A Lover's Wish

by Kadian Tracey

  The next time, Dao opened his eyes, he was wrapped in Kianna’s arms. She was sleeping soundly beside him. She didn’t move when he leaned in and kissed her neck. The sunlight was coming into the room now. He did not want to move for moving constituted Kianna’s arms no longer holding him. He pulled his body from her

  reluctantly, walked out into the living area and grabbed his cell phone. He had missed a few calls and had a voice mail.

  Checking it, he smiled and walked back into the bedroom. Kianna was sitting up with the sheets up to her chest. She looked so damn sexy Dao couldn’t help himself. Going down on his knees beside the bed, he wrapped his fingers into her hair. Gently, he took her lips, savouring the taste of her, the scent of her, relishing her. When he pulled back and looked up into her face, her dark brown eyes had taken on a sexy haze and he smiled. “Good morning.”

  “If you can wake me up like that, every morning—”

  “I can…”

  She smiled and leant into him for another kiss. “I have some good news,” Dao spoke softly

  against her lips between stolen kisses. “If you keep kissing me like that we won’t be getting to Xingping. The river is normal again.”

  Kianna giggled. “You don’t mean that.” She poked his chest. “Come on, let’s get ready and go. We have to get to your dad.”

  Dao nodded with a small smile on his lips. He watched her scoot off the bed and hurried toward the bathroom and even then he had to smirk. “Nice butt.”

  “Dao Zhi!” she called in English, but then flipped to Cantonese. “Be nice!”

  “I am!” Dao called, feigning innocence. He laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him and closed the door. If he wasn’t in a rush to get home, he would take her into that bathroom and show her how to use that tongue. Shaking his head, he searched for Paul’s number and dialled.

  “You got Paul, go!”

  Dao shook his head. “Morning.”

  “Boss man! I see you’re awake. I know why you’re calling.”

  “Gimme some good news, Paul.” “You didn’t get my text?” “Yeah.”

  “Well, boss man, I got you a boat to take only you and your lady across. But he’s charging a little more than normal since he won’t be able to carry anyone else but you two. I told him to be ready to go at lunch time.”

  “My man!” Dao cheered. He didn’t have to ask the cost because money meant nothing to him, not when it concerned his family.

  Paul laughed. “I’ll send a car for you in two hours. So eat, do what you gatta do and be ready.” “We’ll be ready,” Dao promised and hung up.

  By the time Kianna snuck into the sitting area and wrapped her arms around his bare waist, Dao had breakfast ordered from room service and had it

  ready. He moaned when her body pressed into his and smiled. “Our car gets here in about one hour and forty-five minutes,” Dao explained and turned into her arms. “Please eat something. You haven’t eaten much over the past few days.”

  She nodded.

  Dao helped her into her chair. Taking the chair across from her, they ate silently for a while before he felt one of her feet sliding up his leg. He eyed her with a smile, but she simply continued eating as though nothing was happening. “You are one evil woman.” He laughed.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kianna pouted.

  Dao loved the playfulness in her eyes now. That was something he would love to see in her eyes always. A happy spark that turned him on more than he cared to admit at that moment.

  Chapter Ten

  K

  ianna was so excited. As she sat on the front of the boat, Dao was speaking with the driver. Inhaling, she marvelled at the beauty that was the scenery on both sides of the Li River. Everything was wonderfully green, fragrant, absolutely breathtaking. She wanted to close her eyes and inhaled long and deep, but that could be a problem. She could miss something while her eyes

  were closed.

  Kianna was at such peace she knew she never wanted it to end. There wasn’t any other time in her life she could remember feeling such silent wonder, such utter respect for a place. As landmark after landmark floated by, Kianna felt this overwhelming urge to stand and pay her respects to this beautiful place by bowing.

  Feeling a little guilty about not taking pictures—as though the picture would take away the beautiful from the world around her, Kianna lifted that wonderful camera to her eyes. She

  snapped a few pictures of the greenery around her, then turned around and the limestone Karst came into view. She almost dropped the camera she was shaking so hard. It was more beautiful than all the pictures she had ever seen of it. It was as though the singled out mountains were touching the sky, gently kissing the heavens. She snapped a few pictures of them and the smile that spread across her face spoke volumes.

  Shifting slightly, she took a few more pictures before getting up on shaky legs. She did bow then, a deep, low bow that caused her body to shake slightly. Still, she held the position for a little while longer before straightening and walking around the boat to where Dao stood in deep conversation with the driver. They were speaking back and forth in Cantonese and she could decipher a few words here and there, but for the most part they were speaking too fast. Kianna stood there silently, watching him, taking his picture. When he looked up and smiled at her, she gasped and lowered the camera. Shyly, she bowed her head.

  “New love?” the driver questioned in Cantonese.

  That bit Kianna got. She opened her mouth to say something.

  “Something like that,” Dao replied before walking over to take Kianna’s hand.

  The two walked back to where she was sitting earlier. He pulled her between his legs and like she had seen done on television so many times— she rested back against his chest. Dao kissed her head over and over until his mouth dipped against her neck, then back to her ear and head.

  “This is so peaceful,” she whispered while caressing his thigh absently.

  “Mhmm,” he replied.

  “You know, I never thought anything like this could ever happen.”

  “Anything like what?”

  “This—us. I don’t even know if you want there to be an us. I’ve always wanted someone to hold me as you’ve held me. I’m still a little afraid that I’m going to open my eyes and it would have all been a dream.”

  “Well in that case, stay asleep,” Dao’s voice was husky and strong as he tilted forward and kissed her lips. He knew how he felt about Kianna, wanted to offer her more, but not before he found out about his father. He needed to deal with one crisis at a time. Inhaling deeply, he looked around him. He was almost home and began to feel his heart racing. Kianna must have felt it for she sat up, then turned to face him.

  “You alright?” she questioned.

  “I feel as if my heart is ready to jump out my mouth,” Dao admitted. “It has been a while since I’ve been here. Normally I land in Guilin and send for my parents. It takes too much to get all the way out here. But I couldn’t have my father travel.”

  She nodded and reached in to hug him tightly, “I got your back.”

  That one phrase showed Dao without a doubt the wonderful person Kianna was. He believed in that one line more than he had ever believed in anything. Tangling his fingers into her hair, he lifted her lips to his once more. He kissed her completely, allowing her scent and tongue to take away all the troubles he was worried about at that moment. But his sweet reprieve was taken away when the driver yelled that they were at their destination.

  Slowly, he pulled from her and helped her up. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he looked to the direction of his parent’s home. The small house looked so still, so absolutely quiet that Dao had to fight to wait until the boat was properly docked before he jumped off into the shallow water.

  The house looked like death lived there—a dark and retched kind of death that drained the life out of everyone in the vicinity. It poured through him like a strange illness. He reached up
, taking

  Kianna by the waist and without putting her down, carried her in his arms to dry land. Dao needed to feel her against him for with her, he felt as if he could do anything.

  He then returned for their bags. He paid the driver with a hefty tip and walked back to her. Standing beside her, he pulled her closer to his side and looked toward the house. Swallowing, Dao felt like a teenager, about to tell his crush how he felt. It was an unnerving feeling, the kind that made his palms sweat and he was happy he was holding on to Kianna’s hip.

  Taking a deep breath, he looked down into her eyes. “Can you kiss me?” he pleaded. “Just, something to hold me over. Give me some of your strength, Kianna.” When she gave him her lips, Dao drew from her strength. He tasted from her lips as though the world was ending. Reluctantly, he lifted his lips from her, stole another kiss before smiling down at her. “Are you ready?”

  “Dau zue,” Kianna nodded.

  He grinned. Walking up the slight embankment with both his bags and Kianna’s, he stopped at the door and knocked. When there was no reply right away, Dao felt as though he had just seen his world die before his eyes. He knocked again, this time in a slight panic. When the door opened, he had never seen his mother so tired.

  Stepping forward, the bags slipped from his fingers. He dropped to his knees before his mother and wrapped his arms around her knees. Overwhelming feelings, sadness, rushed through him as he pressed his face against her. She was warm and felt like Mother—home. With her was where he should be when his world was crashing in on him.

  “Mama,” he whispered. Dao only stood when his mother tugged at his shoulder. Standing, he kissed her on both cheeks before hugging her tightly to him. Her frail body trembled gently against him and Dao felt his heart break. She was much skinnier than he had seen her the last time— mere months before. She had insisted that he didn’t baby her, but how could he not? She was his mother, his heaven, his all. He had stopped visiting her so regularly and stuck to a few times a year rather than two to three times a month.

  Instead, he called, sent money, sent letters and anything she needed or things that he thought she needed, but wouldn’t ask for. He cradled his mother’s face and looked down into her eyes. Those eyes that would strike fear into his heart as a child were so gentle then. They mourn for a love she’d had for so long. Pure, true love for the man lying in the next room spewed from his mother’s eyes. If he had any doubt before, he knew it then. His mother loved his father.

  “If I could trade places,” she whispered.

  “I know, Ma,” he whispered. “I know.” When she stepped away from him, Dao smiled.

  “Who is this?” his mother questioned in Cantonese.

  Kianna had watched in utter shock as her heart broke in two while the grown man fell to his knees before the woman who had raised him. Her hand lifted to her chest and she blinked back her tears. Her eyes stung, but she pressed her lips together, determined not to cry. For a moment there, she was thinking she was eavesdropping. Taking a step back, she wanted to give them some privacy, but it would be disrespectful to walk away when they hadn’t even been introduced.

  Still, she stood there, taken in by the emotions that flowed over her. When the woman spoke, Kianna blinked and looked at the two of them with fresh eyes. Dao was smiling at her and his mother was peering at her. Dao had the look of a man who was proud of something he had done and that confused her for a bit.

  “This is my girlfriend, Ma,” Dao explained.

  Kianna suddenly wished the earth would open and swallow her. He hadn’t even explained anything to her like asking her to play along. He

  just came right out and told his mother. He might as well have told the woman that they were sleeping together. Then it occurred to Kianna that he hadn’t even asked if she wanted to be his girlfriend. What if she didn’t want to be?

  “Kianna,” Dao finished.

  Kianna found a smile from somewhere deep, stepped forward, bowed slightly in greeting, “Zhi Fūrén,” she spoke eloquently. When she lifted her face, Mrs. Zhi was looking at her with shock. Kianna thought she had maybe pronounced the honorific name at the end of her name wrong. She looked at Dao for some help, but the jerk was smiling at her. Kianna wanted to flip her lid and just freak at him, but couldn’t. She had to be respectful, keep face or Gei-mian-zi as the Chinese called it. For that brief moment that felt like an eternity, Kianna held onto her temper by squeezing her hands into tight fists at her sides. The older woman released Dao and stepped forward to stand before Kianna. Here we go. She’s about to tell me how I’m not good enough for her son.

  “Do you speak Cantonese?” the older woman questioned in the language.

  Kianna glanced at Dao before speaking. “A-a little,” she got out in Cantonese.

  Mrs. Zhi walked around Kianna, from time to time poking the younger woman against the arm,

  the back, the butt. Finally, she stood before Kianna with a smile on her face.

  “Welcome to our home,” she spoke in perfect English.

  Kianna was surprised. With a sigh of relief, she bowed her head again before speaking, “Doh Je.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I

  t was as though the world had stood still. Once his mother had explained to him what was happening with his father, Dao rushed over to his father’s bed and fell to his knees beside it. “Fuh chan,” he whispered taking his father’s hand. It was so stupefying that this old, frail man at death’s door on the bed was his father. Lee Zhi had been such a strong person. The man could gain respect even from the toughest of gangsters in his time. He could lift things that men his size shouldn’t have been able to lift. This man was the centre of his universe when he was a boy, his hero. Lee still was Dao’s hero, just a weaker version. But even then, Lee could do no wrong in Dao’s eyes.

  The man turned his head and recognition lit up the older man’s eyes.

  He smiled at Dao and that did his heart well. “Fuh Chan,” Dao called again.

  “Dao…” Lee got out and tried to sit up. “Don’t…save your strength.”

  “There is something I have to talk to you about.” Lee grabbed Dao’s hand and squeezed. “I know that I do not have much time. And I would have liked to have given your bride my blessings…”

  “Fuh Chan.”

  Lee smiled. “I am not blaming you. I know that you wanted to make your life comfortable before bringing a wife into your world. That is respectable, but I’d like to give you my blessings now. And you will have to pass them onto the bride you chose for me.”

  “I found her, fuh chan.” Dao smiled lovingly into his father’s face. “I’ve found her and she is here with me.”

  His father’s face lit up.

  Dao’s heart danced proudly at the smile he was able to bring his father. Standing, Dao took Kianna’s hand and walked her back to the bed, “This is her…” The older man asked Dao to help him up and with Dao’s help, Lee sat up with pillows propping him up. Dao watched as Lee took Kianna’s hand and pressed a kiss against her wrists. He looked up into her eyes, whispered something before smiling. He lay back against the pillows.

  Dao exchanged a look with Kianna then knelt back down beside his father’s bed. Late into the night, while Kianna slept against the ground with

  her head in his lap, Dao’s eyes snapped open. Something was different. Something that he desperately needed wasn’t there anymore. “Kiki,” he shook her gently. “Kiki, wake up.”

  She moaned, “Dao? What’s wrong?”

  Once she was sitting up, Dao pushed up to look at his father’s face.

  “My son’s home,” Lee whispered. “My son’s…” Those were his last words before his hand that was holding Dao’s went slack. Dao knew that his beloved father, the man he’d honoured above all others, was gone. He had so much money, so much power in the business world and he had no control over the death of his father. Dao’s world shattered as he knelt there, Kianna’s arms around

  him.

&n
bsp; When he finally snapped out of his daze, he released his father’s hands and began rummaging through the drawers inside the small room. Finding some red paper, he began covering every statue of Chinese deities with the red paper. It would have seemed his mother had been prepared for the death of her husband. With all the statues covered, Dao turned to Kianna and swallowed nervously. “Please, Kianna, wake my mother,” he whispered. After she left the room, Dao went back to kneeling beside his father’s bed.

  *

  It was the most horrible thing she had ever had to do. Bringing a woman back to doom, the loss of the man she had loved with all her heart. It was not a pretty thing and even as she did it, she wondered why Dao had let her. But it hit her that it wasn’t about her, it was about the man she was falling for being in pain. It was about the loss of someone who was a large part of a family. With that thought, she sucked it up and allowed her feet to carry her to where Mrs. Zhi slept. The old woman was tossing and turning against her pillow and Kianna didn’t feel so guilty in waking her up.

  Kianna brought Mrs. Zhi back and felt out of place as both son and mother went back to the father’s body. She decided to make herself useful by doing what she had studied about Chinese customs so long ago. Walking over to the far wall, she removed a hanging mirror that was there and brought it from the bedroom. In the next room, she placed it up-sided down in a far corner out of the way. In Mrs. Zhi’s bedroom, Kianna pulled a white sheet from the bed and hung it over the bedroom door of the room where the dead man lay. She couldn’t find a gong, but she knew it was supposed to be placed inside the door on the left hand side.