Chapter 6 - Mister Dummy

The little girl steps out of the changing room, holding onto aunty Hong's hand. Her neatly combed hair was pinned behind her ears, revealing her beautiful large eyes. Her skin, though still a little bit lacking in color, looks much brighter than it did moments ago. Seeing Sun standing before her, she lets go of aunty Hong's hand and runs towards him.

"Mister! Mister! Look! A dress!" She yells enthusiastically, spinning around in front of him.

"You look beautiful," he says.

"And look! Aunty Hong picked out this one, and this one, and this one too! They're all so pretty!"

Although the clothes were plain and simple, they fit her very well. Seeing her happy face, Sun couldn't help but smile. He places his hand on her head, wrapping her in a sound barrier.

"How much do I owe you, aunty?"

"Nonsense! How can you ask me to put a price on that precious smile? Just bring her over sometimes so I can dress up the little princess. Put that money towards renting a room or school fees."

"School?" Sun asks.

"Yes! School! She looks to be six or so years old. You need to enroll her in school as soon as possible. It'd be a waste if a smart girl like her doesn't get a proper education."

Sun furrows his brows as he tries to wrap his head around all these expenses. Aunty Hong is right, she is a bright girl. But where is he going to get the money to pay for housing and school?

"Well, don't think about it too hard. Stressing about it won't do you any good right now. Just look into finding a room to rent. At the very least, you have to provide her with safety and security. School can wait, I'm sure she'll be fine even if she starts a year late. Oh, and give her a new name. I'm not sure what's going on in that poor girl's heart, but she looked like she was about to cry earlier when I asked her for her name."

Sun thanks aunty Hong for the advice. She pats him on the shoulder, turns to hug the little girl, and waves as they walk away.

***

Lia removes a batch of buns from the steamer and places another batch in. As she places the buns onto the counter, she sees Sun walking towards her.

"Where have you been, esteemed dummy? It's almost time to go collect orders."

She hands him the two beef buns he asked for earlier in the day. Sun takes the buns and places two coppers in her hand.

"Aunty steam bun, don't call Mister a dummy…"

Lia raises her brows as she looks for the owner of the soft voice. She looks back at Sun, finally noticing the little girl standing behind him. The girl peeks her head around his leg and makes eye contact with Lia. Her large bright eyes caught Lia off guard, causing her brain to race as she tries to make sense of the situation.

Little girl. Black eyes. Black hair. Pale skin. Sun...

"YOU HAVE A DAU-" Lia cuts herself off, covering her mouth with both hands. In a quieter voice, she rephrases her thoughts. "Sun… Who is that?"

Sun scratches his head. He had already explained it once to aunty Hong. He even thought about how he would best explain the situation while walking over. Even still, he sighs as he realizes it's too complicated to explain in simple words. Sun puts his hand on the little girl's shoulder, guiding her out of hiding.

"This is Tianyu. I'm taking care of her."

"W-w-ha- Taking care of her? Like a babysitter?"

Lia didn't realize it yet, but she was having a minor panic attack trying to make sense of everything. She didn't know much about Sun because he never talks about himself. She also never asked him because she didn't want to pry. Whenever she wanted to, she bit her tongue, remembering the somber look on his face when grandpa Liu asked him for his name. Even still, she felt like she knew him pretty well, having grown closer to him from their daily interactions in the past two weeks. But this was all too much for her to digest.

"Take back what you said!" In the midst of Lia's panic attack, Tianyu scolds her, this time with much more confidence. "Mister is not a dummy!"

"It's okay Yuyu, aunty Lia is only joking," Sun chuckles as he explained.

"Oh, hehe, okay," she loosens her brows and giggles with him. "Can Yuyu call you Mister dummy?"

"Of course, Yuyu can call me whatever as long as it makes Yuyu happy."

"So she's not your daughter?" Lia asks. Sun slightly shakes his head. "Okay, okay so not daughter. So what then? You just picked up a random child from the streets and decided that you're going to take care of her?"

Sun's eyes lit up. The kind of eyes that say "finally, someone who understands me!" Seeing his reaction, she didn't know if she should be relieved or angry.

"YOU DUM-" Lia cuts herself off again. After taking a deep breath, she continues. "Sun, you can't just suddenly decide that you're going to adopt a random child off the streets!"

"You can't?" Yuyu asked.

Sun pats her on the head, wrapping her in a sound barrier.

"Have you even thought about how you're going to care for her?" Lia continues. "Housing, food, clothes, school- I mean- Sun! You barely make enough money for yourself. How are you going to care for someone else?!"

"I'm sure I can figure something out."

Lia bites her lip, not wanting to know what kind of words might come flying out of her mouth if she didn't. She closes her eyes and rubs her temples.

YOU HAVE IT BACKWARDS, DUMMY! YOU SHOULD FIGURE IT OUT FIRST, THEN- AHHHHHHH!

She wanted so badly to voice her inner thoughts. But she held it in.

"Let's talk later. You need to go collect lunch orders."

***

Sun makes his rounds through each district with Yuyu on his back. She wanted to walk with him, but they didn't have much time to collect all the orders. Sun wanted to make sure that Lia had enough time to cook all the buns and organize the deliveries. As he ran from house to house, district to district, Yuyu was lost in deep thought. It seems like she wanted to say something, but she stayed quiet. She didn't want to distract Sun while he was working.

After tallying the last order in the south-eastern district, Sun looks up at the sky, estimating that there should be just over two hours before lunch. While walking back to the shop, Yuyu's mind continues to replay what he said to her earlier.

"Mister…"

"What's wrong Yuyu?"

"Um… N-n-nevermind. I forgot."

Sun felt that something had been troubling her ever since he started his rounds, but he didn't want to push her too hard.

"Is that so?" He lets out a soft chuckle. "Why don't Yuyu tell me when Yuyu remembers?"

Yuyu doesn't reply. She just buries her face into his shoulder, nudging her head in a nodding motion.