Fated love: the unwanted bride

One drop, two drops, three drops…

She took a bite of the originally sweet cake, but found she couldn’t swallow it down.

Lost and alone, she sat motionless on the staircase.

Her hair obscured half of Jasmine Yale’s face, her head hung low, her lips pale.

She thought, and suddenly she understood a term－

Depend on each other to survive.

The plum cake stuck in her throat, Jasmine covered her face, heavy teardrops fell like incessant rain.

In the deserted alleyway, atop the staircase, she began to sob uncontrollably.

The crying echoed, like the evening drums and morning bells, again and again.

In the lengthy deserted alleyway, the gloomy sky, the old houses.

Time stood still, the people are but gone.

Jasmine covered her face, her shoulders twitching, bitterness lacing her throat.

The bitter cold of late winter.

The entire world, the whole surroundings left nothing but her sitting alone on the staircase, oblivious to the passing time, the cold or warmth.

The lonely shadow stretched long, falling sadly on the staircase.

Jasmine’s anguished cries echoed all around, the sound especially heartrending in the deserted alleyway.

In her ears remained just one poem lingering─

“Once past the gates of Chang’an, everything is wrong, wherefore it is we come, yet take different paths home.”

Wherefore it is we come, yet take different paths home.

Jasmine’s eyes were swollen, her heart feels like a heavy stone pressing down on her, leaving her unable to breathe.

The pain was sharp, repressive.

Even breathing became a challenge.

This stone sunk deep in her heart is way more painful than she could ever imagine.

The light at the bottom of her eyes gradually vanished, her constricted pupils seem to lose its focus, dispersed and distant.

The plum cake in her hand gradually cooled down, Jasmine’s face was covered in teardrops.

The dusk was drawing near.

Only when the last ray of daylight was swallowed by darkness did she manage to rise from the staircase, dragging her weary body along.

Wandering aimlessly, her face as pale as a ghost.

To leave this alleyway, she had to cross a deserted road to reach the nearest bus stop.

She did not even know how she ended up here today, perhaps because it was peaceful here.

This place was like an isolated island amidst the noisy city of Landon.

So quiet that there was not a hint of life.

The night fell, Jasmine boarded a bus to head home.

Chale Cheney and Joe Heath must be having a good time.

Joe used to call him a little brat and liked to tease the little guy. Now he often sighed to her about how pitiful he was.

Yes indeed, poor little guy.

Joe even told her that the story he made up about Chale’s young mother dying was a fabrication, he had no idea who Chale’s mother actually was.

Jasmine racked her brain but couldn’t figure out who Chale Cheney’s mother was, or where she was.

Because for those twelve years, she never saw Sylvan Cheney bring a woman to live together with him.

She used to think it was Yolanda Fern, but now it seemed not to be,

Yolanda had a heart condition and couldn’t get pregnant.

Could Sylvan also be a man who left love wherever he went? The mother of the little guy was a mystery.

Maybe she’s dead, maybe she’s still alive.

Also, now that Sylvan is gone, will her heart still be appropriated for Yolanda?

So many questions, Jasmine couldn’t figure it out.

She didn’t want to think anymore, propped her head up, sat heavily on the bus.

Outside was completely dark, this place was truly remote.

When she reached her stop, Jasmine got off with her bag on her back.

She walked the usual route home, but for some reason, she felt someone was following her.

A sudden tug at her heart.

She quickened her pace.

The faster she walked, the quicker her heart pounded, as if it was going to leap out of her throat, truly terrifying.