Chapter 2

 I entered the neighborhood diner and eased myself onto the stool at the counter. The waitress, Lucy, smiled and nodded in my direction and I gave a slight wave. She poured a cup of coffee and silently slipped it in front of me while she examined my face more closely.

“That looks like it might hurt, honey,” she said as she cupped my chin in her hand and studied the bruises on my jaw and temple.

“I’m alright,” I assured her. “Some ice might help.”

“Good idea,” she replied.

Shen arrived in time to witness the exchange between Lucy and me. Since the day we’d, he’d marveled over how women were drawn to me. I can’t tell you why they are, exactly. I guess the fact that I am considered handsome was a major factor, but he declared it to be more than that. He said it’s as if I held some magic spell over the female species. I need only enter a room and they were at my mercy. Unfortunately, I too had little resistance to this so called magic. It made it practically impossible to stay monogamous. I’d confided my woes about this on more than one occasion to him. He felt this wouldn’t be the case once I met my true mate and not just a female I was highly attracted to, as I was with Jessica. He liked Jessica well enough, but he could clearly see the relationship was held together by her efforts more than mine.

As Lucy disappeared into the kitchen, he gently slapped me on my back before easing himself onto the stool next to me.

“You look like hell, my friend,” he said.

“Are you hungry?” I asked with a scowl. “I ordered steak... raw.”

Lucy returned with ice wrapped in a towel and gently helped me position it over my temple. She smiled sheepishly at Shen before scurrying off to fetch him a cup of coffee. He chuckled and slowly shook his head as he watched Lucy blush when she dropped a cup.

“You were up to it,” he said. “You just need more confidence. I believe in you man. You need to believe in you too.”

I rolled my eyes as I listened to him give me the standard speech he used on new students. I was anything but insecure with my knowledge and abilities. Knowing this, Shen occasionally antagonized me with such comments as a quirky form of amusement. I stopped trying to impress upon him years ago that I didn’t find this type of nudging humorous.

I winced when he lightly cupped my chin to inspect the damage.

“That son-of-a-bitch seriously wanted to kill you,” he mused.

My chuckle had a sarcastic ring as I replied, “You noticed? It was a damn good thing he didn’t know what he was doing. He’s one crazy bastard.”

“That is why no one wants to pair up with him,” he said with a grin.

“You knew this?” I growled in surprise.

“You have come a long way over the last few years,” he said appraisingly as he smiled and accepted his coffee from Lucy.

I may have been annoyed with the teasing but it was good to see my buddy in such a feisty mood. It was a long time since I saw Shen smile, let alone show his devilish, teasing side to such a degree. After his parents died in a boating accident and his uncle loss of one of his eyes and full use of his leg while trying to save them, he took on most of the responsibilities for the operation of the Dojo. The pressures were intense and, as a result, he was quiet and serious most of the time.

“You’re pretty chipper tonight. It’s nice,” I said.

“I have something to show you,” he said eagerly.

He reached into the inside breast pocket of his windbreaker and pulled out an envelope containing the most recent letter and picture sent to him by his fiancé. He carefully set the picture on the counter and slid it in front of me.

“Hey, man, she’s beautiful,” I said in earnest.

I couldn’t have been more serious. My friendship with Shen exposed me to the Chinese culture and its people and I’d developed a strong understanding and appreciation for them and their ways. Not only would this young woman be considered a beauty in her culture, there wasn’t a man alive who could look upon her and not appreciate her femininity. He was a lucky man.

He beamed with excitement as he said, “I want you to be my best man.”

I knit my brows together and looked my friend straight in the eye. He’d lived in my country for a little over a decade now. He’d maintained his family’s business and in the process, created a solid financial foundation for himself. He was a handsome catch that any woman would be happy to have. I questioned his decision to marry a woman an ocean away when there were plenty to be had in his own back yard.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked. “Don’t get me wrong. she’s a beauty, but you haven’t seen her in quite some time. People change. How do you know you’re still compatible? There are so many beautiful women right here who’d walk through fire to have you. I don’t get it.”

“It does not matter that we have not seen each other for some time. Our bond it strong and we write all of the time. I have been in love with Dao-Ming since we were children. I could not imagine being with anyone else,” he said firmly.

“Wow, I had no idea,” I said wistfully. “Of course, it would help if you’d open up occasionally and share a confidence or two.”

My eyes twinkled playfully as I nurtured my wound with the ice.

“Forgive me. It is not my intention to keep you a stranger to me. You are like a brother. I hope you realize that,” he began. “I was raised in a different culture and my family ways were instilled within me during my formative years. My parents and their parents, and their parents before them all believed one should hold one’s thoughts and words and share them sparingly. The ways of my ancestors are not so easy to turn away from. Can you understand this?”

I nodded while I picked up the picture and studied it more closely.

“It doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful,” I mused.

“No, it does not hurt,” he replied with a chuckle. For a brief second, he looked as if he was miles away in his mind. “We would have been together by now if she had not been called back to China.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with surprise. “Was she here and I never knew it?”

“She was in school at UCLA,” he explained. “She was studying to become a doctor, but her father became very ill last year and died. Her mother cannot afford to continue her education.”

I knit my brows together.

“Wait a minute,” I said with angst. “You mean to tell me that she was in this country and I never got to meet her?”

He heaved a sigh.

“It is complicated,” he said. “In the beginning she struggled with the language. Even though she was taught English in our country, she rarely used it in general conversation. She found it difficult to keep up in school. We felt the excitement of visiting would create an even greater burden on her abilities to concentrate on her studies. Instead, I visited her on several occasions.”

“So, that’s the family you visited in California,” I mused.

“You should have met her over the summer,” he said. “She was going to come here, but she was called back to China.”

“I’m sorry, man,” I said.

He filled his lungs with air before speaking.

“Soon we will be married and we will work together to find a way to complete her education. One day I will be the proud husband of a great doctor,” he boasted.

I chuckled at my friend’s enthusiasm as I placed the picture back on the counter with a gentleness that equaled his just moments earlier when presenting it and slid it back to him.

I slapped him heartily on his back and said, “I’d be honored.”