The sweet scent from the bakery, the tingling of bells in the streets, and the chirping of the birds… they were just perfect. The town, the city, the whole district, everyone can feel it. Except it always happens.
A man in blonde was running a little late. To his house. He just got out of work from the hospital in a hurried condition. Of course, he cared about his patients just as much as his own family. But it was not just one family, it was a woman he loved for goodness sake.
His name was Boomer. Oh yes, heard that? Not baby boomers, just a handsome young man who has a beautiful pale face with blue eyes. He was dressed in a formal attire and carried an equipment case. He wore a fancy hat all the time, since it was the casual attire of this period.
"Oh no, I'm going to be late for it," he whispered as he quickly ran across the streets just as a newspaper boy riding his bike towards the same direction he was heading to crashed to each other.
Boomer did not expect to be a crash when suddenly he sees himself on the ground, his equipment case almost broken, and the newspaper boy earned a bruise on his knees.
Boomer got up and walked over to the boy and held him up. The boy took his kind gesture and accepted Boomer's apology. The blonde man was such a nice man to the point that he went to fix the bike. He knew he would be late for whatever he was supposed to do, but he just could not leave this little boy behind.
"Mister, would you like a newspaper?" the little boy asked as he got out the most recent newspaper from his side.
Boomer shook his head after he finished fixing the bike. It was a piece of cake, he was once a young boy like this newspaper boy, and Boomer always loved his bike. But he was a full grown man now, his bike was thrown out. Boomer knelt beside the young boy and patted the boy's head. "It's alright, if you need anything fixed, you can come by the hospital."
"You work at the hospital?" he asked.
"Why yes," Boomer responded with a smile. When he was finished talking, he waved a goodbye to the young boy. After he turned around, he knew he was guilty for being late.
He opened the gigantic door to his house. Boomer lived in a manor, of course, not by himself. He had someone too. That someone was his lover.
"Boomer, you are late again," the voice appeared in the stairs.
Boomer looked up to see her walking down the stairs. She was still at the top floor, the stairs indeed were long. When he saw her beautiful face, he could not yell at her or explain to her what happened on the way or why he was late. He just loved her dearly and would do anything for her.
"Bubbles, I'm sorry."
She was down in twenty seconds. Bubbles was a blonde woman, had French style braid but they were in a bun. She wore beautiful dresses that were considered normal ladies of the period. She hated fanciness, but she liked the gentlewoman kind, as she called it.
"You always say sorry," she retorted back.
Yet the most intriguing part of Bubbles was… she was not the sweet and innocent young woman Boomer used to know. He did not know what made her change her behavior or her mind. They had a rough beginning and they always wanted to get married. But when they both were married, Bubbles completed changed. Even though she changed, he still loved her.
The entrance door popped open again, and this time, it was a woman in her fifties. She looked… not so good. She walked in and dropped her suitcase.
Bubbles flinched and unexpectedly, she remarked, "Oh, isn't this Madam?"
Boomer looked awful because of Bubbles's taunting-like tone. She was not being nice. For goodness sake, how did Bubbles become like this? Why would Bubbles… out of anyone he chose and loved, talk like this to his own mother?!
The fifty-year-old mother did not look the slightest joyful to see Bubbles. She ignored Bubbles and traveled to Boomer. She took Boomer's arm and quickly said, "What's the big deal here, Boomer? Why do I not see any maids?"
"Maids?" Bubbles gibed before Boomer could answer, "We don't need any maids, Madam. Just me and Boomer."
The Madam still tried to keep her eye away from Bubbles. But one thing bothered the Madam, and that was when she noticed Bubbles's dress and hat and gloves. Those were pretty expensive, and she knew Bubbles did not have the money for that. In the next second, his mother pointed an accusation finger at Bubbles. "You! Where did you get that dress? And the hat! That hat is supposed to be ten thousand dollars!"
Surprised, Boomer surveyed his wife. His mother was right, Bubbles could not afford that at all. How could she? Even if Bubbles was once a doctor as well, she had already given up on that position after they were married. There was no way she could afford any of that when the lady of the house was now her position.
Bubbles never responded but she never looked guilty for it. She was smirking, and it made Boomer shiver.
"You! You took my money, did you?!" the Madam accused.
Boomer tried to calm his mother down as he knew fighting will get even worse. Two woman fighting, and one who was a mother and a daughter-in-law. Bubbles had it worse, she was nothing to this household, just some married woman to the house. The only person who was the boss was his mother and Bubbles does not have any right to fight back.
Bubbles folded her arms, and in an instant, she glared at the both of them and responded, "That's right, I took it. You got any problems with it?"
Boomer almost fell back. He could not believe what Bubbles had become. Better yet, who she really was now. Back then, he was sure he was the only person who knew Bubbles better than anyone else. But now, it does not look like he knew Bubbles one bit. Not a single thing. She was a different person, or rather, she was like that but just tricked Boomer?
No. Boomer still chose to believe Bubbles loved him. Why would she trick him? They have been married for all these years and she would have gotten sick of this life by now, so she could not have never loved him.
"Why you little-! You went too far! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to report you!" the Madam was so mad at this point that she walked over to Bubbles and started grabbing onto Bubbles's hair. Boomer's mother was going to rip Bubbles's hair off, plus her dress and the hat, and everything else. "Who told you to take my money?! Why you little brat!"
"So what? I took all of them, what are you going to do about it? Rip it then! It's you who will lose everything because in the end, it's your own money! Rip it!" Bubbles yelled back as she pulled his mother's dress and hair as well.
As the both of them fought by ripping each other's hair and clothes, Boomer was sick of it. He could not believe Bubbles would fight back like this. Boomer hurried to the both of them and held them far apart. It really did suck that he had no maids. If he had maids, they would be able to get the both apart, not just him. "Stop! Can you both stop?!"
Even if they both had stopped, the mother was not happy about it. His son fell in love with a demon. How could he love someone who behaves like this? How could he not see that this woman does not even have respect! "Boomer! You get off of that brat!"
"No, mother," Boomer said in a calm way. Then, he turned towards Bubbles and looked at her in the eye. "Bubbles… why? How could you take mother's money?"
"Why, you ask?" Bubbles asked him, instead. If he was going to question her, she would make sure he saw the whole thing through instead of jumping right in to ask why. Of course, it was not just one thing, it was the whole thing. She did not take the money for herself, did she? There had to be something, and she wanted him to figure that out first.
"I don't know why," Boomer said. He did not look defeated. He was not trying to look for the answer by himself, he wanted her to explain. In the end, the person who was at fault now was Bubbles. He did not have the time to find the answer.
In a moment, Bubbles laughed. She laughed evilly as her eyes were directed to the ceiling. She was so disappointed, for goodness sake! She was disappointed, so disappointed that Boomer would not want to find the answer on his own. Great, she was going to be a good wife once again, so she forgave him and gave him the chance to be the good husband.
"You ask me why?" she jested. "Let me tell you why."
For the first time, Boomer saw her serious face right in front of him. He missed her innocent face the moment he saw this disappointed face she had shown.
Bubbles locked her eyes on Boomer. Both of her arms reached to her height of the waist and in a second or so, she grabbed onto Boomer's arms tightly, almost as if she wanted to break them into pieces. Her expression, disappointment and sad. "Because of you, I sacrificed my face. The scar here will always be on my left side of my face!" Then, she turned to face his mother and exclaimed, "So what's wrong with spending your money? My face! My face will never be back to my original!"
Bubbles quickly threw down Boomer's arms. She began to walk over to the Madam like she was the boss. "And, why are you still keeping so much money? You're getting old, what do you need the money for?"
"You! You!" the mother was out of words. She was so shocked by Bubbles's words and it hurt her heart. Because of this, she could not grasp onto it anymore and collapsed.
"Mother!" Boomer shouted from across the room. He ran to his mother and before he could pick the Madam up, Bubbles held onto his arm.
"Boomer, you told me we will be together forever," Bubbles goaded in order to make Boomer stop. She knew Boomer was going to pick the Madam to the hospital, and she was not going to do that.
Boomer did stop, but he did not do that because of Bubbles. Instead, he looked up to see Bubbles in the eye. "Bubbles… what has gotten into you?"
The blonde woman looked angry by his sudden question. She was more disappointed now. Why… of all things, he still do not get it? She thought, he was the only man who could understand her pain and suffer.
She yanked his arm off and jeered at him, "Even you! Even you don't believe in me anymore! You said you will never question me! You said you will always listen to me! You said you would never doubt me!"
"Enough!" Boomer raised his voice for the first time. He has never, once in his lifetime, ever raised his voice to anyone, even his mother. Bubbles, this was a first for him. He loved her so much that he would do anything for her, and he still does. But right now, he needs time to think. "Bubbles, I'm going to the hospital." Right then, Boomer picked up his mother and left to the hospital.
He left her behind. She was standing there, so mad and disappointed. "How dare you leave me like this!" Bubbles screamed insanely. She went to the nearest table and flipped it to the side. She pushed all of the expensive items and objects from the tables off to the floor. At this point, she just felt like throwing every single thing that was bothering to her eyes, just like a madman.
The heart rate was less than 60 bpm. It had been like that for about an hour, which means there were no signs of improvement.
Boomer sat next to the old woman, worried. He was so worried that he forgot everything that happened with Bubbles earlier. He decided to focus only on his mother now, and wished she could get better soon. He knew his mother had heart problems and never did anything about it. And because of a fight between his wife, his mother had to go to the hospital when she had heart problems all along. He was such a disgrace.
He heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Boomer said.
A nurse walked in and gave Boomer a few files to look at. It was all the files to his mother. Poor Boomer. All that was left of him in the world was his mother… before he met Bubbles. He said he will always take care of his mother because his father left for some other woman. But when Bubbles came, he fell in love with her. She was the sweetest woman he ever met and they both shared a connection. And now… he does not have the time to think about this. The more he thinks about it, the more he will become worried about his mother.
"Mother, you will be fine," Boomer muttered.
Finally, it was the day his mother can leave the hospital. Boomer went to the hospital early so he could pick her up and drop her off back to her own house. What he did not know was, his wife also came to the hospital.
"Oh Boomer, you came," Boomer could hear his mother say.
"Yes," he said with a bright smile. He packed up his mother's belongings and carried one of her arms and walked out of the patient room.
When the both of them was out of the room, someone clapped from the hallway. The two of them directed their eyes on the person clapping. When the Madam saw Bubbles's face, she was shocked and felt that her heartbeat skipped way too fast like in nanoseconds. Boomer was shocked too, but this time, his shock was not like his original shocks. This time, he just did not want Bubbles to ruin the scene again.
He wished, though, that it was like before, that when his mother walked out of the patient room with him, she would be there to carry her other arm. That happened only once. It happened right after their marriage, but then it just never came.
"Congratulations on getting out of the hospital, Madam," Bubbles greeted sarcastically as she walked closer and closer to them.
"Boomer, why is she here? You brought her too?" the mother asked.
"No, I didn't," he said. He faced to Bubbles and demanded, "Why did you get out of the house?"
"Because it's not fair to have just you to pick up Madam, am I right?" Bubbles provoked.
"Sure," Boomer said but he was not in the mood today. He walked past Bubbles alongside his mother without hesitation.
When he ignored her like that, Bubbles felt very angry again. He left her again! That was right, this was proof he did not love her anymore.
She walked to their bedroom slowly. She did not care about what the scene was going to be next. She knows now that Boomer hates her, and this really made her mad.
"My face is ugly now and you think I'm not worthy anymore, do you?" Bubbles stated as she made her way to the door.
Boomer looked up from his reading. He was in bed, just like how he was before. In bed, and waiting for Bubbles to go to sleep so he can turn the lights off. Boomer closed the book and began to speak, "Bubbles, you're not ugly, you are the most beautiful person I love."
But she was not convinced, she burst out laughing instead. "You think I believe in what you are saying?"
"Bubbles, what has gotten into you?"
But she never answered him. In the next moment, her attitude changed. She was not mean anymore nor she was not disappointed too. She walked to the closet and looked for clothes.
"What are you doing?" Boomer asked.
"Tomorrow there is a ball to attend, I need you to come along with me, don't be late," she ordered while searching for the best suit. She was going to let this slide and wait until tomorrow was over. She cannot be mad right now or her image will be ruined tomorrow. Even if she has a scarred face now, people still envy her because of true love. Those women were jealous of her because Boomer did not care about her face and kept loving her.
"Is this ball invited by the Mayor?" Boomer questioned.
"Yes," Bubbles answered and finally, she found the right suit for Boomer. "Tomorrow, you are wearing this."
"What time? I still have work."
The wife continued to look for a dress for herself and ignored his question. A ball opens usually around night, how could Boomer not know this? Obviously that was the most absurd question he had asked today. And of course, he does not have work at night.
Bubbles finished with her search for the dress. She was getting a little tired now and needed some sleep. She hopped into bed and closed her eyes ready to go into a deep sleep.
They always looked like perfect couples. Their outfits matched and their colors matched too. The woman's hair was braided in French style, but her hat was fancier and looked better than her soft blonde hair.
His arms underneath her arms. His height just about right. Indeed, they were just lovely couples.
However, the thing was, the woman had a scarred face. That made people look at her more. The women were jealous and envious. Someone out there like Boomer could still be able to hold onto an ugly looking woman?
Except that they were just so jealous that they had to say Bubbles was ugly. The truth was, Bubbles was still pretty even if she had a scar.
"Look, do you see that woman? She has a scar."
"That man must love her so much."
"She's probably a #$ &%."
"What did she do to get that man's heart?"
Bubbles ignored them, but deep down inside, she was hurt. She used to be sweet and innocent, and everyone liked how nice she was back then. But now, half of the city barely recognized her or remembered her. She did get hatred from people when she was so nice and so kind. She thought it was her payback for being nice. But it seems these never change. Even if she was ugly or nice or whatever, people will stay envy her, get jealous of her, and talk badmouth about her.
"Oh, isn't this Bubbles?" a rich woman with a sparkling, golden dress greeted at Bubbles. This woman was holding onto a glass of wine and walked like a seducer. She eyed on Bubbles for a good ten seconds and then at Boomer. "Oh, this must be Boomer. Oh my, isn't he handsome? Bubbles, I feel proud of you."
Bubbles returned her a fake smile and in a sassy tone, she said, "Oh, you are still single? Oh my, how come? You are so beautiful, you still haven't gotten anyone you like yet? Or… nobody chased you?"
The response from Bubbles offended the woman. She held onto her glass of wine tightly, trying to not hold a grudge against Bubbles or her rich image would be ruin. She needed to stay as a rich lady, so she must not say anything back at Bubbles. Therefore, she smiled weakly and replied, "That's right, I have not found someone yet."
Gradually, the expression on Bubbles was a letdown. She nodded and excused herself by grabbing onto Boomer's arm. She walked him to the food counter and grabbed onto a ton of food.
"Are you alright?" Boomer asked.
"Do I look fine?" Bubbles retorted, but she changed her attitude almost immediately. She surveyed around the ballroom and found someone she knew. She quickly called on the woman, "Princess! Long time no see!"
The woman in the name of Princess had just walked in to the ballroom. She heard a familiar voice and looked to the direction the voice had came from. When she found Bubbles, she said her hello.
"I am so glad you are here!" Bubbles said.
"Me too," the freckled woman agreed. "Here, take my invitation."
Bubbles was given an invitation letter. She opened it and was shocked to see a wedding invitation. "Oh my goodness, you are getting married? To whom?" Bubbles begged in a sweet way. She elbowed Princess to get her to say something.
Princess blushed. "It's…"
"Princess, you never told me about who you are seeing," Bubbles began, "I wonder who this man that caught your heart."
"Stop that," Princess was getting a little embarrassed. "Anyway, please go to my wedding."
"Of course," Bubbles said. "I will also be glad if I am your bridesmaid."
"You mean it? That's wonderful!" Princess exclaimed.
The next day, the blonde man was up to do business. He looked at his watch and noticed that time has went by pretty fast. He hurried to get some medicine before Bubbles gets mad but was bumped by someone. The person who he bumped to looked like a poor girl in the streets based on her clothing.
Then, as a nice person, he held out his hand.
The woman looked at his hand and then looked at Boomer. She smiled and took his hand. "Thank you," she said.
"Oh, you got hurt," Boomer pointed out when he saw blood coming out of her wrist. "Let's go to the hospital and get you treated."
"It's fine, this is just a small injury," the woman replied.
But Boomer was always the nice guy, and the fact that he was a doctor, he would bring her to the hospital even if the injury was small. "Sometimes small injuries can lead to severe side effects."
The woman was not very happy about going to the hospital. She saw the bag of medicine he dropped and went to pick it up for him. "Here, your medicine."
"Thank you," Boomer responded, "Now let's go to the hospital."
He treated her wrist and got lost track of time. He had completely forgotten about going back to the house. But he just cannot abandon someone and not getting her treated. He was a doctor after all, who would want to see someone get hurt? It was his responsibility to do his job and made sure everyone was treated.
"Um, doctor," she began to say, "I don't have the money to pay for this…"
"It's fine, I caused you to get injured, so no worries," Boomer said with a bright smile. "Do you need me to walk you home?"
The woman suddenly got up, her expression very gloomy. "It's alright… you don't need me to."
"What's the matter? You seem… down all of a sudden?"
"It's fine," she quickly said, "I have to get back to my husband."
Boomer nodded. "Oh, before you leave, I have prepared a few medicines for you."
The woman thanked him once again and went to go reach the bag of medicine just to see the bag of medicine drop down to the floor. Her sleeves finally became loose and finally, the part that bothered Boomer finally appeared.
Immediately, Boomer grabbed onto her arm, "You are being disciplined?"
The woman shook off Boomer's hand and covered her arm. "I don't know what you are saying."
"Who did that to you?" Boomer demanded.
"It's nothing, I just tripped."
"Tripped all the time?" Boomer questioned while folding his arms. "Tell me."
The woman gulped. If she told Boomer, then she was going to get more punishment. "It's just a personal business."
"It's your husband, right?" the doctor attempted to guess.
She looked at him and she could feel sweats coming off from her. He figured it out, that was better than having told him so. If he figured it out, her husband would not punish her because she never said a word.
"Your husband is using domestic abuse," Boomer said, "Why didn't you report to the police?"
The woman shook her head. "No, I can't."
Boomer smirked. "So it was true."
Finally, the woman realized what just happened. She admitted to it, and now her husband will punish her. She got so scared now. She immediately held onto Boomer's arm as hard as possible and exclaimed, "I never said anything to you, alright? Please don't get involved!"
"What are you saying?" Boomer asked.
"Just leave me alone," the woman said.
"You can report to the police, he won't hurt you," Boomer stated.
She shook her head and responded, "You don't understand. If I… reported on him… I don't have a home anymore."
Before Boomer got to say anything, she left the hospital.
"Your name is Penny?" a fifty-year-old woman asked kindly by holding onto Penny's hands. The two women were sitting by each other in the couch talking.
Penny nodded slowly.
"I'm sure you will be welcomed here, Penny, my son will be nice to you," the older woman said in order to make sure Penny would feel comfortable.
Penny nodded slowly, again.
"I'm back," Boomer called out to his wife as he walked in. When he traveled to the living room, he saw his mother and-
"Boomer, you're back!" the Madam said.
"Mother, you didn't tell me you were coming over," the man announced. Not that he felt weird, it was just not a habit when his mother comes inside without telling him.
"I'm your mother, of course I can come over," countered the Madam. "Here, Boomer, this is Penny. She is currently 18 years old."
Boomer looked at Penny and just nodded. "I know her."
The mother stared at her own son. She was going to introduce Penny to him, but he said knew her already! That saves a lot of work! "You both know each other? That's good! Then we can just go right into the topic."
Boomer sat down on a one seated couch and began to read a recent newspaper. "I treated her before."
His mother nodded to his response. Then, she held onto Penny's arm and encouraged her son. "Boomer, Penny is a sweet and kind girl. But look at Bubbles, she is a bad and atrocious girl. So I thought… of having Penny become your second wife."
The blonde man stopped reading his newspaper. "Mother, I told you I will never leave Bubbles."
The mother knew he was going to say this, but she was not going to let Bubbles trick his son anymore. "Boomer, Penny is a sweet and kind girl, she would treat you way better than Bubbles. Penny's situation has gotten worse, her father-in-law is going to sell her off. You don't want to see her being sold off, right?"
Boomer took a quick glance at Penny. He did not know what to say. The other day, he found out about her husband abusing her, but he never thought about how severe it could be. Selling someone like a slave. Of course Boomer did not want that, but he loved Bubbles, and he will never marry another person.
"Think about it, Boomer, she's only 18, how could you leave her to be sold to someone?" the Madam appealed.
Nobody wants to be sold. But in this period, selling people was a common thing. And even if he did marry her, this kind of pattern will appear again. Because he made the move, that means he can still marry another one. Who knows if more women just wanted to get married off and disguised themselves as someone who needs to be sold off? He was not going to do it, even if he feels bad for Penny.
Boomer has never made a response and this worried the Madam. She got tired and decided to make Penny sit next to Boomer. When the both of them were sitting side by side, the Madam smiled. "Look, aren't you both a great couple?"
"Aiyo~! Looks like everyone is here." It was the voice of Bubbles. She has just got back from shopping. Of course, using Madam's money again. She had lots of bags on both her arms and fingers. Today, she looked quite happy to have bought so many expensive things.
The Madam turned around to see Bubbles. At that moment, she felt disgusted by Bubbles's appearance. Why of course, Bubbles interrupted this chance.
Bubbles eyed on all of them. She could tell that an unfamiliar face was inside the house. "You guys seemed to be bustling with noise. What are you guys discussing about?" Bubbles asked sarcastically. Then, she gazed at Penny and questioned, "And who are you?"
The Madam did not bother looking at Bubbles and simply responded, "This is Penny, Boomer's new wife."
The blonde woman's eyes was now fixed at the Madam. Her sarcastic face was now an awful expression. All of her shopping bags had dropped to the floor. She thought she heard it wrong, but the complacent face of Madam proved her otherwise.
Boomer could see Bubbles's reaction. He cannot imagine what Bubbles will do later.
"What?!" Bubbles barked at the Madam.
"He has already agreed to marry her," the Madam declared.
There seemed to be a thousand arrows striking through Bubbles. She stepped back and turned to face her husband. "Boomer! You dare to marry another woman?!"
He stayed silent, but at the same time he was worried. He knew if he spoke now, she would not listen.
"Do you even care about me at all?!" Bubbles roared at him, "How could you do this to me?!"
Boomer got up from the couch and walked over to his wife. She was breathing hard and very mad simultaneously. "Bubbles… let me explain…"
"No!" Bubbles rejected with madness. She does not want to hear anything right now, she was too mad that she has no mood to listen to explanations. All she wanted was to pour out on all the madness until anyone gets to speak.
That was a selfish act to say the least. She would not let anyone speak, that means she only cared about herself right now, nothing was going to get through her.
But who can stop an insane woman now? She could do something insane if people tried to stop her. Then, she pointed at Boomer and scowled at him, "If you dare to marry her… I will kill myself in front of you!"
"Bubbles…" Boomer said in a calm manner as he held onto Bubbles's arms. "Calm down, don't let your guard down, I won't marry her-"
Bubbles pushed him away and walked off in disappointment.
Tomorrow was the day Boomer and Penny was going to get married. Bubbles was still mad about this and became insane in just a few days.
Boomer had not noticed how Bubbles had acted towards this upcoming wedding, but he was horrified with what she could have done next.
"Penny," Boomer called out to the 18-year-old as he approached the couch.
Penny was sitting on the couch and has never moved an inch.
Boomer patted on her to get a response but the moment he touched her shoulder, her entire body fell onto the couch. Boomer tilted her head and in two seconds, he quickly backed off.
Penny's neck was bleeding, or rather, had stopped bleeding. Boomer could see a line in her neck that was cut. He got so frightened by the scene. He was even shocked that his house now has a dead person. He never expected to have someone die right inside his house. This house will become haunted!
"What's the matter?" Bubbles bellowed as she walked into the living room while playing with her nails.
Boomer swiftly ran to Bubbles and held onto her and demanded an answer, "What did you do to Penny?!"
The blonde woman was shocked the moment she saw his eyes out of rage. No way… he could not have liked Penny, right? Bubbles pushed him off and gave him those glaring look. She walked over to see Penny and gasped in dismay. "De-dea-dead?"
"Don't lie to me, Bubbles," he cautioned her.
Bubbles moved to watch Boomer's expression. She was dumbfounded and he thinks she was lying? She did nothing wrong! "You are accusing me of killing Penny?!"
"I hope you didn't," he said, "But there is no other possible explanation. Why would Penny kill herself?!" He pointed at Penny as he inspected Bubbles.
The wife stepped back and shook her head innocently, denying, "I didn't kill anyone."