“I’m going to the bathroom first. If the food arrives, remember to take a picture of it before you eat,” Louisa said before leaving.
“Yeah, yeah. Go already. You’re such a nag!” Clara laughed when Louisa acted as if she were about to hit her.
As soon as her best friend left, Clara opened her phone and checked her social media. While browsing, her finger stopped on a post that tagged Alfred. She froze, staring at the photo for a long time.
Alfred and his friends looked incredibly happy. They were all grinning at the camera. Clara barely noticed anyone else. Her attention was fixed on Alfred. The man had always smiled like that, but his eyes were different. This time, they seemed to sparkle, as if they were smiling too.
Clara’s heart felt as though it were being crushed. For the first time, she wasn’t the reason Alfred was smiling. He had friends, did things he enjoyed, and interacted like an ordinary person who wasn’t fixated on just one thing.
Without realizing it, Clara continued staring blankly at the photo. Then she suddenly came to her senses and checked her messaging app, remembering that it had chimed while she was still driving.
A message from Alfred. Clara froze again. But she quickly pulled herself together and replied with a short message.
“Always be happy, Alfred.”
Just then, Louisa returned and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”
“No.” Clara put her phone into her bag.
A waiter came over and arranged their order. Louisa watched him. Only after he had truly left did she ask again, “Then why do you look so down?”
“Clara, come on. I know you very well. You always look like this when something’s wrong.” By that, Louisa meant Clara’s eyes. Even when she spoke and laughed, they looked empty, like a robot’s. “Tell me. What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing.” Clara was still reluctant to say anything. “Let’s finish this and go home. I still have a lot of work to do.”
After sitting in silence for a long time, Louisa chose to give in. She nodded and replied, “All right.”
Alfred returned to the living room and picked up his phone. He read the message Clara had sent and immediately replied. Then he saw a notification from his social media account because Clara had liked the post that tagged him.
Alfred’s expression instantly turned panicked. “Did Clara misunderstand me?”
Not wanting there to be any misunderstanding, he quickly sent her the photos he had taken earlier, along with a message saying that he had been doing what he enjoyed. He also asked whether she liked the results of his work.
“I miss her.” Alfred murmured as he stared straight ahead. “I wonder what she’s doing.”
“I can’t wait to see her again,” Alfred continued, taking a deep breath.
Two months passed. Alfred was still overseas, working on a major project that was slowly changing his life. His talent and passion had returned to him, making him seem like he was back in his teenage years.
But that didn’t mean he blamed Clara or forgot about her. If anything, the more he grew, the more he missed her and wanted to show all of this to her.
“If you still love her that much, why don’t you two just get back together?” Suddenly, a girl wearing a navy suit approached him.
Her name was Cecilia Valerie. She was Alfred’s new friend and coworker during his time here. She had helped Alfred a great deal with the project.
Her words made Alfred hurriedly slip his phone into his pocket. “Cecilia, I told you already that you’re not allowed to snoop through other people’s phones.”
“I wasn’t snooping,” Cecilia protested irritably. “I already knew, without looking, that you must have sent those photos you took earlier to your sweetheart.”
Alfred’s expression changed instantly. His face flushed with embarrassment. Seeing this, Cecilia continued, “You two love each other, but you broke up. You don’t have some weird thing going on, do you?”