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"Life is a Gamble" There she stood, the most enchanting woman he'd ever laid eyes on. He never knew it if twas the way she leaned against the dark, thin trunk of the fully bloomed cherry tree, or something in the glimmer of her amber eyes that caught his sight. All he knew was passion, adoration, and an insatiable need to make her his wife. Noticing his glance, the beautiful woman smiled ever so slightly, her eyelids lowering slightly to welcome his approach. And so it was they fell in love. It seemed a dream, a blessing, something more wonderful than earth offers to most mortals... Ah, how lust robs one of his foresight. In the parks within the city the two would rendezvous under starlight every evening. It was but two moons into their affair when she appeared an hour late. Tears had stained her cheeks red, and soaked her lapel. He begged her to explain, but she could not find the words. Rather she took his hand and placed it to her belly. A pregnancy... Her background of wealth was not something a man of his stature could easily match. To save her from a lifetime of shame and exclusion, the man had to take her hand in marriage. Yet how could he pay for a wedding extravagant enough for her parents? He had a measely fifty thousand gold coins stashed beneath his bed, a tenth of what he'd need. At best he had a month during which his lady could hide her condition with clothing. What man can earn tenfold his life savings in a moon? There was only one answer; He headed to the darkest corner of Southern Koguryo and met a one-eyed man who lead him to a shaded, smoke-filled room. Around a table sat an assortment of odd travelers, some more suspicious than others. The one-eyed man locked us in the room, and sat at the head of the table. He muttered a single sentance, "Ante rolls, zeroes are wild." The man played cautiously at first, but seemed to have the winds of the gods beneath his dice... Winning again and again, he became foolish and bet his entire purse on a single hand. Though he rolled an amazing hand; the fellow next to him had slightly better fortune, and took the jackpot. Tragedy! The three-hundred thousand he'd gathered may've sufficed... But his hands were now utterly empty. When he told his lover of the news, she became so straught with grief she fell ill. The sickness nearly killed her, and in a bittersweet twist of fate, the child inside her was lost. The man knew this was a sign; He promised to her his eternal love, the deed to his soul... and left to the big city to earn a new fortune to marry her with. The man knew that he yet again had taken a terrible risk -- a woman so beautiful would not be without courtship -- But he had lost it all, and felt there was nothing more to sacrifice but this. Twas many years, nearly two decades, before the man returned, wealthy. Through parchment and paper the two kindled their love, though she had written less in past years... When he made his way home, at the gates of his village stood the most breathtaking woman he'd ever seen. Age and loneliness scarred her face, blinding others of her beauty. He knew there was no cloud dark enough to block her brilliance in his eyes. To his deepest joy she had waited, all these years, to see him once again. They were married, an occasion far more grand than any given to a woman so-old to wed. After a lifetime of risks and bets, pay-outs and down-falls, the man's greatest bet of all paid off. His most beautiful treasure, his wife, would be in his arms for the rest of time. by Mingzhe | |