My mute bride

By the time Rachel prepared some fruit tea and brought it back to the hall, the computer screen had already turned black. “Where did they go?”

Justin responded in an exasperated tone. “They said that the connection was bad and told us to wait for a moment. They are going to go back to the hotel and check if there’s an issue with the Internet,” he said.

“How long are we supposed to wait then?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. She checked the time only to see that it was already 9.00PM. “You haven’t had anything to eat, right? I’ll cook something for you,” she offered.

“Let me do it,” he said.

“It’s fine. You can just sit around and wait for a while. I’ll just make you some noodles.” She urged him to sit down before she rolled her sleeves up and entered the kitchen. “It’s been a while since I’ve cooked anything. This feels rather strange now,” she said as she tied an apron around her. Even though she told Justin that she didn’t need his help, he still came over to help out with preparing the ingredients.

“I’ll make some egg noodles with tomatoes, okay?” she asked.

“You call the shots,” he replied.

“By the way…” Rachel recalled what happened in her office earlier that day, and she turned to look at Justin with tomatoes in her hands. “Weren’t we supposed to watch a play together tomorrow? There’s something that I’d like to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“Jolly’s cousin wants to join us,” she said.

Justin was surprised to hear this. “Does he want to watch the play with us?”

“Jolly and Leroy are going with Mr. and Mrs. Carter to pay respect to their ancestors tomorrow, so there won’t be anyone home. Steven must be pretty bored to be alone in Riverdale. Technically speaking, he’s my younger brother, so I was wondering if it’d be okay to bring him along just for tomorrow.” Rachel batted her eyelids at Justin. “Just one day,” she said as she held one finger up.

“Fine. Just one day,” Justin replied exasperatedly.

“I knew you wouldn’t mind!” she said.

“I didn’t say that I don’t mind him coming.” Justin raised an eyebrow as he stood directly in front of Rachel. “This is a one-time thing. I don’t want this to happen again.”

“Hey, step aside. I need to cut these tomatoes,” she protested.

“Are you going to ignore me now that you’re done talking to me?” he asked.

“I’m about to make you a meal, aren’t I?” she retorted. Justin crossed his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against the kitchen counter. He was beaming as he stared at the woman’s back figure. He had witnessed this scene more than a hundred times in the past, but it had always been in his dreams. Now, this wonderful scene was real, and he didn’t want to even bat an eyelid as he was afraid that he’d open his eyes to realize that it was just a dream. He wasn’t even bothered by the petty matters that Rachel had brought up—he was too immersed in this dream come true.

After Rachel finished cooking, they still hadn’t received any news from Gloria’s end. Gloria didn’t even respond after Rachel texted her. “Did she forget about it?” Rachel wondered.

“They might be having a meal now, and they might only go back to the hotel after their meal,” Justin suggested.

“I guess that makes sense. Let’s wait for a while more.” Rachel yawned as she flicked through different channels on the TV. One of the channels was screening an action film, yet even the sound of guns and bombs couldn’t seem to keep Rachel awake. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep on the couch.

Justin had just cleaned up the kitchen when he walked out to find Rachel’s tiny figure curled up into a ball on the couch. The blanket on the sofa had fallen onto the ground. For some reason, he felt a sharp pain in his heart when he saw this scene. If I’m not around, and if Jolly gets married and moves out… I’m sure the two kids can’t be with Rachel all the time, either. She probably spends her whole life like this. She probably just makes herself some noodles or orders some food delivery after getting off work. She doesn’t go out of the house during weekends either… At that thought, Justin realized how his decision to hold on to her had been right.

Perhaps they would never be able to completely let go of the mistakes that they had made in the past, and maybe these mistakes would haunt them every now and then. However, as long as they had a future together, then they had all the time in the world to create more joy between them. Justin picked Rachel up from the couch and brought her to her bedroom. He stayed with her and ensured she was fast asleep before he walked out and shut the door behind him. Things were good the way they were—Justin didn’t need much more than what he had right then.

At the same time, in the faraway land of Tahiti, the four people on honeymoon were enjoying their dinner in the hotel restaurant. They had a gorgeous view of the sunset by the beach—the clean ocean and the clear skies made them feel like they were in heaven. Gloria used a spoon to dig out the meat of an oyster as she spoke. “I wonder what both of them are doing. Justin probably won’t head back to the summer villa at this hour,” she said.

Charlotte was excited to hear this. “I’m about to have a sister soon!”

“Don’t get excited just yet. We can never be sure,” Samuel said with a calm expression. “If they were to have another child, I hope it’s a boy.” That way, he’d have someone to play Lego with him. Unfortunately, Charlotte was an impatient girl who only caused a mess instead of actually building anything. Because of that, Samuel often had Lego parts that were misplaced before he could create a proper figure.

The four of them had high hopes for the couple back home. The actual situation wasn’t bad, but it was the complete opposite of what they had expected. Justin spent the night sleeping on the couch. The following day, Rachel woke up to the strong aroma of coffee outside her room. She stretched her limbs as she walked out to find Justin making coffee. “Woah. That smells good.”

“Try it.” Justin placed a freshly brewed cup of coffee in front of her. “There’s some cake on the table as well. So you can get ready, and we’ll head out after that.”

“That’s so sweet of you.” Rachel held the cup of coffee with both hands as she felt a warm sensation spreading across her chest. “Wait… Where did you sleep last night?”

“The couch,” Justin muttered exasperatedly. “I waited the whole night, but they didn’t video call us at all. It seems like they really forgot about us.”

“I thought the two devils would’ve tortured Gloria, but it seems like she’s having quite a lot of fun with them,” Rachel commented.

“Well, Mr. Wade is there and is good at taking care of many kids. It’s just two kids now, so it’s probably a piece of cake for him,” Justin said.

“That’s true. But I feel pretty bad for disrupting their honeymoon,” Rachel mumbled. Justin continued to prepare some salad in the kitchen without making any more comments. After breakfast, they headed out to watch the play. They had just arrived at the theatre entrance when they saw Steven jogging over to them.

Rachel was puzzled to see the formal suit that he was dressed in. “Why are you dressed in such a formal outfit?” she asked.

“I’m on a date—of course, I have to dress formally. It shows respect for my lady.” Steven took a glance in Justin’s direction as he spoke. Justin raised an eyebrow but didn’t bother to respond to the other man’s provocative statement.

“This isn’t a musical, and there’s no dress code. But I guess you look pretty fresh and smart in this outfit,” Rachel said with a smile.

“Yeah? I think I look pretty good in formal suits.” Steven beamed as he looked at Rachel. “By the way, I got this for you.” A red rose surfaced in his hand out of nowhere—it was as if he had just pulled a magic trick.

“Why did you get flowers?” Rachel was surprised as she took the rose into her hand.

“Jolly told me you like flowers, so I got them just for you,” he replied. Justin felt rather displeased by the other man’s actions, but he kept an emotionless look on his face. “You should try getting white roses next time. That’s Rachel’s favorite flower.” Just last night, Justin had claimed that he wouldn’t get jealous.

Rachel pressed her lips together before making a statement to trigger Justin. “I think red roses are nice, too.”