Chapter 2 In Sickness and in Health

Ren's POV

"Oh", the elderly woman started. "You poor things. Don't you worry. We'll take care of you here."

I'm not sure if 'take care' was the right way to say it. 'Barely tolerating you' was more accurate.

To give the orphanage 'caretakers' some credit, they did feed us...kinda.

There was never enough food for everybody. If you didn't get to the dinning hall in time, the lunch lady would just say "better luck at the next meal."

And that's just if you made it to the hall. The caretakers at the orphanage wouldn't even allow you in if you managed to tick them off, and anything could end up doing that.

They also didn't provide toys or let the kids play outside. Instead, they filled up our time with doing chores.

The only time they were nice was when people came to adopt, and that happened a month into me and Nora living at the orphanage.

The couple came into the room all the kids shared, and ended up spotting Nora and I, causing the latter to hide behind me in fear.

"Why hello there", the woman said to me. "What's your name?"

"My name is Lie Ren", I replied shyly.

"Lie Ren", the man repeated. "That's a very nice name."

"Thank you", I replied shyly.

Then...the man and woman nodded at each other before looking over at one of our caretakers.

"We have decided", the man called out. "We'll adopt this one."

"Very well then", the caretaker said before looking at me. "Come on Lie. Pack up our things."

"Pack up my things", I asked in confusion.

"Yes", the caretaker replied. "This nice couple wants to adopt you."

"Adopt me", I asked in confusion.

"Yes", the caretaker replied. "So pack up your things and let's go."

Before I even had a chance to think about what was happening, I heard this.

"You're leaving me?"

Upon hearing this, I turned around...and saw Nora looking at me with a pained expression.

I didn't even need to think twice about my answer.

"Don't you worry Nora", I reassured said person. "I'll never leave you."

After I said this, I turned back to look at the couple.

"I'll only go if Nora goes."

I'm very happy for the child that ended up getting adopted instead of me. It's not that the couple were bad people. The simply had only planned to adopt one child.

That Night

The fear Nora had felt earlier was replaced by guilt when she realized that I was still stuck at the orphanage because I chose to stay with her.

"Why didn't you go with them", she asked me.

I didn't answer. Instead, I took her hands in mine.

"Do you know what a marriage vow is Nora?"

"Are marriage vow", Nora asked in confusion. "What's that?"

"It's a promise", I replied. "I promise that I'm giving you. In sickness and in health, we'll share joy and pain."