Publishedat 24th of June 2019 11:45:08 PMChapter 237
But Wei was determined that he wasn"t going to shy away from showing his true intensions towards the woman he loved! Not anymore . . . He patted her hand and didn"t prod her any further on the topic .
They spent a pleasant morning strolling through the lanes of the city before heading towards the main hall . Picking food from various stalls, they sat at a bench and munched away, observing the beautiful crafts and souvenir stores tucked away in various nooks and corners of that building . Jia Li had not ventured to this part of London till date and she was genuinely having a wonderful time . Live bands were setting up for the evening . It all looked enchanting, inviting .
"C"mmon, time to go," Wei stood up and extended his hand towards her .
"Go where?" she brushed the food crumbs from her dress and got up nonetheless .
"You"ll see when we get there," he said cryptically .
They traced narrow steps towards one end of the building and reached a small dock . Jia Li had seen the ca.n.a.l flowing next to the Camden Lock building but now she saw a waterbus at the bank of the ca.n.a.l .
Squealing in delight, she exclaimed, "are we getting on that?"
Wei shook his head in affirmative and leapt up to cross over . He held both her hands when she made the leap and didn"t let go till they were seated inside the quaint, red painted waterbus . The windows on both sides afforded them a clear view of the ca.n.a.l and its surroundings . It had a seating capacity for about fifty odd people but surprisingly no one else got on board .
"I am amazed that it is empty on a Sunday afternoon," she wondered aloud .
Wei grinned at her and quipped, "it better be, considering I booked the entire thing for this afternoon . We are headed towards Little Venice and if you are lucky, you may be able to see JK Rowling, Michael Bond, Earl Spencer and Madonna"s backyards . There are elegant Georgian and Victorian houses to take note of and also a rare breed of Egyptian geese, who has made his nest somewhere along the ca.n.a.l . "
Jia Li burst out laughing .
"You sound like a full-fledged tour guide . I am very impressed with your in-depth knowledge of the ca.n.a.l"s history and geography," she said tongue in-cheek .
He gave her an injured look, "when I told them that I want to book the entire place and don"t want any tour guide to come along, they looked almost hurt . They insisted that my companion and I should at least know these many facts about the tour which we are about to embark upon . One of them looked so stern that I thought I may be quizzed on this information by the end of that lecture . Hence I paid attention to what was being told . Oh, I did forget to mention, if you decide mid-way to see some wildlife, we can always get off at the London Zoo . Now, they did tell me the rare breeds being kept there but for the life of me, I can"t recall a single one of them . "
Jia Li couldn"t stop laughing at his words or the wounded look which he had adopted while narrating the sequence of events .
"Wait a minute . When did you do the booking? We have been together since the morning," the thought suddenly struck her .
"That"s for you to guess and me to know," he replied with a smirk .
Jia Li looked at him with something akin to regret in her eyes . Turning away before he could catch that expression, she sat down and looked at the lush greenery outside . The water looked so tranquil, acting as a pacifier to the anguished war raging inside her .
Wei came up to her and said, "we can go outside and feed the ducks along the way . Would you like to or is it too sunny for you?"
She replied, "I would love to but we didn"t pick up anything to feed them . "
Showing her a bag full of corns and breadcrumbs, he grabbed her hand and went outside on the deck . It felt that they were the only two people existing in this moment .
It was a perfect moment but why did her heart ache for more…
"This has turned out to be such an amazing afternoon . I can"t thank you enough . You may not know this but I really needed it today," Jia Li told him with grat.i.tude, after they had fed a bunch of raucous ducks .
Some pigeons had also landed on the deck seeking their share .
"What if I tell you that I am willing to construct such an afternoon every day for you?" Wei asked her suddenly .
Jia Li had been admiring the houses whose backyards were visible from their boat . Upon hearing his words, she turned towards him, squinting her eyes against the sun"s rays .