The sun was still up high rising over those tall buildings that seemed to reach the sky. Jiro watched the streetlights turn from green to red. The street stalls and window shops seemed as busy as ever. The taxi came to a short stop as plenty of citizens walked across the street and after a few seconds the taxi started up again. He turned to glance at Selina to find her taking everything in awe.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself. How do you like it?” Jiro questioned.

Selina turned to him with wide eyes, an excited expression engraved onto her face.

“I like it!” Selina said with a big smile. “It’d be so nice to live here meanwhile!” Selina stopped and thought to herself. “Oh yea, I never asked where you were from, come to think of it I never even thought of it.”

Selina glanced at Jiro’s stunning face. She’d never really noticed his sharp bright eyes and his fine shaped nose. Also his smile which she’d started to love to looking at. Selina finally realized that Jiro never spoke about himself even once. She didn’t know anything about his past or his childhood or anything about his family.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “I’ve only thought about myself….”

“This should be the house,” the driver interrupted, “twenty four fifty.”

Jiro grabbed some money from his wallet and handed the driver money. Selina followed Jiro out of the door and onto the sidewalk.

“You two just married or something?” the driver asked. “Well I tell you, couples don’t last long in this city and if you think you’ll last, you won’t.”

“Shouldn’t you be off now?” Jiro questioned.

The driver shook his head and drove off with a small wave. Jiro watched the taxi drive away half annoyed then turned around to see Selina staring up at the house. It was dark green and was a Victorian look-a-like house. The many windows were framed with white painting, red tiled roofs, a long red stairway with red railings led to the front door, and there were red squares decorated around the windows. On the other hand it was just big.

“This house is big,” Jiro commented. “It’ll be pretty empty with just the two of us.”

“Yea,” Selina replied and slowly walked up the steps.

Jiro fished the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door leading them into the living room first. There was a black carpet with red roses imprinted on it lying  in the middle of the room with an expensive round table on it. Sofas and couches surrounded the small table along with a built in brick chimney. The white curtains openly let the light from outside drift into the room. In the dining room there was a large rectangle table set in the middle of the room with chairs and a vase of flowers on it. The wood tiles were new looking and shiny clearly showing that the place hadn't been occupied. Lights hung from the ceiling illuminating the painting that hung on the wall in a glass frame. Selina gasped as she walked into the kitchen and felt the marble counter.

“Wow! I wonder who lived here before,” Selina said. “Isn’t this great?”

Jiro smiled as he walked in, “You like it a lot don’t you?”

“It’s really big and clean and very different from the hut I live in,” Selina said.

“It’ll be a lot of work to keep it clean too,” Jiro said coming to stand behind her.

“Lets go look upstairs,” Selina said quickly running out of the kitchen.

Jiro brought their luggage upstairs and found Selina in the master bedroom. He thought he’d find her excitedly pacing throughout the room but instead found her standing by the window staring out at the city. As he entered the room and set down the luggage Selina did not turn around to acknowledge his presence. Stopping behind her Jiro unlocked the lock in the middle of the window and pushed each side open. The afternoon breeze drifted in the room filling it with soft whispers.

“It’s noisy here,” Selina said breaking the silence. “Back in the village it was so silent and quiet.”

“Is something bothering you?” Jiro questioned.

Selina shook her head no and turned to look at him with a smile, “Thank you for helping me. I’ll go downstairs first.”

Jiro turned around to watch her leave the room. He couldn’t help it but feel an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness. Something was bothering her, he knew it. On the other hand he had other unanswered questions. Did she really mean it when she told him that she’d try her best to like him? Jiro only wanted to know if she really did have feelings for him. She’d changed somewhat, she was finally in need of him, she was trying her best to be a dedicated wife, she’d given him a kiss when she was drunk, but did she really mean what she said?

Selina walked over to a sofa and sat down suddenly feeling very exhausted. The trip to Taipei had indeed been a very long and tiring one, only she hadn’t had time to feel tired. She had begun to feel a little homesick after seeing the house. What would really happen after she went deaf? It made her worry but Selina quickly brushed the thought aside not wanting to have anything to do with it at the moment. She closed her eyes intending to relax for only a few minutes but instead fell asleep.

Jiro slowly walked down the stairs looking around for any sign of Selina. When he didn’t find her in the kitchen or dining room he walked around to the front door and into the living room. He smiled when he saw his wife peacefully sleeping on the sofa. Deciding to let her sleep Jiro went into the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat. He opened the refrigerator to find that it was filled with food and within an hour the table was filled with plates and plates of food.

Selina appeared at the kitchen door a few minutes later her eyes wide awake. A mischievous smile spread over her face as he turned to look at her.

“I knew I smelled something good,” Selina told.

“Good timing, the food is just about to be served,” Jiro said.

Selina walked over and took a seat looking at the plates of food with her eyes sparkling. Jiro watched her happily and took a seat across from her. The two of them ate chatting over what they should do in the city and how they would continue to live there.

The next day Jiro took Selina to a close clinic to check out her ears first. The doctor there asked a lot of questions such as how old are you, since when did you first notice you started to lose your hearing, where did you live, how many people were in your family, have you ever been hit etc. Selina told him all the answers truthfully, but when the question of being hit came up she went dead silent. Jiro glanced at her worriedly as she denied that question.

“Well then it’s a pretty good thing that you sought treatment right away,” the doctor began, “I’ll have medication papers filled out for you so you can just go pick them up right away before you leave.”

“Thank you,” Selina said in a mere whisper.

After they left Selina stared down at the paper in her hand half understanding why she was going deaf. She quickened her pace and rushed passed the pharmacy.

“Selina where are you going?!” Jiro questioned as he chased after her.

Selina had come to a stop at the end of the block. She had tilted her head up toward the sky breathing heavily. She turned to him when Jiro approached her.

“Lets go home,” Selina said.

Noticing her almost wet eyes Jiro agreed as he flagged down a taxi. When they got out of the taxi Selina stepped into the house depressingly. Jiro followed her unsure of what to do and stopped a few feet away from her waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

“Selina?” Jiro questioned taking a step forward, but stopped again as he noticed Selina’s shoulders shaking.

Within a moment Jiro could make out the sound of the piece of paper being torn apart.

“Selina!” Jiro said loudly as he rushed to her spinning her around.

Selina pushed him away and threw the paper to the ground.