Flash Marriage: My Penniless Billionaire Husband

Chapter 410: Keeping The Moment Prolonged

The pink infant bed was especially eye-catching to Yvonne.

Seeing this, Yvonne understood Mrs. Taylor’s intentions, and her voice began to echo in Yvonne’s mind.

It was a bit ironic.

Now Yvonne realized there was in fact no one to be called "benign" in a rich and powerful family, and what people called "benevolence" of them was but a facade of their truthfulness.

Yet it seemed to her Mrs. Taylor was making a fuss about it, for all she needed to do was just to talk to Yvonne, and she’d do it.

Mrs. Taylor, however, adopted an approach that was more roundabout and sophisticated.

All of a sudden, life seemed dreary to Yvonne.

She ignored the workers and returned to her bedroom in silence.

And when she set foot on it again, however, the place which once struck her as cozy, relaxed and comfortable, was gone.

Gone was her sense of security, too.

Instead, she felt a strong sense of oppression, even suffocation.

Never for one more minute would she like to stay there, and all she thought about was to escape.

Yet, she refrained from running away and went further inside, for she had a promise to keep.

She promised James she’d wait there until he returned, and that was what she was going to do.

While feeling like the ground beneath was filled with thorns, slowly and deliberately, she moved inside.

By the time James returned home, it was already night.

The lights being off, the room, devoured by darkness, didn’t let out the slightest glimmer of light.

James figured Yvonne must be absent and turned on the light, only to see Yvonne curled up in a corner of the bed, her arms holding her legs, her head lowering, murmuring something.

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice the light was on.

It was after a long while that she, reaching out her hand to cover the light, made some response.

James shook his head and entered.

"Why did you keep the lights off. What happened?"

He put the briefcase on the nightstand, bent down, and eyed her.

Yvonne didn’t reply but just stared for a moment at him.

She had already collected herself after hours of meditation.

And now she was able to face him with composure.

Sometime later, she began to shake her head slowly and managed a smile bordering on naturalness, and said, "I’ve been waiting for you."

"You don’t have to keep yourself in such darkness." James gave her hair a gentle stroke and rose to his feet. "Let’s go out for dinner tonight." Yvonne didn’t reply.

Thinking Yvonne could be worrying about his mother, he added, "Mom’s not home today. We are free now."

"Do we?" she said in a flat voice.

James said, "She told me she’d spent a couple of days having fun out. Didn’t she tell you?"

"How could she tell me that; she is, probably, running from me," Yvonne thought to herself.

Perhaps Mrs. Taylor was giving her room and time to work her problem out.

This very thought of it made Yvonne slightly amused: Mrs. Taylor really didn’t spare any effort to get things done.

Nevertheless, her reply was: "She did."

"Then let’s get started, shall we?"

Yvonne collected her thoughts and said, "OK, but wait a second, I’m changing my clothes first."

With that, she stood up and left.

They started off minutes later.

On the way, James asked what she’d like to have for dinner.

"Chinese food or Japanese food?"

It was only after a long silence that Yvonne realized what happened and said, "Your call."

As was often the case, it was always James who decided what to eat.

And this time was no exception.

Immersed in the happiness of finally being able to be alone with Yvonne for a couple of days the following days, James took little notice of Yvonne’s distressed mood.

Predictably, the food on the table was to Yvonne’s appetite.

James had been elated during the meal, whereas Yvonne looked otherwise preoccupied, yet she tried to pretend she was enjoying it.

She took a bite of every piece of the food he recommended and then uttered one or two words of compliment.

It didn’t seem anything was unusual, except that Yvonne, while chewing the tasteless food, found it torture.

She heaved a sigh of relief when finally the meal was over.

When they got out of the restaurant, it was drizzling.

Without an umbrella, they decided to shelter themselves in a store nearby.

They were not the only ones to have the idea. Gradually the store was crowded with people.

Seeing this, James pulled Yvonne closer to his arms.

The familiar warmth of his embrace being a comfort, Yvonne wrapped her arms around him.

For a moment, Yvonne wished time could stand still and the warmth could permanently remain.

Alas, unlucky for her, the rain didn’t last for long.

People left one after another, leaving only a few scattered figures in the store.

"About time, here we go," James said.

Yvonne didn’t move.

It suddenly occurred to her that life was like this: for some reason people met, and for some reason they left, often at a rapid pace.

Yet she hoped the spell of pleasure could be prolonged.

But how?

Just then, a film ticket was presented before her eyes, she took it and saw that it was an ad for a film newly released.

Holding it in her hand, Yvonne remembered that she’d never seen a film with James before.

Pitifully, as a couple, they’d never been in a cinema together.

As James was about to leave, she suggested, "How about a film," showing him the post.

James was more than glad, "Sure."

Subsequently, they arrived at a cinema.

"Stay put. I’m going to buy the tickets," said James.

He headed toward the booking office.

Yvonne gave the cinema a once-over as James disappeared.

She found the people were mostly juveniles, presumably high school students.

Their faces were beaming with an unsophisticated and energetic air.

Yvonne found, in contrast, that they felt like the odd ones out.

She felt a bit embarrassed and shifted her eyes downward at the post, only to find it was a film about juveniles.

"Crap! Should have read it before," Yvonne said to herself.

James came back with two tickets in hand.

"Let’s go. The movie is about to start."

"No, wait... we’d better give it up."

"What’s the matter?"

James was confused.

"It’s not for people like us."

She cast an embarrassed look around.

...

James looked in the direction of her sight and realized that almost all of the audience were youngsters in pairs, wearing lover’s clothes.

"Is it because of the lover’s clothes?" he asked.

Yvonne nodded her reply, slightly bashful.

"Wait a minute."

"Where are you ...?"

No sooner had she finished it than James rushed into the crowd.

He came in front of a couple and began talking to them.

They cast several looks at her from time to time.

Embarrassed, she turned and tried to efface herself, and when she shifted her view back again, James was back, two suits in his hand.

"Shall we go in now?"

He handed her the women’s suit.

Yvonne was taken aback, "How did you do it?"

"I told them that it was the first date with my wife, and implored them to lend me it," said James smilingly.

Yvonne was amused by the wording "first date".

"Seriously? First date...with your wife? No kidding," she dismissed as she took the clothes.

James argued, "What’s wrong with that? It is truly the first formal date of us."

There was a slight sense of grievance in his tone.

Yvonne burst into a gurgle of laughter at that.

Soon afterward, she put on the suit.

It fitted her well, yet she had a feeling that it was objectionable... she was a little bit too old for it, after all.

To her surprise, the suit on James appeared rather more unmatched, and she couldn’t help laughing out loud at the scene.

The suit, which was originally loose, looked pretty much like a piece of fitness clothes on him.

She wondered how he managed to get it dressed.

"Stop laughing at me. You don’t know how hard it is to get it on. This crap is just too

small for me."

Yvonne sympathized with him, but she couldn’t help laughing.

A short while later, she managed to hold back her laughter and noticed the looks of the passers on her, which made her uncomfortable.

"We are pretending to be young, aren’t we?" Yvonne whispered.

Having noticed the surprised eyes of the crowd, James coughed and put on an air of indifference.

"Shh, nobody’s gonna know how old we are."

Shortly after he finished it, there came a voice: "Hey, old man, is this the entrance to the cinema?"

It was from a handsome boy.

Old man!?

"Am I old," James thought to himself.

With a murderous light in his eyes, James cast a look at the boy, who, began shuddering.

Yvonne pointed to the entrance ahead and said, "There it is", laughing her head off.

"Thank you, young lady." The boy slid away.

"With pleasure."

Yvonne shifted her view from the boy back to James and tried to restrain herself from laughing.

James looked distressed.

"Seriously? The kid has no idea what he’s talking about. I’m not an old man."

"Of course you are. You’re well into your thirties, remember?" It was until now that Yvonne stopped laughing.

"Let’s get in there, old man."

She giggled, slinking away before he could respond.

James was rendered speechless.

He followed her.

There weren’t too many people in the theatre.

James opted for two seats in the rear of the theatre in order to avoid people.

He handed Yvonne a cup of cola and a box of popcorn soon after the movie was on. Yvonne was surprised, "When did you get these?"

She remembered he had been empty-handed a minute ago.

James didn’t answer.

He was still in a sulk.

The movie was an animation called I Want to Eat Your Pancreas.

Judging by its title, one might assume it was a horror movie.

But it was in fact a romantic story that happened on campus.

The film was based on the story of a withdrawn boy and an innocent yet unfortunate girl who had suffered from a serious disease.

In the beginning, they were strangers, but it all changed after the boy found the girl’s diary.

The boy wanted the girl to be restored to health, while the girl wanted to live an ordinary life that was not unlike the others’.

And when they met, they found that they were each other’s salvation.

Alas, it was, fundamentally, a tragedy.

Despite the romantic happy moments they’d spent together, the girl’s fate remained doomed.

Perhaps all, including the ending, was doomed ever since the moment they met each other.

Tears welled up in Yvonne’s eyes.

While thinking of herself as a rational and tough woman who wasn’t easily affected, Yvonne, however, dissolved into tears.

The story made her heartbroken.

James noticed that and hastened to pass her some tissues.

Even though she hated to be seen weeping, Yvonne took the tissues and wiped her tears with them.

"Alright, time to go."

She rose to her feet and headed toward the exit.

James frowned for a little while before he followed.

They left the cinema in silence.

Looking at her red-rimmed eyes, he let out a sigh and rued that they shouldn’t have opted to see this film.

"Don’t be so sad. It’s just a fictitious story," he said.

It reminded Yvonne perhaps she’d overreacted... she shouldn’t care too much

about the ending of an imaginary story.

Yet, somehow the scenes of the movie kept haunting her.

She reckoned she must have put her in the shoes of the heroine.

True, there were lots of similarities between Yvonne and the heroine, despite the fact that she was not suffering a disease as grave as the heroine’s.

Yet she too had a disease that nagged her and made her flawless and imperfect.

It occurred to Yvonne, however, while the heroine was able to change the boy for the better, she could do nothing in return for James’ devoted care and unreserved support to her.

"What can I do to change James for the better?" she asked herself. "To improve his career?" She’d tried it, and failed. "To provide him with love?" It didn’t sound solid enough.

Pessimistically, she suspected that she’d only bring him endless troubles and headaches in the future.

She felt in a sense, she was inferior to the heroine.

"Wanna something to eat?"

Before they got in the car, James asked.

While it being time for dinner, she didn’t seem to have the appetite, so she shook her head and entered the car.

James, too, got in.

When the car started, Yvonne cast a look out of the window and thought to herself: Were they bound to separate, she wished she could at least in the end cherish some rosy memories of them being together, just like the heroine.