“To all the passengers, please wear your seatbelt……”

Ailee sighed. Finally she is back. After all of these years trying to avoid going back to China, one call from the private investigator, she is now in the land of China. 

Looking out from the window, it’s looks like the pilot is ready to land the flight, closing her eyes, Ailee tighten her grip on the seat handle and take a deep breath and hold it. She hates taking a flight. 

After all, that’s the reason why her parent left her and her siblings, a sudden plane crash. 

“Xie xie” She smiled towards the taxi driver when he helps her with her two big luggages. Originally, she intended to pack lightly because she only going to stay for three months long. However at that time she just couldn’t think what should she bring because one, her mind is full with the sudden news and two, because she doesn’t want to leave anything in the apartment. She already broke up with her boyfriend, so she definitely doesn’t want him to have anything about her. 

Standing in front of the metallic door, she types in the password before enter her brand new one room apartment which she had rented under the private investigator help. 

“Wow. It’s beautiful!” 

Ailee smiled when everything is so perfect in the room. This is the first time she is having a place by herself, so she is so excited. throwing aside her luggages, she quickly plopped on the bed. 

“It’s not twenty hours yet but so many things had happened.” Her right hand fetch the sling bag beside her and she took out her cellphone. When she is connected to the building wifi, she received many Kakao messages from her ex-boyfriend.

“Things are not like what you think”

“Can you please call me? I can’t get through.”

“Don’t this to me baby”

“Please hear me out first. We really have nothing going on.”  

She scoffed. “Don’t bull me.” 

It’s 8pm right now and her stomach grumbled like crazy. That’s when she realised she hasn't eat a single meal at all since she landed in the land of China. Her meeting with her private investigator is set tomorrow in the morning and she haven't buy anything yet to fill in the refrigerator. 

“Let’s go out shall we?” She smiles at her own reflection on the mirror. Talking in chinese is not something she always done, she silently hope her mandarin skills is still there. 

Aimlessly wandering along the street, Ailee makes sure she is not so far from her apartment, otherwise she will end up lost her way home. Just when she is about to give up searching for any restaurant because it seems that along the road, there are many street stall which sells many snack compared to one solid meal which she really needs right now. She is hungry like crazy. She turns right at the corner in front of her and wallah! She saw a cafe! From the menu board outside the cafe, they have spaghetti carbonara and mushroom soup for dinner. 

Excitedly, she enters the cafe, ready to order her meal. 

“Can I have one spaghetti carbonara and the mushroom soup please?” She slightly winced when said the whole sentence in mandarin. It sounds weird after so long of not speaking it. She bet even the cute waiter think her weirdly. 

“Here’s the bill, please take a seat.” Oh thank god you say something so simple. The cute waiter handed her the bills and she said a brief thanks to him. Turning around, she saw a small table with two chairs at the corner of the shop. 

Ailee takes a seat and looks around. The ambience is so nice with a set of playlist that really suits the cafe playing as background music, she decided to makes this cafe as one of her favourite hangout places. 

While waiting for her food to come, she takes out her cellphone and tries to connect with the cafe wifi. After connected, she lazily scroll down in her pictures gallery. Not until five times of scrolling, she saw her ex-boyfriend selca. 

“Delete.” She taps the trash can icon on the screen of her phone. “Once a liar, always a liar.” She remembers what her mom said to her although at that time she is only seven years old. Originally, she is not ‘Zhang’ surname. But after her father runs away with his girlfriend, her mom remarried with Zhang Ba, that’s what she called her stepfather. From what she remembers, Zhang Ba is actually her mom boss at the company. They got married when she was eight years old. 

“Miss, here is your food.” The cute waiter just now suddenly appears in front of her, making she jolted, too immersed in her thought. He places the food on the table for her.

“Xie xie ni.” She smiles and the cute waiter left the table. She is trying to adjust her position when her eyes caught something or should she say someone at the counter.