The hurried sound of children's footsteps could be heard as they ran to find cover from the oncoming rain. The sky thundered quietly and lightning could be seen in the near distance. A storm was a brewing and most people on the street were trying to quickly finish their errands as to return home before the downpour caught them. Arthur and Ms. Henderson were doing the same. Earlier they had gone out to attend important meetings, deliver paperwork, and take a well needed break at their favorite café but their business would have to be cut short.
Oddly enough, however, all the carriages that were trotting about only a few minutes ago were gone. Arthur searched the streets of another means of transportation but it was too late. A raindrop splattered on his nose. He reached for Ms. Henderson's hand and dragged her to the closest shelter.
The bells rung as Arthur rushed in the door.
"Antiques," read Ms. Henderson from the door's text.
Arthur looked around to see many kinds of items and knickknacks. Some familiar and some just flat out weird and some so strange that Arthur couldn't tell if they were inappropriate or just cultural.
"Nihao." A young woman appeared from the bead curtains behind the cashier. Her straight lengthy hair was as dark as a raven and clung to her arms. Her bright amber eyes seemed to make the room that much brighter. She brought an intriguing aroma; a hint smell of the ocean, a dash of herbs, and a sprinkle of sand. In her right hand laid a long pipe that emitted a sweet, pungent smell.
She was beautiful and Arthur couldn't help but stare.
"可以帮你妈" Arthur mentally slapped himself. How ungentlemanly of him to stare at a young lady after ramming into her store.
"Good day. I'm sorry about the mess," he said while gesturing at the wet foot prints they tracked. "It's a terrible storm outside and we had to get out of it right away. I hope you don't mind." Arthur stuck his hand out and the lady shook it. "I'm Arthur and that is Ms. Henderson. We'd be more than happy to buy something if you'd let us stay until the rain stops. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Do you even speak English?"
She giggled which caused her necklace to move and come into better view. The thick string wrapped around her neck into a small jade Buddha.
'How cute,' Arthur thought. Everything about this girl was so interesting that Arthur just couldn't look away. What was it about her that made Arthur forget his gentlemanly manners? For goodness sake, he didn't even know her name yet.
"Good day to you," she spoke with a thick Chinese accent that made Arthur's heart flutter. "Good day to you as well Ms. Henderson. Feel free to stay in shop as long as necessary."
"Good day." Ms. Henderson's voice was kind but her expression was somewhat annoyed.
"How may I help you, Mr. Arthur?" Mr. Arthur. Oh god. Why did those few words please him so much?
"Well for starters could I have the pleasure of knowing the name of the amiable cashier?"
This earned Arthur another cute giggle. "My name is Bao-Yu."
"What a lovely name. Did you recently move here? I haven't noticed this shop around before." Arthur took another look around the store. Everything was so strange and foreign and wonderful.
"Yes. My family and I moved here from Beijing, China about a month ago. My grandfather opened the store just last week."
"有一個客戶，寶玉?" A short old man with a white ponytail and foggy brown eyes stood behind the young woman.
"Grandfather, this is Mr. Arthur and Ms. Henderson. They asked to stay inside until the rain stopped," answered Bao-Yu.
"Good day to you both," the old man smiled in Arthur's direction then turned to lightly smack his granddaughter's wrist. "Where are your manners? Offer our guests some tea."
"Y-yes grandfather," she stuttered. "Would you like some tea? We only have tea from China but I could run out and buy some English tea if you prefer."
"No. That won't be necessary. Anything you have is fine, thank you." Arthur couldn't bear the thought of Bao-Yu running out into the rain, freezing herself, just for a small pot of English tea. He'd tasted Chinese green tea before and it was fine, of course it could never compare to English tea. Arthur loved English tea but he could never choose a definite favorite. How could he? Earl Grey was delicious and he could never get enough of English Breakfast. Darjeeling was best at noon and Ceylon tea was always a treat at supper time. Teas were the perfect beverage that went with any occasion. A happy day, a sad day, a sick day, even a day like this where he would meet new people.
The tea Bao-Yu made was better than the last Chinese tea he had. They sat at a small table in a corner that overlooked the rest of the store. Bao-Yu's grandfather, Li, told Arthur and Ms. Henderson about his hometown and his old house. He spoke about how opening a shop like the one had now had always been his dream. He boasted about how beautiful China was. He also sadly told them about how he had to leave everything behind because of his region's government and its internal conflicts; how a new dangerous group of warriors took over his town and promised changes and peace but always tried to fix problems with violence and empty threats.
"That's no way to bring peace," Li said.
In turn, Arthur told Li and his granddaughter about his trips to America. They were fascinated by his adventures in the North American winters and travels into new land in the summer. They loved his description of the Native Americans and their culture.
"Don't they scare you?" asked Bao-Yu.
"They're not frightening," explained Arthur. "Some are very kind and occasionally trade with the colonists. Others, however, are not as friendly and sometimes try to attack innocent people. They're savages who won't accept that the land is ours. Everything would be fine if they just heard what we had to say. We want to be peaceful but it's difficult when they would rather shoot us with their bows and arrows than think of their future."
After several hours of chatting and getting to know each other, the sky finally managed to clear up. Arthur thanked them for the tea and Li thanked them for their kindness.
"You are the first friends we have made. Please feel free to come by anytime," waved Li and Arthur and Ms. Henderson stepped outside.
"Goodbye, Ms. Henderson. Have a good night, Mr. Arthur," called out Bao-Yu.
Arthur grinned widely as he said farewell and thought of the great day he just had. He found a new shop, became friends with an interesting Chinese man, and met such a beautiful woman. Arthur had a feeling that he wouldn't be forgetting about Bao-Yu anytime soon. He sighed contently as he pulled out his golden pocket watch and read that it was eight at night.
"What? How did it become so late? Where did all the time go?"
"Where indeed?" Ms. Henderson answered sarcastically.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing. It's easy to get distracted when you're staring at a foreign beauty for hours on end," teased Ms. Henderson.
Arthur blushed, "I wasn't staring. I was being polite to our hosts and merely conversing."
"Is that what you kids call it nowadays?"
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Ms. Henderson skipped away, leaving Arthur embarrassed and confused. There was no way he could be developing feelings for Bao-Yu. He had just met her that same day. Sure she was interesting and unusual and not bad on the eyes but she was just like any other female. Fascinating today, gone tomorrow.
Arthur and Ms. Henderson spent the rest of the way in silence. Arthur was contemplating his feelings toward Bao-Yu and Ms. Henderson was anxiously awaiting to go home to take a nice long bath before going straight to bed. She'd had a long day and tomorrow was her day off. She couldn't wait to get home. Once they entered the building Arthur immediately shut himself in his office. Ms. Henderson cleaned her area then knocked on Arthur's door before going in.
"Why do you knock if you're just going to barge in anyway?" said Arthur while staring out the window.
"Oh come now. Don't pout so much or you'll grow wrinkles and you're much too young for that." She placed a small package on the man's desk before turning to leave.
Normally Arthur would've just left it until morning but he was sick of his confusing thoughts and needed something to get his mind off of a certain Chinese girl.
He opened the package and inside was a small box containing a few things he had left in America and a letter. That's right. Arthur had been so caught up in his work that he had almost forgotten about Alfred. He frowned and mentally punched himself for almost forgetting about someone so precious to him.
'Dear Arthur,' read the letter.
'Here are the things you asked me to send you. I cannot believe you had such an atrocious drawing of me. It's incredibly embarrassing. Lucky for you, I took the liberty of getting you a brand new portrait of me.' Arthur looked in the box and saw a framed drawing of Alfred standing proudly with Mr. Bunny in front of their house.
'I let you have the old drawing back but only so you could get rid of it personally.'
"Not going to happen," Arthur laughed. He read on and found out about Alfred's job as Mr. Jenkins' assistant. Alfred wrote a lot about Ms. Addison's family and how kind they had been to him and how they'd cared for him in Arthur's absence.
'Why haven't you come back yet? A month away was what you promised but it'll soon be a year since you left. I'm becoming a man so of course I don't need you looking after me any more but I've never wanted you gone for this long. I miss you. My days are pretty busy at the Jenkins's house but it gets lonely at night here in the house without you. Matthew's been nice enough to visit me a couple of times and I appreciate him for it but…he's just not you. I know it's selfish and rude of me to say this but please don't make me celebrate my birthday without you. A party's not a party unless you're here. Come back soon and please don't forget about me.
Sincerely, Alfred.'
Arthur slumped in his chair as his stomach sank and his heart broke in two.
Author's Note:
Translations:
"Nihao" -"Hello" (Mandarin Chinese)
"可以帮你妈?"- "May I help you?" (Mandarin Chinese)
"有一個客戶，寶玉?" - "Is there a customer, Bao-Yu?" (Mandarin Chinese)
I am not fluent in Mandarin Chinese so please feel free to correct me.
It's been nine months and I'm finally back. I'm so sorry for having neglected this story. It started as me having personal problems then it turned into a full blown hiatus. I've finally decided on what road this story's going so from now on the time between chapters will be a lot shorter. Thank you very much to those who have stayed with me, urging me to go on. Also thanks to those who have favorited and added this to their watch. I hope I won't make you regret your decision.