After settling Vera Wave in the hotel to rest, Kris Cooper arranged for a female staff mber to stay with her before he rushed off to a company eting.
After all, having been on a flight for over ten hours, even though she had slept on the plane, Vera was still a little tired. She took a short nap. By the ti she woke up, Kris was sitting at the head of her bed, smiling. The mont she opened her eyes, he handed her a rectangular gift wrapped in beautiful paper.
Vera accepted the gift, a puzzled look on her face. It felt heavy in her hands.
She looked up at the man sitting at the head of her bed. He remained silent, simply offering an encouraging gaze.
She lowered her gaze and carefully unfolded the wrapping paper, handling it delicately as if the slightest misstep might tear the gift inside.
As the wrapping paper slowly ca off, a book appeared in her hands.
Just as she expected. It was the second volu of the English-French bilingual edition of "Love in the Ti of Cholera," the one he had given her six years ago.
"It’s a sha; I don’t know where the first volu has gone..."
Holding the book’s pages, she felt a little sad.
Kris chuckled and then, from behind his back, produced the first volu. There it was, resting in his palm.
He put the book on top of the second volu in her hand and shrugged.
"The bookstore was selling them as a set and didn’t sell them separately, so I bought both!"
Hugging both volus to her chest, she leaned in and gave him a happy, audible kiss on the cheek.
"Now, what are we going to do?"
"Let’s get so food first, then we can go to the place where we had our first drink together. If you’re still up for it, we can take a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge."
"But..." she hesitated, "you haven’t rested yet."
"So... you need to get up now because your husband is hungry." He chuckled, gently pinching her cheek. "I an my stomach is hungry, don’t get any funny ideas!"
"I wasn’t thinking that way!"
Laughing, she got up from the bed and started changing her clothes.
A little while later, they both went to a restaurant they used to frequent.
The familiar scene stirred up a flood of mories, and Vera couldn’t help but exclaim aloud.
"I rember, we watched a movie here."
"You bought socks over there!"
"..."
It was as if a floodgate of mories had opened; countless recollections surged into her mind, gradually linking with the fragnts she had pieced together earlier.
By the ti their car neared the bar, she had already taken the lead. Without him needing to say a word, she began giving directions to the driver.
"This is it, we can park here!"
They got out of the car and walked into the bar. She proactively took out her passport and waved it.
"I’ll have a whiskey on the rocks, and he’ll have a lemonade!"
A mont later, the waiter brought their drinks. She unceremoniously mixed the two beverages, then poured half for herself and half for him.
They had co here for drinks on the very first day they t. Because she wasn’t of legal age and looked quite young, the waiter would only serve alcohol to Kris; she could only order lemonade.
To satisfy her wish to have so alcohol, Kris Cooper would pour a little of his whiskey into her glass. Eventually, they grew accustod to drinking this way.
She even gave this unique cocktail she’d invented a na: "Cooper’s Dream"!
Raising her glass, she slowly savored the long-missed taste and, looking at Kris opposite her, she chuckled.
"Honey, this ti, it’s my treat!"
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