A Romance Across the Ocean

 

 

Slowly putting down the telephone, Lihua Zhang turns to her father and says, “Ba, it’s that woman again!”

 

“Oh, it’s a woman again,” says Lihua’s father. “This is the third time when you call him, a woman answers the phone, Lihua.”

 

“Yes, it is. And this time, not like last two times, I put down the phone without saying anything. I didn’t ask for him. I don’t want to talk to him anymore. What should I do, baba?” Desperate Lihua asks her father, her pretty dreamy eyes looking more than ever full of crystal water.

 

“You should have asked Dawei who the woman is when you talked to him last time on the phone.”

 

“But I didn’t feel comfortable to ask him. They say the Americans are very sensitive and protective about their privacy,” Lihua replies. “At least that is what I learned from the English study book. I don’t want to give him the impression that I’m intruding.”

 

“But you can’t certainly let this situation going on like this. Every time you call him, the woman picked up the phone. It was eight o’clock in the morning over there. Why is there a woman at his home at this time of the day?” Lihua’s father inquires, half to Lihua, half to himself.

 

“Why, why, obviously she is his mistress!” Lihua blurts it out, tears finally falling down.

 

“Lihua, please don’t be so upset. Let me ask you. Can’t you make out what she is saying?” Asks the father.

 

“Not really. She was speaking very fast. You know my English is not that good. The first part of her sentence I have no idea what it is. The ending two words sounds like ‘help you’ or something like that. ‘help me?’ that’s ridiculous. I don’t need any help. I don’t want to hear her voice. The last two times, I just simply said his name, and he was on the phone immediately. But this time I don’t want to talk anymore. ” Answers Lihua.

 

The father sighs, thinking hard, with one hand rubbing his forehead, and finally says, “I know that the American people are very open and free in this, and your boyfriend Dawei is alone by himself. Anyway, you two have just known each other for about six months and only met once. It is very possible that this woman is indeed his mistress. I understand. But still this is a little too much. He knows you will call him at this hour but still. This is too much.”

 

Not knowing what to say, both of them become silent.

 

Lihua is a Chinese girl at the age of twenty-five. She lives in Beijing, the capital of China, with her parents. About six months ago she was introduced in a letter by her oversee aunt to an American named David, Chinese name Dawei. David was a so-called ABC. That is, American Borne Chinese. According to Lihua’s aunt, David was a middle class single man with very decent job and income, a manager of certain company. Never married. David’s parents were originally from Taiwan. They came to the United Stated in 1950, the very early Chinese immigrants. David is their only child, borne right after they landed in the new land.

 

Even though David was borne and grown up in America, he was much brought up by the traditional Chinese value. The consequence? David was very shy in school and social life. That was why he was thirty five years old and still single. His parents became very worried and asked Lihua’s aunt, a close fiend of theirs, for help. David parents were borne and raised up in mainland China. They wanted their son to marry a Chinese girl from the mainland. They know Lihua’s aunt was from the mainland and had a lot of relatives and friends there. The first person Lihua’s aunt thought of was, of course, Lihua, her beautiful niece. Lihua’s aunt showed David’s parents Lihua’s portrait photo. They were very happy with that. When David saw Lihua’s picture, he was stunned by her beauty. He had never seen such a beautiful Chinese girl before. Of course he had seen and met a few pretty American girls along the way. But he was always, always intimidated by their arrogance, openness and aggressiveness. He was always the one to be kissed, to be liked, even to be loved. So he was totally with his parents when they wanted him to marry a Chinese girl. It was a common knowledge that Chinese women are tender, good in temper, much less aggressive compared with American women, and tending to family and children.  

 

David and Lihua started writing letters to each other. The year was 1987, less than ten years after China started its reform and opened its door to the outside world, especially to the west, first time since 1949 when the communist took over the government.  For almost forty years the Chinese people were insulated from the outside. Now they started to communicate, full of curiosity and misconceptions of course, with the long-time enemies, the Americans, just like Lihua and David did. What a daunting task! Their letter writings were a mixture of cautiousness and misunderstanding. Taking the greeting for example, Lihua was shocked when she first saw ‘Dear Lihua’ in David’s letter. It was, to her, too daring and intimate and unheard of. She felt insulted. Only after her aunt called and explained that it is just a common way of opening the letter in the English world that she felt better. The whole writing business was just like that, full of adventures and mishaps. David could speak perfect Chinese, but could only write a few Chinese characters. So he wrote mostly in English. Lihua wrote mostly in Chinese. Both of them found the dictionary indispensable.

 

After six months of letter writing back and forth, David finally decided to go to china to meet Lihua in person.

 

It was early October, the golden autumn season in the northern China. On the day of David’s arrival, it was a fine day with clear blue sky and light breeze. The whole family of Lihua, including her parents, her five sisters and brothers, her three uncles’ family, five aunts’ family, her dozen cousins and also her best friends, all of them, about fifty people, were at the Beijing International Airport to greet David. The thing between Lihua and David was huge to them. Even they frequently saw foreigners walking nowadays, they had in their life time never had anything to do with any foreigners. Strictly speaking, David was not a one hundred percent American, but he was from the United States, and his parents were from Taiwan, which caused greater curiosity in themselves.

 

David was by himself alone. He was nervous. He was never before traveling abroad. China is a great mystery to him, partially due to the fact that he was a Chinese from the bone and his parents always told him do not forget his Chinese root. But he had never felt anything Chinese until the moment he stepped on the land of his ancestry. He walked out to the airport waiting hall and immediately saw the big sign saying his name in both English and Chinese. He was dazzled by so many people rushing up to welcome him. But who was Lihua? From the starting of their relationship he only saw one picture of her. Now in reality he tried hard to recognize her from among so many young girls. He couldn’t find her. Lihua’s father explained to him that Lihua was not there. Lihua was at home waiting for him.

 

On the way home, David, looking out from the taxi window, couldn’t help notice that China, the mysterious place, was much different from what he had always pictured in his mind. He learned since little that China has the largest population in the world. But that was all abstract until today when he personally faced it. He was shocked by so many people on the streets, so many bicycles.

 

David met Lihua, finally. Even he had already seen Lihua’s picture, he was still impressed by Lihua’s stunning beauty and slender figure; and Lihua’s aunt was right. Lihua was very shy, speaking with a very soft voice. When she spoke to him, she was always looking down at the floor in front of her, as to study her own shoes, with a cloudy blush on her cheeks.

 

David spent one week in Beijing. It was an unforgettable experience for him.  He was with Lihua all the time. They hardly stayed at home. They visited many famous places: the Forbidden City where the royal family of last dynasty lived one hundred years ago; the Summer Palace, a park with beautiful garden and lakes, where the last royal family spent their leisure time; and of course the Great Wall. For the first time David found the Chinese food so delicious. He realized the second day in Beijing that all the years back in American the Chinese food he ate, including his mom’s, were not real Chinese food. Lihua was borne and grown up in Beijing; she knew quite a few excellent eating places, large or small. She brought him to almost her every favorite places. And at the same time, their relationship heated up quickly. On the third day they were together they joined their hands for the first time; and on the fifth day, they had their first kiss.

 

It was a beautiful evening, a beautiful autumn evening, under the bright, round moon. It was the Chinese Moon Festival, August 15 by the lunar calendar. Lihua and David were at the Tiananmen Square. They sat on the marble stair under the solemn Monument of People’s Hero, staring up at the silver moon that showed its all attractiveness and tenderness. David, holding Lihua’s hands tightly, asked Lihua, “Lihua, why the Moon Festival is such a big thing in China? All people are having party tonight. All your family and relatives are celebrating it together.” 

 

“Oh, the Moon Festival is just like the Thanksgiving in America. It’s the time for the family and friends to get together. Plus, it’s traditionally a holiday to celebrate the autumn harvest. Another meaning …” Lihua stopped. Her face got a little red, though David couldn’t see in the dark.

 

“What is it? Lihua. You didn’t finish.” David was intrigued.

 

“You looked at the moon carefully. Did you find anything?” Lihua asked.

 

David looked at the moon for a few second, and said, “I just saw the big, round moon. Nothing else.”

 

“Right, what does that stand for?”

 

“Stands for? I don’t know. Stands for a circle?”

 

“What are you talking about?” Lihua gave up. She knew this American sitting next to her would never get the symbolic meaning of tonight’s beautiful moon. “It stands for the completeness, the togetherness, between lovers.” After saying that, Lihua’s face became redder. Her heart beat quickened.

 

“Just like us.” David suddenly became smart and brave. He didn’t look at Lihua and looked at the ground instead, said, “Lihua, please listen to me. Even we only met for five days, it seems to me that I’ve known you for many years. I only have two days left in Beijing. I’m usually a very shy person, but I want to ask you now. Would you like to live with me forever, in America?” David became red too. He found his hand, still holding Lihua’s, wet with sweat. He was nervous. He didn’t dare looking at Lihua.

 

No answer. After what it seemed an endless time to David, he raised his face up and looked at Lihua. Her head was deep down on her knees with the hands’ support. She was as still as the stature behind them.

 

“Did you hear what I just said?” David asked.

 

Still no answer. But David saw her head, still resting on the knees, slightly moved, somehow in the way of nodding.

 

“If you don’t move your head in the horizontal way, I’ll take that as a yes to my previous question?” David inquired further. He watched Lihua’s head intensely.

 

Another ten seconds passed. Lihua’s head moved again, vertically!

 

David was thrilled. First time in his life he had such a deeply caring and loving feeling towards someone. This girl, right there, right now, had agreed to become his companion for the rest of his life, for the rest of time. He didn’t know what to say. Finally he said, “then can I kiss you?” Hearing that, Lihua raised her head, facing David, her eyes wet with tears. “Yes.” Only one word, but it took all her strength away. They kissed.

 

It was the last night of David’s China trip. After the big farewell party, everybody left the room, leaving Lihua and David together.

 

David was very happy. David found what he had been looking for. He gave Lihua his phone number. They made promise that, in spite of the high price of international phone call, David would call Lihua everyday except on the Sundays on which Lihua would call David.

 

As promised, David called everyday when it was night time in China. The first Sunday night Lihua called David, however, it was a woman answering the phone. Perplexed, Lihua still asked politely for David who came to the phone immediately. Lihua didn’t mention the woman during the whole conversation. But she admitted to her father.

 

Then came the second time Lihua called David. It was the same woman again. Still Lihua kept quiet with David. But she discussed the whole issue with her father. Lihua suspected that the woman was David’s girlfriend or lover. “It was eight o’clock in the Monday morning in America. A woman was together with David at his home. If she is not his lover, who is she?” Lihua asked her father.

 

“Very likely, very likely.” Lihua’s father answered. “I don’t see any other possibilities. I heard and read here and there that the Americans are very open in sexual relationship. They can have many sex partners at the same time. I observed when Dawei was here that he is a shy fine man, and he was brought up in Chinese heritage; he should not be one of them. But if he is, what are you going to do?”

 

“I’ll definitely say bye-bye.” Lihua said, biting her lips.

 

“eh, it’s understandable that he takes a girlfriend while you two are separate,” Lihua’s father said hesitantly, “but he should know that the Monday morning call is most likely from you and he still let her answer the phone. That’s unforgivable.”

 

“I can’t stand him having another woman.” Lihua said firmly.

 

“Maybe you should ask him directly next time who that woman is,” The father suggested, “There might be some misunderstanding. We don’t want to accuse innocent person.”

 

“I’ll try, but it’s very hard for me to ask this kind of thing.”

 

That ended Lihua’s second call. The next weekend Lihua didn’t call. Now is the third time. Lihua is really stuck. She looks at her father, starting to cry.

 

“Call back again now. This time I’ll speak to him.”

 

“No, no, I can’t.”

 

“Do it,” Lihua’s father demands, “You don’t want to regret for the rest of your life.”

 

Very reluctantly, Lihua dials the number, her hands trembling. As soon as she hears the woman’s voice, she gives the phone to her father.

 

“Dawei!” Lihua’s father shouts, in Chinese. After a few seconds of silence, obviously the opposite side is stunned, the woman answers pleasantly, “Please wait a moment.” David comes to the phone a while later.

 

“Dawei, I’m Lihua father. I want to ask you one question.” Lihua’s father said.

 

“Yes, Uncle Zhang.” David replies.

 

“I want to ask you who the heck that woman is. The one who answers the phone. Is she your girlfriend?”

 

“Oh, no, no. Uncle Zhang. She is my secretary.”

 

“Your secretary? You have a secretary at home?”

 

“Home? No. But here is the office. I’m at work.”

 

“What? Office?” Lihua’s father suddenly relieves. “but why did you give Lihua your office phone number, not your home number instead?”

 

“I never thought of that. You see, uncle Zhang, I’m seldom at home. Most of the time I stay at the office. And the time difference between China and the United States is twelve hours. When Lihua told me at the farewell party that she most likely calls me at evening there, I gave her my office number without thinking.” David is nervous now. “Why, is Lihua mad at me?”

 

“Yes, she is, very mad,” Lihua’s father replies. “Lihua thought that woman is your mistress; and is too shy to ask you the previous two times. I’m glad that I spoke with you. Now everything should be fine.”

 

Lihua’s father puts down the phone, smiling at Lihua.