Shanghai
"Tell me again the reason that I have to come along for the celebrations. I don't even know these guys," Tang frowned.
Mei Zhen adopted her patent supercilious tone, "but I know them. It's their fifth anniversary and all my close friends will be there. Won't it look weird that I turn up solo there? There is hardly anything overlapping in our daily lives anyways. I never complain. In return, how tough is it for you to accommodate this two-night trip for me to Hainan Island?"
He contemplated another argument, then thought better of it. With a weary sigh, he started packing his suitcase.
"I may fly down to Beijing for a couple of days post this weekend," he said off-handed.
It had been almost a year that he had seen his friends. For some reason, both Li Jie and Chung had been guarded in their conversations with him. Also, Jia Li should have been back from her overseas work assignment by now. Though he was loathed to admit it, he wanted to see her once for himself. He hoped that her relation with her husband hadn't been affected by his marriage. There had been no occasion in the past months for him to travel to Beijing but now he didn't want to wait for one.
"This is a fantastic property. Le and I have thought about taking a trip here in the past but the five hour journey always deterred us with Hua being so young. Today it was a breeze since Li Jie and Zhu Kong played the dutiful uncles as they are supposed to and kept him entertained all through the flight," Chung grinned.
Wei said dramatically, "it was tough to find bookings at the last minute since Madam Jia Li took so long to say yes to the trip. It's been such hard work, I am exhausted."
Li Jie's partner, Kong chipped in, "tell us birthday girl, what is our itinerary for the next two days. We are at your command."
"The plan making and execution department belongs to Wang Wei. My nephew and I have decided that we are going to wake up, swim, eat, sleep and repeat the process. So please count him and me out of any sight-seeing and partying plans," she was referring to Hua, Chung's son, who was happily playing in her arms.
"Well, that makes me the happiest person in the group. Let me know when you tire of him. Till then I am going shopping," Le, Chung's wife, laughed.
Later that evening
Li Jie and Chung had ventured outside the resort with their partners in tow. They had just returned to the sight of Wei ambushing Jia Li and Hua with water guns in the swimming pool.
Their squeals could be heard from a distance.
"I like the way he keeps trying to make her laugh all the time," Kong addressed the three of them.
"I agree with you. I had my apprehensions about him early on but till date he hasn't given me any reason to believe that he is not the right person for her," concurred Le.
With a shake of his head, Li Jie countered, "it has never been about the other men in Jia Li's lives. Fu wasn't a bad person either. The problem is her emotional vacuum when it comes to any man except Tang. I sincerely hope that Wei is able to breach the wall that she has constructed inside her. It is high time she gets a happily ever after story of her own."
It was nearly dinner time when Jia Li and Wei dragged a reluctant Hua out of the pool.
"I feel old…how much energy can such a small being possess? We have been in and out of the pool for three hours. I can't even feel my legs and this little prince is still fighting to go back in," Wei wailed.
Jia Li's laugh gave him a pause. In the fading daylight, her dripping auburn hair and gorgeous eyes made her look ethereal. Dressed in a sea green one piece swimsuit, she looked nothing less than an alluring mermaid with the sun setting at her back. He shook his head trying to control the urge to take her in his arms. He hoisted a now tired Hua on his shoulder and started walking back towards the rooms.
"My guns…you left my guns at the pool," Hua wailed as he was being carried by a panting Wei.
Jia Li gave a soothing smile to him and told Wei to carry on and she would retrieve the toys and meet him upstairs.
Dropping her towel, she dived into the pool to search for the toys. After a solid search of five minutes, she resurfaced with a triumphant shout. And stopped dead in her tracks.
"What are you doing here?" they spoke in unison.