Hold My Heart (BW short story)

Part 9

On the other side of the phone, Win just dumbfounded. His entire face heated up instantly.... 'sweetheart', 'love'- its too much to handle. He never had any relationship with anyone, so these types of sweet talks are affecting him hardly. He never thought that one day someone called him sweetheart! He heard their friends talked to their girlfriends, they use many nicknames, and sometimes those were too cringey. But he thought, how close and comfortable they are with each other that they can call them with cringey names. He thought, its sweet and nice. He wanted to know how it feels, but never asked his friends because he was scared to being teased (mocked?).

But today Bright called him sweetheart. Is he really someone's sweetheart? Bright didn't ask for any permission, he just called that. Its look like he doesn't need any permission, its just came with flow....with heart. Does he have same right like him? Does he have permission to call him sweetheart too? Win feels his heart beating abnormally, how a single word effected his heart; or, is it the effect of word or the person, he wonders. He feels his face heated up like fire.

"Why my son turned into a tomato?"

Win startled when he heard his father's voice. They were outside of the room entire time and heard every word of them. Win turned deep shade of red in realization, he lowered his head, "Dad please." He whispered.

"Don't tease my son." his mother come to rescue. She cupped his face lovingly, "I am so happy for you son. Bright is a good person and he really loves you."

Win lowered his head, smiled shyly. His mother chuckled to see her son's reaction, "I can't wait anymore. I want Bright as my son-in-law as soon as possible."

He turned redder, if possible. That particular word made him to think of a possibility.....the possibility of their upcoming life, their marriage, their own family. Win closed his eyes, 'hold your horse, you are not fully in this relationship yet' He thought, 'so, forgot about marriage.'

Marriage? Suddenly some realization hit him and he voiced out his thoughts, "Mom-Dad, don't you have any objection of our relationship?" he asked, "I mean we both are boys." Sometimes he had doubts, what would people said about their same sex relationship? He heard about homophobic people, some of them are too aggressive, hurt other both physically and mentally. Honestly, he was scared when Bright approached him; specially when he didn't know about his sexuality until his proposal.

"Off course not, we have no objection dear. That's why we allowed him to court you." Father said, sat beside him, "same sex relationships aren't new, they have been around since ancient time. We are modern enough to accept everything. When our ancestors accepted this then why aren't we? When it depends on our child's happiness." He took his phone, "ok. Enough lecture, now give my phone back. I have to talk to Bright and suggest a nice venue."

"And I am going to choose best outfit for my son. I want my Winny look best."

They left Win to deal with his blush.

*

"Come." Bright holding Win's hand and guided to an open-air rooftop area. The entire rooftop beautified with verities of flowers, their sweet fragrance mixing in the air made it heavenly. In the middle of this heaven, there was a small arch, decorated with golden lights, a beautiful fountain in corner added more beauty in it.

Bright took Win under the arch, where a small table covered with rose petals, a bouquet of red roses and a soft light from a chandelier made the ambiance romantic. A small windchime is clinking on mild breeze.

They stood near table; sweet scent of freshly bloomed flowers filled in silky smooth breeze. A soft smile on Win's face indicated his likeliness. "Win" Bright called, "do you like this place?" he smiled, "I arranged all these for you.."