Her smile gradually faded. She glared at him, her chest puffed up with anger!
"Say it again if you dare!"
She felt like biting him! Ugh—he didn't like her at all! How could he not be jealous, not even a little? This wasn't how it was supposed to go in the movies! He should be flustered and nervous, holding her tight and shouting, "No, no! You belong to me!"
She choked on her laughter at the imagined scene.
He patted her on the back, helping her catch her breath. Just moments ago, her eyes had been blazing with anger, and now she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. He shook his head with a chuckle, his smile like sunlight filtering through the leaves.
"You should be jealous!" She pouted again, glaring at him.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to date other boys!"
He laughed and cleared his throat.
"What's so funny? Stop laughing and be serious!" She continued to glare at him. "If you make me unhappy, I'll… I'll…" She picked up the half-eaten pudding and threatened him fiercely, "I won't let you have a single bite!"
He rubbed his nose, forcing a smile. "Oh." He really did like pudding.
"Come on, say it!"
"Because you won't, so I don't need to be jealous."
"No way! Why wouldn't I?"
He smiled faintly, his eyelashes casting soft shadows on his cheeks. "Because I like you."
"..."
"Because you like me too."
"..." Her fingers gripping the pudding suddenly felt soft and gentle.
"In this world, the person who likes you the most is me, and the person who likes me the most is you." He held her close, resting his face gently on the top of her head, sighing softly, "I know you like me, just like you know I like you."
The wind from outside drifted in.
He gently embraced her.
In that moment, she could only close her eyes in happiness, letting a blissful smile creep onto her lips.
But—
"What if I die?" She suddenly opened her eyes wide. "If I die, will you still like me?"
He sighed softly.
She anxiously clutched him, her brow furrowing.
"If I die, will you go and like someone else? I once saw a ridiculous poem that said after his wife died, he had to live even happier than when she was alive, getting happier by the day! It made me furious! And you know, in novels and on TV, they often show things like this—where the male lead loses his girlfriend or lover and then finds someone new, and that new couple pretends to say, 'If she knew, she'd be happy you found happiness and would bless us...' Nonsense! Absolute nonsense!"
She fixed her gaze on him:
"Young, let me tell you— I Will Not Be Happy!"
"Uh, okay." He found it both funny and frustrating.
"Even if I die, you can't like other girls, understand?" She gritted her teeth. "Just now you said you liked me the most, but that's not enough!"
"..."
"You can only like me! You can't like any other women!"
"What about my mom?"
"Don't sidetrack! If I die, you can't like any other girls, got it? Otherwise, I'll crawl out of the ground and become a ghost to scare you in the middle of the night! And I definitely won't bless you!"
"You," he chuckled, gently ruffling her short hair, the soft texture making her look like an adorable little hedgehog.
"Promise me!"
"Okay." He gazed at her. "I will only ever like you."
She smiled with satisfaction. "Me too."
"Don't. If I die first, remember to find a good boy to love you." His fingers lightly traced the smile on her lips. "Don't be sad, don't cry, don't only like me—be happy like you are now, because my Emily looks cutest when she smiles. Just remember, I'll bless you... as long as you occasionally think of me…"
"Why don't you just say to completely forget you? That would make you seem even more noble!" She pouted. "Always saying things like this makes me feel like a bad person while you're the perfect one. It's infuriating!"
He laughed. "I wouldn't want you to completely forget me. If you really did, I'd be sad. Just keep me in a little corner of your heart, the tiniest corner, and I'll be happy."
"Of course not!" She proudly continued eating her pudding.
"You won't die! You'll definitely die after me," she said, hesitantly looking at the not-so-full cup of pudding, debating whether to share a bit with him. "Because you wouldn't want to leave me behind; you wouldn't be able to rest easy knowing who would take care of me… so, here, you can have a little bit of pudding…"
The wind outside fluttered the sheer curtains.
She carefully brought the pudding to his lips.
"Just a little bit…"
…