"Haji Miller, from now on, you take your broad road, and I'll take my single-log bridge. Let's not meet anymore."
In front of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Quennie Zue spoke to the young man sitting on the stone bench in front of her, clenching his head.
Haji remained silent, his head throbbed as if it was about to split, with unbearable pain.
Firstly, because of the divorce, secondly because he had hit his head a week ago.
"Haji, there's no need for you to force yourself to put on such a heartbroken look."
Quennie's eyes were red, and there was a shimmer of tears. She took a deep breath and shook her head: "I once thought you'd truly be good to me. I trusted you with everything, whether the wind blew or rain poured, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."
"These days, finding someone to love is not easy."
"But now, I realized-I was mistaken.”
As Quennie spoke, tears slide down from her eyes: "Haji, honestly, I wish so much that we could continue. But I really can't bear it anymore. I'm so tired-really, so very tired."
Quennie choked up for a moment, she tried to control herself, not to burst into tears.
Haji's head suddenly felt a bit better, he looked up and saw the woman with a face full of dejection, red-eyed.
His heart ached as if it were being pricked by a needle.
He and Quennie had been together since college, and after entering society, the two quickly got married.
At first, the two were very loving, but then he became increasingly depressed because of his work.
At first he just complained, then began to smash things, and finally, he even hit her.
Just a few days ago, he had a fight with Quennie's biological brother over some matters.
He had beaten Quennie's elder brother until the latter couldn’t lift his arm, and he too got pushed until he fell and smashed his head.
Thinking back about the past, he felt intense heartache, Haji.
It was his fault, he had turned everything into this mess.
"Slap!"
With a crisp sound, Haji harshly slapped himself.
He truly was a beast!
He was screaming in his mind, filled with overwhelming self-loathing.
Seeing this, Quennie smiled grimly, extending her white small hand and touching his face, "We have already reached this step, what's the use of you continuing to act like this? Take good care of yourself from now on."
Feeling the warmth of her palm, but seeing the obvious wounds on her arm, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Please, stop being so gentle.
If you keep this up, I will blame myself for the rest of my life.
In his heart, Haji said this. Looking at Quennie, with her face full of exhaustion, eyes dull, he felt even more pain.
At this moment, the hustle and bustle in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau seemed to quieten down.
The passing couples and spouses, all disappeared in front of his eyes, leaving just the two of them, face to face, looking at each other. But no matter what they did, they were not able to go back to how things were in the past.
After a moment,
Quennie spoke, "Let's go and get the divorce certificate."
Leaving behind those words, she took the lead and went in first.
Haji saw the reluctance on her face, but he didn't want to accompany her into the Civil Affairs Bureau: "Zue, I love you, I really do, I don't want to lose you, can you give me another chance?"
His voice wasn't soft, drawing the attention of many bystanders.
"Serves him right, this guy doesn't look like a good person."
"If he knew this would happen, why did he do it in the first place? This kind of man is bad news."
Several newly-divorced women muttered, casting aspersions on Haji though they didn't know the full story.
Quennie felt embarrassed. This was the first time Haji made a public appeal to her.
At the bottom of her heart, there was a slight stir of emotions. She wished so much to believe a man's words for once more.
However, her heart was already scarred and worn. Even if the man before her truly regretted his actions-
she no longer had the love needed to start over.
Quennie didn't answer Haji. She lowered her head and entered the Civil Affairs Bureau without looking back.
Haji stood outside for a while, a bitter smile appearing on his face.
But then, when he saw a staff member from the Civil Affairs Bureau coming out to throw trash, his body jolted as if electrified.
Before his eyes flashed an image of this worker getting scalded by an exploding water heater in the pantry.
This scene, reminiscent of a movie playing, unfolded in his mind.
"What...what's happening to me?"
Haji was stunned, he didn't understand what he had just seen.
After a while, he stepped into the Civil Affairs office.
Haji followed Quennie to window number 3, where they were greeted by the staff member who had just been seen discarding garbage.
"Hello, we're here to process a divorce."
Quennie took the initiative, handing her identification and other documents through the window.
Haji, on the other hand, hesitated.
The staffer was a middle-aged woman wearing oval-shaped glasses.
Noticing Haji's reluctance, she immediately picked up on this and began to advise, "These days, too many young men and women rush into marriage and are just as quick to divorce over minor disagreements."
She then turned her gaze towards Quennie and smile gently. "Miss Quennie, I don't know what happened between you and your husband, but divorce is not a trifling matter. You should consider it carefully."
Quennie pressed her lips together, silent-but she nodded firmly.
There was no more room for hesitation. Dragging it would only cause her more pain.
The female officer continued to probe, "Our records show that you have a daughter. If you two divorce, who will provide for the child?"
Faced with this question, Quennie glanced at Haji and instantly decided, "I will take Lily. If you have time, you can come to visit her. Also, I don't need your financial support."
Haji felt wretched, but he knew that any pleas to stay at this point would only agonize Quennie more.
"Whatever you say."
He forced down the pain in his heart and nodded in agreement.
Seeing Haji's straightforward response, Quennie felt an inexplicable pang of loss.
Yet, she quickly suppressed this feeling.
Noting the situation, the female staff didn't say anything else, instead she turned to Haji and said, "Sir, could you please present relevant identification?"
Haji hesitated for a moment, then, shakily, handed over his ID and other documents.
Now that Quennie was utterly disappointed in him, clinging on stubbornly would only cause her more distress.
It's better to start afresh, and eventually, win back Quennie's heart through his actions.
The female staff received the documents and began the procedures.
While waiting for that, Haji warned her, "Sis, be careful when you go to fetch water in the pantry later, the hot water dispenser could explode."
"Huh?"
The female staff, busy working on her computer, appeared baffled after hearing his warning.
Frowning, Quennie thought Haji's words were nonsensical.
She intended to tell Haji to hold his tongue, but then realized they were about to divorce, and so she held back.
Continuing, Haji advised, "Your boiler in the boiler room hasn't been replaced for many years, posing a significant risk. Sis, I urge you to find a technician to repair it now, otherwise, trouble is bound to occur soon."
The female staff member was bewildered after listening.
This guy wasn't a staff member of the Civil Affairs Bureau. How could he know about the aging boiler in the boiler room?
Was he upset because of the divorce and purposefully causing trouble?
The female staff member maintained her service attitude. She passed the paperwork to the window, smiled and said, "Thank you for your reminder, I will keep it in mind."
Although she said so, she didn't take his words to heart.
After the divorce procedures were completed, Quennie and Haji exited the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Finding the kettle drained, the female staff member picked up the flask to go to the boiler room to fill it with hot water.
As she walked to the boiler room, she suddenly recalled Haji's words, the more she thought about them, the stranger they seemed.
After all, even if Haji was distressed, he shouldn’t make such baseless remarks.
Intuition told her that something was off.
Upon arriving at the boiler room, she carefully placed the kettle under the faucet to fill it with water. Immediately after, she quickly left the boiler room, closing its door, and waiting outside.
A few seconds after her exit, a loud explosion echoed from the boiler room, startling her!
After several seconds, the stunned woman opened the door only to witness the erupted fragments of the boiler scattered about while hot water spilled everywhere across the room.
"My goodness, is that man a prophet or something? This... this is too incredible."
She was filled with astonishment, finding Haji absolutely unbelievable!
