“I was nine when my mom locked me up in the storeroom for two straight days.”

Yichan’s body turned stiff and he tightened his grip around her. ​​

Keeping quiet for quite some time, Ning clutched onto his shirt and started narrating the most heart wrenching incident of her life.

“My younger sister and I were playing in the garden and got into a fight. My younger sister pushed me and I ended up hitting my head on the wall. When my sister saw blood oozing out of my head, she panicked and ran away but ended up falling on the ground and scratched her knees. When my mom heard my sister crying holding her bleeding knees, she assumed that I was the one who pushed her. She slapped me twice before holding my neck and dragged me towards our underground storeroom where no one entered. There was no electricity connection in that room and it was pitch dark as it did not even have a window. She shoved me inside and locked me up and-” choking mid-way, Ning sobbed for her while with her head buried on Yichan’s chest.

After some time, Ning took a few deep breaths and continued, “I screamed and yelled until my throat felt dry. I kept on banging at the door but no one opened it. My head was hurting a lot and I started feeling dizzy. I could feel blood dripping down my face. I tried to stop it by pressing my hands against it but it didn’t stop. I tried looking around but saw nothing, it was dark. I felt so scared so scared that I-”

Yichan could feel the moist on his chest. He knew she was crying and his heart ached for her. Her sobs were like a stab in his heart.

“I don’t remember what happened after that, maybe I passed out. When I woke up, I was in the hospital with my grandpa. I tried to look for my parents but they were not present. From that day onwards, my grandpa took me with him. I started staying with him and used to visit my parents every weekend. The maids told me that I was found in the storeroom by my grandpa when he came back from his business trip after two days. My grandpa almost killed my mom when he found me in that condition. And you know what she said?”

Ning mockingly smiled and answered, “She said that she forgot that I was there. You know Yichan, she didn’t even notice my bleeding forehead when she dragged me away. From that day onwards, my fear for darkness kept on increasing. My grandpa tried to help me to get rid of it but nothing worked.”

Pausing for a while, Ning asked, “Yichan you tell me, how can a mother do something like that? How could she forget about me? Did not seeing me for two straight days affect her? If not for my grandpa, I would’ve-”

Placing his hand on her mouth, Yichan stopped her from saying anything further. He regretted asking her about her past. He blamed himself for helping her reminisce such an awful memory. He was cursing himself for making her cry.

Pinning her down, Yichan pursed his lips and apologised, “I am sorry for forcing you to talk about it when you clearly didn’t want to. I swear I won’t bring up or force you to talk about things that you don’t want to.”

Wiping her tears away, Yichan pressed his forehead against hers, “I swear that I will always protect you and I’ll never let anyone hurt you in the future. I’ll brighten up your life and I’ll let any kind of unhappiness or darkness invade your life. I will be your light Ning.”

Looking into her eyes, Yichan firmly said, “I am willing to be your light forever.”

Kissing her forehead, Yichan moved towards her teary eyes.

“I don’t like it when you cry.” Yichan murmured before kissing her eyes.

Moving down, Yichan kissed her cheeks and the tip of her nose.

Stopping a few inches away from her lips, Yichan gulped in nervousness.

……