Married by Accident [ZhanYi FF]

Chapter 4 - In the meantime

Chapter 4 - In the meantime

When Yibo came back to his mini market from his appointment with his lawyer, he was annoyed. First his lawyer had had to postpone the appointment for two weeks for health reasons, and then he didn't even have any good news for him. "What do you mean the annulment has already been denied?" Asked Yibo when the lawyer told him that they didn't need to file a request for annulment.

"Okay, now let's go step by step. The same day you called me and we made the appointment, in the afternoon, Ms. Ling Lara came to my office and handed me your marriage certificates. She asked me to prepare already an application for annulment of the marriage between her and Mrs. Yue Eva, and between you and Mr. Xiao Zhan. She said that it is urgent because she is pregnant and wants to marry the father of the child very soon. I promised her to look at everything and prepare everything. I did that too. But then I got sick and had to postpone our appointment. When I came back to the office, I immediately went back to work and submitted the annulment application. But then I learned that the annulment had already been denied." Explained the lawyer.

"How can the annulment have already been rejected?" Yibo wanted to know.

"I asked that too and I was handed documents showing that Mr. Xiao Zhan and Ms. Yue Eva had already applied for an annulment. But this was rejected by the judge in charge. The reason given was that you waited three years to apply for an annulment."

"Yes, because we didn't know that the registry office had made such a mistake."

"That was also the reasoning of Mr. Xiao and Ms. Yue's lawyer. But the judge still rejected the application. The lawyer of the two even reminded that same-sex marriages are not supported in this country and thus the marriages cannot be valid at all. But then the judge said that the marriages were properly registered and therefore they were legal."

"How can that be?"

"Through a loophole in the law. In any case, the fact is. An annulment is out of the question. You and Mrs. Ling, must officially apply for a divorce."

"Great. So we have to do that now."

"I've already contacted Mr. Xiao and Ms. Yue's lawyer. They both want to settle this in a small way and not in court. They would be in favor of everyone gathering in a conference room and then in the presence of a judge, the divorces are discussed and in the best case, finalized immediately."

"That sounds good to me. I'd be in favor of that, too."

"Good, then I'll inform the lawyer about it. But I still need Mrs. Ling's signature, for the consent form. Since it's two divorces."

"I'll tell her. She wanted to be here today. But she couldn't make it because something happened at work."

"Yeah, she called me earlier and told me she couldn't make it. Since you guys still live together, I can give you the paperwork for her. She should read them over, sign them, and then just mail them to me. Then I'll call you as soon as we have an appointment."

"Okay. I hope we get divorced on the same day."

"We're going to try. But I don't want to promise anything. It's probably not going to be easy." Said the lawyer. Yibo immediately got a stomach ache. They then discussed a few more details before saying their goodbyes for the time being.

When Yibo had calmed down a bit, he sat behind his cash register and looked at the handkerchief with the initials XZ in his hand, lost in thought. He had washed it the same day after XZ gave it to him. By now, Yibo is very sure that XZ is indeed Xiao Zhan. And every time he held the handkerchief in his hand, which is several times a day, he had to think of the man who was so kind to him and gave him the handkerchief.