Are You Still Addicted?

"Adorable Little Hands."

  The next morning, Gu Hai and Bai LuoYin headed off to work.

  As Gu Hai met Yan Ya Jing in the lobby, he could see that she had not taken his advice. She was supposed to take the day off. Why was she at work today? She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life. There should be no problem when it came to her getting a date.

  "I thought you were going to take today off?" Gu Hai said, walking up to her and crossing his arms over his chest, "What's the problem?"

  Yan Ya Jing frowned, "The problem isn't finding a date. It's finding the right guy to date. Most guys are intimidated by me."

  They began to slowly walk towards the elevator. A few of their employees waved hello and gushed as Gu Hai waved back. Yan Ya Jing was always fascinated by the way the women at the company reacted to him. Even though they all knew he was handsome and married, they all blushed and giggled when he paid any attention towards them. Was that how most women reacted when an attractive man was around? Maybe it was the fantasy of it all. Pining after a man who was successful, great looking, and kind. It was something most women looked for in a mate.

  Most of her dates were powerful men. They all had charm, money, and were equally good looking. She looked over at Gu Hai and remembered the time he had proposed to her. They had almost gotten married until Bai LuoYin got lost in the swamp.

  She smiled to herself. Even though what they had wasn't real, she wanted a man to love her that way. She wanted someone who would drop everything in a heartbeat to save her. Most of the men she had dated seemed nice, but they never made her feel that way.

  "What's so funny?" He asked as the elevator doors opened.

She shook her head, "Nothing, let's get to work on next weeks project. I don't want to leave anything undone."

He gave her a suspicious look but didn't press the subject of her dating life. Bai LuoYin entered the base. He had very little work to do today. A few new recruits were to be assigned bunks and duties, but nothing too strenuous. Entering his new office, which was the size of his living room, he picked up the files on his desk. He quickly entered the new recruits information into his computer and assigned their weekly duties. His cellphone went off and he looked at the screen to see that it was Yang Meng. He answered to a lot of commotion in the background.

  "Yin Zi, I need a favor!" Yang Meng shouted at him. 

  Bai LuoYin could hear the urgency in his tone, "What's wrong?"

  "Oh, nothing too bad. I just wanted to know if you could do me a favor. See, I was asked to talk to a class of very young children today. But I'm very busy! So busy that I forgot about it! I was asked to talk about respecting the law. Since I can't do it and you're a man of authority maybe you can cover for me!" Yang Meng said, then rambled on. "Please, please! I will lose face and respect if you don't do this for me!"

  Bai LuoYin rolled his eyes and looked at his computer. He was almost done with his own affairs. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he did this one favor for his long time friend.

Yang Meng made a small whimper on the other end of the line as if it pained him to talk about it further. Pleading was his strong point and most of the time it worked.

Bai LuoYin let out a long breath, "Fine, I'll do it, send me the address and information."

  Half an hour later, Bai LuoYin pulled up to a school dressed in his uniform. Entering the building he checked the paper with the information he had gotten from Yang Meng. He headed to the room and peered inside. A room full of small children sat listening to their teacher attentively. A smile crept over his lips. It had been a while since he had been around a bunch of small children. He observed their clean faces and their small hands as they wrote on a piece of paper. He knocked lightly and the teacher came to the door. Stunned at how handsome he looked, she adjusted her own clothing, smoothing it down as if her hands were a hot iron. He let her know of his intentions and then she informed her students.

  Little hands quickly put away their pieces of paper and sat up straighter as Bai LuoYin stood in the front of the class.

  "Today we are going to talk about doing the right thing," he began, "and what happens when we do the wrong things."

 All the small faces listened to him speak for about ten minutes. They asked questions and he answered the best he could. The teacher sat at her desk and listened to him. She surveyed his tone, patience, and his ability to interact with her students. She wondered if Bai LuoYin had children of his own. He was very good with the ones in her classroom. He seemed to have experience with handling them.

"I will never ever steal anything," said a little girl, "I don't want to ever go to jail."

  Bai LuoYin nodded, "That's right, always follow the law and do the right thing."

"Do you fly real airplanes?" Asked a boy excited to change the subject.

  Bai LuoYin nodded and smiled.

"Are there jails in the air force?" Came another child.

  Bai LuoYin had forgotten how inquisitive kids were. They always asked a wide variety of questions, some made sense, others were silly. 

  "Have you ever crashed your plane?" Asked someone in the back of the class.

  Bai LuoYin suddenly got flashbacks of when he used to sit towards the back of the room, in his own classroom. Images of Gu Hai and him flooded into his mind. He even recalled when his plane went down and he was stuck in the swamp. His self declared hero coming to save him when he thought that all was lost.

  "Yes," Bai LuoYin answered and room of children laughed.

  "You must not be a very good pilot." Said a chubby boy near the front of the room. 

  Bai LuoYin couldn't help but laugh. As he left the school after finishing his favor to his friend he couldn't help but think of a young Gu Hai. He imagined a boy with passion, just like his dad. A boy who would probably drive him crazy at times, but was loving all the rest.

  Gu Hai had meetings set up all morning.  One of his meetings was with the man who wanted his company to engineer a special machine. One that could enhance a wheelchair. His young daughter was disabled. She relied on her wheelchair to get around.

  "Mr. Hai, I need it to be intelligent enough to know when to stop and when to go. It must be the most advanced piece of machinery this country has ever produced " said his client, Mr. Woo.

  Gu Hai nodded, "My company can accomplish this in less than two weeks."

  Mr. Woo gave him a curious look, "Do you have children Mr. Hai?"

  Gu Hai shook his head.

  "Then you need to know how important this is to me. My daughter's safety is the most crucial thing to me in the world."

  "I understand." Gu Hai assured him.

  "One day, when you have children of your own, you'll know how important it is to keep them safe always."

  Gu Hai listened to his client wholeheartedly. It was true, he did not have children of his own, but he knew how important it was to keep them out of harm's way.

  "Good, you will let me know when you have the blueprints, I will see you at our next meeting." Mr. Woo said, then left his office.

  Gu Hai was left sitting there, staring at his folded hands. Something had stirred deep inside of him. Wouldn't it be nice to have a little Bai LuoYin running around. Gu Hai's heart suddenly swelled. The thought of a tiny Bai LuoYin made him hold his breath. He pictured it in his mind. A face just like his dear wife, with dark hair, beautiful eyes, and maybe, just maybe, his temper and intelligence.

  Gu Hai smiled and shook his head, loving the thought of him being a father. Daydreaming was rare for him these days. Work kept him busy. On impulse, he opened his laptop and googled baby items.

It wasn't until a light knock came from his door that he realized what he had been doing. Yan Ya Jing stepped inside, holding a file of papers.

  He quickly closed the computer screen and gave her a guilty look, as if he had been caught with his pants down.

  "What were you doing?" she asked, suspiciously.

  "Nothing!" He quickly replied, giving her innocent eyes.