I've Been There Before (Grace and Caden)

From Erhai Lake to Dali, there's a special shuttle service to each of the streets. However, it's not those grand and high-end buses, but those of the olden times.

Currently, Grace was in the pickup truck driven by Kern. They were heading towards Dali. Along the road were green patches of farmland. No skyscrapers were visible in this area.

Kern rolled the windows down. He asked, "Do you want to listen to music?"

"It's your choice." Grace squinted her eyes lazily while leaning against the passenger seat. She's so drowsy that she barely had the energy to even open her mouth to speak. Kern glanced at her.

The cool breeze blew into the truck, messing her waist length hair. Somehow, it's a little disturbing to his eyes.

Her hair was a little messy. There's a few strands of hair that was covering her face. He couldn't help but to reach out to remove those strands.

Grace's eyes opened wide as soon as she felt a cold touch. She became aware and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Your hair is messy." He laughed, not realizing the awareness she had in her eyes. He continued to pick up the strands and tucked it behind her ears.

"Smack!" Grace slapped Kern's fair hand without any remorse.

"Ouch!" This lady!

Annoyance flashed across his eyes for a second before putting on a pitiful face. "Boss, you misunderstood. I only did that because your hair was messy. Nothing else." Nothing else?

Grace watched him coldly, "Mr. Lo, are you sure it's not because that you can't keep your hand to yourself?"

She snorted, he's just being a pervert.

"Oh...I have that..." Kern stuttered.

She frowned. "What's that?"

"It's... OCD." There's shame on his face as he explained. Grace went silent.

OCD...It's not his fault then.

She looked at him again... That shame and wrongly accused expression. Looked like he's speaking the truth. Maybe...he was accused wrongly?

She was silent for a while before saying, "Drive carefully."

Kern's lips curved upwards as he turned his head towards the road. His squinted eyes couldn't hide the excitement he's feeling. There's no exchange of conversations afterwards. Only the song 'Purple Fireworks' that was on loop could be heard in the vehicle.

Kern himself didn't know how he managed to put up with this song. Anyways, in this truck, only this song could be played.

After following the GPS for about an hour, they finally reached Dali.

Before Grace stepped down from the truck, she warned, "Mr. Lo, I'll tell you this beforehand. I'm not an agile person so I can't really walk that fast. If you insist me to accompany you to buy the gift, you might have to tolerate this weakness of mine. Of course, if you change your mind, I can make a call to an acquaintance that runs a business here to accompany you..."

He waved her off before she finished her sentence. "There's no need for that. I want you."

Both of them were surprised.

Grace shot him a weird look. Kern reacted quickly by laughing lightly while explaining, "Boss, you're the one that wanted to reward me, not your acquaintance."

That sentence managed to decrease the awkwardness between them.

There was once where Kern asked about Grace's name but he didn't get any respond. That's why he addressed her as 'boss'.

Grace was used to this too.

A tea shop was located in the small alley of the town. The location itself was not strategic. Kern was following slowly behind Grace. When he passed by the alley, this hidden shop caught his attention.

Interesting, he thought. They then entered the unique shop.

"Look around. If there's nothing that you like, we'll go to other shops."

She then sat on a rattan chair.

The owner of the shop came out with fresh tea in her hands. "Why didn't you come here for such a long time?"

Grace took the cup and took a sip. "You serve the best tea as always." She commented while looking at the owner.

"If you like it, I'll give you a can of tea leaves before you leave." The owner of the tea shop was a woman in her thirties. They met each other three years ago.

Kern looked like he was choosing his favourite tea set. In reality, the corner of his eyes were focusing on Grace.

Grace became aware of his glance. She put down her teacup and asked, "Is there anything that catches your eyes?"

"There is," he answered while pointing to one of the tea set. "I want this."

Both of them froze after seeing where he's pointing.

The owner said meaningfully, "This young man has a good taste."

Grace who was beside her was silent. After a while, she shook her head and said slowly, "You can't buy that tea set." Kern noticed her change in expression. He frowned slightly and asked, "What's the reason?"

Grace remained quiet.

The owner smiled and tried to convince Kern, "That tea set is not that delicate. Why not you look around again?"

"I want this tea set only." Kern insisted while grinning.

"No matter what, you will choose this?" The smile on the owner's face faded away and was replaced with a stern look.

Kern didn't reply immediately. His pupils switched to the woman beside the owner from time to time... That tea set, he knew that it was not delicate. Among all the tea sets that were present, this was the one that caught his eyes. This was mainly because it was not delicate.

In addition, he just chose this without further thoughts.

However, after looking at both women's reactions, things had became interesting.

"No matter what, I'll choose this tea set." His eyes were now fixed on Grace that was seated on the rattan chair.

""It's not delicate."

"I like it that way."

The owner suddenly smiled and stood up. She was wearing a custom-made cheongsam, fitting her body shape. She walked towards Kern and took the tea set from the shelf with her fair hands.

"This is expensive."

She said as she gave it to him.

"I like it."

He said as he took out his wallet.

Shuffling sounds could be heard. A hand suddenly stretched from beside him. "I'll pay. I promised that I'll give you as a gift."

The owner looked at Grace who was hurrying towards them, and then looked at Kern Lo. This man was energized and had a different aura. She smiled as her hand shifted from Kern's hand to Grace's. Grace let out a breath in relief.

But...

The owner's fingertips quickly went back to Kern's hand. She quickly took the money from him without even counting the amount.

Without giving the chance for anyone to react, she hurriedly put the tea set in his hands. "This is yours then."

Grace was left stunned.

She opened her mouth to say something but then stopped herself.

The owner contemplated for a while before walking to the counter. She bent over, as if to pick up something before handing a name card to Kern. "This is for you."

Kern took the card from her. His eyes glowed when he saw the line of words on the card.

"What is it?" Grace didn't see what the owner gave him, so she curiously asked and looked towards him.

"Nothing much, just a name card. I think she wants me as a regular customer." Kern curled up his fist and kept the name card in his pocket secretly.

When they left the store, Kern said to her, "Wait for me here. I'll put this tea set in the truck."

After putting the tea set into the truck, Kern took out the name card from the pocket. A line of words came into his sight.

There was a story behind the tea set that you bought. That was a tea set that was made by the owner of Memory Inn herself. It was ugly.

About its story, if you were interested, call this number.0000000