When There Is Nothing Left But Love

Hannah rolled her eyes dramatically, then wailed, “You’re not serious, are you? My wedding’s happening in a couple of days! What if I can’t fit into my dress? I can’t possibly ask his mother to alter it on the spot, can I? The dress was custom-made and embroidered by hand! It cost an absolute fortune! I’m on the verge of moving out. I have to lose weight, or there’ll definitely be a problem.”

Hannah’s noisy complaining could not hide the traces of a smile hovering over her lips. I grinned at that. If a little weight gain was all that Hannah had to worry about for the rest of her marriage, she’d have many blissful years ahead of her.

Hannah’s endless rambling was finally put to a stop by an incoming call from Chandler. She answered the phone only to redirect her flood of words into the mouthpiece. On the other end, Chandler just absorbed everything patiently.

I suddenly found myself very much an outsider in this romantic display of affection. I surveyed around the cafe casually. Abruptly, a familiar face popped up within the field of my vision. I froze.

I was slightly myopic, so I couldn’t be certain that the figure was indeed who I’d taken it to be. I squinted as hard as I could in that direction, but to no avail. I thus reached out and tugged on Hannah’s sleeve, gesturing subtly in that direction.

Hannah paused and looked over. She was similarly taken aback. Hannah quickly mumbled into the phone, “Chandler, I just saw someone I know. I’m hanging up!”

After she’d ended the call, Hannah hauled me out of the cafe. When we’d gotten outside, she immediately shrieked, “That woman was Rebecca, wasn’t she?”

I wavered, unable to say for sure.

her, however, but merely continued observing from a

City was a bustling, modern city. Life here was fast-paced, and it was common to see people dashing from place to place. Nobody paid any heed to the sight of a woman pulling on

only seven in the evening! It’s not even midnight

lip and continued gazing in Rebecca’s direction. She had on a thick layer of makeup and wore a revealing dress that exposed various

had a gorgeous face and a lovely figure. It was usually sufficient for attracting stares anywhere she went. If the scene unfolding before our eyes had played out anywhere else, I would never have given it a

City’s most notorious red-light district. Vice oozed out of every pore of her. Rebecca’s scantily-clad self, placed against this surrounding,

of Rebecca’s cries now, clear as a bell. “Mr. Tuffin, you promised that as long as I agreed, you’d give me the money! Now that I’ve done it, how can you go back on your word? You can’t do

of bills from his wallet and flung them roughly at Rebecca, vehemently cursing her all the

just witness Rebecca selling herself? How

longer cared for Rebecca, Joe clearly worshipped

to pick up the bills, utterly focused on counting them while shivering helplessly from the bitter cold. Clutching

were stunned while we looked at each other as if to confirm what we’d just beheld. Haltingly, Hannah asked, “That

direction that Rebecca had slipped

happened to her? How did she end up that way? Wasn’t she so glamorous previously? How did she suddenly end up like this? What in the world happened?” Hannah asked urgently. She was evidently still in shock. I could see the cogs in Hannah’s mind turning