It was like a fantastical, beautiful rainbow; a Cinderella tale, and he, defying his parents' disapproval, was insistent on marrying her.
At seventeen, an age of nescience and immaturity, she married him, hosting a grand wedding ceremony abroad and registering the union on her passport.
She thought it'd be a beautiful fairy tale of contentment and joy.
However, reality was often harsh and fairy tales were often deceitful; tearing through the facade of happiness only to be left with indelible scars.
Falling in love takes time, but rupturing that bond required merely an instant. They didn't even have to get a divorce, because their foreign-registered marriage was unacknowledged unless they re-registered it back home.
He left coldly without looking back at her tear-stained face, lost in utter despair.
So, she had married, divorced, yet her identity card still read 'unmarried.'
"Mommy, I need to write a composition today." Already seated at his desk, Ye Yuan opened his book, ready for serious work.
"A composition? Isn't that a third-grade exercise? You're only in first grade, right?" Ye Lu approached, intrigued.
Then she picked up his textbook, and to her bafflement discovered that it was a fourth-grade text.
How on earth did he get this?
"What's going on?"
"I'm doing really well at school, so they bumped me up to fourth grade. Even the principal says I'm a little prodigy." A smirk couldn't help but cross Ye Yuan's cool-looking little face.
Her heart filled with a mixture of pride and distress, Ye Lu was concerned, "Yuanyuan, don't push yourself too hard. Mommy can take care of you."
She didn't want her child to become one of those prodigious kids who go to university at twelve like the ones she read about in the newspapers; she just wanted him to grow up healthily and normally.
"I'm not pushing myself." Ye Yuan lowered his head. He was doing this willingly.
He just didn't want his mom to suffer. He wanted to grow up quickly, learn how to earn money to support the family, and be able to take care of his mom and little sister.
"Okay, just don't overwork yourself. Let mommy see, what's the topic of your composition?"
"It's 'My Dad'." Ye Yuan lifted up his little face, his gaze clear and serious, "Mommy, what kind of person is dad?"
Ye Lu was taken aback.
The only evidence left from that chaotic time were Yuanyuan and Yiyi.
To be honest, she wasn't sure about the father of her children or what exactly happened that night. She didn't even know who violated her in such a way, causing her so much pain.
After leaving that place, she spent two months in a daze before realizing she was pregnant.
Not knowing what came over her, maybe it was some level of stubbornness after her despair, she insisted on keeping the children.
She had never been so resolute in her life. Despite others' judgment, she decided to give birth to the siblings.
She was only eighteen then. She took a leave of absence from college, planning to return after giving birth.
Fortunately, in the end, her father supported her. He took in her children under the Ye family name, sparing her the scandal of being an unmarried mother.
She named her children Ye Yuan and Ye Yi, signifying her willingness and whole-hearted consent to birth them.
Even though she didn't know who their father was, she had long stopped being curious.
No matter who their father was, as long as she was their mother, it was enough.
"Baby, you remember what mommy told you? Daddy is a hero, a great soldier who sacrificed his life for his country."
She didn't want the children to feel like they were fatherless.
So she fabricated a hero's tale, letting them feel pride for their father.
"So he's like those soldiers on TV running into battles, shooting the mean enemies, tearing them apart with his bare hands, and can jump up to the rooftop."
Ye Lu was taken aback, a bit speechless. That's a bit overdone, it's not like he's Ultraman fighting monsters.
"Uh, yes, I guess. Anyway, he was very powerful."