The Sensitive Side

Wuhan, China

This is about another French guy, another fellow traveller who was my roommate at the hostel in Wuhan. Compared to his macho-countryman in Xi'an, however, he was very different.
We met in the morning when getting up and decided to hang out and explore the city together. We went for spicy noodles - a specialty since Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province, which is known in all of China for its exceedingly hot and spicy food. Suffice to say breakfast was fiery. We spent the day walking around the city, around the lakes where the university is, through the old town to the river. We talked about many things and, watching lovers by the lake, I was surprised that we could also talk about matters of the heart, relationships and love - topics that I've always shied from discussing with other men because there is always the pressure of seeming cool or "manly". Relationships and especially feelings aren't things that men talk about - by convention. But with him it was different. We saw couples by the lake and remarked on how travelling can be lonely sometimes. He asked me if I had had any relationships while travelling. He had heard other travellers talk about it but he had had no luck. I told him about my feelings, of how I missed Vero, of how I was unsure of how to go on. The topic came naturally and I felt comfortable opening a bit - even though (or maybe because) he was a stranger I hadn't known before this morning. I felt that from him I didn't need to fear judgement or ridicule. It was a relief to speak that freely.
Late at night we were still sitting on the bank of the mighty Yangzi River having a beer and he told me his sad tale - of his girlfriend in France, who he had told not to wait for him because he'd be away for 6 months and how heart-broken he had been when he had read her email saying she had, in fact, not waited for him and was seeing another man.
In the end, I never did get his details but in a way I would still like to tell him thank you. I wish there were more guys like him around.