He threw his wife to snakes. Then the unimaginable happened. The thought of your spouse being unfaithful is one that most of us dread, but it seems to happen often. Some women might find this comforting, and some men feel like ghosts who haunt a new woman every day. Rachel Cooks had lived with her grandmother in a small town in Minsk that had long been famous for its dense forest, Rivers, and Lakes.
As a little girl, she had fallen in love with nature. Rachel liked to swim in the Lake and wander the winding forest paths, dreaming that one day it would lead her to a fairytale Castle where beyond the walls, a handsome Prince. The girl had no memory of her mother, and by the time she came of age, she considered her grandmother the closest and dearest person in the world.
Mrs. Cooks, trying not to break her granddaughter’s heart, preferred not to remind Rachel that her mother had died during childbirth and that her father had abandoned them long before the girl was born.
That is how they live, always understanding each other and supporting one another and everything. Which was, of course, until time mercilessly time came for Mrs. Cooks as it usually comes for everyone. The old woman was hospitalized with complications after a chronic illness. She never came out dying just a few days before her birthday, Rachel’s grief was immeasurable by will of relentless faith.
The unfortunate girl became an orphan at the age of just under 20 years alone. She chose not to give up and continue to keep her home in perfect order, trying to keep everything just as it was when her grandmother was still alive. Despite her impressive appearance at slim figure, Rachel at the time had no boyfriend. This was likely due to her innate modesty coupled with the good upbringing that her grandmother had provided her. Quite a few young men had tried and failed in their attempts to woo Rachel.
She simply smiled at each of her suitors shabby advances, making their hearts beat with renewed vigor. No relationship would come out of this, though. When Jordan Jimmy appeared in town, Rachel’s life was flipped on its head. It wasn’t that he was a handsome fellow or some seductive womanizer. No, it was the lad’s character that drew the lonely orphan in against her will.
Jordan turned out to be a good guy and immediately turned his attention to the modest beauty Rachel, setting himself the goal of winning her heart. Jordan was from out of town and came from the big city where he had already annoyed his parents. His parents’wealthy, businessmen deliberately exiled him to his distant relatives in a provincial town in order to knock him down a notch and moderate his ardor. Seeing Rachel at the supermarket, Jordan had no hesitations. He approached her and immediately offered her to go to the movies with him in the evening.
Rachel was stunned, and the provincial beauty and her confusion yielded to Jordan’s brave approach, agreeing to go with him. That night, Rachel, for the first time in a long time, felt happy. Jordan came to the date with a bouquet of roses and appeared before her as a gallant gentleman, showering her with compliments.
The movie was quite simple, but the young couple likely remembered none of it, as they had been occupied in the back rows of the theater, kissing each other passionately. Cupid had probably already strung his bow then and there, aiming at the passionate hearts that pulled toward each other.
So after that memorable evening, Jordan and Rachel began seeing more of each other every day, and with each meeting they got closer and closer. The climax of their relationship was the night they spent at a motel, after which Sally began to consider herself Jordan’s wife. Unfortunately, deep down, Jordan didn’t share those feelings. He preferred to lead a wild and uncommitted lifestyle. News of Rachel’s pregnancy sobered the lovers up, who were mad with passion for so long.
The naive, provincial girl thought that this would mean marriage was around the corner. But as it turned out, Jordan didn’t have that in his plans. He tried to get rid of her by leaving her in forest with predator animals. He put a plan for leave her inside snakes pit. But God’s will is more.
I think we shouldn’t see each other anymore. I’m not ready to be a father, and I’m not ready to look into the eyes of my disappointed friends and family, Jordan said, and almost immediately abandoned the girl for whom he claimed to have such fervent love. Not long ago, after his words, he left her with giant snake by a brave old man save her life and sent her to study another country. Rachel felt disgusting. Tears welled up in her eyes.
The girl, brought up on romantic ideals, did not expect such cruelty from someone so close and beloved to her. Without another word, Rachel wandered home, struggling to not burst into tears. In the middle of the forest, Jordan left with his new girlfriend and spread more rumors about Rachel, who was like snake and made Satanic rituals with he had seduced a once unapproachable provincial beauty.
Meanwhile, Rachel, just like her mother, once was left alone, abandoned by a boy who was afraid of the responsibility of being a father to his child. Embarrassed by her growing belly from day to day, the unfortunate orphan constantly felt the unkind looks of the town’s people who considered her a promiscuous girl.
Often in the evenings, Rachel wept. She looked at a picture of her mother, who had died in childbirth and who didn’t have time to enjoy the happiness of motherhood with each passing day. Living in city, it was becoming unbearable for the pregnant, abandoned girl, who was humiliated and tied to get rid of her by throwing her in snakes pit near forest.
In the supermarket, women pointed fingers at Rachel and smiling snidely, exchanged obscene rumors, unable to endure the taunts and mockery. She gathered her modest belongings and bought a ticket to Bangor.
Arriving in one of the largest city of sin, Rachel got a job in a sewing factory and was determined to start her life over. Of course, in the beginning, the girl had to sleep in cheap hostels and roadside hotels until she found it got a place in the dormitory intended for factory employees of valuables.
Rachel only had an old laptop with her that she used to do 3D modeling, a fantastic pastime that eventually became her hobby and source of additional income. She was still far from being a real programmer, of course, but she was not discouraged and honed her skills daily over time. Rachel finished her 3D design courses and decided to change jobs after graduation.
Since she was too far into her pregnancy to continue working in a factory, Rachel had to stop. She sent out her resumes to all the offices in the city without exception, and waited patiently for an invitation to work. And one day an offer came from the office of a company that created 3D models of products for online stores. After the interview, Rachel, despite her pregnancy, was hired to work remotely. The determined girl latched onto the job like a drowning man onto a life ring.
She spent days and nights in front of her laptop screen. She took any work that would bring her any money whatsoever, no matter how meager. Even the birth of her little son, who the happy mother named Peter, couldn’t stop her from being creative. With one hand, she cradled her belly. Rachel refused to go on maternity leave.
She tapped at the keys of her laptop, meeting deadlines order after order that she had received from the head of the firm. Any other girl would have probably given up and gone back to the provincial town, but not Rachel, who burned her old bridges and wasn’t willing to return to the condemning eyes of her friends. Seven years of good and bad work flew by as if it were a mere 24 hours. Over time, Rachel’s diligence and innate talent was noticed by her firm’s director, who appointed her head of the Department. It’s hard to even imagine what incredible effort this provincial girl had to endure to achieve this position, one that all of the firm’s employees had dreamed of.
Now she is referred to as Ms. Cooks by her subordinates. They respectfully bother heads, admiring her talent in 3D modeling and her stellar business acumen deep in their hearts. Now Rachel’s mornings begin with a cup of coffee and a review of the previous day’s reports provided by her personal Secretary while his mother continued to climb the career ladder. Little Peter lived in the house Ms.
Cooks had bought with the money from the loan she had taken out. All the while, the boy was being looked after by a nanny who Sally had hired to take care of him because of the nature of her job, Ms. Cooks often had to use the services of Airlines flying from one side of the country to the other. So it was this time, too, when Rachel had the honor of traveling to Chicago, where she was to make a presentation at the firm’s headquarters. Absorbed in her thoughts, Ms.
Cooks boarded the cab that was to take her to the airport with a folder of business papers. With a nod to the driver, Rachel concentrated on reading the papers to make good use of her free time to prepare her report. Suddenly, the woman felt the gaze of the cab driver, who, without the slightest embarrassment, openly looked at her from head to toe. Rachel looked up and quietly groaned. Jordan, is that you?
What are you doing here? She asked, holding the gaze of the man who had broken her heart seven years ago before. I’m glad you recognize me. What am I doing? Well, as you can see, I’m working and look at you.
