Chapter 519 The Food Cart
“Angie, let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”
As soon as Ethan got into the car, his stomach rumbled. As soon as he touched his shriveled belly, he couldn’t help but suggest. Before Angie could speak, Josephine, who was behind him, nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Alright.”
Angie had no choice but to agree and ordered the driver to bring them to a nearby restaurant suitable for children.
The restaurant they went to did not have many people. As soon as they entered, Ethan quickly chose a seat, climbed onto the chair, and stretched his finger to point at the seat next to him, shouting, “Josie, come here!”
Josephine dashed in happily but did not sit down in the chair he expected her to.
She pulled Benny to sit next to her, across Ethan, and Ethan’s eyes immediately showed a hint of disappointment. However, once the waiter brought them the menu, the hunger in his head dispelled the frustration.
“Wow, I want some ice cream.”
Angie sat next to Ethan and flipped through the menu attentively as she reminded him, “Ice cream is a dessert you eat after a meal. You can eat it after you’re done with your meal.”
As she ordered and waited for the meal to be served, Josephine and Benny were bickering with one another, talking about something that Angie couldn’t understand.
“Our food is here. Josie, Benny, take off your masks.”
Angie admired the energy of these little children. After walking around all afternoon, she felt her bones were about to fall apart. Now, she was so hungry that she could eat a horse. She watched the food cart getting pushed over and suddenly felt a growl in her stomach.
Josephine and Benny listened, and the two immediately stopped bickering, stuffed their masks into their small school bags, and turned to look in the direction of the food cart.
As Benny’s favorite food was chicken wings, his eyes were immediately attracted by the plate of chicken wings and prawns on the food cart, and he didn’t notice the cart that had obviously stopped in front of him. Immediately, there was a look of shock on the waiter’s face.
“Did you order us ice cream?”
Ethan persevered, and the three little kids perked up when they heard what he said. Their eyes turned back to the dining table. To be precise, all three children turned to look at Angie inquiringly.
“I’ll get you some after dinner. I’ll even order an extra-large one for whoever eats the most.”
Angie blinked at the three kids as they seemed to have surrendered. This made her feel a little victorious.
“Miss, your food is here. Enjoy.”
As the waiter served their food, Angie nodded, acknowledging before she was occupied with getting the three little kids to eat.
In the restaurant restroom on the other side, Mike was washing his hands in the sink with a slightly complicated look on his face reflected in the mirror.
After washing his hands and drying them, he was just about to take out his phone when a hand pushed him back.
“You’re not allowed to use your phone during work. Do you want your salary to be deducted?”
When he looked up to see who it was, a smile crept up on his face. He reached out to pat the person on the arm while saying thank you in a light tone.
“No worries.”
Then, the other party leaned against the sink countertop, took out a pack of cigarettes and lighter from his pocket, lit a cigarette, and took a big puff before motioning to Mike.
“Do you want one?”
When Mike saw this, he was dumbfounded.
“Isn’t it worse to smoke during work?”
However, the guy did not answer. Instead, he took a few long puffs within the next half a minute before putting out the cigarette and throwing it into the dustbin.
“I can’t help it. I’m a heavy smoker.”
As he squinted his eyes and waved his hands around, trying to disperse the smell of the smoke, a casual voice rang in Mike’s ears.
“What happened just now? Didn’t you like the girl there? Are you too nervous about serving her? It seems like she’s around 18 or 19 years old. Do you think she will take a fancy to you?”
“Didn’t you like a college student as well?”
Mike did not comment as he strode away with a smile on his face.
He only thought about the person he had seen in the restaurant after getting off work. Now, he no longer had the want to use his phone as he did back in the bathroom. Instead, he strolled along the road and put his hand behind his pocket before pulling it back out after a brief thought.
He lowered his gaze as he walked toward his rental house, and the bustling streets behind him became background noise.
A few days later, Mike received a piece of unexpected news about her.
“The people you are looking for are now entirely out of the radar. They seemed to all be laying low and did not want anything to do with Citron. However, now that the regulatory authorities have announced their investigation results, Citron Apparel will come out of it with a clean reputation. Is this the best you can do?
As the night wind blew the cool air onto his face, Mike quickly tapped on the keyboard with one hand.
“As long as you pay me, I will do anything. Everything will be done according to your requests.”
As fatigue washed over him, he slowly exhaled a foul breath as he looked up into the sky. Right then, his phone rang, and a motorcycle whizzed past him. Alongside the shadow of the passing car, he only heard one sentence, “Go somewhere else if you want to die, don’t block the road!”
As he turned, he had a look of vicissitudes on his face, and he suddenly recalled the person he was many years ago; a motorcyclist that would roar down the street in a jam. When he compared it to where he was now, he couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded.
Then, he began to laugh at himself. His laughter got louder and louder, and in the end, he had to squat down by the roadside with one hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach from laughing too much.
A couple that was passing by slowed down their footsteps from a distance. Their hesitation grew as they approached before the girl finally pulled the boy away and ran away.
“Is he drunk, or has he lost his mind?”
The girl patted her chest as fear still lingered within her. She naturally did not know about the wounds in the man’s heart or that he had been through life and death for the first half of his life. At that time, he had a long knife stabbed right through his stomach, but even then, he did not utter a single sound. Yet now, on an ordinary night like this, he was laughing and crying like a lunatic under the brightly lit street.
After his episode, he finally sat on the spot and leaned against a tree before lighting a cigarette. More and more passersby regarded him as a drunkard and avoided him. However, he ignored it, squinting his eyes as he opened his phone.
“I want Courtney to suffer and wish she was dead. Before you go about doing this, Lila will never make it to the operating table. You should count how much time you have left.”
“What can I do?”
“You have two options—”
As Mike stared at the two short texts on the phone’s screen, he took one last puff of his cigarette before rubbing its butt under his feet. In an instant, he regained a cold and indifferent aura as if the rush of memory from the past had dissipated from his mind.
“For the last time, if you don’t keep your promise, we’ll all die together.”
He got up, patted the dust off his body, and continued to blend into the bustling street.
At the traffic light on the other side of the road was a mother and daughter standing in front of Mike. The little girl had a pink tutu skirt, a small pink waistcoat, and a pair of tiny pink leather shoes. She even had a pink bear hairpin and a pink balloon in her hand.
As he silently watched the little girl from the back, a rare trace of tenderness flashed across his eyes.
“Mommy, how long do we have to go before seeing daddy?”
“We just have to cross this road. Daddy is working overtime today. Shall we get him some food?”
“Sure!”
The girl’s mother was thin and was carrying two bags in her hand. She turned to smile at the girl under her.
“The balloon!”
Just as the woman turned away from the child and back to the opposing traffic light, the pink balloon in the little girl’s hand slipped away. The little girl chased after the balloon unconsciously as she headed for the road.
At that moment, a bus was approaching the intersection at full speed. The driver was so frightened by the unexpected child that showed up that he quickly honked as he floored the break.
“Cadance!”
At this instant, the woman dropped her bag and reached out for her but only managed to grab the corner of the child’s skirt. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest.
Unexpectedly, a dark shadow rushed out from behind the woman quickly and decisively. By the time the woman reacted, the little girl had already landed firmly in a man’s arm.
Mike’s face was calm and indifferent. He did not seem to think that the incident just now was thrilling at all. However, he held the frightened child in his arms firmly as he reminded the woman who had just recovered from the shock, “The light is green.”
