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.

didn’t approach her, however, but merely continued observing from a

people dashing from place to place. Nobody paid any heed to the sight of a woman pulling on a man and shamelessly begging him for

a horrified expression. “It’s only seven in the evening! It’s not even midnight

She had on a thick layer of makeup and wore a revealing dress that exposed various areas of her body with utter disregard for the winter cold. She looked as indecent

for attracting stares anywhere she went. If the scene unfolding before our eyes had played out anywhere else, I would never

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

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

out a couple of bills from his wallet

 Did we just witness Rebecca

cared for Rebecca, Joe clearly worshipped her. He would never have sanctioned this

shivering helplessly from the bitter cold. Clutching herself to preserve what little bit of warmth she had, Rebecca scampered

stupefied expression mirrored mine exactly. We were stunned while we looked at each other as if

craned my neck in the direction that Rebecca had slipped

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 as she struggled to