To: SHA

Heavy heart. Price one pays for leaving one city and entering another. “Don’t feel like that, take it easy! We will stay together if we are one of the loving couple we dream about.”
   Saying like this she reminded me of the things we shared.
   “What’s your weakness?”
   “You”
   “Very smart. Come here…and stop complaining,” she said when I was muttering endlessly, her skirt in my mouth: “Fuwuyuan, where’s the main course? This is frustrating!”
   “Oh, do you know that word…?” Then suddenly she was quiet. I was quiet.
   Outside the window, the old Shanghai town was turning dull white. Summer evening heat and quiet stairways.

And now, after nearly one day, the cool breeze on the Tokyo streets is refreshing. I am hauling myself once more, from pitstop to pitstop.
   Why didn’t the time stop in Shanghai? When she asked, “What do you want most in life?” I said my innermost wish, “This!” I said. “This which we are sharing now be permanent. Tired of life not lasting longer in these moments.”
   Heavy heart. Price one pays for not having two bodies.

Featured image: Somewhere in south China, possibly near Dujiangyan. 

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