Back in hotel, my body was somewhat tired out, while my mind could appease little, containing nothing but every detail of the night.
Once and again I took out my card, on which she wrote her name and her mobile number. What a poetic name! How handsome her writing! But it gloomed me painfully when my sense returned a bit —What came next? In two days, I would leave this city, and maybe everything would come to an end. While my sense and sensibility was still in the battle, my body, however, failed to support the disturbing mind, and soon I fell asleep.
It was already ten o’clock when I was wakened up with a start by the ringing of the phone. I took up the receiver, and my friend’s voice reminded me of our schedule to visit the Palace Museum today.
After refreshing myself with a morning shower, and bolting down a bowl of noodles to keep myself from starving, I rushed to our destination, rather for the hospitality of my friend than for the eagerness for such a world-well-known masterpiece of the hardship of the ancient Chinese people—Beijing had totally smashed all my expectation, and thus my interest in her so-called famous scenery spots, with her disagreeably uninviting foods, her freezing cold weather and her gloomily polluted air.
My friend had bought the tickets when I arrived. With his guiding and the introduction of its history, we began our journey. Every spot was so quickly passed through as tourists were forbidden to have access to most of the palaces. But apparently other tourists appeared to be so charmed by its majesty, nobleness, and uniqueness that they kept taking photos and exclaimed with respectful surprise while quite a few guide-like girls here and there were so eloquent and untired with their introduction. So crowded and noisy it was that I wouldn’t have noticed the ringing of my mobile but for my friend’s good hearing.
An unknown number from Beijing.
“Hello”, I answered the call, surprised and puzzled.
“Hello, this is..is the girl you met last night, Guo YR.”, there came the sweet and heart-throbbing voice.
“Ooh…”, I suddenly ran out of my wits, totally dumb and incapable of any more words.
A few seconds of embarrassing silence proceeded till she seemed to recover herself and asked me where I was and what I was doing. The truth was told, and the conversation paused again. The more I scratched my head on a new topic, the blanker my mind became. Finally she broke the silence again and ventured to ask me if I was free that night, and continued with the question if I would like to go around in Xidan after receiving my positive answer.
The invitation was delightedly accepted, and the time and place was then fixed by the two eager hearts.
To my surprise, my friend vanished into the air when the called was finished. Just as I was wondering whether I should keep waiting or look for him, I saw him waving and walking to me in the crowd.
“Trying to escape? Don’t forget that you are my guide today.” I said to my friend, jokingly.
“No doubt you are over-absorbed in the call. Don’t you know it’s you who wandered and wandered away so secretly? I guess your consciousness has not returned yet”
“Ooh? Really?” I smiled, embarrassedly.
The visit continued, and the weather seemed to become agreeable with the sunshine pouring on, while my interest in this palace began to wake up. They said, beauty was in the eyes of the beholder, and it really was.
We would head to QuanJuDe Roast Duck after the visit according to our schedule, but I made up an excuse and returned to the hotel, as the dating had filled in my heart.
Having decently addressed myself although it was somewhat early for the dating, I took up a magazine and browsed for a couple of minutes, and then watched TV for a while, and then rose to my feet and kept strolling in the room and looked at my watch from time to time. As time drew on, my impatience grew more restless. And finally I decided to set out to our place lest there would be traffic jams.
It was some minutes earlier when I arrived. I watched people passing by, and wondered if they were as happy and excited as me now, and even wished I could convey my happiness to them and light the world.
Amazed I was when I saw her coming out her office building—The dark long skirt, the wine-red handbag and the delicate make-up on her face made a gracefully decent look totally different from that of last night.
“You look so charming today.” I greeted her.
She smiled, and asked if the plan of spending the night on going shopping after dinner would do for me, to which I expressed no objection.
The restaurant was particularly chosen, and the dinner time cheerfully and romantically spent.
Walking out of the restaurant hand in hand, I found our conversation still kept so going on and on that I doubted why I had never been so talkative before. We kept walking around, sometimes in the shopping mall, sometimes out on the commercial street, turning a blind eye to the varieties of the articles and a deaf ear to the yelling of the salesladies.
When people on the street diminished gradually and some of the shops began to close their doors, I couldn’t help feeling a bit agitated. It dreaded me to imagine the disappointment and sadness on her face when I told her it was time to go back, but I knew as well that we could not possibly walked on and on.
“Do you have to work tomorrow?” Finally I asked, a sense of cruelty mounted upon my mind.“Yes, why?”
My silence and expression revealed everything, and seconds later she seemed to understand my question and looked at me. I hated such an eye contact.
“Ooh, it was some late,” she said, after pretending to glance at her watch, “Let’s go back.”
Her determination scared me, but I said nothing, and followed her into a taxi.
Some minutes later, we stopped in front of a building, which I guessed was her dormitory.
“So, you won’t be able to see me tomorrow?” “I am afraid not”. I answered while my head lowered so as to avoid her eyes.“That means…”“Mmm…”, I nodded, even though she didn’t finish her words.
Silence.
I knew it was time for me to make the decision before it was too late. So, I hugged her and kissed her tenderly, and asked her to let go my hands. She kept shaking her head, tears flickering in her eyes.
“I will come back to see you again, I promise”, I tried to appease her, with the feeble comfort and the forced smile on my face, yet, I could see the doubt in her eyes. Suddenly, she put her hands around my waist, and held me tight, her body trembling. It was by that time that I felt how helpless and cruel I was. I had foreseen such a separation, but I never expected it to be so painful.
“I will miss you.” I heard her sobbing. “I will miss you too. Now, Go back, ok?”
A minute or two, she let go my body, took a look at me, which I would have avoided if I could, and then turned back and stepped into the building slowly.
I turned round too and walked towards the street, my heart being stabbed, not by the coldness of the night wind, but the anguish in her tearing eyes. As I was just about to wave to a taxi, I heard my name was being called and looked back. There she stood in front of the building gate. Seeing my turning back, she suddenly crouched down, and began to cry like a baby.
I ran to her immediately.
“Come on, stop crying, What’s wrong?.” I know what was wrong.“I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you to leave…” she threw her body on mine, while her cry aggravated.“Ok, Ok. I am here with you…”
…
The trip in Beijing was soon finished, after we visited a few clients the next day. Having packed our belongings, we headed to the train station at 6pm.
There is no chance for my mind to go astray when staying with my colleagues. We talked, laughed and waited for the start of the train engine.
6:50pm. Ten minutes before the train started. A colleague said to me that he heard my name was called in the train announcement. And it was. I rushed to the broadcasting room, totally puzzled who would be seeking for me, and could hardly believe my eyes when I caught sight of her in the room.
As the train was about to set out, I took her off the train and noticed she walked with a limp.
“What’s wrong with your leg?” “I was in such a hurry that I sprained my ankle just now.”“Hurting you now?”“No.” she smiled.“Foolish girl. Cover some ointment on it when you go back, see?”“Mmm.”“How do you know which train I take?”“I don’t know the time, but I remember it is in the afternoon. So I called the train station to check it out. I bring you some fruits.”
I took the fruits and a glance at my watch, and then at her. Her lips trembled, and tears began to trickle down her cheeks. I touched her hair and her face, wiped away her tears, and then after a deep and fervent kiss on her lips, walked towards the train.
After hurrying back on the train, I sat beside the window and saw her just outside my coach. It was so near, but never could I touch her any more. She kept waving goodbye to me slowly, tears streaming down her face. It had never been my way to express my sad emotion with tears, but for that moment, I could no longer fight back my tears…
The train whistled and began to pull out. Her figure began to dwindle and blur, and then, vanished out of my view…
(The End)
