Mia's Café

Chapter 1: The Countdown Begins

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One day has 24 hours.

One month has 30 days, or 720 hours.

One year has 365 days, or 8,760 hours.

“Tick-tock, tick-tock—”

The sound of a clock, an old-fashioned floor clock, echoes by the bar counter in the café.

First-time visitors to the café are often drawn to the antique clock.

It appears tall, ancient, and mysterious.

And quite valuable.

Noon.

As the clock strikes, a customer enters the café.

“Welcome!”

Mia Bell smiles at the girl hesitating at the counter. “Today, we have a special on our matcha latte. Do you like matcha?”

“I’ll have the matcha latte, please.”

The girl pays with her card, moves to the side to wait for her order, and instinctively pulls out her phone to open WeChat.

A message from a friend catches her eye.

The girl smiles sweetly and sends a voice message.

“Of course, you’re my best friend!”

“No matter if it’s thirty years or fifty years from now, we’ll still be best friends.”

“After thirty years, I’ll go to that place with you again. It’s a promise—pinkie swear.”

Mia Bell busily prepares the matcha latte, her gaze briefly drifting over the girl.

—175180:38:45

—175180:38:44

—175180:38:43

Time quietly slips away. The girl is surrounded by a constantly ticking clock, visible only to Mia Bell—“Remaining Time.”

The sweet girl who made a promise has less than 20 years left to live...

Mia Bell hands the warm matcha latte to the girl, who hurriedly says “Thank you” and rushes out of the café.

A new customer stands at the counter, and a new “Remaining Time” appears to Mia Bell.

This is a regular customer, someone Mia Bell recognizes.

“Good afternoon. You’re here again. Would you like the strawberry cake?” Mia Bell points to the exquisite cakes in the display case. “We just have one slice left.”

“Yes, please.”

The speaker is a kind, elderly woman with gray hair, her smile warm and gentle. “My granddaughter loves your strawberry cake.”

“That child, always playing instead of studying. I scolded her just now, and she was upset. I need to get a cake to cheer her up.”

“Oh, I wonder if my aging body will last long enough to see her go to college and find a partner.”

The elderly woman waits while Mia Bell wraps the cake, chatting away.

—341653:49:05

Almost 40 years of remaining time.

Mia Bell hands the cake box to the elderly woman, speaking reassuringly, “Don’t worry, Grandma. You’ll definitely live to a ripe old age.”

“Oh, you’re such a sweet talker,” the elderly woman says with a beaming smile.

Life is like that.

Sometimes it seems fragile, sometimes incredibly resilient.

Sometimes too short, other times too long.

And sometimes, it feels just unfair.

Especially human life...

Which Mia Bell finds endlessly perplexing.

Truth be told, Mia Bell hasn’t been a human for more than a week.

Mia Bell has a secret she cannot share with others—she is not a human but an ancient floor clock in the café.

The café’s owner is a girl in her early twenties, young with large eyes. Mia Bell can’t quite describe it—just that she’s very pretty. Especially when she smiles, the dimples at the corners of her mouth add sweetness.

Mia Bell knows that the customers coming and going are very fond of the owner.

Mia Bell is too, even a little envious.

As a clock spirit yet to fully manifest a human form, Mia Bell cannot move or speak. She can only tick-tock away, recording time, and watch the “remaining time” of passing humans.

Besides that, she can do nothing.

If only she could become human...

“Being human... must be really wonderful.”

As Mia Bell relaxes behind the counter, she takes a sip of chocolate milk and sighs softly.

The next day, as if by magic, Mia Bell opens her eyes to find herself transformed into a human.

With fair skin, a beautiful appearance, and a sweet voice, she now resembles the café owner, the girl with large eyes in her early twenties.

“Tick-tock, tick-tock—”

The floor clock beside the counter keeps ticking away endlessly. Mia Bell extends her hand and taps the clock, speaking softly to herself, “What is going on?”

The floor clock is Mia Bell’s true form.

Why Mia Bell became human overnight is still a mystery to her.

“Ah, I’m running out of time. I have a tutoring session soon, so I need to go.”

A cheerful voice from a customer by the window catches Mia Bell’s attention. She looks over.

It’s a university student in his early twenties, a handsome guy with a score of 90 in looks.

He’s not a regular customer, but Mia Bell has seen him a couple of times.

—00:00:07

—00:00:06

—00:00:05

As the university student waves goodbye and laughs, the “remaining time” mercilessly counts down, as if mocking him.

Beep, beep, beep, the countdown echoes.

Others can’t hear it, but Mia Bell can. Unlike the usual steady and calm passage of time, this is the sound of death knocking, startlingly abrupt...

It sends shivers down her spine.

Every time Mia Bell hears this sound, she feels a chill.

—00:00:04

She scans the café, taking in every detail in an instant.

—00:00:03

“Wait! Please!”

Mia Bell sprints from behind the counter, disregarding everything else, to stop the departing university student.

—00:00:02

The glass door is half open. The student, curious, stops and turns to look at Mia Bell, asking with his eyes what she needs.

—00:00:01

Mia Bell forces a somewhat stiff, awkward smile. “Actually, it’s like this—”

“Boom—!”

Mia Bell’s voice is drowned out by a sudden loud crash outside the café.

A black SUV has crashed into a nearby streetlamp, distorting it grotesquely.

Glass shards and thick smoke scatter, some even splashing onto the café’s door.

Two drops of blood land near the student’s shoes by the glass door.

“Phew—”

Mia Bell breathes a sigh of relief.

Saved...

She looks up again. The remaining time for the student has changed.

—56988:59:59

Over 60 years.

If Mia Bell hadn’t stopped the university student just now, he might have been crushed under the wheels of the drunk-driving SUV, much like the twisted streetlamp.

Nearby, the black SUV remains parked. Moments ago, a man grumbling with a convenience store bag climbed into the SUV and took the driver’s seat.

The vehicle hasn’t started yet, still sitting there.

Mia Bell noticed but thought little of it.

Just now, the SUV’s window rolled down, and a few crumpled beer cans were thrown out.

With the sound of cans hitting the ground, the SUV started up.

Almost simultaneously, the handsome university student reaches for the café’s door handle, ready to leave...

“There’s been an accident.”

“Call an ambulance quickly.”

“Why did it crash into the streetlamp?”

The crowd outside the café becomes chaotic, with police and ambulances arriving and leaving. Slowly, the onlookers disperse.

The student wipes the cold sweat from his forehead, still a bit shaken.

He turns to thank the café owner. “Thank you for stopping me earlier, or else I—”

“Oh, right,” the student remembers, “Did you need something from me? I almost forgot.”

Feeling awkward again, Mia Bell forces a smile. “Actually, it’s like this—”

“The café is running a promotion today, and you’re the 18th customer... so you’ve won.”

Mia Bell tries to sound sincere, not wanting the student to think she’s making things up.

“So... I’ve prepared some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans as a prize for you—”

Mia Bell quickly thinks of her favorite coffee beans.

But...

Mia Bell regrets her words as she remembers the Yirgacheffe beans might have just run out, with new stock arriving the day after tomorrow.

“Customer, how about this,” Mia Bell hurries to explain, “Could you leave your WeChat? The coffee beans are quite heavy. If you add me on WeChat and send me your address, I can have them delivered to you.”

“WeChat?” The student looks slightly surprised.

“Hey, what are you waiting for? The boss asked you to add her on WeChat. Hurry up! The boss is so pretty and proactive. If you don’t, I will.” A friend of the student, who was drinking coffee, walks over, laughing and teasing.

Once the coffee bean issue is resolved, Mia Bell realizes she might have dug herself into a big hole. The student and his friend seem to have misunderstood.

I’m really not trying to flirt...

It’s just to add WeChat...

The student shyly takes out his phone. “WeChat, sure. Could you please scan me?”

“Okay.” Mia Bell prepares to scan the student’s QR code.

The student smiles and adds, “I’m usually not busy. You can message me anytime.”

Mia Bell: “...”

Mia Bell’s hand shakes as she tries to scan the QR code, but she misses.

A misunderstanding that needs to be clarified.

“Actually...” Mia Bell struggles with human language.

Before she can finish, the

QR code still isn’t scanned.

“Ding-dong—”

The café door swings open. Someone steps in and blocks Mia Bell’s phone.

“Sorry, but can we handle WeChat later? I have something more urgent to discuss with her.”

A tall man with broad shoulders and long legs enters, easily over six feet tall, taller than the floor clock Mia Bell used to be.

If the university student’s looks are 90 out of 100, this man is a full 100.

His deep-set eyes, high and straight nose, and balanced lips exude a mature, stable, and unexpectedly warm aura.

But what he says is far from warm and friendly.

The man looks down at Mia Bell, clearly annoyed but forcing a smile. “Mia Bell, I don’t have time to waste. I’m telling you, get rid of the child in your belly.”

“Child... child?” Mia Bell’s eyes widen in shock, struggling to keep up with the man’s train of thought.

“Get rid of...” Mia Bell’s gaze slowly drops to her own abdomen...

Chapter 2: The Curse of Time

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Mia Bell knows that every human, even every living being, has a finite amount of time, a "remaining time" visible only to her.

She also knows that this "remaining time" isn't necessarily immutable. Just as water can flow backward, so too can remaining time be altered.

Since Mia Bell became human and took over the coffee shop, she, too, has had a "remaining time."

—167:56:34

—167:56:33

—167:56:32

As Mia Bell slowly looks down, she sees her "remaining time" beneath her feet.

Less than 168 hours.

7 days.

From being an ancient clock to becoming a café owner, Mia Bell now has only 7 days to live.

When the 7 days are up, Mia Bell will either revert to being a clock or completely disappear from this world. She doesn’t know and dares not risk it.

The 7-day limit feels like a curse from a fairy tale—absurd and lau