Page 14 of From Beijing, With Love

They stopped at the top of the bridge, and Daniel looked down at the busy eight-lane road framed by lights: the bright facades of the department stores that lined the street, the ornamental streetlights in the shape of red lanterns, and the sea of headlights. It was brighter than day, and louder too. The liberal use of car horns drowned out the raucous crowd and the street musicians busking nearby. Everything around them was alive in an organized chaos, and Daniel was transfixed by the big-cityness of it all.

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Daniel thought to himself. Then his phone dinged in his pocket, reminding him that Amsterdam was far away, but not that far.

Taylor: Coming over to pick up my stuff. Will I see you?

“Wait, what?” Daniel frowned at the message until it all made sense.

Taylor didn’t believe Daniel was really in China.

“Everything okay?”

“It’s my ex. We broke up right before I came here.” Daniel leaned on the guardrail of the bridge. He flashed the phone screen at Yang without thinking. A part of him just wanted to share the weight with someone.

Yang’s brow furrowed as he scrutinized the message. “Doesn’t your ex know you are in China?”

“Apparently, I’m not the type of person to pull off a trip like this. I guess if you knew me back home, you wouldn’t believe it either,” Daniel said, a bitter smile on his lips. Taylor didn’t believe he could take a trip like this (even with photo proof), and neither did Poppy. And that was precisely how he’d ended up where he was, alone and fucking sad. “Actually, you don’t need to know me back home. You’ve seen enough of it for yourself today.”

“You were fine.” Yang’s eyes fixed on Daniel. They were standing close enough for Daniel to make out the dark crescents under Yang’s weary eyes.

“Right.” Daniel sighed and looked away.

“Maybe this’ll convince them.” Yang held out his phone.

On it was a candid shot of Daniel leaning on the parapet, staring out into the horizon where forest green met hazy blue. Off in the distance, the Wild Wall traversed. He looked surprisingly good, like he was meant to be there, like there weren’t a thousand worries bouncing around in his head. This was a whole lot better than the staged photo Daniel had asked for. When had Yang taken it?

Daniel tore his eyes away from the screen. “That’s not real.”

Yang raised his chin. “I fail to see how it’s not.”

“I just meant … it’s a lie. You saw what a mess I was today,” he blurted, surprised by his own honesty. “Do you think that photo of me looking like an Instagram model is real?”

Why was he even having this conversation with someone he was never going to see again after today?

Yang leaned on the guardrail beside Daniel. When he spoke again, his voice was gentle but held a solid certainty. “It may not be the whole picture, but it doesn’t change the fact that you were there on the Great Wall.” Then his face softened, from his lips up to those perpetually grumpy brows. “Like your dad had been. Give yourself some credit.”

Daniel didn’t know how to respond to Yang’s words, or the way he was looking at him with those warm brown eyes. He wanted to believe Yang was right.

“Can I see the photo again?” he asked after a moment.

“Of course.”

Daniel reached for the phone, his fingers brushing against Yang’s. Something fleeting passed over Yang’s face before he jerked his hand back, nearly dropping his phone onto the traffic below.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to …” Daniel said, his hand hanging in midair.

“I’ll send it to you,” Yang said, glossing over the fact that he’d just recoiled from Daniel’s touch like Daniel was diseased. He cleared his throat, and out came his professional voice. “And the tour package includes a printed photo book. It’ll be delivered to your hotel tomorrow by five PM.”

“Great, thank you, sir,” Daniel said in a weird accent that might or might not have been British. Yang tilted his head, confusion brewing in his face, which only made Daniel double down. “That’ll show them, I do declare.”

Yang continued to look at Daniel like he was something to be figured out. An oddity.

And Daniel, in his Danielness, waved and said, “This is my stop.”

It wasn’t.

“I can see the hotel from here.”

He couldn’t.