[Note: this chapter does not contain any sexual assault or r*pe scene]
It was a beautiful morning, rays of mellow sunlight filtered through the verdurous canopy of fine flowers, penetrating through the leaves and casting an unearthly green–gold luminescence.
"Ah-choo --"
Hazel's sneeze could be heard from a corner of the room. She still lay limply on the bed, like a broken doll draped in a heavy blanket. Just as she turned to the other side she hit her face on something warm and was startled out of her sleep.
'How did the wall get here?'
She forced her eyelids open and bolted up to a sitting posture, whipping her head around in wide-eyed confusion.
After taking a moment to force the sleep away from her eyes, she recognized the familiar floral curtains hanging at each side and the compact table next to her bed.
This was her room. Of course!
Hazel placed her hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps she must have been dreaming.
Without further scrutiny, she closed her eyes and was just about to drift off into sleep when a hand reached out from behind and touched her back. The sudden touch made her tremble like a withered leaf. She quickly turned her head around to behold the handsome face of a stranger sleeping next to her.
"Oh my God!" A panicked induced scream broke out from her lips, directly shaking the foundations of the room.
'What the hell is going on? How did this guy get here? Did he break into my apartment?'
The man lying next to her couldn't help being startled out of his sleep by her scream. He shot up from the bed like a bolt of lightning, looking shocked and disoriented. Just then, his expression froze, allowing an eerie chill to permeate the air.
Hazel lunged into the corner of the bed and quickly draped herself up with the blanket. Her action was futile, as it was obvious that the other party had seen her naked.
In fact, the man didn't look very happy.
Hazel clutched her aching forehead, desperately searching through her memories to make sense of everything, but her effort turned out in vain.
The man gazed at her with a trace of mockery in his eyes. He picked up his clothes scattered on the ground and put them on, and then walked to the window, standing with his back to her. "Why not put your clothes on?!" His tone was cold and full of disdain.
In great shame, Hazel quickly snatched her clothes from the floor and put them on, while she secretly looked around for a suitable weapon she could use to defend herself. The man was at least 189 cm tall and had a well-built body. It became increasingly clear to Hazel that she wouldn't stand a chance against him.
She took a glance at the bed table next to her, as she deliberated on using the alarm clock as a projectile weapon. However, the alarm clock was nowhere to be found. The only visible objects were two red certificates laying quietly on the nightstand, on which was written, "Marriage Certificate".
Astounded by the discovery, Hazel grabbed the red folder and opened it. There were two names in it, Hazel Yi and Zac Rong, accompanied by a beautiful photo of the couple. The groom in the picture was very much the same man standing in front of her, and the bride was none other than herself.
They looked very much like the perfect couple in the picture. Smiling with all happiness.
She looked at the registration date and found that it was yesterday.
At that moment, Hazel couldn't hope for anything else than for the earth to swallow her whole, without hope of ever finding her way back to the surface ever again.
Where did this man come from? How did they end up getting married?
Could he be an actor hired by some TV station?
With this thought in her mind, Hazel charged at the man, thinking that this was all a part of some TV show and that this man was an actor hired to make fun of her on live television.
"Which TV station do you work for? I'll be going to file a complaint to the police. Do you think this is funny? This is an invasion of my privacy and you're shooting this without my consent. This is illegal!" Hazel threw the marriage certificates at the man and started to look for hidden cameras everywhere.
All the while, the man stood there, confused by her actions. He picked up the marriage certificate from the floor and glanced at it. Suddenly, his face expressed his inner feelings with a frown. "Damn it!" he cursed, trying to recall what had happened yesterday, but his memories seemed fragmented and unclear. The last thing he remembered was being in the bar.
By now, Hazel had turned the entire room upside down, but there was still no camera. Infuriated, she rushed over to grab his collar. "Tell me where the cameras are, or I'll call the police!"
The man stared at her insidiously. After a while, a hint of shock flashed between his eyes and he said, "It's you!"
One day earlier.
It was the first day of April or as everyone would say April Fool's Day.
According to the netizens it was the best time for someone to declare their love because if they got rejected, they could just laugh and say—"Haha, I made a fool of you!"
At the very least, they could retreat in a splendid manner.
The same thought crossed Hazel's mind. Finally, she had summoned all of her courage and walked up to her idol, Hanson Xia, on whom she had been crushing for many years. "Hey, I have been in love with you ever since we first met. I've got a good feeling that you and I are destined to be together. Although I am still not up there yet, one day I am going to become an icon in the fashion industry and become someone who is good enough to be with you. Would you please put me on your list of possible girlfriends?"
Before Hazel finished speaking, she heard a burst of mocking laughter coming from behind her. "How interesting! 'Destined to be together! Is that what you tell yourself when you cry yourself to sleep at night? Are you really that pathetic?" The woman ridiculing Hazel was her sworn enemy, Sunny Yang, who elegantly walked towards Hanson and held his arm without hesitation.
Was she marking her territory? The thought filled Hazel with an unbearable sorrow.
Hanson, however, shook his arm, trying to draw it back, but eventually, he allowed it. "Hazel, I..." He didn't know what to say to her, but before he could even think of anything, Sunny cut him short. "We're getting married!"
The words came, out of the blue, and hit Hazel like a bolt of lightning. She should have laughed three times and told them that she was just joking, but the muscles on her face were stiff and she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Her throat was blocked by a lump of sourness, taking away her ability to speak.
With a smug smile on her face, Sunny deliberately leaned her head on Hanson's shoulder to add salt to Hazel's wounds. "Hanson, dad wants us to go back for dinner. Let's go!"
Hanson extended his hand and patted Hazel on the head as if to comfort her. "I'm sorry, Hazel," he sighed heavily and then walked away with Sunny.
Bang!
Again, Hazel heard her heart shatter into a million pieces. She felt like everything in her world had frozen over and the cold winds were slamming her face like tiny little icy nails.
Perhaps the only thing that could mend her ailing heart at the moment was a good bottle of wine.
The True Color Bar was across the street, and she walked in without a conscious thought.
The bar was very quiet. As the only customer, Hazel sat at the bar counter and ordered a glass of long island ice tea, which was the most suitable cocktail for a lovelorn person.
Hazel had overestimated her drinking prowess and as such, she was completely inebriated by her third drink.
Before long, another customer walked into the bar.
He was handsome and radiant, like the sun in the early spring and the bright moon in mid-autumn, that lit up the whole dark bar in an instant.
The previously listless waiters immediately became energetic and rushed to ingratiate themselves. However, he didn't even glance at them. He was as cold as ice, which had been frozen for thousands of years and couldn't be affected by any sort of temperature whatsoever.
On any other day, Hazel would have never spoken to a stranger. But today, she was so drunk and broken-hearted, that she picked up her glass and staggered towards the stranger.
"People who come to the bar in the daytime are either crossed in love or bored. Which one are you?" she said, staring him up with her drunken, hazy eyes.
Zac Rong ignored her and continued to drink on his own as if he hadn't heard what she had said.
Hazel, however, didn't mind his arrogance. She sat down on the stool next to him and said, "Well, I guess you are the latter. People who look like you can only make others fall in love with you. It must be nice. Look at me! I confessed my love to my prince, the man I had loved for five years. And guess what? He's marrying the woman I hate the most."
Hazel eventually vented her grievances by finishing the rest of her cocktail. "I'm done feeling bad for now. Since we're the only ones here, let's have fun and drink together, shall we?"
Zac raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. Although the girl had a plain face, she had a great body, much like a diamond in the rough. Her two beautiful eyes, however, were limpid and pure like autumn water. Each time she raised an eyebrow to look up she looked even more charming. It was her eyes that made her unique, as they could make even a plain face like hers look beautiful.
Zac didn't know why he nodded his head. Was it because of some magic, or because he was moved by her tantalizing eyes.
Hazel smiled again, revealing her white teeth. "Let's play dice! You have to guess the number and if you guess wrong then you'll have to drink shots."
How fun!
A disdainful smile appeared at the corners of Zac's mouth. He had nothing else to do anyway. Why not play a drinking game with another stranger in a bar!
Two hours later…
Zac was drunk beyond comprehension.