Synopsis
An American-Hmong born, Madison Moua is ruthless and opinionated. She does things her way, and only her way. Although she shows kindness and respect to those who reciprocate the same behavior, she detests deceitful people the most. She loathes that older Hmong men like her paternal uncle are disrupting their nuclear familial structure and going to Laos to marry high-school age Hmong girls. She is furious at the fact that some girls purposely lead the men on as well to extract money from them. However, the most unacceptable fact to her is that now, the young Hmong Lao lads are engaging in the same activity. But what would she do when she suddenly finds out that she will be marrying Looj Xyooj, a Hmong man from Laos? Will she go against her morale and accept the marriage or will she protest against it with all her might?
Chapter 1
Looj.
That was his name. A word
borrowed from the Chinese, meaning dragon. But what kind of a dragon was he? Only time could tell. But for the moment, he lived up to the
epitome of his name well. A young man of
good spirit and heart, his parents gave him the handsomest of features and
height—dimples brightened his face any time he uses those happy muscles. His wit was unmatched too. Having been educated at Thammasat University’s
doctoral program, he was currently assistant professor at the National
University of Laos when his parents conveyed the news to him.
“I'm not going!” he protested. “I'm not throwing my dignity away like that.”
“Son, but your father and I want you to
have a better life,” his mother contended. “One where your opportunities are
limitless…where you won’t have to receive your paycheck three four months
later…and your father and I can retire from this hotel business with your
support.”
“And that opportunity comes with you moving
to America,” his father added.
“But...”
“No more,” his mother replied and hushed
him. “Your father’s friend has agreed to
marry you to his daughter so that you may easily go and stay in America.”
“But I have Paj Dawb already.”
“Aren't you interested in knowing which
daughter will be your future bride?” his father questioned him curiously.
“No I don’t. I have a girlfriend and a career here already.
I'm not going.”
“Remember little Maiv Dib...the one who
came with her parents to visit us many years ago...if I remember correctly, weren’t
you very fond of her...she...my son...will be your future wife...” his father
remarked and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Her name echoed in his head, and made him
nostalgic of the past. She had come with her parents to visit his family when
she was about 10. A girl reared in the
comfort of luxury and the ideals of being an expressive American, she was
unaccustomed to rural life in Laos. She
cried often during the trip, despising her parents for bringing her along. But her pure stubbornness and innocence have
etched a deep impression on him and after she left, he kept her in a special
place locked inside his heart. He had hope that someday when they were both
grown, he would receive the prospect of meeting her once more.
“So, what do you think?” his father
provoked. “Have you changed your mind?”
He snapped out of his daydream and looked
sternly at his father. “My answer is
still the same. ‘No!’” he replied
firmly.
“Why are you so stubborn?” his mother
cried. “Receiving the chance to go and
live in America is a golden opportunity dreamed by many young Hmong men. Why
are you so unyielding to the idea?”
“And why shouldn’t I be?” he slashed
back. “Life there may be suitable for
them, but not for me. I like living here
and doing what I’m doing. Besides, I
believe in being faithful...not only to Paj Dawb...but filial to you and
father, Mother. Who will take care of
the two of you when I’m not here?”
“Don't worry. I will take care of your father and your
father will take care of me. We're not
living in 1975 anymore. We don't need
you to stick with us like glue,” his mother answered. “What we need is financial freedom, and only
you can provide us with that.” His
mother said hopefully.
“But I can do that here too.”
“But we can’t wait, son,” his father
answered. “Actually...there’s something
we’ve been hiding from you for a while now. The truth is that your mother and I…have
recently taken out a large loan to buy another piece of land to expand the
hotel. But it turned out that we've been
conned and lost all the money. Now,
we're greatly in debt and this hotel business provides just enough for us to
get through each day. If we don’t find
the money soon to clear our debt, I’m afraid we’re going to lose everything
we’ve invested our life in.”
“How much money did you both take out?”
“About 1 billion kips,” his replied
stutteringly.
“1 billion kips! It’ll take me 5 years to earn that much!”
“Exactly son. But if you move to America, you might be able
to earn that amount in less than a year.
Then, you can help your mother and I out of our dilemma.”
“Why didn't you two discuss this with me
before doing anything else?” he asked angrily.
“We were...but you were so busy with your
university teaching that we rarely saw you,” his mother answered as if putting
the blame on him. “And then after we've
lost everything, what were we going to say to you too, son? That we were conned
and are now greatly in debt?”
“Yes...despite how busy I am, at least
discussing things with me will allow me to find an alternate route to help the
two of you.”
“But we’ve found that alternative
already. And, the quickest solution is
for you to move to America, marry Maiv Dib and stay there. Then you can work and send money home to help
your father and I become relieved of our debt.”
Looj sighed frustratingly. “Is this really the only solution available?”
His father nodded.
“We're sorry, son,” his mother cried. “Your father and I are truly sorry about this.
It feels as if we are selling our son
off to pay for our debt, but we know that you are kindhearted and honest and
you won't disappoint us.”
***
Madison Moua. That was her name. Although everyone called her “Maddy” for
short and those who could not pronounce her name fluently called her “Maiv
Dib,” instead. She had a pretty face,
milky skin tone that glowed like her short shoulder-length black-shimmering
hair. The younger of two daughters, she
was the one not yet married. A person of
style, her personality matched her outer appearance quite well—proud,
independent, and rebellious. Although
she held righteousness in high regards, her opinions though once formulated,
become biased and unchanged. She neither
understood nor appreciated her parents’ confinement of her role as a young
Hmong woman in America.
Despite of the fact that she was arranged
to marry the stranger from Laos, she bore no intention of being a faithful wife
to him. She detested the idea that more
and more young Hmong men from Laos are conducting an act of fraudulent by
enticing naïve Hmong American women into marrying them, disrupting the elder
women’s marriage life while destroying the future of the young ones, simply so
that they may come and live in America. Once
they earned an American citizenship status, the gold-diggers treat their wife
worse than an animal. She knew some of
the victims personally; they were parents of the high school students she taught. She had prayed that she would never be put in
the same boat, but it seemed that her prayers were futile. And now, her parents would not accept any
other response from her but to agree to the marriage. So, she vowed to make her marriage with him a
living hell so that he would return quickly to Laos to spread the news that
Hmong American women are not to be toyed with.
He would be arriving that evening, and she
could not wait to leave the house. She
quickly brushed up, grabbed her handbag and made her way to the door.
“Maddy, where are you going?” her elder
sister-in-law asked.
“To hang out with my friends,” she replied
with a smile.
“Didn’t Father tell you to stay home? Your fiancé will be here soon.”
“I don’t care. Since dad want him to be his son-in-law so
bad, dad can host him instead. I’m leaving,”
Madison said and left.
“Maddy!
Maddy!” her sister-in-law called after but she was gone.
***
She returned home late that night,
drunk. After making her way up to her
bedroom, she suddenly felt like vomiting so she quickly made her way to the
bathroom. But, it was locked. Her urge to vomit heightened and without
another second’s thought, she quickly grabbed the key and opened the door. She clung onto the toilet seat, and let her
stomach content emptied out into the toilet bowl. After feeling better, she sensed that the
bathroom was warm and water vapor floated everywhere. She got up and touched the glass mirror. It was wet too. Water had condensed onto it. Then she turned her ear to the direction of
the shower and heard water running, a sound that her ears had tuned out earlier
because she was not quite sober.
“Am I losing my mind?” she thought. “I thought I turned the shower off before I
left? Or…did a thief climb through my
window?”
Scared and panicked, her heart began to
race. She grabbed the toilet plunger
firmly in her hands, and took a few steps toward the shower. She was about to remove the shower curtain
when someone else moved it first. She was
arrested as she stared at a man with water steam flying away from him. He was half-naked except for a towel wrapped
around his waist. Frightened, she shrieked. She shut her eyes tight and began to hit him
with her plunger. He, nonetheless, ducked
successfully and she smashed into the shower walls and curtain instead.
“Stop!
Stop!” he shouted while trying to halt her action, but the girl
continued on.
Since she kept moving, she lost her grip
as the wet tile floor caused her to slip.
And while falling down, she accidentally pulled on his towel and it too
tumbled to the floor. She looked up at
him, and the two froze while staring at each other. They both screamed, shaking the entire house
like thunder and lightning had just stroke it.
***
She
was forced to sit next to him, but feeling annoyed and angry, she scooted to
the side of the couch. She stared at her
parents as they too looked on in disbelief at her physical state.
“Where
did you go all night?” her father asked calmly.
“To
hang out with my friends,” she answered.
“So
after I demanded that you remain at home, you decided to go out and get drunk?”
“Why
not? It’s not as if there’s anything
important to do at home,” she replied.
“Besides, that’s not the point dad.
The point is who gave him permission to use my bathroom?”
“I’m
sorry,” the young man answered. “I didn’t
know. But since it’s connected to my
room too, I thought it would be okay to use it.”
“Well,
it’s not because that bathroom belongs to me only!” she protested.
“Maddy…”
her father called to halt her. He then
turned to the young man. “It’s okay,
son. Don’t worry about it. Your room is connected to that bathroom, and
you are equally entitled to use it.”
“Dad…”
she continued with her disagreement.
“I
was hoping that you would stay home so that I can properly introduce you to
him, but since you decided to leave, it’s fine that you have to meet him this
way…sooner or later…he will be your husband, daughter,” her father remarked
with a smile. “Maddy, this is Looj Xyooj,
your husband.”
“Oh…so
he’s the gold-digger from Laos whose father sold him to be my husband to pay
off their family’s debt…no wonder he has no sense of refinement,” she shunned.
“You!”
her father responded. “If you don’t have
anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all. Go back to your room now.”
Maddy
sneered at Looj. “Don’t raise your hopes
too high,” she remarked. “You and all
those Hmong men from Laos are the same.
I will never ever like a person like you. And even when you and I are married, don’t
dream that I will support you with a single penny!”
“Go
to your room!” her father demanded.
Irritated
and frustrated, she marched away.
Looj
clutched his right hand into a fist at being humiliated. Madison’s father could sense Looj’s anger,
and sat down next to the young man.
He
sighed. “Don’t put too much weight on
the silly girl’s words. She may be too
frank and direct sometimes, but I raised her and know that deep down, she’s a
good person. If you can prove her
thoughts wrong, you two will live a happy life together. For now, don’t worry about money. I will help you out until you land a job
here.”
Looj
nodded.
“Come. You must be tired from the long trip. You should go to sleep now. We have a lot of things to do in the coming
days for the wedding.”
***
Eight
in the morning, and both Looj and Madison came out of their rooms at the same
time. When she saw him, she irritably glared
at him before running downstairs first. He slowly followed behind her.
“How was
your sleep?” her father asked Looj when the lad made his way toward the
breakfast table.
“I’m
not used to the time difference so had a bit of a trouble sleeping,” he
answered.
“You
will get used to it,” her father replied.
“Dad, I
don’t think so,” Madison interrupted. “Maybe
he was thinking about all the girlfriends he’s missing in Laos and all the new
girlfriends he will meet in America, that’s why he had a sleepless night.”
“Are
you jealous?” her father questioned.
“Jealous? What are you talking about, dad? Jealous of what?”
“Jealous
that your soon to be husband will be snatched away from you.”
“That’s
preposterous!” she responded immediately.
“Why would someone like me be jealous of a guy that came out from the Stone
Age? On a second thought, I really hope that
he gets snatched away. The sooner the
better. In that way, I can regain my
independence.”
Her
father looked on unhappily at his daughter’s ill remarks, which made her mother
uncomfortable at the tense air. “Daughter,
eat your food. It’s getting cold,” she
rushed Madison.
Madison
sneered satisfyingly at Looj, and dipped into her breakfast soup.
“Since
you’ve just arrived, you must be wondering how America looks like. Why don’t we do this? Maddy can take you on a tour of the town,” her
father suggested, causing Madison to choke on her soup.
“Are
you okay?” her mother asked.
She
nodded and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“In the
afternoon, we’ll meet up to discuss the wedding.”
“Dad,
why are you doing this to me?” Madison questioned.
“Do
what?”
“Have
Hmong Lao guy stick with me? I’m meeting
up with my friends today. I can’t take
him on a show and tell trip.”
“Fine,
then take him with you and your friends.”
“I can’t
do that either. He’s a
country-bumpkin. He’ll just be an
embarrassment.”
“Madison! For once…can’t you say anything nice about
Looj?” her father asked angrily.
“No, Dad! Not while I am being forced by you to marry.”
Her
father sighed. “You either take him with
you or both of you will be staying home today, your choice.”
“Dad!”
“Have I
not made myself clear?”
“Daughter…don’t
argue anymore. You know how your father
is. If he’s set his mind on something,
it’s final,” her mother tried to calm her down.
“Just give it a try. I’m sure it
won’t be as bad as you think.”
Madison
sneered at Looj, who returned a gentle smile.
