Every Brit is a castle at heart
William is my colleague in Canada, a British engineer. I didn't like him at all, he was fat as a hippo, and his polite gentlemanly demeanor couldn't hide his arrogance. Quiet, with a cloudy face, he carefully keeps his distance from people.
After get off work on Fridays, our singles would go to the Italian bar across from the office for a few drinks, but William was never seen, and no one seemed to want to call him. If it wasn't for my birthday later, I'm afraid my colleague would never know what he was thinking for the rest of his life. Didn't someone say that? Every Brit is a castle at heart.
That Friday happened to be my birthday, and I was still single until I was forty years old. With the severe cold of minus 20 degrees, I was in a bad mood. After all, our company is also a world-renowned company. Whoever drags it out is not a bright and straight horse, except for William the hippo. But after the age of hate marriage, even the urge to date is gone. Before getting off work, Paul, a friend in the personnel department, sent a group email, "Today is Maggie's birthday, let's go to the bar to celebrate." I didn't expect William to follow.
This was my first time drinking with William, and after a few drinks, this British cold fish suddenly turned into a tropical sparrow, and he told me his story, and it was very cold and humorous. Everyone all over the world knows that trying to squeeze privacy out of the Englishman's mouth is like pulling a tooth, but William in front of him took the initiative to pour out, does he want to soak me? He was 46 at the time and had been single. I asked him why, and his answer was very strange: "I want to know who my father is."
Before he was 28 years old, he lived in a small town in the south of England. He always thought that the man who went to bed after dinner was his father. Listen to When the neighbors played football outside the window, what hatred in my heart... Until when he was carrying this man's coffin, he still took it for granted that he was the eldest son, and that he and his younger brother should carry the two corners in front of the coffin. But the mother asked them to lift the back corners with a blank face, but let two middle-aged strong men who had never met each other lift the front two corners. He and his brother asked his mother what was going on, and she said they were the father's eldest and second sons. The younger brother yelled angrily, broke the hand that was carrying the coffin, the coffin fell to the ground, and the funeral scene was blown up... William aggressively grabbed his 1.8-meter younger brother and beat him. The brothers fought and fought, and the cemetery was in chaos. .
William suddenly understood that the father was a stepfather, and the younger brother was a half-father. The two mysterious strong men were the children of the stepfather and the first wife. Who is your own father? The mother closed her lips tightly, and only repeated that she was pregnant with him and married her stepfather. The funeral ended in a mess. William and his mother were arguing, but the mother was always blue-faced and refused to say another word. William's world collapsed. He went to ask his aunt and uncle who lived with him in this small town, but they didn't say a word. Three months later, a desperate William emigrated to Canada alone and never returned to the UK. His mother, this tough woman, would rather not see him than tell him who his biological father is.
He wants to marry a Chinese woman
After drinking this time, William and I became friends. He didn't seem to have any other friends. His spare time was just staying at home, reading books and watching football. He seemed willing to go to the bar with me, but I couldn't find the feeling.
For a while, William suddenly disappeared for a week, and the HR department said he was on vacation. I was a little fidgety that week until he got back to work for a drink. It turned out that his brother went bankrupt in Vancouver. William flew to Vancouver first, bought his brother's old car for twice the market price, and then drove 12 hours a day for four days to drive the car back to Montreal, and then paid thousands of Canadian dollars for the car's inter-provincial license exchange fee. I laughed at William being crazy and idiot, he said he just wanted to help his brother so he wouldn't feel handed out.
Although William has not returned to the UK to see his mother for more than ten years, he will talk to the old lady on the phone for 10 minutes every Saturday at 8:00 p.m., always at 8:00 p.m.
One day he was in a very downhearted mood, saying that he would never want to know who his father was for the rest of his life, so he decided to find a girlfriend to marry. I asked him what kind of woman he wanted to find, and he said that he wanted to be a Chinese woman like me, have a good job, and support himself for the rest of his life, instead of relying on him. I said, "Fuck you, let's cool off!" Luckily, I spoke Chinese, and then I immediately switched to English and said, "Good luck." He asked me what kind of boyfriend I wanted to find, and I said Want 007's body and handsome.
One month later, William lost 20 pounds, two months later 30 pounds, and eight months later, 70 pounds, completely changing. The whole company cared about him, thinking he had a terminal illness. The 300-pound Mr. Hippo is now only 180 pounds. The perseverance behind this makes everyone who knows him admire him. I suddenly felt bad for him, and then... we fell in love.
My 43rd birthday was in William's rented house, who knew it was the Waterloo of our relationship.
That day, we invited a few colleagues to a birthday party. Personnel colleague Paul gave me a huge pet cage with a lovely couple of Dutch rats and their two little babies inside. I liked it very much, but William rushed over and his face changed greatly, holding the cage and yelling at Paul: "You fucking let them get out of my house! I don't want to see them!"
Paul, embarrassed, blushed and looked at me at a loss. All the guests were stunned, the living room was silent, I felt embarrassed, and tears poured out. When Paul took the cage out the door, I thought it was a birthday. Who knew that after Paul entered the house, William immediately acted as if nothing had happened, invited Paul to a beer and laughed. I understand the way foreigners go straight to things and not people, but William is so unreasonable. I broke up with him even though he later explained that he was extremely afraid of rats.
He and I are still colleagues and friends, it's just that there is no William in the bar after get off work on Friday.
mother left a letter
The following summer, I attended William's wedding. Sure enough, he married a Chinese woman, but the woman didn't have a job and brought a skinny 10-year-old boy with him. At the wedding, I saw William's mother, who looked like Queen Elizabeth of England, very noble and reserved. I thought to myself that the old lady wouldn't take the secret into the coffin, that would be too cruel.
With the birth of William's twin sons, I gradually did not have much opportunity to chat with William, and the secret sank in the water, as if forgotten.
Suddenly one day, William quit his job and wanted to take his wife and children to a seminary in the United States. This news shocked all my colleagues. Only I knew that it must be related to that secret. William said goodbye to me before leaving, saying that his current wish is to be a pastor after graduating from seminary, although it is difficult for a 52-year-old to change careers. I said some words of encouragement and sincerely wished him liberation from the secrets that had haunted him for decades.
After another four years, William got his wish as a priest in a remote town in eastern Canada. We made several phone calls and felt that he was a lot more cheerful and friendly. God may have made William forget that secret, I thought.
Unexpectedly, William suddenly texted me last month saying that he was at the airport and was flying to the UK soon, and that his mother had passed away. He said that he was very sad, not because he couldn't know the secret anymore, but because it was not easy for his mother to hide this secret all her life. There is always a hard wound in her heart that the sun can't touch, no one can help her, why should she do this?
William has been back from England for almost a month and he has not contacted me. I was worried when his text message came: "My mother left me a letter saying that my biological father is Pastor Charles. When I was a child, I went to church in town with my mother every Sunday to see him, and he personally Birth baptism (Christian ceremony) for me, he personally presided over the wedding of my mother and stepfather and the funeral of my stepfather. Pastor Charles died ten years ago and was buried in the cemetery next to the church in the town, not far from my stepfather The tomb is not far away. According to my mother's will, she did not join the tomb with her stepfather, but was buried alone in the farthest cemetery. Thank God!"
