Her Story II
He was promoted to the supervisor of the coolies about a year later. That night, when she came, he told her the good news. She was so happy for him that she took his hands and danced around.
After the excitement died down, a sense of sadness came to her. She lowered her head, unable to look at him in his face. Even though she knew that they were not in anyway committed to one another, she had impending sense of loss...
"My mother was worried that my father would leave her..."
He saw her looking at the ground, not making a sound. A stark contrast to the joy that the both of them had shared the moment ago. Concerned, he asked her what made her feel so down. She muttered something under her breath and he was shocked.
"My mother, she told my father that her noodles would be unworthy for my father since my father has been promoted to a supervisor..."
He stood there motionless for awhile and he did something that made her heart fluttered. He lifted her chin, looked in to her eyes and told her that he will never give up her noodles. Since they met each other because of the noodles, it will never be unworthy.
She cried. She cried because she finally knew how much she meant to him. She cried because she was happy. The joy was too much to contain for her.
The very next week, he hired a match maker to ask her for hand, from her parents. Her parents knew that she is seeing someone, but they never had a chance to know who it was. They were surprised when a match maker and a young, good looking young man came by.
The match maker was fantastic. The way she introduced him to her parents was unimaginable and almost out of the world. Her parents were very pleased with him and a date for marriage in was set at the month of June.
He wrote a letter back home and sent some money home, asking his parents to come to attend the wedding. She was very nervous at the thoughts of meeting her parents in law. She was worried that she might not meet their expectations. He assured her that she is already over their expectations.
There was no reply after a long time after the letter was sent. She was worried that his parents would disapprove their marriage and thus, not reply the letter. However, his parents did come, along with the arrival with the letter of their reply.
"My mother was relieved that my father's parents were fine with her. In fact they said that it's my father's luck that my father had known my mother..."
Her parents had a meeting with his parents. Both sides were very happy with each other. They discussed on how the wedding should be held, what are the wedding gifts needed, the dowry and all the things needed for the wedding. Although both families had different customs, they managed to merge both together.
However, there was one tradition that both families shared. The bride and the groom cannot see each each other until the the day of marriage. This is to allow the bride spend the last few days of her life as a daughter with her family. As in a traditional chinese family, once the daughter is married off, she only belongs to her husband and his family, never to her parents anymore.
"My mother told me that it was just a custom... Its also done to make both of them to miss each other more before the big day..."
23rd of June was the happiest day of her life. She got married to the man she loved and he made a promise to her. A promise of ever lasting love, a promise of life together.
"My mother said that my father held her hand and promised her that she will never let her suffer..."
She moved in to the quarters provided to him from his boss. Although the place isn't big, it's cosy enough for the both of them. His boss bought a big bed for the both of them as a wedding gift. It was a huge gift at that point of time.
The both of them tried to turn the quarters in to a place called Home.
Life was peaceful and it went well for the both of them. However at 1937, he received a letter from his parents. The letter marked the start of a life that they both had never think of...
(To be continued)
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