Alex and Uyenie Back Story Part 8 (The Wedding Part 1: Tea Ceremony)

A few months later, I wake up in an extravagant red bed.  Today’s the day!  I opened my eyes and saw him staring back at me.  He’s so adorable.  His pale and milky skin glowed from the sunshine laying upon it.  It’s like the skin of a vampire.  Wait, but not like Edward Cullen.  He wasn’t shimmering like diamonds in the sun or anything.  Nor did he look like he was about to puke.  He just had a gaze that said, “This girl will be my wife,” or “The girl is MINE,” as if he was the creepy Duke from Moulin Rouge.  Wait, that doesn’t sound good either.  I should stop talking about this and just go on. 

So we got out of bed, got dressed in regular clothes, and left in different directions.  Of course we exchanged a kiss before we went our ways.  I met up with Alex’s female employees.  They were buzzing around “Are you excited?”, “How do you feel?”, and “Can you believe you’re getting married?”

The first ceremony was the tea ceremony.  We rushed all the female employees and I to the highest suite, like on the highest floor.  So we went up and prepared me in my tea ceremony dress.  It was a silk red traditional Vietnamese dress embroidered in gold.  My headpiece, unlike Vietnamese girls these days, actually contained my hair and held it up.  

I was sitting on the bed, with all the other maidens.  I was like a princess in a tower waiting for my knight in shining armor to save me.  He took a while.  The wait was killing me.  When was he going to come?  The small talk with the female employees was so boring and irrelevant!  “Did you hear Jessica found a pickle in the middle of the bed!  How random is that?”  It was dreadful!  Who cares what Jessica did?  I’m getting married!  Wait, why was there a pickle in the middle of the bed.  Was it from that one time I was eating a sandwich in one of the rooms?  Woops.  Anyways, all I wanted to do is see Alex.  Gah!  When was he going to bust down that door?

Then there was a knock.  Time to play.  “Who is it?”, I called out to the door.

His timid and deep voice came through, “It’s me, Alex.”  We all giggled.

One of the employees asked, “Hm?  Who is it?  I can’t hear you.”

He grumbled….  “It’s me!  Alex!”  Everyone in the room exchanged a look that said, “Let’s mess with him.”

“Alex who?  What do you want?”

“Please Kacie, you work for me.  Open the door….”

“Huh?  Who is this?  Uyenie, do you know this guy?”

“Fine, fine.  It’s me Alex, Uyenie’s fiancé.  I’m here to court her into a life of eternal joy and love.”

“Aw!  How lame can you get?  How do I know it’s you?  Give me five dollars.”

“What?  Really?  Don’t I pay you enough?  Hey Mike, give me five dollars.”  He slipped the five dollars under the door.

“Is that really how much your wife costs to you?  Come on man!” Kacie teased back.

“Just let us in….  Please?”

We eventually opened the door.  He stood there holding a giant roasted duck.  Why would he bring in a duck?

“Why would you bring in a duck?” I asked him.  He just stared back, shrugged, and gave his smile.  He handed the duck over to Mike and took my hand.  We walked over to the elevator as a couple.

We kept walking to the lobby where there were two grand chairs and a small table waiting.  Tea was set up there.  We stood there waiting for our first blessing.

Couple after couple sat in those grand chairs, wishing us a happy marriage and drinking the tea.  I didn’t really care for them.  They were random couples anyways.  I really excited to hear Winston’s blessings.  After all, he did know us before we met, I mean like back when I was babysitting him.  Yeah, he was the butler.  He was the last to sit in those chairs to drink tea, after all, he was the most important.  He also brought along a stranger.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe that was his close friend or something.  I think his name was Mr. Lindsey.  Strangest name I’ve ever heard.

Mr. Lindsey looked kind of familiar.  He was this old Japanese man, kind of like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid, except he wasn’t that short.  He wasn’t even that old.  Nor did Mr. Lindsey look that humble or bald.  He looked more stern and serious.  It was like he was planning something.  I could tell he’d been through a lot.  Maybe I’m just being racist right now; he doesn’t look anything like Mr. Miyagi.  Now that I think about it, he kind of looks like an older version of Alex.  His voice sounded extremely familiar.  I could never put my finger on it though.