When The Brazilian Returns

Chapter Eleven Part 12

They returned to Beijing the next day and the following week moved by in an unsettled mood. The first day Ava sat down at her laptop, locked away in Davi's study, she had to summon all of her courage just to open the documents that constituted her novel. Although the novel was entirely a work of fiction, the emotions she had written it from were 100% real. Reading through her story now was, therefore, a journey through the varying emotional states she had been in whilst writing it. The process was wearying.

Revisiting the feelings her words stemmed from was also creating additional strain in her relationship with Davi, bringing forth memories of the pain she had experienced because of him. He appeared to understand the pressures facing them both as she edited her work and had tried his best to support her without being overpowering, but the atmosphere between them was only just short of tense. Their communication was limited to superficial subjects, their only release being when they slipped between his expensive sheets and the pent up emotions could be released in explosive physical contact.

Anyway, Ava thought, the final edit is at last complete. She had polished this novel for months and it had only needed a few more minor adjustments. This morning, she was going over her research on suitable agents, updating it with current data and tomorrow she would be forced to start sending it out into the very scary literary world. The only thing that panicked her more was that she would then be forced to face the questions that hovered over her future. A future with or without Davi?

Just before lunchtime, Ava felt ready to conclude her research. She'd handpicked a list of exceptional agents that were currently accepting submissions and she was all ready to go. Tomorrow. She would definitely do it tomorrow.

Her phone buzzed on the table and she shut down her machine with one hand and answered Davi's call with the other.

"Hey." She tried to inject some enthusiasm into the word.

"How's it going this morning?"

"Good. I think I'm finished. I have all of the information I need to start submitting to agents tomorrow."

"How does that feel?"

"Truthfully? Nauseating."

"Don't worry about it anymore. The process is nearly over. Why don't you bite the bullet and send the emails today. I'll then take you anywhere you want to go tonight to celebrate."

"If I do, will you stop harassing me about this bloody novel?"

"I promise." She could hear him smiling.

"Fine. I'll do it this afternoon."

"Good. I'll see you early this evening. Think about what you want to do."

"I will. See you later."

They hung up and sighing reluctantly, Ava hit the laptop's start button.

#

They arrived in Beijing's famous 798 Art Zone at 6pm. The evening was cold and dark but the area was lit with an abundance of twinkling lights that managed to give the industrial architecture the cosy feeling of Christmas; of wanting to curl up in front of a fire, with cinnamon fragranced air and mulled wine.

Davi watched Ava carefully as they wandered around, she hadn't been there for many years and seeing her delight at the changes made him happy. She'd always loved the area. The galleries were interspersed with independent coffee shops, intriguing statues of modern art and the funky shops selling books, clothes and crafts.

Winter was not the time to be wandering outside at night, the cold biting at any exposed skin, but wrapped heavily in plenty of warm layers they dealt with the weather in between their visits to the different exhibitions.