Chapter 2

Author notes to you: Hello and I hope you enjoy my new book. I know chapter 2 maybe a bit slow but it sets the tone as to how Si Young will be come a Mail Order Bride. This chapter and Chapter 1 are happening at the same time. Chapter three will pick up at the party and things will pick up there. So please enjoy and hang in with me. Thank you for your time, vote and any comments you may have.

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Halfway across the word in East Asia, there is a little village called Houtong. It is located in Taiwan. Si hears her parents arguing over money she thinks. She's only 14 years old and her mother cries often. She knows her family is not well off but she tries and helps out by helping her mother cook and clean. She has two other siblings, a brother that is 3 almost 4 years older than her and another brother that is 2 years younger than her. While listing to her parents she caught few words and her name. Father: Si must go. Mother: No not again. Not having a clue as to what they meant she sneaks off and goes back to bed with a lot weighing on her mind.

Si-Young Hye Kyo is 14 years old with long black shiny hair. All her life her family has known is poverty, she has an older brothers and one younger brothers. As far as she knew she was the only girl her mother had. So what did her mother mean Not again? Si tosses and turns all night. Her small frame would make her bed creak. She wakes the next morning and hears her mother crying in her room. She sneaks in and softly asks, "Mother is everything ok?" Si mother looks at her and quickly wipes her eyes and hides two photos she had been looking at. She wipes her face and says, "Oh my pretty girl. Yes, everything is fine. I'm glad you are up. Let's start breakfast." She gets off the bed and puts the pictures in her nightstand and passes Si and goes down the steps. She calls after Si and doesn't look back.

Si yells back, "Yes mother. I have to go to the bathroom I will be down in a min." She watches as her mother disappears around the corner and into the kitchen. She waits a few and then goes to the bathroom. After a few mins or so she quietly listens to her mother humming in the kitchen while she is washing dishes. Si wants to know what her mother was looking at, so she sneaks into her mother's room and opens the draws. She takes the two pictures out and looks at them. By surprise she sees two young girls looking back at her. Roughly the same age as her and strangely they both look like her and her mother. She flips both pictures over and reads on the back. The first reads, Wai Ling Hye Kyo age 14 and the second one reads Pai Hsiao Hye Kyo age 14. Si asks herself are they related, who are they, and why was mom crying and why in the world has mom never said anything to her about them? She hears her mother call her again. She calls back "Yes mama. I'm coming." She puts the pictures back and closes the drawer. She runs down the steps and helps her mom with breakfast.

Its now dinner time and Si just can't get it off her mind but she knows she can't ask her mother around her father. So she goes to the kitchen and starts washing the dinner dishes. She hears her mother ask her father quietly, "So will I get to keep any of my daughters? This has happened twice already and I'm getting to the age I won't have any more kids. I have lost two daughters already." She hears her father slap her mother and tells her, "We have had this conversation already. I also told you we will have as many kids as we need to keep this family afloat. And lastly, we will not talk about this anymore. The decision has been made, so spend as much time as you can. Si is leaving this house come June. End of discussion." He turns and walks up the steps. Si mother is crying uncontrollably as she slowly picks herself up off the floor. She turns her head and sees Si looking at her by the kitchen doorway. She wipes her face, "How much of that did you hear?" Si not really sure she wants to tell her mother she heard all of it. Si, "Not much but why did dad hit you? I have never seen him so mad or him ever hit you." She runs to her mother and hugs her. "I love you, mom." Si mother at this point has made up her mind, "Tonight we need to talk so don't go to sleep tonight. I need to take you to see grandmother and then I have something to tell you." Si being confused looks her mother in the eyes and nods.

Later that night Si packs her clothes. Her mother didn't say how much to pack but she pack for three days. She looks at the clock and it read 12 midnight but her mother still has not come. She lays her head down and says to herself I will only close my eyes for a sec. All of a sudden she get a soft shake and she hears her mother's voice telling her to wake up. "Si wake up. Come on baby girl wake up." Si wakes up and looks into her mother's eyes, she gets up. "Sorry, mother I didn't mean to go to sleep." Her mother smiles and puts her fingers to her lips. She waves her hand as to say follow me. Before leaving the room Si looks at her clock and it now reads 4am. The quietly sneak out the house and from there they are walking quickly to her grandmother's house. She doesn't live far but by the time they reach grandmother's door the sun is coming up. Her grandmother opens the door to greet them and tells them both to come in.

Her grandmother looks Si in the eye and tells her, "No matter where you go or who you are with, just know we loved you and your home is always here. I don't agree and never did agree but I understand and I to have been there and done what your parents have done and are doing. Now I leave you be," she says and kisses Si on her head and nods to Si mother. Grandmother closes the door as she leaves the room.

Si mother pulls out the two photos she had earlier and tells Si to come sit next to her. "Where do I begin. I like your grandmother have been poor our whole life. We do what we must and if that means sending our kids, meaning our daughter, off then it is a must. These two girls you see in this photos are your sisters. I have had two girls and you make three. I was told my Pai Hsiao would be the last but as I see your dad will not have it. Within the next two months before your 15th birthday, you will be sold to an American to be married and have a better life." As she speaks her voice begins to crack and she starts crying. Si is in shock and doesn't know what to say. She just found out she had two older sisters and now she being sent/sold. She shakes her hand lose and hugs her mom, "NO mama I want to stay with you, I will run away from home. I will run away from the person you are sending me to. You can't send me away. Who will help you with dishes and cooking and things around the house? No mama please no." Si mother hears her heartbreaking as she hugs her daughter tighter. "You must. I will be fine. I have done this twice and I can do it again. If you run away from here or there I will be punished and I know you don't want that? This money is to help us live and you will be given a better opportunity in America. He will treat you right, who ever he maybe. We will get to video chat with him before you leave. However, you will not be allowed to talk to him till you land and he pick you from the airport. My dear sweet daughter, I'm afraid nothing can be done to change your fate or mine and your dad's mind is made up. In two months you will be leaving. I brought you to grandmother's house so you can spend time with them and forget your worries. So enjoy but I must return and deal with your dad as he sets things up. So have fun." She kisses Si and leaves the room. Si mother goes down the steps crying but she needs to talk to her mother before she leaves. "Mom Si needs to know everything you can teach her about being a wife. Things I could not teach her. I will return in a month to collect her." They look at each other and nods as Si mother says her goodbyes.