Everyday Life with the 'New Neighbor'

Xu Chunhua had always been a reclusive artist who rarely left home.

Content to shut herself away in her own little world, she believed she had none of the intense worldly desires people talked about.

Until one day, her new "neighbor" knocked on her door with a homemade lunchbox.

Xiao Yuexin was a food lover. In her daily life, her only companions were Dudu at home and the quiet livestream where someone painted.

She thought the two of them would have little to do with each other beyond that.

Until she knocked on her "neighbor's" door and saw a red mole at the tip of the long, pale index finger of the cool, gloomy homeowner.

*

One day, while Xu Chunhua was brushing Dudu's fur, Xiao Yuexin asked, "What do you think Dudu should call you?"

Without thinking, she replied, "Meow?"

The girl across from her was instantly charmed by the utterly serious expression of the "big kitty," but still corrected her. "What should Dudu call you?"

Realizing she'd misunderstood, Xu Chunhua thought carefully for a moment. Considering the relationship between the two of them and the cat, she said, "Auntie..."

The moment the word left her lips, Xiao Yuexin could no longer hold back her fluttering heart. Gazing meaningfully into the young homeowner's eyes, she said, "No, Mom."

The owner wanted the child to call the person before her Mom.

And she herself wanted the person before her to be her life partner.

Dudu was a very cute, rather scatterbrained little troublemaker.

Even cute children could sometimes drive you crazy.

One day, as the two of them spent time together, the atmosphere grew increasingly warm and flirtatious.

Just as they drew closer, their lips almost touching,

Dudu clambered right into the arms of its two moms.

Its deep-blue, glassy eyes reflected the faintly flushed faces of the humans.

Not quite understanding what was happening, it tilted its head and meowed innocently.

Were they playing some kind of game where they licked each other's fur? Meow, meow!

*

Xu Chunhua had actually always kept a secret.

She could sense colorful glowing orbs around living things, each with some strange meaning. But ever since she got a new neighbor, something even stranger...

was the special glow that surrounded her new neighbor as she drew ever closer.

This, however, wasn't a secret.

*

Xiao Yuexin had actually always kept a secret, too.

She had first come across Xu Chunhua a long time ago.

Long before she found the artist's painting-only livestream, she knew the homeowner, Xu Chunhua.

After they became lovers...

this would no longer be a secret.

A sweet slice-of-life romance.

A world-weary, gloomy shut-in versus a naturally outgoing sweetheart.

Theme: Even when trapped in adversity, keep looking on the bright side.