A Tale In Every Tone

Chapter Two (Part Two): Blame It On The Rain

Aunt Ching left this morning to go shopping at the wet market. She had prepared breakfast for me, since I like sleeping late and eating my first meal just before noon. I left a note on the table, saying that I'm going out today. I added a smiley, so she won't get angry.

I went out to the city. I had planned to go to some tourist spots here one day at a time, there are so many after all.

I reached to Beijing's man-made forest, the largest in the world. It is housed in a metallic dome, and the sunlight made it glimmer beautifully. A batch of flowers welcomed me as I entered. I took selfies, with the flowers as background. I loved flowers, they're so pretty. I was looking at admiringly as someone's familiar voice greeted me.

"Hello." he said. 

"Hi." I replied abruptly. It was the man I bumped into at the airport yesterday.

"You also like flowers?" he asked.

'Yah' was all I managed to say.

"Me too." he smiled.

It made me smile, too.

We were smiling at each other just as raindrops began to settle on my head. I looked up and stretched out my hand.

"Is it raining?"

"Yeah, obviously." he snickered.

I looked up and another raindrop fell to my cheek.

"Why is that?"

"This is also a rain forest." he said, taking off his jacket and covering my head with it."You don't know?"

"I...don't."

I snuggled more on my jacket, wearing it tighter. I think I felt a chill down my spine when I felt his hands touch my shoulders. He opened his umbrella to cover his. --- 

"Let's go somewhere and wait for the rain to end." he said.

We went under a shed and sat on a bench under it. I went to get coffee-in-can from the nearest vending machine as my treat for him. I sat on the bench and gave him a drink.

"Thanks." he said slowly.

I sipped some of mine when he looked at me and asked my name.

"Alvira." I said.

"Do you live here?" he asked further.

"Temporarily. I'm from New Jersey. But I have Chinese blood."

"You're name doesn't sound like one."

I gulped my drink and said, "It doesn't matter. It's not in the name."

"Oh, so we're both tourists. I'm from Manhattan. In New York." he said.

"So you're from the city. You're probably rich."

He just grinned and sipped his coffee.