2 The ripples in a sea of calm

As she heard so many of her peers called out the name Josh, she turned around to look towards the door. Her face flashed with shock and sorrow. But before she could let anyone see too much into her emotions, she smiled the smile she used with everyone else. The person beside her was able to see all her reactions clearly though.

"You are as pretty as ever..." Josh said as he went for a hug.

Ashley smiled her never ending smile and stepped towards her husband and linked their arms together. "Thank you. I'm sure Alan would be quite pleased to hear that." She turned to Alan, "I guess I age pretty well."

Alan smiled and patted the hand that was linked to his. "I tell you that every day but you don't seem to believe me. Do you have to hear it from outsiders in order to feel good?"

"Outsider? Who are you?" Josh didn't even noticed the man that was standing next to her, not until she moved closer towards him.

"I guess since you are new, I should introduce myself. My name is Alan Li and this is my wife, Ashley Chen. You can call her Mrs. Li though."

"Wife?" Josh asked as he looks towards Ashley to confirm.

"Yes, wife. It has been a while, I suppose we don't even know each other anymore. You can call me Mrs. Li from now on but I doubt we will be seeing much of each other."

He was astounded at what she had just said, "Mrs. Li...you want me to call you Mrs. Li. I'm..."

Before he could say anymore she cut him off. She looked towards her husband, "You said you had a long week. Did you want to go home to relax now?"

Although she looked calm and collected, Alan knew that his wife wanted to get away. He didn't quite get an understanding yet of what was happening here but he could tell that were once very close. He wasn't sure if he was concerned about that fact yet or what he was feeling about their relationship and what this new person's appearance was going to do to their current situation but he knew he cared about his wife enough to understand the queues that she was giving him.

"I think we spent enough time here. I'll go ask them to bring the car around. I will meet you outside?" He turned to Josh and smiled, "Its a shame that we have to go when you just got here. I guess we will be seeing each other around if you are sticking around." Alan patted Josh's shoulder and walked away.

"I heard that the new person is back to inherit the family's business so I guess you will be around for some time. I don't wish to see you again but I doubt that is possible given our small circle so I hope to see you as little as possible."

As she walked away, he looked in her direction. This was definitely not what he thought was going to happen. He didn't expect a warm welcome but he definitely did not expect such a big change to happen. The life that he was supposed to have, a life with her, was taken away by someone he just met.

Alan walked up behind her and hung his jacket on her shoulder. She smiled at him and he wrapped one arm around her shoulder as well. "This was an eventful night."

Their car pulled up and he opened the door for her to get in. Once he closed the door, he walked over to the driver's side with the door open and got in. As they started on their drive home, he patiently asked, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

She looked at him and gave a faint smile. "Our relationship is very good and I don't want you not to know the truth that everyone else knows but there are also some things I don't want to talk about."

"That is fair," he replied.

"Josh and I were together for a few years. We knew each other since childhood but decided that we wanted to take our relationship to the next step when I went to college. We were very close...I thought that we would get married. But, five years ago, he left for the States without letting me know. I didn't even hear anything from him for five years. I didn't know that our relationship ended but with no contact for so long, even with my attempts to contact him, I accepted that everything was just my wishful thinking. Especially with all that I had to go through at the time, I didn't have much time to waste away dreaming."

So this was the reason why she put off any negotiations for half a year when he first put up the proposition to acquire her company, he thought. She was waiting for her knight in shining armor to come back and let her continue living her fairytale life. He felt a tinge of pain pulling at his heart. Was it because he felt pity for her that she had her heart broken so early on especially as her heart was already being broken by her father's health? Or was it because this story now made him her husband seemingly by force? Deep down, he knew the latter was not true though. Even though their marriage was contractual, it was also mutual. She put every effort to make this marriage real for him and for others to envy him. He knew all the efforts she put in and he supposed that's why he developed warm feelings that he hasn't quite understood yet. These four years were not easy on her emotionally but she never stopped concerning herself with his feelings, his needs and his wants because he knew that she felt gratitude towards him.

He looked sideways briefly to catch a glimpse of her to maybe see if he could read her emotions. Did she perhaps still have feelings for her first love? As they lived together for four years, he realized that she had very little experience with romance, not that he has had much himself. He was always focused on creating a name for himself. Love was/is a trivial thing that would benefit him in no way. Why would he need to waste so much effort and time on something that has no value? In a way, this chance meeting upon her was everything that he needed. In this marriage, she gave him everything he needed. A companion, a wife, a business partner, and a lover. Their relationship is the model of a perfect couple he had always had in mind. She cooked for and took care of him. She discussed with him things that stressed him out. She was her partner at events he had to go to. She was the the complete replica of his ideal wife. So why now? Why was he now feeling that something was missing in their marriage? That this relationship of theirs, his perfect life, might come to an end? Was love really something so necessary in life? He never included love into the equation of his perfect life but things would soon change...