The Water of a Lifetime of Love
When she met him, she was 29 years old. Due to a leg condition, she had never truly experienced the taste of love. He was 32, orphaned, and unmarried because he had been supporting his two younger sisters through school.
To facilitate the marriage, her father promised them a luxuriously renovated house and arranged a job for his newly graduated sister at his company. The condition was that he must take good care of his mobility-impaired daughter.
He was a gentle man, not much of a talker, but very attentive. He bathed and massaged her, carried her down from the sixth floor, pushed her in a wheelchair to see the sea, and even forced her to get up early every day for exercise, even if it was just a few steps with his support.
When she was writing or playing games on the computer, he would be in the kitchen, following recipes to make her favorite braised fish and various porridges. Every night, he would hold her swollen feet in his lap and meticulously massage them inch by inch…
Everyone said she was lucky to have met such a gentle and considerate man, wondering what good deeds she must have done in her past lives to deserve this.
She listened and smiled faintly, not feeling indebted to him. The man was uneducated, didn’t understand literature or art, and didn’t understand her heart. They rarely had a word to say to each other.
In the third year of their marriage, her father’s company suffered a major loss due to a bad investment. All the assets were mortgaged, including the house they lived in. Her father, in his distress, suffered a heart attack and passed away.
The man moved her to a small rented house in the suburbs, with poor lighting and no broadband internet. She couldn’t go out, and her work depended on the internet, so she asked him several times to contact the telecom company to solve the problem.
Each time he promised to handle it, but the next day he would forget. During that time, he became very busy, often not returning until after she had fallen asleep.
One day, when she accidentally spilled a footbath, watching the water slowly soak into the bed sheets, her heart grew cold. They were supposed to be partners through thick and thin, but now that she had nothing, he would surely leave her to find his own path.
That night, she drafted a divorce agreement, packed her things, and waited. By 9 o’clock, he still hadn’t come home. She grew angry, lost patience, and called her cousin to pick her up.
As her cousin pushed her down the street, they were about to hail a taxi when she saw his familiar figure at the corner.
There he was, at a bustling barbecue stand, sweating profusely, carrying a plate of fish in one hand and a plate of lamb skewers in the other. He weaved through the crowd, carefully placing the food on a customer’s table before quickly turning to serve another, smiling humbly and swiftly clearing the leftovers.
She stared in a daze, tears uncontrollably streaming down her face. Her cousin shouted out, “Brother-in-law, what are you doing here?”
He looked at her, embarrassed, rubbing his hands awkwardly, and finally said, “I asked the telecom company, they said we need to pay a year’s fee upfront…”
He quickly pulled out a handful of crumpled bills from his pocket, “Look, just fifty more yuan, give me two more days, I promise you’ll be online…” He bowed his head, adding softly, “Dad is gone, I have to take good care of you. But I, I can’t even manage this simple thing…”
She wept uncontrollably. This water of love flowed from the depths of his heart, every molecule soaked in his deep affection, the water of a lifetime of love that she would cherish forever.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
