I’m Married

Now that people are surrounding her, Vivian feels like nothing has happened before coming here.

"No more long garments? Are you married?" An elderly woman asked.

Before, no one noticed what Vivian was wearing since they were so happy to see Vivian after they hadn't seen her for a long time.

After hearing the elderly woman questioned, they notice that Vivian was wearing a black short woven tunic and a wrap skirt instead of a white long woven dress like she used to wear.

All eyes were on her while silence filled the room as they were waiting for Vivian's answer.

It's their tradition that newlywed women wear black short woven tunic and a wrap skirt.

Since Vivian was wearing newlywed clothes, she must've gotten married.

They all wondered who's the lucky guy that catches her eyes.

Before Vivian could answer, an old woman spoke up "Rory must be heartbroken. He has liked you for a long time."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Now that they said it, Vivian felt like the way Rory treated her was way too good.

It's like someone was treating their crush instead of their friend. And he kind of feels shy around Vivian.

They could see that Rory dearly loved her and was heartbroken when he found out that Vivian had already been married to someone else.

"Yes. Not long ago."

Vivian tries her best to hide her flushing embarrassing face.

Vivian was about to say 'not yet' but when she heard the elder woman's words, she decided to lie to her.

'A white lie won't hurt right?'

Rory was a nice person. But he's not the one who she loved.

That's why Vivian thinks it's better to put a stop on everything and let Rory meet a nice woman that he deserves.

The people here don't sleep with each other, holding hands, or kiss before they get married.

Vivian thinks that if she told them that but kind of living together with him, they might think that she's a dirty woman.

But she knew they're not that kind of people. They don't judge or look down on people.

All they'll do is pretend like nothing happened and treat them the same way as they did before.

That's why Vivian was determined not to sleep with someone before she married that person before she asked Ivan to pretend to be her boyfriend.

But everything changed after she was forced to sleep on the same bed as Ivan by her mother.

After kissing him, she wanted to do all kinds of things with him.

The villagers sigh in their heart.

All they could think was, 'they're not meant to be together.'

"Since you just got married, why come here? Won't it be best to spend more time with your spouse?"

Vivian smiled lightly, "I did something wrong to him."

"Vivi, don't tell me you cheated on your husband. Sighs…. It's not good to do something like that."

The woman's words make Vivian let out a little laugh "It's not like that. I would never do something like that to my own husband."

They sighed in relief after hearing Vivian words.

"Oh yeah! Where are Jan and Asher?"

Before they could ask any further questions about Ivan, Vivian spoke first.

"They went to sleep at their dad's place."

Vivian eyes widened "Rory place?"

"Yes. They always sleep there while you're not here since Rory was the one taking care of them. Now they were fully in his care."

Vivian found Jan and Asher three years ago at the side of the road on her way to the village.

They were left by their birth parents right after they were born.

She took them to the village and had the people there raise the kids.

Vivian was glad that she's the one who found them.

After investigating, Vivian found out that their birth parents had already passed away from illnesses and there's no relatives to look after them.

Since the villagers were kind and loving people, Vivian did not worry much about them being mistreated.

Jan and Asher did call Rory dad before. Rory's face did turn slightly red when the kids called him dad and called her mom.

Vivian didn't think much about it because Rory was like an older brother to her.

"Then they'll have to call me godmother instead of mommy after Rory meets someone and gets married. If they keep calling me mom and Rory dad after Rory gets married, his wife might kill me."

Vivian smiled as she said half joke and half serious.

"No one is going to kill you even if Rory is married."

Smiling "you never know. A jealous woman is the scariest."

"Don't worry. We will protect you. You're the one who found them and provided for them. If the woman who married Rory treats you badly, we'll kick them out of the village."

Everyone nods their head in agreement.

"Thank you everyone. I'll never forget about the way you guys treated me all these past years."

"There's no need to thank us. We're family."

"It's getting late. You must be tired. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Before you guys leave, please take these boxes with you. I bought some meat and snacks for everyone."

Before Vivian reaches the village, she stops by the grocery store to buy stuff for the villagers.

It took her a while, let say she made a few trips, back and forth to carry everything up to the mountain.

Since it was already late, she didn't want to bother the villagers. She thought she'll give them tomorrow morning. But since they're already here, she might as well give them now.

"Oh my, why carry all the stuff by yourself? Why not ask for our help? They must be heavy for you. Don't do that again. Next time ask for our help."

Vivian smiles "don't worry. It's not that heavy. I can handle it, that's why I don't ask you guys for help."

"With all these boxes, you must've made a few trips to bring all the boxes up here. Guys, let's take the boxes to the storage. We will cook them tomorrow."

The elder woman then turned to face Vivian.

"Thank you. You always brought us good stuff anytime you came here. We will see you tomorrow. Take a good rest."

"Good Night everyone."

Vivian walked out as she bid everyone a good night.

She was so thankful to everyone for taking their time to come and chat with her even though they have to wake up early in the morning.

Anytime Vivian comes here, she always feels happy.

She feels like the people here made her forget about her worries. And the cool wind here helps take away what's on her mind.

That's why Vivian always ended up here anytime she had so much on her mind.

Smiling lovely. "Be careful everyone. Make sure to watch your steps."

"Don't worry Vivi."

"Yeah, we used to walk around here without using the light."

"That's right Vivi. We can walk around with our eyes closed and still find our destination."

Smiling happily. "Alright! I believe you guys. But just be, maybe a little careful?"

"Hahaha! We will."

"Thank you for coming here everyone. Have a good Night."

"Good Night Vivi. We are leaving now."

They wave bye to each other.

Just when everyone turned and was about to leave, there was a strange man coming rushing toward them.

Everyone put the boxes down on the ground. The next second, some had spades, some had rakes, some had grape hoe, and some had big sticks in their hands.

Vivian was taken aback and was not sure where those tools were coming from in a blink of an eye.

They were ready to protect Vivian from the stranger that was rushing toward them. Even the little kids had sticks in their hands.

As Vivian eyes lending to the way that everyone was facing, her eyes widened in surprise.

'What's he doing here?'

Just when the big tall man was about to reach near them, they raised their hands that had tools on, and were ready to fight him.

Seeing that everyone was about to hurt Ivan with the tools in their hands, Vivian rushed in front of them, using her body to stop while shouting "Stop!"

Their bodies came to a complete stop, in their tracks, as they looked at her in surprise.

'He must be someone she knows since she stopped us before we could do anything.'