Do You Remember Her?

When they walked out from the residence, it was evening already that they decided to have dinner together before they went into their separate way.

It was a rare chance for both Chen Rumin and Chen Ziyi went out to have a vacation together. Both of them had quite livid schedule. On top of that, her daughter was a homebody type and never wanted to accompany her whenever she had to cross the border for work purposes.

Chen Rumin always thought that they could at least had a little sightseeing together if her daughter could tag along with her. At those times that she sometimes asked her friends who were coincidentally work or stay at the cities she went to, to have a light lunch or tea time with her.

The journey from Province Y to Province G would take hours and they would have to pass two province at least. Coincidentally, there were few beautiful places at those two province that they can drop by. Chen Rumin rejecting the idea to take flight to Province Y in the first place had intended to bring her daughter for sightseeing the next day when they went back to Province G.

There were many restaurants and retail stores at the downtown. Chen Rumin however drove past the town and head to a road that each side was surrounded by green and tall trees reaching the sky. Along the journey, Chen Ziyi's attention had been on the trees that they passed. It was a coincidence the day they came to Province Y was the day for the province to start to snow so the trees slowly started to get covered by the white snow.

It felt like her mother had been driving for half an hour until the car entered a street where there was outdoor fairy lights hanging from trees to trees randomly along the street. There was no end of the beautiful glittering dim lights until the car stopped at a place which Chen Ziyi believe, the restaurant her mother had planned to go to.

She put off her headphone and adjusted her hair. Her mother's friend who sat at the front passenger seat saw that and reached out for something from her handbag. It was a small box which apparently a gift she intended to give to Chen Ziyi for their first meeting.

Among other Chen Rumin's close friends, Fei Xingru was the first one to get to see Chen Ziyi. Thus she decided to have a separate present than what she had planned to share with the rest. Although Chen Rumin had already planned that she would bring Chen Ziyi to meet them later when they finally move into the city and settled down, she had the thought that Chen Ziyi who might had no idea about the plan, might assumed that she dislike her for not giving anything to her.

Fei Xingru intended to give the present when they entered the restaurant, but she decided to let her have it when her eyes coincidentally caught her friend's daughter act. She then gave the box to Chen Ziyi who hesitantly took it.

Fei Xingru was looking at her with her motherly smile while convincing Chen Ziyi to open the box. She had only two son and both of them were younger than Chen Ziyi. She never planned to have another child or a daughter nevertheless, but that did not stop her from having a common sense of what a girl at Chen Ziyi's age would love to have. She was a girl too in the past. So she gave her a pair of pearl and diamond barrette.

She remembered from the picture that her friend previously posted on her Wechat, Chen Ziyi had quite a beautiful long hair, that she intentionally chose the hair accessory as the gift. She thought the girl would love to have those on her hair.

"This is too beautiful, Aunt Xing. I am afraid I cannot accept this. They must be expensive," Chen Ziyi could not help but be astonished when her eyes saw the exquisite hair accessories. Although the design was simple, she knew that the present must be not that cheap either. For that aunt to give something so expensive to someone that she only met today, Chen Ziyi reluctant to just accept it.

"Beautiful things go to beautiful people. You should wear one right away." Fei Xingru felt satisfied at Chen Ziyi's positive response towards her gift. Chen Ziyi then glanced at her mother who already stepped out of the car.

"Just accept it. Your aunt bought that from our old acquaintance and it was not that expensive after all the discounts," Chen Rumin jokingly explained when she noticed her daughter's reluctance to accept the gift.

Hearing that, Fei Xingru grudgingly retorted, "Rumin, how could you say that? I chose that using with my latest keen of trend." "That is not my point. You do know that," Chen Rumin responded back.

The bickering between her mother and Fei Xingru reminded her to her Chenhe friends. She smiled fleetingly at that thought. Chen Rumin who ignored her friend's bicker saw that smile then opened her daughter's door. She then took the box and grabbed the pearl barrette before helped putting it onto Chen Ziyi's hair.

The hair was half clipped at the back with the white pearl barrette making her silky hair glimmering than before. She then gave a light kiss on her daughter's head before leading them into the restaurant.

As they walked from the lobby into the eating area leaded by the waiter, Chen Ziyi realized that the restaurant was half brick and half glass building. They also had an outdoor seating which was separated by glass door.

Although the outdoor one had a transparent roof protecting the guests from snow, it was cold so they decided to have an indoor seating. Chen Ziyi however could not help but to be mesmerized at the beautiful sight at the outdoor scenery. A black railing separate the outdoor patio from a river and there was a five feet waterfalls could be seen from her current standing.

Chen Ziyi could not just suddenly walked to outdoor so she could not guess where would the river go. However, the fact that the beautiful scenery in front of her could steal her attention immediately just a second after she reached their table, made Chen Rumin felt proud at her choice.

Chen Ziyi took her seat before reading the menu in front of her. She chose to have Salmons steak with avocado salsa and grilled Zucchini as the side dish. Then, she chose to have lime juice as her drink.

Chen Rumin asked the same menu for her while Fei Xingru and Lin Cheung went for their own preference. After the waiter reconfirm the menu with them, Chen Ziyi requested for warm water to be served first to which the waiter nodded.

The waiter gave her the warm water few minutes later. Chen Ziyi thanked him and at that time, as she was drinking the water, her eyes caught a sight of something familiar at the center of the dining area. There was an upright white piano and Chen Rumin noticed that her daughter noticed the piano.

"Do you want to go there to play the piano while we waiting for the food?" Chen Rumin asked her daughter who sat facing her. For someone who played musical instrument, it was normal for their sight to land on any musical instrument in front of them. They had no piano at their home, and as school ended, Chen Rumin thought her daughter might wanted to play piano after few weeks had not touched them.

"Can I do that? Wouldn't I disturb the others?" Chen Ziyi asked while her eyes glanced at the piano. A small smile formed on her lips as Chen Rumin tilted her head to the side, studying her daughter's different than usual response. She thought her daughter would deny her offer and chose to sit waiting for the food like usual.

If in the past, her daughter would reject her idea, giving a lot of excuses- such as too lazy, tired, don't want to catch attention, or her play was not that 'cool'.

Listening to that, Chen Rumin at first was surprised for the change, but later smile at her daughter. "Well, if your play is good to listen to, no one would mind about it. Everyone at this place can play the piano if they wanted to. No one will stop you, honey," Chen Rumin responded.

"This place is not that too strict to only allow invited professional pianist to make a performance. The piano was there since I was in college. My friends and I love to hang out at this place because it gave us comforts and cozy feelings. It's quiet but we still can make noise between ourselves. Your Teacher Wen used to play the piano for us," Chen Rumin continued when she looked at her daughter's hesitation.

"Teacher Wen?" Chen Ziyi asked in confusion.

Chen Rumin was hesitate upon she realized her mistake for unconsciously mentioned 'Teacher Wen' in the conversation. But then she cautiously looked at her daughter expression before she answered her. "Do you remember her?"

Ignored the reluctance on her mother face, Chen Ziyi nodded her head. Nevertheless, Chen Rumin felt a bit relief upon she realized her daughter seemed 'okay'.

"She was one of my close friends. She practically loved this place so much since this is the only place that would allow her to play to her content."