My mute bride

Justin was oddly calm, probably because he knew that Rachel was doing it intentionally. “Sure. I guess white roses may seem a little too simple when placed at home. I’ll get someone to send different flowers over tomorrow,” he said.

“I don’t have the time to take care of the flowers,” she replied.

“It’s fine. You won’t have to take care of them. If the flowers were to rely on your care, they probably wouldn’t have lived for that long,” he teased. Healthy roses could last up to 20 days after blooming; some could even live up to a month if they were well taken care of.

When Steven saw how the two people were starting to chat with one another happily, he quickly interrupted them. “Aren’t we going to go in yet, Rachel? The play is starting soon.”

“It’s about time. Let’s go,” she replied after taking a look at her watch. There were many people in the theatre, and there were practically no empty seats by the time they got in. This play was extremely famous, and it would tour around the country every year. Rachel had watched it once in the past, but she wanted to watch it again with Justin.

“I’ll sit here!” Steven plopped himself in a seat between Rachel and Justin. Rachel shot Justin an exasperated look before hinting at him to be more accepting of the situation. Even though Justin wasn’t too happy about it, he knew that it wasn’t nice to seem petty over such matters, so he kept his mouth shut. However, deep down, he made a mental note to hold a grudge against Steven. I’m going to get back at him someday.

Steven took a glance at his surroundings before turning to Rachel. “There are quite a lot of people here. This play seems pretty famous—I did my research before coming.”

“It’s written by a director whose plays I really enjoy. This play has been going on for years,” she replied.

“Well, if you like this director’s work, I can always come to watch more plays with you,” Steven offered. Rachel scoffed in response to his words. “Have you watched any plays in the past?”

Steven scratched his head before responding honestly. “No. But I like everything that you like. So I bet this will be an interesting play,” he said with a laugh.

Rachel laughed along with him, but she didn’t believe his words at all. It was rare for youngsters to enjoy watching plays, and Steven had just graduated from university. He was in his early twenties, which was the perfect time to get involved in more exciting activities. It was unlikely that he would enjoy a play like this. Rachel’s assumptions were correct—Steven had already started yawning about ten minutes into the play.

Meanwhile, Justin seemed a lot more alert and engaged as he watched the people on stage. All of a sudden, he felt something weighing down on his shoulder. He turned to glance at what was going on, and his lips twitched with annoyance when he saw Steven sleeping on his shoulder. When Rachel saw this happening, she covered her mouth and giggled before giving Justin a look. “Shh…”

Justin hated it when others touched him, so it felt impossible for him to allow Steven to just sleep on his shoulder for the rest of the play. It felt too weird and uncomfortable. When Rachel wasn’t paying attention to him, Justin used two fingers to poke Steven’s forehead before lifting Steven from his shoulder. Justin kept pushing Steven away until Steven’s head was straight and resting against the seat’s headrest.

Nevertheless, the very next moment, Steven’s figure began to tilt toward the other side. When Justin saw Steven’s head falling toward Rachel’s shoulder, he quickly tugged on Steven’s jacket to pull Steven back in his direction. In the end, Steven spent the rest of the play sleeping on Justin’s shoulder. When the play ended, Justin instantly got to his feet. Steven felt a sudden drop as his head no longer had any support, and the sudden disappearance of his ‘pillow’ finally woke him up.

“Is it over?” Steven rubbed his eyes with a dazed look on his face. “How did it end just like that?”

“You’ve been asleep for two hours. What do you think?” Justin mocked him without hiding behind a thin veneer of politeness. Steven responded with another yawn. “I slept a little too late last night,” he said.

“Well, if you’re so tired, you should just head home and rest,” Justin suggested.

“I’m not sleepy anymore. I just took a two-hour nap.” Steven gave Justin a side-eye before turning to beam in Rachel’s direction. “I bet you’re hungry, Rachel. Let’s go have lunch!”

“I am rather hungry. Let’s go.” When Rachel realized how Justin was still some distance behind them, she turned and tried calling out to him. Yet, Steven quickly pushed her forward. “Let’s go, Rachel. Everywhere’s really packed on a Saturday afternoon.”

Even though Steven didn’t seem like the most trustable person, he provided a pretty good recommendation for their lunch. He brought them to one of the famous restaurants in Riverdale. They wouldn’t have gotten a table at all if he hadn’t booked the place earlier. Nonetheless, there was one issue with their meal. It felt rather odd for three people to have a meal in a restaurant with such a romantic ambiance.

“You have to try this roasted goose with cherry sauce, Rachel. It’s one of their signatures,” Steven said.

“Let me try it.” Rachel took a mouthful of the meat, and she could feel it melting in her mouth as she chewed on it. “It is pretty good. How did you find out about this place? Jolly told me that you just came to Riverdale a while ago and that you seldom came here in the past,” she said.

“Well, I did some research. If you follow me back to my hometown, you’ll get to try even better food! By the way, I recall Jolly telling me that you like fruits. My family has an orchard, and you can head over to pick some fruits once autumn is here,” he offered.

“I’ll have to go there during autumn! My children love visiting orchards too,” Rachel replied.

“That’s great. I’ll bring them around in autumn.” Steven didn’t forget about the other man on the table even as he was chit-chatting with Rachel. “Don’t be shy, Mister. You should eat more!” he said in a ‘welcoming’ tone.

Mister? Justin’s pupils shrank for a moment. “What did you just call me?”

“Mister! Jolly told me that you’re nearly 16 years older than me, so I thought I’d refer to you in a more respectful manner. Am I wrong?” Steven replied.

“Well, if that’s the case, you should call me Madam too. I’m ten years older than you, after all,” Rachel chirped in. “That’s different! When we walk on the streets, no one would be able to tell that you’re older than me. You look even younger than Jolly,” Steven replied.

“You sure are good at sweet-talking. I bet there were a lot of girls who were interested in you at school,” Rachel teased.

“Well, I’m not interested in them at all,” he replied.

“Jolly told me about this. So, you have pretty high standards, huh? Do you have a preference? I’ll keep a lookout for girls who may fit your liking,” Rachel offered.

“That’s fine. I believe in fate, so I want to just go with the flow.” Steven smiled while shaking his head. Then, he took a glance in Justin’s direction. “Don’t you think so, Sir? You’re not married even at this age, so I assume that you enjoy going with the flow as well, right?”

Justin responded without any change in his calm expression. “My daughter’s already six years old, though.” Steven felt like his efforts to offend Justin were washed down the drain at that moment—Justin’s simple statement felt like an arrow directly into his heart.

Halfway through their meal, Steven excused himself to go to the toilet. Rachel was worried about Justin’s feelings, so she quickly checked on him. “Are you okay? You weren’t bothered by what Steven said earlier, right?”

“Do I look like someone so petty?” Justin asked.

“You’re not, but I’m afraid you might overthink it,” she replied.

“What’s there to overthink? Should I be thinking about how he destroyed our rare date or how he intentionally commented on my age and spoke to me like an old man well on my way to retirement?”

Rachel rested her arms on the table before using her palm to support her chin. “Well, I already told you about Steven’s plan last night, so you shouldn’t get mad over that. As for the second point you made…” She blinked as she glanced at Justin. “What do you feel about it?” Rachel knew that it didn’t feel good to be referred to as an old person. It felt almost like the younger generation was demanding the previous generation to age faster.