Jane keeps tossing and turning from one side to another on bed, her eyes closed,
her mind not yielding to appease. Tomorrow, she is going to get married.
Tomorrow she will wear the snow white wedding dress and veil, so pure that match
her skin and her soul.
Tomorrow she will walk into the sacred church with the bridegroom and the cheers of their family members and friends.
Tomorrow she will be kissed by the bridegroom, blessed by the Father, and declared to get married with her bridegroom legally.
And tomorrow, she will be the unhappiest bride in the world.
She opens her eyes, and stares into the darkness. Tears begin to burst out and
stream along her face. Her weeping is dry and soundless, as if she were afraid of breaking the silence of the night.
Then, an image of a man—his charming smiles, his sweet nothings, his tenderness
, and the highlight of their days—begins to loom up in her mind. He loved her so deeply, spoiled her so excessively. He cooked for her, shared the housework with her, and surprised her with flowers and unique gifts of her taste occasionally. He enjoyed Jazz with her, watched classic Oscar movies with her, and shed the
same sympathetic tears with her when they were so deeply touched by the movies.
Then, one night, everything was all in a sudden ruined. He was half drunk, and taken to a night club by some clients, and was unconscious of what happened to him next. The next day, an anonymous call reached him, and he was told he raped a
girl under 18, and that 10,000 would secure his reputation. A blackmail call
.
He cursed the man on the phone to go to hell, and turned off the mobile. Some hours later, a girl was shouting his name out of his office, her hands waving some
pictures. He came out, and noticed all the colleagues, including his wife, were
staring at him. The scandal was unveiled.
He was Jane’s husband.
Jane was totally dumbfounded, and blushed with humiliation. How could her husband, a man that she trusted so amply, a man that set himself an example as a Model
Husband among his colleagues, possibly got involved in a scandal as that? The colleagues’ eyes seemed so sharp, like thousands of needles piercing her heart,
and their secret gossips haunted her so madly after the leader suggested to the
girl and his husband a peaceful settlement in his office.
And that scandal was peacefully settled, but the cold war succeeded. Either his
explanation, or his pleading for her forgiveness, or his swear of remorse could
touch her no more. The door was shut.
Three days passed before she finally spoke to him, and it was in a voice of cold
composure. She told him a temporary separation between them might serve to calm
both of them down, and help to overcome the barrier. He compromised, as he took
it as a glimpse of hope, and perceived his absence for a short period of time might melt the ice in her heart with his love and concern for her.
A few weeks later, the ice in Jane’s heart did seem to melt, but it was not due
to the love and concern from him as he had expected, but to the attraction from
another man.
During a business dinner, she came to know Jack, the business partner who happened to be her country folk. Jack’s affection for her was immediate and obvious.
Elegant and charming as she was, Jane could always succeed in catching the eyes
of the female, but because her mind contained nothing but her husband’s love, and under circumstances of her being flattered and pursued, she would always make
the polishers and the chasers retreat without embarrassment.
But there was an exception to every rule. For some reason, which might be more a
revenge on his husband than her liking to Jack, Jane did not turn Jack’s daring heart down, and her acquiesce was like a signal light to Jack, indulging him in showing his attention and affection as much as he wished.
Jack was a talkative businessman with sense of humor. He was the one to make everyone at table burst into laughter, and his manners never appeared serious, but
his heart for Jane was true, while Jane, who first regarded him as the same type
of empty-minded man, gradually felt a surge of passion rushing over her with his company.
With Jack’s sincere persuasion and with her own illusion on securing her real happiness, Jane asked for a divorce to his husband, and her decisiveness shattered her husband’s fantasy of and attempt for a peaceful and happy reunion. Despaired, her husband finally agreed to a divorce, leaving the house and most of other properties to her, and a broken heart to himself.
Her husband then moved out, and Jack moved in, expecting a new bright future before Jane and him. Her husband asked Jack to take good care of Jane, and Jack promised he would.
But the happy beginning of their new life was soon shadowed by Jack’s strong determination to re-decorate the house, and throw most of the daily appliances away, for the sake of his sensation, despise of Jane’s objection.
The house took on a new look, and Jane’s unhappiness was gradually alleviated when they became basked in compliments for Jack’s design from all the friends.
Jack kept his promise. He loved her so deeply and spoiled her so excessively. He
took her to elegant restaurants, bought her expensive dress and hired a housemaid to take care of all the housework, and. He purchased a new set of JBL hifi and played pop songs and the remixed, and introduced to her volumes of funny HongKong movies, which, he boasted, was the source of his sense of humor, and would take pleasure in explaining to Jane when his own laughter was not coupled.
Jack tried his best to please Jane, and was confident she was pleased, with his
love and everything he had done for her. Smiles, a sign of happiness, still lingered on Jane’s face, but only Jane herself could tell the subtle difference and
change of the feeling.
Jack loved her, and cared so much about her material satisfaction, but sometimes
she began to feel lonely, even when with Jack and she wondered why. Many a night, she suffered from insomnia, and would look at the man by her side, a man who
she seemed not acquainted, and then the loneliness would seize her. But another
voice in her mind would start to fight her: How could you be so unsatisfied, so
ungrateful? Think about how much he had been devoting to you; think about what a
kind and lovely man he was! Then, she would get tired as the struggling of her
mind continued, and fell asleep again, and woke up in the morning with her smiles to Jack.
Jack’s affection for her deepened as days went by, and on Jane’s birthday, he
dedicated a special gift for her—a plan for their future. He told her he was going to divorce his wife in the hometown, and would come back to marry her. Astonishment, mingled with uneasiness appeared on her countenance at his words, but was succeeded swiftly by her smiles. Then, she assured him she did not mean to put him in a dilemma, and that she would feel satisfied with their present relationship. He gazed at her with serious expression, held her hands tight, and professed with sincerity to her that she had been the meaning of his life since their
acquaintance, and that he was completely convinced he had made the right and wise decision.
One month later, he flied back from his hometown, with more excitement than sadness, with eagerness for the new life, and with a certificate of divorcement, and
started to schedule the plan for his marriage with Jane. Everyday he would return home with excitement and new ideas for the wedding ceremony, and would immediately discuss every detail with Jane. Nothing was to be neglected; everything should be perfect. The more he devoted himself to the wedding, the stronger the panic in Jane’s heart grew. For some times, she tried to gather the courage and
ask him if they could delay the wedding, but his enthusiasm, his devotion, and
his love, and to think of what a blow it would be to him at her words, frustrated her and finally put out the flame of her courage.
The day drew nearer and nearer, and tomorrow she is going to get married, but how she wishes it were just a dream…
(The End)
