Chapter 18: So Close Yet So Far (5)

  In this French-style café on the Left Bank, we sat face to face, looking into each other's eyes. The gaze was clear but also dim.

  The table was lit with a very atmospheric candlelight, warm and cozy. The atmosphere was like a dream. Those couples were whispering softly to each other, as if their voices would disturb the beautiful dream if they were slightly louder. The coffee shop was filled with such a romantic atmosphere.

  He wants the South Mountain, mine is Caramel Macchiato. I know that Caramel Macchiato coffee represents sweet memories, suitable for girls in love to drink, although I am not, but I like this sweet and milky flavor very much.

  The flavor of the coffee is so rich and mellow, with a dense aroma that slowly unfolds between my lips and teeth. When I'm feeling down, the flavor seems to bring back those sorrowful memories, bit by bit, like a faint stain on my heart. I've tasted its bitterness, and it must be the same for him too.

  In the coffee shop hall, a girl is playing a tune of autumn fairy tale. The melancholic and beautiful music echoes in the room, also lingering in our hearts, like sobbing and complaining, those once beautiful, those forgotten are all awakened at the bottom of our hearts.

  Sorrow swept across his eyes, in this music like a clear spring, I seemed to feel the scars in his heart, it was a sigh, it was a note filled with sadness. He is a person too heavy with emotions.

  At this time, he ordered red wine.

  "Don't drink, your cold isn't over yet!"

  "Let me drink! I'll feel better then."

  I didn't stop him again. This sentence: "Then you drink a little less." seems so weak.

  He drank and hid, trying to make me laugh. But he couldn't hide the deep wound in his heart.

  Watching him drink, listening to his inner voice. The night is so long, the emotions are so deep.

  He picked up another cup. I placed my hand over his cup, the coffee shop was quiet except for the sound of my soft voice: "Please don't drink anymore."

  "It doesn't matter, have another drink." He smiled at me, his eyes all red.

  "Alright, then I'll have a drink with you." This way, I can help him share the burden a bit, and he won't feel even more miserable, I thought.

  I picked up the empty cup beside me, filled it to the brim, and the deep red wine swirled in the cup, looking both beautiful and enchanting.

  This is my second time drinking. When I was a kid, I went with my dad to his workplace, and his colleagues held a farewell party for him. Everyone raised their glasses and joked: "Drink it all in one go, or you'll be laughed at."

  I didn't know at the time, I just thought it was fun, maybe also to see if I could really drink, and surprisingly, I picked up the cup and drank the beer in front of me all at once.

  Everyone is amazed: "Look at other people's kids can finish it! How come you guys are not even as good as the kids?"

  Since then, I knew I could drink a little alcohol.

  Between the clinking of cups, we gaze into each other's eyes, those tear-filled eyes filled with sorrow.

  In the world of emotions, we are still two little children who don't understand love and can't fully recognize the beauty in emotions, nor can we bear the sorrow in them.

  We silently drink our wine, giving each other a faint yet hopeful smile. Yes, we hope for each other's future to be fragrant and beautiful, and for happiness in the days to come.