Chapter 5 - The Divorce Hearing

More weeks have passed and finally the time has come. The date for the divorce hearing has finally arrived. It is early December and winter is here. The first snowfall is expected in just a few days. Even the air already smells strongly of snow. And the downtown area is already decorated with colorful Christmas lights.

That afternoon, Yibo, Lara and their lawyer were the first to arrive at the courthouse meeting room. The judge and a stenographer, were already in the room preparing for the hearing. After the cold from outside, Yibo felt almost beaten by the warmth in the room.

But Yibo really started to sweat when there was a knock at the door and Zhan entered with Eva and their lawyer. Yibo felt his heartbeat increase as his gaze met Zhan's. Nervously, Yibo ran his hand over his forehead and noticed that he was beginning to sweat. He frantically searched for the handkerchief until he remembered that he had forgotten to take it out of his work vest and pocket it.

Afraid of embarrassing himself because he was sweating so much and to keep the sweat out of his eyes, Yibo wanted to simply wipe it off with the sleeve of his jacket. But just as he raised his arm, Zhan grabbed his wrist and pressed a handkerchief into his hand. Immediately when Yibo felt the soft cloth in his hand and sensed the slight scent of Old Spice, he calmed down.

It was as if this soft cloth and the scent of Old Spice on it had a magical effect on him. His heart calmed down again and he stopped sweating. He dabbed the sweat from his forehead and thanked Zhan. "Thank you. This is the second time you've helped me out with a handkerchief." He said.

"You're welcome." Replied Zhan with a smile and lightly patted Yibo's hand.

Zhan's smile made Yibo a little embarrassed. "I came here straight from my mini market and changed there and forgot to pack my handkerchief."

"That can happen to anyone. I was late a little earlier and almost came here in my work clothes."

"What do you work at?"

"I opened a little restaurant a few weeks ago."

"Oh, a restaurant just opened near my mini market recently, too. My customers really raved about the food."

"So where is your mini market?" Zhan wanted to know. Yibo told him and Zhan laughed. "Well it seems that was my restaurant your customers were raving about then."

"Oh really? Had you been giving out free food samples in the neighborhood to celebrate the opening?"

"Yes, I did."

"Because someone brought me some snacks at the Mini Market and said they were a gift for the restaurant's grand opening. I loved the mini dough rolls. Crispy on the outside and pretty tender and juicy on the inside. They were filled with cheese and ham. So delicious."

"You can come by anytime and have more. My treat."

"Absolutely, I will come."

"Since he's inviting you to dinner, I have an advice for you. You'd better try all his other dishes. They are all Fantastic." Interjected Eva.

"Yes, you should." Said Zhan.

"Thanks, I will." Replied Yibo, beaming with delight.

The judge cleared her throat. "Shall we begin then?" She asked with a smile. Zhan and Yibo apologized and the judge laughed. "Oh, no. It's been nice to see that you seem to get along right away. Even though you don't know each other. Well, we'll start now. First we'll let the lawyers talk and then you can say something if you want. After that, I will say something else before I make a decision."

Yibo and Lara's lawyer spoke first, then Zhan and Eva's. Both basically said the same thing. Namely, that these marriages were the result of a mistake at the registry office and that same-sex marriages are not supported in this country and therefore they cannot be legally married to each other.

When the four had the chance to speak, they said nothing. And so the judge took the floor again. "Well, then I would like to say something now. We know by now how this mistake could have happened. The registrar married you on the same day and with only a 30-minute gap. That day, as well as most other days this year, he was drunk. His son died of a serious illness just a month before your marriage ceremony and he fell into alcohol. When he entered your marriages into the marriage register, he was apparently so drunk that he messed everything up. You were not the only couples who experienced this. But the other couples responded quickly and their marriages were corrected and re-registered. So much for that."

"That's almost what I thought. The guy had smelled of alcohol and garlic." Said Lara.

"And you didn't say anything and just let him continue?" Asked the judge.

"Well, at the time I just wanted it done quickly."

"Ah yes, I see. Well, as I have already announced, I would like to say something before I make my decision. Because as you know, I've been having one-on-one conversations with each of you over the past few weeks to get to know you better, to learn why you got married and why neither of you realized the mistake for three years. I'd like to go over those one-on-one conversations with you briefly. Is that okay?"

"Of course." Agreed all. They had already been informed by their lawyers that this judge was not as easy as others and were prepared for it.

"I will then begin the interview with Ling Lara. The conversation, like all the others, lasted 60 minutes. However, the conversation seemed much longer to me. Because either she was just talking about her boyfriend, her engagement, or the baby. Or she was on her cell phone exchanging messages with her boyfriend. When I finally got her attention after 50 minutes, she explained that she only wanted to get married to get away from her controlling parents. To be honest, in those 10 minutes I realized one thing. She is a narcissist. It always has to be about her. She's the best, biggest, and most awesome person in the world and doesn't have an ounce of empathy. Maybe that's why she only gave Mr. Wang 4 weeks to find a new place to live. And that in this city, where reasonable apartments are scarce and an apartment search rarely lasts less than 3 months. Unless you are willing to invest a lot of money. All she could tell me about her supposed marriage to Wang Yibo was, "He was always nice to me." I got a good impression of her as a person and had to conclude by wondering how long her marriage to her fiancé would last? You should definitely work on yourself."

"Then I'll move on to Wang Yibo. In our conversation, he seemed to me at first to be a very quiet and wordless man. However, he blossomed when he told me about his mini market and how the desire to open such a mini market was born in him. The conversation became very warm and heartfelt. He was open-minded and even cheerful. He confessed to me the reason why he got married. Since his parents had already been constantly pestering him for two years, urging him to finally get married, he was looking for a solution to this. And one night when he drank a little too much alcohol with Lara, they came up with the idea of marrying each other. He said they drunkenly called their parents and told them they were engaged. The next day he regretted it, but he couldn't get out of it. The parents were already involved and he also didn't want to leave Lara, who was a good friend, hanging. By now he regretted not saying anything at the time. And he told me that he wishes to meet someone who loves him as he is. He wants to fall in love and finally be happy. I was very grateful to him for those open and honest words."

"About Ms. Yue Eva, I have the following to say. She is a good-hearted woman who didn't always have it easy in life. She often had to fight to get ahead in life. She did not marry for love any more than the others. However, she wanted to marry Mr. Xiao because she liked him very much and was convinced that she could have a satisfying marriage with him. She spoke only good things about Mr. Xiao. Her exact words were that he was warm, kind, caring and above all sincere and the nicest man she had ever met. And she even fell in love with him. Unfortunately, her feelings were not returned. But she is not angry with Mr. Xiao because of that. She is very understanding and hopes that someday, like she did recently, he will meet someone and fall in love so that he too can finally, truly be happy. What I got out of that conversation was how loving they were to each other. Even though they were just friends."

"Mr. Xiao, let's finally get to you. The conversation with Mr. Xiao was unique. For one thing, I got a wonderful recipe for a family meal that my family and even my in-laws love. And secondly, I talked to a very open-minded, warm and cheerful man. We laughed a lot. When Mr. Xiao explained to me why he married Mrs. Yue, I was speechless at first. Because it was part of his life plan to marry at this age. Since he liked Mrs. Yue very much, he asked her to be his wife and hoped, like her, for a satisfying marriage. He openly admitted that he married for the wrong reasons. He regrets that he had persuaded Mrs. Yue to a three-year marriage without love and intimacy. He is happy for her that she has finally found someone who returns her feelings and hopes that she will be very happy. When asked if he doesn't want to be happy someday, he said that the door to his heart is open and he is ready to let someone into his heart and keep in it."

"What you don't know is that I also talked to your parents. I didn't invite them, they came to me on their own when they heard that I was having one-on-one conversations with their children. Ms. Ling Lara's parents expressed concern for their daughter and want her to quickly marry the man she is expecting to have a baby with. However, they do not hope much from this marriage and are sad that it did not work out with Mr. Wang. Because they had taken him into their hearts."

"Ms. Yue's parents asked me to dissolve the marriage with Ms. Ling so that she can be with the man she fell in love with. They are grateful to Mr. Xiao for treating their daughter so well and always protecting her. But now they just want their daughter to be happy."

"Mr. Wang's parents are, well, difficult. They are absolutely overprotective and still want their son to be married. They don't even care who he is married to. They don't care if it's a man or a woman. The only thing that matters to them is that he is married to someone who makes him happy. Because their son's happiness is now their top priority. I helped a little bit there, so they come up with what's most important."

"Mr. Xiao's parents are awesome. They are absolutely lovely parents who raised their son full of love, happiness and harmony. They are a very Creative writer and a Creative graphic designer and illustrator. I know exactly what they want. But I will not say that out loud here. All I can say is whoever gets these two as in-laws has hit the jackpot. I would love to trade them for my own in-laws." Said the judge, laughing happily.

The judge cleared her throat and assumed a serious face. "But now we finally come to my decision. I hereby decree that the marriage of Ms. Ling Lara and Ms. Yue Eva is annulled as of today. This is not a divorce, but a post-nuptial annulment. The reason for this is that Ms. Ling is expecting a child and will marry soon. And that Ms. Yue also has someone new in her life. I have already prepared the decree. You will receive it now and then you can leave. I still want to talk to Mr. Wang and Mr. Xiao alone."

"Thank you." Cheered Lara and Eva, took their documents and hurried away. Yibo and Zhan were getting nervous.

"Mr. Wang and Mr. Xiao. I've been going back and forth about what to do with you guys. I was so perplexed that I talked to a few colleagues. But that didn't lead to anything either. And then I talked to my 9-year-old daughter. I told her, Mom has a problem at work. Two princes have been accidentally married to each other and now I'm supposed to decide if they should stay married or not. She wanted to know more. So I told her the whole thing like a fairy tale. And my daughter said, "Mom, you should keep them married." I asked her why and she said, "Well, because they don't want to marry the princesses for love, but for their benefit. You should punish them for doing stupid things. No matter how dear the princes are. After all, you always punish me too!" It must sound unfair to you now that I annulled the marriage of the two women and now tell you I will neither annul nor divorce your marriage. Punishment must be! And thanks to several nice loopholes in the law, your marriage is legal. What I expect from you is that you live at least 6 months as a married couple. And then we'll talk again. And please don't think of this as a real punishment, but as an opportunity."

"What kind of opportunity your honor?" Asked Yibo's attorney.

"That's something they'll find out as time goes on. I'm sure, from what I saw earlier, that the next six months will go well. Any objections?"

Yibo was shocked at this decision and couldn't say anything at first. But then he looked to Zhan and saw his warm and heartfelt smile. "I accept." Slipped out of Yibo's mouth before he really realized what he was saying.

"Well now, if my husband accepts, then I will too." Said Zhan, nodding encouragingly to Yibo.

"I'm very happy to hear that. Please don't take it badly against me. I like you both and think you'll make a good couple. Besides, you look really fantastic together. So and now I have to go on. I have to go to the next hearing." Said the judge. She handed Zhan and Yibo the prepared written order and left.

The lawyers left the conference room to speak privately for a moment. And in the conference room, Zhan got up from his chair and said, "Come on. Let's go to your house and get your stuff. You can stay at my place. You can have the living room to yourself. There's a sofa bed you can sleep on wonderfully."

"I, uh... you really don't have a problem with that?" Asked Yibo.

"No, absolutely not. I think we should do what the judge said and make the best of the next six months. Or are you having second thoughts now?"

"Me, no not at all. I agree." Said Yibo with a racing heart. They put their jackets back on and left the meeting room. The lawyers offered them to appeal this verdict. But Zhan and Yibo refused and told them they want to find out what the judge was talking about and just do what she said.