Birthday (9)

Jun Yang turned to look and saw Miss M tapping on the glass panel of the front door to get his attention. When he looked over, Miss M smiled and waved for him to get closer. Jun Yang obliged. He saw the closed sign that was hanging on the door and he could not help but wonder, 'What is Miss M doing here if the shop is closed?'

There could be many valid explanations, she could be there to clean the place, do the accounts or rearrange the seats, all these things were better done when the café was closed. However, neither one of the guesses was correct.

When Jun Yang got close enough, Miss M opened the door to welcome him in. "Come in, dear, come in. Don't stand out there, the weather's very hot."

"Thank you, Miss M." Jun Yang accepted the kindness from the lady and as he walked past her, he asked, "By the way, Miss M, what are you doing here today? Isn't the café closed for the day?"

Miss M smiled and gave an answer that surprised Jun Yang, "Actually, this is Feng Qi's idea. I was supposed to be resting for the day but he has some plan so here I am." Miss M closed the door and she pointed at Feng Qi who was working behind the counter.

The bell above the door chimed when it opened and closed earlier. The sound attracted Feng Qi's attention so he was looking at the door when Jun Yang walked in. When Jun Yang turned his way, he lifted his hand to wave at the young man with a smile.

Jun Yang waved back. Seeing the smile on Feng Qi's face, his mood instantly felt better like the smile was no dissimilar from a ray of the sun cutting through the clouds that had casted a gloom over his world.

'Now I understand why he would ask to meet me at the café, but what is Feng Qi doing here in the first place? Earlier, Miss M mentioned a plan, so what is this plan of his?' Jun Yang wondered.

Jun Yang's attention was pulled back to Miss M when the latter said, "Feng Qi offered to help me on my day off to work on the sugar free cake recipe. Oh, I forgot to even thank you for your compliments. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the chiffon cake that I made with brown sugar."

With that, Jun Yang was reminded of the time he came to the café with Feng Qi to finish their essay assignment. Feng Qi did serve him a slice of cake and he remembered it was quite delicious. Feng Qi must have told his employer about his reaction.

Jun Yang smiled. "The compliment is all yours, Miss M. You are the one who baked the wonderful pastry, I was honored to have been your taste tester. If anything, I should have apologized to ask for something that was not yet on the menu then."

Miss M laughed. "You're so polite, how come that gentlemanliness hasn't brushed off on Feng Qi even though you two have been hanging out together for so long?"

That was probably just a casual remark given by Miss M but Jun Yang could not help but wonder if there was another layer of meaning behind it. In any case, Jun Yang got the answer to the question that was on his mind earlier. Feng Qi was at the Mist Café to help Miss M perfect her cake recipe.

"So Miss M, how is the cake recipe coming along? I would love to be your taster if you have a need for one." Jun Yang offered. The owner of the café had shown nothing but kindness to him since his first appearance there and Jun Yang really did have a good impression of the kind and friendly woman.

"That would be marvelous!" Miss M exclaimed while clapping her hands together. "We have made good progress throughout the morning. The ratio of the wet and dry ingredients has been fixed and we've found a solution to stop the brown sugar from clumping up during the baking process. We have just sent the latest trial into the oven, it should be ready in a few minutes.

"Honestly, I could not have done all these without Feng Qi's help. When he suggested to work on the cake on this off day and even offered me his help, I was frankly quite surprised. I believed he was merely being nice or he wanted to ask for an extra day of payment.

"However, he did not voice any request of that sort and he has been working harder than I was during our baking experimentation. Of course, that was a good thing but you have to admit that was quite out of the ordinary for the young man."

As much as it felt they were talking behind Feng Qi's back, Jun Yang could understand what Miss M meant. The young man had zero relation to the description of hardworking.

Jun Yang scratched his chin, wondering what could have motivated Feng Qi thusly.

Miss M studied Jun Yang and then it hit her. Her lips curved into a smile as the reality dawned on her. Feng Qi's various actions earlier suddenly made sense.

Miss M shook her head, like a mother watching the laughable antics of the children in her care.

Realizing Feng Qi's purpose, Miss M decided to help push things along. She tapped Jun Yang on his shoulder and then said, "Jun Yang, thank you for dropping by today. Actually, I called you over when I saw you on the street because I needed you to help accompany Feng Qi for me. I have something else to attend to."

Before Jun Yang could say anything to the sudden change of events, Miss M stepped out of the door and she told Jun Yang, "Just tell Feng Qi to lock up the place when you're done. He has the keys to the café. Goodbye and have fun."