Chapter 310: The dream so near, yet distant

Not a word came out of Nana’s mouth as she watched every one of her pictures from the beginning to end in silence.

The room was large, and yet there was not even a single piece of any furniture. There were only two things – walls and photo frames on those walls.

Nana silently started walking from a corner. There were so many photos that she even herself never saw them.

In one of them, there was her playing with the kids in Sunshine orphanage. In other, she was with the twins having fun. Most of her photos were when she was working in Natsukashi. And there were so many of them. She was smiling and laughing in all of them.

As Nana reached the opposite end, at the center, there was the biggest photo frame of all exactly at the center of the wall. It was almost as if it was life-size.

Nana was wearing the same yellow dress which the twins had gifted her. It was the same photo she saw in Jinhai’s phone.

When she saw all the photos, she realized that they were all taken two to three years back. Some events she clearly remembered, some were faint and hazy in her memories.

These were not the pictures that the twins ever clicked. She had seen through their album. So she knew.

These were all taken by Jinhai.

The time when Jinhai wasn’t even a part of her life, yet she was a part of his. Every picture of hers screamed the fact that the time she bumped into him wasn’t the first time at all. He remembered the very first meeting at the traffic signal, yet all this time, he acted as if they never met before.

Nana’s mind was devoid of any thoughts. She didn’t even know what to think. Every picture gave her the answer she was looking for. She looked at every one of them God knows how many times until every one of them was etched into her memory.

She heard the outside office door open, and she snapped out of her daze.

Nana quickly switched off the lights, closed the door, and sat on the bed. She kept the hospital folder in her bag.

“Nana?”

Jinhai opened the door to the lounge and peeked inside.

“Ah, there you are,” he smiled and walked up to her. “Weren’t you outside?”

Nana said, “…Nothing. I just wanted to rest.”

Jinhai noticed that her mood and tone was even weirder than yesterday. She wasn’t responding to him like she always did. She was completely…expressionless.

Jinhai cupped her face in his palms. His face was marred with worry and concern. “Nana…is something bothering you? You don’t look-“

“How should I look?” she blankly looked at him and cut him off.

It took him by surprise a little.

“No, I mean…You seemed fine and happy before. But-“

“It’s nothing, Jinhai. I want to leave for home.”

Jinhai failed to understand what was wrong with her. But he knew what to do.

Jinhai said, “Nana, I have a surprise for you tonight. Remember? Let’s go there. Everything is ready. I am sure that you will love it, even more than my wedding night surprise. Please?”

Nana stared at him for a beat of silence.

“Okay,” she uttered in a low, barely audible voice.

Jinhai was still a bit restless, but he knew that everything would get solved once he shows her the surprise that he planned.

“Let’s go.”

—

It was seven-thirty in the evening. Through the whole ride in the car, Nana was silent. Jinhai tried to talk to her, but she merely hummed in response.

He clutched the steering wheel in his hand as he kept on driving. He felt a bad feeling arise in the pit of his stomach.

Why am I feeling that Nana is distancing herself from me?

They reached the place a few minutes later, and Jinhai stopped the car.

Nana felt a pleasant gust of wind brush her cheeks. As they got nearer, she heard waves of water beating against the shore.

She stepped in, and the whole place brightened up under the shade of soft yellow light. Soft sand kissed her feet. The wind grew stronger, and the sound of waves got fiercer.

It was the beach.

The moon in the sky was shining, and it’s a pure white light on the sea waves was making them sparkle. It gave an ethereal feeling. The stars in the night sky just added in the beautiful illumination, making it feel as if they had come in fantasy land.

Just for tonight, Jinhai had bought the rights of the beach to surprise Nana. Nobody was allowed to come to the beach tonight.

There laid a beautiful path towards the center of the beach surrounded by fragrant and colorful flowers with a white transparent curtain-like cloth connecting the two flower stands. Rose petals were sprinkled on the path, and in between every flower stand, there were small candles lighted up surrounded by the petals.

It looked mesmerizing. The moonlit light and the waves only added more to the beauty of it.

At the end of the path, there stood a structure on which the moonlight shone the brightest. It was like a canopy, and tall curtains hung from all the four sides.

But even if it was all pretty, Nana couldn’t find any joy in it. If she was unaware of the truth, then she might have undoubtedly been the happiest, just like how Jinhai had planned their wedding night.

But tonight, she felt empty. Her heart didn’t as race before.

Everything felt like a big lie to her.

Jinhai held Nana’s hand and walked through the path. The cool rose petals touched her feet. Her hair was waving to the side as if the wind wanted to steal her away from him.

A big wave crashed at the shoreline.

They stood at the center, and Jinhai slowly pulled her waist towards him. His gaze held immense love and warmth for Nana. He had waited for this day for a long time. It was something that came to his mind soon after they got married.

Jinhai raised his hand and softly brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

This time, as the moonlight cast it’s light upon Nana’s face, she looked even more beautiful as if not even an angel could rival her. As if not even a fairy could match her. Her pink lips looked pale.

Jinhai’s heart skipped several beats. No matter if it had been a few months since they were married, his heart still raced and drummed faster whenever he gazed at his wife.

But little did he know that when it would all end, the scene would be the complete opposite. 

The path through which they came together would be the last time as Nana would be walking back all alone.

Nana slowly asked, “What is the surprise for?”

Jinhai smiled. He lovingly kissed her forehead.

“Nana. We have been married for eight months now, but there is still one thing that we didn’t do. And I thought about it a lot and decided that I really want to give you this. That is why I planned this night.”

Nana said nothing.

“On our first night, I gave you your wedding ring. And tonight too, I want to give you something. So close your eyes.”

Jinhai covered her eyes with his hands. As he withdrew it, her eyes were closed.

Jinhai grinned and stepped away.

He came back after a few seconds. Nana heard a rattling sound.

“Alright. Now open your eyes.”

Nana did, and as she was stunned as she saw the beautiful dress before her.

It was a wedding gown. It was a beautiful white gown with off-shoulder sleeves. The border was studded with diamonds as it’s embroidery. Off-white shade flowers on the sides added to its daintiness. Beads and pearls stitched to the gown were scattered around the transparent backline.

Jinhai smiled. “Jing has designed it for you.”

Nana was indeed mesmerized by its beauty. It was clear at one glance how much effort Jing must have put it in its planning and design.

Jinhai made her step closer to it.

“We have our marriage certificates, but we didn’t have our wedding. I know we don’t need that, but I want to give you one. I want to give you the most beautiful wedding of the millennium, the one where nobody would ever forget it.”

Nana silently stared at the wedding gown.

“Four months later is our first wedding anniversary. Our child will also be born, and our prince or princess will be a part of the celebration. So I thought, why not do a wedding ceremony on our anniversary?”

Nana was unable to respond. Just like his first surprise, Jinhai had planned it out the best.

A wedding…

It wasn’t like Nana didn’t have that thought of that before. But her pregnancy and then the child would have made it difficult to have one soon.

But she still dreamt about it many times.

The dream was right in front of her, yet it looked so distant.

Before she knew it, her gaze blurred in tears. A tear trickled down her cheek.

Jinhai quickly asked, worried. “What happened? Did you not like it?”

She let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

“I like it. I love it. The wedding gown is beautiful. Your idea is so thoughtful…”

Jinhai’s joy lasted for only a moment.

“But we can never celebrate our wedding.”

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