by Jessica Gray
After lunch, he had a date with Patrick Armstrong and Angela Halliwell. He’d first met the famous photographer and his travel blogger girlfriend at a family meeting of Drake Armstrong, his sister Roxie’s boyfriend.
Patrick was easy to spot, with multiple camera bags looped over his shoulders. He waved at the couple, and with Nelson trailing along approached them. The family resemblance between the cousins Drake and Patrick was striking. The same steel blue eyes, dark hair and big frame.
He made the introductions and cast Nelson a warning glance. Already on the prowl again, the super-douche openly appreciated Angela’s beauty. She was a self-confident woman with long blond hair and sparkling caramel eyes that instantly made everyone feel comfortable around her. No wonder she was such a welcomed traveler and opened doors for her photographer fiancé wherever they went.
“So, you’re making a documentary about the festival?” Rowan inquired as the four walked around the large exhibits.
“Yes, that is, if I can get enough pictures. I knew it would be cold here, but this is ridiculous.” It was at least negative four degrees outside and the light breeze blowing, made it almost insupportable to remain outside in the elements. “In these temperatures, the camera batteries don’t last any time at all.”
Angela turned to him with a grin, saying, “That’s why I’m packing all the extra batteries in my pockets. I feel like a pack mule.”
“But a gorgeous pack mule,” Patrick said and kissed his fiancé on the lips.
Rowan felt a stab to his heart. Their love for each other was so obvious, so easy and natural. He wanted to have what they did. But he didn’t even have Joanna’s phone number or address. And after the fiasco last night, it wasn’t likely she would ever want to see him again.
They strolled the festival and Patrick took thousands of pictures of every sculpture from every possible angle, while Angela jotted down notes on a piece of paper.
“Usually I use my iPad, but it’s way too cold to take off my gloves,” she said, grinning at Rowan.
“Yeah. I can’t imagine actually living here. I’m already looking forward to the warmth of Beijing,” Rowan answered.
“Funny, how low double digits can seem warm, right?”
“Do you fly right back to the States when you’re finished in Harbin?” Rowan asked.
Patrick had approached them for yet another change of batteries and heard his question. “No. We first travel to Beijing. Angela wants to write an article about how the city has changed in the last decade. Something like a before and after, taking the Olympics as the ‘turning point’.”
“Turning point?” Nelsen asked, entering the conversation.
“Yes. When I was here in 2004 there weren’t any street signs in Latin letters. Nobody spoke a word of English and people were spitting on the street at all times,” Angela explained. “It was a real jungle and almost impossible to travel alone if you didn’t speak at least some Mandarin.”
“On one occasion, I ordered ‘Coca Cola’ in a restaurant, because it was the only Western drink widely known, and received strawberry yoghurt instead.” She laughed heartily at the faux pas.
“Nowadays it’s much easier,” Patrick chimed in. “People in touristy spots speak a few sentences of English, most signs are in Chinese characters and Latin letters…”
“…and there actually are walls between the stalls in public toilets,” Angela said.
“You mean? In the women’s bathroom?” Rowan stared at her with wide eyes. It was beyond his wildest imagination.
“Goodness knows I’m not prudish, but when I first entered a public toilet at a gas station with only five holes in the ground and four already occupied with Chinese women squatting and chatting while doing their business…I ignored their friendly gestures waving me forward and backed out the door in a hurry, deciding that I could wait another two hours until the bus reached our destination.” She grimaced at the uncomfortable memory.
“Traveling back then was a true adventure,” Patrick added and looped his free arm around her. “Today, it’s a piece of cake. Sometimes we miss the good old times, but usually we’re thankful for the ease of travel.”
If Rowan had thought adjusting to the ways the Chinese did things was difficult before, hearing their anecdotes made him see his own difficulties at the University in a different light. All in all, everyone had been accommodating and gone out of their way to help him.
As the time approached for Nelson and Rowan to catch their plane, they said goodbye to Angela and Patrick, but not before agreeing to meet up for drinks and dinner in the capital.
Patrick and Angela headed off to the other side of the festival and Nelson and Rowan returned to their hotel to fetch their suitcases from the reception. An hour later, Rowan flopped onto a hard and uncomfortable chair in the waiting area at his gate.
“These chairs are clearly meant for smaller people,” he groaned out.
“As was the bed in the hotel,” Nelson added.
“Yeah, man, I almost fell over your foot sticking out from the bed.”
Nelson rubbed his back. “It’s not like I can fit myself in a six-foot-long bed.”
Me neither, Rowan thought and glanced around, stretching out the kinks in his back and shoulders. His glance fell on a sign with two feet in different colors and the English words Relfex massage.
He gave a chuckle and elbowed Nelson saying, “Hey, you think some Relfex would help us?”
“What?” Nelson said stupefied. When he followed Rowan’s nod to the sign, he gave a curt laugh at the wrong spelling. “A foot massage. That would work wonders.”
“Do you actually believe in that reflexology and energy meridian stuff?” Rowan asked with wide eyes. He’d never pegged his friend as superstitious.
“Nah. But it’s nice and refreshes your feet after a long day. Though, an oil massage would work wonders on my tense back.”
Before Rowan could ponder the idea to try a foot massage, their gate agent notified passengers the plane was ready for boarding.
“So, what are you doing for Chinese New Year?” Nelson asked him as they took their seats inside the plane. It was the biggest celebration of the year and occurred about end of January, and virtually everyone in the country took some days off to spend with family and friends.
“Nothing. I just had vacation for Christmas so I can’t have days of right now. Instead, I volunteered for a forty-eight hour shift at the clinic, and some of the local resident doctors wanted to kiss my feet with undying gratitude.”
“I hope they were young, sexy, and female…” Nelson said.
“You’re a pig. But yes, some of them were rather good looking.”
“I guess this Chinese New Year celebration is as important to them as Christmas is to us. I might volunteer as well to gain some goodwill points with that sexy resident doctor from internal. I’ve been chasing her for weeks, but so far she’s always brushed me off.”
“With good reason,” Rowan said with a grin, glad to see him foiled for once. “Any self-respecting woman would brush you off.”
The stewardess came with their drinks and despite Nelson’s best attempts to get her phone number, he didn’t succeed.
“Looks like this is not your lucky weekend,” Rowan commented with a sliver of satisfaction. Nelson could do whatever he wanted and usually Rowan didn’t care how many women he seduced, but this had changed the moment he’d threatened to go after Joanna. Jin Yue. Just the sound of her Chinese name in his head made him smile while sending warmth into his heart. No way would he let Nelson make a move on her. Ever. She was much too precious for a douche like him.
“…why don’t you join us?” Nelson’s question catapulted him back to the present.
“Sorry. Join whom?”
Nelson cast him an impatient glance. “Two girls I met last week wanted to show me around Beijing during the holidays. The smaller one would be perfect for you…”
“No thanks. I have to work.” Rowan had no i
ntention of hanging out with Nelson and watching him play the local girls for fools ever again.
“Come on. You know how these forty-eight hour shifts work. Ask someone to cover for you and carry a beeper after normal hours.”
“There won’t be anyone to cover for me. But thanks.”
“If you change your mind…”
“…I’ll know who to call.” Rowan couldn’t imagine a worse way to spend the holiday than on another blind date with some random girl. He’d rather spend the days all alone. Thinking of Joanna.
At the Beijing airport they walked for what seemed like miles until they arrived at the baggage belt and then caught separate taxis. Nelson lived in an apartment house for expats, while Rowan still stayed at the student home on campus.
Due to an unexpected delay in renovations, aren’t renovations always delayed? he thought, his apartment hadn’t been ready as he arrived and he’d been asked to stay in a single room at the student homes.
He hadn’t minded too much, since he spent most of his time at the clinic anyways, but after two weeks he did crave some privacy. As he opened the door to his tiny space, with shared kitchen and bathroom, he found an official looking letter with printed Chinese characters lying on the floor.
He opened it and all but jumped up and down, when he read that his apartment would be ready for him to move in by the end of this week.
Chapter 13
Joanna slept through most of the seven hour train ride back to Beijing, ignoring Mei’s rants about Nelson’s betrayal.
“…don’t you think it’s strange that he doesn’t wear a wedding ring?” Mei asked as they departed the train and took a bus to the campus where they both shared a student dormitory with four other girls.
“Who?” Joanna looked into Mei’s dark almond-shaped eyes.
“Nelson. Where’s your mind, girl?”
With Rowan. With his impressive green eyes featuring those incredibly sexy brown specks. With his heart-stopping smile and his gentle caresses. And of course with his lips…and the kiss that almost turned me into a puppet to his demands. There was no way to forget him, try as she might. Her usually diligent mind refused to obey and even her body clung to the memory of his touch.
She needed a man in her life like she needed a failed exam. And thinking twenty-four-seven about Rowan would sure lead to the latter. Falling for an expat put her entire future at stake and she hadn’t worked so hard to be admitted to the prestigious Beijing University just to throw it all away for a man. A foreigner no less!
Girls like Mei might be willing to subjugate themselves and sleep with anyone, just for the chance at snagging a supposedly rich foreign husband. Not her! She had different plans for her life. And there was no way she would risk being seen as yet another “gold digger.” A girl whose sole purpose in life was to become a maintained wife and mother.
Joanna stuck out her tongue. Not with me! I’ll become a doctor first and foremost.
The roommates returned from dinner at the canteen, filling the dormitory with their chatter. Mei relayed the highlights of their trip, but Joanna was unusually quiet. Just for once she wished for a bit of privacy where she could sort out her turmoil of emotions and thoughts.
She tuned out of the conversation and unpacked her things, neatly stacking them into the tiny closet the size of a locker when suddenly Lin stabbed a finger at Joanna’s shoulder. Lin was a sturdy girl with brown hair and bushy eyebrows. She came from the highlands near Mongolia and like Joanna, she’d had to fight hard to convince her parents to let her go to the capital. Both girls had finished best in their class and since they both came from very modest backgrounds, they relied entirely on the governmental subsidies they received.
“What about you? You going home?” Lin asked.
It took Joanna a few moments to process the question. University closed for the upcoming holiday and most everyone took the opportunity to visit friends and family.
She shook her head. “No. It’s too far away and I don’t have the money to pay for the plane.”
“Jin Yue, are you sure you want to stay here?” a girl from the nearby city of Tianjin asked. “You’re welcome to come with me.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I really need to catch up on my studies. It will be nice to have a few quiet days here to do so.”
“But you’ll be all alone,” Mei said.
Lin shook her head and came to stand beside Joanna. “No she won’t. I’m staying as well.”
Mei looked puzzled saying, “I thought you were going home?”
“No.” Lin squeezed her hands and cast her eyes down. “We lost two buffalos because the winter was much colder than usual and my parents need the money for my fare to buy new livestock.”
Mei and the other girls nodded, but Joanna knew they didn’t fully understand the situation Lin’s parents were in. Nobody who hadn’t lived in one of those poor agricultural villages up in the mountains, could fully fathom what life was like there.
Joanna herself remembered all too well the days before they had electricity, running water and motorized transport in her home village. The day when her friend Wu had died, because there wasn’t a doctor within easy reach. Lin’s village today was much like Joanna’s had been a decade ago. It was a wonder that she’d even been allowed to study.
Those ethnic minorities in the northwest of China were even more traditional than the rest of the population and still valued girls less than boys. Exempt from the official one-child policy, it wasn’t unusual to send only the male offspring to school, while the girls had to do all the heavy housework, farm work, and other work, atop of taking care of their smaller siblings.
“We’ll make our own celebrations here. I’m sure there’s more students staying than just Lin and I,” Joanna said.
“Oh, yes. Let’s go and buy material for decorations right now.” Lin’s face lit up at the prospect of preparing their rather dull dormitory for the festive season.
“Now?” Joanna was tired from the long train ride and would rather slouch on her bed with a book.
“Yes, now! It’s a great idea,” one of the other girl’s chimed in. “Let’s all go. I love shopping!”
“Okay.” Joanna stood with a grimace and put on her boots and her coat. Beijing in January was cold. Low double digits cold. But compared with the arctic temperatures in Harbin, it felt almost warm.
The small dormitory filled with hustle as six girls readied themselves to go out. “Where’s my purse?”, “Did you see my scarf?”, “Wait, I forgot my gloves!” and more calls floated through the air until twenty minutes later everyone was ready to leave.
“Where should we go?” Mei asked.
“Silk Market,” someone answered. “They have the best stuff. And the cheapest.”
Everyone giggled as they rushed down the stairs and waved down a bus just outside the campus. The ride to the Silk Market didn’t take long and they jumped off the bus, spreading in different directions after agreeing on a meeting point in an hour from now.
The huge building called Silk Market buzzed like a beehive with vendor stalls and prospective customers. Joanna stayed with Lin and went up to the third floor to purchase red paper to make paper lanterns, candles, and a variety of flowers.
“We need to have some of those?” Lin cried out and pointed at a stall exhibiting red envelopes stenciled with gold painted characters.
“We sure do,” Joanna answered. The red and gold envelopes were a symbol to invite prosperity and luck to enter their homes. “We can even inscribe a few with our New Year’s wishes and hang them on the large kumquat tree in front of our dormitory building.”
“Oh, yes. That’ll bring good luck into our lives.” Lin hopped up and down. “What are you wishing for? A handsome and rich husband?”
“Surely not.” Joanna frowned at her roommate. “I’ll wish for acing all my subjects and being admitted to second year.”
Lin shrugged. “If you marry one of the rich foreigners, you won’t ha
ve to study so hard.”
“And I thought becoming a doctor was your dream? That you had to convince your parents for years until they allowed it?” Joanna answered, her hand caressing a soft patch of pink silk.
“Well, yes. But what will I do then? Go back to my village to be a miserably paid country doctor? A doctor nobody really trusts because I’m just a woman? No, I’d rather find myself a rich husband, and have him buy me a nice private practice here in the capital.”
“How much?” Joanna asked the vendor as she kept eyeing the precious silk. She could have a dress made from it…the vendor shattered her dreams with a price that was half her yearly allowance.
“That’s ridiculous,” Lin burst out. Both of them haggled with the vendor until they reached a new price slightly lower than a month’s living.
“Sorry, but I can’t,” Joanna said and turned after one more yearning glance at the shiny pink material.
“See, a rich husband would buy that for you without blinking. It’s really not that much money, it’s just that we’re so poor,” Lin stated matter-of-factly. “Some of the expats blow the same amount on a single meal.”
Joanna wrinkled her nose, thinking of the cocktails Rowan had bought them in the Shangri-La Hotel in Harbin. He hadn’t even blinked at the price and compared to what she’d Googled about prices in the United States, it was moderate. But for her…it meant eating at the canteen for an entire week for the price of just one cocktail.
When they met the other girls at the teahouse attached to the Silk Market an hour later, they ordered Jasmine tea. Chatting and giggling they shared their treasures: Plum blossoms, peonies, fake Wintersweet, ribbons in red and gold, plastic pearls, braids, pompons and a myriad of other bric-a-brac designed to craft festive holiday decorations.
Chapter 14
Monday morning arrived and Rowan found himself back in the emergency clinic. He and Nelson were working different shifts this week, but that was actually a blessing in disguise as far as Rowan was concerned. The less reminders he had of his time in Harbin and sweet Joanna, the better.
