When the Wind Stills, the Water Forgets

My husband had an idealized lost love who'd died seven years ago.

Three years of marriage, and he'd kept himself chaste the whole time.

The one and only time we ever touched was holding hands, and only after fifty rounds of disinfection and three layers of gloves.

To dodge his mother's pressure to have a baby, he even went so far as to forge a fake certificate saying I was infertile.

I was ground down by my mother-in-law and mocked by his relatives.

And out of guilt, I handed over my paycheck card and took on every last chore in the house.

So when I was hospitalized from overwork, dead broke, and got handed a paycheck card with a zero balance, I was stunned.

Following the transfer records, I found out my husband had been sending 880,000 dollars a year, under the name of engagement gift money, to an account in the name of his idealized lost love.

So on the day of the next memorial visit, I gave a cold laugh and dug up his lost love's grave right in front of him. "Since the two of you want to be together so badly, then I'll bury you side by side with my own hands!"

1.

As the coffin lid was pried up, inch by inch, my heart pounded along with it.

Reuben tried to stop me more than once, but since he couldn't make any physical contact with me, all he could do was threaten me from the side, his face frantic.

"Even after she's dead you won't let her rest in peace. How could any woman be as vicious as you!"

"If you dare dig any further, we're getting divorced!"

I acted like I hadn't heard a word.

Then I gave one last heave with everything I had, there was a heavy thud, and the air suddenly went still.

Empty. Not a soul inside.

I turned that coffin inside out and didn't find a single bone.

I turned my head and gave him a cold smile.

"For seven years, you've been coming here every day to pay your respects to thin air?"

Reuben's face went pale, but he still lied through his teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe the grave was relocated and I forgot to tell you."

I met his eyes with a cold smile. "Oh? Is that so? Well, it doesn't matter. I already know where she is."

Reuben pressed his lips together and said nothing, deliberately knitting his brows and saying I was making a scene.

But his hands were shaking, trembling in a panic.

That night when we got home, I pretended to turn in early and listened carefully for any movement in the next room.

Sure enough, in the small hours of the morning, I heard the faint sound of a door opening and closing.

I got up at once without a sound, changed into dark clothes, and crept out after him.

Reuben was careful the whole way, driving in loops and detours, and finally stopped in front of a secluded house on the edge of the city.

After he got out, he glanced around warily before hurrying inside.

After a knock, three long and two short, the door opened, and a woman threw herself straight into Reuben's arms.

Only in that moment did the worry he'd carried all night finally ease a little.

The two of them held each other close for a short while, and then Reuben spoke.

"Serena, hold on just a little longer. When Lucretia's project bonus comes through next month, plus the yearly engagement gift money and the insurance money, I'll have enough to put together 5.2 million to marry you."

"She's got the house and the car. Once she's dead, Lucretia's an orphan, so where else would her assets go but into my hands."

At that, Serena hugged him even tighter, her eyes full of worry.

"Reuben, what are you planning to do? I don't want you to take any risks."

Feeling how tense she was in his arms, Reuben's voice turned soothing.

"After the bonus comes in, Lucretia has two weeks of vacation.

She's always loved extreme sports. In a situation like that, an accident would look perfectly natural."

As if something had occurred to him, he looked off into the distance and gave a cold laugh.

"I didn't actually want to be this heartless. If anyone's to blame, blame yourself for being too sharp."

Hearing that, the phone I was holding up started shaking and wouldn't stop, but I didn't even dare take a full breath.

Gripping the evidence I'd recorded, I finally took a few photos of the two of them together.

Then I turned and left without a moment's hesitation.

The instant Reuben got home, he came quietly to my room, and only after confirming my breathing was steady did he slip back out.

Once the door was shut again, I opened my eyes in the dark.

"Cold. So cold! He tricked me into marriage for three years, and even now he won't let me go."

"Reuben, you want to marry up? Dream on!"

The next morning, after finishing the housework, I left the house early.

It wasn't until I stepped into the law firm's elevator that I came back to myself a little.

On the way over I had deliberately taken a detour, retracing the places where Reuben and I used to laugh together.

In front of me he had always been so mindful of chastity and propriety, and the time he spent with me could be counted on one hand.

But I remembered every single one of those times.

Having lost both parents young and become an orphan, I had never been sheltered by anyone. The first time I felt the warmth of a protecting wing

it was Reuben.

When I ran into a violent, drunken man while working overtime, the one who stopped him was Reuben, the man I had just met.

The second time, after I'd found a bit of success at work and a distant relative showed up ranting that I was bullying a young girl, he was the one who drove the man off, too...

"Miss Dickerson? Could you provide the evidence, please?"

As the lawyer's face slowly came into focus, I silently took out the USB drive I'd copied everything onto.

"What are the chances the court orders him to walk away with nothing?"

After reviewing and verifying the documents, the lawyer looked at me with a trace of sympathy.

"According to these records, Mr. Gilbert engaged in misconduct during the marriagehe had an extramarital affair."

"He also privately transferred marital assets into another person's account. As compensation, having him leave the marriage with nothing is something we can pursue."

"It's just..."

Attorney Chavez hesitated here, uneasy.

"It's just that Mr. Gilbert has been transferring money every year under the name of eight hundred eighty thousand dollars in engagement money, so there's very little marital property left. Getting him to leave with nothing now wouldn't do you any good."

"My advice is to file suit to recover the assets first, and then divorce."

I closed my eyes and tapped my fingers lightly on the table.

Just a lawsuit?

The scenes from last night kept replaying in my mindReuben's cold resolve, the viciousness of leaving me for dead.

My eyes snapped open. Why should he get away with it?!

Reuben, everything you took from me, I will get back a hundred, a thousand times over!

The holiday had barely ended when I got an urgent call from the general manager.

Only when I arrived did I learn that the project, which should have been moving along smoothly, had hit some kind of snag.

If I wanted to stay on as the project lead, a close relative had to act as guarantorotherwise they'd replace me.

Thinking of all the days and nights I'd poured into it, I steeled myself and had no choice but to go begging to Reuben.

The call connected, and a man's impatient voice came through, but I couldn't afford to worry about that.

"Reuben, there's a problem with my project. Can you come be my guarantor? You're the only family I have."

"What! Is that the project with the big bonus?"

"How do you do your job? Can't you be more careful..."

The scolding kept pouring out of the other end of the line, and I lowered myself pitifully.

"Reuben, I'm begging you. This project means a lot to me. Please help me, okay?"

"Once it goes throughyou've been wanting to do something outdoors, right? I'll go with you, and I'll give you the whole bonus too, okay?"

An angry voice came from the other side: "Every single day all you do is bring me trouble!"

My lowered hand clutched the hem of my clothes tightly. That last line of his had been loud enough that even the general manager glanced over.

"Please. I'm begging you."

Thinking of his own plans, and of how this bonus was an indispensable part of the 5.2 million dollars in engagement money

Reuben still couldn't bring himself to pass up such a perfect opportunity.

About an hour later, the reply finally came.

"There is risk, yes, and how much depends on the ability of the person in charge. And the project bonus really is considerable."

He had seen how seriously Lucretia took her work; surely this was just a minor accident.

In the end, Reuben gritted his teeth.

"Fine, it's just being a guarantor. I'll sign!"

The whole time I waited for his answer, the call stayed connected.

After all the paperwork was done, just before I left, the general manager said one thing to methat the person sharing your bed isn't always a good oneand then I stepped out.

Yes. Not a good man. And yet I'd been foolish enough to believe otherwise for so long.

Ever since Reuben became the guarantor, he'd been monitoring the project's progress almost around the clock.

To make sure it went smoothly, he even excused me from all the housework.

Which stirred up serious resentment in his mother.

One weekend, she had just finished mopping the floor and was passing by the bedroom when she saw me leisurely sipping a coffee.

She flew into a rage on the spot, snatched up a teacup, and hurled it at me.

"You useless piece of trash who can't even have a child. If it weren't for this family being soft-hearted, do you think you'd still be sitting here living the good life?"

"Before, you put on this fake act of taking on all the chores, and now you dump every bit of it on me, an old woman. You little vixen!"

I couldn't dodge in time, and the cup cut a raw gash across my hand.

The wound ran the whole length of my palm, a sight that made your stomach turn.

Hearing the commotion, Reuben came over from the other bedroom.

Seeing the mess all over the floor and my bleeding palm, he knit his brows, but the first thing out of his mouth wasn't concern.

"You hurt your hand? How could you be so careless? Can you still move it?"

I tried to close my hand, and a sharp pain shot through it at once.

"It hurts a little."

"Hurts? So can you still work like normal?"

Hearing that, I sneered inside, though on my face I wore a look of pain I could barely stand.

Seeing Reuben still fussing over me, his mother only got angrier.

"Reuben, I'm your mother! Instead of asking after me, you go worrying about this outsider!"

"What kind of seductive tricks did she use? She can't even bear a child, and you still shield her like this!"

Reuben's expression turned slightly awkward, then was quickly replaced by irritation.

"Mom, this is between my wife and me. Stay out of it."

Seeing that the standoff wasn't going anywhere, in the end it was me who spoke up and said I needed the wound bandaged, which finally put a stop to it.

On the way to the hospital, my mother-in-law's parting words kept echoing in my head.

"I'm telling you both, no grandson, and this marriage is over. You will get divorced!"

I'd never questioned it before, but the moment I thought about how Reuben had kept himself untouched by me for three years for the sake of the one who got away

A single thought kept screaming in my mind.

I had never once looked at that medical report from back then. Was I really unable to have children?

While the wound was being bandaged, Reuben was called away by a phone call, and I took the chance to have my high blood pressure rechecked.

Reuben had no idea about itit had been caught last time, brought on by overwork.

The doctor kept warning me not to do anything strenuous and to keep a healthy routine.

When all of that was done and he still hadn't come back, an unexpected person turned up beside me while I waited.

She held her report in her hand and talked as if only to herself.

"He hasn't come to see me these past few days. That's your doing, isn't it? Don't think that just because you hold the title of wife, you can keep him trapped."

"I'll tell you the truthyou're nothing but a stepping stone."

I stayed silent and said nothing. Serena Lisandro, the one who got away, the woman Reuben had said was dead for seven years.

I just really hadn't expected that she'd be the first one to lose her composure.

The thought of Reuben sticking by my side every step of the way just to monitor my progress

and her mistaking it for me clinging to him to climb my way upI couldn't hold back a scoff.

Maybe my mocking look was too obvious, because Serena shot to her feet and slapped the report against my face.

"Quit the act! I'm already a month pregnant! You probably still don't knowto keep from touching you, he even forged a fake certificate saying you couldn't have children!"

"If you know what's good for you, then"

Those two words, fake certificate, hit me so hard I couldn't come back to myself for a long time.

So over these three years, what exactly had been real?

Ignoring Serena's taunt, I turned and ran toward the gynecology department.

Only when I saw the words "everything is normal" did I go limp, like a deflated ball, and sink to the floor.

So for three years I had felt guilty over not being able to have a child.

Handing over my paycheck, taking on all the housework, working myself to the bone to earn money as if to atonewhat had any of it been for?

Just because Reuben wanted to keep himself pure, I had been forced to endure the scorn of relatives, the nagging of my mother-in-law, and to be stripped of my right to become a mother.

This complete and utter scamI was the only one quietly keeping to it.

When I left the hospital, Serena was already gone. By the time I took a taxi home, Reuben still hadn't come back.

A powerful sense of emptiness settled over me, as if some invisible hand were freely moving the pieces on the chessboard of my life.

Wherever he pointed, that was where I placed my piece.

I wasn't willing to accept it!

As a child I had watched both my parents die, and as an orphan I had propped myself up step by step to get where I was today.

Along the way, how many times had I thought of giving up, and how many times had I gathered my resolve againall so my fate wouldn't end up in someone else's hands.

I was going to take back control of my life!

The next day, Reuben came to my door full of apology.

"Lucy, the company called me in on an emergency yesterday. I was tied up until very lateI didn't leave you behind on purpose."

So it seemed he had no idea Serena had come to see me alone. A woman's jealousy, indeed.

In that case, I raised an understanding smile.

"It's fine, Reuben. I've got some good news for you today. The project's about to wrap up. Once the company signs off on it, we'll go on a trip."

"Really?!"

Reuben excitedly grabbed my shoulders.

I lowered my eyes and coldly scanned his handshe probably hadn't even noticed anything was off himself.

The physical contact he usually avoided at all costs was now thrown out of his mind entirely, all because he was so close to scraping together the engagement money to marry the one that got away.

And just as I'd said, everything went very smoothly after that.

Serena didn't bother me again either.

Bonus in hand, I immediately started a vacation of a little under two weeks.

The moment the plane landed, Reuben dug out the itinerary he'd put together and eagerly described the route ahead.

The first few days were all sightseeing stops, but from about a week in the plan turned more intense.

It was only when he got to the last item, paragliding, that my eyes flickered.

After I discovered Reuben's scheme, I'd quietly had someone look into him.

About half a year ago, he had gotten his paragliding instructor certification.

When he finished, his eyes were full of longing as he looked at me. "Lucy, I've got a surprise ready for you on the last day. Are you looking forward to it?"

"I am," I answered, giving him a smile in return.

I'm curious too, Reuben.

When you're at your closest to your goal, and you lose everythingwill that blow be fatal enough?