不出所料，丹尼爾直白地承認了他對雅婷的渴望，也清晰地表明了他渴望的程度。他是喜歡她，但遠不至于想要她做人生伴侶的地步。
It's true that your conversation and smile caught me from the very beginning. And that I spent the nights in Beijing imagining learning Chinese on your skin, hoping that you would appear at my door. And that the idea of spending the winter break exploring your geography had grown in my dreams.
And this is much less than a life plan. A plan that match the expectations of your
family, your society, and of your fears. Even when this is near of what you desire right now. Just fly out of the cage.
“你不會真的要去馬來西亞吧？這大哥明顯是個玩咖啊！”作為一個旁觀者，我覺得雅婷應該停止和這個男人的進一步聯系。她還沒提出任何的要求，他便提前劃清界線了，如此明顯又有力地闡明在這個游戲里面他的規則底線。
“如果他是個玩咖，他不應該現在使出渾身解數先把我騙到手再說嗎？這樣的騙技也太次了點吧？”雅婷不同意我的說法。
“那是因為人家是一個江湖上有道德的玩咖！”我進一步跟她解釋，就怕她掉入陷阱。
“你是不是嫉妒我？”沒想到雅婷轉過身正面對著我講出這樣一句始料未及的話。
“我……行！我不管你，狗咬呂洞賓！”我氣得跑出了宿舍。
雅婷當晚買了榴芒蛋糕誠懇地跟我道了歉。知道她心里亂，情急之下出口傷人也很正常。蛋糕吃完我就原諒她了，但還是不放心。
“你是怎么想的？”我軟下心來輕聲地問她。
“我何嘗不知道他有可能只是想睡我啊，但你又怎么能指望一個剛認識的人馬上就愛上我呢？就算他現在說他愛我我也不信啊。”雅婷的眼神懸在半空中，徐徐地講。
“那……”我不知道這時候應該說什么。
“但是人生真的好短啊。你知道嗎？十年前，我媽媽就跟我說她后悔嫁給我爸爸了。”雅婷突然看向我的眼睛認真地說。
“為什么后悔？”我好奇。
“因為他太無趣了，還很膽小，其實他們結婚并不是因為她愛他，而是因為他老實。”雅婷解釋道。
“所以呢？”我不明白她到底要說什么。
“所以我媽一輩子也不知道愛情為何物。”雅婷玩著她的手指認真地講。
我沒有吭聲，她繼續說：“我不想像她一樣。其實現在我面臨的局面很簡單，有一個讓我心動的人明確地告訴我他喜歡我，我要怎么做？”
停頓了一次，她又說：“對，他是說了‘this is much less than a life plan’，那又怎么樣？我倒覺得比起那些上來就信誓旦旦說‘寶貝兒，我將愛你一生一世’的人并不會更差。至少說明，他是一個誠實的人。”
“那萬一，我說萬一啊，他就是那種上完床提褲子就跑的偽君子呢？”我覺得她分析得很有道理，但是她必須要腦袋清醒。
“我只知道我只有去了才不會后悔。只有一起經歷過事情，才會有可能產生愛情啊。愛情也不是憑空而降的。”雅婷堅定地講，爾后沖我邪魅地一笑后又加了一句：“況且我還睡到了白種帥哥一枚！不折本。”我們倆人都笑了。
其實我心里很明白，她最后加這一句無非是為自己的信心虛張聲勢，她骨頭里是一個極其傳統的人，那個時候她只是白紙一張，從沒經歷過男女之事。她就像第一次走出山洞的山頂洞人娃娃，對外界充滿好奇，不知山外是險是奇，除了全副武裝的勇氣和牢記回家的路外，她什么都沒有。然而，誰的青春又不是這樣的呢？
雅婷告訴丹尼爾她還在考慮，同時她已經開始努力學著去做丹尼爾的好朋友，并皆力地施展自己追求自由和獨立的決心。
You don't have to offer that much like a life plan. If it's also your willing, you can keep in touch with me through your phone to exchange those things, like your dreams, your troubles, your happiness as well as your pain. You can stop doing this at anytime when you feel contacting with me has become your burden. I can absolutely understand that.
從此時開始，雅婷心里已經決定去赴這個前途未知的約。我對她的友誼中尊敬的部分是從這個時候才開始有的，因為她做了一個我永遠沒有勇氣去做的決定。同一階層里，人與人之間真正的差別不是由門第、學歷、相貌等這些外在的東西決定的，而是由他們的選擇決定的。
雅婷的真誠很快就收到了回應，丹尼爾真的是一個敏感而多情的人。他回復了一封徹底收服了我的信。
My country smells of rosemary and thyme. Hannibal fought here Romans, and Arabs took silk and rice and oranges from the far East. The fields are fertile and the sound of the water is happier there where the sun hits harder.
Although I feel centuries of legends on my blood when I arrive home from my long trips
in the tropics, I've been always as a guest at my own home.
Why you, you asked. What's so special? I don't know. It is not rational, nothing to do with reasons. But you know of Quixotes and Gaudí, and you know my name and can told me apart from the multitude. And your face illuminates when I laugh loud; and I imagine that also your heart gets warm when I try to take you out of the cage. And I feel joy when you smile. You are not one more, you are 小嚴. I'm sure you know of Chagall and Klimt, and Tolkien and Borges and Wilde. Or, at least, you can understand it.
I don't believe in perfect matches, there are no such unique couples. Not now, no more. Feelings are internal. They belong to the more inner part of yourself. You don't love another person. You love; and the other person is there, just triggering, supporting, nourishing, adding fuel to the fire of your emotions. Depending on the season, and the dominant wind and the soft noise of the rain on the ground, you may fall in love with a very specific person or with half of the humanity. Or with yourself, because you are always there.
Love is like a lotus opening for bloom, 芙蓉出水. Don't feel proud of being loved, just enjoy it. It is not something about the future, is just present.
In my dream I can write this on your back while you take a siesta after diving in
the depths of Komodo or Raja Ampat, and you pay my poems with a smile and a
quiet joy in your heart.
If it happens that you make the decision and can and wish to pass the winter in
warmer tides, just let me know.
就是因為這封信，讓我徹底轉變為支持雅婷去馬來西亞赴約。天下哪里沒有玩弄感情的人，如果能跟一個浪漫的人玩一回也不失為一個好的回憶。我想起一個英國朋友的口頭禪，“The life is to be enjoyed, not to be endured.” 你把這個世界當作敵人，它就是敵人，你把它當作朋友，它就是朋友。雅婷得到了我的祝福后更加充滿信心，積極地開始籌備旅費。
雅婷拿到簽證后，離出發只剩四天，但她還是只跟丹尼爾說她不去了，希望他能諒解。丹尼爾也保持著紳士風度，不過仍然不放棄地把他的飛行行程又跟雅婷強調了一遍，特別地還把行程計劃表拍了一張清晰的照片通過Whatsapp發給了雅婷。
她一開始就知道他的飛機在吉隆坡落地的時間，還特地買了比他提前抵達的航班。一切準備就緒，就等風來了。她在心里默默的琢磨著，并安排好了在學校的請假和對家里的說辭，滴水不漏。
丹尼爾需要到巴黎轉一次飛機，在巴黎轉機的候機期間，雅婷還在跟他“真心誠意”地道歉，祝愿他旅途愉快。丹尼爾心里略微失望，但沒有表現出來，即便是在排隊登機的當口兒，仍然陪著她沒心沒肺地講著笑話。
“沒關系的，說不定我能在下一班航班上或者在吉隆坡遇到一個美人兒陪我旅行，那要我就不會孤孤單單的了。”
“你看，露出真實面目了吧！幸好我機靈，沒有落入你的圈套。”雅婷煞有介事地回復他。
“哈哈哈！我找到座位了，我的旁邊果真坐著一個大美人呢，我猜她一定是巴黎人！”丹尼爾仍然不放棄刺激雅婷。
“旅途愉快！再見！”雅婷還真是有點被刺激到了。
叮咚。就在收到雅婷最后一條信息后，丹尼爾手機提示收到一封郵件，發送人“嚴”。
飛機馬上要起飛了，他來不及仔細閱讀，只是打開掃了一眼，發現這封信總共至少有8頁。他心里一驚，這時空姐過來提醒乘客各項安全事項，他帶著疑惑關閉了手機。
等到飛機進入平流層，他才在臨座一位胖先生身材的掩護下點開了那封信。信的主題是“Dear Life”。
如果說在之前的郵件聯系里，丹尼爾始終對雅婷的表現感到無奈，因為她一直都在謹慎地用詞，好像每說一句話之前都會經過反復的考量，確定無誤后才會說出來。無論丹尼爾怎么極盡挑逗之能事去引誘她或者刺激她，她都好像沒有反應，或者說反應得很工工整整，規規矩矩。一連兩個月地毫無進展讓一向在感情上戰無不勝的丹尼爾很有挫敗感，但驕傲的他從來不會表現出來。
但這封信打從第一句話就讓丹尼爾原本就柔軟的心化成一攤水，雖然不知道整封信將要講什么，但他預感到自己這么多天為了跟雅婷聊天日夜顛倒的付出終于要看到一點回應了。
雅婷在信中首先用極其溫柔的語氣，回憶了從她第一眼見到丹尼爾至送他離開北京整個過程中她的感受。對于他的印象，她這樣寫道：
The first time I saw you, I have already described that to you, the only impression
is young, active, not that huge size, fast walking ,small face and comfortable.
關于那次他從酒吧跑出來解釋的細節，她又這樣寫道：
Just as we are leaving, you come out. I am surprised. At that moment, I sense you are more than just having a not bad impression on me. I even feel that you come out mainly because of me. (I don’t know if it is true or not.) So I concluded that you were grateful for my meeting you in Beijing. My mood just really cheered up from then on. I was worry that you may have a cold.
甚至關于他離開北京那天在馬路對面偷看她的細節，她也提到了。
When we walked along two sides of the street after goodbye, I have once noticed that
you were looking at me secretly. This consciousness made my unknown afraid arise again. I just walked faster and go in to the restaurant directly without seeing you again.
還有那個尷尬的道別，她完全都是明白的。
I secretly run out of the meeting room (Obviously everybody saw my leave) when I received My classmate’s message. I was regretting that haven’t prepare any gift but a handsome praise for you. I wanted to say a warm goodbye, but you just walked so fast that I can not catch up with you, and you came back to shake hands with me, that powerfully and officially. Then walked away resolutely, quickly and without looking back again. I felt a little sad, just a little. I remind myself not to overthink, and walked back to the meeting room.
丹尼爾第一次發現原來她這么敏感，心里暖意隆隆。緊接著，她還說明了她自己的心意。
Then I found my former diary. And I found the standard I set up secretly for the
future husband.
No.1 Cannot pose any threat to the society;
No.2 Can make a living by himself;
No.3 Easy to communicate;
No.4 Can enlarge my view rather than restrict it;
No.5 Console my heart to peace;
No.6 Make me be willingly to give than to ask;
No.7 The most important thing, have the determination to become old with me.
I found something like this standard is funny. The rain will never come if I just
waited at the same place, I should become the rainmaker myself if I wanted the
rain. So maybe it would be possible if I determined to become the man I want.
And then gave those things what I dreamed beforehand to the man I love.
The key point is that I don’t have confidence in my grassland, since you have tried
so many different grasslands, I think both you and me need time to gain confidence in the magical things between us.
丹尼爾注意到雅婷學習能力非常快，他只是跟她提過由于他的家鄉不經常下雨，所以當地有一個諺語“Make the rain happen”用來比喻心想事成。他注意到雅婷又用了上次她給他提到的一首中國歌詞“我愛上了一匹野馬，可是我家里沒有草原”。他更注意到了，雅婷對于感情的第一期待是婚姻，雖然她也認識到要得到一份理想的感情，必須首先學會付出。
他意識到雖然她總是在強調要追求自由和獨立，但她骨子里對這份感情的期待還是有點過高，也許她自己也沒有意識她其實并沒有像她說出來的那么灑脫，將來一旦出現意外，她將會受到傷害，這是丹尼爾萬萬不想看到的。
回顧他對她的感情，他不可否認的是，他喜歡看見她笑，喜歡跟她聊天，喜歡有她的陪伴，他發現她單純又充滿智慧，特別是她在教別人東西的時候，她身上似乎有一圈光環。但這感情足夠走進婚姻嗎？像她指望的那樣？呵，別開玩笑了，他對于自己提出的問題感到荒謬。
他發現自己一生都在回避婚姻，他過去并不是沒有結婚的機會。他認為婚姻制度毫無人性，本來毫無關聯的兩個人因為有了一張紙而一瞬間被賦予了占有對方時間、精力、空間和金錢的權利，從而使彼此的生活步入了混亂和傷害，更荒謬的是這種事情常常是兩個人心甘情愿的選擇，還受到上帝的祝福。這太可怕了！一想到這兒，他更加恥笑自己竟然提出了這樣不可理喻的問題。
雅婷在信末尾的備注中，寫道：我為你準備了一個禮物，已經寄到了吉隆坡唐人街舊街場咖啡店，請查收。
丹尼爾仔細地掂量著這個未知的禮物是什么？剛才的苦惱早就煙消云散了。他突然開始更加期待接下來的旅程。
讓你像大自然一樣從容度過每一天，平和安寧。
