320 Epilogue Tang & Jia Li, Part I

As I wrap up the book, I thought of leaving you guys with a series of four chapters instead of only one dedicated to Tang & Jia Li. This is my way of saying thanks for all the love which you have sent my way. I am truly touched by the way you all have supported and lived the story with me, these past few months. Hope to see you on the next journey, soon!!! 

Read Always

SMK08

Fifteen months after Tang's paralytic attack, New York

Tang was getting impatient standing at the patio in their house's backyard. How long was it taking her to walk from inside the house to the garden?

Today was their wedding. Tang had vowed to himself that the day he would be able to stand on his feet firmly, be able to hold his woman in both his arms and be able to smile at her, wide cheeked, he would marry her.

Both of them didn't want a cluster of people around them so they had decided to keep the wedding list really small. Apart from the people who mattered to both of them, no one else had been invited.

Jia Li had asked her closest childhood friend Li Jie to give her away at the ceremony since she had lost her parents long ago. Deng Chung was Tang's best man and stood next to him, watching his friend feel anxious. He suppressed a grin.

"Don't worry. She will be out soon," he reassured Tang.

"I mean how long can she practically take to walk those few steps," Tang growled under his breath.

"She isn't reconsidering her decision, is she? Brides sometimes tend to get jitters at the last minute," Chu said, trying to be helpful.

But she shut her mouth the minute her brother gave her a fierce glare.

Amongst the guests, Wei and his wife, Samantha had joined in. The initial awkwardness between the men had been broken by Sam, the previous night when she had laid her eyes on Tang for the first time.

She had told Jia Li, "now I know why you have been rejecting guys, left right and centre. He looks delicious."

Upon which, Wei had given his wife a hurtful look.

"Uh… what I mean to say is, from her perspective, he looks delicious. For me, there is NOONE but you, my love," saying so, she had stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips.

Tang had laughed and told Wei that he had gotten lucky to get a wife like that. The ice had broken and the bromance was back, almost with a vengeance!

Jia Li was standing at the top of the stairs, her outfit being surveyed critically by Li Jie at the moment.

"Can you stop evaluating me? I know that you are a fashion editor for Beijing's top men's magazine, but you don't have to put pressure on me, as if I am going to walk the ramp now," she complained nervously.

Dressed in an ivory, fitted, off-shoulder wedding gown, with Chantilly lace, she looked nothing less than a goddess. Matching closed heels and a pair of pearl barrettes on each side of her bun, completed the look. Unlike her usual no makeup policy, she had done up the eyes in a smoky look, enhancing the green in them. The lips were ruby red and inviting.

Li Jie straightened up from where he was crouching to tug at her dress one last time. He thought to himself that Tang was going to have a tough time keeping his eyes off his bride today.

"You are such an impatient woman. I was simply making sure that the dress is perfect from everywhere. It's not everyday that a girl gets married. You've got to make the most of it," he chided her.

Fed up with his high headed attitude in the past hour, Jia Li refused to acknowledge his words.

"Don't sulk. It would make permanent frown lines appear on your forehead. You are not that young any longer," he said.

Jia Li punched him in the arm finally and said, "that's it. I will go down myself. You stay here and play perfection perfection. It was my mistake, I should have asked Zhu Kong (Li Jie's partner) or Deng Chung to give me away."

"Ouch… that's mean! Don't forget I am your best friend. How dare you even think like that? And you are behaving in a manner as if you are late by a few minutes, he would choose someone else to go and marry," Li Jie rolled his eyes.

"Uh, he wouldn't find someone else to marry but he may come up any minute now to bring Jia Li to the aisle himself. He is getting antsy standing there and has sent me to look for his bride," Ethan said, coming up the stairs.

"Oh, is he feeling ok? Did someone give him his medicines this morning?" Jia Li fretted like a bird in a cage.

"You do know that we had been taking good care of him before you arrived in New York, right?" Ethan said sarcastically.

"I… I didn't mean to imply anything else, just that I am worried…." She was interrupted.

"Yes, we know. Now, can you stop talking and start walking down instead?" he told her.

Tang's lungs finally took a deep inhale of breath when he saw he come out on the patio. She looked gorgeous.