No Sugar

by Ginger wRong

It was a beautiful morning. The sky was clear blue, the sun quietly shone onto my bed, the breeze stroked my face, just like he would do to me had he been home. Half asleep half awake, I reached out to the other side of the bed, whispering his name, “A’Le…A’Le…”  No answer. The emptiness pulled me out of my dream. I opened my eyes and said to the imaginary him, “I miss you, so so much!”  Then I shut my eyes tight, so I could see him speaking softly to me, he said, “I know, babe, I miss you too,”  his eyes brimming with affection. “Just wait a few more hours, I am coming. I will see you soon.” I said, He smiled, his typical one-eye-winking naughty smile,  that kind of smile that had never failed to make me smile.

A big day for me, finally I was gonna see my dear A’Le again. No more sleepless long nights, no more tears soaked up by the pillows, no more imagining him lying by my side. It was the day I was going to leave Shanghai, the city where me and A Le fell in love and had spent so many significant moments of our lives together. It was time to say good-bye to this city. We were going to reunite again in a different place.

I was ready and a bit nervous. Before I leave, I decided I would like to have my last cup of coffee according to my and A’Leʼs morning routine. For our morning coffee, I was in charge of warming up the milk, he would be in charge of grinding the beans. Every morning, he would ask me, “Honey, how fine you want the beans?” I would answer, “As fine as you.”

Then I would ask him,”Honey, how hot you want the milk to be?” He would answer, “As hot as you.” Then we would laugh a little, and in five minutes, we were enjoying our first sips of the coffee that day. Happy.

Of course, that morning, it was only me, So I had to warm up the milk and grind the beans by myself. It took me longer, but the coffee was great, strong and rich, just the way we liked our coffee to be, I also poured him a cup, because I knew he was making one for me also at the other side of the world. I knew he was waiting, waiting for me to go.

I finished the last drop of my last cup of coffee in Shanghai. I rose, walked to the balcony and jumped.

Falling down from the twentieth floor, I saw A’Le waving hello to from the other side of the world. I smiled before meeting the pavement.