A cafe that blends into time

Put It in Writing

"Someone else wants to buy it?" Gary didn't believe Tammy.

Tammy nodded sincerely and improvised, "Yeah, it's... it's that guy across the street from the coffee shop... the one who collects scrap."

"What? A scrap collector?" Gary's expression changed.

Tammy continued, hardly daring to look him in the eye, "Yeah, you know, that grandfather clock... it's old and broken, achoo—"

"It looks like a piece of scrap wood, achoo—"

"It just takes up space in the coffee shop, achoo—"

"It's no use at all, achoo—"

"I've been wanting to get rid of it to the scrap collector for a long time, achoo—"

Tammy was struggling to get the words out, punctuating her sentences with sneezes.

Apparently, sneezes aren't just for when someone else is talking bad about you behind your back. You can sneeze when you talk bad about yourself too.

Gary didn't have time to be annoyed at Tammy's constant sneezing. He furrowed his brows and said sternly, "Why didn't you sell it to me before? You were planning to sell it to a scrap collector instead of me?"

"Well, you see..." Tammy thought quickly, "I thought, since we're exes, it would be weird to sell you my grandfather's clock. Keeping your ex's things at home and having you see it every day... it just sounds awkward, doesn't it? Who knew you'd be so persistent, Mr. York? I'm touched by your persistence, so now I'm planning to sell it to you!"

What logic was that? Gary was about to speak, but Tammy didn't give him the chance.

"So, Mr. York, are you buying it or not?" Tammy asked immediately.

"I'll buy it." Gary didn't hesitate. It didn't matter if the grandfather clock belonged to his ex or how much it cost. If Gary wanted something, he got it.

"Great." Tammy quickly wiped her hands with a napkin and started digging through her bag, pulling out a pen.

"I've only got a pen, no paper," Tammy said. "But it's okay, I've got an unused napkin here."

Gary watched her bizarre actions and asked, "What are you doing?"

Tammy handed the pen and napkin to Gary and said, "Write a receipt."

"A receipt?" Gary started to get a headache again.

Tammy nodded seriously and said, "You just promised to take good care of the grandfather clock and let me visit it often. Write a receipt so you can't back out."

Gary thought that Tammy had a thousand and one ways to drive him crazy. What a pleasant surprise, asking him to write a receipt. Was he supposed to put his handprint on it too?

Gary pushed away the cheap ballpoint pen and napkin. "I never went back on my word. But I can tell you, even if you come to my house often under the pretext of visiting the grandfather clock, nothing strange will happen between us."

"Mr. York, you can rest assured," Tammy said, almost swearing to the heavens. How did Mr. York always have such a high opinion of himself? How did he cultivate that self-confidence?

"Mr. York isn't my type."

Gary sneered in disbelief. With his family background, wealth, looks, and physique, no woman could refuse him.

But whether Gary believed it or not, Tammy continued sincerely.

"Mr. York is too... too serious and mature. Actually, I prefer someone who's cheerful, gentle, and romantic."

"Oh right, Mr. ‌George seems so gentle and romantic."

"Have you watched the TV drama that Mr. Simon is in, Mr. York? The one that's popular now. Mr. ‌George's character is so gentle and romantic, he's practically a god..."

Tammy, who loved watching idol dramas, instantly turned into a fangirl, rattling off her praise like a machine g*n, unable to stop once she started.

"Buzz buzz—"

Thankfully, a phone call came in at that moment, the vibration of the phone interrupting Tammy's excitement.

It was Gary's phone.

"Is it news about Mr. ‌George?" Tammy asked expectantly.

Gary glanced down. It was a call from his secretary, and it was most likely about Simon.

For some reason, Gary now had the urge to hang up the phone or even turn it off.

"Mr. York, answer it," Tammy urged eagerly.

Gary took a deep breath and answered the phone with a straight face.

Tammy stared at Gary the whole time, like a loyal little golden retriever.

"I see," Gary said briefly, and hung up the phone soon after.

Tammy couldn't wait to ask, "Well? Did you find out?"

"Is there anything I can't find out?" Gary lifted his chin slightly and handed his phone to Tammy.

The secretary had sent an email full of information about Simon and Assistant Lucy.

Tammy quickly took the phone and started browsing through it.

To tell the truth, Tammy used to be Simon's assistant. Later, she rose to fame and became part of the elite circle with Gary's aunt, so she quit her job as an assistant and cut off contact with Simon.

This was a big blow to Simon, which was why he despised Tammy so much. And Assistant Lucy was the one the company found to follow Simon after that.

Up until now, Assistant Lucy was considered a "veteran" by Simon's side. Although her work skills were not outstanding, Simon treated her very well and took good care of her. Assistant Lucy would follow Simon everywhere, except when he was resting.

"Assistant Lucy, so you were a fan of Simon all along," Tammy muttered to herself.

Gary couldn't help but sneer, "Is Simon that popular? Are his fans everywhere? He's just a flash-in-the-pan celebrity. Who will remember him after this period?"

Gary had barely finished his sarcastic remarks when he received a reproachful look from Tammy.

"Simon is also a great actor, so of course he has many fans," Tammy said.

Assistant Lucy had been a fan of Simon even before he became famous. According to the records, Assistant Lucy had once suffered from severe depression.

His parents were always fighting, and in their anger, they would sometimes take it out on their child.

Perhaps because of this, Assistant Lucy was timid as a child, easily bullied, and would bottle up any grievances. Over time, he developed depression.

Assistant Lucy's depression was stubborn, and he had attempted suicide several times.

It sounds unbelievable, but later, Assistant Lucy became obsessed with Simon's songs and, surprisingly, managed to overcome his long-term depression just by listening to those songs.

"A fan of depression?" Gary frowned.

Tammy looked up at him and said, "What's wrong?"

Gary shook his head and said, "Nothing."

Tammy stared at him curiously and said, "There must be something. Mr. York, what else do you know? Tell me."

Gary sneered, "You want to know everything about Simon?"

"Yes!" Tammy nodded firmly.

Gary found Tammy's persistent and sincere expression annoyingly exasperating.

But in the end, Gary couldn't resist Tammy's pleas and told her what he knew.

Simon was currently resting in the hospital, not because he had suffered a serious injury on set.

Tammy had seen Simon today; he was lively, with a rosy complexion, showing no signs of injury. He chose to stay in the hospital for a month to seek peace and quiet.

Gary said, "I heard from people in the company that Simon recently encountered two fanatical stalkers, both of whom have depression."

They first harassed Simon with phone calls, saying they couldn't live without him and that he had saved their lives.

Then they sent love letters to Simon, tens of thousands of words of ambiguous declarations.

They even knocked on Simon's door in the middle of the night, saying that if he didn't see them, their lives would have no meaning, and they would jump off a building.

Tammy frowned and said, "How could there be such people? What happened next?"

Gary's expression was indifferent as he said, "Then, one really committed suicide."

"What?" Tammy was shocked.

Those two stalkers had been harassing Simon for a long time. No matter how Simon changed his phone number, address, or increased security, it was all useless.

One day, the two stalkers came again. At 2 a.m., they knocked on Simon's door like the Grim Reaper.

A girl's voice shouted hysterically, "If you don't accept me, I'll really kill myself!"

"I'll die in front of you! Even in death, I'll haunt you for the rest of your life!"

"You're mine! No one can take you away from me!"

"You saved me, so why are you driving me to death now!"

"Why?!"

With a shrill scream, something heavy fell from the rooftop, landing precisely on Simon's balcony.

Blood was splattered all over the balcony, staining the glass windows in a gruesome pattern...

Just listening to Gary's emotionless narration made Tammy's hair stand on end, and she couldn't stop shivering.

At the time, Simon had witnessed everything firsthand. No wonder he used the excuse of an injury on set to hide in the hospital for a month, unwilling to work.

The company had to put in a lot of effort to appease the media because of the negative impact of the incident, and it didn't cause a stir. As the big boss, Gary only heard about it by chance.

After a moment, Tammy snapped out of it. She felt that even as a human, she really couldn't understand human thinking.

Tammy asked, "Didn't you say there were two stalkers with depression?"

Gary replied, "One jumped to her death, and the other ran away."