Those new buildings looked about a thousand times uglier now that she looked at them. Amber glared daggers at the schmancy structure which just happened to perfectly cut off her view of the river. Talk about your eyesores. It didn’t matter where she stood on the roof; there was no seeing around the ginormous tower. Her watch beeped alerting her to the time.

Irritated, Amber hurried back downstairs to her apartment. Victoria stood outside locking the door. She looked surprised to see her.

“Amber, I thought you were going to take pictures on the roof?”

“Not anymore.” Quickly, Amber explained the giant wall of red towers which prevented her from getting the shots she needed along with some editorial ranting. “Look, could you maybe sweet talk one of the guards for me? Just a little, so they’ll let me onto the roof of one of the new buildings?”

“What- no! I’m not going to go flirt with a policeman, Amber. I have an interview to get to.”

“Oh come on, you love guys in uniform!” The younger begged as she chased her sister down the stairs and into the neighborhood streets. “Please, Vic? Just ask one of them? You know this might be my only chance to photograph them. The dragon boats are only going to be here for another couple of days.”

“Well I guess you’ll try another day then, right?” She breezed right on by, hardly looking at Amber. Even in high heels and a dress, Vic moved faster than her.

Amber tried a different tactic. “But you’re so pretty, jiejie; I bet they’d say yes right away.”

“Nice try.” Victoria brushed her off. “Now, go take pictures of the mahjong grandpas or something. I need to go make us some money.” She emphasized ‘money’ like it was the answer to all of life’s problems. Without so much as a hair flip, her sister turned and walked out the neighborhood gates.

Amber watched with a scowl on her face. There went her only way into the new buildings. Unless… She watched a young man hold open the door for a grandma. Did she dare?

_________

“NiuNiu, do you eat green beans? I think you eat green beans.” Henry dropped a chunk of green bean ice pop onto the floor of the balcony. ZhouMi’s rabbit, “NiuNiu” AKA “his little princess” scampered over to nibble it up. She really would eat anything.

Drops of green bean juice trickled down Henry’s arm in little trails. The ice melted faster than he could eat it. Not that Henry really wanted to eat it, but it was his only relief in the sauna of an apartment. He the green ice pop. It tasted like frozen sand.

Even when it came to ice cream, China had to be different. After seeing how poorly he received the family luncheon, ZhouMi had been attempting to win Henry over with more “American” style foods. Today he came back with two slices of pizza. No toppings. No crust. No sauce. Basically it was bread with cheese, and it wasn’t good cheese either. Henry pretended to enjoy it though since apparently pizza cost a lot here. Now, he sat on the floor bean juice off his arm.

ZhouMi had returned to work today as a preschool teacher. He’d offered to bring Henry along, but in all honesty, the ABC didn’t want to meet the five year olds who spoke better Chinese than him. Henry did admit, ZhouMi’s profession was perfect for his never-ending aura of joy. Only a child would not be disturbed by such constant happiness. Four days here and Henry had only seen the man frown twice: once with Gupo (which he was trying to keep out of his mind), and the other during lunch today.

They’d been eating by the balcony where the bunny lived. ZhouMi had been trying (and failing) to start conversation with the younger. Henry’s focus was on NiuNiu and her intense dedication to finishing a carrot. The way her little mouth worked around the too large root was adorable.

“I bought her for a girlfriend, you know.”

ZhouMi’s voice barely cut through to the distracted younger. “Huh?” Henry said absentmindedly.

“I bought NiuNiu right before our anniversary as a gift. I thought it’d be cute to raise a pet together because it was one of those trends things, you know?”

“Trend of bunnies?”

“She was the year of the rabbit.”

At this point, Henry was sort of listening but still not understanding. “Then, she does like NiuNiu?”

“I don’t know. She never came.”

It took a moment, but when the meaning of those words hit him, Henry nearly had to do a double-take. ZhouMi wore a frown, an expression his face seemed unfamiliar with. Of course, he caught Henry staring, and quickly his face transformed back into that of simple joy.

“It turned out all right though,” he said, perky once again. “I got a beautiful pet and friend to keep me company. Isn’t that right my little princess?” He tossed a piece of bread onto the balcony which the rabbit dutifully scampered over to.

The same rabbit stared up at him now, eager for another piece of ice pop. “You really will eat anything.” Henry gave her the whole thing. He stood to retrieve another.

A breakup was harsh but a living reminder of that breakup was even harsher. He couldn’t help but side-eye the bunny every time now as if she knew the doleful story of her purchase.

Maybe because he seemed so happy right now, but Henry could not picture ZhouMi with a girlfriend. Always talking, always smiling. But maybe he wasn’t happy with his life. Maybe he was only acting happy because Henry was here. God, he hoped that wasn’t it.

Cold fog poured out the freezer while Henry rummaged for a decent ice cream bar. Green bean, green tea, red bean…ugh. He eventually settled on one with golden wheat printed on front.

He walked back on the milky ice. Thoughts of his friends and family back home flitted through his mind. What were they doing now? Sleeping probably.

Henry pulled out his phone. If only he had any way to contact them. When his mother shipped him over here she’d failed to mention that China blocked everything from Google* to Instagram. Even Yahoo! was hit or miss half the time.

ZhouMi didn’t have international calling either, so he was completely dependent on people calling him. They hadn’t since the night he’d first arrived. Henry would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bitter.

“Four nights here, you can’t be bothered to call your only son? Wow, I love you guys too,” he muttered sarcastically. He glanced at NiuNiu. “You’d call me, right?”

She nibbled her ice pop, oblivious.

“That’s what I thought.”

Halfheartedly, Henry scrolled through the Bing web searches. Gosh, it was tempting to download one of those proxies. Of course, knowing his luck, he‘d download the one that killed his phone and stole his identity.

Sticky liquid began running down his arm again. Annoyed, Henry bit off the top of the pop.

He remembered his grandma used to freeze salted soda and starch to make “lao Shanghais,” as she called them. They didn’t melt so quickly unlike the one in his hand not to mention the great taste. Not artificial but definitely flavorful. His sister even made a small stand selling them on the sidewalk because she was too “Asian” for lemonade. Henry had no idea what that meant. Then one summer Grandma couldn’t make them anymore, and nobody else in the family tried. Henry hadn’t had one since.

He could have really gone for one now as he condensed milk off his arm. Henry chomped down on the milk bar only to suddenly choke. He gagged for a good minute. The ice cream was grainy. Literally. A handful of oats spilled onto the floor having been freed from their frozen prison.

Henry gaped for a second.

Then four days’ worth of pent up frustrations, the complaints he didn’t have the words to say, came pouring out like the grains on the floor.

Who the hell put oats in an ice cream bar???*

And suddenly, he wanted to scream. China. Freaking China. The place he was wasting his life in would put oats in an ice cream bar. His entire summer, gone shot, wasted, and he couldn’t do a thing about it. His chest was tight with all the obscenities he wanted to yell. Henry hated it here. He hated it. It was like he had to start over with nothing; no friends, no language, no internet. He hated it. He wanted to punch a wall, stomp his feet, throw the tantrum he should have before his parents ditched him here.

Something tickled his foot. Henry looked down to see NiuNiu climbing over his feet nibbling the oats off the ground.

Slowly, he clenched his hands. And Henry sighed. The tension went out of him like air in a balloon. He looked up, this time to the window. Gray buildings filled the view along with the smoggy sky which would never clear.

It’s a part of you, son, like a second home.

Henry looked away. This place would never be his home. It would never be a part of him.

He nudged NiuNiu with his foot.

“C’mon,” he whispered. “We’re going for a walk.”

___________

Henry had never walked a bunny before. There wasn’t any leash or whistle to call her back. ZhouMi had never let NiuNiu beyond the main area for fear that she would run away. This time, however, Henry let her run up the stairwell. He needed the walk himself.

She climbed up one stair at a time, sometimes stopping and looking back like she wasn’t sure to move on. He prodded her along.

“Dumb rabbit,” he muttered. If those stairs led back home, he’d be flying up them faster than the speed of light. As it stood now, they only led to the tenth floor.

By the time they reached the fourteenth, Henry could see daylight coming from the fifteenth floor. There hadn’t been windows so far so they had to be nearing the roof. To hell with it, he figured. They were so close to the top.

To his surprise, the light didn’t come in through windows but an open door. One which NiuNiu wasted no time running through. “Crap!” Henry sprinted after her.

Puddles and pipes ran all over this roof.* NiuNiu dodged them with ease but Henry wasn’t nearly so nimble. He stumbled twice, the rabbit slipping out of his grasp each time. She was unprecedentedly quick. Finally he had her cornered against the wall. He lunged, arms wide. She ran between his legs and disappeared behind the stairwell.

Panic replaced his anger. Despite his reasons for buying her, ZhouMi would be heartbroken if she fell down a vent.

Henry scrambled to the other side of the stairwell. When his eyes landed on NiuNiu, she was in another corner only this time she wasn’t alone. The person petting her looked up just as he came.

“Hey, it’s Willow Boy.”

__________

Growing up in China and L.A., Amber had become uncannily comfortable talking with strangers. Part of it had to do with her career choice. She wanted to be a photographic journalist and talking to unfamiliar people was part of the job. It was a natural instinct as well. Asking how their day was, discussing random topics. It was her way of snapshotting the person within. But in all her years of doing this, never had she met the same stranger twice. Talk about your of fate.

“Fancy meeting you again.” Amber grinned at her guest.

Willow Boy didn’t respond right away. Instead, he stared at her like he couldn’t believe she was real.

Her hand the soft head of the bunny who gnawed at the tall grass growing in between the cement. “Is this your bunny?” she asked.

Willow’s expression cleared like he remembered why he was here. He swallowed. “Uh, no, she’s my cousin’s. And I probably need to get her back to the apartment before he comes home and, you know, kills me.” He edged over to her with extreme caution (what was she, a serial killer?) and reached for the rabbit only to be kicked by the hind legs. Amber bit down a laugh. The bunny darted behind her legs in fear. The guy blushed red.

“It looks like she doesn't like you much, does she?” Amber said in Chinese. That was the wrong thing to say as he only turned redder.

“Dumb rabbit,” he muttered.

“Keep talking like that, I don’t think she’ll ever like you.” Amber did however backup to let him try to catch the rabbit again. He failed. He chased her across the roof, looking ridiculous as he did it.

On possibly the fifth fail, Amber decided this was probably enough. Setting her camera by the wall, she jogged over to where he stood.

“Okay look, you take her back, I’ll take her front. Okay?”

The guy blinked at her surprised then nodded. “Okay.”

The bunny was a minimal exertion-ist. If they moved slowly, she wouldn’t move. When they reached for her that’s when she’d slip away.

“So,” Amber said as they bounded after the rabbit. “Did she escape from your apartment or did you let her out thinking you could catch her?”

“I can catch her!” he insisted as she abruptly changed direction causing him to swerve.

Amber darted in front of her path. The rabbit slipped right through her hands, her smooth fur practically buttered it happened so quickly.

She looked up to see the guy staring at her. “Not so easy is it?” Now this was getting was personal.

Together they could surround the bunny, corner her and push her back into the other, yet she somehow still managed to elude them. Under the heat of the afternoon sun, all the running made Amber sweat. The other panted heavily. Finally, they had backed the rabbit into a wall corner, side by side so there was no slipping between the legs.

“Gotcha!” she cried. The rabbit squirmed in her hands.

Suddenly, a rhythmic thumping caught Amber’s ear.

She didn’t even think. Amber shoved the rabbit into the other’s arms and sprinted for her camera. She locked it to her face, hand on the button, arm braced against the wall, ready to capture the perfect shot. She scanned the river. Confusion and frustration arose when nothing showed up. Of course it made a bit more sense once she spotted the little boy banging on the old drum his grandfather held. Amber growled.

Perfect view. Perfect camera. Still no boats. Crap, if she’d missed them….

She turned around. The guy was standing still, rabbit in his arms. She was glad he hadn’t dropped her but he seemed more interested by Amber’s camera. 

"Are you taking pictures up here?"

Amber grinned. "Yeah, I am actually. These new buildings have a great view." She didn't mention the part where she waited outside the building door for 30 minutes until someone opened the door so she could sneak in. Or the fact that she'd been mentally cursing these new buildings for all 30 of those minutes.

He walked up to her bunny in his arms. He was red in the face from all the crouched running. Amber brushed back her damp hair. She probably wasn’t any better. He looked like a standard Chinese guy only with chubbier cheeks and more baby-faced. Funny considering his shirt said "gigolo*."

Down below, the river flourished. It was narrow and green as most rivers were by it also lacked to common trash you would see. A wall of ancient rongshu stood by its side, shielding the people on the path from the hot sun. It was right by the road but looked like a different world. Green river, lively pathway, and a semi-busy road; three strips of life in just one little glance. This is why Amber loved high shots. You could see the layout of the world just by turning your head. 

“Today I came up here to see the dragon boats,” she said in Chinese. “They usually come down this river about…an hour ago.”

“Dragon boats?” he repeated.

"Yeah, dragon boats. Dragon boats," she translated to English.

"Oh, like...dragons."

And Amber laughed out loud. The other asked to stay here and see what they looked like. It seemed he’d forgotten about his supposed cousin and his fiery wrath. Amber let him though in exchange for his name. “Xianhua,” he called himself. It was a nice name.

They never did come, the dragon boats. But Xianhua kept her there even when her watch warned her to leave.

Amber would point out a uniformed batch of school kids or a grandma with too much time on her hands. He would make a silly comment. They fell into a natural pattern. Xianhua was amiable. Now with the rabbit secured in his arms he was rather laid back as well. Amber pointed out the rongshu with their drooping, leave-less roots and dared him to call them a willow again. He did. She flicked him.

Amber learned his music tastes (contemporary pop), his favorite foods (anything sweet), and that he played violin. He didn't give away anything vital like *gasp* his bunny’s name, but he did talk. A good thing too. This was her first time meeting an ABC in China, and it was surreal. Xianhua squashed all her expectations for a conversation like this without even noticing.

He spoke pure English. He spoke only about American things. Occasionally, Amber would toss out a Chinese phrase - she couldn't help it - Xianhua would stare out her blankly before a) laughing or b) continuing to stare blankly until she changed the topic. Not bad, but familiarly different.

When her watch beeped again, warning of Victoria’s return, that’s when Amber knew her time was up. Xianhua looked disappointed, probably because the boats had never showed.

“You think they’ll come tomorrow?”

Amber sighed, looking out at the empty river. “I hope so. It’s only another couple of days before the competitions and I need this shot.”

“So, will you be back tomorrow, then?”

Amber glanced back at him, the boy with cute face and tired bunny. She smiled. “Yeah, I think I will.”

_______________

Henry carried an exhausted NiuNiu down the stairs, the hint of a smile on his face.

“Dumb rabbit,” he said, this time in Chinese. The words seemed less harsh in this language.

Pizza: Kind of like Panera here, pizza is not just fast food but a really expensive and official fast food with silverware and appetizers. At least if you get it from one of the big American chains like Pizza Hut. If you get it from Walmart (like ZhouMi) it's not going to be pizza.

Oatmeal-filled Ice Cream: I legit had a Chinese ice cream bar which was filled with baked oats. Does it seem weird that Henry snapped over some oats in his ice cream? I don’t know. I snapped once when my uncle tried to make me eat Fujian shellfish. It’s weird what can set you off when you’re homesick.

Rooftops: A lot of the new buildings actually have slanted roof now because the government doesn't like people drying their clothes and having gardens up there. ZhouMi's doesn't because, you know, creative license.

"Henry Lau: Canada’s last Gigolo." <-- Please tell me you've seen this.

Dragon Boats: The first ever worldwide championships were held last summer in Fuzhou. Fuzhou’s own team actually represented China so it was a pretty big deal.

Why do you guys think Henry offered his Chinese name to Amber?