《Cafe 109》Chapter 3

A bunch of white roses, not yet withered, lay before Kaijie's tombstone. She must have visited recently. [It seems someone came to pay respects to Kaijie not long ago,] Zhang Yuesheng said, squatting down to look at the white roses in front of the grave. After paying respects to Kaijie, Zhang Yuesheng accompanied me back to the cafe. Not long after opening, five or six teenagers came in. Jia Jia, who worked part-time here, wouldn't be in until the afternoon. I was suddenly swamped. Luckily, Zhang Yuesheng was there. [You take care of the coffee and tea, I'll handle the kitchen,] he said before heading into the kitchen. For some reason, business was exceptionally good that day, and we were busy until closing. Several customers told me before leaving that the spaghetti was particularly delicious today. [A few customers today said the spaghetti you cooked was especially delicious,] I told Zhang Yuesheng while we were cleaning up after closing the cafe. [Really?] he said while tidying up. [But there's nothing difficult about cooking spaghetti. How do you usually cook it?] [Sometimes when I'm busy, I cook the spaghetti while making coffee.] [About how many minutes do you cook it?] [Time?] I said with a sudden realization. [Yeah, if you control the cooking time well, there's basically no problem.] Zhang Yuesheng suddenly froze, looking at a magazine on the table. The cover featured Xu Niannian. Xu Niannian was already a supermodel. When she first debuted, she got to know Kaijie through an advertisement shoot with his advertising company. Later, she met Zhang Yuesheng through Kaijie. I heard that Zhang Yuesheng fell in love with her at first sight and quickly pursued her. They started dating soon after. But after a few months of dating, Xu Niannian suddenly broke up with Zhang Yuesheng. Unexpectedly, breaking up with Xu Niannian was a huge blow to Zhang Yuesheng. He gave up everything and left, wandering around Florence, Italy, and other places for a while until he met his ex-wife, after which he settled in the United States. Kaijie told me all of this. [Didn't you look for her after you came back?] I asked Zhang Yuesheng. [Huh?] Zhang Yuesheng seemed to be suddenly pulled back to reality from a distant memory by my question, and he looked up at me a little blankly. [You know about me and her?] he said, gathering the magazines on the table and putting them back on the bookshelf. [Kaijie mentioned it to me.] [For some people, seeing them or not seeing them makes no difference, so it's better not to see them at all,] he said. [I can see you haven't let her go.] [Yes,] he said with a bitter smile. [Maybe it's out of unwillingness, I don't even know why she left me.] [She didn't tell you?] He shook his head. But I knew. Not long after Kaijie passed away, I went to visit his grave one day and met Xu Niannian. She brought a bunch of white roses to pay respects to Kaijie. [Do you think Kaijie loved you?] Xu Niannian suddenly asked me. [Without a doubt,] I replied. [If I hadn't chosen to date Zhang Yuesheng first, Kaijie wouldn't have rejected me,] she said, looking at Kaijie's tombstone. [He just didn't want to let down a good friend. Now that Zhang Yuesheng is gone, he finally accepted me.] Kaijie had confessed to me that he had feelings for Xu Niannian. If it weren't for Zhang Yuesheng, he wouldn't have rejected her. [Maybe,] I said. [But Kaijie chose me, and I believe he only had me in his heart.] Xu Niannian looked at me and smiled coldly. [You think that way to make yourself feel better, don't you?] [Kaijie is gone, there's no point in arguing anymore,] I said calmly. After hearing my words, she gave me a cold look and said, [Men can't be trusted. Even if he has you in his heart, he'll still sleep with other women.] After she said that, she left. After that, whenever I went to visit Kaijie and saw a bunch of white roses in front of his grave, I knew Xu Niannian had left them. To be continued