Reunion

My year-long wish to travel to Shanghai has, well, finally been realized on Sept 6. I had wanted to visit HF's parents, who reside in Shanghai, since I had been back for almost 2 months. HF had to be back in Shanghai for her late grandfather's funeral. As much as I would like to make it with her at the funeral, there just wasn't time to sort out all necessary travel documents as that weekend coincided with a long weekend National Day holiday.

The wait
As soon as I obtained Chinese visitor visa, I just couldn't wait to see HF, who I have not seen since July 10. It was a midnight flight (MH 386) and I couldn't sleep throughout. Again, I couldn't believe that I will be face-to-face with HF sooner than I thought, even though for just four days.

After getting off at Zhongshan Park Station (中山公园地铁站) I waited for HF at the steps just in front of KFC. Since she's been back 4 days earlier than me, I was certain that she would have had a haircut or went to the hair saloon and/or got a new dress. It was supposed to be a 10-minute wait but 40 minutes had passed. She was not fasionably late but apparently, as I later learnt, she waited in another KFC branch on the other side of the road. I was waiting with a pink heart-shape cushion in arms to give it to her when we meet.

United
"Is she coming? It's been 30 minutes! Has she lost her way? How could she be lost in her hometown?", I asked. My anxious wait was over when she appeared in her new sleeveless turtleneck skyblue top with her dad. And sure enough, a new haircut and saloon-treated hair.

Despite of what has happened to her family, it was so good to see her again. My baggages were lugged away by her father to a cab. We had dinner together at her home on the first night. We ate out on the second night. HF had snake on Saturday. I was glad we spent lots of quality time together while in Shanghai as I knew we only had limited time before she leaves for Leeds on the following Monday (Sept 10). What struck me as a surprise was that HF was quick to depart from her mourning state of mind. She was back to her bubbly and cheerful self, like a little girl. I was like "OOkaaaayy..........", so I just took her as she was.



About the video above
Overcame with joy when I first saw you again in Shanghai after we've been apart for two months. Felt as though I was in love again. They don't need to know why I have chosen you. You don't need to know why I have remained with you. I just want to be with you.

This video marks both Huang Fei and I when we were in Shanghai. I went over for a visit and it upsets me to see her torn into pieces when she had to go back to England and leave me behind.

My visa application has been hindering me from going back to be reunited with her sooner.

The song is by Jay Chou (周杰伦) called 枫叶 and I believe it's correct translation is "Maple leaf". Because we have been traveling together, I intend to show how my travel was not really complete without her. Often I felt left out, like the maple leaf at the end of the video, which was the only leaf that turned red perhaps still waiting before falling with the rest. Among other things, there should have been two tea cups, two everything. The song silenced prematurely for a conversation and resumed with the words "I just wanna be with you" in Mandarin.