Sonia had no idea what the steak in her mouth tasted like.
Ash said he was taking her out to do some errands, but in fact he drove her directly to this French restaurant, saying it was lunchtime and they should eat first.
But Sonia knew that it was difficult to make a reservation at this restaurant. The normal way was to make a reservation half a month in advance. She had discussed with Diya before when to come and taste the restaurant... Whether Ash made a reservation in advance or used connections, it showed that he attached great importance to this meal and was definitely not just taking Sonia for a casual work meal.
In fact, Sonia had been paying attention all the time. If the restaurant's band suddenly played a wedding march, and a group of people appeared and threw flower petals for them, and then Ash knelt on one knee and took out a small box... she would not be surprised at all.
How should she react
Should I be more reserved or more happy
Should you put your tongue in when kissing
Sonia ate while thinking about random things. When she realized what was happening, the waiter had already led them out of the restaurant. Bathed in the late winter sun at noon, Sonia was a little absent-minded for a moment, looking at Ash and then at the restaurant.
"How does it taste to you?" Ash asked.
"Hmm? It's OK, isn't it?" Sonia asked cautiously, "Is it difficult to make a reservation at this restaurant?"
"Yeah, I had to use my connections to get the position." Ash shrugged. "I can only say that it didn't really live up to my expectations, but it didn't give me many surprises either."
"Is today an important day?" Sonia asked meaningfully, "Is that why you came to this restaurant to eat?"
Ash thought about it and said, "I guess so."
He looked down at his phone and suggested, "We still have an hour before we meet the client, how about we take a walk around the neighborhood?"
Sonia naturally did not refuse. In fact, outside the restaurant was a pedestrian street paved with stone slabs, with shops on both sides, street performers singing in the sun, and people rubbing shoulders with each other on the street. London is often cloudy, but today was a rare sunny day. Some people even moved chairs to the street to bask in the sun. It was a weekday, but the atmosphere was no less than a holiday.
The black-haired Chinese and the red-haired girl were inconspicuous in the crowd. The warm sunlight was like silk on their faces, and Ash couldn't help but yawn. Yawning seemed to be contagious, and Sonia, who had been staring at Ash, couldn't help but cover her mouth and yawn. The two looked at each other and smiled.
"It seems like it's been a long time since I went shopping with you alone like this." Ash recalled: "The last time we went shopping together was probably..."
"Three years ago." Sonia said, "After Vichy and the others came, the company grew bigger and we had more work to do. And you never asked me out, so how could we have the chance to take a walk together?"
"Yeah," Ash smiled, "We've known each other for three years. It feels like time has passed so quickly. Back then you were just a college student who knew nothing."
"You were a general manager without much authority back then." Sonia curled her lips, "You still don't have much authority now."
"I did this to adapt to the workplace in the UK, put aside my pride and get along well with the employees..."
The two chatted and laughed, and Sonia suddenly saw an ice cream shop on the side of the road, so she stopped in front of the shop. Ash looked at her and then at the ice cream shop, "Didn't we have dessert just now?"
"Ice cream is another stomach." Sonia said confidently.
"Alright, your share will be deducted from your salary... Hey, hey, hey, it's my treat, please stop poking me."
Watching Ash go over to buy ice cream, Sonia's mouth corners unconsciously turned up, and a smile filled her eyes. The soft sunlight caressed her face, making even the tiny hair on her cheeks sparkle.
She reached into her bag and grabbed the bag of handmade chocolates, secretly mustering up her courage. She knew that with Ash's temper, she would never take the initiative even if she waited a hundred years, but Ash had already taken ninety-nine steps towards her, and now it was her turn to take one step forward.
Ash came back with two ice cream cones, "Would you like vanilla or chocolate?"
"vanilla."
They stood on the roadside, licking ice cream like kittens. At this moment, the advertisement MV of "Four Pillars of God" appeared on the curved display screen outside the square, which immediately attracted their attention. "Four Pillars of God" was the main mobile game project operated by Aurora London.
"Six years." Ash suddenly said, "I worked in China for three years, and was sent to London for another three years. Before I knew it, I've been working for six years and I'm almost thirty."
"Are you showing off?" Sonia laughed, "I'm already the general manager at the age of 28."
"No way, no way. Aren't you already the deputy general manager at the age of 23?"
The two of them praised each other for a while, and Ash looked at the advertising display on the outer wall and said, "But when I first came to London, I was actually unsure. No one from the headquarters came with me, and I didn't even speak English very well. I felt like I would soon go back in disappointment."
"I didn't expect you to come and apply for the position on the first day the company opened - but at that time we hadn't even started recruiting yet. Every time I think back on it, I think you have such a good eye!"
"I've said it many times. I just pressed the wrong elevator and went to the wrong company." Sonia said depressedly, "I actually think this company is too shabby. The office is empty and they dare to hire college students as part-time workers. Moreover, the boss is a foreigner. It must be a transnational fraud group."
"But I really thank you," Ash tilted his head, his eyes full of smiles, "It was because of you staying by my side that I was able to get through the difficult times at the beginning."
"In my six years of work, the luckiest thing that happened to me was that you got lost and ran to our company that day."
"So," Ash's tone gradually became serious, "I have something to tell you."
Sonia's body immediately tensed up, her heart pounded, her breathing became shallow and rapid, her mind went blank and she didn't know how to react, but she subconsciously reached into her bag and grabbed the bag of handmade chocolates.
"I will be returning home next week."
Ash said, "The headquarters asked me to choose someone for the position of general manager of Aurora London, and I decided to recommend you."
"… "
Sonia stared at Ash blankly, unable to utter a word.
Ash continued, "In addition to this, you will also be responsible for a new project called "Codename Nesser". This is the most important game project of Aurora London after "Four Pillars of God". All resources will be tilted towards this project—"
"etc!"
Sonia seemed to have finally broken free from the dream of "Valentine's Day confession", her expression full of surprise and even anger: "Why do you want to return home?!"
"Because the opinion of the headquarters is that Codename Nesser is a key overseas project for the next ten years. If I don't settle in the UK, I can't be responsible for this project, nor can I continue to manage Aurora London." Yaxiu ignored the request for marriage and shrugged, saying, "So I can only accept the capitalists' abandonment of the donkey and go back obediently."
Sonia blurted out: "Then you—"
"Sonia," Ash interrupted her, "Is auntie okay?"
"… fine."
"I heard that she still doesn't want to come to London and live with you?"
"Well, she said she still likes the environment in Essington."
Sonia's momentum gradually subsided, and she vaguely guessed what Ash was thinking.
"I probably told you that my hometown is a small city," Ash said, "unlike London, the weather there is very hot and the sun is very strong. It is summer for eleven months a year, and the sun hits my skin like a thorny whip... I don't like my hometown very much, so I went to college far away."
"Later, my brother returned to his hometown to take care of his parents, so I had no worries about working hard in a big city. When I was working at the headquarters, I was even hospitalized once because I worked too hard. I almost died of sudden death."
"So the company asked me if I wanted to set up a branch in the UK. I agreed without much thought and went to London, 9,500 kilometers away from my hometown."
"I have only been back twice in the past three years, and both times I stayed for a few days before leaving in a hurry. My nephew thinks of me as 'a mysterious uncle who lives abroad and is not married but gives a lot of red envelopes.'"
"I thought I could keep wandering and struggling outside," Ash lowered his eyes and said calmly, "but the last time I went back, my brother told me privately that my father had a stroke and was hospitalized and now has to measure his blood pressure every day, and my mother often has to see a neurosurgeon."
"I don't want to go back to my hometown. Even if I go back, I will work in a big city. Besides, transportation is so developed now. It doesn't even take a day to get back to my hometown from London," Ash shrugged. "But I just feel that... even if the distance is just a little closer, I will feel more at ease."
Sonia didn't say anything, just listened quietly. The ice cream melted very slowly in this weather, but it was eventually pulled by the strong gravity and gradually deformed and slid down.
"Besides, you saw what happened this morning, right?" Ash said awkwardly, "I'm actually a greedy bastard who doesn't want to hurt others... It's not like I haven't considered staying. I've been so tempted several times that I didn't want to leave."
"But this is the real world," he said, letting out a long breath. "Greed will not lead to good results. Delaying others is irreparable. There is no miracle that satisfies everyone."
“I can’t satisfy everyone, but at least I can make everyone dissatisfied.”
Sonia's lips trembled, and she looked at Ash with pleading eyes: "Can't you-"
"You've been promoted now, Sonia. From now on, you'll be the queen of Aurora London, and you won't have me as your boss anymore. When you go back and announce the news, Vichy and the others will be so jealous of you." Ash reached out and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Your tears of joy are not suitable for this occasion."
He paused and said, "Congratulations on your promotion, Sonia."
Sonia stared at him closely, and her hand holding the handmade chocolate gradually loosened. She took a deep breath, and there was a hint of tears in her voice: "Congratulations on your return, Ash."
Ash smiled and licked his ice cream: "Okay, after finishing this cone, it's time to meet the client. Let's go-"
"Wait," Sonia suddenly stopped him and said, "Your chocolate ice cream seems delicious. I want to try it too."
"Huh? Isn't this a bit unhygienic?"
"Don't worry, I have a very clean tasting method."
Sonia held Ash's cheeks and leaned forward to kiss his lips. Ash's body stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed.
The two kissed as if no one was around for nearly a minute, until a passerby couldn't help but take out his mobile phone to take pictures, and the red-haired girl reluctantly let go of Ash.
"Let's go."
Sonia looked at him deeply, as if she wanted to imprint him in her memory, then turned and left gracefully.
... ...
...
A week later.
"The flight is at 10pm. You are amazing." Yin Gula, the manager of the Legal and Public Affairs Department, said unhappily, "I don't even want to see you off at the airport."
"Be careful on the road," said Harvey, the project leader of the Four Pillars Gods. "I just used the tarot cards to divine. Your journey is full of unpredictable dangers."
"How can I be careful when I'm on a plane... I didn't learn to fly a plane in Hawaii..." Ash complained and said, "Then I'm leaving."
"Bye!" Harvey: "I'll make your tombstone in the game to commemorate our friendship!"
"I might go to China on a business trip," Yin Gula said calmly, "and then it will be your turn to receive me."
Ash didn't reply, but just waved his hand to show that he heard him.
He chose the 10pm flight not only to avoid being seen off, but also because it was a 12-hour journey. Plus with the time zone change, he would arrive back in China at 5pm, so he wanted to avoid the embarrassing situation of landing at the airport so late at night and not being able to find a taxi.
On the plane, he put on earplugs and steam earmuffs and fell into sleep mode. But as the plane glided upward, the strong push lifted Ash up, and the belated melancholy suddenly filled Ash's body.
He was about to leave this city, the city where he had lived and worked for three years, the city full of memories, the city with them.
From then on, we were separated by thousands of miles.
A distance that takes 12 hours for an airplane to cross means that for ordinary people, their lives will never intersect.
But this is the reality he has to accept, everyone is an ordinary person, there is no miracle that can transcend life. If it weren't for work, Ash would never come to London, nor would he meet them, just like a bunch of lines intersecting together, but after intersecting, they just move away from each other and go their separate ways.
He has his life, and they have theirs.
Just think of it as a long dream...
“… This plane will arrive at Baiyun Airport in 15 minutes. Passengers, please…”
Ash took off his steam eye mask, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, stretched himself, and looked out the window at the mountains and cities on the ground.
came back.
And he won’t leave this time.
The plane taxied on the ground. Ash turned on his phone and turned off the flight mode. Messages from 10086 kept popping up, and there were many more messages. However, Ash did not look closely. He took his backpack and left the cabin and walked along the corridor to the arrival hall.
Because it was 17:00, there were still many people in the airport, and many passengers in the arrival hall were waiting to check in their luggage. Ash found his crew's checked luggage conveyor belt, but it seemed to be still being transported, so he sat aside and called home.
"Hey, Mom, I'm back."
"Well, I'm not leaving."
"I wasn't fired. I went back to work in China."
"I just talked for three sentences and you're urging me to get married. I finally remembered why I didn't come back to the UK for three years..."
At this moment, Ash noticed a commotion in the crowd, and he understood after just one glance - even though he couldn't see clearly, he could tell from the outline that it was a group of beauties walking towards him.
But as the distance got closer, his expression became more and more strange. Finally, he hung up the phone and stared at them as if they were a group of evil people surrounding him.
"We've been waiting for you for six hours!" Weishi complained, "The power bank is almost out of power! Why did you take the last flight?"
"Let's go out for dinner," Weisser handed a bottle of water to Ash, "Which restaurant here is good? I'm sure you're familiar with it, Ash."
"Ash, where are we staying tonight?" Diya asked excitedly while sitting on the suitcase, "Are we staying at your house?"
"Can ten people live in his house?" Shifflin expressed doubt.
"Besides, he hasn't been home for so long, the house must be full of dust, and I don't want to clean it up in the middle of the night." An Nan said, "Let's just stay in a hotel."
"It will be quick if we clean up together," said Tamashi.
"One vote for homestay!" Freya raised her hand: "I don't want to stay in a hotel separately!"
"Ash, your crew's luggage is starting to come out," Sonia reminded.
"Why am I here!?" Felix looked confused.
"Why are you here!?" Ash asked in horror.
Sonia said: "To put it simply, because the headquarters wants you to open a branch again, they transferred us to help you set up the company structure."
"Even if they were to transfer people, they wouldn't send a bunch of foreigners like you! You don't even speak Chinese!"
"I applied for it on my own initiative." Sonia tilted her head: "Everyone does."
"By the way," Diya also said, "We all know Chinese, so we can understand you when you curse at people in Chinese."
"I'm not, I didn't!" Felix immediately jumped out: "But somehow I was transferred here too!"
"We can't help it. Since we are all here, the headquarters will definitely send you, little Fili, as well." Weisser said, "After all, you are Ash's most useful assistant."
"Woo..."
"But why did you apply to come here?" Ash couldn't understand: "It's not just Sonia. Even if your positions are not promoted, your ranks will be promoted. You can be very comfortable staying in London. There is no need to apply to come and help me."
"Yash," An Nan leaned over and looked at him with a smile: "Do you really want us to tell you the answer here?"
"I was just here to accompany Freya." Shivlin suppressed her laughter, "But it looks more interesting than I thought."
"Your luggage." Tamashi pushed Ash's suitcase over.
"Let's go, we are all hungry, take us to eat. We don't have a place to stay, you have to provide us with food, accommodation and entertainment during this time."
Sonia pulled Ash up, a charming look flowing around her brows, an expression that was both proud and shy.
"There really aren't that many miracles in reality, and we're just ordinary people," she said softly, "but we can overcome difficulties, we can... 'create miracles'."
"9,500 kilometers, 12 hours, let's try it."
Ash looked at the determination in the red-haired girl's eyes, and suddenly burst into laughter. His shoulders shook with laughter, and he laughed louder and louder, making Sonia's face red. She said angrily: "What are you laughing at!? Is what I said so funny!?"
Ash took a deep breath and suppressed his smile. He reached out and took her hand, holding it tightly, and said gently:
"I have a miracle in my hands."
Diya rushed over and separated the two of them, angrily saying, "Not fair!"
"Yes, it's not fair!" Freya quickly aligned herself with Diya: "We all came here together, I want one too!"
Ash smiled and changed the subject: "There's not a lot of dust in my house. Even when I'm abroad, I have an auntie clean it regularly. It shouldn't be a problem for ten people to squeeze in. After all, it's a large flat. How about staying at my house tonight?"
"Okay, let's stay at Ash's house tonight!"
"Would you like to live in my house from now on?"
"Okay...ah Σ(っ°Д°;)っ?!"