Chapter Text
“Xie Lian, come here and get this customer's food to their table!” Said someone from the back of the kitchen. The young man with brown hair that he tied up into a bun turned his head and quickly took the food away. “Yes, thank you!”
He then set up the plate on the customer's table with a gentle smile “May you enjoy your food!”. The customer smiled back at Xie Lian's kind gesture. To be honest, Xie Lian wanted to be a chef rather than a waiter because he loved to cook food. At least to people who had an iron stomach because every time he offered someone his food, they would get food poisoning for sure.
Xie Lian sighed. Hopefully, there will be someone who will actually like his food. The day was pretty much the same. Xie Lian worked as a waiter and then ended his day with dumpster diving. He needed some additional items for his living expenses. He usually found good food there.
“Hmm, the bun is still good to eat. Not too mushy either. Yep, good to eat!” Xie Lian then took the bun and a few edible foods to his apartment. Walking from the dumpster to his apartment wasn't that far. probably just a few mins walked. When Xie Lian arrived there, he prepared everything on the table. A bun, a slice of pizza, and a few doughnuts. ‘Well not bad food hunting for today’ he thought to himself.
Xie Lian wasn’t always poor like this. He was coming from a wealthy family with lots of riches. money wasn’t their issue until something happened to his father's company. His father got caught of fraud and it went into bankruptcy.
Xie Lian was 17th years old at that time. Well, he was always a spoiled brat. If Xie Lian wasn’t such a spoiled brat, maybe his parents would still be here, hugging him and comforting him. telling him lies such as everything will be alright. We could go through this together but no.
It was all too late. His parents got into a car accident after their big fight. Xie Lian stole a few bucks from a local convenience store for them to eat something but his parents were too angry to know the fact. Xie Lian ran away from the house with his mother pleading for him not to go and should discuss it. Father and Son shouldn’t fight with each other.
If only Xie Lian listened to his mother more. his parents would still be here. Xie Lian would still cry silently while eating his food. He missed his parents so much, especially his mother. He missed her touch, her pats, her hugs, and her weird food.
Today was the same too, Xie Lian cried while eating his bun. The fact that he was just freed from an abusive relationship that lasted for 5 years wasn’t helping either. his previous partner would hit Xie lian whenever he was angry or had some problems with his work. Xie Lian would have bruises all over his body. He would wear long sleeve clothes just to cover his bruised arms.
He also used makeup to cover up some bruises on his face. either it was his cheek or one of his eyes. some coworkers would question him about some bruises on his face if Xie Lian forgot to cover them but he would just tell them he fell from the stairs. Their coworkers didn't press him enough to tell the truth or just didn't want to get involved in such a complicated situation.
Xie Lian sat alone in his living room. Chewing with his sobbing sound that was echoing throughout the room. At least when he was alone, he could release all of his stress. Cried it out loud. xie lian didn’t want anyone to be involved in his unlucky life. He just wanted everyone to see his happy go lucky side instead of his depressed side.
After he was done eating everything, xie lian cleaned up all the trash before he went straight to bed. Life might be too cruel for xie lian but he won't give up that easily. He promised his late mother that he would stay alive and make her proud in heaven.
Tomorrow, Xie Lian had an early shift so he had to wake up at 5 a.m. crying kinda made him sleepy as his eyes got heavier each second. He went to his bedroom and lay on top of his hard mattress. closing his eyes slowly while thinking about his warm childhood where his mother would hug him or pat his head whenever Xie Lian had a bad day just like now.