Right Here Waiting For You

“Oh, I understand.”

Tiantian felt relieved. She really wanted to go to school with Inky every day, but she didn’t want him to become a bad student in the eyes of the teachers.

After a while, the school bus stopped at the gate of her preschool.

Miss Mi got up and went to the front of the bus to maintain order. “Students, don’t rush or push anybody.”

Tiantian and Li Yanmo were still sitting in their seats. Thinking that they were going to be separated from each other, Tiantian felt a kind of indescribable sadness. That feeling was like that of when her favorite strawberry milk tea was sold out. No, it was much worse than that!

Miss Mi counted the students present, then found that there was still one missing. She looked inside the bus and found Ning Tiantian still sitting on the seat.

“Tiantian, get out of the bus.”

“Coming…” Tiantian responded with an unwilling tone.

Sitting next to the aisle, Li Yanmo stood up first, put Tiantian’s snacks back into her schoolbag, then took her little hand and said, “Go with Miss Mi, and remember: don’t cry this time.”

“I won’t.” Tiantian blushed a little. She didn’t know why she felt embarrassed when he mentioned crying.

She never had this kind of feeling when she was with Mama or other people.

Li Yanmo added, “After school, I may not be able to pick you up. You need to take the school bus yourself.” Tiantian’s preschool closed at four o’clock, but it was five o’clock when he finished school.

He could skip morning self-study sessions, but he couldn’t miss classes in the afternoon.

Tiantian nodded hard. “I know, Inky.”

“Okay.” Li Yanmo said.

After getting out of the school bus, before Li Yanmo was about to let her go, he saw the ketchup on the corner of her mouth, so he bent down and took out a piece of tissue to wipe the ketchup for her carefully.

“Pig.”

He could not help but pinch her cheek.

“Pig? Inky wants to have pigs?” Tiantian didn’t realize that he was meaning her. She appeared embarrassed. “The yard isn’t big enough for keeping pigs, but if you want a pig… It doesn’t matter. I’ll persuade the property!”

And she patted her chest to confirm her promise.

Li Yanmo stopped pinching her cheek and forced himself not to laugh out loud until he walked to the nearby bus station.

Miss Mi was also amused and thought, “Tiantian is really a simple kid.”

“Kids, let’s go to our classroom.”

Tiantian was in a small class that didn’t teach writing or painting. Most of the classes were just playing games. Several students needed to play games together, so Miss Mi, the head teacher, put the students into different groups.

Thirty kids were divided into five groups. Each group had six students with three tables. In Tiantian’s group, there were four boys and two girls. The girl was sitting next to her.

The girl had a babyface, with big eyes and curly eyelashes. She looked like a Bobbi baby to Tiantian.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Cookie.”

Seeing that Tiantian was staring at her, the girl took the lead to introduce herself. She extended her little hand, and her voice was so soft like a marshmallow.

“Cookie? Is it really Cookie?” Ning Tiantian took her hand in amazement. She thought to herself, “Cookie can be a name? She is named Cookie? Is that because she wants to be eaten by others?”

Cookie seemed to have gotten used to people getting surprised by her name and nodded. “Yes, it’s Cookie. But, you can eat a cookie, not me.”

“So…” Tiantian seemed disappointed and let go of her hand. Cookie was shocked by this reaction. She thought to herself, “She just wanted to eat me, didn’t she?”