As usual, Lin Miao woke up at dawn for her daily morning run. She quietly dressed herself in her sneakers and sportswear.
She was the type who would exercise consistently no matter what.
Going down, she found the Young Master waiting for her!
He was also wearing sports clothing. He waved to her, “Come, let’s run together.”
So the two ran side by side in the park. Lin Miao also devoted herself to a set of radio calisthenics.
She didn’t bring her phone, but she had already memorized the routine without the audio.
The robotic and stiff actions gave off a cute sensation when Lin Miao performed them.
She insisted on following the radio calisthenics. She said that it could make her more agile, and in the case of her slipping mid-game, it would increase her chances of preventing herself from falling.
The Young Master took her claims with a grain of salt, but still watched her finish with a smile.
After they finished exercising, the two headed down to the lake and slowly walked along the shore.
Of course, Lin Miao then invited the Young Master to breakfast.
Everyone in Lin Miao’s family was awake by the time they returned.
The Young Master used to eat breakfast with Lin Miao’s family all the time, especially when he was around 10.
Lin Miao was already in her sports school then, but she didn’t have as many tournaments to participate in, and had many more days off. The Young Master would join her for meals whenever she had time to return home.
On other occasions, he would “kidnap” her to his house, so Lin Miao’s family was already used to this.
However, Lin Miao had now been in the national team for the past year. She participated in many international tournaments, so the time she spent at home decreased accordingly. With it, the amount of visits the Young Master paid also declined.
Now that he came again, everyone still treated him like how they did before.
It was Little Ling’s second time seeing Lin Miao’s older brother. She was quite surprised to see him, as he was a total stranger to her. She acted a bit more timidly, remaining quiet most of the time at the breakfast table.
The Young Master had to go back after breakfast. Lin Miao accompanied him down to her apartment, holding his hand. After she came back, her mother called her into a room.
It was strange to her—her mother rarely spoke to her privately.
In the room, her mother stroked Lin Miao’s short hair. She had kept her hair this way since she was 9 to make badminton practice easier.
Lin Miao’s mother always felt quite unfortunate.
“Mommy, what?” Lin Miao was a bit surprised. Judging by her mother’s expressions, she seemed to have something important to tell her.
“Shuishui, you have a really good relationship with your older brother, right?” Lin Miao’s mother was thinking about how to explain the thing she was about to tell her.
After all, her relationship with the Young Master was pretty complicated.
Now that they have grown up, the two kids can’t treat each other the way they used to.
Her mother had asked if her relationship was good with the Young Master, so Lin Miao nodded.
“But, now that Shuishui has grown into a big girl, Shuishui can’t hug and hold her older brother’s hand whenever you want, okay?”
It was a difficult topic to talk about, because most of Lin Miao’s days were spent in the team, or in her school.
It was pretty normal for little kids to be intimate, but what would other people think now that they’re teenagers, and especially after the Young Master gets a girlfriend? How would they explain the hugging and pulling between Lin Miao and the Young Master? If it spreads online, the one who suffers the most would undoubtedly be Lin Miao.
Even though one shouldn’t live only for reputation, reality says otherwise.
Lin Miao’s mother sighed in her mind. She trusted the Young Master, since she had watched him grow up as well, but he wasn’t related to Lin Miao, so there had to be a limit to their intimacy.
Everyone needed to grow up eventually.
She wanted to tell this to Lin Miao long ago, but she always thought Lin Miao was still young, so it was delayable.
But now, any more would be too late.
Lin Miao’s mother told all of this to Lin Miao in a serious manner. Looking at her still naive eyes, she added, “Don’t worry, Shuishui, you’ll find someone closer to you in the future.”
“But that won’t be Gege,” Lin Miao didn’t understand why she couldn’t be so close with the Young Master anymore.
“Mommy isn’t saying that you can’t contact Gege anymore. Mommy is saying that you’re a big girl, so you can’t hold hands and hug Gege, okay? This also applies to other boys, you can’t act so intimate, especially when they have girlfriends. Mommy knows that your intentions are simple, but others may not think the same.” She thought that they would naturally distance themselves as they grew up and learned about romantic relationships more.
But they didn’t. The two were as chummy as ever.
Lin Miao felt a bit uncomfortable. She asked her mother quietly, “I won’t be like this to other boys, can I just stay like this with Gege?”
Lin Miao’s mother hugged her, “Behave well, Shuishui.”
Lin Miao responded with an “Oh.”
Since today was the mid-autumn festival, Lin Miao’s mother cooked a tableful of dishes for lunch, overwhelming Lin Miao.
After lunch, she returned to her room to read with Little Ling.
Seeing her sad face, Little Ling asked, “What’s wrong, Shuishui?”
Lin Miao sighed, lying on her table, “Very complicated things.”
Suddenly, her phone rang.
Lin Miao pulled it towards her, seeing a notification for a message from the Young Master: “Happy mid-autumn festival Shuishui!”
They had already met this morning.
Lin Miao replied: “You too Gege!”
Energy suddenly surged through Lin Miao. She realized that her mother only said that she wasn’t allowed to hug and hold hands with the Young Master in the future, but not today!
Picking up her phone, she quickly typed another message to the Young Master: “Gege, are you free this afternoon? Let’s go out together to play!”
He soon replied: “Yeah, what do you want to do?”
“Anything, as long as I get to see Gege!” Lin Miao responded instantly.
The teenager on the other side’s ears reddened upon seeing the message. He then moved to tell his parents and left right away!
Lin Miao changed into another dress, and then told her mother outside her room, “Mommy, I have something to do outside.”
Then, she lowered her head, her face red, adding on, “Little sister Jing asked me to play badminton with her.”
Lin Miao’s mother looked at her daughter in a dress: “…”
Before she could comment, Lin Miao herself couldn’t hold it back anymore, “Mommy, I lied. I want to go out to play with Gege. You said in the future, which excludes today.”
Looking back at her mother, Lin Miao continued, “Mommy, I want to say goodbye to my childish self.”
Lin Miao’s mother sighed, “Come.”
Lin Miao trotted beside her mother.
Her mother gently stroked her hair. “Remember what mommy said, and return earlier this time.”
Lin Miao hugged her mother tightly, “Of course! I’ll be a big girl starting tomorrow!”
Lin Miao’s mother: “...”
She always felt that her daughter was slower to others her age.
She’s had this feeling since Lin Miao was little.
At fourteen, she herself had already begun planning out her life.
Reflecting upon this now, she could almost be described as devious. She had already understood how to make her loved one empathize with her hardships then.
She didn’t hide a single bit of her difficulties in a family biased towards boys, and she vented it all on her childhood crush.
How can pure and decent men possibly come out of that place, under that sort of influence?
Now, Lin Miao was fifteen, but acted more like an undeveloped little girl.
But she was her child, so she could only hope that Lin Miao would change when she understands this in the next few years.
Looking at the back of her daughter, who enthusiastically left the apartment, she felt the situation wasn’t looking very good.
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