In the Beginning

From the first moment he saw her, that day outside of Robert’s condo, Jason was drawn to Mai-Ling with such force that it felt like destiny. He had never felt anything like it in his life. The only way he could describe it was it felt like they were supposed to meet for some reason– almost as if they had been lovers in a past life.

His pulse quickened in her presence and left him confused and speechless at first. He knew at that moment- that first moment- that she was the one and only one that he would gladly give his heart to.

They started dating the night after that fateful night at “The Pub on the Lake,” and spent every moment they could together over the last few weeks.

Jason knew now that what he felt for Mai-Ling was love and fought with everything in him, to build the courage to tell her.

After four weeks of dating Mai-Ling, Jason finally built up enough courage to tell her how he felt. They spent a lot of time alone together in the last two weeks, as Robert and Maryanne were travelling for work. He loved being with her and, even though they saw each other almost every day, missed her when they couldn't be together. Whenever they were apart, even for a day, he found himself counting down the hours until he could be with her again.

Mai-Ling would be leaving for China in a few days, and wouldn't be back for two weeks. Jason had to tell her how he felt before she left, so he asked her to join him for a special weekend away from the city.

He told her that he wanted to take her to one of his favourite places, “Niagara on the Lake” for the weekend.

Mai-Ling had never been there but knew it was a beautiful small town close to Niagara Falls, where the water from the falls flowed into Lake Ontario. She agreed to go as she knew it would be the perfect romantic place to tell Jason what she felt in her heart before leaving for Guangzhou.

She felt at ease with him and loved his company, as he had proven to be much more than just a handsome man. He always made her laugh and would sit for hours with her, talking about anything and everything. Other times they would just sit at the park, watching the kids play and not say anything. He said that he felt so comfortable with her that he could just sit with his arm around her for hours without feeling he needed to make conversation.

Looking in his eyes when he told her this, she thought,

"My God, this man has stolen my heart."

Jason's heart was beating a little faster when he pulled into Mai-Ling's driveway in his rented car. He felt nervous, knowing this was a big step for them, as they had never spent a night alone together.

He asked the hotel to provide a pull-out cot in the room, as he didn't want Mai-Ling to feel pressured to sleep in the bed with him.

Jason wanted to make this weekend a memorable experience for them and had spared no expense on their accommodations and the experiences he booked.

He did his research and booked the best hotel available, "The Prince of Wales Hotel," which was over 150 years old and considered one of the most beautiful hotels in the country.

It was right in the heart of the main tourist area and directly across the street from the park, where he would give his heart to Mai-Ling.

He planned to walk to the park with a picnic lunch, sit at the lake watching the sailboats and profess his love to her. He’d been practicing what he would say for days, but still felt as nervous as a schoolboy.

Mai-Ling felt nervous and excited as she packed her things for the weekend until her mother came into her room and hugged her.

She told Aili how nervous she felt and said, "What if he doesn't feel the same mom?"

Aili had met Jason several times and knew he was a kind and caring person who cared very much for her daughter.

She looked in Mai-Ling's eyes and said, "Don't worry, honey; my guess is that he’s much more nervous then you are."

"How can he be, mom? I'm the one who’s planning to say something."

Aili looked at her with a knowing smile and said,

"Honey, that boy loves you. I see it in his eyes every time he looks at you."

Mai-Ling looked at her lovingly and said, "Do you really think so?"

Aili feeling happy for her daughter and knowing she was in love, said,

“He is so obviously in love, Mai-Ling, and why do you think he’s taking you to one of the most romantic places in the province."

Mai-Ling looked at her with tears and said, "Do you think he feels the same as me?"

Aili held her by the shoulders and said, "Honey, he is going to tell you everything you want to hear, and I am so happy for you."

Mai-Ling cried with joy as her mother held her for a few minutes.

Jason pulled in the driveway as Mai-ling went to the door with her bag to wait for him.

He got out of the car and walked to the door when Mai-Ling and Aili came out to greet him. Aili smiled as he did what he always did and greeted her, first, with the respect that a gentleman gives to the mother of his love.

He went to Mai-Ling next to help her with her things and noticed her eyes were red and asked, "Are you ok, you look like you were crying."

Aili could see the genuine concern in his eyes and smiled as Mai-Ling answered, "No, everything is perfect. Mom and I were laughing so hard at something she said I almost peed myself."

While she spoke, she was looking at him with those eyes that had stolen his heart, and he thought,

"I’m the luckiest man alive;" before taking her bag and opening the door to the car for her. Aili hugged her daughter and whispered in her ear that she was a lucky girl before telling Jason to please take care of her daughter. Jason replied, "Don't worry, Mrs. Zhang; she is the most important thing in my life."

Aili felt that her daughter couldn't be any safer than she was with this boy, and smiled as they pulled out of the driveway and waved at her before driving away.

They stopped a few times on the drive to "Niagara on the lake" as it was a beautiful sunny day, and they were driving through wine country. Mai-Ling mostly enjoyed the stop at the Welland Canal, which connected Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, as she had never been there and was fascinated by the way the boats were lifted or lowered depending on which direction they were going.

When they arrived at the hotel, Mai-Ling felt like royalty as they walked in and were greeted as if they were the most important people there. She understood why when they got to their room, which had to be the most expensive room there.

The room overlooked the park across the street and looked like a perfectly preserved slice of the early twentieth century. She laid her bag on the bed as the bellboy showed Jason how the pull-out cot worked and thought,

"I don't think we’ll need that."

After the bellboy left, Jason asked Mai-Ling, "So, is this ok or is it too much?"

She knew that this must be costing Jason a fortune but thought about what her mother had said and wanted to tell him she loved him, and she didn't need any of this. She looked at him for a few seconds and said, "I love it, I feel like a celebrity, but I would be happy in a tent with you, Jason."

Jason knew Mai-Ling didn't care about expensive things but also knew that she never experienced them. He walked to her and kissed her lips before saying,

"I would be happy living in a car if you were with me."

They held each other for a couple of minutes before checking out the room and deciding to go outside for a walk and shop on the main street just outside the hotel.

They walked the street for a while, stopping for ice-cream and buying some small items before having dinner at a small restaurant that featured live music by a local group. The food and atmosphere were excellent, and they enjoyed it immensely before returning to the hotel for the night.

When they got back to the room, Jason asked Mai-Ling if she wanted to shower first, but she said he could go first as she wanted to rest a little before showering.

Jason was thinking about his plan for the next day and practising the words he would say to Mai-Ling as he showered, when the bathroom door opened.

He said, "Mai-Ling are you ok?"

"Yes, Jason, I’m better than ok."

He started to say something else but stopped as the shower curtain pulled back, and Mai-Ling stepped, naked, into the shower with him.

He smiled, pulled her close and said, "I guess you don't want to use the pull-out cot,"

She smiled, "No, I have what I want right here," as she kissed him and hugged him tight to her body.

The next morning, Jason awoke to the scent of flowers, opening to greet the day, wafting in through the open window of the hotel room. The sun slowly rising over Simcoe Park brought with it the promise of another beautiful day, and the happy singing of the many birds that lived there.

The only sounds he could hear were the birds chirping and Mai-Ling's soft breathing as she slept peacefully with her head on his shoulder. Feeling her skin against his, as she lay with her arm around his chest, he couldn't imagine being any happier than he felt at that moment.

Not wanting this moment to end, he tried not to move and wake her. The feeling of her body and the scent of this beautiful woman intoxicated him, as he thought about the lovemaking and the comfort he felt in her arms.

Before falling asleep the night before, exhausted, in each other's arms, Jason told Mai-Ling that she had destroyed his plan of telling her he loved her the next day.

Mai Ling laughed as Jason told her his plan, knowing they had already professed their love for each other many more times than the three times they had made love.

Mai-Ling opened her eyes to see Jason looking at her face with pure joy as he moved her hair softly away from her lips before kissing her and telling her he loved her. She felt tears rise in her eyes as she told him she loved him and hugged his body to hers.

The hotel was starting to come alive, and they could smell the unmistakable scents of breakfast cooking in the restaurant downstairs. They were famished from the calories they’d burned during the night and untangled themselves to take a shower together before going down for breakfast.

After finishing their shower, they made a plan for the day to go to the "Butterfly Conservatory," before returning and spending some time at the beautiful park across from the hotel.

They left the hotel early, after eating a large breakfast, and followed the beautiful winding road to the Conservatory. The sun shone down on an incredible summer morning as they followed the route along the Niagara River, through wineries and elegant homes to the "School of Horticulture grounds." The "Butterfly Conservatory" sat on the grounds in a park-like setting about halfway to "Niagara Falls." It had a large, climate-controlled greenhouse area with a glass dome that housed a wide variety of plants and over 2000 tropical butterflies. Guests could walk the almost 200 metres of paths that wound through the greenhouse, as the free-flying butterflies hovered around them.

They discovered very quickly that if you stood still, the butterflies would land on you, so they found a spot that wasn't busy so that Mai-Ling could try and get them to land on her.

Jason could see the happiness of a child on her face as she stood against a rail with both arms out to her sides, and every butterfly in the area started landing on her arms and shoulders. People started taking pictures and talking excitedly as Mai-Ling quickly became covered with dozens of butterflies. Jason smiled at her with love as people were telling their children that she must be the "Butterfly Goddess."

After that day, Jason started calling her "Hudie," which was Chinese for butterfly and would become his pet name for her. He would only speak it to her when they were alone, and she understood that it was his way of telling her how much he loved her with one word.

They spent about two hours at the Conservatory, as the kids wanted to take pictures with the "Butterfly Goddess," before driving back to Simcoe Park for brunch.

They arrived back at the hotel a little after noon, grabbed their picnic basket and walked across the street to the park. The park was immaculately maintained and full of all kinds of flowers and shade trees along the paths that led to a small beach overlooking Lake Ontario.

Not far from the beach, kids were playing in a large wading pool in the sun. Mai Ling suggested that they spread their picnic blanket under a large oak tree there and watch the kids play while they ate their lunch. They sat there for an hour enjoying lunch and the laughing and splashing of the kids in the pool, before packing up and heading back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

They waved and said goodbye to the kids as they were leaving and never noticed the young Asian couple on the other side of the pool that had been taking pictures of them while they were having lunch.

After resting at the hotel and another round of lovemaking, with Jason calling her "Hudie" the whole time, they went to an Italian restaurant close to the hotel. They talked about Mai-Ling's upcoming trip to China and drank wine while eating lots of pasta, as Jason jokingly told her that he would need the carbs later.

The next day they drove to the falls and spent a few hours there before returning to the hotel to check out and drive back to the city.

It was late when they got to Mai-Ling's house, and knowing that he would not see her before she left for China, he stood in the driveway and held her for a long time before leaving. He kissed her one more time and said,

"I love you, Hudie," before getting in the car and pulling out of the driveway.

Jason didn't see Mai-Ling again for almost three weeks. When she returned, Jason was in Ottawa, fixing a machine for the company he worked for. He didn't usually do this, but Robert was in Oklahoma and couldn't be there. Robert told his boss that Jason could easily fix the problem, and as the customer needed the machine running, they sent Jason to Ottawa on his first trip for the company.

He spoke to Mai-Ling a few times while he was in Ottawa but couldn't wait to hold her in his arms again. When he arrived home a few days later and called her with the good news, Jason could tell something wasn't right by the sound of her voice.

He asked, "What's wrong, are you ok?"

She answered that she was ok but was upset with what was happening with Maryanne.

Jason, feeling concerned for Maryanne now, asked Mai-Ling what had happened. She understood now that Jason didn't know anything about what had happened. She told him she didn't want to talk on the phone about it and asked him to meet her the next morning.

Jason still had the company car he used for the trip to Ottawa, so he picked up Mai-Ling in the morning and drove to a park close to her house.

Jason sat at the picnic table in the park, with a look of absolute disbelieve on his face as Mai-Ling told him about the pictures that Maryanne had received. Jason knew Robert well and refused to believe that he would do anything to hurt Maryanne. He knew that Robert was madly in love with her and would do anything to ensure she was happy. He told Mai-Ling all of this and said, "This can't be true; the pictures must be fake, he would never hurt her."

Mai-Ling said that she felt the same, but the pictures were real, as she took them from her bag and laid them on the table in front of Jason.

Jason couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The pictures showed Robert making love to a woman– a woman that was not Maryanne.

Jason's hands trembled as he looked at the pictures and said,

"I don't understand; I know he loves her."