My Asian Dragon: A BWAM Romance Story (4 page)

"Oh?"

"Most
of the world does not believe in my kind any longer. This is a good
thing, as I think my kind was hunted down by normal human beings over
hundreds of years, leading to the current situation. The only people
who really know are certain members of the Triads, and the higher ups
of the central government."

"And
I'm a journalist," Joy said, sighing. "You're worried that
I'm going to tell the world about you."

"The
thought has crossed my mind. I can tell from the way you talk, the
way you conducted yourself, you're an inquisitive person, and it’s
in your nature to report the truth."

"I'll
take that as a compliment."

Longwei
chuckled, and started walking down the steps towards the main gate of
the temple. "It was."

"So
what are you going to do? I don't suppose you'll just let me go?"

Longwei
turned, an amused look on his face. "Miss Roberts, you are not a
prisoner. And I am not a man who is in the habit of harming innocent
people. That's what the Triads do, and I am no Triad."

"So
what do you want me to do?"

"That
is totally up to you, Miss Roberts. What would you like to do?"

Joy
thought for a moment, then smiled. "Well first, I'd like to see
the rest of your village. Then, if you don't mind, I'd like to stick
around a while."

Longwei
nodded approvingly. "Of course, Miss Roberts."

"Joy."

"Excuse
me?"

Joy
smiled shyly, and tucked her hair behind her ear. "My name's
Joy. If you don't mind."

Longwei
returned her smile, and held out his arm for her. She trotted down
the steps, entwining the offered arm. "Joy. A beautiful name. I
shall enjoy using it."

*****

Two
days later, Joy walked up the main street towards the edge of the
village. She had her phone in her hand, looking for a reception
signal. As she walked, she reflected on the past few days. In many
ways, they had been idyllic. Waking up every morning, she was still
slowly adjusting her body clock to the sunrise to sunset pattern of
the village, but it left her feeling better than she had in years.
The constant exercise of walking everywhere, the healthy food, and
the clean air left her feeling relaxed and energetic.

Best
of all though was spending time with Longwei. He had been her
constant, patient guide, showing her the entire village. He had
helped translate for her as various villagers invited her into their
homes, showing her how they lived.

To
say the standard of living in the village was simple would be an
understatement. She had seen only two buildings with electricity so
far, the village school house and the doctor's house, both of which
had small generators. "I insisted on getting a generator for
both," Longwei had explained, "because I want the children
to have the best schooling available. We actually have three
computers too. No Internet, but I try to make sure the children have
DVD's and computer programs. Some of them are rather good typists."

"And
the doctor's?"

"I
have insisted that all of the children get the important vaccines.
We've cut the childhood disease rate by half in the past two years.
But many of those require refrigeration."

"How
do you fuel them?"

Longwei
smiled. "Naturally. You saw the windmills, and I am surprised
you did not smell the still."

"Still?"

"Yes.
We use the refuse from the animals and such to make a liquid fuel.
Not suitable for vehicles, but it does well enough to run a steam
generator."

"I
see. Maybe that's a thing I might not want to see," Joy joked,
holding her nose.

Her
entire time had been like that. Pleasant surprises and quiet
happiness. It felt strange to her, but she realized she was happy. It
was why she was walking up the road right now, looking for a cell
phone signal. It took her over an hour of walking, but finally she
got two bars, and she dialed Billy's number. "Hey, Billy!"

"Joy!
I was just starting to get worried. How is the village?"

"I'm
enjoying it here, Billy. That's why I called. I was thinking I'd like
to stay a while."

"Really?
I didn't think you would go for the hayseed life."

Joy
laughed. "Billy, I think you're the first person to use the word
hayseed with me in forever. But yeah, for some strange reason I'm
comfortable here right now. Listen, can you do me a favor?"

"If
I can. What do you need?"

"I
need you to go by the
AER
offices and file a leave of absence for me. I can take up to three
months no pay and still keep my job. I don't think I'll take the full
thing, but yeah, I'm going to stay a while."

Billy
sounded confused over the signal, but Joy thought it may have just
been the bad connection. It sounded like Billy was yelling down a
hallway. "All right, I'll stop by the offices early next week.
I'm in Hong Kong tonight."

"Thanks,
Billy." Joy hung up the phone, and turned around. There was
still an hour or so of daylight, and she wanted to get back to the
village quickly. Tonight Longwei said the village was having a
birthday party for one of the people in town, and there was pork
tonight.

The
weather was perfect, and Joy stretched as she took a break from her
work. After being a "guest" of the village for a week, the
urge to do something to help out became overwhelming, and she asked
Longwei what she could do. It had been a challenge, learning some of
the basics that the villagers had known since childbirth, such as how
to pick certain vegetables and how to milk a goat (the village
currently had only three cows, all of which were calving, so bovine
milk was currently unavailable). It was a unique and subtly
challenging opportunity.

Today,
her job was to help the school in chopping vegetables for lunch. This
was her third day doing the work, and she thought she finally had the
hang of it. The first day, she noticed that her supervisor would
quietly re-chop everything she did, so she swore to get better. The
second day had shown some improvement, but today she thought she had
been doing a decent job. The supervisor, a wizened old grandmother
who had perhaps ten teeth and therefore whose speech was
unintelligible by almost everyone, had at least been making pleasant
sounds when she brought over her bowls of vegetables to be stirred
into the school's soup.

Joy
still felt like she was making little headway in understanding the
villager's spoken words, however. Thankfully, her limited writing
ability combined with smiles, pointing, and Longwei's assistance had
made things easy for the past two weeks. Every morning, she would
work next to the villagers, whether it be in the fields, or in the
village itself. She had even taught English lessons to the
schoolchildren, who were all fascinated by her Western clothes and
mannerisms.

Thinking
of her clothes, Joy fingered the loose t-shirt that Longwei had lent
her. After wearing her initial clothing for the first week nonstop,
even she had to admit that washing the same pair of pants and shirt
every night was getting a bit difficult. Longwei had talked to some
of the people in the village, and the next morning she had found
three pairs of work trousers and four t-shirts folded neatly and laid
next to her bed. "Unfortunately, none of the women in town wear
undergarments that would fit your body," Longwei informed her
that morning as they shared breakfast. "The next time the
traveling merchant is in the area, I will arrange for you to get the
goods you need."

"Wait
a second," Joy said before he could leave the room, "how do
you know my size?"

Longwei
smiled his enigmatic smile. "I would pretend that I have
dramatic powers of observation or such, but really all that happened
was that you left your clothes out to dry last night. You're a size
six in US sizes, according to your jeans. I didn't concern myself
with your bra."

Joy
shook her head, chuckling. "You're funny, Longwei. Has anyone
ever told you that?"

Longwei
shook his head. "Only you. It is one of the things I appreciate
about you staying for a while."

For
Joy, Longwei's words warmed her in ways she was coming to appreciate.
It wasn't just that he was sexy, she could see past just that.
Longwei also had a quiet sense of intelligence, confidence and humor
that often had her laughing while at the same time pondering things
he would say to her.

Joy
thought about the weeks since she had called Billy, and the changes
she had undergone. The warmth of the sun helped her smile, and she
rolled her shoulders, looking around the schoolyard as the children
played before lunchtime. As she watched two little girls jump rope, a
sudden crash and scream from inside the kitchen caught her attention.
Running inside, she saw fire blooming along the wall near the stove.
Today's lunch had included deep fried dumplings, and somehow, the pot
of oil that was meant for frying had turned over, spilling hot oil
over the wood stove and the rear wall of the kitchen. The oil was
already catching fire, and the other kitchen assistant was holding
her hand, which Joy could see was blistering and smoking. The cook, a
pretty young woman, who Joy called "Ying-ying," was
screaming in a high pitched voice, horror written on her face.

Not
considering the risk, Joy grabbed Ying-ying and dragged her out of
the kitchen, pushing her towards the water pump that was in the
corner of the yard. Pushing Ying-ying to her knees, Joy madly pumped
the handle, until a torrent of cold water gushed from the outflow
pipe over her hand. Joy yelled for two of the older children,
pointing and gesturing, crying out "here! here!"

Thankfully,
the two children followed instructions, and took over the pumping.
Joy sprinted towards the kitchen door, which now roiled with black,
stinking smoke. She grabbed a bucket next to the door, scooping up
dirt from the ground to throw on top of the oil. She knew that she
couldn't use water, it would just spread the burning oil. The dirt
seemed to make no difference, but she kept at it, running outside and
getting another pail full of sandy dirt.

Running
back inside, Joy threw the dirt again in a wide fan, hoping to
smother the flames. The heat was intense as the flames licked up the
wall, and the smoke was making her cough. She was driven to continue
as she couldn't imagine the village being without the school. Hacking
and coughing, she got a third pail full, and then a fourth. Soon she
heard voices, and saw Longwei and two other men of the village come
running. Longwei carried a chemical extinguisher, and unleashed it on
the flaming stove, quickly snuffing out the fire. The emergency taken
care of, Longwei turned towards Joy. "What happened?" he
asked, his voice shaky.

"I
don't know," Joy replied, her breath quavering as the fear and
adrenaline flooded her body. "I went outside to stretch after
cutting the vegetables, when I heard a scream. I found Ying-ying
burned, and got her out. I...."

Joy's
body began to tremble, and she wrapped her arms around herself,
shivering. Longwei took her in his arms and led her out into the
playground, where the two teachers had the students gathered for
safety. He exchanged words with the teachers and students, reassuring
their fears, before leading Joy away and under a nearby tree. "Sit,"
he said, helping her to the ground. Joy collapsed, her breath coming
in harsh sobs. "You were very brave."

Joy
sobbed, the sobs interlaced with hacking coughs as she cleared the
smoke from her lungs, and let Longwei hold her. "Is the school
damaged?" she finally asked, as the coughs subsided. "How
is Ying-ying?"

"She
is being taken to the doctor's now," Longwei replied. "How
are you?"

"Just
a bit of smoke, I'm fine," Joy replied.

She
moved to get up, but felt Longwei's arms wrap tighter around her. She
turned to look at him, and was shocked when she felt his lips kiss
her. She resisted for a moment before she relaxed into the feeling,
enjoying the sensuous play of his mouth against hers. When it
stopped, she sat back down next to him, catching her breath. "Well
now."

Longwei
sighed, and let go of her shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"What
for?"

"I
should not have done that. You just had a shock, you're vulnerable, I
reacted out of my own stress and...."

"And
it was a very nice first kiss," Joy finished for him. "Longwei,
you don't know as much about American women as your education may
have led you to think. If I didn't want you to kiss me, I would have
stopped you, regardless of whether you can change into a dragon or
not."

Longwei
laughed. "I think that's why I kissed you, too. You're the first
woman in a long time who has acted like I am a normal man."

Joy
chuckled. "Well, other than that one little thing, from what I
can see you are a normal man. Unless you're hiding something else
from me?"

"Hmmmm.....
well, there is my dragon mate and our three little hatchlings, and
the fact that I enjoy dressing up in women's clothing on festival
nights, but I think that is it."