Okay, so this is my new book! I didn't intend for the prologue to be this long, but I guess it just kind of ended up that way. It might be a little draggy, but have patience! Heheh... Anyway, the prologue isn't really a *must read* chapter. It just gives background information to clear up some confusion as the story starts. Happy reading!
* This chapter has been edited but may still contain grammatical errors. *
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The café was filled with emotions that day. There was a bunch of chatter going on in the line for coffee, some people were out on a date, and others were hard at work, studying for a test they have have in school. This is the positive side of the mood inside the café. One in particular, however, has tainted the positiveness. Janice and Arthur Young were both teachers in the LAUSD and the school districts were having problems with funding.
They had just found out that they were being laid off and couldn't do anything. They lost their jobs and their parents were retired. They both knew that if this kept going on, they will soon have to live in the streets. The only thing they could do was look to Chelsie and David Lewis for help.
The couple remained seated in the corner of the café holding on to each other. They held each other tightly trying to calm each other down, however, it didn't seem to do the job. More and more sobs just came out as the people around them continued on with their lives. For Janice and Arthur, they believed that there was no life left for them to live.
A man of similar age to Arthur and a woman of younger age to Janice entered the café. They both scanned the whole room in search for their friends in need. Once they connected eyes, the new couple didn't send them sympathetic smiles, but instead flashed them with genuine smiles as if there was nothing going wrong in the world.
"Arthur! Janice! How are you?" the man, David, asked. They went around the table for the empty chairs. David pulled a chair out for Chelsie and helped her sit. He himself sat right next to her.
"David, we need your help," Arthur spoke up.
Chelsie looked up to the other couple and noticed their tear-streaked cheeks and red eyes. She saw the quick breaths that caused their chests and shoulders to look like they were spasming.
"What happened?" Chelsie asked, her expression turned from her smile to a concerned one.
"We were laid off," Janice deadpanned.
For a while, nobody had spoken anything. The Lewis couple especially couldn't think of anything to say. They spent the few quiet moments just processing what was happening, but they couldn't make any sense of it. They knew that the school system was having problems with funds and were aware of the lay-offs happening in the area, but they didn't expect it to happen to their very close friends.
The Young and the Lewis family have been friends for decades. The men of both couples were the bearers of the families' names. It was a year ago that David's parents had passed away. They received the family business, Lewis Donuts, from their parents so they can support their own lives.
The Young couple was never a wealthy family to begin with. They continued to struggle for money to this day and it has been made worst now that Janice and Arthur were laid off from their jobs. Their parents are both retired so there aren't any funds coming into the family anymore.
Both couples have a deep bond that had started in high school. They shared many good and bad memories that only strengthened their relationship with each other. They even made goofy promises such as betrothing their first borns in the future, which was all forgotten now as all of life's problems came their way.
Now, they stood in the café thinking about what the future might hold for them.
Chelsie rose from her seat to give Janice a comforting hug. David did the same by patting Arthur on the shoulder, which was a similar comforting act.
"It's okay, Arthur, we'll help you," David said.
"Thank you so much, David,"
"It's okay. You know you can always come to us for help, right?" Chelsie asked.
"Thank you. Thank you, Chelsie," Janice said.
Chelsie and David went back to their seat and started talking business.
"You guys can have our donut shop," David announced.
"What?" the other couple said at the same time in surprise.
"No, David. Your parents gave that to you. You can't give that to us," Arthur said.
"We can and we will. Our parents have given us more than enough money. We can just find jobs as we live off of it for a while. It really won't be a bother to us, Arthur. Please, just accept it."
The Young couple were at a loss for words. They didn't know what to say to the Lewis' proposal. They were badly in need — yes — but they didn't expect to receive the Lewis' family business.
"We wouldn't know how to repay you. Thank you David and Chelsie. This will save our lives," Arthur said.
Tears threatened to flow from their faces again for the Lewis family's selfless act. They've always known that David and Chelsie were good people and so they were grateful to have them as friends.
"Well, there's always that promise we made back in high school," Chelsie said.
"Which promise? We made a lot of of them back in the day," Janice chuckled.
"We can have our first-borns marry each other! We'll be in-laws, Janice! Wouldn't that be exciting?" Chelsie squealed.
"Of course! I can't believe I forgot about that! Yeah, if my son or daughter were to marry, I'd love to them to be your kid," Arthur said.
"Then we have a deal," Chelsie said.
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6 MONTHS LATER
The Young family was back on track. With their new business, Young Donuts, they finally had a new source of income with which to support their family. They were sure that a bright future waited for them as long as they had their life saviors — David and Chelsie — beside them.
In the meantime, Chelsie and David spent the last six months just enjoying life and doing nothing. It's a break they took for themselves so they can prepare for years of hard work. Now that it had been six months, it was time for them to do some job hunting.
"You got anything, David?" Chelsie asked.
"Nope. There's nothing around within California."
"Maybe we should change the scope of our search. We've lived in California for our whole lives."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I don't know. Another state? Maybe another country! Britain would be nice. I've always been fond of the way they spoke."
"I should take you up on that."
Arthur changed his location preferences to England and soon enough, they had found the perfect job! It had everything they wanted: good health benefits, convenient work times, and a good pay. This was too good for them to pass up, so they happily took it.
A week before leaving, they decided to pay a visit to the Young family to break the news to them. David and Lewis didn't know how they would respond to it, but they knew that the Youngs had to know about this.
"You're going where?" Christine asked. Christine was Arthur's mother and Janice's in-law.
"We needed a job and we found one in London."
"Why so far away?"
"Well, in the last six months, we've been going around from country to country just to relax ourselves before we get back to work. Now we need jobs and have decided that Los Angeles is just so boring to us," David explained.
"Yeah, so we started looking for jobs and we found one in London!" Chelsie continued.
"Oh. When do you guys leave?" Arthur asked.
"We leave in a week," David said.
"That fast?"
"Yeah, we're sorry we only told you guys now, but we had to tell you sooner or later."
"It's okay. Just be careful out there okay? Keep in touch," Janice said.
"Of course we will! Our children will be marrying each other, right?" David asked.
"Of course they will!" Christine said. "I can't wait for my grandchildren! Make them soon!"
Everyone was horrified and amused by what Christine had just said, but they played along with it.
"Alright, we'll be leaving then!" David announced.
David and Chelsie headed out the door with Janice and Arthur following behind them. The news truly was a sad one especially after having been together for decades. This was the first time ever that they had to be apart from each other and they didn't know what to expect from it.
"Don't forget about us now," Janice said.
"You know we never will. We'll always love you guys and don't forget that," Chelsie said, giving them a reassuring smile.
"And we love you guys too. Just call us up if you need help, okay? We mean it. We now owe our lives to you for saving us. Thank you guys and good luck!" Arthur said.
A week went by in a flash because now David and Chelsie were about to board their plane bound for London. They looked forward to the new life they're about to have ahead of them and can't keep the smiles off of their faces.
As soon as Chelsie and David left, Arthur and Janice finally decided to have children. Within a few weeks, Hunter was conceived. The couple couldn't be any happier knowing that their son already has a life partner — a life partner that would come from a good-natured family, the Lewis family.
After eleven years, both families have failed to contact each other. It was at this time that David and Chelsie have finally conceived a child. Tyler is to be born in six months, and the couple couldn't be more excited.
By now, the Young and the Lewis family both have forgotten about their children's betrothal. None of them had tried to contact each other and so all hope of having their children married to each other was gone. But that didn't last long.
Soon both families will be faced with their son's love life problems that will cause the agreement to resurface. But since they both have sons as their first-borns, is the agreement still valid?
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A/N: Okay, so I might suck a little at writing in third person, but I felt that it was necessary for me to do that for the Prologue. Don't worry though, because the actual chapters of the book will be written in first person.
I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue! Did you like it? Are you interested? Hooked? No? Okay. But please keep reading! The first chapter should be up by the weekend!
Are there any confusions? Please ask in the comments below and I'll clear it up as much as I can! :)
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-panda_lover_1996
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Date Stamp: March 27, 2014
Word Count: 1,684
Edited on December 22, 2014
New Word Count: 1,692