Cold Water

Part 15 - Smile on Your Face

"Didi" the younger one said in a sleepy tone. He already yawned several times since Zhan began to carry him.

"Didi? Nothing else?"

"Um, no" The younger one rested his head on Zhan's small shoulder.

"How old are you?"

"Six years"

"Then we have an age gap of six years, so you have to call me gege. Okay?" Zhan said happily.

"Ge... Ge..." The younger one murmured but Zhan can still hear it. After that, there was a soft snoring from his lips.

Zhan just smiled at the snoring from his back, he thought the boy was very funny in everything. His attitude, round face and very small body. Even the sound of his snoring is very funny and cute in his ears. He had never seen a child as funny as this, because indeed most of the people in his neighborhood were more of the same age or older than him. If there is a smaller one, it's still a baby.

Along the way to his home Zhan's face is radiant. Once in front of the door of his house, he knocked on the door of the house slowly and knocked on the bamboo beside the door four times. Shortly after that the door opened revealing a woman with a pretty face and ponytail. The woman is in her 30s. A smile graced his face when she saw Zhan had come. But upon seeing a child on his back, the woman's eyes narrowed in confusion.

'Who is he?' The woman moved her hands.

'Didi. I found him in the park. I think his parents accidentally left him behind' Zhan moved his hands too.

The woman smiled again, then told Zhan to enter.

Zhan put the child carefully on his bed not far from the entrance of his house. The house happened to be indeed not too big, with two rooms, one bathroom while the rest was for the kitchen and living room.

"Do I have to wake him for dinner, Mom?" Zhan asked as he entered the kitchen.

'Just wake him gently. It is not good to sleep with a hungry stomach. I prepared the lotus root soup knowing you like it.' Zhan's mother moved her hands.

She is not mute since birth, she can still hear and understand someone's words from the voice.

"Alright mom, Zhanzhan will wake him up" .

Zhan tried to wake him carefully. His small hands shake the body of a child much smaller than him slowly.

"Didi, let's eat. Get up for a minute"

Didi slowly opens his eyes.

"I'm sleepy"

"Just a moment, okay? Let me carry if you don't want to walk"

Didi just nodded. And Zhan immediately carried him on his back.

Zhan's mother who saw both of them smiled sweetly. She handed Zhan a bowl of lotus root soup.

"I'll eat in the same bowl with him, Mom. I don't think he can finish the whole bowl"

Zhan made Didi sit, while Didi immediately opened his eyes wide when he smelled a delicious aroma entering his nose.

The three of them ate well. Then Zhan's mother asked Zhan to ask Didi's name.

"He said his name was Didi, Mom."

Zhan said innocently. His mother just smiled and told him to ask again. It's possible that when Zhan asked about his name before, he was sleepy.

"Didi, What is your name? My mother does not believe that your name is Didi"