Jade Orchid Lovers

by Mei Silk

  “You know what, Bill?” she started calmly, “you’re nuts.”

  Bill wasn’t affected. “I’ve heard that before. I was called the nutty professor.”

  “I don’t mean eccentric. You’re a brainless nut.” Sara knew that Bill had always prized his own brain.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have you thought about the consequences of what you’re doing?”

  “Of course. I have. ‘Sequences’ is one of my specialties.” Then he laughed at his boring math joke.

  “Apparently you’re not applying your specialty well in real life. I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to figure out any sequences if you carried out your plan. You’d be hiding either in Fresno or in Mexico. Wouldn’t you?”

  “We would be hiding, together. And I can do sequences anywhere. Even when I’m driving, Sara,” Bill gave a dry laugh. “If you think you can talk me into freeing you, you’re very wrong. I’ve been waiting for this moment for too long. Tracking you down was all I did the past few months. I’m not about to waste all my efforts. Why don’t you save your energy, so your brain can at least function normally?”

  Sara ignored him and continued, “You’re going to retire from the wonderful world of academics because of me? You’re willing to hide your brilliance from the world, Bill? No more lectures, seminars, and conferences?”

  “You don’t know me at all, Sara. I don’t give a damn about any of those things. Many math geniuses proved their brilliant theories in their lonely bedrooms.”

  That’s something new, Sara thought. Bill had always cared about those things. He had to be bluffing. “But not you, Bill. You have to share your discoveries with your colleagues. You told me that you lived a year for a five-minute presentation. You already miss those seminars, don’t you?”

  Bill fell silent. From the mirror, she saw that he was no longer smiling. Sara knew she was getting on his nerves, so she went on, “If you let your jealousy take over your brain, Bill, then you’re no different from athletes, or any male animals. Your Ph.D. is worthless. I can already see the newspaper headline: ‘Oregon Professor Sentenced for Abducting Ex-wife,’ or ‘Jealous Ex-husband Convicted.’ You’ll soon be famous nationwide—just like O.J. Simpson. And that fame would shadow your contribution on mathematical sequences.”

  “That’s it!” howled Bill. Without warning, he pulled his car to the exiting lane from the middle of the freeway. Sara squeezed her eyes shut, then felt the abrupt stop of the car and heard a loud horn from behind them.

  When she opened her eyes, she saw Bill holding the gun in hand. From the rearview mirror, she saw a man had stepped out of a car behind them and was walking towards them. From the dim lights of the freeway, she could recognize the shape of his body. Mateo! At first, she was overjoyed but her heart sank when she remembered Bill had a gun.

  “Bill, the guy is coming to see whether we’re all right. Don’t shoot him.”

  Bill was shaking but sneered while lowering the window, “The guy? I’m myopic but not blind. It’s your Latino lover. Bitch.”

  Sara shouted, “Mateo, he’s got a gun!”

  But Mateo didn’t hear her and continued walking.

  Sara leapt forward with her limbs bound, and bumped against Bill with her body.

  “You crazy bitch!” Bill struck her with the gun and she fell back to the seat.

  Before she blacked out, she saw the flash of a bright light and heard a gunshot.

  * * *

  When Sara opened her eyes, she was in a hospital bed. Mateo was sitting on a chair beside the bed, holding her hand. He smiled at her. “Welcome back.”

  It took Sara a moment to register her surroundings. Then she squeezed Mateo’s hand, “Are you okay, Mateo? Didn’t he fire at you?”

  “No, he didn’t. Thanks to you, Sara. You distracted him and I got to him before he could aim at me. The bullet missed me.”

  Sara sighed as she closed her eyes. The horror of the moment flashed back. What if . . .

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m okay. How are you feeling? Does your head hurt?”

  “I think I’m fine.” Sara rubbed her head where Bill had hit her. “It hurts just a little.”

  “Good. The doctor said all you needed was a bit rest. You’ll be fine.”

  “How long have I been sleeping?”

  “Not that long. About two hours. How’re you feeling?”

  “I’m feeling all right. You must be worried.”

  “I’m okay, sweetheart.” He leaned over and stroked her cheek.

  “How is, uh, where is Bill?”

  “He’s with the police. He might be locked up this time. If not in jail, for sure in the mental hospital.”

  Sara sighed. “I wish he hadn’t done it. There goes his bright future in mathematics.”

  “You’re feeling sorry for him? After what he’s done to you?”

  “I’m sorry, Mateo. I know how you feel. But he’s brilliant. I feel that,” she paused and said uneasily, “I’m responsible for his ruin.”

  He covered her lips with his fingers to hush her, “Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault at all. He was like this before he met you. You only gave him a chance to manifest his problems.”

  Sara nodded silently and smiled briefly.

  Mateo continued, “Perhaps he could still do math, wherever he ends up to be.”

  “That was what he said to me, actually.” Sara laughed.

  * * *

  The door of the room opened and Derek came in, followed by Teresa.

  “Are you okay, Sara?” they asked simultaneously as they came to her bed.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Sara smiled at her them. “Thanks for coming.”

  Derek held Sara’s hand, not saying anything.

  “He was worried to death,” Teresa said, “When I called him I think he passed out on the phone. He didn’t speak for thirty seconds.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad. But I’m fine now. Really.” Sara put her other hand on Derek’s.

  It was after almost a minute, when Derek finally said, “What happened? How did Bill get you, from Mateo’s house?”

  “No, I went back to my condo to look for my lecture notes. It turns out Bill stole them when he broke into the house the night before. He knew I would go back to look for them.”

  Derek shook his head. “That lunatic. Where is he now?”

  “He’s with the police,” Mateo said. “He should be in a mental hospital. He was howling when they got him.

  “Thank you, Mateo.” Derek put his hand on Mateo’s arm. “We owe you a big one.”

  “Don’t say that,” Teresa said. “Mateo was glad to have protected Sara. Right, Mateo?”

  Mateo nodded. “And I would protect her for the rest of her life, if I have her permission.”

  Sara was so moved by his words, that she forgot there was an audience. Her eyes were wet when she nodded and said, “You do.”

  “Really?” Mateo was overjoyed. Without a moment’s hesitation, he knelt down on one leg next to the bed, still holding Sara’s hand, he asked, “Will you marry me, Sara?”

  It was Sara’s turn to be surprised. She said shyly, “Is that how you make deals with your clients, Mateo? You get one deal and press for another right away?”

  “Yes,” Mateo said smiling. “So what’s your answer?”

  Sara glanced at Teresa and Derek, who were returning her glance with encouragement and expectancy.

  Her heart pounded forcefully as she nodded, “Yes.”

  Chapter 20

  Two months later, on a beautiful October day, a crowd was gathering for food and refreshments in the backyard of Sara and Mateo Arellano, after their wedding ceremony. The tent and the table were decorated with Champaca bouquets by Teresa and Derek.

  “Beautiful.” Derek picked up a bouquet of white flowers and green leaves from a table, sniffed the flowers and admired them, and said to Teresa, “You’re an amazing artist, Teresa, I would never have thought of a Champaca bouquet.” />
  “I got the idea when I saw the tree in Sara’s backyard the other day. And thanks to the weather, we’ve gotten enough Champaca off season.”

  “Yeah. Thanks to global warming,” Derek said, “but then it was hard to make a nice bouquet out of them. You can’t do it without some talent. When will you work for me fulltime?”

  “As soon as I find the right person to be the manager of the carwash.”

  “You’d better hurry, because we’ll have another wedding job soon,” Derek said.

  “Oh, really? When?”

  “It depends on you.”

  Teresa was dumbfounded for a moment, and then she smiled. “Is that a proposal?”

  “It is.” Derek’s cheeks flamed. “And are you going to say yes?”

  Teresa paused a moment to allow herself to calm and then she whispered, “Yes.”

  Derek put the bouquet back to the table and held Teresa’s hands. “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome.”

  “It looks like there will be another wedding soon!” Aunt Liu’s voice interrupted them.

  Aunt Liu had not only supplied the wedding cake, but also nine dozens of wife cakes for the wedding, as ‘nine’ rhymed with long-lasting.

  “You bet,” Derek said proudly, “and we would like to pre-order eighteen dozen wife cakes. To double the amount you brought today.”

  “No problem. As long as you guys like them.” Aunt Liu smiled.

  “Of course, we do,” Teresa said, “Mateo was just telling me to bring a few dozen to the car wash to treat the employees.”

  “Wonderful. I mean, Mateo is a wonderful kid, I’m glad that Sara finally found a man that deserves her.” Aunt Liu’s eyes were moist as she said that. She looked around until she spotted Sara in the crowd, “Look at her, how beautiful she is. Too bad Mabel isn’t here to see her.”

  “Yes, she said it was hard for her to get a visa to come since she had already returned her U.S. passport and was a Chinese citizen again. And it would take months to wait for the government’s approval. She called last night and congratulated them, and asked them to send pictures and videos,” Derek spoke as he was looking at Sara. Then he added proudly, “But I wish she could see Sara now. She’s so beautiful!”

  * * *

  Sara, dressed in a Vera Wang wedding gown with lace sleeves and a chapel train, was chatting with Jessica and a couple of friends from the Y, by the wedding tent.

  “So tell me, Sara, what did you do to get the attention of such a gorgeous guy?” Jessica asked.

  “I didn’t really do anything,” Sara said honestly.

  “Oh, come on, you can’t not do anything to get Mateo’s attention.” Laura shook her head. “Because many girls, including Elena, have done everything and failed. Right, Elena?”

  Elena nodded. “I made up excuses that my car broke so he would pick me up, but it didn’t go any further. I wore the sexiest swimsuit that was allowed in the pool and he wouldn’t even look at me. I mean, he did look at me and told me I looked nice, but I could tell that he was not impressed.”

  Julia swallowed the cake she was eating and joined the conversation. “It seemed like he wasn’t interested in women. We teased him about it, and we all thought he was gay until you came along!”

  “Exactly. You don’t know how jealous we all are when we see the way he looks at you!” Elena seemed serious when she said that, and Sara almost felt guilty.

  “What were you doing when you first met?” Jessica asked curiously, seeing such agitation being aroused from the women who knew Mateo.

  “I was just swimming.”

  “Swimming?”

  “Yes.”

  “No, she was not just swimming.” Elena sighed. “She was swimming like a champ. That must have been the reason. And to tell you the truth, I was jealous of you until you won the metal on the swim-a-thon the day of the fundraiser. And then I thought, well, she deserves him.”

  “I have to find a swimming pool when I get back to Oregon,” Jessica said and the others nodded in agreement.

  * * *

  On the other side of the yard, a group of young men were crowding Mateo for similar questions.

  “Man, you’re lucky,” Pedro, the evening lifeguard at the Y, commented. “I’ve been waiting for a sexy swimmer for two years. Never met the right one. In just four months’ time, you’re tugging her safely into your house!”

  “You’ve known her for only four months? Wow, boss, I didn’t know you were a genius outside the real estate profession.” Mike, Mateo’s assistant in his investment company, said with a genuine surprise.

  “I’ve known her for about eighteen years, although I haven’t seen her for fifteen years. Then I spotted her in the pool,” Mateo corrected Mike.

  “That sounds awesome. And then what did you do?” Pedro pressed on.

  “I asked her to teach a swimming class for me,” Mateo said.

  “That’s it?”

  “No, that’s not it. I also asked her to dinner, and volunteered to be her gardener.”

  “Gardener?”

  “You’re multi-talented.” Mike shook his head. “I have a lot to learn from you.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “The first thing for you to learn is how to swim,” said Pedro.

  “And you can start right now. Get in the pool with those kids,” Mateo said pointing to the pool.

  “I have a better idea,” said Pedro. “Why don’t we ask the bride and the gloom to do a wedding swim, since swimming seems to have brought them together?”

  “Uh,” Mateo hesitated, “I don’t think Sara will like it.”

  But Mike thought it was a great idea, and announced it right away. “Hey, everyone, may I have your attention? The groom has agreed to perform a wedding swim for us, since the pool is the medium of their happy union. We now ask the bride to join him.”

  The women cheered at the idea but Sara was reluctant. “But my gown . . .”

  “Don’t worry about the gown,” Laura said. “Mateo will pay to dry clean it.”

  “Go for it, Sara!”

  Before Sara knew it, she was shuffled towards the pool, which had been cleared for her and Mateo. Mateo bravely jumped in in his tuxedo. And she had no choice but follow suit.

  “What are we going to do?” Sara asked Mateo in the midst of cheers and shouts.

  Mateo smiled and said, “Shall we swim?”

  “But how? I can hardly move my arms.” The half-length lace sleeves were tightly fit to her arms.

  “Follow me, let’s tread.” Mateo took her hand, and the two walked across water with grace.

  The crowd cheered. Teresa and Derek looked at each other and smiled.

  “Let’s sprinkle some Champaca petals on them,” Teresa suggested.

  “Excellent idea.”

  Within the next minute, everyone on shore was holding a bouquet and white petals were rained onto the couple.

  “I feel like I’m inside a fairytale,” Sara said breathlessly.

  “You are, and the title of the fairytale is Jade Orchid Lovers.” Mateo suddenly pulled Sara to him, telling her not to stop, and kissed her in the center of the pool, in the middle of cheers and whistles, and the fragrance of Champaca petals.

  Thank you for reading my book!

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