Back then, I worked part-time at a small café that stayed open late. It wasn't very big. There were only a few tables inside and a few chairs on the patio.
It was usually fairly busy as evening approached, but after ten, the customers started to thin out.
That night, I was on closing duty.
Around 10:30, there was only one occupied table left. A man was sitting alone in the corner near the window.
He had been there for quite a while.
I hadn't paid much attention to him because I was busy cleaning the other tables.
Around eleven, I walked over to him.
“Would you like to order anything else?”
He shook his head.
“No. Just the check.”
I gave him the check, and he paid in cash before standing up.
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
He walked out. I watched him cross the street and disappear around the corner. After that, I went back to work.
The café was almost closed.
I was counting the money when I heard a small bell ring at the door.
Ting.
I turned and saw the same man walk in again.
I was slightly startled.
“Hey? Did you leave something behind?”
He shook his head.
“I haven't ordered yet.”
I let out a small laugh.
“Didn't you already pay?”
He looked at me in confusion.
“Already?”
“Yeah. You were sitting over there.”
I pointed to the table near the window. He looked toward it, then shook his head again.
“I just got here.”
I started to feel uneasy.
“Hey... you were here around eleven.”
He looked at the clock on the wall.
“It isn't even 10:40 yet.”
I looked at the clock too.
10:43 PM.
I was silent for a moment, then looked at my phone. It also showed 10:43 PM.
I didn't understand. I clearly remembered seeing the time nearing eleven. I'd even given him the check.
The man was still standing in front of me.
“Then I'll have a coffee.”
I nodded slowly and quickly prepared his order.
While he waited, I kept watching him. His face was the same, his clothes were the same, and even the small bag he carried was the same.
I started thinking that maybe I really had gotten the time wrong. Maybe I had only felt like I'd been working for a long time. Maybe I had imagined that he'd already paid. I tried to forget what had happened.
The coffee was ready.
I handed it to him. The man sat at the same table. The table near the window. I went back to work.
About half an hour later, he finished his drink. He paid and left. This time, I watched him until he completely disappeared from view.
I closed up the café.
That night, I went home.
The next day, when I came in for work, I found something beneath the table near the window.
A wallet.
I opened it to look for the owner's identification. There was an ID card inside. When I read the name, I felt like I'd seen it before. So I asked the café owner.
“Boss, whose wallet is this?”
The owner took it from me. The moment he saw the ID card inside, his expression changed.
“This...”
He only looked at the photo on the card, then turned his eyes toward the table near the window.
“This wallet has been found before.”
I furrowed my brow.
“Before? What do you mean?”
He nodded.
“A few years ago.”
I was even more confused.
The café owner then told me that the wallet's owner had been a regular customer. He often sat at the same table.
The table near the window.
But... that man had died several years earlier.
Hearing this, I let out a small laugh because I couldn't believe it.
“Maybe it's just someone with the same name, boss.”
The café owner shook his head.
“That can't be.”
He then took out an old photo kept behind the cash register. It showed several café customers in a picture taken many years ago.
I looked at it and immediately fell silent.
In the corner of the photo...
there was the same man.
The same face, the same clothes, even the same small bag.
I didn't know what to say. I only stared at the photo, then at the table near the window.
Since that night, I have never worked alone when the café was about to close, and the table near the window was never used again.
Not because the café owner was afraid.
But because every time a customer tried to sit there near closing time...
they always said the same thing.
They felt as if someone had already been sitting there.
Even though when they arrived...
“the table was always empty.”