Chapter 8

After picking up Ruirui from school in the afternoon, I spent the rest of the day typing away at the café.

As night fell, the number of customers dwindled. A few waiters kept Ruirui company, playing with his newly bought remote control car.

I furiously tapped at the keyboard until one of the staff reminded me that it was closing time.

I snapped out of my trance. “Could you pack an iced Americano for me, thanks.”

The new waiter looked at me curiously. “Qi An, are you pulling another all-nighter to meet your deadline?”

I yawned and couldn’t help but stretch.

“Yeah, the blood of every Web Novel Author flows with iced Americano.”

Taking the packed coffee, I watched as the staff finished tidying up and left with movie tickets, joking that they were off to experience my youthful stories.

Embarrassed, I smiled, picked up Ruirui’s toys, and waved to him:

“Let’s go, son. Let’s go home and play with Tuantuan.”

Tuantuan is the cat that Chen Huaixu and I adopted years ago-a white silver shaded.

Holding Ruirui’s hand, I pushed open the door. The midsummer breeze slipped down my neck, and the locust flowers by the roadside were at their end, fluttering down with the wind.

In that instant, a name suddenly came to mind.

After all these years apart, I wondered how he had been.

I walked along the road, letting the wind brush past me, step by step.

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind me:

“Qi An.”

The voice was so familiar that I froze for a moment, dazed.

I couldn’t help but laugh at myself-being absent-minded really does make you hear things.

I lifted my foot to keep walking, when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

It was a strange number. After I answered, the person on the other end was silent.

I hesitated and asked, “Hello, who is this?”

After three or five seconds, all I heard was the sound of the wind. Just as I was about to hang up, a low whisper came from the other end:

“I’m the one who said I’d marry you once I saved up a million…”

His voice was deep and hoarse, trembling and choked with emotion at the end.

My heart skipped a beat, and my hand began to shake uncontrollably.

“Chen Huaixu…”

I wanted to say something, but didn’t know what. In the end, I could only ask in a trembling voice:

“Is… is something wrong?”

He was silent for a few seconds, then spoke in a low voice:

“Can we meet?”

I clutched my phone, tongue-tied, when he softly said:

“Qi An, I’m under the moon.”

Back then, I was so bad with directions that I couldn’t find my way, and he called to ask where I was. I said I was under the moon. He teased me about that for years.

I couldn’t help but look up. A crescent moon hung in the night sky, casting its cool, clear light.

Chen Huaixu’s voice came through the receiver again:

“Turn around.”

I turned, stunned, and saw him standing beneath a locust tree, dressed simply in a black shirt. Moonlight spilled over him, mingling with the city’s neon, outlining his sharp features.

The summer breeze gently rustled the leaves, and pure white blossoms swayed gracefully down.

He stood under the tree, looking at me, waving in the glow of the streetlights, calling my name.

I froze, and suddenly thought of a phrase: a glance that lasts a lifetime.

He walked toward me, each step making my heart beat faster.

One step, two steps, three steps…

He stopped in front of me, the streetlight stretching his shadow long and thin.

The moment our eyes met, my heart seemed to stop for a few seconds.

I opened my mouth, not knowing what to say.

He looked at me, his breath unsteady, lips pressed together.

“Long time no see…”

“Long time no see…”

We spoke at the same time, then couldn’t help but smile awkwardly.