Birthday (10)
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At the door, Miss M left him with the departing words, “Also, Jun Yang, happy birthday.”

The stumped Jun Yang answered, “Thank, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful birthday.” Miss M flashed a bright smile, left and went down the road.

Jun Yang stood at the door, not knowing what had really happened. He was merely chatting with Miss M earlier and suddenly she decided to leave? That was… disconcerting to say the least.

Then after Jun Yang came over that surprise, another question came to him, ‘I have not told Miss M about my birthday, have I? Then how did she find out it’s my birthday today? Did Feng Qi tell her? But why would he?’

In the end, Jun Yang decided it was a question that was of no real consequence so he tossed it out of his mind. Miss M wanted to wish him a happy birthday so he should just accept it.

Jun Yang turned back into the café and walked towards the counter. Feng Qi smiled at him as the distance between them closed. Jun Yang studied the man that was standing behind the counter.

He was wearing the apron that he usually wore for work and underneath it was a plain black T-shirt. The color made the smudges of white flour on the T-shirt popped. This went to show how hard Feng Qi had been working throughout the morning.

Jun Yang was confused why Feng Qi was working so hard, just what goal he was trying to achieve. For a split second, he considered the possibility that it had nothing to do with him and Feng Qi was slaving away for another person and before he could stop himself, there was an acute pain that pierce through his heart.

However, at the same second the pain was felt, Jun Yang berated himself for how silly he was acting. No matter what Feng Qi was doing, it should not have anything to do with him because Feng Qi did not owe him anything.

Furthermore, why was he even thinking that way in the first place?

To move his mind off these things, Jun Yang wanted to ask what Feng Qi was doing and how the cake was coming along but before he could get the words out of his mouth, Feng Qi got to him first, “Jun Yang, why do you look so gloomy today? There’s an edge that is normally not there… Are you okay?”

The genuineness in Feng Qi’s question was so striking that it caught Jun Yang by surprise. He thought he had already hidden it well. Since when did it become that Feng Qi could read through his thoughts so clearly?

The emotions that were roused by this discovery were complicated. On the one hand, Jun Yang was glad that Feng Qi knew him so well but on the other, he was not sure he liked the implication that it brought.

Naturally, it was the business with his family which had been bothering Jun Yang. However, he did not think that was something that he wanted to share with Feng Qi, why should he put his burden on other people. Therefore, he arranged the expression on his face and he smiled and changed the subject, “I’m fine, probably just tired. By the way, what are you doing here, Feng Qi? Also what is the purpose of you asking me to meet you here?”

Feng Qi noticed the change in subject, he realized that was a sign that Jun Yang did not want to talk about it so he played along. He understood the danger of pushing too far.

Incidentally, the new topic was also something that Feng Qi was interested in. In fact, Feng Qi’s face lit up with a mischievous grin when Jun Yang asked his question. The smile looked like it was hiding plenty of secrets.

Jun Yang was about to ask for more clarification when the sound of a bell tingled. “That would be the oven,” Feng Qi said as he stood up. “Do you mind waiting for a moment? I’ll know it’s hard to be apart from your glorious boyfriend but I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Jun Yang blushed and responded in a stammer, “Who, who is your boyfriend? Go, I’ll be fine without you.” Jun Yang almost used his arms to push the man away.

Feng Qi grinned and left through the door that led into the kitchen. As the door swung open, Jun Yang caught a glimpse of the café’s kitchen that he had not been into. After all, he had no reason to be in there.

The kitchen was smaller than he thought and it looked simple. The walls were unpainted and the many different appliances clogged up the already small space. In that brief second, Jun Yang believed he caught sight of the sinks, fridge and a few stoves. He saw a pan cooking on top of the stove.

When the door closed, Jun Yang turned back to the counter. He looked around the empty café. The place looked rather deserted without the usual customers milling about. Finding things to fill his time, Jun Yang looked around the counter. A few objects caught his attention. There was a lighter that was abandoned on the table. In his memory, neither Miss M nor Feng Qi smoked, so what was a lighter doing there?

Other than that, Jun Yang noticed the packaging for a bag of white sugar sitting in the trash can near to the door that led into the kitchen. ‘Doesn’t the recipe call for brown sugar?’ Jun Yang had a moment’s suspicion that the alternative sugar slogan was merely a ploy and the recipe still used standard sugar but with his knowledge of Miss M and Feng Qi, he ultimately trusted they would not lie to their customers like that. ‘Perhaps that is for the other cakes.’ That was the explanation Jun Yang settled with.

Jun Yang sat at the counter and he eventually started to wonder what had taken Feng Qi so long. He had taken more time than was necessary to fetch a cake out from the oven. Just as Jun Yang wanted to get up from his seat to walk to the kitchen door, the door swung open from within and Feng Qi poked his head out.

“Do you mind closing your eyes for me?” Feng Qi made a request that seemed apropos to nothing.

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