My Hainan

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

John

We get to the beach and Lilah zones out. I’m not sure where she is or what she’s thinking, but her mind is clearly on something else. By looking at her face and her body language, it seems that she’s in a space of wonderland. Her eyes turn glossy, and her face is calm, at peace, and serious to a certain extent. Her shoulders slowly turn in, and she grips her purse tightly in front of her. Slight motions of rhythm follow. I recognize this moment of trance she finds herself in. It seems to be a beautiful moment of being lost in thought, flowing with emotion. I wish I knew what she’s thinking, but she’s enjoying it, and that’s a beautiful sight.

After I ask her to join me on my trip, she gamely turns each picture over, studying the road trip plan, and I look at her smile as she reaches the last image.

“Have you been to these places before?”

I make a wild assumption she hasn’t either. “I haven’t yet, but with your consent, we’ll see these places together for the first time.”

There’s nothing more beautiful than her smile. I keep looking at her lips and her mysterious eyes, filled with excitement. All the pictures are face up, and we both look at them, then at each other.

“Do you trust me, Lilah?”

A moment of silence passes with a smile and an emergent response. “I do,” she says.

We laugh at the moment because our eyes connect, and then that response. A perfect moment you wish was captured on camera.

“Great! Then it’s time to pack some bags. We leave early tomorrow morning.”

That night when I return home, I sit on my bed, trying to understand how the life that I knew before my flight has changed. These emotions I’m feeling are surreal. She is a stranger to me, but I feel this is right! I feel desired. I feel excited. I feel intrigued.

A day ago, I sat on a flight and got caught by surprise. Today, I spent time with a person I have so much in common with. We both love orange, the lucky number seven, and a temperate climate. We share the same favorite fruit, along with so many other similarities between us. We share the same views on life and moral foundations. We may start writing the things down we don’t have in common. We could, to a certain extent, be copy and paste. How is this possible to meet someone random on a flight and have so many similarities? Culturally, we are from opposite ends of the world, and yet we are strikingly similar.

She is gorgeous, with long dark hair, eyes to get lost in time within, and the most amazing smile. My body reacts to her being in my presence in ways that I have not experienced since my early twenties. Sure, I’ve been in relationships before, but I haven’t even touched her, and I feel such strong energy. The chemistry and the comfort of being with her is unique. I wish I could hold her, take her in my arms and feel her heartbeat against mine. How will I fall asleep tonight?

The alarm goes off the next morning, and it’s time to get ready. I try to complete my morning routine, but today seems a little slower than usual. Making coffee doesn’t feel rushed. Usual events take a little longer because even the toothpaste fell off the toothbrush. I realize I have to focus on the task at hand, as time is going to run out and I will be late. I’m never late.

Finally, everything is ready, and it’s road trip time. I load the Jeep, pick up Lilah at her front door, and we drive out of the city, listening to music playing softly in the background, making small talk and exchanging more similarities. We laugh as we share, and it feels surreal.

After a short drive, we arrive at the parking area for the Volcano Park. I urge her to stay in the car for a moment to open the door for her, and she complies, then we walk side by side to the stairs, taking a couple pictures along the way.

The air is clean, it is quiet and peaceful with the sound of birds in the trees, and the walkways are cool from the shade but the air is warm and humid.

“Do you trust me?”

Lilah laughs and responds

“Yes.”

“Close your eyes and open your mouth.”

Hesitantly, with a half-nervous smile, she complies. I pick a ripe coffee bean from a tree, rinse it with some water, and place it in her mouth. She closes her mouth and softly starts playing around with the object, trying to figure out what it is. A few seconds pass, and she opens her eyes.

“What is it? It’s hard! Am I chewing a rock?”

Laughter erupts from both of us as her face goes from unsure to disgust to playing.

“It’s a fresh coffee bean.”

She smiles. “Ahh, now I can kind of taste it, it’s so weird!”

A moment passes, and I also eat a bean. We climb the stairs to the top of the crater, and butterflies are flying all around us. The most amazing colors fill the air as the small butterflies fly in circles of eight. It seems like the bright blue insects are having a race. The bigger butterflies flutter from leaf to leaf, and we notice one sitting calmly on a leaf in front of us. It’s slowly stretching its bright yellow and black wings. It displays one big black spot on each wing that almost look like waterdrops. Suddenly, it flies into the air and lands on Lilah’s nose. I grab my phone and take a picture. Her eyes are both pointing inward, trying to see the butterfly, but she looks hilarious, and I cannot stop laughing at her expression. It’s clear she hasn’t spent many hours in nature and may even be a little freaked out about the lovely butterfly on her nose.