Tuesday

Anna Jones stood outside the Civil Administration Bureau in City T, shivering slightly with the cool wind that blew past her in her lightweight white suit, despite the fact that the temperature was warm. She cannot believe that today had finally arrived. She is going to marry her beloved Lu Jinhu.

While it was not her dream of marrying in Australia, with all her family and friends, and his family and friend present, it was still going to happen. She would in the presence of Lu Jinhu's parents obtain the civil registration of their marriage. She would become Mrs Lu, after she and Jinhu had been together for many years since they first met at University.

While she was disappointed about it not occurring in Australia, as Lu Jinhu explained to her, he was his parent's only child and they were are afraid to fly to Australia for a ceremony. She could not disappoint him, as all he wanted was his parents to be present when their legal commitment to each other was formally recognised.

Anna knew that on Friday Mr and Mrs Lu had organised a formal wedding ceremony to announce their marriage to the Lu's circle of friends, family and acquaintances. All she could do was satisfy herself that their marriage would be recognised in Australia, and that they could have a formal blessing there with her family and friends present at some later stage.

For Anna, the only frustrating part was that her parents could not travel to be here like Mr and Mrs Lu, given her father's recent heart attack. At least, she consoled herself that she had a telephone call planned with them later on, so they could somewhat share in her happiness.

She knew to Jinhu that Australia was now his home. He would always have ties here, but he was a permanent resident of Australia, and would become a citizen not long after their return. He would regularly come back and visit his parents, and she would accompany him, and bring their children with her.

Anna recalled what Lu Jinhu said last night before they went to separate rooms as they wanted to follow the western tradition of not seeing each other before they were legally married today at Civil Administration Bureau. He knew that today would be the best day of his life, getting married. This made Anna even now feel so loved.

The only concern she had was Mr & Mrs Lu did not seem to like her, given she was white Australian (although she was lightly tanned from spending as much time as she could outside), brunette with hazel eyes and only about 5 foot 5 inches tall. They only seemed to tolerate her as she as Jinhu's choice of marriage partner.

Lu Jinhu, to his patents was their shining light. Anna believed that they would not like any woman that Jinhu married unless they could control her and remain the dominate feature in Jinhu's life. Anna knew the key thing that they wanted was grandchildren, particular a grandson to carry on the family name. Anna knew on the birth of a son, she would become a darling in their eyes.

Anna recognised to herself that the birth of a son would see Jinhu's parents pressure them to relocate here permanently, so they had their grandson near. This would force them to leave their life and her family and their friends in Australia behind. Jinhu, however had reassured her that if they relocated he would ensure that they made many trips back to Australia so she could see them, and they would be welcome to come and visit any time.

Anna looked down at her watch and saw that it was 2:45pm. Originally, she was meant to meet Jinhu and Mr & Mrs Lu at 1pm, but Jinhu had called her and let her know that his parents had been delayed. He pushed the time that they were meant to meet until 2:30pm, but he was now running late for even that time, so all the formalities could be completed.

Anna reached into her large leather handbag, reconfirming the presence of the paperwork from the Australian Embassy and her passport she needed to marry here, and to ensure it was recognised in Australia. She kept feeling around in the bag to try and find her mobile phone to call Jinhu to see what was making him run late.

Anna found her phone buried under the paperwork and pulled it out. She went into her contacts list, and selected the contact "Hubby", which was Jinhu's number. Before dialing it, Anna turned around to look behind her to see if Jinhu and his parents had arrived. She could not see them.

On pressing call, the call went directly to Jinhu's message bank, and Anna said "Jinhu, can you call me back straight away. Where are you? I am worried that you are not here. Has something happened?". Anna ended the message and turned to her right, to sit down on the bench that was a few paces away. As she turned to finish sitting down, she looked up and spotted Jinhu coming out of the Civil Administration Bureau.