"This is my phone number." Yukino Yukinoshita sent her number to Dong Yunshan by email. "If she wakes up and asks for me, you can..."
Yukino stopped halfway through and gently shook her head. "Never mind. Learning to accept separation is part of growing up."
"This is my phone number." Dong Yunshan sent her his number, too. "Contact me anytime if you need help."
"Mm." Yukino agreed, took one last look at Dong Yunxi, and left Dong Yunshan's home.
Dong Yunshan tidied up the toys, put the clean baby bottle in the sterilizer, prepared ingredients for Dong Yunxi's midday solid food according to the plan, and decided what games they would play that afternoon.
After a quick warm-up, while Dong Yunxi was still asleep, Dong Yunshan began his daily workout.
Once he'd finished his training, he stretched, took a shower, changed into fresh clothes, grabbed ingredients from the fridge, and went into the kitchen.
Boiled chicken breast, boiled broccoli, boiled asparagus, boiled mixed vegetables, some seasoning, and a big bowl of rice—all dumped into a large bowl, ready to wolf down...
Strange.
Dong Yunshan struggled to swallow the food in his mouth.
Had this stuff always tasted so bad?
Staring at the chicken breast in his bowl, Dong Yunshan muttered, "I should've marinated it first."
It was too late to marinate it now.
He'd do it next time.
As for this bowl...
Dong Yunshan chewed slowly, eating it bit by bit, nowhere near as ravenously as he had in the past.
It tasted bad, but he could still eat it.
Just a little slower than usual.
But that was fine.
One should chew slowly and thoroughly.
Dong Yunshan had moved lunch earlier on purpose. By the time he finished and tidied up, Dong Yunxi woke up.
Following the plan, he played with Dong Yunxi for a while, fed her some solid food, then gave her a little milk.
Then they played a little longer before he soothed her to sleep.
After her nap, he took Dong Yunxi out in the stroller for a walk.
When they got home, Dong Yunxi dozed off again for a little while.
Dong Yunshan used that time to marinate the chicken breast.
When Dong Yunxi woke, he played with her for a while, then made dinner.
After dinner, he fed Dong Yunxi, burped her, bathed her, and soothed her to sleep.
He cleaned the house, put away the toys, gathered the shirts that had dried, then went to bed.
At three in the morning, he got up to feed her. Holding Dong Yunxi, Dong Yunshan gazed out at the pitch-black night.
Wait... Had the whole day really gone by just like that?
Yukino opened her eyes and looked toward the side of the bed.
She stared at the familiar wall for a moment, then turned to look the other way.
"Xi..." Yukino parted her lips, only then coming out of her groggy, just-awakened daze.
She was home.
Xixi was home, too.
She sat up, feeling a hollow ache, and took a moment to collect herself. Then she got out of bed, walked into the living room, and turned on the side lamp.
Her gaze instinctively went to the sofa.
Empty.
She poured herself a glass of water and took a sip. It was a little cold.
She put the kettle on, and as she waited, Yukino turned her eyes to the dark outside the window.
By now, Xixi should have woken up.
She wondered if Xixi had cried. If she'd been fed, she should have been given some milk, and her drool wiped away, but not too roughly...
Whoosh~
The kettle's soft whistle interrupted Yukino's thoughts.
There was no need to think about that.
Yukino gently shook her head.
Dong Yunshan was there with her.
Volume 3: Spring Break After Finals — Chapter 86: I Just Missed You
After breakfast, Yukino brewed a pot of black tea, turned on the TV, and picked out a movie.
After the movie, she'd tidy up, read for a while, then make lunch... Yukino had planned out what she would do afterward, and settled down to watch the movie.
Huh?
Where was her phone?
Yukino walked around the room twice with her phone in hand, then stopped and looked at the phone she was holding.
She'd put it on the coffee table.
She went back to watch the mov...
It might get splashed with tea there.
With that thought, Yukino put her phone on the sofa instead.
Right, she also had sweets to go with the tea.
When she came back with the sweets, she spotted her phone on the sofa and worried it might get sat on, so she picked it up and set it on the coffee table, away from the teapot.
Yukino took a sip of tea, then shifted her gaze from the TV to her phone again.
That spot... It looked like it might get knocked onto the floor by accident.
She pushed the phone farther in, making sure it was well away from the edge of the coffee table and still within her sight.
The movie she'd picked today was a little dull, but she'd already started watching it, so Yukino had no intention of giving up halfway through.
An engaging movie could draw her in and hold her attention; even a dull one had its own appeal. She could step back and consider the director and screenwriter's intentions through the way the plot had been arranged.
A movie built around close-up shots.
Yukino breathed in the aroma of the tea and came to her conclusion.
Put simply, the director had thought up a few really cool shots, then made a movie to string them together.
The strength was that the director's carefully designed close-ups left a deep impression; the weakness was that the transitions in between were so clumsy that they even detracted from the impact of the key shots.
Once she'd realized that, there was no need to pay too much attention to the scenes in between. Watching closely what the director hadn't put much effort into was a waste—and a cruel one, at that.
Her phone screen lit up. Yukino picked it up and saw an email notification pop up.
FROM: ☆★Yui★☆
[Little Yukino~(＃^.^＃)~What are you up to?]
Yukino sighed softly and replied, [Watching a movie.]
She didn't put down her phone. Knowing Yui, it would take no more than three seconds... Ding-dong.
☆★Yui★☆: [Am I bothering you? o(╥﹏╥)o]
Yukino: [It's fine. The movie is boring.]
☆★Yui★☆: [Are you free this afternoon? Let's go shopping together! ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ]
Yukino didn't have anything planned for the afternoon, at least not yet. She'd only made plans for the morning.
But...
Yukino: [I'm not sure if I'll be free this afternoon. Another day.]
☆★Yui★☆: [Then it's a date! (^o^)/]
Yukino: [Mm.]
When the movie ended, Yukino put down her phone and started tidying up.
Oh, right. She hadn't done laundry after getting home yesterday.
She'd meant to do it as soon as she got back, but afterward, she just hadn't been able to bring herself to.
The past couple of days must have worn her out.
It had only been two days, but Yukino felt as if she'd been busy for a whole week.
Yesterday's clothes... and the pajamas Dong Yunshan bought needed washing, too.
Yukino always washed new clothes before wearing them.
She took the box out of the shopping bag and opened it... Empty.
Yukino froze, her delicate brows knitting together. She raised a hand and touched her chin with a curled finger, and the memory came back to her.
Yesterday, in the early hours of the morning, after they'd finished the cake, she'd used a new toothbrush from Dong Yunshan's house to brush her teeth. After making sure Dong Yunshan had brushed his teeth, too, Yukino took the shopping bag into his bedroom.
Just as she was doing now, she'd taken out the box and opened it, then pulled out the nightdress to look at it.
Because she always washed new clothes before wearing them, Yukino hadn't intended to put it on. She'd planned to look at it, then put it away.
But the bedroom light was on, and Dong Yunxi had just finished feeding. Her stomach was a little gassy, and she woke up again.
Yukino set down the nightdress and turned off the light, then burped little Xixi and rubbed her tummy. It took quite a while to soothe her back to sleep.
Then, feeling around in the dark, Yukino put the lid back on the box and placed it in the shopping bag.
She'd thought she put the nightdress back in the box, but clearly she hadn't.
It might have slipped between the crib and the big bed and fallen underneath. That would explain why she hadn't noticed it while making the bed that morning.
Should she email Dong Yunshan to ask... or call him?
Yukino called Dong Yunshan. It took a while for him to answer.
"This is Dong Yunshan." His voice came through the phone. "I'm not taking any requests right now, and I'm a little busy. We can talk about it later."
Over his voice came the sound of the baby wailing.
Yukino's delicate brows furrowed, and her voice turned cold. "What's wrong with Xixi?"
"Yukinoshita? Xixi, she..." Dong Yunshan paused. "It's nothing. I'll soothe her in a minute..."
Yukino: "Answer my question."
"It's really nothing..." Before Dong Yunshan could finish, the call ended.
Dong Yunshan put down his phone and helplessly picked up a toy, giving it a gentle wave in front of Dong Yunxi. "Be good, Xixi~ Don't cry. How about we play a game?"
"Waaah!" Dong Yunxi cried as she pushed the toy away.
That meant she didn't want it.
"So this is what it means to apply what you've learned." Dong Yunshan switched to another toy and gave it a gentle flick. The top spun. "How about this one?"
Dong Yunxi's crying softened, and she reached out and grabbed the spinning top.
Then she held it and cried.
Dong Yunshan tried several more toys. At his wits' end, he offered Dong Yunxi a ribbon, and little Xixi finally stopped crying.
He'd barely breathed a sigh of relief when the doorbell rang.
Even through the door, he could already feel the bone-chilling cold.
He opened the door and saw Yukino, her face frosty.
She shoved the bag in her hand into Dong Yunshan's arms, then changed into slippers without waiting for him and strode into the living room, straight to Dong Yunxi.
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