The Regular Customer's Question

A café barista meets a regular customer who claims they made a promise long ago, but the barista has no memory of ever meeting them.

I laughed, trying to appear composed: "A promise? I'm so scattered these days, I can't quite remember. Haha."

Then the customer stared at me intently, as if seeing right through me, and a chill ran down my spine.

I hoped he would say something—anything—to clarify, because there was no way I could have forgotten something like that.

The customer suddenly spoke in a frightening tone: "If you don't remember this, you'll die."

I wanted to brush off the words as a joke, but the customer's eyes were too sincere.

With trembling hands, I reached for my coffee cup, and then I realized something: I had seen that customer's face somewhere before.