La Mer
In the morning after they had breakfast Jian invited everyone to go sailing as it was a beautiful day. Chang instantly was excited at the idea and had to stop herself from bouncing with delight, her mother declined to accompany as she wished to continue touring the gardens with Hakim, whose eyes noticeably lit up at that.
"Well I would-" Hao Jin Ying, to the right of her mother, started to raise her hand but then interrupted in a coughing fit.
"Never mind." She coughed out after wiping her face, giving a quick evil glance at her mother.
Li Hua smiled brightly at the younger couple.
"Well it looks like it will be just you two, you two should enjoy yourselves."
Chang felt slightly awkward after yesterday and still wanted to talk to Jian about the pictures but didn't know where to start. Her mind had been more preoccupied with things yesterday, like the sexy naked man in the tub washing her in between stolen kisses.
'Ah get your mind out of the gutter. Geez he must be wearing off on me."
After breakfast she changed her clothes, stashing the photos in her undershirt to ask Jian about when she was alone with him.
She put on a knee length sky blue dress and braided her hair into two long braids so that it wouldn't become a tangled mess. Once readied, Jian put her side saddle on his large horse and rode her through a small side gate into a wooded area, skirting the city and the main thouroughway, and rode down the plateau headed south.
Chang loved the beautiful ash, oak, maples, birch, and poplar trees, and the beautiful vibrant colors of the canopy. As Jian had told her the names of things as they traveled satisfying her curiosity and thirst for knowledge. It took about an hour to reach a small docking area jutting into the water with a small shelter and stable area cut into the trees. At the end of the dock sat a fairly good sized sailboat, sail drawn. Jian dismounted and helped her down from the horse before housing it in the stable area. It had been years since Chang had last been sailing, her dad had used to have a boat, before he sank it, thankfully with her not on it.
He extended a hand and helped her onto the rocking boat, continuing to display his gentlemanly behavior to her. It took her a second to stabilize herself feeling the rocking motion and grabbed the side rail while standing to help quickly find her sea legs.
Jian untied the rope that held them to the dock and hopped into the boat with graceful ease. Chang enjoyed watching him work as his skilled hands quickly worked and set them out to sail.
The sea breeze felt fresh against her face as the caught the wind in their sail and raced across the water. After securing their sail he turned slightly to see the giant smile plastered on her face.
"Thank you Jian, its been a long time since I have last done this."
"I remember you told me your father used to take you sailing."
"Yeah he used to have a boat until he sank it."
"Haha how'd that happen."
"We're actually not quite sure how he did that, he would tell us a different story every time. He just came home in his life jacket still soaking wet, missing a shoe and said the boat died." Chang animatedly retold the story.
"Mom was furious at first, but like always she eventually forgave him. Especially when he promised to buy another boat the following summer and would take her sailing first on it. He even promised to christen it after her and call it the "ocean blossom."
"And did he?"
Chang looked away into the distant horizon.
"No he died the following spring before he could complete his promise."
"I'm sorry."
"It's ok, I have a lot of fun memories with him, plus I just got a picture of him from my mom the other day. I didn't want to lose it so I didn't bring it with me today, I'd love to show you when we get back!"
"I'd love to see that." He cast one of his award winning smiles at her that caused her heart to go awry.
Jian made her heart flutter, and she gripped her dress above her heart subconsciously.
'You are the only one who has ever made me feel like this, I need to be brave and find out the truth.'