Chapter 6

How could I have been so blind? Yet, there was this doubt if even now, that everything was just a story? I had fallen for and trusted these two with everything and anything I had, only now, to be told that it had all been a scam!

Had It? I was confused.

I looked at Mei Li and Heather, then Jody and Julie. They all had heads down, eyes lowered. I rose up, then slowly walked to my room to think.

I had fallen asleep. If there was any constant in my self, if I would admit it, it was that I had always been afraid to face life, the good and the bad. I had wrestled with that paradox for a long time, finally shutting myself off from the world in favour of my work, thinking I might escape reality.

That seemed to work, for a while. Slowly the success those patents brought me forced another way of life on me. John was always a friend and I had trusted him with everything. Actually I was trying to escape life. When Jody, and, not so much Julie, came into my life I panicked.

It brought everything I had done, everything I told myself was true under a microscope. I found that I did not like the false beliefs I had. Everyone else was trying to get me, to get something from me. It was not just when I finally was rewarded for my efforts, but way back when I started, I just 'knew' everyone was wrong, only I was right.

When money came, it got worse. I had just shifted my doubts and false beliefs to think that Jody shared them. She seemed to be the part of my life I never thought I would have. A daughter I might see carry on my work, work that had been my entire life. If Julie had to become a wife, so be it. She would bring with her the magic of Jody and the future, my future was going to be secure, finally. A heir.

When that fell apart, it made me realize just how foolish and isolated from reality I had been. I never was a religious man, nor felt that we were alone in the universe. It was Mr. Wu that talked with me, really talked with me, and through that had shown me that life was like the Ying and Yang his people followed. Life was a balance. Some good, some bad, and that swing was what made life worth living.

He was the first person that had accepted me as I was, not what I could or should be.

I came to him with foolish wants or needs. He never questioned why, nor told me something was foolish or was not necessary, he let me figure that out myself. When Mei Li came into my life, not only did she take my breath away, her beauty, grace, charm and femininity were offset by a look of danger, mystery and an excitement I had never known. It was different from my feelings for Jody, or Heather, or anyone else I had ever known. Not that I had known many women, but every time it was like discovering something new.

Mei Li was all that and more. She had said her father had given her to me. I wondered about that, it hurt when I thought about that, I wanted her to be with me because she wanted to, not as a slave, but like Li Wu, a partner. Heather needed me in her life because she knew everything and anything she would ever want or need would be there for her. She did not have to be afraid of ever again having nothing.

I found that I needed Mei Li much the same way. She, unlike Jody, complimented me in almost every way. Jody dictated, she made decisions, right or wrong. Mei Li would talk, we discussed things, the alternatives, the possible ways something could be done, and yes, the consequences of those actions. I had seen in here many, if not all the ways, I had wished to be. She never said I was wrong and she was right. We talked things through.

Li Wu might have 'given' her to me, but it was soon very apparent that the package we made was not one and one equals two, it was so much more. I began to realize the Old Man was a lot smarter than anyone thought. I was falling for Mei. I was falling in love with her. I had once said that my friendship with Li Wu had felt like a family. For the very first time I began to think that is what he had in mind. It did not dawn on me, for a long time, that he too might want a male heir or a son-in-law. 'Ahh, maybe!', I thought.

Mei Li was strong willed, very powerful in her own right, and did not take orders from anyone. It was from that first meeting that it seemed everything we did was by mutual agreement. Neither won nor lost anything. Maybe that was going to be the basis of our relationship, mutual respect. But this was China though. I needed to talk to both Mei and Li Wu, maybe heather to if this was going where I thought it might ... But first maybe she could get Heather some dogs?

Heather, Mei Li, Jody, Julie whew! Where was this actually headed. I told Heather we would both have a lot to learn about any relationship we might have to. Mei Li seemed to just assume that she and I were to be together from now on. Maybe that was not such a bad idea. I had not made very many good choices before on my own, certainly not as good as Jody or Mei Li had. Business or personal choices always led me to run, hide, or jump to rash decisions.