雨水 [8] / [35]
Cynthia finished the second glass of whiskey,
"What happened next?”
Cynthia was quite intrigued by this story.
"Like I said,"
Alexander went on with a sigh,
"it was just the two of us in our own minds. In our little world, that is to say, in our relationship, I don't think either of us really cared what her parents thought. But we both knew, in the back of our minds, that someday we were going to have to face them. And so we did.
After a couple more months, and a few more appointments with her parents, they both realized that I wasn't just some passing fancy―a placeholder for someone better―but a genuine prospect in the eyes of their daughter. They knew we were in love. Soon after that, when I approached her father to ask for his blessing to propose to Adeline, he flatly refused. He told me he liked me, and that I had a good heart, but that ‘like should be with like.’
I have to be honest, it hurt my pride. I defiantly explained that I could be the man she needed me to be, and that I would provide for her. He dropped all pretense, and actually sneered at me, told me that if I really loved her, I would let her be free to be with someone who could actually back up his words with substance, not lofty dreams and far-flung goals.
I told Adeline what her father said, she had a big fight with her parents, and it ended predictably enough. They demanded that she end things with me, and forbid her from contacting me. We were young, determined, reckless, and we were in love. So we did what any heedless lovers would do in that situation. We ran off.
When we got back to university, we moved in together, and, in response, her parents refused to pay her tuition. So, she ended up applying for loans and getting a part-time job to help pay for school, while I worked extra hours in between my studies to help pay my share of the rent. Sure, it made things tougher, but we were free, at least for the time being.
But it wasn’t for Adeline after a while. The difficulties of living with a chronic lack of money awakened us to the hardship we were in. At such a young age, we realized this simple truth: love doesn’t feed people. Living by our own hand was totally different with staying in her parent’s wealthy house. There we didn’t need to worry for anything. There it was just romance between us.
We didn’t need to worry about how to pay the rent, what we should eat that day, which job could give us higher pay. But here, it was only just the two of us, and the difficulties kept multiplying. Romance for us gradually faded. Weariness, worry, and irritation filled that vacancy instead. I was used to that kind of life without any help.
But for Adeline this was a nasty new world. She wasn’t used to being in such a tough environment. She still wanted to have luxurious things, for example, spending time with me in a exclusive cafe with expensive beverages, cake, other deserts. Meanwhile, I had bloodshot eyes from working to accumulate money, for a better life. A better life for her, for us. She seemed to agree with that.