July Rhapsody

July Rhapsody (男人四十）is a movie directed by Ann Hui, and the story is about a teacher at the age of 40,and he's going through a mid-life crisis. A very seductive sweet young thing has a crush on him, and so he couldn't resist temptation and fell for her. I am 40 this year, and just like the guy in the story, I have fallen in love with a 22 year old girl. I have not planned for this; it just happened naturally. I know our age gap is just too wide apart, but if we're struck by Cupid's arrow, what else can we do?

My 亲爱的 is also puzzled why she could fall in love with me. She doesn't have the answer to it. Her dream lover is actually someone in the late 20s with established career, but it turned out to be otherwise. She thought that we are just fated to be together. Actually she has many suitors. There was this guy from Shanxi that used to give her money whenever he visited her aunt; a neighbour has proposed to her during Valentine's day with 12 stalks of roses; her ex-boyfriend tried to patch up with her over QQ. When she was in Chengdu for a month, her regular taxi driver in Beijing called her almost everyday to tell her that he missed her. Just last week, she met a few former classmates in Chengdu for drinks, and one guy asked her in the face if she could be his girlfriend. When 亲爱的 told him that she's already attached, the guy said 他可以给你的，我也做得到.

Why do I have a 亲爱的? I need some excitement to get my adrenaline going, and a new love to motivate me. My life is boring and monotonous. It is about work and home. She just happened to be there when I needed another person to fill in the missing gaps. Maybe I'm just being selfish, but I have real feelings for her. I care very much about her present and her future. I'll be helping her to set up a business in Shanghai, so that she can be financially independent. In ten years time, I like her to look back and be thankful to her 亲爱的，who has once helped her before.