"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
The voice of the officiating chaplain echoed in the otherwise silent church. For other than the bride and the groom, there were only three other people in attendance. The bride's father who had walked down the aisle to hand the bride, the priest and an old housekeeper who had been playing soft music for the happy occasion.
The bride was dressed in a beautifully traditional ivory gown. The classic ball gown flowed and shimmered with intricate embroidery circling the entire hem and making the bride glow like an angel. Her fair face was covered with a thin veil of sheer fabric. The shy downturned eyes if the bride completed the beautiful picture as the handsome groom stood straight and proud in a white shirt and black suit.
Turning to his bride, he softly brought the girl's hand up and placed a soft kiss on her gloved fingertips of the hand where he had placed the wedding band. The wedding band was a simple platinum band with the initials of the couple entwined on it. The groom then turned to talk to the father of the bride who had now approached them with a happy and satisfied smile.
"Now that the two of you are married, let us have a feast together to celebrate."
The groom was tall and looked to be in his early twenties. The man's usually twinkling green eyes were at present sombre. He looked towards his bride who had her face turned away and then at his father in law. With a slight nod of his head, he agreed, "Sir, let us have a feast but we do not have to go anywhere for it. A simple meal with family is akin to a feast."
The father in law was pleased with his son in law's answer and let out a boisterous laugh agreeing heartily before his laugh drifted into heavy coughing. Extending his hand, Wolf supported his father in law even as his heart ached for the old man. General Xie had once been his trainer. He was the picture of health and vitality. But he had been discovered with last stage lung cancer last year due to which he had taken an early retirement. It had been a year since he had seen his mentor and Wolf was shocked at how the man had changed physically.
Wolf turned to look at his wife who had done nothing even as her father had a coughing fit. Shaking his head, he guided the man to sit on a bench to let him catch his breath while the man's daughter continued to stand there like a statue.
Once the man's coughing fit had subsided, Wolf held the man's hand before saying, "Today's day has been extremely tiring for all of us. Let us celebrate tomorrow. This way we can even expand our today's happiness to tomorrow. We will rest today."
General Xie nodded his head gratefully towards his mentee who gave him face even now and let him have his dignity. With great difficulty, the man stood up and together the party of four walked towards the exit.
A simple Jeep stood at the entrance of the church and a driver jumped off from his seat the moment he spotted the people coming out. He helped the General into the car while the housekeeper climbed into the passenger seat in the front. When the young bride would have gone around to sit in the car, her delicate wrist was held by her husband as he said tenderly, "My dear, our car is right there."
The bride turned her head to where the man had pointed to see a silver car, decorated with balloons and a 'Just Married' sticker, stood on the other side of the church building. Xie Eun shook her head at the cheesy thing and was about to refuse when she heard her father happily praise her husband, "Hehe well done Wolf. I knew I made the right choice for my daughter. You are just soft and romantic enough for her. Go, take your bride and spend some time with each other."
Since her father had spoken, Xie Eun turned her head and climbed into the car her 'husband' had prepared for their marriage.