Chapter 2Her Buried Past

October 3rd, 2020

I’m getting married today!

And who’s the groom?

My Rick, of course.

Who else would I ever want to marry?

And who else would he ever dare to marry?

If he tried, I’d tear him limb from limb.

We’ve been together for six years.

Today, I finally married the boy I fell in love with when I was eighteen.

Oh, Diary, you should have seen how nervous Rick was when he put the ring on my finger.

The tips of his ears turned bright red, and his eyes weltered up immediately.

It’s true what they say… a man’s tears can make a woman’s heart soar.

Seriously, I couldn’t stop smiling.

But, Diary, I’m not afraid to tell you the truth.

Later, when Rick was drunk and collapsed into my arms, I was the one who cried even harder.

He whispered in my ear, “Zara, I love you. I love you so, so much.”

“Thank you for being my wife.”

Honestly, I’m the one who should be thanking him.

Because of him, for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged somewhere.

At the wedding, Rick’s mom gave me a hug.

As she held me, my nose started to sting.

It was the first time an elder had ever hugged me.

So, this is what a mother’s love feels like.

Growing up in an orphanage, I never knew what a hug was.

For us orphans, it didn’t matter how good you were; no one was going to hug you.

When we cried, we just lay on the mats on the floor until we stopped.

At school, our teachers always said we were such well-behaved kids.

The truth is, we learned early on that crying got you nothing.

And just being quiet never earned you a hug.

So, we learned to hide what we felt.

It wasn’t until I met Rick that I learned I could just be myself.

And he would still love me.

Now, Rick and I finally have a home.

We’re broke, sure.

But things will get better.

I told him, “This is the happiest moment of my life.”

He held me tight, his voice thick with emotion. “What do you mean, the happiest? From now on, every day will be happy.”

Getting married is the best.

I have someone to share my life with. I have a family.

I’m not alone anymore.

P.S. Here’s a wedding photo.

It’s small, only a 5x7.

I’m wearing a twenty-dollar tulle skirt I bought on Amazon, and Rick’s in the only decent suit he owns.

Our clothes are simple, but our smiles are the brightest you’ve ever seen.

Rick promised me.

When he makes it big.

He’ll take me to the beaches of Bali for a proper wedding photoshoot.

The host finished reading and took a deep breath.

No one had expected that I, the venomous villain, could have shared memories like these with Rick.

The words on the page were playful, sweet.

Anyone could see how happy I was back then.

There’s nothing more devastating than a love that’s expired.

Rick stared, stunned, for a long moment. Those memories had been buried for so long.

Back then, marrying me had felt like the greatest victory of his life.

He had forgotten all of it.

The viewers were confused, too. This was nothing like the vicious Zara Hale they knew.

“Reading this, she just sounds like a normal girl in love.”

“It’s gotta be fake. That handwriting doesn’t look like hers.”

“So she was an orphan. No wonder she had no class.”

The host turned to Rick. “Mr. Brown, it sounds like you two were very happy when you got married.”

Rick seemed to snap out of his trance, a bitter, self-mocking smile twisting his lips.

“She used to be a good person, yes. But you can never truly know what’s in someone’s heart.”

The host smiled thinly. “Perhaps. Let’s move on to the second page, shall we?”

“Honestly, I’m quite curious myself to see what happened to turn Ms. Hale into the monster everyone despises.”