In This Lifetime

4. Sweet Plum

After my emotional outburst, Lianlian left to go get ready for school.

I changed into my uniform and headed to the kitchen. I gasped at the sight before my eyes. Had it really been over 10 years since I last saw my family? I tried to hold back my tears and headed in.

"Lianlian, make me a bowl of porridge and congee" My eldest brother Chen Yang whined groggily as he prepared for his first nap of the day on the breakfast table.

"Yang-er, get your own food or don't eat." Ba ba said while his eyes not leaving the newspaper.

I heard Yang-gege groan causing me to laugh. Yang-gege was the silly one in our family. He would much rather play video games all day than go to work.

When Yang-gege heard me laugh, he smiled. "Fanfan, please get your favorite gege porridge please" he began to whine again.

Laughing while shaking my hand I headed towards the stove to get him a bowl.

I took a seat next to him and placed the bowl beside his head on the table.

"I knew you loved me the most!" Yang-gege exclaimed while sitting upright and patting my head. Then he placed a warm steam bun in my hand, "As a reward. I kept it warm for you." He said giving me a half-grin with his eyes still closed. Ah how I missed Yang-gege. I loved both my brothers, but Yang-gege was always my favorite. He would always get me my favorite snacks and always goofed around with me.

"Where's Lin-gege?" I asked noticing he wasn't at the table with us. Compared to Yang, Chonglin was much more serious. He didn't like joking around, especially not with Yang. One time when we were kids Yang made Lin-gege dress up as a girl so we wouldn't have to pay extra to get into a carnival. Since then it seemed like Lin had a permanent frown sewed onto his face.

"Where else? He probably ran off to say goodbye to his precious boa boa" Yang-gege said sarcastically while making gagging noises.

This made me giggle. I forgot all about Zhou Mo Chou. She was probably the only person who could make my robot of a brother feel. From what I remember, Lianlian told me they got married 4 years after I left home.

Lianlian sighed in front of me, "I'm so envious. Jiejie when will I fall in love?" Lianlian pouted her lips making me laugh.

"Lian-er! With beauty like yours, you will have all the boys in school courting you" Mama said pinching her cheeks.

"Lian-er, just focus on school. Let Ba ba and Ma ma worry about finding you a suitable husband." Ba ba said finally putting the newspaper down to eat. My parents were really too old fashioned. Even if Lianlian was a docile child she would never agree to an arranged marriage, especially if it was to someone she didn't like. Lianlian has always been picky whether it be with clothes, food or boys. She wanted the best of the best that were up to par with her standards. That's probably why in our past lives she never had boyfriends that lasted longer than 3 months and was never married.

Well that and the fact that she loved him.

We had known him for about 2 years and I began dating him during my last year of senior secondary school. It must've been around the time I found out I was pregnant when I noticed the looks.

Lianlian is the cutest when she blushes. She would always blush around him when the three of us were together. I loved bringing Lianlian on dates with us because that way she could taste the delicious food we were eating too instead of trying to use my minimal vocabulary to describe it. Saying "it was so good" can get old real quick. She always told me whenever I asked that she didn't want to go with us because she felt like a third wheel, but it wasn't like that for me. I loved having you there the most, especially when we ran out of things to talk about and she would fill the awkward silence with amusing nonsense.