查看完整版本: [story] Glass Stilettos

[story] Glass Stilettos

PART 1<br/>This was another Cinderella story. I know it is silly, but sometimes I do imagine how many pairs of glass stilettos have been left on the Earth.<br/><br/>I met my prince in the graduation party of the College of Architecture of a famous university. I was only seventeen.<br/><br/>I was poor. My mother had to take three part-time jobs to raise me up. I didn’t have a dress to go to the party. I didn’t even know anyone who was in the College of Architecture. <br/><br/>My fairy godmother was my friend Claire. She was rich and she liked partying. She was nice to me because I always lent her my notes and homework. She invited me to the party, which, according to her, was “an excellent chance to know people”. I replied, “But I don’t even know anyone there!” “That’s why you have to go!” she said. <br/><br/>“But I don’t have any clothes…” I still resisted the idea of going to the party.<br/><br/>“I’ll handle that.”<br/><br/>And she did. She brought me to her home, and let me choose one of her dresses. I picked the one that was silvery grey. Claire said, “But it is so dull! You should pick something more colorful!” “It’s okay, Claire. I thank you a lot for inviting me to the party and lending me a dress. I’m good with this dress, seriously.”<br/><br/>Claire even helped me put makeup on my face. She was a good friend.<br/><br/>The graduation party started at seven. It was in the grand hall of the College of Architecture. Everyone dressed so beautifully that I felt like I was only a kid.<br/><br/>I guessed I was only a kid. I was only seventeen.<br/><br/>But I liked the atmosphere. Everything was elegant and expensive. I hid myself in the balcony and looked at the people in the hall. <br/><br/>Music had started already. It was my mother’s favorite song. She always held my hands and taught me dancing when I was a small girl. <br/><br/>Suddenly I wanted to dance.<br/><br/>And then it was like the fairy tale: my prince appeared and invited me for a dance. We had a happy time but I had to leave early because my mother was waiting for me at home. But I didn’t leave him a glass stiletto – I left him a dizzy smile.<br/><br/>PART 2<br/> Claire grabbed me in class the next day.<br/><br/>“Why did you leave so early last night?” she sounded disappointed.<br/><br/>“My mother was waiting for me at home.”<br/><br/>“Did you have fun?” she asked.<br/><br/>I nodded.<br/><br/>“MC was asking about you for the rest of the night.”<br/><br/>“MC? Who is he? Do I know him?”<br/><br/>“What? The guy whom you danced with last night, you silly girl! MC is very popular in the university.” Claire laughed at me.<br/><br/>“Really? Why?”<br/><br/>“Alas, you silly girl… MC is rich and he is the honor student this year. He is good at sports and he is… great! MC is great!”<br/><br/>“Really?”<br/><br/>“Really really!” Claire continued, “Anyway, I told him to wait for us at the restaurant around the school corner today after school.”<br/><br/>“What? Why?”<br/><br/>“You’re a question girl. Because he’d like to see you again, that’s why. Don’t you want to see him again?”<br/><br/>“Well, yes… but…”<br/><br/>“A ‘yes’ would be enough, thank you. So I’ll see you later.” Claire was leaving the classroom.<br/><br/>“Wait! Claire, wait! But I couldn’t go today…”<br/><br/>“Why not?” she turned around.<br/><br/>“Because I had promised Mrs. Peterson to finish the board poster.”<br/><br/>“Well, then, I’ll ask him to wait for you then.”<br/><br/>PART 3<br/>Before I could complain further, Claire already ran away. It isn’t good to let someone wait for you, is it? I thought to myself. But on the other hand, I’ve promised Mrs. Peterson…<br/><br/>My resolution was that I would finish the board poster as soon as possible and then rushed to the restaurant. Then MC wouldn’t be waiting for me for too long.<br/><br/>I was still gasping for air when I sat down in the restaurant.<br/><br/>“Are you okay?” MC asked.<br/><br/>“I’m… fine.” I drank the whole glass of water. “Thank you.”<br/><br/>“You don’t have to rush. Claire already told me that you had something to do…”<br/><br/>“But it isn’t good to let people wait, is it?”<br/><br/>I guessed it was our first date. A terrible first date, indeed. But we didn’t mind and we had a good time. Probably we were still young.<br/><br/>Then after a few months he proposed to me.<br/><br/>And I said yes.<br/><br/>I was eighteen when we had our wedding. Everyone said I was like Cinderella. I guessed I was like Cinderella, too. <br/><br/>We moved into an apartment close to the seaside. I liked taking a walk on the beach every evening. <br/><br/>MC was busy with his work. So I could do anything I liked in the daytime. <br/><br/>I usually had lunch with my mother. She didn’t work any more. I supported her. I was glad that I could do so. <br/><br/>Claire could not get into a local college, so her parents sent her to a private college in Canada. She was not too unhappy. She told me, “I heard that there’re lots of parties in college in Canada.” <br/><br/>I didn’t go to school or go to work. MC said, “It’s up to you to do something that you’re interested in.” <br/><br/>So I took up classes of sculpture and calligraphy. <br/><br/>Once I finished a sculpture and asked what MC thought about it. He said, “It looked like you.” I smiled. My sculpture was a small girl with a cat.<br/><br/>PART 4<br/>Five months later I gave birth to a baby girl. Everyone said the baby looked like me. Two years later I gave birth to a baby boy. This time everyone said the baby looked like MC. People said I was the luckiest woman in the world: married to a rich, handsome guy; gave birth to two pretty, lovely babies. I guessed I was the luckiest woman in the world, at that time. <br/><br/>I didn’t have to worry about my life. Yet I didn’t know what my life was either.<br/><br/>Another two years passed. MC didn’t return home at night. We had a discussion and thought that it was best to send the babies to his parents for care. Then MC didn’t return home at all. I was practically living alone in the apartment close to the seaside. <br/><br/>I still had lunch with my mother every day. I still took a walk on the beach every evening. What was the difference between now and then?<br/><br/>Sometimes when the weather was good, I could see children playing around with the sand, lovers kissing on the bench, old people taking their dogs for walk… And then, I would feel like I was at the graduation party again – hiding myself in the balcony and watching other people. <br/><br/>I still took my sculpture and calligraphy classes. I still finished my art work. But no one would care to take a look at my work any more.<br/><br/>I started to smoke. And I only smoked when I was walking on the beach every evening. Smoking brought me comfort. I felt like I could relax my soul when the familiar sweetness of cigarette surrounded me. <br/><br/>MC didn’t propose a divorce. He still supported my life, as well as my mother’s life. I was still MC’s wife. I was still the two children’s mother. What was the difference between now and then?<br/><br/>Or, should I care about the difference between now and then? <br/><br/>Was there any difference at all?<br/><br/>I lit up another cigarette by the seaside. <br/><br/>It was already winter. And there were obviously much fewer people on the beach. The cloud was thick and low. It seemed like it would rain very soon.<br/><br/>The first rain in winter.<br/><br/>PART 5<br/>What would I do if I had my chance again? Would I say “No” to MC when he asked me to dance? Would I stay at school late and help with Mrs. Peterson’s board poster and eventually forget that MC was waiting for me in the restaurant at the school corner? Would I say “No” to MC when he proposed to me? <br/><br/>What would I do – I was the luckiest woman in the world and yet I was asking myself, “What would I do if I had my chance again?” How ridiculous! <br/><br/>If chances were to be seized, I guessed I had seized them well already. I was a Cinderella, and I had my chance. <br/><br/>Indeed, I had met my prince. I had fallen in love with him. We had got married. But the fairy tale always ends with the happy marriage. What happens after the marriage? Nobody ever knows. <br/><br/>Sometimes I do wonder – how many pairs of glass stilettos have been left on the Earth? How many Cinderallas have had a “happily-ever-after” marriage? <br/><br/>Might be I should already feel blissful because I was one of the luckiest girls – so called by other people. Might be I should already feel blissful because I had had my dance – and why should I care about the story after the fairy tale? <br/><br/>But the fact stroke me as the first rain in winter – the princess was no longer the princess but an abandoned wife! I determined, at that moment, that I would continue my story – the fairy tale of Cinderella should not just end like this! <br/><br/>I contacted MC’s secretary for an appointment. And while waiting for him in the coffee shop, I thought to myself, “How ridiculous! I’m his wife and yet I have to meet him with an appointment.” MC came in and sat down opposite to me. He ordered a black coffee and I added three spoons of sugar into it. Everything was as usual. Yet everything would not be usual anymore. <br/><br/>I controlled myself and did not let my weakness overcome me. I said, “I’d like a divorce.” <br/><br/>As plain as that, I said it finally. <br/><br/>MC did not say anything at first. An awkward silence remained between us. <br/><br/>Finally he nodded, and said that he would arrange “that issue” with his solicitor. Our meeting ended with an awkward hand shaking. <br/><br/>I did not know why we would shake our hands at the last minute, but I was pretty sure I had turned a new page for my life already. <br/><br/>

Actually, the story is pretty dumb... But since I had started the story, I could not but finished the end... <br/>[em01][em01]