9 An Option

Tuesday, continued...

In realising he had little options open to him Hou Yi told Anna Jones "I need to think." He then turned slightly away from Anna Jones.

Anna stared at Hou Yi, and then remembered she still had in her purse the papers from the Australian Embassy she needed to marry here. Given Lu Jinhu had Australian Citizenship, he would have needed the same. She realised that his actions with the telephone call to absent himself from the room when the paperwork was done was now deliberate.

Anna pulled you the paperwork, to have a look at it and recall the shattered dreams it demonstrated. She realised on reading it, the space for her husband's personal details were blank, but it contained his nationally. Anna recalled the Embassy Official saying that the letter he was providing with the paperwork would allow the Civil Administration Bureau Official, complete her husband's details at the time of obtaining their marriage certificate.

The lawyer in her went back over the form and noted other that a slight error in her residential address all the information was correct. Anna then read the letter from the Embassy Official, that indicated her fiancée had been briefly met by the official, but due to business commitment he was unable to stay for the formalities to be completed but failed to mention his name. It commented that he was a respected businessperson, that the official knew him, and was willing to complete all other formalities in his absence. Finally, it requested that the Civil Administration Bureau Official complete the form upon issuing the marriage certificate.

Anna, laughed to herself about the Embassy Official's comment about trusting Lu Jinhu, and saying he was a respected businessperson. After the double check of everything, she realised that the paperwork and letter made no mention of Lu Jinhu. She thought that the man beside her could easily fit the embassy official's general description.

While Anna was doing this, Hou Yi, simply watched her and wondered what she was doing, while trying to think about how he could solve the problem that he now is confronted with, in less than two hours so a marriage can occur before the Civil Administration Bureau closes for the day.

Anna, interrupted Hou Yi's thoughts, by quietly stating "Actually, I think I could help you." She then looked at Hou Yi who appeared stunned.

"How could you help. You would have had have paperwork with Lu Jinhu's name on it, and that will not help me. I will have to try making some calls and see if there is someone, I know that will help prevent an absolute disaster for my company's employees." Hou Yi tone made Anna realise that he was frustrated and barely keeping himself together, as much as she was doing the same.

"Before you do anything, have a look at this paperwork. I think you will find something quite different" Anna responded quietly while handing the documents she just read to Hou Yi.

Hou Yi shook his head "It will not help if I look at the paperwork. I'm sorry I have to make some calls, but I will help you to the extent that I can."

Hou Yi stood back up and was ready to take a step, when Anna grabbed his arm "Please. Please look and then tell me I cannot help you. Simply by listening to what happened to me you have helped me, and now I would like to try and help you."

Hou Yi, looked down at the hand that had grabbed into his hand, and decided 2 minutes to look at documents he knew were useless to him would ultimately make no difference, and then sat back down. He took the documents from Anna as he sat back down, beside her and said "Alright. I have nothing to lose in spending a couple of minutes looking at them at this stage."

Hou Yi started to focus on the documents to quickly read them. On reaching the end of them, he was certain that Lu Jinhu's name did not appear as the husband-to-be. He knew, from friends and staff who married foreigners that the paperwork required their spouse's details when issued by any embassy. He realised that the two minutes he thought might need to be longer and started to re-read the documents to see what was in them.