Hard to Escape - Chapter 42

Yin Li quickly proposed to me but I turned him down. I felt like I still needed some time. I was uneasy. The last time I accepted the proposal, I discovered it was a sham. That experience left a shadow in my heart.

“I’m guessing you still didn’t recover from that. I’m sorry, it was my fault.” Yin Li was very understanding. “Then why don’t we go and take some time off. We rushed back from Mexico and didn’t have the chance to see Cancun and the Caribbean. Why don’t we do all the things we didn’t do on our itinerary last time?”

I kind of wanted to go to the Caribbean so I nodded my head.

Hence, we resumed to our Mexico travels.

This time, we set foot in a small town near Cancun: Playa del Carmen. It was the afternoon, and we walked the streets. Colorful stores lined the avenue and the sky was incredibly blue. The sun shone on the bikini-clad women in their bright swimsuits, and the contrast against the blue sky made them all the more beautiful. Ten minutes of walking and we were at the beach and Caribbean sea.

We drank wine and strolled across the beach in the dusk light. The wind was cool and refreshing, and the blue of the sea calmed one’s heart. The gentle, lapping tides kissed our feet, and our toes sunk into the fine sand. We had come back to Mexico within half a year but it felt like things had already changed with the passing of time. Yin Li didn’t bring up marriage. He just casually chatted with me.

“Do you remember how in Faust, Mephistopheles would give all the good things in the world to Faust? And if Faust was satisfied with anything that Mephistopheles gave him, then Mephistopheles would take his soul?” Yin Li took my hand as we waded in the sea. The wind ruffled his hair, disheveling his whole appearance. He didn’t look as sharp as before. On the contrary, he seemed more kind. “I feel like my soul is about to be taken by the devil.”

Though Playa del Carmen was in Mexico, it was the American tourists’ backyard. Many young English-speaking American couples passed us. They were laughing and fooling around, splashing water on each other. They had not a worry in the world. Further inland, beachside hotels were already preparing the outdoor candlelight dinners with red table cloths and flickering candle flames. Even further inland, a lone blonde guy was basking in the sea breeze drinking alone.

This was what peace looked like.

“Tomorrow, I’ll bring you to the beach during daytime. It’ll feel different than right now.” Yin Li smiled. “There’s a lot to do at the beach.” He gave me a goodnight kiss. “Let’s meet here tomorrow at nine.”

I couldn’t sleep the whole night.

The second day I arrived at the beach on time. There were a decent number of people. Some bikini-clad women were reading books and sunbathing on towels with their legs crossed. Others were sleeping on lounge chairs. It had already been thirty minutes since our agreed-upon meeting time. But Yin Li still didn’t appear. I called him but it didn’t go through. I went back to the hotel to find him but he wasn’t there either. The person at the front desk spoke minimal English and handed me a cup of coffee. I was beginning to feel a little worried, but I still sat in the lobby and waited. Yin Li would come back to the hotel sooner or later. Another ten or so minutes passed like this, and I was anxious with every passing second. I had a bad premonition. After all, this was a foreign country. As time passed, I was so worried I almost wanted to scream.

I fixed my gaze on the hotel entrance but Yin Li still didn’t return. However, a blonde guy rushed in with a panicked expression. “Does the guest in room 306 have a travel companion? He’s Asian. Does he have a friend here? He’s gotten into an accident.”

I stood up in a flash. My ears were buzzing. Room 306 was Yin Li’s room.

The blonde guy was still speaking but his voice seemed to undergo distortion by the time it reached my ear.

“The young man must have been swept away by the tides. Today’s winds and waves are a bit strong. His body has just washed up on shore.”

I felt dizzy, like I was going to faint. But I bit down on my lips and asked the blonde guy to lead the way.

There weren’t many Asian tourists but that didn’t mean there were none at all. Perhaps he got the wrong person. I didn’t believe it was Yin Li. Yin Li was the sort of person who was strong and arrogant. How could he just die like that?

This disbelief gave me the strength to walk to the beach. The police had already cordoned the area off with tape. Red and blue lights flashed. The tourists on the beach were grave yet curious as they were forcibly evacuated from that section of the beach.

In the sectioned-off area, I could vaguely make out the outline of a person. I recognized the shirt and didn’t have the strength to take another step. I collapsed and the blonde guy gave me a hand. I stumbled over, practically crawling on the ground as the blonde guy supported me all the way over.

The police were all speaking into their intercoms.

Right there, lying on the sand was Yin Li. His eyes were closed. His hair was soaked with seawater, with sand mixed in. His face and lips were deathly pale as he lay there.

“Yin Li! Yin Li! Yin Li! Yin Li!” I frantically shouted his name and surprisingly, my voice came out hoarse. “Yin Li, wake up!”

However, the body on the beach didn’t move. There wasn’t even a hint of expression on the face. I couldn’t accept this ending. It was only around 10 o’clock. It was cloudy, and the beach felt gloomy as the cold breeze blew. The sun peaked only a little bit out of the clouds but I felt as if I could seeing blinding, golden lights. I couldn’t see straight and started to cry. I tried to resist the dizziness and clutched a nearby police officer, shaking.

“Tell me this isn’t real! Why did it turn out like this! Yesterday he even told me that we would meet on the beach for a walk.”

The police officer looked at me with pity. In an accented English, he comforted me, “I’m very sorry for this.”

Another police officer walked by. “An eyewitness talked with him this morning. The man said that his girlfriend turned down his proposal, so he was planning on proposing one more time this morning, hoping that she would agree. He practiced his proposal over and over again. A pity he was too nervous. The ring box dropped in the sea. It just so happened that a wave came and swept the ring away. He wanted to retrieve it and ventured into the waters. The further you go, the bigger the waves. The water also gets deeper. That’s how he got swept away.” The police officer sighed.

I numbly followed his gaze and discovered that Yin Li’s hand was still clutching a ring box.

I wanted to rush up and hug Yin Li. He was probably terribly uncomfortable. I wanted to bring him away, but the police dragged me away. I screamed and kicked and cursed the filthiest words. But it was to no avail.

“Sorry, we need to follow the procedures.” The police then separated me from Yin Li.

A police officer crouched down and handed me a towel. “If he was alive, you wouldn’t reject his proposal, right? A life’s only so long. Why would you reject happiness?” The officer audibly sighed.

I clenched my teeth and sobbed. Blood leaked out of my mouth. The earlier fuss caused sand to enter my eyes, and I couldn’t stop the tears.

I felt like it was unreal and too sudden.

“Why did you reject him? Don’t you like him?” the officer asked.

“I didn’t know it would turn out like this! I didn’t goddamn know!” I was practically shouting at him. My tears were flowing and my nose was running. “I’ll marry him! I’ll marry him! If only he goddamn comes back to life!”

The officer sighed again. “If it’s like this, then why don’t we dance?!” The first half of his words were solemn and pained, but the latter half seemed giggly. He then started dancing.

His actions seemed to be a cue and all the nearby officers started dancing too in that warm, inviting manner.

“Ready, set, go!” An officer shouted. Music started playing and it seemed like the tourists’ gloomy emotions dissolved. The bikini-clad women tossed aside their volleyballs and started swaying their hips. I saw a sea of colors and smiles.

Yin Li stood up with the help of the blonde guy.

Actually, when the officer started singing, I felt like I had been tricked once again by Yin Li. But only until now when I saw Yin Li before me with that oh-so-familiar gaze in his eyes did I finally feel like he was really still alive.

Oh thank God.

The strength that was holding me up dissipated like smoke. I felt my limbs go weak and Yin Li quickly rushed over to hold me.

“Sorry,” he supported me up. I squirmed out of his embrace, trying to stand up straight. Then I gave him a big, resounding slap on the cheek. Yet he laughed, displaying a joyful smile. He hugged me tightly. “I promise this is the last time. Sorry.”

He caressed my face. “But you finally agreed.”

I was so angry I wanted to leave but the whole beach seemed to be infected with joy. Everyone started dancing around us and shouted, “Marry him! Marry him!” Then a person pulled me aside and a beautiful blonde bikini-clad lady put a veil on my head. Another person came to do my makeup. They pushed me into a makeshift tent and gave me a wedding dress to change into. I did all this in a daze. They then danced around me while ushering me out.

The crowd on the beach had cleared out an area and Yin Li stood in the middle of that empty space. He also changed in that instant. Right now, he was in a suit. He looked slender and tall. Once again, he was that handsome and untouchable Yin Li. He kneeled before me, took my hand, and proposed to me.

“I know what I did was dangerous, but I know your personality. If I didn’t give you a push, and if I acted like a gentleman you might never agree to marry me. You might not have rejected my kindness or my presence, but you might have dragged it on forever. However, I wanted you to marry me or else I would feel insecure.” Yin Li smiled. “I’m perhaps the most insecure man in the world. I seem to have stolen that line from many women.

“I only want you to know that I really need you. I need you there with me for the rest of my life. I’ve already said that you’re the star I intercepted midway through. I always thought that way. But now I don’t want to use such beautiful words to ask for your hand in marriage. I only want to ask you in the simplest and most honest manner.” Yin Li kissed my hand deeply.

I heard the noise of a helicopter up above. It was flying lower and lower, and I saw people on the helicopter waving to me. A red banner then unfurled down from the helicopter. It was such a bright red that against the blue of the sea and sky, it was so eye catching.

“Alicia, marry me!” Some tourists read the words on the banner. Then they started cheering and clapping.

I bit my lip and looked at the man kneeling before me. There was love and hate. After this scare, I still felt a little anger in my heart. How could he take his death as a joke? Looking at Yin Li’s complacent expression, I felt like I couldn’t relent so quickly.

“I agree to marry you, but not right now. My friends aren’t even here.”

Yin Li then looked at me, laughed, and gave a signal to the helicopter. The person on the helicopter returned an OK sign. Then I saw people jumping down from the helicopter one by one. Their parachutes opened midair in a bloom of bright colors.

The crowd grew loud again. Wu Ke, Yin Xuan, Wu Mei, and Madame Taylor appeared on the beach. The crowd pushed them in my direction. They were all beaming.

“We’ve already been here for a while. Yin Li prepared everything long ago.” Wu Ke smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. We already knew everything beforehand, but Yin Li bribed us with a free Caribbean vacation to buy our silence.”

“Yan Xiao, I’m also here.” There was another familiar voice. I looked up and saw a descending red parachute, and hanging from it was Mo Xing Zhi. Lifting my head even higher, I saw Li Jing also floating down.

Mo Xing Zhi landed first and ran over. “Yo, I still haven’t gotten over my jet lag. But parachuting is super cool. Especially since Yin Li is the one paying.”

I was speechless.

Yin Li slyly smiled. “I just knew you would say that Yan Xiao. That’s why I blocked all your escape routes. Since you’ve agreed and your friends are all here, why don’t we get married right now? See? I’ve even prepared your wedding veil and so many tourists are our witness. Though these cops are just street dancers I hired, the police were informed of this whole plan. Under all these eyes, will you please marry me? Yan Xiao, I love you.

“Of the six billion people in the world, you’re the only one I want to be with.” Yin Li’s eyes lit up. “I just want to be your Odile. So please, tame me and chain me down with marriage.”

Yin Li was wearing his black suit. Even his hair and his schemes were black. He really was like a prideful Odile. At this moment, the famous Odile with a dark past was in front of me. He was relinquishing his sinister freedom, begging me to shackle him.

“Let me put the ring on you and let me become yours.” He continued coaxing.

I looked at the man in front of me. In the past, would I have ever thought that the man whom I snatched the cigarette from would one day cross paths with me again and end up proposing to me?

Perhaps this was fate. It reminded me of that moment. When I thought that Yin Li had left me, that gut-wrenching pain made me clearly realize that I too needed him. As some people say: Once fate becomes too hard to defy, then why not give in? And hence, I decided to give in.

“Then promise me that you’ll outlive me,” I told him.

Yin Li knew I already accepted his proposal. He stood and kissed me for a moment. He put the ring on me and said, “I will. I will try my best to live. We’ll both live long, long lives. Like old spirits.

“I’ve already found a chaplain for today. Plus, these two chaplains have waiting too long for this day.” The sea of people parted and I saw an old white-haired couple. Their eyes were brimming with tears. It was as if seeing all this was their greatest joy in life.

“I didn’t entirely make up the story of being rejected by my girlfriend and then practicing the proposal only to be swept to sea. These events really happened on this beach. Twenty years ago, it was this old couple’s son, Arthur, who was unfortunate to have befallen such a fate.”

“Thank you, children.” The old lady kissed our foreheads. “We’re so happy to be able to see you marry and achieve such bliss. Arthur, wherever he is in the heavens, is sure to be happy for you too. God bless.”

Everyone—the strangers on the beach and the friends in the know—all had benevolent smiles on their faces. They came one by one to hug me and give their warm wishes.

Unknowingly, the fast-tempo music changed into a wedding march.

Everything happened so quickly in the morning.

Yin Li and I stood in front of the chaplains. They opened with those familiar words.

“Yan Xiao, do you take Yin Li as your husband for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?” When he said our Chinese names, his accent was weird yet adorable.

“Are you clear on what you’re doing?” Yin Li leaned over and asked. “Though I hope you immediately marry me, and the quicker the better, I still respect you. I hope that you are clear in your decision. Because after this moment, it’ll be hard for you to escape.” He looked at me.

I looked him in the eyes.

I recalled that someone once said every atom in our body once came from the boundless universe. Every atom that makes up our being comes from different planets, different galaxies, and different times. Yet they all meet here on Earth. Each one of us is a small planet. Every encounter and every love is a collision and a fusing of two planets that crossed lightyears of distance. Many planets, in the process of fusing, would be destroyed. The love of two different planets was the universe’s greatest struggle. Yin Li was that dazzling little planet that crossed my path. Moreover, this little planet was a rascal. He said, “You have freedom. You can choose to leave me.” But at the same time he clearly expressed that if I were to leave him, he would be destroyed.

He shone with such beautiful radiance. How could I bear to see him destroyed? I was willing to follow his lead in this fusion and comply with his rules. In the endless future to follow, I wanted to grow old with him as we fuse into a beautiful, dazzling planet.

“I know very well what I am to face.” I looked him in the eyes. Then I turned to look the chaplains squarely in the eyes. “I do.”

Yin Li looked at me and gave a slight smile.

Just as I said those words, the clouds parted and rays of sunshine shone down. The sea was peaceful and gentle.

Niang Niang: Thank you for being with us on this journey. I honestly have mixed feelings on this ending. Faking your death isn’t exactly the most romantic proposal, and Yin Li definitely deserved that slap on the face. But then again… that sort of proposal fits Yin Li’s personality very well since he can be such a rascal. With how kind he was to Yan Xiao for the second half of the novel, I almost forgot his original personality.

I’m happy that Yan Xiao truly realized her feelings for him. In novels with a female MC, relationships can seem one sided. Usually, the male lead is helplessly in love with the female lead. Don’t get me wrong, I love that trope. But oftentimes it feels like the female lead’s love for the male lead just pales in comparison. What Hard to Escape gets right is that by the end, their love seems balanced.

The whole planet monologue was… interesting? I thought it was semi out-of-character for Yan Xiao to be saying such things.

He shone with such beautiful radiance. How could I bear to see him destroyed? I was willing to follow his lead in this fusion and comply with his rules.

She grew in this novel from someone incredibly dependent on Yin Li to someone who could stand on her own. These lines seem like she’s taking two steps back.

Anyway, I know I’ve kind of bashed the ending.

But overall, I’d say that Hard to Escape is a rather unique story, especially in the context of the webnovel/translation scene. I’ve read many Asian romances and most have some sort of strong, perfect female lead. They’re smart, they excel in whatever they do, or they always come out on top.

Yan Xiao has some of those moments, but she also has moments where her imperfections are highlighted. She embarrassed herself at a party and spilled the drink all over herself. She’s dumb and gets fooled by Yin Li. She struggles with balancing ballet and her own life. In the end, she gives up a career as a ballerina.

However, she grows as a person, acknowledges her mistakes, and empathizes with others. And it’s not just limited to her. Yin Li becomes more self-aware of his actions. He also becomes less selfish and more supportive.

It’s nice to see all these characters have their own story arc, and I think that’s relatively unique in a simple romance novel. Hard to Escape has a simple yet beautiful message: everyone has their faults, their own stories to tell, and the power to change for the better.

Once again, thanks for reading.