Chapter 1 
  

The moon was high up in the sky and the last stars were gone, silence clung to her. Chunli did not know where she was. Then, as a chill wind ruffled her hair, she recognized the place. It was like a place inside a flower, everything was glowing. 

Though it may sound weird Chunli did not know what else to describe it. She was standing on a large open field; petals from flowers were dropping from the sky. She felt at ease. 
  

“Chunli!” 

* Oh, yes. * Chunli remembered, in all those countless dreams the voice that reached her soul. And now she would turn and no one was out there. Feeling resigned, she turned and startled. There was actually someone walking towards her, someone wearing white gi. 
  

* This isn’t happening, usually I’ll just wake up. * 

“Remember…… remember me……” 
“Who are you?” 
“Remember…… remember me……” his voice was fading, he was disappearing. 

“WAIT!” 
  

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“Wow, check that out!” Cammy said, her eyes widening as she stared over Chunli’s shoulder toward the entrance to the cafeteria. Chunli set her loaded tray on the table. Then she turned and followed Cammy’s gaze. And caught her breath as the man in the doorway looked back at her. 
  

Even at this distance, half way across the busy, noisy school cafeteria, Chunli felt drawn to him. She almost felt the sudden physical current that seemed to flow between them. 
  

* What’s happening to me? * she thought. 
* His eyes… so dark, so intense. * Chunli sighed. His was startlingly handsome but even from this distance, Chunli could see the grief, guilt too, plenty of that, but mainly grief in his eyes. 

The kind of grief that Chunli recognized, the kind that makes you nearly bite through your lip so you won’t make a noise. The kind Chunli could remember from when her parents died. 
  

“Were you staring at the new Wushu sensei?” Kumori asked, putting down her tray too, she turned her attention to Chunli and asked, 
“Chunli, guess his age?” 

“Thirty five?” The man disappeared. A strange loneliness overcame Chunli. She sat on to the chair heavily and stared into one of her palms. The one that could not open. No matter how hard she tried to open her left palm it is clutched tightly into a fist. 

“Nice try. He had just turned fifty.” Kumori dug into her food and made a face. 
“What?!” Chunli and Cammy could not believe. 
“Are you sure?” Cammy narrowed her eyes. 
“Cross my heart.” 
“But… but he looked so young…” Chunli sighed. Kumori just shrugged and puts the food into her mouth. 
“Is it  destiny that his here.” Kumori stared into spaces; she seems to be in a different mood now. 
  

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* I can’t believe it, * he thought. That girl, that beautiful girl. 

* For a minute I thought she was Li. Same long black hair, same big black eyes. And the way she looked at me, almost as if she recognized me. I could swear she recognized me. But she wasn’t Li. How could that girl be? Li was… gone. * He frowned. 

* She wasn’t Li. * He told himself. 

* I’ve got to stop thinking of Li. That part of my life is over. And didn’t I pay a high price for it; the terrible loneliness of knowing I must live a life time without Li. * 

*And yet… that girl. That girl with the black and shining eyes. *Am I being given a second chance?*