Cloudside Café

The First Cup of Coffee Part 2

There was a bar next to the reception desk, so Jiang Ying sat down nearby.

The shop’s sound system was playing soft, soothing songs.

Jiang Ying scooped a spoonful of cake. The cheese was savory and thick. She held her chin with her left hand and openly watched the handsome boss busy at the work table.

Jiang Ying thought about how she knew his name, so to reciprocate, she spoke up to say, “Boss, I forgot to say, my name is Jiang Ying. Jiang from ginger, Ying from welcome1.”

Yun Xian didn’t know why she suddenly introduced herself. He just thought she was bored and wanted to talk to someone. He gave a slight nod and continued along with her. “Do you work nearby?”

Jiang Ying nodded. “Yeah, Zhicheng Studio. We make games. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.”

When Yun Xian heard the name Zhicheng Studio, his lips rose.

Not only had he heard of it, he suggested the name Zhicheng.

Yun Xian relaxed after knowing that she was an employee of a good friend. “Aren’t you afraid of getting fat if you eat cake so late?”

“There are still a few minutes left, but today is my birthday.”Jiang Ying scooped up a piece of ice cream and put it into her mouth. It was so cold that her teeth shivered, and she casually articulated, “Ceremonial feeling.”

Upon hearing this, Yun Xian looked up at her. He was slightly surprised, and thoughtfully whispered “happy birthday” to her.

The girl looked young and should have just graduated. She had long brown hair in a low ponytail. Perhaps it was because she had single eyelids that it added to her facial features for a bit of a delicate and soft, but interesting appearance.

He didn’t know much about Li Zhicheng’s company, but he also knows that when a company started out, the boss was squeezed by the investors and the employees were squeezed by the boss.

Game development was also a stressful, hair-pulling job. She was probably exhausted after just getting off of work and couldn’t properly celebrate her birthday. Perhaps that’s why she could only buy herself a small cake in the last few minutes of this rainy night.

If he was not in the shop today, she might not even have a piece of cake.

When Yun Xian briefly recalled the disheveled way he looked when he first started working, he looked at Jiang Ying again and his eyes seemed to have a bit of pain in them.

Then, he thought about how the work could be regarded as an evil thing Li Zhicheng created and he lightly sighed.

Yun Xian turned around and went back to the kitchen. He came back in a few minutes with a small aromatherapy candle in his hands.

He turned off the lights, but left the one on top of the bar on. He took a lighter and lit the aromatherapy candle.

It had a sweet apple fragrance as the flame burned in the dark.

He pushed it in front of Jiang Ying and said, “That’s all I could find.”

Jiang Ying did not understand, so she looked from the candle up to Yun Xian’s face. She stared at him blankly. “Huh?”

Yun Xian raised her eyebrow and motioned to her. “Make a wish. I didn’t have any normal candles, so I took this to do the best I could.”

Jiang Ying gave an “oh”. She looked down instantly as the corners of her mouth rose. She muttered, “What should I wish for?”

“Hm…” She thought about it for a moment, but she didn’t seem to have any big wishes like to have success at work, to have good health, or to find a boyfriend.

The wishes she thought of were always those few.

The song being played on the sound system was coming to an end. The deep male voice sang in a low voice:

“Goodnight dear world.

Goodnight old trees.

Goodnight, and goodbye.”2

“I make a lot of wishes for myself every year, and none of them come true.” Jiang Ying clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. She gently said, “Then let’s be thoughtful to other humans. I hope that people with insomnia will have a good night’s sleep and sweet dreams tonight.”

The vocal color of her voice was very special. It was not a soft nor delicate voice, but was low with a compassionate tone, like a glass of fruit wine. It was crystal clear with a sweet twinge that matched her pure look.

A few seconds later, Jiang Ying opened her eyes and blew out the candle. She raised her head and expressed her appreciation, “Thank you, Boss Yun.”

When their eyes met, Yun Xian was lost in them for a moment.

The rainy night was dark and the lights in the room were dim, but her eyes contained the candle’s light, as if they were gathering all the sparks in the world and secretly burned them through the night.

It was rare to see such big single eyelids that could be so sparkling and magnetic.

A good night’s sleep.

This sentence was too weak for insomniacs.

Others could not understand dragging a tired body and mind around at night and the pain of not being able to sleep for a long time. There was the continuous tossing and turning; and the mental state that was weak and sensitive. The more they tried their best to calm themselves down, the more anxious they became. Their brain was running at a high speed, churning like a machine out of control. After reaching a critical point, they fell into a state of collapse, and they finally became numb and empty.

That’s why “good night” were the words Yun Xian was most afraid to hear.

He had to rely on drugs to force his body to shut down because his nights could never be peaceful. He would wait for his mind to fall into a dazed state before it finally fell into a chaotic dream.

They were complete strangers, so it was impossible for Jiang Ying to know what troubles the man in front of her held.

They met by chance and she made a wish for “a good night’s sleep and sweet dreams”.

If this really was a wish, then these words were too gentle.

The rain stopped and the night returned to its stillness.

The anxious feeling suddenly became calm. Yun Xian tilted his head as he looked out of the window. Perhaps his body and mind had relaxed because he developed a rare drowsiness.

Yun Xian straightened his watch and said with regret, “If I had known it was your birthday, I would have invited you to eat this cake.”

Jiang Ying laughed and it caused her dimples on both sides to appear. “Is this a gift for new customers?”

She pointed to the candle on the table. “It’s all right, you’ve already helped me celebrate it.”

Yun Xian still wanted to make up for it. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll make it up to you when you come to my shop for your birthday next year.”

A smooth giggle flowed out from Jiang Ying as she responded okay. She cupped her hands into a fist and stated, “Boss is too polite.”  In her mind, she only regarded this as a courteous conversation.

Yun Xian was actually serious and he still felt bad when he thought about it. He took out a post-it note and a pen from the reception desk drawer and leaned down to make a rough coupon. To say that it was rough, it really was rough. There were only two words, “birthday certificate”, and a small cake that he drew on the blue post-it.

Yun Xian picked it up and looked at it, and then added a small words below: “This belong to Jiang Ying”

In the lower right-hand corner of the paper, he left his signature. His handwriting was confident. He used it as a seal to ensure the post-it note’s credit.

He handed the post-it note to Jiang Ying and said sincerely, “I mean it. Take it. Come and find me next year to exchange it.”

Jiang Ying took it. She was amused when she saw the words on it and laughed out loud.  “Exchange for what? Are you going to go out with me for my birthday?”

Not expecting her to understand like this, Yun Xian’s face flashed with a trace of embarrassment and he stiffly explained, “What I mean is that I’ll give you a birthday cake.”

The atmosphere suddenly became a little subtle. Yun Xian took off his apron and turned back to the reception desk. Jiang Ying coughed and brushed a strand of loose hair on her cheek to behind her ear.

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Just as she folded the paper carefully and put it in her shoulder bag, the man turned back.

He still had his unfolded apron in his hand. His fingers were long and well-defined. The skin on the back of his hand was white against the apron’s dark color.

Jiang Ying looked up at him and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Yun Xian pushed his slipping glasses up, and Jiang Ying saw that there was a small mole below his left eye. It was not obvious before because it was blocked by the glasses frame.

She didn’t know where she heard it, but people with tear moles loved to cry and their hearts were sensitive.

Maybe that’s true, because she heard Yun Xian say:

“I can celebrate your birthday with you if there is no one to accompany you that day.”

The author has something to say:

I hope everyone will enjoy reading this. It is a relaxing short story.

tarararawr’s rararamblings: Yun means cloud, the same cloud in Cloudside Café. Zhicheng Studio and Zhicheng’s name are also the same characters. Zhicheng means sincere. Boss Yun’s way of naming things is not very original. ¯|(◉‿◉)/¯

 

Footnotes

She explains what the characters makeup her name are by using words that contain her name’s characters.姜 (jiāng) from 生姜(shēngjiāng – ginger) and 迎(yíng) from 欢迎(huānyíng – welcome).Goodnight by Foreverinmotion. Link to listen.