Rules of Engagement

Elsa followed Greenwood to the restaurant and ordered a bowl of millet noodles. When he asked her to take a walk with him, she followed him out to the streets. They were high school classmates, so they talked a lot of what happened with each other and their classmates, except Elsa's uncomfortableness with physical contact, of course. They weren't familiar with each other that time, but they had plenty of classmates and teachers, which reminded them of their schooltime. Ever since then, they got to know more about each other.

She had suggested hundreds of times that she needed to buy clothes, but Greenwood had only avoided that suggestion even further. Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything anymore, Greenwood suggested, "How about we go to the cinema? I've already bought tickets as well as popcorn and coke. It's a pretty good deal."

She blinked in surprise, not knowing that he had already made plans to hang out with the headmaster's daughter tomorrow. Since this was his last day with Elsa, Greenwood might as well start spending all his money.

"Maybe another day. I stayed up all night, and I don't want others to worry about me," she said apologetically, motioning to the bags beneath her eyes.

Although a little disappointed, he maintained his poise with an easy smile. "Well, you can go have a good sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Drive carefully."

Because of work, she had a second-hand car for her to drive home. Elsa nodded.

She didn't know whether she was relieved or not that Greenwood finally left. It was as if another burden was lifted from her shoulders. However, she kept herself together. Her father was already sick, and she didn't want to worry him any further. Plus, she was already old.

From what she could remember two years ago, a woman she knew next to their house had greeted Elsa and her mother with a question on whether she was married yet.

When Blanche Yang shook her head, the woman widened her eyes in surprise. "What? Isn't she old enough already?"

In Elsa's hometown, not getting married in their mid-twenties was already a talk of the entire neighborhood. Elsa couldn't help but be insulted by the reaction.

After putting her car away in the garage, she dragged her tired body up to the group dormitory building with a bag in hand. The dormitory contained three single rooms, one room per person. It didn't have any living room, so people just usually went to their own respective quarters. Since all the basic requirements were met, she was fine with living in the place.

Only people like her would be fine to live in this place. Generally speaking, local people or those who had families wouldn't live in such a place with absolutely no privacy. As soon as she entered, she noticed how her colleagues were stewing trotters.

She scrunched her nose and took a shower. One of the reasons why she chose Greenwood was that he couldn't give up his stable teaching love in the suburbs while she couldn't give up her favorite job in the city. As they were only separated with a three hour bus trip, it was fine for both of them to see each other at weekends.

guilty that she wasn't staying with him, but she couldn't help but appreciate his

slowly fell asleep

that it was 4:10 AM. She frowned. Her marriage leave had begun yesterday, so it wouldn't be her boss.

over on her bed but was now more awake because of the ringing. Her eyes

at her phone, her eyebrows furrowed

call me

call back, Greenwood called yet again, his voice tentative. "Do you mind coming to the

wasn't able to fall asleep now, she wasn't planning on driving all the

really important!" He didn't give her another second to say anything before

Elsa hung

he must've been in trouble to call her at a night like this. As she was driving, she could feel a dull ache on her

finally arrived at the hotel, a man in a suit arrived to greet her. "Are you Miss Xia? I'm the manager of the hotel. You can call me Mr. Wu. I have something to ask you on your

to the main office. She didn't know what happened, but from the looks of it, Elsa was in for a sight. However, she just didn't know what to expect.

thought it over in her mind. She had left her phone number and money when she booked the room so that her parents could check in with their ID cards. Her parents still hadn't

sweaty

Xia? Miss Xia?" Mr. Wu had already pushed the door open, waiting

sitting opposite to her looked extremely familiar. After thinking about it, her eyes widened. This was the man she'd

on the other side, his face covered with bruises. "Elsa, you're here!" He

of his lips. When he opened his mouth, one of his front teeth had fallen out. "What happened?" The clothes he was sporting were

everything that had happened, but he started finding it difficult to do so. Having no choice, he decided to bite the bullet. "Well, we're going to get married tomorrow, right? I mean, the banquet and ceremony are

She nodded.

listen and when it was time to speak out. As she faced Greenwood, she didn't face him as

tonight, so I thought, as your fiance, I