“Bring me somewhere sunrise could be seen
when it does!” Han requested.

To make sure that It was not heard wrong, ”
Now?  In such a cold,  dead night!?” I asked for confirmation.

“  Yes, from the very horizon.”  She
added.

Han had never requested me for anything, if
there was, it was her first formal one, so there was no reason for me to offer
a negative reply. She might have her own reason for it. My only concern was
that she might catch a cold out there. Since it was winter, the Sun would rise
in ESE. To catch a view of its rising upon the horizon, the best spot nearest
to us is Gu Lang Yu. Han became a bit cheerful, at least stopped herself a moment
from tearful eyes, when her request was answered affirmative. She got up and
took a quick shower before she had herself warmly clad.  It was then it occurred to me how I could
shift our asses there since the ferry service was not available in such a late
night. Nor would I break my first promise for her. Though a bit tough and
unexpected it came.   I staffed a piece
of woolen blanket into the backpack and poured some boiled water into a
portable stainless thermal pot as preparation without any idea where to get
that transportation yet. Han helped me in my winter jacket and there we hit our
road. It was 2:35 AM then. On our way to Lun Du terminal in a cab,   a rigid friend of mine slipped into my mind
who I thought had some connection to this sort of resource. I phoned him up.

“ You had better prove what you are going
to say is worthy of my answering in such a late hour in such a cold night,
buddy!” My friend answered my call.

“ Get me a boat!” I cut it short.

“Go fishing?  Now? Are you out of your mind?”  On the other side of the line was a man in a
puzzle about my intention.

“Hire me a boat,  a tug or a yacht whichever could move my ass
to Gu Lang Yu. Am I making myself clear?”  I accentuated on words and made them sound to my friend that I was not
joking at all.

“Within one hour at whatever cost! And make
it happen if we would ever see each other again.” I added before I disconnected
the call.

I was pleased to see that my friend made it
eventually, though it came neither a boat nor a yacht but a canon.  We embarked the hired canon and bounded for
the islet across the channel. It was a bit risky during transiting. The
insignificant swell could even make that canon rolling and pitching like hell.
To distract Han from seasickness I pointed her at the flashing lighthouses and
fairway buoys detailing how they serve a navigator at sea. At last it turned
out I was seasick while Han so exciting. 20 min later we landed safely, which was
a milestone in our adventure.

 It
was quiet and the road was dimly illuminated. Fortunately the flood light on
the cliff that the statue of C.G Zheng stands led our way. No sign of human
beings were found on that islet then except two of us and the islet was all to
ourselves. We climbed, hand in hand, all the way up and found ourselves finally
on the top exhaustive. Han was sighing heavily due to the load all the way up.
But she started to smile when she overlooked at this beautiful city under her
feet, the shining stars above her in the sky, the broad sea surrounding her and
a man who was now beside her. She felt content to go this far, and if there was
anything to make this day perfect, it would be the sunrise she was expecting.
We sat on the foot of the statue gazing at the shining stars, listening to the
sound of the sea waves slamming against the rocks below. The chilly wind kept
our mind sober. Han closed her eyes and took in fresh air as much as she could.
The dull clouds in her mind cast away and a contented smile crept onto her
face, just like a girl have finally found her beloved Barbie Doll again which
she thought had lost.  I unfolded the
blanket and cast it over us to compel the cold air. Han snuggled at me resting
her head on my shoulder when I showed her the constellations and those bright
stars. She looked so excited to hear those amazing tales on the stars. Time
clicked away as the constellations in the sky varied in their azimuth and
elevation. With the Altair vanishing in the east sky the twilight arrived.
Adding more to our delight was the dawn chorus heard. Han felt more excited
than ever when the darkness started to give way for the twilight of the dawn,
and we knew the sun was about to rise, which was what we had been expecting for
hours. The sun finally broke through the horizon in the east. Han smiled in a
grin to greet the rising sun and said loudly “good morning” to welcome a
brilliant new day. When the first beam of light struck on us warmly we felt so
blessed. Han looked so beautiful and cheerful when the first bunch of golden
sun light crept onto her face. That glow on the face and happiness in the eyes
were like a stamped visa in the passport granted only to a woman in love both
physically and mentally. It was sort of love in which she truly believed from
the very beginning, and for which she changed herself into someone in a form
they would have actually hated most before.

Good times are always as short as a
blink. Having been given the date of her husband’s return from sea, the nearer
the day approached, the more of her worry grew. Unlike his last return, Han
could no longer find herself least reason to be as exciting as before when she
was told of his return that night on the phone. She even doubted whether she
really hoped the flight would ever land.  At the thought that she was not going to see her lion any longer,
Han felt like being thrown from heaven to hell. What made her worse was whether
she would have the courage to face her husband with those sinful  betrayal  behind him. After all it was time for her to face the brutal reality,
and how brutal it could be?  No one
knows, not even Gods! Neither the old Gods nor the new do!  One day before her husband’ return, I helped
Han pack up her clothes and belongings. Nothing was left behind but her loosen
long hair on the pillow and the faint smell of her
perfume lingered in the room.

 After Han got back to her own flat, she
unpacked all her belongings, empty-heartedly. Han checked her things again one
by one t and saw to it that nothing from me was mixed with hers before she
returned where they were placed. She continued to mop her dust-filmed flat in
all corners. She blew dust off their framed wedding picture and it helped Han
recall what her husband looked like. Distance and time create longings, and if
not, they undercut the eagerness otherwise. She couldn’t even remember what it
felt like having *** with her husband, a seaman, who had spent most of the time
at sea, leaving all the cold nights on her own with no one to warm her bed
before she met me.   Han changed her
dress after she took a shower. Before heading for Gao Qi International Air
Port, she deleted all the call logs, messages exchanged, in whichever I was
involved. Thoughtful as it seemed to be, Han shifted my name in her phone into
the group of client and
slipped the wedding ring back into her finger. Upon drop from the cab, she
strode into terminal hall to check the flight arrival information on worries
that she might be late. The LCD screen was
scrolling arrival information with updated ETA. She eased and found herself a
seat right in front of the check-out point when she learnt that ETA still got
some more 20 min to go. She flipped over her hand phone paying no particular
attention on the check-out gate. The chilly wind was howling through the gap
and the winter had just begun.

As for Han, she was not much better than
anyone else. She was full of guilt when facing her own husband who had been
kind and faithful to her while every piece of her heart was all about someone
else. It was accentuated by the sinful reality that Han had to imagine her own
husband as that man to regain her thrills whenever she tried to perform her
duty well as a wife so long as she became aware that her own husband was inside
her body. But situation was developing far beyond what Han could have expected.
Her menstruation was so regular that she could predict precisely the due date. As
it used to, Han had her menspad bought two days before she started to count
down and had one of them embedded properly lest it come any minute on that day.
It was not until after two days that she came to realize that her overdue
menstruation might suggest sth else. Her assumption was even proven to be a
reality afterwards when the laboratory test showed a positive result. Han fell
pregnant, which should have been the most exciting news for her husband and
herself because they had been expecting this moment for years since their
marriage. And for which, Han, as a woman, should have felt proud and celebrated
this special occasion with all of her families. But sadly enough, it was just a
moment for her to start worrying, a moment that a real tragedy began with.

Her wandering mind from time to time and the
lost thrills in their ***ualities were suggesting to her husband something gone
wrong. Besides, eyes won’t lie. He was not that indifferent not to sense that
something was not right there. He had thought of all kinds of possibilities
including the scandal on unfaithful couples he ever heard of, and the scenes of
love affairs he had watched in movies. But he could not believe that would possibly
be happening to him one day. Now that neither a solid evidence as a proof was
there, at least far from an official proof, nor did he really want to dig out
the truth. As the saying goes: what you don’t know can’t hurt you! He knew
better than to find out what might turn out brutal. Furthermore, should that
have happened, nothing could have changed. But it was easy to say after all.
His guts kept telling himself a negative answer whenever he looked into her
eyes. Her weird behavior was an undeniable sign that something must have gone
wrong but he just could not tell exactly what it was. And just because of this
kind of agonizing uncertainty, he uncontrollably slipped into some quarrels
with her, which started over nothing but didn’t seem close to an end. Despite
that Han in her ***y nightgown or in her bare skin was still able to catch his
eyes in full attention, at the same time he could not help but wonder whether
any other man than himself had had a share in this view. However he chose to
fool himself out of some unknown reason after all. And things didn’t better off
until all was too late.