2 EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO

Eighteen years ago…

The 7-year old girl is happily swaying her floral dress, and projecting herself playfully in front of the mirror, while her ponytailed-hair happily swayed along despite it being messy. She did it herself and she is super proud of her masterpiece. Her yellow dress looked elegant on her fair skin. Even though she's just a little girl, you could already see beauty within her. She looked neat and cute with her chubby cheeks.

"Liu Yang? Are you in your room? Come down for a moment," she heard her mother yelled from downstairs.

"Coming, Ma!"

Liu Yang ran downstairs as quickly as she can. "Yangyang! Be careful," her mother said worriedly.

"Sorry, Ma," she said with a grin on her face. She really looked cute that her Mom does not have the heart to scold her. All she could do is smile and pat her head.

"Did you tie this yourself?" her mother asked, referring to her ponytail.

"Hmm," she nodded while grinning enthusiastically. Her mother laughed and patted her head once again. "Why did you call me, Ma?" she asked.

"Me and your Dad are going to our conference now and your sister left earlier for school. We'll be leaving you with Nanny Zhang here." Mrs. Liu leaned closer and whispered, "She brought your Brother Wei with her so, that you will not be alone and have someone to play with. Behave yourself, okay?"

Her eyes lit up when she heard the name. Liu Yang gave her mother consecutive nods while grinning from ear to ear. "En!" she answered. Before sending them away, she gave them a big a hug.

She waited for them to get on the taxi and waved goodbye once again. When the car was out of her sight, she immediately ran off to their living room where her Brother Zhang Wei is sitting quietly on the sofa. She looked at Zhang Wei and said, "Brother Wei, let's go upstairs and play!" The boy blinked and nodded silently.

They were about to go upstairs when Nanny Zhang stopped them. "Yang, you can play with your Brother downstairs so I can supervise you two, and I can call your Brother Wei much easier whenever I need him."

Liu Yang pouted. "But my toys are upstairs."

When she saw how pitiful the young girl looks, Nanny Zhang sighed and admitted defeat. "Okay, you go ahead."

The little girl jumped with joy and started running upstairs, leaving Nanny Zhang smiling. "Hey, have your breakfast first!" she shouted. Liu Yang, who is already on the third flight of the stairs, paused and went back down again. She took the sandwich and the glass of milk then started running upstairs once again.

"Be careful!"

Nanny Zhang sighed, "Weiwei, take care of Yangyang for me. I'll be hanging the clothes back door, okay? Careful not to stir any trouble." She turned to her son. "Hey! I'm talking to you," she gave him a nudge when she did not hear a reply.

"Yeah, sure," Zhang Wei answered half-heartedly.

"Call me if you need anything." She yelled from downstairs but did not get a reply because he already turned his back on her.

Liu Yang's parents are both teachers in the same university while her sister is already in middle school. She is only in her 1st grade and the teachers in her school are having a retreat that day. Since her parents could not bring her to their conference, they asked Nanny Zhang to take care of her for a while.

Zhang Rou is their helper since she was a baby. She did their household chores: from cleaning the house, doing their laundry to making their meals every day – except on Saturdays and Sundays – starting from six o'clock in the morning till six o'clock in the evening. Even if it's tiring for her, she had to do it for her son, Zhang Wei. He is the same age as Liu Yang's sister, Liu Yan, but he had to stop going to school due to their financial problems. When Liu Yang's parents learned about this, they plan on helping Nanny Zhang on Zhang Wei's school expenses starting next school year. Nanny Zhang did not accept the offer but the Liu's insisted since Nanny Zhang is considered as a distant relative of Liu Yang's father.

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The two of them went to Liu Yang's room.

Zhang Wei looked around. The room not that spacious but it is big enough for Liu Yang.

Liu Yang started taking her toys out, tossing them off carelessly on the bed and floor.

Before entering, Zhang Wei stared at the door of the room beside Liu Yang's and clicked his tongue. Once inside Liu Yang's room, his eyes almost got blinded by how colorful it is. Then, his gaze landed on the little girl who is busy rummaging through her stuff. He pursed his lips and cleared his throat that it startled Liu Yang.

"Brother, come," she waved at him to sit on the bed.

Zhang Wei smiled. He turned to close the door and locked it before taking big strides towards Liu Yang.