Good Morning, Miss Undercover

37

I was absentminded the whole day, thinking of the reunion dinner with Stone, after so many years. I cracked my knuckles, waiting for school to be over, waiting for the time to pass, second by second.

We had arranged to meet in the evening for dinner and drinks. The place was the same old restaurant that we had frequented seven years ago. When Stone left the first few years, I and Fei Ge would still go back to that restaurant for meals and would always talk about Stone, as if we had lost a precious little brother and worried about him.

But as each year passed by, this guy seemed as if he had disappeared from our lives. Then I and Fei Ge did not go back to that restaurant to avoid feeling depressed and finally did not go there anymore.

This restaurant was famous for Bridge Noodles and the dish was very authentic there. During the weekends, people would be waiting in long queues to eat this noodle. The boss of this restaurant was a short man with a little beard, with a stick of cigarette stuck in the gap of his ear, would be busy all day long. Two years ago, this man had passed away due to lung cancer and the business had plummeted, almost resulted in the restaurant falling into the hands of others.

(Crossing Bridge Noodles is a famous rice noodle soup from Yunnan province. The boiling hot soup is served in an earthen pot whilst the ingredients are served separately. Once the ingredients are added into the boiling soup, it cooks quickly in just a few minutes, ready to be eaten. This noodles is usually spooned out into smaller bowls to be shared.)

But these two years, the boss's daughter had taken over and the old place was renovated. The taste of the soup had changed, maybe because we had grown up or we had consumed too many delicacies, our taste buds had become discerning and the original taste was not there anymore.

Perhaps the problem was not the taste of the noodles but the original threesome that sat around the table, bowing their heads drinking the soup, at the same time having their tongues burned by blistering hot soup. It was as if people were reluctantly forced to admit they were getting old and therefore had lost the taste of food.

Fortunately, Stone had finally came back and finally the three of us could sit around the table again.

***#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#***

Today, I and Jiang Li did not interact and our exchange was practically nil. The whole day I was bored and slept. Several times, he deliberately passed by my side and I treated him as invisible, continued with my sleep. After sleeping for the whole day, my neck ached.

But Dong Zi seemed to be working hard, desperately clinging to Jiang Li asking questions. He played basketball very well and during the last session of activities, the two of them played together and came back sweating all over, talking and laughing. My heart felt at ease.

I was waiting eagerly for school to be dismissed. Jiang Li carrying a ball walked passed outside the window and within my line of sight. The 18-year-old boy who was slightly smiling at people glanced at me with indifferent eyes like sharp knives. His eyes were like dark, deep pools, intensely charming that would make any 18-year-old girl's heart palpitate with eagerness.

Unfortunately, I am already 24 years-old.

When I was 18 years-old, once I did have such a sweet dream. Exchanging glances with a handsome juvenile through the window, feeling elated and the one second that our eyes meet was enough to reminisce a thousand times over.

I was already old and would not be affected by a young man's eyes. So after meeting Jiang Li's eyes, casually I lowered my head and started to play with my phone.

I wrote a text message to Kang Zixian: I met an old friend of many years. Will be back later.

After I had written the message, I hesitated. I had always felt that the way we were getting along was a bit strange. We were actually strangers. All of a sudden, like a rocket that had ascended to the sky, we were staying together and every night if any of us were late to return, we would text each other........it felt weird.