Happy Birthday to you - Happy birthday to me

Birthday

The weather forecast had been bad for the whole week, today they forecasted a storm. The sky was covered in pitch black clouds and the wind was so strong that one had to fear to be blown away – but this was only what one felt, not what was actually happening. Thunder and lightings could already be heard and seen, only the rain was still missing – not that Ye Xiu cared about such things. To him today was just another night shift in the Internet Café without many costumers or to be more specific without any costumers. Due to the storm warning people left the Internet Café even before the afternoon shift ended. Ye Xiu wondered, why his boss didn't close the Internet Café for today. Who would be so stupid and suicidal to go out on the streets now? Yet Ye Xiu still had to go through with his night shift and he didn't mind too much, since he could play Glory – at last as long as the power was on. A few days ago the Internet Café suffered a blackout, the whole city did, because of a storm. Playing Glory during a blackout was, unfortunately, impossible. So far everything was fine. At the moment he was running a dungeon. The lights around him were all out, because Chen Guo though it would be a waste to have the lights on, when no one was around besides Ye Xiu, who didn't care about it. He wasn't completely without light. First of all there was the faint light from the monitor and secondly he had the dim light of the lamp at the reception desk. In case a costumer would come, Ye Xiu could easily push the light switch on.

Without any kind of hesitation, Ye Xiu lit up a cigarette and leant back in the chair after ending his dungeon run. Nostalgia hit him, when his eyes wondered around and lingered a little bit too long on the Internet Café's entrance. Across the road, a few steps away was his past. His past as professional gamer – his former team. Before that he had played Glory like he did now. It's been quite some time since he had entered the game for the first time. Thinking back it appeared even farther away than it actually was. It felt like something that had happen in another lifetime. Maybe one could even consider it another lifetime. Back than he had been nothing but a little runaway without any goals besides playing games – no ambitions for the future. Now he was a retired pro player that tried to make his way back to the top – his future was set on Glory.
A soft laugh left his mouth, when he thought about his fifteen year old self that didn't care much about Glory, since to him back then it was just another game. And nowadays he was so absorbed in it that he was sure that even after another ten years he wouldn't get sick of it.
Ye Xiu's eyes returned to the monitor in from of him. Lord Grim was simply standing outside of the dungeon – maybe he should move Lord Grim away. Killing other players out of fun and steal whatever they had dropped was nothing unusual. Losing the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella was the last thing Ye Xiu wanted to happen.
He adjusted his sit, grabbed the mouse and placed his fingers on the keyboard. An automatic movement. However, when he grabbed the mouse he heard a soft clink. Something had fallen on the desk. Confused Ye Xiu look to the right. He had forgotten to put away his cigarettes and the lighter. The lighter had been placed on top of the cigarette packet and had fallen of when Ye Xiu's hands had moved the packet, when grabbing the mouse. He should be more careful. With Chen Guo's hate for smoking, who knew what she would do, when something happened to the reception desk because of a lighter – one that existed to light cigarettes?

To his right was also a little plate with a cupcake on it. It was a simple black cupcake, probably one with chocolate. In the middle of it was a single lit candle. Mucheng had brought it, while he had been asleep. She also left a card with birthday wishes. It was a bit strange to celebrate his birthday without her. Ever since he had run away from home, she was always at his side on this day. Not that they did anything special, yet now that she wasn't here it felt as if something was missing. She loved to celebrate his birthday and surprise him with whatever self-made party-cracker she had available. He always suffered a lot, but seeing her smile made him forget about it.
Today they couldn't celebrate together, since both of them had to work. She had a match, while he had to work in the night shift at Happy Internet Café. Due to his work schedule he had to work in the morning and went to bed, when the morning shift had taken over and Chen Guo had woken up. After eight hours of sleep Ye Xiu had woken up again – it was still his birthday. When he then came down the stairs to get on a computer, Chen Guo had stopped him and had dragged him to the resting area, where she had prepared a meal to celebrate his birthday. Nothing big or special, yet Ye Xiu couldn't have asked for more. It was already nice enough of her to do that for him. A simple "Happy birthday" would have been more than enough. He hadn't had a "birthday party" in years. Maybe because he lost more and more friends over the years or maybe because he got too old for birthday parties or maybe because those who cared lived too far away for a party. There were many reasons. In the end, it didn't bother him too much. Ye Xiu had never been a party person to begin with. As nice as Chen Guo was, she had even offered him to take the day of, so he could go home. However, going home was not an option for him. Going home... That reminded him that he wasn't the only one, whose birthday was today.