“The Verdure people will call tomorrow.” He picked up his pen and wrote a line of small print in the blank space of the design drawing. “I want to tell them that the wisteria in Marley needs me more than the shop windows in New York.”
Lin Wanqing didn't speak, but simply reached across the control panel and gently took his hand holding the pen. Her palm was warm with cocoa, just like three years ago when she helped him hold the ladder in the attic, steady and with a reassuring strength.
A few more sycamore leaves fell outside the window, landing on the windowsill of the studio. Ah Yu suddenly remembered that rainy day when he first arrived in Paris. He stood at the door of this studio, dragging his suitcase, the rain soaking his floral design certificate. Lin Wanqing walked over, holding a red umbrella. Water droplets from the edge of the umbrella dripped onto the tips of his shoes. She said, "Don't worry, the flowers will bloom eventually."
At that moment, looking at the two figures under the wisteria trellis on the design drawing, he suddenly realized that some choices are never about giving up, but about recognizing—recognizing those moments that make you willing to slow down, recognizing those things closer than the distance.
The next morning, Ah Yu changed the water for the sunflowers in the morning light. His phone rang as he placed the freshest carnation by the window, waiting for the old lady to come and collect it. The moment he answered, he heard his own voice, steady as if he were walking on the solid stone steps of Montmartre.
"I'm sorry, regarding the collaboration..."
Sunlight streamed through the glass window, casting warm yellow dappled patterns on the design drawings, illuminating the two figures beneath the wisteria trellis with exceptional clarity. In the distance, the sound of a bakery doorbell rang, and the old lady from next door hummed a tune as she walked along the stone path. Everything seemed the same as three years ago, yet everything felt completely different.
Lin Wanqing walked in carrying two cups of hot milk and saw Ah Yu revising the design of the wisteria trellis. This time, he added a small wooden table under the trellis, with two mugs on the side.
"The old lady peeked out the door just now and said the carnations smell especially good today." She put the milk on the table and suddenly pointed out the window, "Look, the first snowflake has fallen."
As Ah Yu looked up, a tiny snowflake landed on the glass, quickly melting into a drop of clear water. He recalled the New York headquarters mentioned in the Verdure contract, where the floor-to-ceiling windows probably overlooked skyscrapers, while here, the windows overlooked the rooftops of Marais, slowly drifting clouds, and an old man who would stand at the door one morning waiting for a carnation.
“Let’s build a flower shed in the backyard after the snow stops,” he said.
Lin Wanqing smiled and nodded, her eyelashes seemingly dappled with light. The distant church bells tolled, startling the pigeons perched on the sycamore trees. As they swept over the rooftops, the snowflakes they stirred up resembled a gentle blessing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
