"Why are you taking so long? Hurry up, we're about to miss the bus!" Yang Na, dressed in a blue school uniform, impatiently said to Li Huowang as he pushed open the door.
Seeing Sun Xiaoqin in an apron behind him, Yang Na flashed her a broad smile. "Hello, Auntie."
"Na Na, you're here waiting for our Huowang to go to school again? You'll be starting middle school next year, right? Will you still be going to the same school as our Huowang?"
"Mm, yes, Auntie."
"You know you're late, so why aren't you running already?" Li Huowang shoved her aside and thudded down the stairs. "Yang Erlang! Hurry up!"
"You dared to shove me!" Yang Na braced one hand against the stair railing, kicked hard off the steps with both feet, and whooshed down toward Li Huowang below.
Yang Na's entire body crashed heavily into Li Huowang's backpack from behind. As he staggered forward, she wrapped one arm tightly around his neck.
The two of them tussled and bickered all the way to the bus stop, barely catching the bus.
The moment they found seats, both of them let out a sigh of relief. In perfect unspoken coordination, they took things from their backpacks—one pulled out a game console, the other a romance novel.
As the bus swayed and jolted, the two sitting side by side sank into their own worlds.
But happy times were always short. When the bus reached the seventh stop, they reluctantly put their things away and prepared to get off.
"Oh wow, you actually cried? No way, you can cry from reading a book? Hahahaha!!"
With red-rimmed eyes, Yang Na hooked her right arm around Li Huowang's neck and expertly drove her raised right knee into his stomach. "What do you know? This novel