The Myth of the White Dragon

by Park Moon

  “Isn’t she Chin’s daughter? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure! As you said yourself. You were married to a demon spirit, who used the body of Mao’s daughter to live, so you could not bear children. Jade was different.”

  I touched the girl’s forehead and she smiled slightly.

  “What name will you give the little one?” Pan took a deep breath.

  “Lin?” I took the baby in my arms and I frowned, biting my lips. “Daughter! We will find your mother. I promise you!” I put my lips on her forehead and Pan touched my right shoulder.

  “The girl is immortal like you, Dan. Are you willing to run the world after Jade, even if she never recognizes you?”

  “She’ll recognize me! Yes, she will!”

  ✽✽✽

  “Lin, I’m trying. You know it is hard!” I looked out the car window, the bay being carved, while my right cheek was crumpled at the phone.

  “Dad! Don’t you ever give up?” Lin’s soft voice poked my veins and pounded my heart.

  “Your father is stubborn!”

  “Really?” she laughed. “I need to cut the call, Dad! We need to pretend we are mortals! Class time. I hope you do not decide to move again. This is the sixth school I’ve switched to this year!”

  “I’ll try, daughter! Wish me luck. I am going to a pier, there is hope!”

  I hung up the phone and stared at the horizon as the driver parked the car up a hill, away from the bay. I stared at the documents resting on my legs, and my personal assistant, Mao, was scratching his goatee.

  Mao, after many services as a shaman, and for dying to help a god, was given the immortality he had so dreamed of. I wished Jade had the same fate, but the Oracle acted in different ways and never followed one rule, even if he used rules to dictate everything.

  “From what I researched.” he began. “There is a chance that the daughter of the man, who bankrupted the fishing grounds, is Jade.”

  I felt my green ring on my left ring finger and sighed.

  “Do you still wear this ring, son?”

  “When I look at it, I remember her, Mao. I hope this woman is Jade. I am tired of looking, I admit it.”

  “Let’s go!” he opened the door and I went downstairs too, fixing my suit and he walked ahead of me.

  My steps became short, while Mao’s went wide. In the distance, a woman was carrying a fish’s box, harder than her slight build could carry.

  I bowed my head and whimpered. I wished my hair would fly in front of my face and hide my tears and rosy cheeks.

  It was her, my Jade. I would recognize her anywhere, any time. Even if she was triple, her age or changing her shades and shape.

  I parked my feet on the dark sand and she stared at us. I stood still, and Mao took the lead.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Jade! Is that your name?” he bowed, and she did the same, but her eyes analyzed me.

  “Yes, it is my name. Are you the man who called me yesterday?”

  “That’s right, that’s my master.” Mao pointed at me and I bowed. “He wants to make the partnership.”

  “Ah! I got it!” she bowed, and my heart nearly exploded.

  My mouth hung open and my pupils widened.

  She looked different, a sad look walked across her face, but she was still Jade, my Jade.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Jade.” I could barely speak, as the blood rushed out of my veins and rushed to speed up my heart.

  “Come in! Want coffee?”

  “We’d love some!” Mao smiled and looked at me.

  I do not know how I managed to get into Jade’s house. We climbed a narrow staircase, which began in the small yard. The stairway ended at a door, which led to the tiny apartment that she called home.

  The simple furniture, dating back some fifty years, made the atmosphere nostalgic.

  “My Dad loved History. I decided to keep everything, as he liked to stay. Sit down, please!”

  “Is your father dead, daughter?” Mao loosened his manner of speaking from five thousand years ago and I held back the tears.

  “Yes! He and my Mother died in the boat explosion. So, I thought I would ask for help. I am alone and I cannot afford the fishermen. I am glad you saw the ad.”

  My eyes did not blink, because they were wrapped around her silhouette. I looked at her and admired Jade, my lover. I wanted to jump two steps to pick Jade up and kiss her, telling that I loved and missed her. But, I couldn’t speak when my mouth tried to open.

  “Dan Lao wants to make an offer, Jade!” Mao pulled out his chair and I remained static.

  “Sit down, Mr. Dan Lao!” she smiled shyly, and I sighed.

  “Thank you!” I let out my speech, and my heart almost fell out at the same time.

  She took the chair and sat down too. Her skirt was just above her knees, and Jade’s hands were resting on her legs. I sighed, in a disastrous eagerness of desire.

  Jade was talking to Mao, and when she dared to look at me, she did so in a quick and disorderly manner. I admit that I did the same, like a teenager looking at his beloved for the first time.

  To my dismay, she would bite her lips and sweat would run down my forehead.

  Mao and Jade talked for a few minutes about what partnership would be like and what I wanted.

  “Ah, it will be... Very... Good!” she stammered and looked at me, quickly running her eyes down to her hands, which were trembling and stroking her knees.

  “Right! We should go now!” I stood up, and she stood up too.

  “But... You have not even had your coffee, Mr. Dan Lao!” she whined, as if I was doing something wrong, and I shrugged.

  “Unfortunately, I need to go, Jade. There are too many appointments.” I was so sorry that I almost cried in front of her.

  “Dan is a very busy man, Miss Jade.” Mao touched her hands, who did not look away from me, and I answered without blinking.

  “How can I make this partnership official?” Jade asked.

  “You must go to this address.” Mao handed over a card. “That’s the office. Can you go there?” Mao followed his diplomatic conversation.

  “Of course! When can I go?”

  “Tomorrow!” I almost shouted.

  “Tomorrow is Saturday, Dan!” Mao gave me a corner look.

  “No problem, I’ll open the office!” I salivated.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll be there tomorrow!” she smiled, still wrapped in her shyness, and I lost the strength my heels had in keeping me upright.

  I turned to the door and Jade ran to open it. Her perfume walked the distance between us, and touched the tip of my heart. I brought my right hand to the doorknob, in a hungry desire to touch her fingers.

  Fortunately, we bumped into each other and she shrugged her hand away.

  “Pardon me!” she put her hand on her chest and took a step back.

  I opened the door, inhaling her perfume and still remembering her touch.

  “I’ll wait for you tomorrow, Jade!” I stared at her, and she, with her head down, did not return my gaze.

  “Yes, I’ll be there. Thanks again for your help!”

  Mao said goodbye and we walked down the stairs, my feet unable to feel the height of the steps. When we reached the shipyard floor, I looked up and Jade, leaning against the door, waved goodbye without courage, looking up at Mao... I stopped walking and stared at her, waiting for Jade to look at me again.

  She, after a fast eye contact, let out a spark of hope in my heart, when she smiled slightly and waved at me.

  I smiled without showing my teeth, burning like hot coals and suffering like a wretch.

  We left the shipyard and Mao started:

  “I thought you would faint! You were between a pale greenish and a purplish gray.”

  “I can’t believe I found Jade! I am in an ecstasy I never imagined I would be in.”

  “Calm down, Dan! That Jade who loved you is not this Jade who will be your partner, son!”

  “The Jade who loved
me is the same Jade who waved to me, Mao. She just does not remember me yet. Sooner or later, love will grow up! I am patient. I must tell Lin that I have found Jade!”

  “Don’t talk yet! Wait a little longer! Lin might get excited and run after her mother. How will Lin explain to Jade?”

  I nodded, getting into the car. I looked again in the direction of the shipyard and Jade was watching the car from the apartment window.

  “I have to visit her, Mao!” I whispered.

  “Don’t even think about invading her dreams!”

  “I can’t resist it! Jade will be mine tonight! Even if for her it is only a dream, for me it will be real.”

  The car drove away. My heart remained.

  Chapter 14

  Narrated by Dan Lao.

  I got dressed, as I had done millennia before, and I made my way to the village where Jade lived. Night took place and I saw the lights in her apartment go out. Before I tried to enter the house, as an immortal, going through doors and transporting myself to her bedroom, a fear invaded me.

  The village was remote from the city, and the rumor that Jade’s parents had left some property would run to the ears of those who did not walk beside morality.

  I would spend the nights there, watching over her abode, to keep her safe.

  I waited the necessary time until she was asleep and thus, I could enter the house. I went through the door and walked to her bedroom. The door was ajar and a lamp reflected a yellowish light onto her pillow and a small table.

  I crouched down and I saw her, sleeping on a pillow, with her face crushed by the white fabric.

  I admired her body, covered by a torn T-shirt and cotton pants. Her feet were bare and I brought my left hand to the blanket to cover it.

  I gasped and despaired, because my desire, completely irrational, wanted to wake her up and kiss Jade. She would not understand it. I preferred to hold my pain in my fingertips.

  She stirred and I took a step back. If she woke up, she would imagine that I was some mythological being, created by her sleepy mind, so I calmed my shoulders a little and continued to watch Jade.

  Jade started to turn her face from side to side and I, worried, sat down on the bed, in the little piece of mattress she had left when she turned a little to her right side.

  “No! No!” she murmured, and I saw her forehead sweat and her hands try to grope the invisible.

  I brought my left fingers up to Jade’s forehead, and gently touched her skin.

  “My love, I’m here!” I bit my lips, choking back tears. “I left you alone, for so long! Forgive me!”

  She opened her eyes, I froze, quickly removing my hand from her forehead, and she stood up.

  “Who are you?” Jade blinked.

  I was speechless, what would I say?

  “You look so much like the man who came here this afternoon.” she yawned, and I thought quickly about how to make Jade believe this was a dream.

  I snapped my fingers and fireflies appeared around the bed and she blinked frantically.

  “Is it a dream?” she smiled at me and I let a tear fall down my right cheek. “Are you an angel?” she brought her right index finger to my left cheek and I stared at her hand.

  “I’m whoever you want me to be.” I whispered.

  “I’ve never dreamed of someone like that. Wow, I need to see people. Just because I had some today, I just dreamed about that man, and worse, dressed as an angel!” she yawned, not caring.

  I threw my arms forward and put my palms around her hips.

  “Jade, I know you don’t remember me. I know it took me a long time to find you. Please, I need you! I need you! I have lived until now for you and our daughter!”

  “Daughter?” she yawned again and threw her arms around my shoulders. “I have a daughter with you? You are too beautiful to like me, a so-so woman.”

  “You? Jade! Only I know what you can do.”

  “My ex-husband hated me. He cheated on me, do you know? Because I was so...”

  “Can I kiss you?” I was direct.

  “Fool! This is a dream, right? I do not remember kissing men in dreams. That is right! You may kiss me.”

  Her eyes were tired and her eyelids half-open. It was obvious that Jade was not paying attention to what was going on there.

  I took my right hand off the mattress and brought it to her lips, touched it, and she laughed.

  “It tickles! See? I am terrible!”

  “I want you to smile. I do not mind if it tickles instead of desire.”

  She continued laughing and I stared at her lips, touching it in a slow back and forth that made me salivate. As my thumb touched her lips and tried to invade her mouth, my hand wrapped around her jaw and brought it close to mine. Her eyes were still sleepy and tired, Jade licked my finger and the slap of her lips on my skin shuddered my instincts.

  “May I?” I whispered, and she did not answer. “Say yes, Jade. I need your permission.”

  She looked at me, if she could really see me, and Jade smiled.

  “You may!”

  I brought my mouth toward hers and spread my thumb, gliding it across her cheek.

  “I’ve waited so, so long, my love!”

  I knew she would not return the passion of my touch, or throw herself into my arms as she had done before, yet to feel her skin, after so many centuries of being counted in a closed fist, was what I needed to feel alive.

  “So, kiss like an idiot?” she smiled, her eyes closed.

  “You kiss like my Jade. I know that the Jade who loved me has not yet awakened. I am patient.”

  “Ah, is there another Jade here?” she opened her eyes and raised her arms, yawning again.

  I looked down at the neckline of her torn shirt and I hugged her.

  “What? You want more than a kiss?” she laughed and pushed me out of her touch. “You, Dan, in the shape of a celestial being, go back to your temple, see? I need to sleep.”

  “I’ll be watching over you!”

  “Okay! But, do not touch me. You have already kissed me. That was enough.” she threw herself on the pillow and turned to her left side.

  “Good night, Jade!”

  She did not answer and I stayed there until sunrise.

  ✽✽✽

  I waited for Jade at the entrance of the building, and when I saw her walking towards it, I pretended to be enjoying the view.

  “Ah, Mr. Dan Lao!” she realized my presence and smiled, but I noticed that her cheeks turned pink when our eyes met.

  “Good morning, Jade! Did you sleep well?”

  “Anyway... I think so!”

  “Why? Was there something?” I insisted, trying to see if she could remember anything about us.

  “I dreamt about some absurd things, but everything is fine! I have been having many thoughts.” she was uncomfortable with the question, and I felt that Jade knew she had dreamed about a celestial version of Dan Lao, her new partner.

  “Right! Do you want to talk outside or in the office?”

  “Anywhere! It is up to you, Mr. Dan Lao!”

  “Please! Do not call me mister.”

  “Oh! Sorry! You must be young, then. It is just that your hair is white, sorry!”

  “I was born that way.”

  “Really? Is it a melanin problem?”

  “Maybe. Well... It could be. We can go to the garden, there is a good view of the city and we can sit and talk.”

  Jade nodded, still shy and her manner made me upset.

  We sat down on a bench at the shade of a cherry tree and Jade tightened the straps of her handbag.

  “I want to help the shipyard, and invest in personnel and maintenance.”

  “Yes, I am glad about the offer.”

  “I hope you will stay on and run the office...” I took a breath, because I needed it. “Well ... I want to work with you!”

  “Work in handling? Oh! Sir... I mean... Dan Lao, you look like an elegant man, you wear fashionable clothes. Are you sure you wi
ll like the smell of fish on your clothes at the end of the day?”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “My husband hated it when I came home with a fish odor! I think it undermined our marriage.” she turned sullen and jealousy shot through me.

  “He was an idiot!”

  “He was a man who would like a smelly woman in his bed. He ended up cheating on me with Dad’s secretary. She worked in the office, never coming down to check on the fish. She wore expensive perfume.”

  “He is still an idiot. But, on the bright side, you got rid of him.”

  “Oh, that’s true. But my friends are still married, the only one left alone is me. They moved away a little bit, maybe for fear that their husbands would see an opportunity in single status.”

  “Right! Let’s talk about something good!” I took a deep breath when I saw her sad face.

  To my utter dismay, I saw Lin running toward me, and I stared wide-eyed, trying to signal her to come back, which had no effect.

  “FATHER!” she shouted and I rolled my eyes back.

  “Father?” Jade frowned and I sighed, getting up.

  “Yes, this is my daughter, Lin.”

  “How do you do! Daddy did not tell me you had a date today. Dad? But are you seeing someone? Did you not want to meet Mom?”

  “Yes, dear daughter! Please go and get your father some cold water? I’m thirsty.”

  “Dad!”

  “Go on, go!” I swallowed hard, while Jade widened her eyes, not understanding a thing.

  “I’m Jade!” Jade stood up and stretched out her hand for Lin to greet her.

  “Jade?” Lin raised her eyebrows and stared at me. “Dad? Is that what I think it is?”

  “Water my child! I need water!”

  “Dad?”

  “Water, Lin!” I growled and smiled without showing my teeth and poked her in the rib.

  “Did you find her?” Lin’s nose reddened and her eyes filled with water.

  “Daughter, please.... Water for your father!”

  “Say yes, Dad! Just yes.”

  “Yes, Daughter. Yes! Wait a minute, okay?”

  “I got it...” she looked at Jade, who was still holding her hand.

  Lin brought her pale fingers up to Jade’s hand and teared up.

  “You’re beautiful, Jade! I have always pictured you like this ...” she sobbed and let go of Jade’s hand.