“Who are you?” The woman asked as she looked up and down at Siying. She didn’t know why he approached her.

Siying pursed his lips and lowered his head, feeling sad. “I am sorry, Aunty.”

“Huh?” She was confused.

“I asked you who you are. Why are you saying sorry?”

Siying clutched his pants. “Because I made you angry…sorry for bo-bo… bordering you…”

The woman rapidly blinked her eyes.

Bordering?

Oh…He means to say bothering…

Her lips couldn’t help but lift into a soft smile. “It is ‘bothering,’ not ‘bordering.'”

Siying looked up at her questioningly. “Bothe…Both…Bod…Bordering?”

Back to square one.

The woman shook her head. “No. Break it down into small parts. Bo-the-ring.”

“Bo…da…” Siying fumbled a bit in the pronunciation.

“No. It’s ‘the.'”

“Bo…the…ring.”

The woman nodded. “Correct. Now try to say it at once.”

“Bo…the…ring. Bothe..ring. Bothering.”

“Correct. Good work.”

Siying’s eyes sparkled. “Yay! I did it right! Yay! Yay!”

The woman’s heart shook for a moment by his delighted gaze and a bright smile. She felt something strange in her heart but couldn’t quite put a finger to it.

“Thank you for teaching me, Aunty!”

The woman nodded. “No problem. And no, you were not bothering me. I thought…it was somebody else. I am sorry for lashing out at you.”

“It’s okay!”

He was taken aback by her initial reaction, but his perception changed since she so nicely corrected and taught him the pronunciation.

“So, why did you call me?” Then her sight fell onto his messy laces, and she understood.

“Oh, you want help with your shoelaces?”

Siying sulked. “Yes. Mama showed it to me, but I forgot where goes where. But-but I can remember a lot of things!”

He felt embarrassed about forgetting how to tie shoelaces since they looked easy earlier when Xinyi did it. So, now he wanted to redeem himself.

“I remember math tables of two and three, and I know to say all things starting from all alphabets! I also draw good pictures after seeing them once!” His cheeks flushed as he fiddled with his fingers. “Maybe t-twice…but not more than two times!”

The woman finally burst into laughter. “You are so honest.”

She laughed for a long time.

“And it’s alright if you forgot about the shoelaces. No big deal. Come here. I will help you. Is it fine on my lap?”

“En!”

Siying obediently sat on her lap. She took his laces and slowly showed him the method to tie them.

“Done. Practice it, and you will learn it too.”

Siying furiously bobbed his head. “Thank you, Aunty! You are a really good Aunty! I like you!”

The woman stared at him. “…Is that so?”

“En!”

“I don’t think so…” she murmured.

“What?”

“Nothing. I need to leave now. You get going too.”

“Yes!”

Siying hopped down and ran off. But then he stopped and turned. He ran back to her.

“What is it? Anything else?”

“Yes. Aunty, can you please bend?”

The woman curiously bent towards him. Siying tiptoed and pecked on her cheek. “Thank you kiss!” And he laughed.

She touched her cheek in a daze and slightly trembled. This feeling felt foreign to her.

“Bye-bye, aunty! Will we meet again?”

The woman smiled. “I don’t know. Maybe or maybe not. It depends on fate.”

“Oh! Then I wish that fate meets us again.”

She chuckled. “It’s ‘Let fate make us meet again.'”

“Oh! Then let fate make us meet again,” Siying nodded.

“Sure.”

Siying waved his hand and left.

The woman stared at his retreating back for a long time with an unreadable expression on her face.

Then she heard the leaves rustle, and a man stepped slowly out. The woman didn’t react to his presence.

The man snickered. “Wow. Am I seeing things right? I never knew you were capable of behaving like that to a child so lovingly and patiently, considering how you treat your own daughter.”

She ignored him and asked, “Is her admission done? Can I leave?”

He said, “Don’t you feel you should be sending Chyou off? It’s her first day at school.”

She snickered. “Why? Aren’t you there for her? The father is enough. Like you said, I don’t love my own daughter. I am not needed, so I can pass, and frankly, I don’t want to bother with her. You could have done everything by yourself, but you wasted my time in bringing me here. You know that I have absolutely no interest in this farce.”

He chuckled. “Sharp tongue as always. But come on. It wasn’t a complete waste of time. I got to see your unbelievable side. You can actually behave normally with a child. This is breaking news. This is worth celebrating! You even laughed. When was the last time I even saw you smile? Hm… tough question.”

She ignored his sarcastic comments.

“How about showing at least one percent of that unbelievable side to Chyou?”

She raised her head and mockingly laughed. “Never.”

The woman got up and turned to leave. “Now, please. I have to go. You do whatever fatherly duties you got to do. Don’t include me into it.”

She walked away, but she heard him say, “We are the only family you have, Caihong.”

Caihong stopped and looked at him, narrowing her eyes. “And I reject this family, Xiaosi. I always had and I always will.”