EVERGLOW

XXV. How to take a leap

She swallowed back the dread threatening to make her change her mind as she felt his arms slip firmly around her.

She buried her face in his chest, listened to the steady beat of his heart, and tried to get her mind off what they were about to do. For about the tenth time since she decided to finally do it, she wondered if she was cursed with bad judgment.

He chuckled low close to her ear, taunting her as she knew he would.

"Nervous, Baobei?"

"No," she mumbled into his rumpled shirt. She pressed closer to him, her arms locked low on his back.

"Before we do this, I just want to remind you that this was your idea." She could hear the laughter in his voice somewhere above her head. But she was too distracted to take offense right then.

"I didn't think it was this high. I didn't think it was this windy. I didn't think about what would happen if Cai got orphaned. Maybe we shouldn't do this together? I don't know, I didn't think..."

His hand cupped the back of her head and he tilted it back so she was forced to look up at him.

"Hey. Don't overthink. We'll be fine." She could see the smile in his eyes but it did nothing for her pounding heart.

"You don't know that." She blushed at the tremor in her voice.

"Oh but I do. I read all their safety certifications, checked online reviews, spoke with those tourists who have all done it here before. They swear this is one of the most beginner-friendly jumps."

He edged further back as the staff finished adjusting his ankle straps and moved on to check hers. He looked like he was about to have breakfast, while she was having an internal meltdown.

Why? Why did I have to be harebrained today of all days? Right when we happened to pass under the bungee jumping platform?

Her eyes narrowed at the five Caucasians he nodded at. They waved encouragingly at her. They looked barely twenty, childless, no obligations whatsoever.

"They're Americans," she frowned at him. "You might have misunderstood."

He laughed. "I know more English now, Yue!"

"I only went to the restroom. How did you have time to do all that?"

"I read about it last night. In case your brother decided to do it." He grinned as he looked down at her at the corner of his eye. "Didn't think you had it in you."

She felt the indignation rise, warming her cheeks against the biting cold. "Take that back Wang He Di!"

"Not until you've done it."

He was good. She knew what he was doing. Trying to rile her up so she'd forget that they were about to jump off a platform more than forty meters above water with only a stretchy cable tied to their ankles.

He'd been given a day off from his shoot, and he'd driven them all the way to Longqing Gorge. They had been here before with their friends but the Shens were thrilled to finally get to see the long yellow dragon encasing the world's longest outdoor escalator.

She'd felt like a teenager, laughing at all the ridiculous things Yang and Dylan came up with as they took the lift up to see the dam. Her mother and father were too busy spoiling their first grandchild to even tell them both off.

Cai had been a bundle of babytalk when she wasn't trying to stuff her hands into her mouth while they took the cable cars and gushed over the massive green-covered rock faces.