237 Ride of a lifetime

But Wei was determined that he wasn't going to shy away from showing his true intensions towards the woman he loved! Not anymore...

He patted her hand and didn't prod her any further on the topic.

They spent a pleasant morning strolling through the lanes of the city before heading towards the main hall. Picking food from various stalls, they sat at a bench and munched away, observing the beautiful crafts and souvenir stores tucked away in various nooks and corners of that building. Jia Li had not ventured to this part of London till date and she was genuinely having a wonderful time. Live bands were setting up for the evening. It all looked enchanting, inviting.

"C'mmon, time to go," Wei stood up and extended his hand towards her.

"Go where?" she brushed the food crumbs from her dress and got up nonetheless.

"You'll see when we get there," he said cryptically.

They traced narrow steps towards one end of the building and reached a small dock. Jia Li had seen the canal flowing next to the Camden Lock building but now she saw a waterbus at the bank of the canal.

Squealing in delight, she exclaimed, "are we getting on that?"

Wei shook his head in affirmative and leapt up to cross over. He held both her hands when she made the leap and didn't let go till they were seated inside the quaint, red painted waterbus. The windows on both sides afforded them a clear view of the canal and its surroundings. It had a seating capacity for about fifty odd people but surprisingly no one else got on board.

"I am amazed that it is empty on a Sunday afternoon," she wondered aloud.

Wei grinned at her and quipped, "it better be, considering I booked the entire thing for this afternoon. We are headed towards Little Venice and if you are lucky, you may be able to see JK Rowling, Michael Bond, Earl Spencer and Madonna's backyards. There are elegant Georgian and Victorian houses to take note of and also a rare breed of Egyptian geese, who has made his nest somewhere along the canal."

Jia Li burst out laughing.

"You sound like a full-fledged tour guide. I am very impressed with your in-depth knowledge of the canal's history and geography," she said tongue in-cheek.

He gave her an injured look, "when I told them that I want to book the entire place and don't want any tour guide to come along, they looked almost hurt. They insisted that my companion and I should at least know these many facts about the tour which we are about to embark upon. One of them looked so stern that I thought I may be quizzed on this information by the end of that lecture. Hence I paid attention to what was being told. Oh, I did forget to mention, if you decide mid-way to see some wildlife, we can always get off at the London Zoo. Now, they did tell me the rare breeds being kept there but for the life of me, I can't recall a single one of them."

Jia Li couldn't stop laughing at his words or the wounded look which he had adopted while narrating the sequence of events.

"Wait a minute. When did you do the booking? We have been together since the morning," the thought suddenly struck her.

"That's for you to guess and me to know," he replied with a smirk.

Jia Li looked at him with something akin to regret in her eyes. Turning away before he could catch that expression, she sat down and looked at the lush greenery outside. The water looked so tranquil, acting as a pacifier to the anguished war raging inside her.

Wei came up to her and said, "we can go outside and feed the ducks along the way. Would you like to or is it too sunny for you?"

She replied, "I would love to but we didn't pick up anything to feed them."

Showing her a bag full of corns and breadcrumbs, he grabbed her hand and went outside on the deck. It felt that they were the only two people existing in this moment.

It was a perfect moment but why did her heart ache for more…

"This has turned out to be such an amazing afternoon. I can't thank you enough. You may not know this but I really needed it today," Jia Li told him with gratitude, after they had fed a bunch of raucous ducks.

Some pigeons had also landed on the deck seeking their share.

"What if I tell you that I am willing to construct such an afternoon every day for you?" Wei asked her suddenly.

Jia Li had been admiring the houses whose backyards were visible from their boat. Upon hearing his words, she turned towards him, squinting her eyes against the sun's rays.