4.1 Driving Lessons: One Rainy Day

Li Wei gazed out of his home office window and watched the gloomy downpour that had suddenly overthrown the peaceful evening sky. Despite the heavy rainfall, the roads of Tianjing were as busy as ever with the throng of commuters. He scanned the traffic for a while before turning away in disappointment. Li Wei tried to go back to his whiteboard and focus on the problem, but it was no use. His attention kept wandering between the clock on his desk and the window. Unable to make any progress, he put the marker down and went back to staring out at the road. On the path leading towards their apartment complex, he saw his elderly neighbor Mrs. Zhang and her 10-year-old granddaughter coming back from grocery shopping. Mrs. Zhang was holding the bag and the umbrella in one hand, and with the other, she was trying hard to rein in her granddaughter, who was trying to rebel against the oppression of dry clothes and clean shoes. Li Wei watched as the pair somehow managed to make their way towards the safety of the complex while sustaining only a minimal amount of water damage. Just as Mrs. Zhang was about to leave his field of vision, a sudden thought struck Li Wei, “Umbrella. She didn’t take an umbrella with her.” He left the office at lightning speed. After a quick search of the bedroom, he managed to find his old umbrella, and holding it tight, he ran to the door. Just as he was about to reach it, the digital lock beeped, and the door clicked open. Standing at the door, looking like a drenched kitten, was his wife, An Mei.

The couple looked at each other for a moment. An Mei noticed the umbrella and gave her husband a sheepish smile. Li Wei placed the umbrella on the couch and approached his wife. Without uttering a single word, he gently grabbed her hand and led her inside.

“Weiwei, the floor might get wet,” An Mei said softly.

“We can wipe it later,” Li Wei replied, his tone lacking its usual warmth.

The pair walked hand in hand all the way to their bedroom.

“Are you upset, Weiwei? You look a bit upset,” the wife observed.

“I am not,” he said like a man ineffectually trying to hide the fact that he is upset. “I will go and quickly run a bath. You should take off your clothes.”

“Professor Li,” An Mei gasped, in mock horror. “Take off your clothes! Is that something one would say to a married woman? How scandalous.”

“Mei, now is not the time for jokes.” He delicately cradled her face in his hands, feeling the coldness of her wet skin against his. “Look how cold you are. If you don’t get out of your clothes quickly, you might get sick.”

An Mei smiled. “In that case…” she said, lifting up both of her hands. “You will just have to help me take them off.”

Li Wei shook his head in mock disapproval at her clinginess before eagerly jumping in to perform his designated task. One by one, he peeled the clothes off of his wife’s body and discarded the wet garments on the floor. Once An Mei was relieved of her attire, he grabbed a towel and gently started wiping her down.

“Weiwei, are you still not going to tell me why you were upset?”

“I… Mei, why didn’t you call me from the bus stop? I would have brought you an umbrella.”

An Mei chuckled at her husband’s silly and sweet complaint. “Weiwei, I was already soaked when I got on the bus. So getting from the bus stop to the apartment didn’t really make much of a difference.”

“Why didn’t the guys from your security detail give you an umbrella?”

“Why would they?”

“I mean, they are supposed to protect you.”

“From real danger, Weiwei, not from the rain. Didn’t we tell Da-jie that we wanted a normal life? Do you really want the security guys rushing in every time you have a sneeze?”

“Well… I suppose not.”

An Mei gently grabbed her husband’s hand while he was wiping her hair. She looked directly into his eyes and said, “Weiwei, tell me what’s really bothering you.”

“I… I felt really helpless,” Li Wei confessed. “I kept thinking about you trying to get on the bus or stuck in traffic in this heavy rain, and I felt so worried.”

An Mei smiled and pressed her cold and soft lips against his, giving him a sweet and affectionate kiss. “I am sorry to have made you worried, Weiwei. But it wasn’t that bad. Getting wet is part of the rainy season bus experience. I’ll remember to take an umbrella with me next time.”

“Hmph…” Li Wei grumbled, still unconvinced.

An Mei hugged him tenderly. “My sweet husband, forget these silly thoughts and focus on your wife. You got me out of my clothes, and now, I’m feeling even colder. If I am not going to get my bath, I will just keep hugging you for warmth.”

“Ohh! I am sorry, Meimei,” Li Wei said, suddenly remembering that his shivering wife was cuddling against him. “Let me take you to the bath.” He carefully picked her up and carried her to the bathroom.

An hour later they were sitting on the bed. An Mei was wearing one of Li Wei’s shirts while sipping hot chocolate that he had just made for her. Meanwhile, Li Wei was sitting behind his wife, drying her hair with a blow dryer.

“So, how was your meeting?” he asked.

“Good. We just got some coffee and talked about my progress. It was less work and more of a social visit,” An Mei said.

“Did she say anything about when it might be published?”

“No. There is still a lot of work to be done. I have not even started the last couple of chapters. And I think some of the previous ones need a little more work.”

“I suppose the rest of the conversation was her fussing over you, like always?”

“Perks of having an agent who is twice your age. It’s like having a second mother who is also my boss, even though she technically works for me.”

An Mei’s complaining made Li Wei laugh, and before long, An Mei had joined in.

“Should we invite her over someday?” Li Wei asked. “It’s been a while since we had dinner with her.”

“I’ll ask her. But I think she might want to host this time. She really wants you to try her cooking.”

They continued to chat about An Mei’s agent and other things for a while longer. But eventually they settled into a silent rhythm where they were simply enjoying each other’s quiet company and relishing the warmth of each other’s bodies. An Mei’s hot chocolate was almost finished, and her hair was nearly dry when Li Wei broke the silence.

“Mei, should we get a car?”

“A car? Weiwei, why would we get a car? Neither of us can drive.”

“I know. It’s just that, if we have a car, you won’t have to take the bus, and you won’t have to get wet in the rain.”

An Mei turned around to face her husband. She cupped his cheeks and gave him a kiss on his squished lips, and then one more for good measure.

“My sweet Professor Weiwei, are you still worried about the bus and the rain?”

“I am not worried. I am just saying that it might be more convenient for you.”

“Weiwei, I don’t mind the bus, really. It’s not a problem. While I am not opposed to buying a car, it would just be a waste. I remember a certain genius who already owned a bunch of cars. And what did he do with those?”

“I gave them to Yue-jie,” Li Wei said meekly.

“Exactly. We can buy another car, but it would still go to waste.”

Despite his wife’s logical criticisms, Li Wei wasn’t willing to give up on his argument yet. “Those were all sports cars from Jing-jie,” he said. “It would be weird if I was riding around in one of those. But we could buy a nice sedan or an SUV. We could even get a driver.”

An Mei got up from the bed and sat on her husband’s lap. Her face came so close to his that she could feel his breath on her lips, and his comforting scent enveloped her in a warm embrace. She leaned in and gave him another soft and loving kiss.

“Weiwei, we already rejected the driver and the Rolls Royce from Da-jie,” she said. “If we get a car, it’s just going to become another one of Yue-jie’s experiments.”

“But… but, what if I was the driver?”

“What do you mean?”

“I could learn to drive, and then I could drive you around.”

“That would be nice,” An Mei said, kissing him on his nose. “But you don’t have to do it, Weiwei. I know you are busy with your new paper and your classes. You don’t have to take time off your schedule to learn to drive for my sake.”

“But it wouldn’t be any trouble at all.”

“What I am trying to say is, I love you just the way you are. You don’t have to go out of your comfort zone and do things for me. I really love how thoughtful you are, but as your wife, I also want you to spend your time on things you enjoy and not waste it for the sake of something that’s not really a problem for me.”

Li Wei wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her in for a warm hug. “All right,” he agreed. “But, if you ever forget your umbrella, or if you are stuck due to the rain, please call me, alright? I will try to come and get you.”

“I will. I promise.”

Li Wei, who was until now the recipient of his wife’s kisses, pulled her in for a deep and passionate kiss. An Mei melted into his arms while matching his eagerness.