章 15: Innocent Stare
"Oh hello…um...are you okay?"
Shen Ru spoke up first staring at the little boy who looked no less than five,
He didn't reply.
Rather, he seemed more interested in Liling, he stood at the side of her desk staring innocently at her.
She recognised him as the little boy from two weeks ago at the cafeteria.
'He must be one of the executive's children', she thought, it made sense seeing as there was an executive meeting happening that day,
As she leaned in slowly, she extended her arm to gently caress his hair. Before making contact, she softly asked, "May I?" His response was a single nod.
She gently tousled his hair with a soft smile on her face, 'soft' she mused, it reminded her of her brother's unruly mop he called hair.
"Are you okay?"
Another nod, but this time there was a gentle expression on his baby-like features, a smile on his small pink lips.
Without warning, he turned around and ran out.
The two women looked at each other confused, maybe he had gotten lost on the way to his parents,
She felt a soft twinge in her chest at the thought, but couldn't understand why and decided to focus on her work.
Shen Ru reluctantly followed suit asking herself why she had made friends with such an antisocial person.
But less than 5 minutes went by, and the faint knock was heard again.
Their little visitor had returned. He was let in again, but this time he was holding a tablet. Once again he ignored Shen Ru treating her equivalent to dust, and made a beeline to Liling's desk
He stood at the front of her desk and turned his tablet around so she could read what he had written,
"Qiang" she read, so that was his name.
The smile reappeared on her face, transforming her expression into one of warmth. Then, she began to ask him questions.
"Are you lost?" - head shake.
"Would you like me to take you back"- head shake
"Do you... want to stay here?"-Nod
"Well then, you can stay here for as long as you like"
He returned her smile, walked to the couch, and then sat cross-legged on it as it began to draw.
She observed his childlike concentration and felt her heart practically melt. Then making the conscious decision to return to the task at hand, she did.
The minutes seemed to fly by, and soon it was already 1:38
Shen Ru was back to whining and Liling scoffed in annoyance, even the child in the room was more mature than her.
She 'shushed' Shen Ru then stood up and went to Qiang's Side,
"Do you wanna come to the cafeteria with me?"
He responded with an enthusiastic nod and hopped off the couch tablet in one hand, he took Liling's hand with the other, and they proceeded to the cafeteria leaving an indignant Shen Ru behind.
******************************
The last streaks of relentless sunlight gave way to evening, and the hands of the wall clock finally ticked towards the 6:00 mark. It was time to pack up for the day.
Qiang had already left and Liling couldn't deny the sadness that had accompanied his departure, she didn't know when next she would get to see him.
The sound of hushed voices from behind the door grew louder, and she could easily guess who was responsible without even needing to check.
Well, there went the normalcy in her life, he had effectively ripped it out and thrown it out the window,
With a sharp inhale, she straightened her back and stood up.
This time, she would open the door and see what he wanted.
Before he even had the chance to knock, he watched the door open revealing a stoic-faced Liling.
Ignoring the curious gazes from her colleagues, she looked straight at him and asked, "What is it this time?"
He gave his usual charismatic chuckle, "I just wanted to pick you up"
Liling stopped listening and was now concentrated on the little figure standing beside him,
She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him there yet again. "Little Bun, what brings you back here?" she asked playfully, remembering the nickname she had given him due to his fondness for lotus paste buns.
It suddenly clicked in her head.
'Wait a minute'
She stared at Little Bun, then back at Li Hao
"Wait is he your son?"
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Hi guys
Your author here,
First I wanna apologize for not uploading continuously, I'm really sorry
I'm going to start trying my hardest to upload more frequently, so I came up with an updating schedule,
I'll be uploading 2 chapters every Wednesday and Friday, and 1 chapter every Sunday all at 9:30 UTC+8
I can only do it at this time cause I'm free
If for some reason Ii can not meet up, I will inform you guys prior.
Thanks for reading :)
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