A Real Life Love Triangle (Flash Fiction Part 2)

Image by Erik Karits from Pixabay

Flash Fiction #162

This is the 2nd part of the story. The 1st part is here.

At the time, Shasha was a student in the same university, and she was not really an innocent victim as people would like to categorize her later on when the whole love triangle imploded. During their initial encounter at a party, other people warned her that Adu was already taken. “He’s a marked man and already engaged.” People kept warning her.

Now when I reflect on it, I think it is not true that Shasha didn’t heed the warnings, but rather she had her own defensive plan.

Soon it became obvious that Adu was officially going out with Weni, and unofficially going out with Shasha. And such a situation probably would not work in other communities, but in here, it actually worked. I guess Adu tried to keep his two affairs apart so that it would not happen that all three of them showed up at the same party.

Nobody went to tell Weni about Adu’s other affair. Although women like to gossip, Weni was a little too proud to mix with other women in the community. Weni came to America with a “silver spoon” in her mouth. Her relative and her parents were already searching for a house in the same town for her; she could attend dental school, which guarantee a steady income. Basically she didn’t have to struggle so hard like the first generation immigrants. She could have a much easier life like the second generation, even though she couldn’t really fit in the circle of the second generation Asians.

Another factor that really helped Adu’s double life is that most people in the community uphold the ancient tradition of tolerating and forgiving boy’s exploration of the world. If a woman wants to engage in the same exploration, she would be seriously frowned upon and censured, but a boy is a boy. A boy needs the space; a boy needs to make his own mistakes and learn his lessons. I don’t agree with such a double standard, but on the other hand, I really liked Adu and was willing to let him make as many mistakes as he wished, and give him as many second chances as necessary.

One year passed and all the preparation for the wedding was done. The house for the new couple was bought, and Weni’s relative paid for the down payment and the first month mortgage. Everybody envied Adu since he could stop living like a poor graduate student and start to enjoy a new life. In addition, Weni’s relative would also hire Adu as an assistant manger for his small business. Weni’s parents didn’t have sufficient commend of English to take over the business, and Weni’s brother was too young at the time. Adu was the perfect candidate.

Shasha knew everything. When people told Shasha about the impending wedding, she pretended that she didn’t hear it. At the time, Adu often spent the night at her place.

I forgot to mention that Weni’s family is Christian and they planned to have a western style wedding and reception at the church her relative and her parents frequented. After that, they were going to have a traditional Asian wedding at her parents’ house. And for some reason, there was this custom (which I had not known existed until Adu’s story broke) that Weni and Adu should not meet for the two days before the wedding. Anyway, Adu continued to live with Shasha until the morning of his wedding. When Adu was leaving to go to his wedding, Shasha suddenly started to scream at him that she’s going to commit suicide if he left her.

Adu was very shocked. He had naively believed that Shasha was OK with the whole thing and had no objection. And probably Shasha did tell Adu that she just wanted to have a temporary relationship. Anyway, Adu had convinced himself that this was the case and he had thought that this arrangement was the most convenient for everybody involved.

Adu couldn’t leave since he didn’t want to have a body on his conscience on the morning of his wedding day. In addition, his relationship with Shasha seemed more real to him, with all the cooking and other activities a normal couple usually did. Weni on the other hand was somebody he admired, and life with Weni would be a life with less struggle and more comfort. However, his relationship with Weni had always been formal, sanctioned, and a little indifferent.

So he had no choice–he had to call off the wedding.

(To Be Continued Here)