A Bite of Love

4. No Appetite

The next day, Mu Ran didn't show up in the cafe, giving Ou Yang an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He tried to think that his absence wasn't related to him, but deep down, he knew it was because of him.

The day passed with an agonising slowness, and as none of them came, Ou Yang couldn't ask anyone about Mu Ran.

That night, Ou Yang didn't sleep very well.

The next day, luck was on his side as the twins came to the cafe in the late afternoon.

"Hey cuties," Ou Yang greeted them enthusiastically, but for the first time, they showed him a sour expression.

"Two expresso," Tian Hua said without looking at him.

"What's wrong, why being so cold?" Ou Yang asked with a fake sad tone as he leaned forward on his elbows.

"What's wrong?!" Zhang Hua snapped at him, "you caused too many problems for us!"

Ou Yang's body froze, hearing her, "what did I do?" he asked although he knew it was because of that evening.

"That woman you 'enlightened' about Mu Ran's dating life kicked a rumpus in the company, calling us liars! If she just demanded her money back, we could handle it, but no! After getting a refund, she literally sat in front of our door, warning whoever tried to enter. It was a total chaos!" Zhang Hua explained angrily. She was barely holding herself not to snap Ou Yang's head.

"I..." he started but then changed the flow of the sentence, "then what happened?"

As Zhang Hua was too busy with fuming, Tian Hua continued, "then we had to pay her three times the payment she paid for our service and sent her away!"

Ou Yang nodded absent-mindedly, "how about... Mu Ran?"

"Ge Lin was angry at him for exposing his personal life and sent him home until everything was back to normal."

"Oh," Ou Yang murmured as he didn't know what to say. Indeed, he felt guilty, but what happened, happened.

"Oh?" Zhang Hua snapped at him again, "is that all you say? What did Mu Ran do to deserve such hostility from you?"

Well, he didn't do anything, he said inwardly because he couldn't say it out loud. He just shrugged and turned his back to the twins after saying "two expresso coming."

The remainder of the day was quite dull and Ou Yang decided to leave the work earlier as the guilt gnawed at him all day long, making him tired.

How come a silly taunting could backlash like that? Unbelievable!

It was what Ou Yang was thinking as he stopped for the red light. He lowered the window to take in some fresh air and something caught up to his eyes.

The woman who created all that fuss was sitting in a cafe on the street with the guy she dated that evening!

Seeing him getting closer to her, Ou Yang knew what was coming. Quickly, he fished out his phone from his pocket and took a few pictures of them, kissing passionately. When the light turned green, he made a u-turn and went back to talk to Ge Lin. On the road, he called Li Rang to get Ge Lin's number and after that, he called Ge Lin to tell her to wait for him in her office.

"What do you need?" was the first thing Ge Lin asked as soon as Ou Yang entered her office under the hostile gaze of the twins.

"Mu Ran was innocent," he confessed as he self-invited himself to the chair in front of her desk.

"I already know this," she shot back with cold eyes.

"That woman scammed you," Ou Yang sent the ball back with a smile as he knew she didn't know that.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously, leaning forward.

Goal! Ou Yang congratulated himself silently before opening the first picture he took and placing his phone onto the table for Ge Lin to see.

Seeing the picture, Ge Lin's eyes widened, "where did you see them?"

"In a cafe near here," Ou Yang enlarged the picture to show the name of the cafe, "he is the one she dated that evening, they pretended they didn't like each other, but today they were lovey-dovey."

"She scammed us to screw out money!" Ge Lin shouted, her fists clenched.

Ou Yang nodded happily, "I will send you the pictures so that you can use it against her."

"Okay, thank you," Ge Lin said with a smile, her initial anger already subsided.

"No problem," Ou Yang returned the smile, "now you can bring that moron back," he said aloofly and left her office, being proud of himself.

As he saved the situation, there was no more guilt gnawing at him. He was free like a bird!

That night, he would have a good night's sleep.