Tuesday, continued …

Having received Anna’s reassurances, Hou Yi stood up and helped Anna off the bench. Once Anna was on her feet, he looked at his watch and realised that it was coming up to 3:30pm. When he had intended to obtain his marriage certificate with Yang Lin, he had booked a time with the Civil Administration Bureau so the process could be filmed. He realised that keeping that appointment was important, as the footage of their ceremony would likely be useful in the future.

He looked at Anna, and said “I hate to rush, but I had previously had a booking a 3:30pm at the Civil Administration Bureau for the obtaining of a marriage certificate. WE should use it, rather than letting it go to waste.”

Anna simply nodded. With that Hou Yi offered his arm to Anna, who simply took a hold of it, and they walked to the corner and into the Plaza out front of the Civil Administration Bureau. They both carefully looked around and neither of them could see Lu Jinhu or Yang Lin, and they continued walking across the Plaza to the Civil Administration Bureau.

As they were about to reach the door, it was opened for them and they were motioned to come inside. The person opening the door, in a navy uniform appeared to want to speak to Hou Yi, show simply shook his head. This was realised for what it was, Hou Yi did not want to talk to anyone.

Anna, once they were inside, realised that almost all the eyes in the building were on her and therefore she was reluctant to let go of Hou Yi’s arm. Hou Yi, bent down and whispered in Anna’s ear “We need to go to the appointments desk. Are you sure that you want to do this?”

Hou Yi hoped that to everyone observing them, his actions were intimate, full of love and for someone wanting to communicate privately to their soon to be spouse, to the exclusion of everyone else. He could see a faint tinge of blush coming to her cheeks, as it added to what he was hoping everyone was seeing.

Anna noticed what Hou Yi was doing, in that he wanted their communications to be private, but send a message to the world at large that was different from what he communicated to her. She knew that despite how it felt she needed to follow through, so she slipped her hand from his arm and interlaced her fingers with his and allowed him to bring her hand to his lips for a brief kiss.

Anna looked Hou Yi in the eye and simply nodded. She was unable to speak as she had to absorb how much her life had changed in an hour, and the changes ahead, all centred around this building. She went from marrying the man she had intended to spend the rest of her life with, to finding out about his betrayal and finally to agreeing to marry a stranger. Her life, despite obtaining her marriage certificate which had been planned for today, was taking a different path. She was as ready as she could be for what was about to happen, as the future could not be worse than what had happened.

With Anna’s nod, she and Hou Yi continued across the entrance hall towards to desk indicating it was for booked appointments. They approached the desk, and Hou Yi looked at the woman manning the desk, and said “I am Hou Yi and I have an appointment booked to get a marriage certificate. My fiancée is from Australia.”

The woman, in the blue uniform on the desk was shocked. She could not believe CEO Hou Yi was here to obtain a marriage certificate with a foreigner. Anna was puzzled by the look initially but simply dismissed it as anyone looking at Hou Yi would recognise that he was handsome and wish that they were in her position.

Anna then immediately dismissed this thought, as no one working where marriage certificates were obtained would be so unprofessional. Was there something that she did not know about Hou Yi, that caused that look, and if so, what was it? Anna then heard a low murmur going around the foyer of the Civil Administration Bureau and wondered what they were talking about. Hopefully it was not for her and Hou Yi, but the thought that it might have something to do with Hou Yi, given the look that had passed on the woman’s face before them.

Before Anna could continue with her train of thoughts, the woman looked at them both and with her most professional sounding voice “CEO Hou could I have your paperwork, and Miss, could I have your paperwork, including that from your Embassy along with your passport.”

With that Hou Yi, reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out not only his paperwork, but Anna’s. She had wondered where it was, but realised that after he had read it, he had kept. Anna knew from her discussions with Lu Jinhu, that his paperwork would include his household register. Anna went into her handbag, and found her passport, and handed this to the official as well.

“CEO Hou, Miss, please sit down over there,’ with that Anna and Hou Yi looked and realised that the woman was pointing towards some seats a little to the left of the desk that they were at. “I will go and locate Official Song, hand him these documents and he will come and meet you to finalise all the formalities.” With that she turned went through the door behind her, and Hou Yi lead Anna to the seats to sit down and wait.