Flash Marriage: Drown In Your Tenderness

Sarah Swain oozed sophistication in her elegant, custom-tailored, black formal wear as she sat in a chair by the window of a coffee shop, relishing the view of the bustling city. The ambiance of the place in such honeyed hues brought a sweetness to her day, coaxing an inner smile that warmed her from within.

By the age of twenty-seven, Sarah had become one of the most prolific white-collar elites in the city. Unfortunately, even though she enjoyed great success in her career as an architect, her love life hadn't worked out the same way as she would have wanted.

In spite of the fact that most of her colleagues were males, sadly, Sarah's rigid personality managed to drive them far away from her. Sarah was considered to be the ice queen of the company by her peers, but they had no idea that she was a completely different person outside of work. While she waited for the blind date her mother had arranged for her, Sarah plunged a single sugar cube into the cup and stirred before taking a sip.

Her impatience indicated that she wasn't looking forward to this date. Perhaps, she would have felt excited about today's date if her mother hadn't arranged at least one blind date for her every week. This was the ninety-eighth time and also the second one this week.

Unfortunately, this was the only way to shut her mother up who wouldn't stop talking about her younger friends who already had grandsons. Exasperated, Sarah's fingers traced her face. Although her skin was still very smooth and tender, it felt nothing like it did seven years ago. After all, she was no longer in her early twenties. The thought spread a bitter taste in her heart, much like the coffee she was drinking.

Sarah thought back to when she was twenty-five years old, when the prospect of love still excited her. She sincerely hoped to put an end to these weekly blind dates as soon as possible. Besides, she could learn to love someone as long as the person wasn't too hard to live with. After all, she was no longer the naive woman she used to be and she didn't have time to nitpick anymore.

Sarah took a sip and glanced at her watch again. Her date today was already three minutes late. She kept telling herself to wait a little longer, just in case it was the heavy traffic that was keeping her date from showing up on time.

Had this been any other date, Sarah would have already got up and walked out of the coffee shop by now. However, Danna Swain, Sarah's mother, had stressed that Sarah's blind date was the son of her classmate, who had just recently returned from abroad. If she were to mess this up, her mother would keep arranging blind dates for her every day until she got married.

As such, even though her date was late, Sarah had to swallow her own anger. If there was anything she hated more than a blind date, it was an unpunctual one. Unfortunately, biting down her anger was the only way to avoid angering her persistent mother.

After Sarah checked the time on her watch a few more times, her date finally showed up.

"Excuse me, are you Miss Swain? I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but the traffic was insane."

The man's gentle and elegant way of speaking drew Sarah's attention. She raised her head and stared at the man standing in front of her. He certainly looked the part of a well-educated gentleman with his hair arranged in a meticulous fashion, but he also looked quite old-fashioned. He too was smartly dressed for the occasion, in black formal wear and a pair of brightly shining leather shoes. "It's okay. I just arrived a few minutes ago." Sarah broke the ice with a comforting smile. However, the smile on her lips was forced. After all, everyone who lived in the city knew what the traffic was like during rush hours. Shouldn't he have at least gone out earlier? Besides, he made a girl wait for him for more than thirty minutes on their first date. What could Sarah look forward to in a man like that?

However, the moment the man saw Sarah, his eyes lit up. Fortunately for him, his mother, Tina, had a classmate whose daughter was just his type. After he came back from abroad, Tina arranged many blind dates for him, but none of those women were able to satisfy his standards for a beautiful woman, who had to be endowed with a pretty face, a perfect figure and long legs.

As luck would have it, the woman sitting before him was, indeed, worthy of this taste. Her features were exquisite and she looked ravishing, with an hourglass figure that was beyond comprehension. James Holland gave her ninety points in his heart.

However, the man's ignorant gawking was starting to make Sarah feel uncomfortable. She coughed to draw his attention and then waved her hand at the waiter who was standing nearby. "What would you like to drink?"

The waiter immediately approached the table and asked, "What can I do for you?"

James smiled at the waiter as he took the menu and then squinted his eyes to read. "Just a cup of black coffee for me, please."

Sarah's eyes hovered over the coffee in her cup without conscious thought and that was when James realized something. "Miss Swain, you like black coffee as well?"

Sarah shook her head. "I don't actually like black coffee, but I've gotten used to it." All of a sudden, Sarah's eyes drifted, recalling memories of someone from college who used to like drinking black coffee and how she enjoyed having a cup with him.

When James noticed Sarah staring into space, eyes focused on nothing in particular, he guessed that she had something else on her mind. "Allow me to introduce myself first. I'm James Holland. I just came back from abroad two weeks ago. I'm currently working as the director of design in an advertising company. I have a good feeling about you. I look forward to seeing you again in the future."

Sarah looked James in the eye, carefully observing him while he spoke. In truth, James was an outstanding man. After all, he had studied abroad and had a reasonably good position in the company he worked in soon after he came back. However, there was something in the way he spoke which led Sarah to think that perhaps he was more arrogant than he was presenting himself to be. Sarah just couldn't get past that kind of tone. It seemed as though James' words were implying-"You should feel grateful that I am willing to see you again in the future."

Drawing lessons from her previous experience with other men, Sarah felt as though she might have been a little harsh to judge James in that way, but she couldn't ignore her own instincts.

Just as Sarah was about to say something, the waiter brought over the black coffee on a tray.

James stared at Sarah with anticipation, waiting to hear her response as he strongly believed that he was eligible enough to pique her interest. His background should have been good enough for any woman, let alone Sarah. Wasn't she supposed to give him the nod of approval by now? Why was she staring at him with a blank expression on her face? Was he not attractive enough? Suddenly, feelings of uncertainty crept inside James' heart. "Miss Swain, what do you think? I really hope we will see each other in the future."

Sarah stirred the coffee, struggling to come up with an answer in her mind.

After all, her mother had made out James to be such an outstanding man in their conversations. After mulling it over in her head, Sarah decided to turn him down slowly. "Mr. Holland, to be honest, I don't think we know each other well enough yet."

"That's not a problem! We can get in touch more often and improve our understanding of each other!" James spoke with a confidence that was easy to mistake for arrogance.

"I heard that you'd studied abroad, so you must have seen a lot of different things, am I right?" Sarah smiled and changed the topic. Having gone through countless blind dates, Sarah had quickly picked up on how to navigate through an awkward situation with ease.

"Would you like me to tell you something interesting that happened to me while I was abroad?" When James looked into Sarah's eyes, his gaze revealed his feelings for her in an instant.

Sarah nodded curtly in response. Unfortunately, when she was a student, she had the opportunity to go abroad as well, but she gave it up, all for the sake of a ridiculous love interest. She couldn't bring herself to forget how naive she was back then.

Looking back at the calm expression on Sarah's face, James slowly unraveled stories of his adventures from his time in abroad.

With a gentle smile on her face, Sarah fixed her gaze at James, who was rattling on endlessly about his time abroad. For the most part Sarah didn't pay much attention to his words, and occasionally, she would respond with a nickering, perfunctory smile. The life she had once dreamt of was now beyond her reach and the innocent girl she once was had long disappeared in the passage of time.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of a horrible ringtone from many years ago played in her ears. "What does the fox say? Ring-ding-ding..."

It brought back memories from a few years ago when that earworm was so popular that it could be heard playing all over the city. As it appeared, someone was still using it as their ringtone. Much to her surprise, a few seconds later, it was James who took out his phone from his pocket causing Sarah's jaw to drop in total stupefaction. She didn't expect a man of his taste to be using such an unpalatable ringtone.

Sarah already had a bad impression of James because he was late to their date, but this was even worse. James looked at the screen of his phone and cut the call before putting it on "silent mode." He put his phone aside and gave Sarah a rueful smile. "I'm sorry about that. I just bought his phone the other day and I forgot to change the ringtone."

"It's OK. Why didn't you answer the phone?" Sarah's curious eyes fell on James' phone and she noticed that he was using the latest model of mobile phone.

"Oh, that was just a friend. It's okay. It's not important." James raised his cup to his lips, took a sip, and set it down again. However, his phone started vibrating not long after he had put it down.

James politely asked to be excused as he answered the phone with an embarrassed look on his face. Sarah raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, but remained silent.

"Really? Don't worry, I'm coming over as soon as possible!"

After hanging up the phone, James looked at Sarah and said, "I'm sorry, Miss Swain, but my friend needs my help. I must leave at once."

"There's no need to apologize. Please, go ahead," Sarah responded politely and considerately. Needless to say, she knew what was going on, but she pretended to know nothing.

"I hope you will allow me to make it up to you next time. Good-bye!" James stood up and left.

As James slowly walked out of the coffee shop, Sarah looked away indifferently. Sarah sighed in exasperation, mindlessly stirring the coffee. These fruitless blind dates were starting to wear her out. On some occasions, the thought of marrying a random person would cross her mind, but she just couldn't bring herself to do such a thing.

When she arrived home, as soon as she settled on the sofa, her mother came over to her with a concerned look on her face. "Honey, why are you home so early? How come you didn't have dinner with James before coming back? How was the date? Tell me everything! What did you think of him?"

Sarah leaned forward, rubbing her temple and then looked at her mother, Danna. "He is a great guy, but he's just not my type. I don't think it's going to work out. That's it."

"What do you mean you don't think it's going to work out? Sarah, tell me exactly what happened!" Danna pinched Sarah's arm.

"That hurts!" Sarah kneaded her sore arm and furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't like him, and he doesn't like me either. That's it."

"Honey, how could him not like you? Who wouldn't like my beautiful daughter?" Danna put her arms around Sarah's shoulders and comforted her, thinking that she was feeling sad about what happened with James.

Sarah's annoyance turned into frustration as she said to her mother, "I'm very tired! I'm going back to my room. Call me when dinner's ready!"

Danna sighed, feeling sorry for her daughter. After all, she wondered why her beautiful daughter couldn't find a man even after so many blind dates.