Our clan members were getting nervous. If Evan signs the agreement, it’ll kick off the real addiction. If he doesn’t, I’ll get one more year to live.
They didn’t want to see what happened to my second aunt re-happened again. She fell for the groom and, on the wedding day, begged the emcee not to sign the agreement. She wanted to choose love instead. But the ones who can fall for us are exactly the most virtuous people.
Before she could even finish her life, the groom sold her off to the mountains. There, on her thirtieth birthday, she was turned into a wisp of black smoke by the first ray of sunlight.
The emcee and I exchanged a glance and began reading the fake vows:
“Do you take this woman to be your wife? To love her, be loyal to her, in poverty or wealth, in sickness or health, until death do you part. Do you?”
Evan responded eagerly, “I do!”
Of course, he wanted to. He knew there’d be a small villa afterward, and he couldn’t have been happier.
I smiled with satisfaction. The emcee presented the vow for us to sign, and I signed it immediately. Ordinary people couldn’t read the real words on it, and even if they could, they wouldn’t understand our clan’s language.