Here is the list of characters for the foreword.

"Must I remind you again, Mr. Whoever-you-are, that this is a matter of life and death? Hurry up, s’il vous plait!"

I stopped talking through the slits of my teeth and leaned back to study the man. A drop of nervous sweat rolled down his bald head as he mumbled something that sounded like "I’m trying." His hands and legs worked busily, and the fact that I was sitting on the passenger side probably added to his tenseness. What could I say? The man was testing my patience. For a moment I was ready to knock him unconscious and take over the wheel.

"You know I can ride on a snail and get there before you?" I asked testily as I took my gaze off his shiny head and refocused on the street, which still seemed to crawl in front of me.

"Look at that traffic, Miss! And if I must remind you again, I still have a wife and three kids who would very much appreciate my being home tonight," his sudden comeback nearly startled me. For sure he was just as eager to get there as I, and I figured therefore it wasn’t too wise to aggravate the man.

A century had passed when the poor taxi gave a painful screech in front of the old church, much to the driver’s relief. The old man turned to me, his voice somewhat a plea, "Miss, please don’t tell me I almost lost my license rushing you here just so you can sit there like a stone." Now it was the weary man’s turn to study me, "Are you okay? You look a little green. Hello? Miss?"

"I heard you the first time. And I am fine, thank you for your concern." I quickly took out a $500 and stuffed it in his sandy palm. "By the way, it’s Kwok. Miss Kwok."

As abruptly as it had arrived, the taxi pulled out, leaving me in front of the old church. I could not remember the last time I found myself at a place like this, and I wished I’d been here at least a few times, for the ceremonious atmosphere gave me an uncanny feeling. Why? I don’t know. It’s not as if I’d done something wrong. Kwok Mei Fong, tell that stupid voice inside your head to shut up! I quickly recomposed myself, straightened my white dress, and slithered through the crowd. "God, I’ll let you decide what happens this time."

When I sat down on a hidden part of the cold bench, the noise had already died down to a silence—a strangest type of silence that was full of excitement and inquisitiveness. The next thing I knew, music filled the church with its demented notes, and everyone adoringly directed their eyes towards the entrance, where the bride slowly advanced with her little maids. The vexatious girls were continuously throwing flowers to the sides of the altar. One of the tiny flowers landed near my feet, and at one point I felt it pleasantly crushed under my heel.

She was an ugly bride. And the layers of artificial colors that she wore on her face indeed helped to bring out her bad looks. Suddenly, a voice stopped me in the midst of my thought, "Miss?"

"Yes?" I turned to the man next to me.

He was a piece of charcoal, or on second thought, a piece of chocolate in a leaden suit. But he was a handsome man, all right.

A second or two had passed when I took my gaze off the man’s eyes and stepped aside, "Sorry."

Before I had time to feel the embarrassment, the presence of another man deflected my attention back to the altar. I had not seen him until now, and this made me wonder if my decision to come here was ever an intelligent one in first place. I watched him closely. The man wore a small smile on his face that carried much charm and content. His black tuxedo, however, gave him a resemblance of the Devil rather than a clean-cut groom. He was walking to his bride—slow, confident steps. But the smile quickly disappeared and the footsteps halted as his eyes met mine. At that second I felt my heart hammering its way out of my chest. I thought I saw his lower lip drop a bit, and his eyes quickly diverted to the floor and back on his fiancée’s face. He was good, I had to say. He did this in the slightest manner that I doubted anyone had recognized but I. The groom resumed walking—only this time his footsteps grew quite befuddled. I must have looked pale, or the dark man next to me was really observant, for from the corner of my eyes I caught his curious stare.

A moment had elapsed when the reverend’s monotonous voice woke me up from my dazedness, "Mr. Tse, do you take this woman to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her?"

The groom’s eyes made a 180-degree swing at my direction within a fraction of a second. I sensed his discomfort. He shifted an inch to the right and let out a nervous smile, "I do."

So he really was going to do it. I had expected the day to happen, but no way on earth had I expected the feeling it was currently giving me. "Tse Bow Wai!" I felt my shaken body rising from the seat as all eyes swept towards me. I heard the dark man let out something that sounded like, "uh oh." The next thing I knew, my legs were no longer parts of my whole body; they were certainly mechanized on their own. I stormed up to the dismayed couple, and thank God I still had enough control over my hands to constrain them from giving the man in black tuxedo a good slap on the face. Murmurs spread out from the crowd, and only then did I realize I was the center of attention—better yet, the focus of nosiness. This was it. There was no way of backing out now. I’d moronically set myself up for this stupid (and somewhat amusing) drama.

"Kwok Mei Fong, you stupid girl! You’ll just make a fool of yourself. Regain your esteem," whined the irritating voice in my head.

"Congratulations," I heard myself say.

There were more whispers among the crowd.

"‘Love and honor, cherish and protect,’ boy haven’t I heard that before!" Too late, the baneful side of me was winning over my sobriety.

"Excuse me, Miss, are you Wai’s guest?" asked the hideous bride.

"Am I? Why don’t you ask him yourself?" I wrapped an arm around her almost-husband, giving both of them a grin.

Tse Bow Wai let out a painful half-smile and immediately pulled me to one side, much to his bride’s horror, "Do you have any idea what you’re doing? Look, this is my wedding, anything can be discussed later---"

"Right!" I was louder than I’d intended, "This is your wedding! That’s why I came to share your joy…you know, being the very, very close friend that I am." I shoved his hand away and proceeded towards the bride, "Since you are going to spend the rest of your life with him, you are at liberty to know more about him, right Wai?" I stared at the now fidgety man, "And who knows better than his girlfriend. Oops, did I say that? I meant very very close friend—well, ‘girl friend’ with a space, but you get what I mean. After all, I’ve known him for at least three years now. This man over here has only had a few very, very close friends recently. You should be proud, he doesn’t like to socialize too much or go outside of the bedroom."

From the benches, a lonely laughter caught my attention.

"Amen," I heard the reverend mumble.

So I stepped overboard a little on the bedroom part, considering he never actually got close to me. What the heck, that could matter less at this instant. I was feeling the augmenting uneasiness in the room, and I was starting to feel a bit guilty as I glanced over at the bride’s colorless face. Nonetheless, the fuming groom’s red face balanced out my compunction.

"And you should be even more gladdened because he’d never treated his previous close friends this well. Look at this reception, would you? Isn’t it fantastic? The flowers, the dress, the perfect vow!"

"Shut up!" What came out of the bride’s mouth was almost a scream.

"Hey don’t worry, I won’t delay the wedding any further. I thought I’d just stop by and share my close friend’s happiness. Sorry, this is all I brought as your present today," I handed Wai a carefully wrapped box and turned to the bride. "I’d thought about giving you a puppy, you know…so that you’ll at least have something loyal by your side. But of course I couldn’t find one in such short notice." I paused and looked behind me. There, I was sure the dark-skinned man gave me a smile. Some smile that was! And on the first bench, the couple’s parents sat frozen, the blood drained from their faces. "Well, that is all." I believed my voice was a bit shaky. "I’d better get going now. I think the reverend has stood long enough."

"Amen," he again repeated.

Tse Bow Wai was looking at me with a nasty fury, and I computed it wouldn’t be too smart to stay much longer. "Goodbye and happy wedding, Wai and—Michelle, is it?" Before I turned around, another thought entered my head. I bent close to the woman’s ear, "Next time, choose a different lipstick color. That shade of red makes your lips look like a pair of Chinese hot dogs."

I click-clacked out of the church, my curly hair bouncing on my shoulders. I knew I needed to head for the door before Wai’s old father could have fainted. The mumbles had amplified into a loud wave of gibberish, wherein I’d picked out too many "ohhs" and "ahhs." So this was my day. By the time I was outside the old church, I still could not fully comprehend what had just happened. Regrets? I might have had some—not that I could do anything about them at this minute. All I knew was that I just ruined a wedding, and that I probably needed psychiatric help for my uncontrollable tension.

It felt good, nevertheless.

And now all I had to do was to get back home and listen to Emily’s torturous lectures on my heedless actions. On second thought, she probably would have placed me in some sort of "lady school" to learn my manners like she once threatened. This was actually my first time interfering in a sacred moment. Hey, it might not have gone smoothly even without me!

Now where were all the goddamned taxis? At this hour it shouldn’t have been much of a problem to catch one. Suddenly, I spotted one that was stopping to drop off a si lai on the other side. It took me a full minute to realize that it was the same taxi I’d taken earlier. Its driver had also spotted me, and much to my antipathy, drove off as though a ghost were chasing him.

"I swear I’ll get a brand new Porsche one of these days," I grumbled through my teeth.

"My car is not a Porsche but it’s pretty new," a voice from behind startled me. It was the dark man in the gray suit that had sat next to me earlier. "Would you like a lift?"

I looked straight into his eyes, "Sir, I don’t go for strangers."

I knew my blunt answer caught him by surprise, but he sure didn’t show it. "You’re a very unique woman, I’ve noticed." He looked at me interestingly.

"If you’re looking for more drama, I suggest you go to that video store," I pointed with my index finger, "see where that is? No need to beg me for a replay," I replied matter-of-factly.

He slightly squinted, "Oh…right, that was an—an unusual job you put up in there!"

I folded my arms, ready for any verbal attack, "I figure the laughter came from you?"

The man didn’t take away his gaze, "You obviously needed someone to back you up in there. It was you against both families," he smiled, a dimple showing on his right cheek.

"And aren’t you supposed to be one of their friends? Why are you out here talking to me? That I’m really wondering."

"Actually, I’m a passerby. Better yet, an old acquaintance of the bride." He took out his sunglasses, put them on, and continued nonchalantly, "The only difference between us is that I dumped her, and he dumped you."

I felt the blood boiling in my head, but I wasn’t about to let this guy get the better of me. "Sir, please don’t speak for me. And unless you’re sure of something, you’d probably want to keep your mouth shut."

Now I was getting aggravated. Were all men thick-skinned? At least the one standing in front of me was. He was smiling, and regardless of his sunglasses, I could feel him gazing at me. For some strange reason his smile sent an uneasiness through my body. "I take that back. You should cool down before---"

"Before steams start coming out of my head? For your information, I am as cool as ever." I tucked back a strand of hair, "Remind me again why we are having this worthless conversation?"

"From what I remember, you were looking for a ride. My car is just right across the street," he pointed to a blue Lexus, "unless you don’t trust me."

"Of course I don’t trust you. I don’t even know you," I eyed the man from top to bottom quizzically.

"In that case, let fate decide if we shall ever meet again. You can stand there and ruminate how to get out of here before those people pour out from the church," he turned around and headed towards his car.

"Wait!" He turned back to me and raised one of his eyebrows teasingly. "Since I already ruined a wedding, what else am I afraid of?" I ran up to him and we started walking side by side.

He opened the door to the passenger’s side, "You still haven’t told me your name."

I looked up at him and, after some thinking, replied in a remarkably pleasant tone, "Bess. Bess Tang. And yours?"

He flashed me another admirable smile and closed the door, "My name is Siu Lam Tong."