If one asked Ru was she trying to eavesdrop here, her answer would be, "No way! They are sharing such a sweet and heart-warming moment if I’ll try to leave, it’ll ruin such an emotional scene." And yes! She would be lying!
Being the person who was titled as a shadow, she had many ways to make her existence concealed while leaving them alone and yet, she chose to stay hidden in the dark corner. Although she was quite far from Xiao Zhi-Ren and Ji Caihong, she could still hear them from her current position because of her over-sensitive ears.
Her ears were sensitive than normal humans since she was trained to fight with blindfolds and also, there was a time in her life when only sounds were her companions while there was no light in her life.
As Ji Caihong’s sniffling sound lightened up a bit, Xiao Zhi-Ren pushed her hair away from her face and asked, "Why are you crying like this?" She stayed quiet not answering while she kept looking at Xiao Zhi-Ren with her bloodshot eyes. "Aren’t you even gonna tell your Zhi-Ren Ge-Ge?"
"Ge-Ge," she tried to speak and choked on her emotions.
"Yes, little sister," Xiao Zhi-Ren encouraged her as he rubbed her back.
"He said, you can’t be my brother. He won’t allow it." Ji Caihong spoke in a bit hoarse voice.
"Who said it?" Xiao Zhi-Ren was scowling.
"Zhi-Yuan... He hates me, Ge-Ge." Xiao Zhi-Ren figured what must have happened. When he found Ji Caihong crying hysterically in the hallways, he didn’t think that Xiao Zhi-Yuan would have also met her. He stood up and sat beside her on the bench.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulled her closer and said, "I told you to ignore Xiao Zhi-Yuan’s words. He’s still a kid. And he doesn’t hate you, he just doesn’t know you yet." He was coaxing her gently while Ru was nodding her head agreeing with him silently. Even she believed that Xiao Zhi-Yuan was a kid who couldn’t even define love in a proper way much less talk about what hate is.
Ji Caihong placed her head on his shoulder saying, "But Ge-Ge, he doesn’t even want to look at me. I just want a little brother." Hearing her such a sad voice, even Ru couldn’t help but feel pity for her.
Xiao Zhi-Ren stroked her arm up and down saying, "Stop thinking about his words and if he spoke rudely to you again, deliver an open-handed slap straight to his face."
Ji Caihong gasped as she lifted her head to look straight at Xiao Zhi-Ren. "How can I do that, Ge-Ge?"
Xiao Zhi-Ren pinched her small nose finding her adorable for such a reaction and said, "Why not? You’re 7 years older than him. It’s your right to teach him a lesson if he does something wrong." He caressed her cheek softly and added, "If you won’t even accept your own right, how will you make him realize that you’re his elder sister and not a joke?"
While Xiao Zhi-Ren was looking at Ji Caihong for a response, Ru was again nodding her head as a thought invaded into his mind, ’Why do I feel like I’m listening to myself?’ At this strange thought, she cringed a bit. But she couldn’t deny the fact that until now, whatever Xiao Zhi-Ren said was what she would have said herself. His thoughts were aligned with her mind and Ru had never met someone who could remind her of her own self before. ’You’re even more intriguing than I originally thought, Mr. Xiao...’ She half-smiled to herself and waited for Ji Caihong’s answer.
Ji Caihong was in a dilemma. "But Ge-Ge, he doesn’t even want to accept that we have the same father. How will he accept me as his sister?"
Xiao Zhi-Ren stiffened a bit but he composed himself immediately as he asked, "When you were young, did I held you in my arms because we shared the same father?"
Ji Caihong shook her head and said, "When we were young, we didn’t even know that we have the same father."
Xiao Zhi-Ren patted her head. "Exactly, my cute little sister. The more you’ll remind him about us sharing the same father, the more he’ll run away from you. Don’t use your blood relation to get close to him, use your innocent personality to win him over." Ji Caihong contemplated his words while Ru got more curious.
’Although I’m not supposed to think about this, I can’t help myself. So, they were very close when they were young but parted away for years.’ She looked at Xiao Zhi-Ren and saw his affectionate gaze for Ji Caihong while hers held an extreme sense of dependence, love, and respect. ’It seems the years of separation couldn’t change their relationship.’ And Ru wasn’t wrong; the years apart only increased their love and care for each other.
"Okay, I’ll do whatever Ge-Ge says." Ji Caihong agreed to listen to Xiao Zhi-Ren’s advice. She needed her little brother at any cost and for that, if she had to become a bit stern with him, she’ll do it!
"That’s like my sister. Now, give me a smile, my Xiao Hong." Ji Caihong’s pinkish lips had just curled into a beautiful smile when the pair of sibling heard someone’s laugh startling them.
They both stood up and walked towards the dark corner. "Mr. Xie?" Xiao Zhi-Ren said in disbelief. ’Why him of all people?’ He was thinking inwardly.
Ru looked at their questioning looks and tried to control her laughter. "I wasn’t eavesdropping." Xiao Zhi-Ren gave her a pointed look, obviously not believing a word and Ru rolled her eyes saying, "Okay, fine. I did eavesdrop. But it wasn’t intentional. I came here first. So, technically it’s your own fault." As always, Ru shirked all the insinuations smoothly.
"Whatever. Why did you laugh?" That was what he was really curious about. He certainly didn’t say any joke or did he?
"Oh, that?" Ru chuckled again a bit as she said, "You called her Xiao Hong and that reminded me of the little cute pet I had when I was young."
"Was it a cute kitten?" Ji Caihong asked as her eyes were stuck on Ru’s green eyes that were the only thing she could clearly see in the dim lights.
"Nope." Ru shook her head.
"Was it a puppy?" Ji Caihong asked again.
"Nope." Ru shook her head again and Xiao Zhi-Ren had a foreboding that Ru’s answer would be just like herself; weird and peculiar. Ru definitely didn’t disappoint him as she said, "It was Blue Krait[1] but I named it Xiao Hong[2] just for fun." Her expressions abruptly turned solemn as she added, "But now if I think about it, it wasn’t funny at all." The last statement was for her own self.
[1] "Blue Krait": One of the deadliest snakes in the world.
[2] "Xiao Hong": Little Red... She actually named a blue snake red just for the fun of it.