The little boy hurriedly tried to explain himself.
"I wasn't crying."
The little boy opened his eyes wide.
He had cried yesterday, all right.
He couldn't help it...
But today, just now, he really hadn't cried.
"Oh."
The woman smiled and nodded.
She believed him without a second thought.
That, in turn, made the little boy a little unsure.
"You..."
The little boy pressed his lips together.
"You really believe me?"
Was she just humoring him?
"You said you weren't crying."
The woman's eyes curved with a smile.
"Why wouldn't I believe you?"
"And besides..."
Besides?
The little boy blinked.
The smile in the woman's eyes rippled outward like rings across a lake.
"I saw that you weren't crying."
Even if she didn't believe the little boy, she believed her own eyes.
Huh?
The little boy froze.
"Then why did you ask if I was crying?"
He was confused.
Hadn't she already seen that he wasn't crying?
A sly glint appeared in the woman's eyes.
"I was just looking for an excuse to strike up a conversation with you."
Oh...
The little boy felt a little embarrassed.
And a little happy.
So... was that really it?
The big sister liked him.
Just thinking about it made the corners of his mouth lift.
"So..."
The woman's voice grew gentler.
"If you weren't crying, why were you looking down like you were yesterday?"
"Are you unhappy?"
The little smile that had just appeared on the boy's face faded.
He lowered his head.
His foot scuffed at the ground.
Once... then again...
"...Big sister..."
A faint hint of a sob crept into the little boy's voice.
"Mm."
The woman copied the little boy, scuffing the ground with her foot, once and