Before Dawn

When she was seven Zhai Yuxiao tugged up her backpack straps, tilted her head, and thrust her huge, toothy grin right in front of the little kid. “How old are you?” she asked. The child lowered their head and shyly ignored her. “This is the road in front of my house. If you don’t tell me how old you are, I won’t let you pass,” she threatened shamelessly. The child slowly held up five fingers. Zhai Yuxiao stared at those five lotus-root-like fingers, so delighted her eyes all but disappeared. It was the pure, heartfelt joy of a bona fide pretty-face enthusiast. True to her word, she immediately let the child pass, then hummed the nursery rhyme she’d learned the day before as she skipped downstairs. When she was seventeen As Zhai Yuxiao unlocked Lin Pu’s front door, she found him squatting in the bathroom, washing his underwear. “Why are you washing your undies so early in the morning?” she asked curiously from behind him. Lin Pu hastily pressed the underwear against the bottom of the basin. After a pause, he snapped, “Get out.” Zhai Yuxiao thought it over and solved the mystery at once. “Did you not shower last night?!” Lin Pu said nothing. Even the tips of his ears turned red. His silence was all the confirmation she needed. Disgustedly, Zhai Yuxiao drew out a long, “Eww...” Theme: Keep moving forward through life’s endless messes