corner and Mica tightened her grip on his waist slightly.

  She and Deru had become involved in an arranged marriage their parents had set up. It wasn’t a situation he’d wanted to be part of, but Deru understood the reasoning for it.

  Ultimately, it would only end in tragedy.

  ***

  With a huff, Landen set the small table down in front of the couch in his living room and stepped back, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he examined their positions.

  All good.

  Even though he was very physically fit, moving furniture and other belongings into his new house all day was tiring work. But, he’d at least finished moving his meager belongings inside, and now he’d finished positioning all the rger pieces of furniture, so he decided to leave it at that for today. He could finish unpacking everything else tomorrow.

  He gazed out the window at the houses across the street, now lit by the te afternoon sunlight.

  This house had actually been left to him by his te grandmother, who he hardly remembered. The st time he’d seen her had been at his parent’s funeral, when he was ten.

  Twelve years had passed without contact between them, and yet she’d left him her house and most of her belongings.

  He wondered why.

  To his knowledge, she hadn’t even contacted his other pair of grandparents, who’d been the ones to raise him after his parents died. They’d also passed away a few years ago, but by then he’d become independent.

  The main reason that he’d decided to move out here was that he’d grown sick of city life, especially since the Seynians had taken over. He’d heard the oppression wasn’t as bad in rural areas, and he’d been looking for a fresh start.

  He looked at the boxes stacked by the door and sighed.

  “I’ll have to find something to eat soon.”

  ***

  The wind blew Deru’s hair around as he walked down the street in the shopping district. He shielded his eyes as he looked across the street at his destination. It was a jewelry shop that’d been in business for decades.

  He’d never been inside, but his mother had bought practically all her accessories from it, and she’d recommended it as a pce to look for gifts, which was why he was here today.

  Mica’s birthday was only two days away, and he figured that he should probably get her something, even if it was just out of courtesy.

  “I’m not doing this because I like her. I’d just feel bad if I didn’t get her anything.”

  He crossed the street and walked inside. The air was cooler indoors. He immediately started browsing the dispys looking for something cheap, but attractive.

  “I don’t have to think about it that much, do I? Still…”

  “Deru?”

  He looked over to see a girl about his age wearing what he assumed was the store’s uniform. Her bck and pink striped hair was tied back in two braids that fell past her shoulders.

  She was his childhood friend, Yande. He remembered pying with her in a small park when they were younger and then seeing her in school. They’d known each other for as long as he could remember, but this was the first time he’d seen her at work.

  She still didn’t know about his arrangement with Mica, and he kind of preferred it this way. His crush on her had only grown over the years, but he was too afraid of messing up their friendship to admit it.

  “Hi. My mom told me you worked here, but I didn’t know if I’d see you or not.”

  “Ha! I work here pretty much all the time. It’s not like I have anything else to do. So why are you here?”

  “I’m, um… looking for a gift. For her. Not something too expensive though.”

  “Hmm… You could try a bracelet, or maybe a purse.”

  “Alright, I’ll see.”

  “Want me to help?”

  “No, I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

  After looking around for a bit, he saw a small purse that caught his eye, only to find out that it was slightly more than he could afford with the amount of money he’d brought with him. But it seemed like the perfect gift for Mica, and nothing else had seemed like a good fit for her.

  “Oh well, I’ll just come back tomorrow.”

  ***

  Deru’s hoverbike came to a stop outside the gates to Mica’s house, which was one of the rgest in the town. She got off and thanked him, then reminded him to be at her pce tomorrow morning.

  He watched her disappear inside before starting his hoverbike again and turning to drive in the direction of the shopping district. It was the day before her birthday, and yet he’d put off going back to the jewelry shop until evening.

  When he finally arrived, the streets had grown dark and the lights were on inside. Through the windows, he saw Yande conversing with an older woman who must be the owner.

  Thankfully the purse he’d seen was still there when he checked, and after picking it out he went straight to checkout, where he was greeted by Yande and her boss.

  “Is that all?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Is it for your girlfriend?” asked the older woman.

  “No, I don’t actually have one,” he said.

  The woman watched him leave, then turned to the girl beside her.

  “If you wait too long, he’ll get taken.”

  “He’s just a friend. And I’m only fourteen.”

  “I suppose you’re right, there’s no need to rush. But you don’t want to end up waiting too long and end up like me.”

  “I wouldn’t- I mean, I’ll be fine….”

  “Ha ha, I’m just teasing. Well, he’s probably the st customer for tonight.”

  “Yeah…”

  “If you want to hang out here for a while after we close, that’s fine as always, though.”

  “Ah, thank you.”

  After the lights had been turned off, Yande gazed out the window at the dark street, only lit by the faint light of the stars.

  “I wonder what it would be like to live on a pnet with a moon,” Yande said to herself, touching the gss with her fingertips.

  ***

  Deru wrapped the purse in gift paper and put it on a shelf in his room. For a moment, he wondered why he’d bothered with it, since Mica likely would’ve been happy with anything he’d gotten her.

  “Ah well, it just kind of feels better this way. Even if it’s not what I really want, the least I can do is go along with it.”

  As he y in bed, he remembered the meeting with her father.

  “Ah, Deru, please sit here.”

  Deru sat on a cushion on the floor across from Mica’s father, Leo Etacilis, a low table between them. His own father sat to his left, while his mother waited in a separate room.

  The man across from him was in his early forties, well built, but slightly shorter than average with a thick mustache on his squarish face. He looked down at the cup of tea in front of him as he waited for the other two to get comfortable.

  “You’ve been told what I’m here to discuss, correct?”

  “My dad said you wanted to put me in an arranged marriage,” Deru said.

  “That’s right. I’ll get straight to the point; my daughter has a genetic disease that’s been passed down through my wife’s side of our family for generations. In most cases, it causes them to go mad before the age of thirty. My own wife wasn’t an exception.

  “So far, no one’s been able to find a treatment, but I’d like to think there’s a chance we could find one eventually, preferably before…

  “Thankfully, it should be at least a decade before Mica even starts showing symptoms, and I want to give her the best life I can while she’s still sane. One of her wishes is to be in a retionship with someone, so I gave her a list of possible candidates, and she chose you.

  “Of course, I won’t force you into anything you don’t want, all I’m asking is for you to give her a chance. Spend some time with her, get to know her, and if you still don’t want to marry her by the time you’re an adult, we can call the whole thing off.

  “I would also like to see my grandchildren before I die. Of course you’ll be compensated generously…”

  Deru looked at the table in front of him.

  “I’ll do it,” he said after a long moment.

  “Really? If you want time to think it over-”

  “No, it’s fine.

  Though they now went to different schools, they’d been in the same css when they were younger. He remembered Mica as a nice girl who tried to be friends with him since they’d sat next to each other in css. At the time, he’d brushed her off to hang out with his friends.

  Now he wondered if she’d actually had a crush on him, and how it must’ve felt to be ignored. If she’d held onto her feelings for him since then, he’d feel bad ignoring her once again.

  Besides, he was just being asked to spend time with her. It was only after the meeting had ended that he realized how hard it would be to call it off in the future if he really wanted to.

  “I’m really gd you agreed,” his father said, cmping his hand down on Deru’s shoulder after Mr. Etacilis had left.

  Although initially nervous, he’d soon gotten used to spending time with her, and the awkwardness had all but disappeared between them. It felt like they were finally starting to get to know each other.

  He only refused to call her his girlfriend yet because that’d make it much more difficult to back out if he decided he wanted to at some point.

  Still, he found himself becoming less and less opposed to the idea the more time they spent together.

  He watched her admiring the new purse as he sat next to her in her room.

  “It’s so pretty, I love it!”

  She gleefully ran her hands over it, before smiling at Deru.

  He smiled back.

  “Yes, maybe if I just gave her a chance…”