Liuxian finished his last meeting on the second day at half past three in the afternoon, signed the final documents, handed everything to Zhang Wei, and told him he was done until they landed back in Beijing.

Zhang Wei looked at the stack of completed work and nodded with the satisfaction of someone whose boss had actually been efficient for once. "Enjoy the rest of the trip, sir."

Liuxian was already out the door.

---

Guiying had been ready since nine in the morning.

He was sitting on the suite sofa in his outfit when Liuxian walked in, a cream linen short sleeve button up shirt left open at the collar, fitted beige trousers with a sharp crease, tan loafers, and a gold chain sitting at his throat. Simple, expensive, the kind of put together that looked effortless because the effort was invisible. His hair was his own, dark and slightly pushed back, no wig, no contacts. Just himself.

He had his camera out, a compact digital one he had bought at a store near the hotel the previous day, and was reviewing the photos he had already taken from the hotel window.

Liuxian stopped when he walked in and looked at him.

Guiying looked up. "You’re done?"

"I’m done," Liuxian said.

Guiying was already standing, camera in hand, bag over his shoulder. "Finally," he said. "I’ve been waiting two days."

Liuxian looked at him for a moment with that expression, the warm unhurried one that had no performance in it, and said nothing. He went to change quickly, coming back in a white short sleeve linen shirt with subtle texture, dark navy trousers cut cleanly at the ankle, and clean white sneakers. A simple watch. Nothing excessive.

Guiying looked at him. "You look good."

"So do you," Liuxian said.

Guiying had already turned toward the door. "Come on. I looked up the drive time and it’s almost two hours so we need to leave now."

Liuxian picked up his jacket and followed him out.

---

The drive to Niagara Falls took an hour and fifty minutes.

Guiying spent most of it with his face turned toward the window, watching the landscape change as they left the city behind, the dense buildings giving way to stretches of green and open road. He had his camera in his lap and lifted it periodically to take pictures through the glass, the blur of trees, a highway sign, the particular quality of the afternoon light.

"You’re going to run out of storage," Liuxian said.

"I bought extra," Guiying said, not lowering the camera.

Liuxian looked at him and said nothing further.

When they arrived and got out of the car Guiying heard it before he saw it, a deep continuous roar that was not quite sound and not quite feeling but something between the two that moved through the ground and up through his feet.

He walked faster without meaning to. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Then he turned a corner and saw it.

He stopped walking.

Niagara Falls stretched out before him, enormous and relentless, the water white and thundering as it dropped, mist rising in thick clouds that caught the afternoon light and scattered it in every direction.

He had seen photographs.

Photographs had not prepared him for this. The sheer scale of it, the weight of all that water moving at once, the way the sound of it filled not just his ears but his chest.

"It’s beautiful—no, it’s magnificent.." he said.

Liuxian came to stand beside him at the railing and they both looked at it for a moment without speaking.

"I didn’t think it would be this big.." Guiying said.

"Most people don’t, that’s why they get awestruck." Liuxian said.

Guiying was quiet for another moment, his eyes moving across the falls, the mist, the light breaking through it in places. "I’m glad we came here first," he said.

"Me too, it seems coming here has improved your mood drastically.." Liuxian said, and he wasn’t looking at the falls when he said it.

Guiying lifted his camera and started taking pictures.

"Why didn’t you bring Zhang Wei along?" Guiying asked dropping the camera.

"Why? It’s pretty simple. He’s a strapping young man, he’s his own person before he’s my assistant. I brought him along as he could have his own fun. Today is his free day.."

Guiying nodded, he guessed that made sense.

He wondered how Zhang Wei would spend his day.

"Why don’t we head to the Maid of the Mist .."

"Maid of the what?"

"A boat," Liuxian said. "It takes you right to the base of the falls. You’ll get soaked but it’s worth it."

"How soaked are we talking?" Guiying said.

"Completely," Liuxian said.

Guiying looked at his outfit. Then at the falls. Then back at Liuxian. "And you’re telling me this now?"

"They give you something to wear over your clothes," Liuxian said.

"What kind of something?"

"You’ll see," Liuxian said, already walking toward the queue.

Guiying followed with the expression of a man who had been given insufficient information and had decided to trust the process anyway.

When the attendant handed him the blue poncho he held it up and stared at it.

"This is what you meant by something to wear?" he said.

"It keeps you dry," Liuxian said.

"It’s hideous," Guiying said.

"I know," Liuxian said, taking his own poncho from the attendant and putting it on without hesitation. He held his arms out slightly. "There. Now we’re both hideous. Let’s go."

Guiying looked at him standing there in the blue poncho with complete dignity and zero shame and felt the corner of his mouth move despite himself.

He put his on.

"We look insane," he said.

"Everyone here looks insane," Liuxian said, nodding at the crowd of tourists around them, every single one of them in the same blue poncho. "We blend in perfectly."

Guiying looked around. He was right. He took a picture of the crowd, then one of Liuxian, then held the camera out and took one of both of them together, two people in identical blue ponchos standing in front of one of the most magnificent things he had ever seen in his life.

He sent it to Limo.

Limo replied in seconds.

Limo: BABY YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND IN MATCHING PONCHOS I CANNOT!!

Guiying: We don’t match we’re just wearing the same thing.

Limo: THAT’S WHAT MATCHING MEANS??

Guiying: Whatever. Gtg.

Guiying put his phone away and got on the boat.

The boat moved out onto the water and the sound of the falls grew from enormous to something that had no word for it, filling everything, the mist hitting first and then as they moved closer becoming something considerably wetter. Guiying lifted his camera and kept shooting even as the water came down on them in sheets, the falls close enough that he could feel the force of it vibrating in the air around him.