The day that my mother presented me to Kris, I knew it wasn’t going to work. We were meeting in a classy restaurant, I was twenty two by then. He was coming with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wu, the three of them are really tall, Mrs. Wu had that air of superiority but looks can be deceiving she was actually a sweetheart as well his husband, but his son, Kris was the total opposite, he may seem courteous but he’s a total arrogant.

“Mr. Wu, Mrs. Wu”, mother greeted them with a courtly smile.

“Mrs. Rose, this is our son Kris Wu”, Mrs. Wu announced when her son appeared from behind her.

“Nice meeting you Kris, this is Meili my younger daughter”, gently we all shook hands.

I am an educated girl but if given the chance I would escape from this meeting.

“They would make a great couple, don’t you think?”, Mrs. Wu commented and I mentally rolled my eyes.

“Yes, they would”, mother agreed.

At that time, mother and father weren’t on good terms, mostly because father put work before family, his company was suffering of bankruptcy, they had to do something, and how not they asked me to get attached with Kris for the sake of the company.

Firstly I opposed, but with the time, my parents began to argue every second of the day until one day I had enough, I accepted it, just for the sake of the family.

Jake is my older brother, he was twenty eight (when I met Kris for the first time), he got married with a beautiful french girl, Aurore was her name. Father never accepted her, therefore the men of the family had a verbal fight and at the end Jake decided to leave. Nowadays he is staying in Paris.

Many months after the first meeting, mother asked me to have a date with Kris, without much encouragement I got ready for the rendezvous.

The only thing I should point out is that the supposed date was awkward and unwilling. There was no conversation at all, all we did was to argue.

“I don’t want to get married and less with someone like you”, he protested, while crossing his arms.

“Then we share the same idea”, I talked back, “I don’t want to waste my life with someone that arrogant, unfortunately everything is already settled down so we can’t back off now”

“Don’t expect me to be the perfect husband, don’t even expect me to like you after the ceremony is done because I won’t like you and I won’t accept you as my wife”, he snapped.

“Good for me then, I am just doing it for the sake of my family and the sake of my father’s company”, I stood up and wore my jacket, “Until the ceremony I will enjoy the time I have left, have a good evening Mr. Wu”

Six months after the marriage ceremony happened, I wanted to cry, not of happiness but of sadness. Mother knew I wasn’t going to be happy with him and Mrs. Wu knew that too, they looked at me worried throughout the ceremony.

That night on our ‘honeymoon’, we did have , no emotions, nothing. We slept on the same bed with pillows used as walls to separate us.

Not only on our honeymoon but also for the next six months.

Like he said, even though we were married, we never acted as a wife and a husband. Days where he would come back home mad from work and sometimes he would give me all the blame, he even hit me once or twice. I didn’t do nothing because I knew that one day he was going to pay for all the hell and pain I was living.

As said, four months after our marriage, Kris came back to our apartment drunk, he then ravished me and three weeks later I discovered I was pregnant.

He called me a , a , generally bad adjectives. I didn’t say nothing. I only sought for one thing and it was freedom.

A month later, we divorced and here I am in Vancouver, living happily ever after.

- - -

Opening my eyes I sighed.

“You awake?”, my cousin, Biyu, asked.

“Still tired”, I responded and she chuckled, “Hey! Don’t laugh once you get pregnant you’ll know how it feels”

She rolled her eyes to me, “My boyfriend is coming over, so if it doesn’t bother you…”

“Oh, no, it’s totally fine with me”, I stood up from the armchair and headed to the kitchen, “I am hungry”

She followed me, “How comes I didn’t know about your marriage?”

“It happened really fast and we didn’t even last for a long time”, I explained to her, “It was a private ceremony, only our parents were there”

“Can I know his name?”, she asked curious.

“His name was Kri-”, right when I was about to say that sinful name, the bell rang.

“I’ll get it”, I nodded and prepared a glass of fresh and cold milk and some bread, “Meili!”

“Yeah, wait a moment”, I took a bite of the bread and headed out of the kitchen while shaking the remains of crumbs off my pants.

“This is my boyfriend, Kevin Li”, Biyu announced once I spotted the tall man in front of me.

He reminds me so much of him. I realized the my hands were trembling and that the glass of milk was nearly falling from them.

“I know him, I am his cousin’s teacher”

- - - 

“Ah! You were telling me the name of your ex-husband”, Biyu insisted curious.

I looked over at the copy of Kris, “Well… Can I ask you something Kevin?”, I won’t lose nothing, just in case.

“Yeah sure”, he responded.

“Do you happen to have a brother? A twin exactly?”, there, I asked it, I want him to say no, but we all know the answer.

“Yes, why?”, he asked tilting his head with a brow raised.

“Kris Wu?”, there, the sinful name, he looked at me shocked, understanding the situation.

“No way… You’re Meili Rose?”

I weakly nodded.

“Wait, what’s going on here?”, Biyu asked for a response.