Chapter 6 - Playmate
Xiu Mei gasped in shock. She suddenly want to slap her mouth shut after realizing how careless she was with her previous questions. She must have hurt the kid"s feelings when she pestered him and now she didn"t know what to do.
But before Xiu Mei could make any more coherent words, the little guy reacted once again that caught her attention.
"Ah." Something in his eyes flickered to life. His gaze wasn"t empty anymore. Mixed in it was various feelings.
Xiu Mei followed where his eyes were looking at and noticed a couple hugging their child. It seems like they were there to pick up their child from the playground as the mother carried the child back to the car before the father drove away.
Even the other a.d.u.l.ts that were there picked up their children on the swing and started walking away after bidding their goodbyes to each other.
She blinked. Ah, so that was why.
She looked back at the little kid beside her who was still staring away at the leaving car.
Her heart tightened from pain when she finally realized the emotions circling in the child"s gaze. It was envy and loneliness. This little child had to be feeling tremendous envy while watching the other kids.
At this playground, he was the only one with no guardian. His father won"t be able to hug him when he"s tired. His mother wasn"t there to wipe his sweat for him. It was….just him.
Xiu Mei felt pity for this little one. He was still very young, an age where parental love is needed yet this kid had no one to make him feel that love.
She had the urge to hug him to comfort him but she knew the kid won"t like it. He wasn"t like the other kids that would cry when they"re sad. He was acting like an a.d.u.l.t yet, he"s still a little child in reality.
Making up her mind, she stood up causing the little kid"s gaze to turn to her. Xiu Mei smiled brightly at him and held out her hand.
"Will you be my playmate?"
The little kid didn"t utter any word and gawked at her hand reaching out to him. His gaze stared there before looking at her face. She did her best to put the most enticing smile on her face.
But before she heard his reply, the rain finally descended from the sky. Even though the both of them were sheltered under the tree, there were still a few drops of water that managed to slip by through the leaves.
Xiu Mei cursed under her breath. d.a.m.n it, she forgot her umbrella.
She removed her flannel on the waist and immediately dropped it on the child"s head. The kid just kept staring at her as Xiu Mei pulled her to stand up.
Holding all her groceries in one hand and hugging the kid on the other, she spoke to kid before they left the place. "Let"s go home first, okay?"
Xiu Mei saw the kid nod before they took their first step and ran to go to her home. She held the kid carefully as she stepped on the muddy puddles while taking a few turns in different blocks.
After running for a few more minutes, she was finally home and pressing the code number at her house. She left her groceries leaning on the wall by the entrance as she busied herself with the kid with her.
"I"ll put your shoes right here, okay?" She informed the kid as she placed his shoes beside hers on the shoe rack. She hugged him up once again to help him change.
Leaving a water trail behind, she walked across the living room and arrived in the bathroom. She put the kid down and pulled out a bathroom towel and small bathrobe from one of her cabinets and laid it on the marble counter.
"Let"s get you showered and changed so that you wouldn"t get sick." She knelt down to his eye level while smiling gently at him. The kid just stayed in his blank facial expression before turning his head to examine her bathroom. After a few seconds, he looked at her once again.
"Okay." He faintly replied to her words that almost sounded like a whisper. Xiu Mei"s eyes bloomed with happiness as she pulled him to the bath tub. As she expected, the kid was completely calm even though he was in an unfamiliar place. She even thought that this kid isn"t even a bit cautious to her even though she was just a stranger for him.
I wonder who his guardian is that they didn"t even warn him about not talking with strangers.
After finis.h.i.+ng in giving him a bath, she wrapped him up with a kid-sized bathrobe and rubbed his hair with a bath towel to dry the dripping water from his hair.
Xiu Mei on the other hand, just changed out of her wet clothes into a bathrobe without bathing. She then brought the kid to her room and took out her nephew"s clothes from her cabinet. It was a tiger pajamas that she bought for her nephew but since she doesn"t have any spare clothes that would fit the kid, this was what she was going to give him.
Xiu Mei held out the pajamas in front of him to see if he was okay with it. The kid stared at it, his brows a bit furrowed but still nodded. She helped him change into it before changing into her home wear clothes.
While settling him into the living room sofa, the kid spoke out of his own volition.
"Sister, what"s your name?" The kid blinked at her with curiosity.
Then the thought hit her. Xiu Mei, you stupid! You forgot to introduce yourself to him!
Xiu Mei thought her previous actions could be considered kidnapping. Even though she got the kid"s permission, she still dragged him here to her house even though she herself didn"t introduce her name to him. She got worried if his guardians would suddenly sue her if they knew that she dragged him here.
"Xiu Mei. My name is Xiu Mei, you can call me Sister Mei." She patted the kid"s head. "What is your name?"
"...Lu Qiang."