As Elisa listened to the landlady murmuring softly, her eyes inexplicably welled up with tears. It turned out that even after her death, there would still be people who remembered her, who cared about whether she was doing well.
Elisa smiled faintly, “Don’t worry, landlady… I think she must be doing very well…”
The landlady gazed at her face, somewhat lost in thought. “Yes, good deeds bring good rewards. Kind-hearted people will receive good treatment from heaven. She must be doing very well.”
After speaking, the landlady turned back to the kitchen, where the sound of sizzling oil could be heard. Two minutes later, she came over and placed a fried egg on Elisa’s table, saying, “This is for you to eat.”
Elisa didn’t refuse. After thanking the landlady, she picked up the fried egg and took a bite in front of her. The crispy exterior and tender interior made it especially delicious.
The landlady was over fifty years old. She had been working on this street for over thirty years, watching many people grow up.
No matter how well a restaurant owner takes care of their skin, wrinkles are inevitable. The landlady’s wrinkles were deep, and strands of her hair had already begun to turn white.
Elisa looked at the white hair that had emerged, feeling a tinge of sadness.
The landlady didn’t notice her unease. At this time, most students had gone home, and there were only a few people in the wonton shop. After finishing her tasks, the landlady sat beside Elisa, chatting with her absentmindedly about that “young lady.”
“The young lady’s birthday is on May 21st. Every time she celebrates her birthday alone, she comes here to eat the wontons I make… She rarely came after she got married. I heard her husband was not good to her… But in the past three years, a man who claimed to be her ex-husband would come to eat here frequently… When there was nothing to do, he would ask me to talk about the young lady’s past. You see, people nowadays, it’s laughable. They don’t cherish or understand when someone is around, and only come to reminisce after they’re gone. It’s no wonder he became an ex-husband. The young lady is so good, she will definitely find someone who sees only her…”
Elisa didn’t say anything. After finishing the wontons and paying, she picked up her suitcase to leave.
The landlady escorted her to the door, “If you live in Bankshire, come here often. I’ll treat you to wontons, you don’t have to pay.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Schoellman.” Thank you for remembering me even after I’m gone, thank you for remembering my birthday all these years.
The landlady’s smile was gentle and her gaze warm. It was only after Elisa left that she came back to her senses. How did she know her name?
…
When Elisa returned to the hotel, it was already ten o’clock. After taking a shower, she checked her phone and found twenty notifications on Facebook.
Thinking something urgent had happened, she discovered they were all from Louis.
“Are you there?”
“Have you had dinner?”
“… Are you asleep?”
All of the messages were similar, lacking substantial content. Elisa carefully read through the messages one by one. Towards the end, there was even a selfie of him making a face.
Pursing her lips and holding back laughter, she couldn’t help but think of Autumn’s expression. It really was quite similar…
“I just got back and was about to sleep.”
On the other end, receiving Elisa’s message, Louis, half-asleep and holding his phone, felt it vibrate. When he saw that Elisa had messaged him on Facebook, he immediately sat up.
She replied to me, Elisa replied to my message! It’s so late, and she still replied to me. She must be interested in me!
Louis looked at the seven words in the message over and over again, considering carefully how to reply. He quickly typed on the keyboard.
“You came back so late…” No, they had just met today. Would she think he was being interrogative by sending a message like this?
Louis quickly deleted it and started over.
“It’s not safe for a girl to come back this late. Next time I’ll accompany you…” No, this wouldn’t work either. It was too pushy, and nowadays, young people were rebellious and didn’t like being controlled.
Deleted. Deleted. Restarted.
“It’s already late. Go to bed early…” If he sent this, maybe she wouldn’t respond to him anymore. And would it make him seem too indifferent?
Deleted!
This was the first time Louis had found replying to a messageso difficult. He grabbed his hair, opened a drawer, and took out a box of mints, popping a few into his mouth, the cool taste of mint rushing to his head. He didn’t smoke, but when he felt stressed or agitated, he would eat mints.
Elisa stared at the “Typing…” message for five minutes. He was still typing. What was he going to send her?
Just as she was thinking about it, Louis sent her a message. It was just four simple words.
“Have you had dinner?”
Elisa raised an eyebrow, as if she understood something. She dried her freshly washed hair with one hand and replied with a voice message on her phone.
“I’ve already eaten. Go to bed early. Goodnight.”
Louis anxiously awaited the message. When he saw that Elisa had sent a voice message, he almost dropped his eyeballs onto the screen.
In the usually quiet hotel, at this moment, it was so quiet that he could hear his own nervous heartbeat. His fingers trembled as he pressed the play button for the voice message. Elisa’s soft voice came through.
He listened to that short three-second voice message over and over again, as if he couldn’t get enough of it.
Elisa had sent him a voice message and said goodnight.
Just by listening to her voice, Louis’s face turned red, and he almost grinned from ear to ear. He threw himself onto the bed, his whole body diving under the covers, excitedly kicking his legs like an exuberant puppy.
Elisa said goodnight to him. Do you know what goodnight means? It means “I love you,” it means she loves you! If you interpret it differently, Elisa is secretly confessing to him, she likes him!
Louis clenched his phone, punched at the air, and then sat obediently on the bed, trembling as he recorded a voice message.
He cleared his throat, made sure his voice didn’t sound terrible, and then began speaking.
“I also bid you goodnight. Goodnight.” After sending the message, Louis listened to it once, it sounded steady, without any sign of nervousness or shaking.
Clutching his phone, Louis repeatedly listened to Elisa’s voice message dozens of times, and then downloaded it and set it as his alarm.
…
Elisa dried her hair before seeing Louis’s response to her voice message. She clicked to listen.
“I also bid you goodnight. Goodnight.”
What did “I also bid you goodnight” mean? What was the significance?
Elisa was only puzzled for two seconds before she checked the time. It was 10:40 pm. After charging her phone, she went to bed, and this night’s sleep was better than usual.
…
To stay longer in the entertainment industry, one must have works. Relying solely on popularity is not enough. The entertainment industry changes rapidly, and once the hype is over, who will remember you without substantial work?
Elisa had a clear plan for herself. She would earn money and invest. At the moment, she couldn’t temporarily leave this circle. Therefore, she had to give her all to do this well.
She was someone who never gave up. No matter how difficult things were, she always aimed for the top. She had determined to leave a remarkable impression here and become the best actress.
Even if one day she left, she wanted people to remember that she had once been here.
The next morning, Elisa got up early and, as usual, practiced yoga for an hour before ordering breakfast. In less than ten minutes, the waiter brought it up, with a variety of breakfast items neatly arranged on the cart.
“I only ordered a bowl of congee and some dumplings, didn’t I?” Elisa asked.
The waiter explained, “This was prepared for you in advance by a gentleman named Louis.”
Elisa instantly understood, but she knew she couldn’t possibly eat all of this alone.
“I’ll eat what I can, and please take the rest away. I don’t want it to go to waste,” she said.
The waiter nodded in agreement. Elisa took the congee and some delicious looking Cantonese breakfast items, which would be enough to fill her up.
“Wish you a pleasant meal,” the waiter said as he pushed the breakfast cart and left the room.
Elisa returned to her bedroom, unplugged her fully charged phone, and sent a text to Louis.
“Thank you for preparing breakfast for me.”
As she was about to set her phone down, she saw the message “Typing…” appear below. She paused and patiently waited for his response.
“I didn’t know what you liked to eat, so I ordered a bit of everything the hotel should have. Is it tasty?”
It felt like a warm current flowing into her heart, causing ripples and warmth to spread throughout her body, even making her ears feel hot. She raised her hand to touch her warm earlobes.
Then, she quickly ate a bite of breakfast, and before swallowing, she began typing a reply to Louis.
“It’s delicious, thank you.”
“Do you have time today? Would you like to go out? I’ll treat you to lunch. I know a restaurant in Bankshire with amazing food, I think you’ll love it.”
“No need,” Elisa replied without much thought. “I have to go to the program group to meet the director today, and besides, our relationship is not suitable for going out together.”
Watching Louis’s urgent response, he chewed on a mint nervously. Unsuitable? Yesterday she said “goodnight” to him, how did she wake up and revert back to her previous cold demeanor?
The man, just out of bed, lay on the bed, staring at his phone with a gloomy expression. His messy black hair stood up in the middle, creating a dumbfounded look. As he shook his head, the tuft of hair swayed with him.
Louis pouted, not knowing what to reply, and sent a homemade emoji.
The emoji was still him, teary-eyed, pouting, saying “okay”.
Elisa didn’t reply to Louis’s message. She felt conflicted, wanting to get closer to Louis, but also afraid that Louis wasn’t the person she thought he was. She was afraid of making the same mistake, not only hurting herself but also hurting him.
Not being loved meant not being afraid of being hurt.
This was her prayer to the gods after her death.
…