J.R AND SVOLY ANNE

The wind was sharp and cool in the geopark, a place where the weather didn’t seem to change any of the beauty around it. A geopark is an actual forest, for those who did not know, which has been set aside for people to take walks in. The serenity and loveliness of these parks drew people every season. It was winter. In these parks, there was no such thing as snow machines or icicle freezers. Even benches and carved out paths were missing here. Geoparks were parks that only nature made, with humans hardly affecting it at all. But today it was bitterly cold, and only two young, teenage humans were walking around, joking. The boy was of regular height (6 foot) and the girl was two inches shorter. Common for an engaged couple. His russet brown hair had been styled in the criss-cross Mohawk; little spikes, criss-crossing over each other in the Mohawk area forming a kind of grid. The girl toussled it softly, remarking on how well their hair color complemented each other. She was a burgundy red head, purposely dyed with cordovan purple streaks. She too had a very modern hair style, a bob that stopped at chin, with two longer, thin sections pointed toward it, and two shorter, right beside, pointing inward toward her cheekbone. He stopped walking and she turned around, her deep set eyes looking like two grey quartzes, sparkling in surprise. He grinned widely, showing a row of straight white teeth and staring back at her with curious baby blue eyes.
“You think you can beat me in a race?”
She grinned back, her equally white smile rimmed in dark lipstick.
“Hell yeah!”
He broke into a run and she laughed, chasing him. Her billowy, white dress blending in with the falling snow, while his black coat sticking out with the bare trees. She outran him easily and leaned against the trunk of a tree, laughing and waiting for him.
“Beatchya, loser.”
Her round face was flushed from running. He thought she looked just like a little doll, beautiful and delicate. He leaned in to kiss her mischievous, pointy nose, but stopped. He remembered the weird fact that they shared the same nose. Their parents decided they should share the same nose, and he leaned back to a straight position.
“Whats wrong, Jes?”
She was a little taken aback that he hesitated to kiss her. Jes’s strong cheekbones and jaw hardened when he was angry about something.
“Jes, tell me whats wrong.”
She reached to put an arm around his neck, but he shook her off.
“Sorry, Svoly Ann, I just need to get home now.”
Svoly gulped and looked straight ahead, her jaw also hardening.
“Your thinking about us being engaged, I know it.”
“I know you know it, we were created so that you would know it.”
Jes said it is almost a bitter tone. She bit her lip to keep the tears from dropping.
“So? There’s nothing wrong in that. Everyone does it, we’ll probably do it. Our parents just wanted to make sure their children were happy and found true love. There‘s nothing wrong in that!”
The tears were dropping anyway. Jes turned his head so he can roll his eyes. He can remember everything that happened the day Mom and Dad told him he was going to meet his engaged. He can remember seeing her for the first time, how she was just as mad as he was, but still beautiful like a doll. He can remember feeling her nose, his nose, when he kissed her for the first time. He still couldn’t get over that he was not his own, unique person, but almost like some machine, personalized by his parents. They had said the same thing, that they chose his engaged so that he would have a true love. So that he would never have to experience heartache and loneliness. Svoly was perfect for him. Their parents had made sure of that.
“Svoly, I have to go now. I’ll talk to tomorrow at the academy.”
Svoly stopped crying, but she put her arms around Jes again. She kissed him sweetly and let go.
“You’ll never find anyone better than me Jescew.”
Jes sighed and kissed her back.
“I know.”