This man who she was engaged to has never told her a single warming word to her. She had been waiting for five years and invested all her emotions and hard work into this family to make sure everything ran smoothly, but still, she felt like she was an outsider in this family.
"What are you doing standing there? Come over and prepare some porridge for me, I can't eat what you just prepared... Hurry up, don't stand there daydreaming. I'm getting late for my mahjong match." This was her mother-in-law, and this was the norm in this house; shouting, yelling, and reprimanding her all the time was like their desired task.
It's been five years and she was getting used to this environment. She was trying everything possible to fit in.
"All right Ma..." She hurriedly composed herself before going down the stairs over to the kitchen to prepare what her mother-in-law had requested. She had begun doing household chores to please this family and take care of it personally until she was now used to it.
After rounds of yelling and insults, the day would end up sad and depressing. She never truly felt appreciated or at peace in this home no matter how much effort she put in.
It was already evening, and she had baked a simple cake since it was her birthday today so that she could celebrate, she thought he would come home earlier, but it was getting dark outside while she sat in the garden with a romantic table covered with his favorite food and wine waiting for him to show up.
Since he wasn't making a step forward, she thought probably she should be more proactive.
Seeing it was getting late into the night and getting colder, she decided to get hold of her mobile phone, she didn't know if she should call or write a message, but he never liked receiving calls from her if it weren't of any emergency and concerning the kids. Writing a message, no... He would just end up reprimanding her as usual.
'He could probably be attending some dinner, I will check out the news...' She decided to go through the social media platforms and received the news she hadn't thought would ever happen. There stood the man she was familiar and not familiar with standing next to that familiar face smiling wildly. She has never seen him like this. She has never seen him smile like this! He wasn't cold, it's just that she wasn't her.
He had time to pick her up from the airport and even bought her favorite flowers. He allowed the paparazzi to take pictures of the two of them. He allowed those pictures to be published of him being intimate with her!
His ex-wife was back; she hadn't died; looking at those sweet smiles facing each other; definitely, they were rekindling their love that never died to begin with.
"How could he do this to me?"
"After all these years? How could he be like this? Why did it turn out like this?"
"I sacrificed everything, why did he have to treat me like this? Why does he think I deserve this?" Shen Ruyi, couldn't understand what she ever did wrong to deserve this.
Why did her life have to circle around her sister? Why did she have to be her shadow? Why did it have to be like this? What wrong did she ever commit that her life had to be substituted?
She had sacrificed her youth for the past five years for this man but still couldn't gain anything, not even a thank you sentence. Not even a congratulations note. Was he this unfeeling? Was he this cold? Why did she have to experience this?
She gazed at the screen tablet she was holding and could see the man she had been engaged to for the past five years parading himself with the woman who had abandoned him and the kids so proudly in front of the media without any shame. You could see that smile she had never seen before.
You could see how gentle those eyes were towards that woman who looked frail and elegant. She could see his tender care; it was never meant for anyone else apart from his dear wife, who had disappeared. Then she realized, this man was still married to this woman and never applied for divorce because of her 'death'. He has never annulled his marriage to her.
She worked hard for the last five years to suit in their family as a dutiful wife and mother, but it didn't seem like she would ever get noticed in this family!
"Mr Li, what are your next plans since your dear wife has returned? Do you have plans of getting remarried? Have you gotten divorced?" Shen Ruyi couldn't help but click on that video to see what he was saying to the media. She didn't know if she was daydreaming or if she had been living a lie, and they all knew her sister was alive and they had been using her all this time.