Reflections [Complete]

Chapter 6

I stood in front of the mirror of my hotel room brushing my hair and I couldn't help but smile slightly at the events of the past couple of days. As soon as the storm had receded, we were looped into the whirlwind of the new product launch that had taken entirely too much of my time and attention to focus on my side project, Kong. But once the excitement had died down and we had the chance to breathe again, I started putting my next plan into action, which was to remedy the fact that Kong had never traveled on a plane before. And this was surprisingly easy to achieve. What proved to be immensely difficult was to actually convince him to agree to the plan. Why did the man excel in making my life this difficult.

"I still don't understand why there is need to go to China."

"Ooofff... for the hundredth time, our sister company in China released a similar product two years ago and they seem to be doing really well, and we need to go figure out what they are doing right. How can this be so hard to understand?"

"What I am confused about is why I need to go?"

"Cause you are my numbers guy. They will talk numbers, or atleast I hope they will, and you shall translate that for me. Again I am pretty sure you already know what your job involves. Why are you making me explain it so many times?"

"But they can just email all their files and I can explain their numbers sitting right here. Or you can go and call me anytime you don't understand something."

"Alright, we are done here. As your boss I say you are coming with me and that's just what you will be doing. Now make sure you are ready to leave in two days."

"Fine."

Wasn't he the one who told me he wanted to be a pilot? He clearly looked all forlorn that he hadn't flown anywhere yet. Now that I explicitly make that happen he is throwing a tantrum. I will never manage to ever figure that man out. And then just like that one day before we were meant to leave his attitude did a complete 180. He seemed actually excited at the prospect of going to China. I mean as excited a man with zero expression can get.

And still it was almost surreal sitting next to him on the flight, as it was about to take off, to see a grown man with wide eyed wonder, shaking his left leg constantly with uncontrolled excitement as his jaw dropped open while staring outside the window. At that moment it felt more than worth it to dip into my personal account for the upgraded 1st class seats to make sure his first flight didn't totally suck.

It seems his wonder hadn't ceased with the flight but spilled over to his first international trip. The man looked almost human when he kept twisting his head almost non-stop taking in the sights around us while we drove towards the hotel from the airport. This was the first time I had seen such a distinct reaction from him and every passing second made my heart grow in size at being able to give him joy with such a simple act. I was infact very seriously contemplating just cancelling all scheduled meeting so that we had enough time to do as much sight seeing as he wanted to do. But I doubt even with his clear excitement would he accept this business trip suddenly being turned into a foreign vacation with his boss.

So we did end up going to meetings during the day although I made sure by pre-lunch we had wrapped up all work related meetings and we hit the streets to check out the culture and the local sights. And then I was hit with another huge revelation that took me by complete surprise.

The man wasn't allergic. At all. To anything. He ate everything and anything. We stopped every 15 minutes for him to try another new delicacy that he hadn't tried before. In fact even when he ate something down right gross, a smile would still find a way to his face. How can someone who enjoys food this much eat that crap that he calls lunch every day. And why the fuck is he making up random lies about being allergic to foods when he clearly isn't.

Which brings me to my plans for tonight. Since we have finally acknowledged his love for cuisines and a severe lack in allergies I plan on taking him to this really fancy place where I doubt he will be able to resist any of the items on the menu.

It was beyond fascinating to watch him order one too many dishes while he tried very hard the entire time to keep a straight face to hide his obvious glee. And if that itself wasn't enough, while he was speedily pushing his food into his face, his eyes caught onto to my very appetizing looking chocolate cake and he stared at it like a parched man would be looking like a tall drink of cool water.

"Would you like to try it too?"

And as expected he shook his head no without once taking his eyes off my plate.

"Maybe just a bite?"

"Uh...no."

I picked up my fork and cut into the cake and raised it to my lips to pushed it in my mouth and licked the fork as enticingly as I could manage. And the entire time his eyes followed my actions, with his hand suspended in the air in the middle on the way to his own mouth. So I cut into a large piece once again but this time held it in front of his lips encouraging him to finally break the thick walls he builds around him and take a leap.

His eyes moved multiple times between me and the fork right in front of his mouth, hesitating for several moments before he slowly moved forward and closed his lips around the chocolatey goodness.

"It's....really good."

So I pushed the plate towards him and he pounced on it without a second thought demolishing it in a heartbeat. Hopefully with all this food he has been consuming his pants might just fit slightly better. Next step was probably going to be changing the color of said pants.

That night in my room I was feeling mighty proud about the headway I had made in the short time since we had come to China. I was laying on the bed lazily searching for potential shopping markets around our hotel to maybe convince him to try a new shirt now that he was exploring a whole new world. I wonder how early I could cut the meeting short tomorrow in order to go do the actual important activities. I was just dozing off while my computer still sat open next to me when I heard a soft knock on my door, and since I knew only one other person in this hotel, I was beyond shocked that he would be outside my room at all.

"Kong? What's up? Is everything ok?"

By the time I had swung the door open only a few seconds after his first knock he was already half turned on his way to walk away. But my question halted his stride and he faced me tentatively, when I noticed him holding a sheet of paper.

"What is that?"

"I...uh....I was wondering if we have time, and it's not too much trouble, if possible we can go to some of these places. I can go on my own if you don't want to join. If we are busy and can't go then it's fine too, but I just...thought...maybe..."

Turns out the paper had a list of restaurants that he wanted to try. It might not be apparent to a bystander looking at me right now, but internally I was jumping up and down, fist pumping at my victory. Screw the meetings tomorrow. Kong and I are going to spend the day solely eating and shopping.