The Times We Had

In the dimly lit room of a jacuzzi hotel, Susan was gyrating her hips as she straddled Chuck gleefully.

"It's just us tonight again…" she purred with devilish charm.

Somehow, Chuck couldn't get interested—the sight of Susan's face kept reminding him of Lisa's pale face somehow.

As Susan kept pressing herself on him, he pushed her away irritably.

"Ah!" she yelped as she fell backward into the jacuzzi, the huge splash finally catching Chuck's attention, and he turned.

Her cleavage was clear for all to see, while her wet hair was clinging to her neck and chest.

Chuck couldn't tear his eyes away from her skin, which was reddened from the hot water.

Seeing him gulp as his eyes lit up, Susan in his eyes, she fought back the petty resentment in her heart and pressed against him enthusiastically.

Soon, his grunts and her moans echoed around the room.

Even as Susan wrapped her arms around Chuck's neck, her eyes glinted maliciously where he couldn't see.

Sooner or later, she would make Chuck completely forget about Lisa!

-

The next morning, Chuck returned home after much hesitation and was absolutely stunned when he opened the front door.

Most of Lisa's belongings that she kept in the living room had disappeared, and there was a pile of paper scraps on the floor next to the dining table.

Chuck felt a foreboding sensation even as he rushed over to pick them up, and he had barely pieced them together when he paused, shocked by the bold letters that read 'marriage certificate.'

The photo was torn down the middle, and Chuck couldn't piece them together no matter how hard he tried.

And it felt just like how his marriage with Lisa couldn't be mended..

Stricken by panic and disbelief, he realized right then Lisa was really going to divorce him—that was why she had even torn up the marriage certificate!

Still, he looked around, muttering to himself, "No, we're not divorced yet! I'll just have them reissue the marriage certificate, and then apologize to Lisa. She'll definitely forgive me..."

With that in mind, he whipped out his phone and called the Civil Affairs Bureau.

The clerk on the other end of the phone listened to his request and assured him, "It's alright, Mr. Smith. As long as you're legally married, the marriage certificate can be reissued."

Chuck breathed a huge sigh of relief, and he gave the clerk his and Lisa's ID numbers as asked.

After a while, the clerk asked hesitantly, "Mr. Smith… Are you sure you're legally married to Ms. Adams?"

Chuck was stunned, and his heart began to pound violently. "Yes, we are. We registered at the civil affairs office down Basti Road."

"But you were never registered as married," the clerk replied. "As for Ms. Adams, she was registered as married to a Mr. Locke seven years ago, although that was officially delisted just five days ago too."

Chuck's mind went blank. What the clerk said was simply ridiculous!

"How can that be?!" he exclaimed. "I have our marriage certificate right here in my hands, and we've definitely been married for three years! How can we be unregistered?! Is it some clerical error?"

"Sir, the bureau's registration system is online 24/7 nationwide. It's impossible for any clerical error to last that long…"

The clerk then suggested hesitantly and awkwardly, "However, may I ask you to examine the photo on the certificate? Genuine marriage certificates will always have a watermark imprinted on each photo…"

Chuck stared blankly at the photo on the certificate for a moment.

Not about to give up, he brushed a finger over it, but it was smooth and showed no hint of a watermark!

His and Lisa's marriage certificate was fake!