Hearts Will Remember

Chapter 16 - Shancai

Autumn was finally starting to show its true colors. From our prime view in the penthouse, the vast foliage in Central Park was a beautiful canvass of green, yellow and orange hues. It was Tuesday and we were enjoying brunch at the Oak Room. Si and I decided to take a couple of days off from work this week to spend some time with his friends and sister who will arrive within a day of each other. Ximen and Meizuo are arriving around noon from Shanghai, while Zhuang and her husband will fly in from London tomorrow evening.

I was a little tense in anticipation for the new arrivals. Ximen and Meizuo knew about me, but Si decided to put off telling his sister, not taking any chances for his mother to find out about me until he was ready. Although I agreed with his idea, I was still a little apprehensive of Zhuang's reaction after all these years.

Ximen's impending arrival made me think about Xiaoyou. I had been avoiding her calls for the past few days. Ah Si once saw her caller ID on my phone but he didn't press me when he saw me reject the call. Regaining my memories made me realize that Xiaoyo kept things from me. This hurt way more than what Tian Ye did because she was my best friend and she knew better than anybody else what Si meant to me. But after talking to Ah Si and then Lei about the past, I felt that maybe it was time for me to talk to her.

As if sensing my anxiousness, Ah Si smiled at me reassuringly. "Love, relax. Everything's going to be fine. Ah Zhuang will be very happy that I got my memories back and that I found you."

"Don't mind me. It's probably just nerves because I will meet several people who knew me from before. I did enjoy having Lei here and I miss Ximen and Meizuo as well, so I know it will be great to see them."

Lei and I finally had a chance to spend more time together last Sunday. He didn't have rehearsal scheduled that day and Ah Si spent the day doing some work as he would be off most of the next week. We had an event that afternoon, but Julie assured me she could handle it on her own.

We visited the nearby Museum of Modern Art and enjoyed the new exhibits. We finished around lunch time and decided to walk towards Central Park to get some lunch at the Tavern.

As we enjoyed coffee after a delicious lunch, I told him about having lunch there the day I met Si in his office. When he told me how Ah Si called them that night and broke down, I choked up.

"You know, I am grateful that it was shortlived, that my memories came back and I had the courage to come and tell him. He told me about seeing me at a Chinese restaurant he frequents to eat Eight Treasures Spicy Noodle. All I saw of him was his back as he picked up something on the floor when I passed by."

I told Lei that I used to work at Mrs. Liu's small restaurant when I was in college, trying to gain as much exposure as I could with different regional Chinese cuisine. I was the one who created the Eight Treasures Spicy Noodle dish from a recipe that my Mom said I invented before my accident. She just didn't tell me it was for a Chinese cooking competition that Ah Si arranged for me to participate.

"I am still wondering what would have happened if we saw each other's face that day." I was such in a hurry to leave because I got a text about a last minute issue with our catering event that night. I had to message Mrs. Liu I left without saying goodbye.

"Shancai, everything has its own time. I believe that the 10 years you were apart gave you both an opportunity to grow individually so that you will be better and stronger together this time around." Although Si and I believed the same thing, hearing it from Lei somehow made me feel more accepting about what happened to us, especially to Ah Si.

"Lei, I never mentioned this to Ah Si, but learning about the comas he suffered years ago made me question why I was luckier than him. I didn't have to suffer the pain of knowing someone so important in my life but I couldn't remember was out there."