Chapter 20 (2/2)
”In the future, what do you want to name our children?” His tone was mild when he asked this.
Her entire face concealed in the shadow cast by the brim of her sun hat, she plodded behind him, stepping in the footprints that he stamped into the sand and keeping pace with him. What did she want to name her child? She truly had never seriously thought about it. Staring at Yi Wenze's back, she felt another fierce rush of guilt. When they went back later on, they were definitely going to keep working hard at it… ”Have you thought of a name?”
”Aijia, Aihe,” he answered very naturally.
When Jia He's steps paused briefly, she saw him turn his head back. ”You don't like those?”
Her eyes began to sting. What was this? Was it that he more and more knew how to play up the romance, or that her heart was becoming more and more girly? They were just two names, right? And moreover, it was the cheesiest, most overused Chinese way of professing love, one that you could understand with just one glance. Just how many times had she written something like this into her film dialogues? But when she thought about the fact that the children would be surnamed Yi and they were going to be given these names…
Her heart was beating slower and slower, as if it was going to come to a stop.
She watched as he walked back to her. Finally, when he was gazing down at her, she sniffled and asked, ”How are you so sure we're going to have twins?'
There was laughter in his voice as he calmly held his eyes on her and stated, ”The doctor told me. The report also said the same.”
Her eyes were riveted on him.
Much time pa.s.sed before she stammered, ”Re-really?” Instinctively, she moved her hand to cover her abdomen, not daring to believe him. An inexplicable joy rushed over her, so great it could move her to tears, as if she had been longing for a child for years. This feeling was so palpable it was scary.
He reached his hand forward and smoothed her hair, which was a little disheveled from the wind. Bringing his head down beside her ear, he said, ”Jia He, marry me.”
A simple, straightforward sentence, but it was imbued with the greatest tenderness.
It was similar to how he would quietly say to her every morning, ”Good morning, honey,” or how he would casually ask her, ”Are you hungry?” Yet, it had thoroughly seared into her heart. Dazed, she tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes seeming unable any longer to bear the additional weight in them, and in an instant, teardrop after large teardrop began rolling down.
Darn it! Such a simple marriage proposal, yet she was crying to such an extent after hearing it…
As a screenwriter, she understood too well that, when ported into real life, all those romantic things were simply melodramatic cheese. She had even envisioned that if Yi Wenze said or did anything publicly in front of a bunch of people, she would definitely be so embarra.s.sed she could die on the spot, so embarra.s.sed that before she could even experience the feeling of happiness, she would first get a heart attack. Hence, she would always think, she should just be the one to propose, lest her too-fragile self be unable to hold up under the shock and scare.
Happiness does not require any sort of surprise, as long as every day when I wake up, I can see you there with me—this was the ending that she truly wished for.
And now, everything was as she had longed for. All along, he had understood what it was that she wanted. Merely a beach on which there were no other people. No people to watch and stare at them.
Only him and her. Simple and understated. But filled only with sweetness. Purely, wholly, only sweetness.
”You're not willing?” Lowering his voice, he followed up with another question.
Jia He ground her teeth and fired a little glare at him. You're doing it on purpose, aren't you? I'm carrying your babies in my womb. Do you think I want to be a single mom? But for a long time, try as she might, she was unable to make any words come forth. Waves of heat swept over her, more scorching than even the blazing sun of the seaside. She cleared her throat, wanting to say something, but her eyes dampened again.
With a smile, Yi Wenze lifted her sun hat and very gently placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. Then, he knelt down on one knee. His white s.h.i.+rt and pants and the fine sand that was washed white in the sunlight melded perfectly together.
Jia He stared dazedly at him. She felt as if her soul had already flown out from her body and was standing in a faraway spot, observing her…
His eyes teemed with earnestness. Merely the way he was gazing so intently at her caused her heart to speed up uncontrollably, and her arms had long grown terribly weak.
”I once had depression. Fortunately, though, in the summer of that year, I encountered someone who made it possible for me to get through it and walk out my life to this day. I have also had a failed marriage. Also fortunately, in 2011, I met someone who made me not only want to be with her, but also want that for the rest of her life, her eyes would only hold me in them.” From somewhere on him, he pulled out a box, and very gently he opened it. In the rays of suns.h.i.+ne, enchanting little sparkles of light danced from the engagement ring that lay serenely in that box. ”The most fortunate part is, they are one and the same person. In your opinion, then, wouldn't the whole world not agree to it if I don't marry her and bring her home with me?”
She was in an unfamiliar country, on an unfamiliar beach. Only the person before her was familiar to her.
She gazed down at him. Even the posture in which he proposed and the words of his proposal were flawless. The two of them remained like this, their eyes locked. After a long moment, she at last stretched out her hand and, in a voice that was choked over, answered, ”I think, I cannot go against the whole world.”
<>Your support by reading this story only at hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the actual site of posting, would be greatly and sincerely appreciated. Thank you.
A very small ring. It was the perfect size. When he guided it onto her ring finger, he also slid his fingers through to interlace with hers, clasping her hand.
This moment was like a special effect in a film, a slow-motion shot doing a close up of the expression in his eyes and on his face. In the true first meeting between the two of them, when he had turned his head, he had also looked at her in this same way. His gaze had landed only on her, and a smile had filled his deep, black eyes.
Image after image was flas.h.i.+ng across her mind. He, though, had already brought his face down. However, just as he was about to make contact, she suddenly let out laugh. ”I think I spoke incorrectly. I seem to have done something that's made me the target of hatred of the whole world.”
Then, with those words, she lifted her hands, cupped his face, and, bringing her lips up, kissed him.
In that moment when their lips and teeth came together, she suddenly felt that, with this, her life was already set. Five years, ten years, twenty years, forty years—the remainder of her life, she would place into his hands.
Because he was Yi Wenze. Therefore, there would only be happiness.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only
The given names Yi Wenze stated are 艾佳and 艾禾. The two names share the first character, 艾”ai,” which is h.o.m.ophonic with 爱”love.” The second characters in the two given names are the exact same characters of Jia He's name. Therefore, when paired with his surname ”Yi,” the names Yi Wenze chose sound like ”Yi loves Jia” and ”Yi loves He,” his love profession for Jia He. In modern culture, the character艾is often played with and subst.i.tuted in place of the character 爱love.
This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.
Completed:
1 of 1 Prologue
58 of 58 Chapter segments
0 of 7 Epilogue segments (4 epilogues in total)
Post navigation
<script>