Hearts Will Remember

Chapter 1

New York City

In a large corner office in Wall Street, Dao Ming Si was going over some documents when a migraine suddenly hit him.  He is having another episode of the same headache that has been bothering him for the past 10 years.  He is experiencing them more often in the last couple of months.  Opening his desk drawer, he shook out a couple of pills and swallowed them.  He stood up and rang his assistant.

"Mark, cancel all my meetings today."   He was out of the office before his executive assistant can say anything in response.

Outside the building, his car was already waiting for him with his driver Xian.

"Xian, I need my fix".  Understanding his employer, Xian quickly maneuvered the town car and headed into Water St, then Pearl St.  He knnew what his boss wanted.  Almost 15 minutes later he stopped the car in front of a store front in Chinatown.  Si exited the car and proceeded down the stairs next to the street.  When he opened the door, Mrs. Liu looked up from where she was standing by the cashier's desk, her eyes lighting up when he recognized him.

"Ah Si! Glad to see you could come visit us instead of having a delivery to your office."

"Mrs. Liu, its good to see you as well. I guess I can't wait for my food to be delivered. The usual, please?" Mrs. Liu nodded. She knew what he was here for.

"Of course.  Come, grab a table and I will have it out soon".

Running his eyes around the small restaurant, he saw that a few tables were already occupied with diners.  He made a beeline for one of the single tables along the wall and saw the back of a woman sitting by herself on one of them.  When she angled her head a little so that he could see a little bit of her profile, his heart suddenly started beating faster.  Bewildered with his strange reaction,  he proceeded to sit in one of the empty small tables behind her and tried to figure out if she looked familiar.

He was distracted from his thoughts when Mrs. Liu came out with his food and set it down on his table.  He thanked her then started eating the dish that for some inexplicable reason, always made him feel better during his migraine episodes.

He first discovered this about a year ago.  Mark Lim, who has been his Executive Assistant for the past 3 years, was on his lunch break and was just opening his lunch box when Si burst out of his office.  Intending to ask Mark to get his migraine pills prescription filled, he stopped short when he saw Mark's food on his desk. He was suddenly filled with a strange feeling upon seeing the dish. 

"What is that?"  Mark looked confused by his question at first until he noticed his finger pointing to the lunch box.

"Oh! It's my lunch. I brought a sandwich from home, but I found out Mandy was buying lunch from one of our favorite Chinese food vendors so I asked her to grab one for me", he explained.  "Do you want me to get you anything after all? I could call and order something in."

He nodded absentmindedly as he continued to stare at the food.   Puzzled by his reaction, he shook his head then told Mark about his prescription. He went back to his office to continue working and forgot about the food until Mark knocked on his door and came in with a lunch box.  That was when he started his habit of eating the Eight Treasure Spicy Noodles when he gets his migraine attacks.  It somehow eased his headaches that it made him wonder if this was one of those dishes he liked to eat a decade ago that somehow gave him some comfort.

That thought made him take another look at the woman in front of him. His reaction earlier upon seeing her profile confused him. For a brief moment, he wondered if she was someone he knew from before, but he dismissed that thought immediately. Shanghai is on the other side of the world and he didn't know anyone here in New York aside from a few business aquaintances that knew of his family's business.   Then he thought about that elusive period of his life a decade ago. What if he knew her then?  Should he try to introduce himself and find out?

His phone suddenly rang and he saw that it was Mark.

"Mark, what is it? I told you to cancel all my meetings today".

"Yes, I know Mr. Dao Ming, but you have an urgent message from your sister. She wants you to call her back as soon as possible. She said she tried calling your cell but you did not answer".

He remembered his cell vibrating with a call while he was on the car but he ignored it as his migraine continued its assault on his head.

Mark was still talking but he was distracted when he saw the woman get up from her chair. Her back was still on him, but he could now see that she was very petite in build. Another strange feeling washed over him and he accidentally dropped his phone. Scrambling down the floor to pick it up, he felt rather than saw her walk past him. He turned to see her back, heading to the door. An inexplicable urge to call her and ask her not to leave left him reeling.

What the hell? What was happening to him?