Chapter 36: Primrose's 17th birthday

[June 2374 AD – POV Timotheus Sinterguth]

Weeks passed, and our Tuesday dinner became a regular institution. A few times I visited Primrose at home, and a few times I picked up her and at least one of her sisters for a quick trip, like to a nearby park or the small Botanical Garden in the city. We learned more about each other and also talked about our common believe, but I was hesitant to really tell her about my family background. Sure, my last name might ring a bell, but only our family holding and the foundation had our name in it, and both were not well known outside of insider circles. For most people, the name 'Sinterguth' was just a name like every other, an old-fashioned German name. We owned a large number of other companies, but again most people did not know about those connections.

Anyway, with time passing my own feelings towards Primrose developed, and I was almost sure that I really, really liked her. It was way too early to think about love, but she kept my mind occupied a lot, and spending time with her was something I came to enjoy more and more. End of May she asked me bluntly, while blushing, if I wanted to be her boyfriend, and I told her that I needed to ask her parents about that first. Considering that she was almost 17 years old, that was kind of a very conservative excuse, but not only did I see this as appropriate based on my education and my own values, I also had to be very careful due to my family background, to avoid being labeled a playboy or worse later.

Primrose understood, probably mostly because her own upbringing was also on the conservative side, and the topic was off the table for now. Of course I'd better ask her parents, but I also needed to ask myself if I was ready for that; what would being her boyfriend imply, what was she going to expect from me, would people talk about me having a girlfriend who was still a minor? I definitely needed to think about the right time to tell her and her parents more about my background, and because of her age, I decided to talk to her parents first and thus asked for a time for a conversation. A few days later we met and I told them right away:

"Primrose recently asked me if I wanted to be her boyfriend. I told her that I need to talk to you first, and there is something else I need to mention. Does my family name tell you anything?"

They both looked at me and told me that no, they had not heard the name before, except related to the cave I had been with the youth group some time ago. Mr. Seeberger suggested:

"Your family owns that dripstone cave in the 'Fränkische Schweiz', where you took Christine and Corinna and the other in the youth group more than a year ago, right?"

I pulled my tablet PC out of my bag and opened the Wikipedia page on my family, handing the device over to them. They read the first few sections, and Mr. Seeberger asked:

"Any relation to you, as you show that?"

I scrolled down to a photo from some years ago, which had a younger version of me next to my grandfather and some other relatives, and I explained:

"Yes, there is. This is my family, and the patriarch in charge is my grandfather. We own and control the Sinterguth foundation, and the family is very wealthy."

The statement 'very wealthy' was still a significant understatement, but I was not ready to reveal more than that. Mrs. Seeberger swallowed:

"So, what are you doing here in Erlangen?"

She probably had images in her mind of rich people not doing much at all, and I explained:

"I have a job at the university working towards my doctor's degree. I will probably get that in about a year, and once this is done, I will take some position in the family empire, somewhere in the world."

Mr. Seeberger looked concerned now:

"What's going to happen to our daughter when you leave?"

"Good question, sir" I responded. "I guess that there are two choices, depending on how our relation develops. If we find out over the next year or so that we have just had a crush and nothing else, we will probably go our separate ways sooner or later. If it turns out, though, that we really like each other and want to stay together, I will make that possible."

"How would you want to do that?"

"I don't know yet, as I do not know yet what will work for us, but if we find out that we truly love each other, I will most likely propose to Primrose not long after her 18th birthday."

"Wow, that is certainly a clear statement."

"Actually, if you do not trust my intentions, I can offer to meet my grandfather, He spends most of this time over in the USA, but visits this area frequently. As our Bavarian headquarter is not far from here, right in the 'Fränkische Schweiz', I can arrange a meeting if you want."

"Okay, this is really interesting. You may understand that we needed to make sure that you don't see our daughter as..."

He was not sure how to continue and I helped out:

"… as someone to play with, maybe?"

"Yes," he nodded, "Something like that."

"There is, as I have to admit, not only the bright side here, in our family. One of us, a second degree uncle of mine, kind of got to the dark side, and although they have not been able to apprehend him, police is sure that he is involved in serious criminal activity."

"Such as?"

"As far as I know he had been working with some people whose ancestors had been close to President Snow in Panem, and we believe that they have taken some advanced technology with them when the Snow regime collapsed. We do not really know what they are doing with that, but it is rumored that they have been experimenting with the mutts which were used in some games. Other rumors claim that they are part of a larger criminal organization, but we do not know much more. My uncle has, as I have been told, misappropriated large amounts of money and transferred it out of our control, and my grandfather was furious when he learned about it. This uncle and his oldest son, who left with him, are the only real 'rotten apples' I know of in our extended family."

Mrs. Seeberger now looked at her husband, and then she told me:

"Thank you very much, Mr. Sinterguth, for giving us all of that information. You may proceed and be Primrose's boyfriend, if you want. In a year, she will be allowed to do what she wants anyway. But please tell her the whole story, too."

"I will do that soon, of course, and I can assure you," I added, "that even in a year from now I am not going to elope to Las Vegas with her."

They obviously did not get this, and I was asked:

"What would you want to do in Las Vegas? Isn't that a place which used to be famous for gambling?"

"Indeed, yes" I explained. "Before the dark times, though, Las Vegas was known not only for gambling, but also for various options for couples to get married very easily and quickly. I believe that some called that 'eloping'."

"Oh."

Just a couple of days before Primrose's birthday I picked her up from work again on her long day, and as the weather was fine, we decided to go for a take out and eat something while sitting on a bench in a nearby park. That had actually changed nicely since the dark times. In the old prewar times, many cities had been condensed, and there had been a need to pack as many people as possible into high buildings standing close to each other. Of course that had been triggered by the ever increasing earth population and had been inevitable, but it had decreased quality of living a lot. Nowadays, with a much lower earth population, less than a fifth of what it used to be at its peak and mostly steady, most cities had been 'decondensed', at least in Central Europe, and many of the older and more ugly buildings had been replaced with parks and trees, so that one could find at least a small park in easy walking distance almost everywhere.

Today, when we had eaten, I had decided to ask something I was curious about:

"Primrose, may I please ask a very personal question?"

"Yes, sure."

"When you first told me that you had a crush on me, had that just been something very recent or had that been going on for a longer time?"

"Oh."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, of course."

"No, that's okay, it was just unexpected."

She turned fully towards me and continued:

"To be honest, something started already when Corinna and Christine told me about the new guy co-leading the youth group last year. They described you in detail, and I recognized you in church and in some other places. When they came back from the cave visit, they were so enthusiastic about the visit and about you, and I thought that it was nice that you had been able and willing to make that possible. They described you as socially shy, but outgoing on technical topics, and I liked that, too. I noticed that I felt a little more than just sympathy for you, and I was horrified to find out that I started to blush whenever I saw you, even from a distance."

"Oh, yes, I had noticed that, too. For some time I had felt pity for you and your frequent blushing."

"You could not have known that this was only because of you, I guess."

"No, of course I did not know, but I thought it might be like the giggling some girls start for no apparent reason all of the time."

Primrose laughed now and nodded: "Yes, some girls are like that."

"Indeed," I said, "even in my youth group. Once we had a fun contest to see who could keep a straight face longest when just looking at each other, and some of the girls failed after less than five seconds already!"

Primrose laughed again, and then she continued:

"Well, at the latest during the advent crafting session end of last year, when I was sitting across from you most of the time, I noticed that my heart and stomach were doing crazy things when I looked at you. I had never had those feelings before, and I was almost scared. I was even thinking about some kind of sickness for some time, but then I talked to a very good friend, whose name I'd prefer not to mention, and she told me with a smirk what that was."

"Oh yes, I think that I know what you are talking about."

"I was at first not agreeing with my feelings, not at all, and I was certainly not going to do something about it, but I found myself becoming more and more unfocused and confused. Eventually you came over to help me with accounting and economics, and although I had not planned this, I just had to let you know."

"And I am very glad that you did!"

Primrose's birthday was in June, on the 11th, and the day was a Tuesday this year. Grandparents and other relatives were expected to visit on the following weekend, and on the day itself only her best friends were invited, plus me. The girl got the afternoon off from work.

I had been thinking a lot, and I had come to the conclusion that I really liked Primrose, definitely enough to accept her as my girlfriend. My obvious birthday present for her was, consequently, myself agreeing to be her boyfriend, and I spend quite some time thinking about how to deliver that message. First I went to a jeweler and purchased a nice golden necklace with a tiny ruby heart attached to it. At home I inserted the tiny box with the necklace into a large envelope, together with a smaller envelope. The smaller envelope got labeled 'You may want to open this one when you are alone'. The inside of the small envelope had a printed birthday card with a few sentences handwritten by me:

'Yes, I would love to be your boyfriend and have you as my girlfriend, Primrose. Your parents have already agreed, too. I don't mind at all if you announce it to everybody. Timotheus.'

I so hoped that she would like it.

On her birthday I had taken a day off and I picked Primrose up from school, with my car today. She had two of her best friends with her, and they also found seats. There was Carlotta, a dark skinned smaller girl, and there was Delly, pale skin and dark hair. I had seen both girls before, but not talked to them. They were quite excited to be picked up with a fancy vehicle, and they were talking on the back seats most of the time.

When we arrived in the small Seeberger apartment, presents were handed over. When it was my turn, I handed over the large envelope, and Primrose opened it. First she saw the box, opened it carefully and found the necklace. Her mouth dropped open, and she almost could not believe what she saw:

"A necklace? For me?"

She noticed the tiny heart attached to it and blushed, and then she noticed that there was a smaller envelope. She read the text written on the outside, took it and excused herself to the restroom. It only took a minute or so before we could all hear a very loud squeaking from the restroom. The door opened, and Primrose came out, rapidly heading in my direction; she literally jumped on me, wrapped her long arms and legs around me and hugged me very tightly, with tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. Primrose also blew kisses on both of my cheeks.

Everybody looked at us, and Delly asked me:

"What did you do to her? What was in that small envelope?"

"Not much" I managed to explain while I was still being hugged. "I just wrote that I'd like to be her boyfriend".

This statement caused a lot of cheering and hooting, and Corinna in particular was totally happy. After a few minutes Primrose realized that she was still wrapped around me, and she slowly stepped back, totally blushed again.

"Best birthday of my life!" she whispered in my direction.

Mrs. Seeberger had baked a cake, but when we wanted to sit down to eat we found that there were not enough seats and place settings on the table available for everybody; one was missing. Besides, it would have been quite difficult to squeeze in another chair. Before anybody could say or do anything about it, Primrose was at my side, pushed me down on a chair and placed herself on my lap:

"Problem solved, see?"

Her parents were clearly not used to her being that forward and gaped at her, which I found highly amusing. Slowly the girl turned around to face me and said:

"Timotheus, I have not even asked if this is all right for you – sorry."

"That's all right, Primrose, actually, more than all right – please consider this being one of the perks of being my girlfriend."

She giggled and kept her position on my lap for the entire time we were eating, sharing a cup and a plate and a fork. As she was almost my size, her position implied that my view forward was somewhat limited, and my eyes were about level with her neck. Not that I had a reason to complain, as she had a very nice and long neck. She was sitting sideways now, and when I looked down, I could also see her shirt covering the chest and something more when she moved so that there was a little gap in between … okay, that was enough distraction. I really did not want to be seen by anybody, specifically not her parents, ogling my girlfriend's boobs while sitting at the table, and I tried hard to focus on tea and cake again.

After tea I spent half an hour with Primrose in her room and also told her the full truth about my family, what I had already told her parents, and she looked at me curiously:

"This is really true? Your family owns all those companies?"

"Yes, we do. But this is not just for profit. We have a very long tradition to spend money for altruistic tasks, such as development aid; this is covered by our foundation, and it is generously supplied with a significant percentage of our overall income."

"This is good to hear. But, with that kind of money, you could have chosen any girl, I guess."

"Not really. See, I wanted to find a girlfriend who does not want to be around me because I have a lot of money, but because she likes me as a person. That is one of the reasons I usually try not to advertise my background, and for that I am very happy that you have asked me to be your boyfriend before you knew all about me."

She understood my point, but she was also concerned about the future:

"So, in a year or so you will be gone, did I get that right?"

I nodded:

"Indeed, they will expect me to take over some responsibility somewhere, at the latest end of next year."

I understood her worries, and thus I took both of her hands in mine and looked into her eyes:

"But I do promise this – if it turns out that we still like each other a lot in a year, around your 18th birthday, I will do everything I can to make sure that we can stay together. Is that good enough for you, my dear Primrose?"

She nodded, and she also added:

"Yes, it is. I also would appreciate if you'd call me just 'Prim' rather than 'Primrose', if that is okay with you."

"And you can call me 'Tim', if you want."

My new girlfriend had another question:

"So, your family, won't they look down on me because I don't have much money?"

"Certainly not, my dear. We have many pairings in the family with one side being not so rich, and frequently those have provided interesting gifts and talents. Besides, my grandfather always insists that there is nothing better than a happy marriage to make sure people are really motivated to work well."

She nodded, and I added a question of my own:

"So, just curious, but are you still growing?"

She smiled and replied:

"No, I don't think so. My current 189 cm are more than good enough, I believe."

We both stood up and faced each other, and the top of her head was about level with my forehead, and I stood at 195 cm; if she wore shoes with moderate heels, we'd be on the same level. I hugged her and we pressed our cheeks together, and for now at least, life was great.

When I was at home in my apartment in the evening, I had a lot to think about. Good things only, though. Well, I had a girlfriend now, and she had had a happy day, as much as I could tell, at least. Just before midnight I decided that I needed to let my twin cousin know about today's events, and I sent an electronic message to him. I had already told him before in a long letter that I intended to ask Primrose today, and now I just quickly confirmed that my scheme had worked and she was now my girlfriend.

Next Monday evening I went to my home bible study group again. My face must have shown some of my feelings, though, as after we had done the 'official' part with singing, praying, and discussing a section in the Bible, one of the young women in the group looked at me and asked:

"Timotheus, what's up? You look much happier than usual, and you smile almost all of the time!"

The others chimed in, and, well, there was no reason at all to keep it a secret, and so I told them:

"There is a good reason for my happiness – I have a girlfriend now."

All of them were shouting and hooting now, and I needed to wait a minute or so before I could tell them more details:

"Her name is Primrose Seeberger, and she is the oldest sister of two girls in my youth group."

"Primrose?" one of the women replied. "I know her, and as far as I know she has never dated before at all, and she is also quite shy. How did you get her to even talk to you?"

"Well," I responded, "I have to thank her youngest sister for that, who probably tried to play matchmaker and asked if I could help her oldest sister understand some economics and accounting. I tried, and something happened."

The fact that Primrose had had a crush on me before seemed not be something I wanted to make widely known; that was somewhat personal.

"But wait" the same woman as before said. "Primrose is only sixteen, isn't she?"

"She had her seventeenth birthday last week" I corrected, "and on that day we decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend. With her parents' permission, of course. Believe me, I was at first hesitating to do that step with a minor, but I seem to make her happy, too, and that is good enough for me."

"So, what do you plan to do together?"

"I do have a few ideas, like a visit to the Tiergarten in Nürnberg. I will take her two sisters as well, as kind of chaperones."

The youth group time on Wednesday was also focused around the news. Corinna in particular had not hesitated at all to let everyone else know about her older sister's boyfriend, but fortunately the children at that age were not really into teasing that much, and they did not raise as many questions as the women in my home bible study group had. Girls at that age were not usually dating yet, and one of the younger girls even asked what being a 'boyfriend' actually implied.

I had not thought about that too much and hesitated to find a proper answer, and Corinna used the opportunity to jump in:

"It means that they are only hugging and kissing each other."

I may have blushed a little when she mentioned 'kissing', but the kids did not pick up on that; for them, kissing was still a yucky thing to do. I tried to amend the previous statement:

"Being boyfriend and girlfriend means that you want to spend a lot of time together, that you think about the other's needs and wishes, and yes, also what Corinna said. Doesn't anybody here have an older sister or brother with a boyfriend or girlfriend?"

One of the other girls, Julia, said that she had an older brother with a girlfriend:

"They are doing strange things sometimes. Once, my mum found them in the broom cabinet, and when they came out, their clothes were not properly arranged at all. I wonder what they did in there; changing clothes in a broom cabinet must be really awkward."

I had a good idea what they might have done, but somehow managed to keep a straight face, and I also wisely decided not to elaborate on my suspicion to my youth group. Rather I came up with a G-rated version of my own ideas:

"Hiding in a broom cabinet is definitely not something I plan to do with my girlfriend. I would much more want to spoil her from time to time and do nice things together with her, like a walk in the park with some ice cream, give her nice presents, pick her up from work and have dinner with her, invite her to a nice day off somewhere, and such."

"If that's what boyfriends do," one of the other young girls shouted, "I want to have one, too!"

[Author's Notes: Of course I know that today's16/17 year old girls do not normally ask for their parents' permission when selecting a boyfriend, but considering that Primrose is part of a family with somewhat conservative views and her candidate is significantly older, that seems to make sense in the story.]