The Lonely Walk: Chapter Ten

The sounds of the traffic slowly began to drown out of his ears. His arms felt heavy, his spirit lightened. He knew he had to get over Charlie, but his pride was killing him. The only light left in his life was Yuzuyu. He was so nervous when he realized he was married to her. He thought it would end him. But it turned out to be the best thing that could happen. She made it clear she wanted to stay with him.
Jif struggled to remember his wedding night, but he couldn't. Most of what he knew was from other people telling him and the video.
The only thing he genuinely remembered was walking along the Strip in Las Vegas, and temporarily losing his balance, bent over and staggering forward in a drunken move, all he saw was the dirty maroon tiled floor of the sidewalk. And it was so ridiculous, he had to laugh. And once he started, he couldn't stop. He just kept laughing hysterically like a maniac, knowing he was in trouble. He remembered his head was burning, as were his cheeks, filled up with blood.
"I think he's had it," someone behind him said. He never found out who said that. He remembered seeing several pedestrians pass by, bewildered, or giving dirty looks. He saw a bride and groom pace out of a hedged walkway and turned into that path and saw the wedding chapel before everything went black.
He didn't remember anything else, and he hated himself for that! How can you not remember your own wedding!
The only consolation was that a man he did not know had recorded the wedding for him. Seeing himself on that tape always made him angry.
The whole mess had started soon after arriving in Boston. Jif had been ordered by Vin to secure a contract to a casino boss, who needed military firepower to control his rivals.
The deal was a complete success, but Jif made the mistake of accepting a drink from the customer. He'd also brought Yuzuyu with him and left her in the limo that Vin had lent to him. Drunk, he climbed back into the limo, somewhere in the Strip, and asked to be taken back to Boston.
On the way, however, Yuzuyu noticed a wedding chapel. The banner out front said Any Age Welcome. Yuzuyu asked Jif if they could marry there and then; and Jif, under the influence simply said, "Yea . . ."
On the video, Yuzuyu was beautiful. A gorgeous white wedding dress that covered her feet. The teasing veil. Her wonderful smile. Compared to him, he had been dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and a red bow tie; he didn't remember putting any of those things on. His then security team, two black Southern men with blue jackets and baseball caps with Security written in yellow on the front right breast, were holding him up by his arms because he could no longer stand up. His legs were bent, and he was continuously struggling because he felt restricted.
The tape showed the background as white tiled, with several dark brown pews behind the congregation, empty, and a distant archway that led to the Strip; the viewer could clearly see pedestrians and cars driving by in the night sky.
The priest, a thirty-year-old man in white robes, with straight black hair and a thick beard, read out the vows, "Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?" Unfortunately, Jif's head was somewhere else as he blurted his reply.
"Have I had too much to drink, or have I really got two jugs?"
The priest sighed and shook his head.
"Do you want to marry this girl?" shouted the priest. His yell echoed across the tiled walls of the chapel.
"Yea, yea," replied Jif in resignation, bowing his head.
Jif refused to see any more of the video after that. The fact that he had been allowed to marry a minor tore him up inside.
Deep down, he loved Yuzuyu. He wanted to love her as a wife and have children with her. But he knew that because she was still a minor, he would just have to wait, or give up his dream entirely.
But as the year passed, he realized it was a gesture of her love. The fact she'd married him meant she'd saved herself only for him. She even told him, he could make love to her when the time was right.
He still had to be careful though.
Ever since his first meeting, he had suppressed all sexual urges for her. But others weren't so convinced. Jif simply took his pleasure from changing Yuzuyu's diaper and wiping her clean. She depended on him, and he was happy for that.