Tatsu - The Threat

Chapter 29 - Enlightenment

The days and weeks flew by in the best medical attention money could buy, but Brian remained in a comma. The experts said that in his comatose state, Brian wasn't even able to dream. They obviously didn't know Brian. Dreaming would turn into just another challenging endeavor.

He had been dreaming all along. Dreams of pain mostly, but he saw light a the end of the tunnel the way he'd done in the past. And now his dream began to show his will to live.

Brian dreamed himself walking through a heavy fog as he heard the gentle and soothing whistling of the wind. Since Kyoto, Brian had not perceived this type of serenity, this wind of change. With every tootle of the misty wind, a pleasant childhood memory in poverty flashed before his eyes. Every hug he received from his mother, his sister Jennifer's toddler laughter, Jorge's frown and his father's bad jokes at the humble dinner table, were all so pacifying. That was happiness, they just couldn't see it.

The memory lane seemed endless and the more he advanced through it, the more he saw how even in misery, it is love that creates happiness. He kept walking with no hurry when suddenly the fog and wind ceased. The memories stopped and there she was. The essence of Keisha's core in a different shell.

As soon as the fog cleared, Brian saw himself on his way to receive payment from some a wealthy Chinese business group. Will was driving him through the outskirts of Chinatown in Houston. Brian was in a great mood since he was about to receive 500 million dollars for helping the Chinese store very valuable stolen Chinese artifacts as a courtesy for their huge money laundering operation.

Brian wasn't naturally talkative, but that day he was going on and on about how he wanted to take a trip to China because he felt a connection with the culture. As he was fantasizing about visiting a Chinese temple, he saw a slim attractive figure walking down Fondren Street. Most girls in the area were not the finest and had a price, but there was something about this girl. Her walk was unpretentious, yet in the modesty of each step she took, there was great confidence. From his angle Brian could not see her face, but was already captivated. Not many things in life captivated Brian the way Zhen Chang did that day.

Will noticed Brian's trance as he purposely drove passed Zhen very sluggishly. Brian yelled "Stop!" He turned around and saw her face from about a 5-foot distance. The mesmerizing radiance pouring through her lovely almond-shaped eyes adorned with epicanthic folds was as intriguing as it was fascinating for a man who thought he'd seen it all. The contrast of her dark hair and dark eyes on her perfect and very lightly tanned skin enticed Brian's sense of touch. Her slender, perfect figure as she continued her graceful, humble walk, held him prisoner in an extended stare.

"Do you know who she is?"

"No sir, never seen her before."

"Find out who she is. I want to get to know her."

At this stage in his life Brian was used to taking anything he wanted, but when he saw Zhen, he felt butterflies in his belly. This was the birth of acknowledged vulnerability for the one who had learned to look at fear and insecurity in the eyes and win every time with mighty confidence. Zhen was a potent reminder that he was human after all.

She's so attractive he thought.

His enthusiasm generated by the 500-million-dollar payment he was about to receive was pushed aside left to drown in a vast ocean of pure attraction because of a measly 5 second experience, a clash between inner and outer beauty in the most unforeseen spectacle.

Brian lost his focus and didn't even remember his meeting with his Chinese partners because his mind was saturated by the few details his brain registered from seeing Zhen walking down the street. An expert at not getting obsessed with anything other than his success and eliminating anything in the way, Brian could not get himself to stop thinking about a total stranger. A girl he knew nothing about. Love at first site never existed in his mind. The concept of it all was senseless. It was stupid, yet the whole way back to his condominium, he continued struggling in a daze. He wanted to stop thinking about her as much as he wanted to keep doing so.