Book 3: Glory on the Other Side


    Chapter 38


    “Everybody, time to order dinner.”  Someone opened the door.


    “Ai Qing’s here, too?  Do you want to order something?”


    She shook her head.  “No need. I have dinner plans.”


    Well, what was her dinner plan?


    Half an hour later, Ai Qing sat in the bakery about ten minutes


    walking distance from the SP building.  She bit on a spoon while


    looking through the window, lost in thought.


    Two girls sat next to her talking about their quarrels with their


    respective boyfriend.  They were talking with such excitement


    that Ai Qing couldn’t avoid overhearing them. One girl said she


    Ai Qing continued to bite the spoon while looking at the passing


    pedestrians and vehicles on the street.


    She felt heavy in her heart.


    Slowly, she widened her eyes, but very quickly, looked back.


    How did he know that she was here?  Ah, right, a while ago, her


    sister texted her asking where she was eating dinner.  She replied


    that she was eating cake as dinner. Her sister must have texted


    him the location of her most favorite bakery.


    She lowered her head and kept poking the cake in front of her


    with the spoon.


    One slice of cake, two slices of cake, three slices of cake, four


    slices of cake…...until the thirteenth slice of chestnut cake was served


    on the table and there was no more room for it.  She finally was forced


    to raise her head. “What are you doing ordering so many cakes……”


    He didn’t speak.


    All right. He was still the same.


    The heaviness she felt in her heart, which had gone away while she


    was distracted by the cakes just now, came back again. Sometimes she


    felt that his refusal to talk was cute.  But now she wondered, could he


    use silence to solve all the problems in his life?


    The girls sitting at the next table, who were in a fierce discussion moments


    before, were now glancing at them.  They had completely forgotten the


    subject they were discussing.


    She even saw somebody raise a cell phone trying to shoot a picture of


    the table full of cakes.


    She was very embarrassed.  She didn’t care whether they two were still


    fighting and waved her hand to call a store clerk to pack all the cakes.


    The clerk handily packed all the cakes and handed them to Dt.


    When they left the bakery, she hesitated whether she should walk back by


    herself or follow him to the parking lot.  The eyes hidden underneath the


    shadow of the hat brim looked at her. He said in a lower voice, “I’ll take


    you back.”


    The voice was very low, as if the wind would easily blow it away.


    Obviously, it was him who made the mistake, but somehow she felt like


    she was the one who was bullying him……


    Ai Qing looked at his eyes, then her heart inexplicably softened.  She didn’t


    speak as she followed him to the parking lot.


    The cakes were placed in the back seat and the door was shut.


    It was very quiet inside the confined space.


    Dt stretched out his hand to take off his hat, revealing his whole face.  He


    turned aside to take out a laptop computer from the backseat, turning it on.


    His fingers typed on the keyboard, quickly pulling out a folder not long after.


    The name of the folder was Appledog.


    Ai Qing was startled.  She felt a strong sense of deja vu, she had seen this


    folder before.


    He put the computer on his lap and turned to her.


    “It was ‘07 in Singapore, you saw this folder then.”  His memory apparently


    was much better than hers. “This folder has everything related to you; you


    competition videos, interviews, news…...and pictures.”


    As Dt was talking, he also looked at her face at the same time.  He feared


    that if he didn’t express it well, he might screw up everything.


    Ai Qing stared at the computer screen.  Finally she remembered, she actually


    had seen this folder.