Song Sheng greeted Qian Meigui in bed one evening, right after putting their children to bed.
"Did Meiling place nail polish on you again?" Qian Meigui asked him. Song Sheng nodded and chuckled. But it reminded him of something that happened years ago.
He began to reminisce not only their early years together when they were both afraid of acting out on their feelings, but years before that.
"Did you know we met once before you moved in with my family?" he said to her.
Qian Meigui furrowed her brows, trying to remember some distinct fragment that was hazy. "Did we?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "I was eleven-years-old, and you were five."
Qian Meigui"s eyes widened. "And you"re telling me this now?"
Song Sheng chuckled, leaning in closer, resting his head on her chest. She wrapped her arms around him. "Mhm," he said. "I met your parents that day, too, I remember now. It was only one time."
"What were they like?" she asked eagerly, wanting to remember. Even though they died when she was eleven, her memories were beginning to fade.
So he told her.
Song Sheng had grown accustomed to family friends visiting his home for years. His parents had many.
He remembered a small family showing up at the front door one day; they looked like friendly people who didn"t scream wealth.
"This is our daughter, Qian Meigui," Qian Shanyuan said to him. Song Sheng recalled that man coming over for constant visits, but he never met his wife or daughter before.
"This is my eldest son," Song Rui introduced him.
"Oh, my," Qian Aiguo said, facing him. "He"s such a handsome boy." Song Sheng flushed, embarra.s.sed.
Song Rui then began to introduce his other children.
Behind Qian Aiguo, a girl with loose brown curls over her shoulders was hiding behind her mother. She was too shy to face them. Her mother knelt and picked her up. "This is the Song family; they are nothing like those rich girls from your cla.s.s that pick on you, all right?"
Qian Meigui nodded. When she was let down, she held the hem of her skirt; her cheeks blushed red.
Song Ren approached her swiftly, grasping her fingers. "My name is Song Ren. Let"s be friends!" She said. Qian Meigui smiled; they then went to depart and went to play together.
Song Sheng was older than his siblings, so naturally, he went to play some video games instead.
Soon after, Qian Meigui had snuck into his room and sat on the edge of his bed next to him. He looked at her, confused. She took a remote and began to play with him.
Song Sheng chuckled. "I won"t go soft just because you"re younger than me," he said.
Qian Meigui gave him a sheepish smile. "Don"t," she said.
Just who was this girl? Song, Sheng thought.
After a few rounds of the game, there were some losses and wins, but Qian Meigui never cried or whined if she lost.
"You"re a disciplined child. Did you know that?" Song Sheng asked her.
"That"s what my mother tells me," she responded softly.
Soon after, Song Ren had barged into his room. "Xiao Mei! I found you!" Song Ren joined and sat with them.
"Brother, can we paint your nails, please? Mei and I are bored."
"What???" Song Sheng asked.
Song Ren begged, and Qian Meigui pouted at him, and he felt defeated. She was really an adorable kid.
"Fine," he said.
Song Ren left and returned with black nail polish. They then placed it on his toes and fingernails.
Qian Meigui was right next to him when she grabbed his face with her stubby hands, looking into his eyes directly. "Gold. Pretty," she said. Song Sheng flushed; he always felt embarra.s.sed whenever people gave him compliments. He was terrible at handling them.
"Hey Mei, do I have pretty eyes too?" Song Ren said, lifting up her eye-lids like a zombie. It made Qian Meigui laugh.
As the evening went on, Song Sheng realized that Qian Meigui was sleeping, resting on his thigh. He wondered. Why did this girl trust him? Why was she so comfortable around him like they"ve known each other for days when it had only been a span of five hours.
Song Ren was sleeping next to Qian Meigui, and Song Sheng chuckled at them.
Soon after Qian Aiguo had come into the room, smiling warmly. She approached Song Sheng to pick up Qian Meigui, but before she did, Qian Aiguo said, "She likes you a lot."
Song Sheng didn"t say anything.
"She"s timid with people. It would take days for her to approach anyone. Mei has to build up familiarity to delve the courage to say or do anything with them. But to you, and your sister, she wasn"t like that at all."
Song Sheng smiled.
"You"re a good boy," she continued. "I hope you could continue to treat her this well."
Qian Aiguo then lifted her daughter from his lap and left. Weeks after, he wondered if their family would ever visit again, he waited, but they never did.
Song Sheng tried to explain to Qian Meigui about how they first met the best as he could, but everything was only in fragments.
When he faced his wife, she was looking at him, crying. Song Sheng felt nervous, so he reached out to wipe her moist cheeks. She leaned into his hand, kissing his palm. "Thank you," she said to him.
He knew why she was thanking him, but he felt more grateful at the fact that he had her.