“Aren’t you crazy? Getting married to a man you’ve known for less than 24 hours?” Claire Randall’s voice echoed through the video call, disbelief coloring her every word. “Does your mother know about this? Is she okay with it?”
“Keep it down, honey,” Anastasia quickly lowered the volume on her phone, knowing that the walls in her apartment were thin. She recounted the events of the past days to her friend, omitting the part where she felt forced, and framing it as a romantic encounter.
“Wow—” Claire’s usually sleeping daughter was startled awake by her mother’s outburst, beginning to cry as she sucked on her fingers, looking for comfort from her mother.
“Shh, sweetheart, mom’s here,” Claire cooed to her daughter, casting a stern glance back at Anastasia. “Don’t just marry someone because of your age. You don’t even know his name. Are you just marrying him because of what happened last night? Do you think this is a game?”
Anastasia smoothed out her face mask, ensuring it clung perfectly to her skin. She mused over whether to wear a white blouse tomorrow or perhaps another color. “Don’t try to dissuade me. I’ve already taken the day off and stealthily taken our household registration book. You know how mom is always arranging blind dates for me. Eventually, I’d have to find someone decent to marry. Besides, he proposed to me knowing about my job. I doubt there’s anyone more suitable than him.”
“Steal? So, what are you going to tell your parents after you get the certificate? Are you going to surprise them? Are you going to continue living at home or move in with him? Have you thought any of this through?”
“To be honest—” Anastasia thought of Edward’s chiseled face and her lips curled into a smile, “I don’t know, I’m not sure, I’m uncertain. My life has been so predictable for the past 28 years, except for becoming a mortician. I was scared when I first started, but then I remembered it was the one thing I did that went against my mom’s wishes, and I managed to convince myself to stick with it.”
“Alright, I can’t argue with you. You’ve always known what you wanted. But can you invite your future husband for dinner tomorrow? So I can get to know him too,” Claire pouted, “You should sleep early tonight. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep the night before, and the photo on my marriage certificate turned out really ugly.”
Anastasia nodded and ended the call. She noticed two unread messages and realized her mother had sent her the contact information and photo of her blind date from last night. Curiosity getting the better of her, she opened the messages and there he was, the same man from last night.
“Edward Cullen…” she murmured his name, saving his number and adding him on social media. She hesitated for a moment before changing his contact name to Love. She opened the chat window but found it hard to start a conversation, feeling a bit uneasy about his profile picture and curious about the corpse from last night. But what right did she have to ask? Would he think she was being too intrusive, demanding too much?
Anastasia scratched her hair in annoyance and rolled around on the bed. Suddenly, she saw that the message was being typed, so she sat up abruptly and stared at the screen of her phone. After a long while, the message came through.——
“Get some rest early.”
Four words, one punctuation mark, so formal and distant, Anastasia thought as she wished him goodnight and put down her phone. Her mind, however, was flooded with visions of her future married life, and it was only at sunrise that she finally fell asleep.
Because it was a weekday and not a date with any special significance like 5.20 or 2.14, the civil affairs bureau was almost empty except for Anastasia and Edward. As they filled out the forms, the clerk, an older woman, looked at Edward several times and chatted with Anastasia, “You’re a lucky girl. Your husband seems like a caring man. How did you two meet?”
Anastasia hesitated, about to fabricate a story of a long-lasting love, when Edward took the form from her hand and handed it to the clerk along with his, then grabbed her right hand and said, “We met through a matchmaker. I saw that she could cook and take care of people, perfect to be a wife, so I pursued her.”
Anastasia was startled by his sudden action, but the warmth of his hand soothed her unease. She subtly changed the position of her palm and held his hand back.
“Indeed, you two look perfect together. My son doesn’t have your luck. Well, here’s to a hundred years of harmony and many children,” the clerk said as she stamped their marriage certificates and handed them over. “Happy marriage!”
Anastasia held the marriage certificate, staring at their intertwined heads, lost in thought. She was married now.
Edward calmly thanked the clerk and led Anastasia out of the office. “I have a meeting in A city this afternoon,” he said, taking out a set of keys from his pocket. “I’ll send you the address later. You can stay in any room, but please don’t enter my master bedroom or my study.”
“What?” Anastasia was confused. “We won’t sleep together?”
Edward adjusted his glasses, a polite smile on his lips as he said, “I thought you understood. I needed to get married, and you needed to as well. I sleep lightly and am not used to having someone beside me. If there are physical needs, we can visit each other’s rooms and return to our own after.”
If it weren’t for the potential job transfer in the city... a married image would be better than being single, he wouldn’t have considered marrying her.
“If... if you had married the girl in your profile picture, would you treat her like this...” Anastasia couldn’t help but ask.
“She’s dead. You were the one who prepared her for the funeral,” Edward said casually, as if discussing something unrelated to him.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to move in. But my job might sometimes require you to attend social events with me. I hope you can go and maintain a proper appearance and smile.”
Anastasia looked at the man who had become her husband, a hint of regret creeping into her heart. She could accept that her husband didn’t love her yet, as they had a lifetime together. But she couldn’t accept that there was someone in his heart, someone who was already dead. Because she knew that the dead are always sealed in the hearts of the living in the most perfect form, and no one can replace them.
Seeing Anastasia’s silence, Edward checked his watch, made a phone call, and soon a driver pulled up in front of them.
“Goodbye,” he said politely and distantly, and got into the car without another word, leaving Anastasia standing there, her hand still trembling slightly from his touch.
She felt strange. She wasn’t in love with him, nor was she dependent on him, but when he spoke of their marriage so lightly and objectively, she felt as if each word was a thumbtack, gently pressing into her heart.
In fact, she still had expectations for him, for their marriage...