Tuesday, continued …

While thinking about making their marriage a success, Hou Yi then realised that the reality was tonight would be their wedding night. With the plans to marry Yang Lin, he realise that they would consummate their marriage, despite his heart not being in it and he really did not care if his marriage would ultimately be successful.

That was now not the case. He knew that he was marrying the love of his life, and while he desired a true wedding night and the consummation of their marriage, Anna was not in that place. He needed to take matters carefully, to ensure that his marriage to the special woman that was Anna Jones would succeed and be everything he ultimately desired. Hou Yi realised that he needed to discuss with Anna the expectations with respect to their marriage, so he did not frighten her away.

In observing Anna, Hou YI realised how important this discussion was, as he could see that she was having second thoughts about marriage. He knew, though he could not let her back out given it would mean no relationship with her. Nothing else mattered in that moment than a relationship with Anna, so he had to address her concerns now.

Hou Yi took a deep breath, and quietly spoke to Anna. “We need to quickly talk about a couple of things before we head into the Civil Administration Bureau, but we will go back outside to talk about it, rather than here.”

“I do not now know about this. We need to talk about it now” was Anna’s response.

“This is not really the place.” With that Hou Yi thanked the shop assistant and took Anna Jones’s hand in his and walked out the door. He took her back the bench where they had been sitting a few minutes earlier and agreed to their marriage.

Once they were sitting, Hou Yi spoke, looking her directly in the eyes, hoping that his feelings for her would not show through. “Anna, I realised something while you were tidying up, that I think has to be addressed. I understand that you are having second thoughts about this marriage.”

Hou Yi paused, and gently took Anna’s chin in his hand, and turned her head so that she was looking at him in the eyes before continuing. “Be assured that I will not insist that our marriage is consummated tonight. If it happens, it will be because we desire it, not because we feel pressured to. OK?”

Immediately as he said the words, Hou YI observed a look of relief pass into Anna’s eyes. He then continued. “However, there are a few things I think we have to agree to, but let me explain the reasons before you jump to any conclusions. All I am asking is that we sleep in the same bed, we both give our relationship a chance to develop into whatever it can be, neither of us cheat on the other and at least in public we display affection towards each other and accept gentle displays of attention.”

This stunned Anna and Hou Yi realised that he needed to continue with his reasoning before she stood up and ran.

“Before you say anything, sleeping in the same room is about the creating an image. While I have servants who generally do not live in, they do stay overnight when I am entertaining late at night. They are good at their job and paid well, but I cannot be certain that they will not gave into pressure from my family or accept payment from the media to talk about our relationship. They know not to come into a room with a closed door unless told to, but truthfully they, and we can say we slept together. No one needs know that nothing else happened, as what happens behind that closed door is our business alone.”

“The second thing I am asking is that we are both open to giving our relationship a chance to develop. We are going into this marriage with no real relationship, but we need to allow ourselves the opportunity to determine if we can make a success of it, despite how it started. This will protect both our reputations, and in the event that we do end our marriage in the future protect your career in Australia as a lawyer. Additionally, it would protect both of us from the Lu’s and in particular Lu Jinhu, and Yang Lin and her family from trying to get anything from either of us, given they broke off their relationships with us firstly.”

“Tied with that, is that we do not cheat on each other. We are telling the world that we loved each other enough to end up marrying despite everything. We have to show the world that we are committed to our marriage and each other. However, if in the future one of us finds someone else that we love, we can do what is necessary to end our relationship appropriately so that we can pursue that new relationship.”

“Finally, and it ties in with everything else that I am asking, not only of you but myself. In public, we are willing to display affection to each other. People will wonder why we married so quickly since some knew that you were to marry Lu Jinhu and I was to marry Yang Lin. Showing affection in public will deal with rumours, but also it will allow us to be comfortable with each other. I am not talking over the top demonstrations, simple things like holding hands, hugs and gentle kisses, simply hinting at what would happen behind closed doors if this was a love match. Can you agree to those conditions?”

Anna was shocked. Hou Yi realised what her concerns were, and was ready to address that, but had thoughts about the future, and the image to be put forward to the public about their relationship. The only thing was, it did not deal with her returning to Australia. She needed to get on with rebuilding her life given what Lu Jinhu had done to her.

“I will Hou Yi. However, please be realistic in that it is going to take some time for me to be comfortable with all of what you have asked. The only thing I need to raise now is about my return to Australia in three and a half weeks, when my leave has ended, as I have to start to rebuild my life given what Lu Jinhu has done to me?”

“Anna, the reality is I have to remain here, with the family company. You returning at that time to Australia, alone, will defeat what we want to achieve. However I am not stupid. In today’s technological driven world, there would be options that we could look at that would allow you to continue your career in Australia, even though you live here. We have agreed to the basics of our relationship, and all those other issues we can resolve from there. Are you OK with that? No second thoughts?”

Anna realised, Hou Yi was right. They had established the basis for their relationship, and everything else from there would be able to be resolved. His reassurances made her certain that she would, despite it being a loveless marriage, the right decision for her. “Yes I am OK, and I do not have any second thoughts”, came her quiet reply.