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【This chapter is an extra featuring Xiao Liu and Yang Ke.】
In his first month after moving to the south, Xiao Liu developed eczema. He went to the hospital and tried several tubes of ointment, but nothing seemed to work.
His coffee shop was located to the south of the university city, less than eight hundred meters away from Yang Ke’s school.
Oh, by the way. Xiao Liu never told Yang Ke that he had come to the south, let alone mentioned that he had opened a shop near his school.
He vaguely hoped that one day Yang Ke would come into this shop like anyone else, but at the same time, he inexplicably feared the arrival of that day.
He didn’t know how to explain his sudden appearance.
He also didn’t know why he opened a coffee shop when he actually hated drinking coffee. The signboard of the shop was Lemon Americano.
It was a combination of the two flavors that he disliked the most: sour and bitter.
Late at night, Xiao Liu sat on the edge of the bed, struggling to wipe the rash on his back with ointment. The small mirror on the bedside reflected his disheveled appearance.
Five minutes later, he took off his shirt, cleaned his fingers, which had been made exceptionally sticky by the ointment, and then, as usual, turned on his phone screen and opened the top conversation.
There were no messages from Yang Ke today. The conversation was stuck on their exchange of good nights two days ago.
But behind the “good night” in the green bubble, there were two tilde (~) wave symbols.
While in the white bubble on the other side, the “good night” was lonely, without any punctuation.
Xiao Liu knew that this was Yang Ke’s habit. He was a physics student, diligent in his studies, and lived his life like this most of the time, except for occasional jokes.
The ointment on his back finally dried, and he lay down on the bed, looking at the bright light bulb above.
His eyes stared at the light for a while, feeling a little tired after a long time, gradually starting to feel sleepy.
He closed his eyes slowly, almost falling asleep at the last second, when suddenly, the phone at the head of the bed vibrated.
Xiao Liu immediately opened his eyes and reflexively picked up the phone, swiping to the chat window.
“Just finished the group meeting. So tired,” came Yang Ke’s message.
Xiao Liu rubbed his eyelids with his knuckles and then replied seriously.
“If you’re tired, go to bed early. Today…” He carefully chose his words in the input box.
Before he could finish typing a sentence, a new message popped up.
Different from the usual short sentences, this time the sentence was a bit longer. It took Xiao Liu some time to read it.
“I can take a break this week. I’m planning to go back to North City. Do you want to meet?” came the message.
Xiao Liu’s heart pounded faster.
He didn’t know if the pounding was because Yang Ke invited him to meet, or because he wasn’t even in North City.
He deleted all the words in the chat box and replied with five words: “When are you coming back?”
The reply came quickly: “Tomorrow.”
Damn it. Xiao Liu immediately turned off the screen.
This was bad. Should he quickly buy a plane ticket to fly back? Pretend he was still there? But how would he explain that he had already handed over the shop to someone else?
It was harder to cover up a lie than to tell one.
Whether it was because the project was going smoothly or for some other reason, Yang Ke was unusually talkative that day.
“I’m packing my bags. I don’t know what to wear when I go back.”
Another new message came in.
Xiao Liu looked at the screen, feeling more nervous with each passing moment.
Suddenly, a location sharing request came from the other side.
“Let me show you where I am.”
Xiao Liu knew what it meant if he clicked to agree.
Under the light, his eyelashes trembled a little.
Then he gently pressed the agree button.
A familiar map appeared on the screen, with two blue dots very close together.
So close that if the map was slightly zoomed out, the two dots would overlap.
The other side fell silent.
Until two minutes later, a voice call came directly from the other side.
“Hello?” Xiao Liu answered softly after picking up.
“Why are you here?” asked the familiar voice after a long time.
Xiao Liu’s Adam’s apple rolled several times, but he couldn’t speak.
The phone remained connected, with only the sound of electricity proving that the call had not been disconnected. The call time on the screen continued to advance.
Ten minutes later, Xiao Liu heard a knock on the door downstairs. He hastily put on his clothes and went downstairs.
Soon, Yang Ke walked into the shop. Xiao Liu turned on a pendant light, not looking at him.
Yang Ke spoke first, “Is this your coffee shop?”
“Yeah.”
“When did you open it?”
“Last month.”
He answered a question whenever he was asked, and there was no other explanation.
“Why?” Yang Ke continued to ask.
Xiao Liu didn’t want to answer such questions anymore. The air fell silent for a while, then he suddenly looked into Yang Ke’s eyes.
“I don’t like drinking coffee at all.”
Yang Ke was stunned for a moment. “What?”
“I hate drinking coffee. It’s too bitter,” Xiao Liu repeated.
Yang Ke glanced at the scattered menu on the table. The sign – Lemon Americano.
“Why did you…”
Xiao Liu took a deep breath and then laughed at himself.
“Because I like you.”
Because I like you, I made such a confused decision. Without saying hello, I ran from a thousand kilometers away like a fool.
But even though you’re only eight hundred meters away, I dare not come to find you.
Yang Ke stood up from behind the table. There was a sharp sound of the chair legs rubbing against the floor.
Xiao Liu looked at him, and from his surprised eyes, he seemed to read the final answer.
His nostrils flared, unable to bear the unbearable silence.
Then, after ten seconds, Xiao Liu reached out and gently pressed against the chest of the person in front of him. Then he pushed him out of the door.
“Sorry, I was too abrupt.”
After a noisy bang, the rolling shutter door closed. Xiao Liu stood at the door. The light bulb suddenly burst, and the small space plunged into darkness.
For the first time in two years, he shed tears.
He didn’t sleep well that night and hung a closed sign in front of the door early in the morning. He was planning how to tell the landlord that he was going to transfer the shop again.
However, before eight o’clock in the morning, just as the sun was rising, someone knocked on the door of the shop.
“We’re not open today.” He stood inside and shouted out, his voice hoarse.
But the person outside didn’t give up and continued knocking on the door.
Feeling a bit impatient, Xiao Liu pulled up the rolling shutter door.
The sunlight shone into the room, and he squinted his eyes for a moment.
Standing outside was a person bathed in the morning light. There was a thin layer of sweat on Yang Ke’s forehead, which was slightly shining under the morning sun.
His breath hadn’t calmed down yet, and he opened his mouth to say to Xiao Liu, “Boss, a cup of hot milk, no coffee, with sugar.”
[1]Author’s Note: Chestnut ice cream Thank you for the support of all the readers~ For new inspiration and notifications, please check out my author’s column and … Continue reading
[2]So, we’ve finally reached the end!! If you enjoyed this story, consider supporting me on Ko-fi through this link https://ko-fi.com/cee4409 Any amount will be appreciated. You can also … Continue reading
References
↑1 | Author’s Note:
Chestnut ice cream Thank you for the support of all the readers~ For new inspiration and notifications, please check out my author’s column and wb@栗子雪糕糕. Please pay attention to it. |
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↑2 | So, we’ve finally reached the end!!
If you enjoyed this story, consider supporting me on Ko-fi through this link https://ko-fi.com/cee4409 Any amount will be appreciated. You can also find the rest of my completely translated projects there |
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Aaaaaaaa it finisheddd god i love how the author wrote familial relationships here, sounds like a cool person to talk to and I very much enjoyed the power couple power coupling, but I do wish that the ending isn’t mostly a summary of their business transaction, would love to see how exactly XDC become a capitalist 😆😆
Thanks for translating ceekay ♡
So sweet. Best wishes.