Observing her for a little while, Zhao Haoran decided to approach her and sat quietly on the other side of the tree. Su Chenxing noticing this, decided to ignore his presence, at least he wasn't very close...she thought. A while passed and Zhoa Haoran decided to speak.
"How old are you?" he asked softly trying to be as friendly as possible showing her he meant no harm. Zhao Haoran's question was met with silence, but he didn't give up and continued "I'm 9 and I like playing a lot of games".
More silence ...
Zhao Haoran thought she wouldn't speak and sighed to himself about to get up when he heard a cool and barely audible voice "I'm 7"
Zhao Haoran paused, she spoke which means she's okay with me around. Becoming bold he asked "can I sit next you?"
silence...
Zhao Haoran's mouth twitched "what a frustrating girl he thought" he didn't even know why he was trying to win her favour. Looking at her, she was just a little girl and it looked like a great cloud hung over her head...too gloomy. He just didn't like it.
Not waiting for her answer he stood up getting ready to sit next to her, "not too close" came the same barely audible voice. Looking at her, she still had her head buried in her book.
Listening to her he sat next to her but not too close. "You must love books" he said. "I do" Su Chenxing replied simply.
"Well what's this one about" Zhao Haoran asked as he tried to look at the cover of the book while smiling "How to make nuclear weapons" she said.
Zhao Haoran's smile froze as sweat began to line his forehead. Nuclear weapons??????? he screamed internally, what would she be doing with such a book?!!! He began to ask himself if he made a mistake approaching her.
'Okay okay, she's just a child, like me, what could she possibly do' Zhao Haoran thought as he calmed himself.
"Well I like reading comics a lot, have you read any?"
"Yes I have" silence...
Talking to her is very difficult, he thought laying his back on the tree and looking up"
Apples... he suddenly sat up, he suddenly had an idea.
"Do you like apples?". he asked her.
"yes"
"Okay wait I'll be right down" he said
"Down?" Su Chenxing said in confusion.
Just then Zhao Haoran climbed up the tree and Su Chenxing became flustered as she knew it was extremely dangerous. "Come down, from there, you might get hurt" she said.
"Don't worry I'll be down soon I've done this a lot of times" Zhao Haoran said continuing his journey up the tree.
He had his eyes set on a really big one at the edge of one of the branches, so he sat on the one next to it and tried to reach for it but he was still too far from it.
"Leave that one alone you might fall!!" Su Chenxing said once again trying to convince him to get down, but he kept trying to reach for it and then,
'...snap... '
The tree branch cracked, knowing he was now in danger, Zhao Haoran let out a yelp as he was sent crashing to the ground but thankfully the ground was a bit soft but he'd definitely sustain a form of injury.
Su Chenxing rushed over to him to see how he was doing, Zhao Haoran sat up to reassure her he was fine, his hair now disheveled with leaves sticking out of it, seeing him like this she was momentarily distracted and began to giggle.
Zhao Haoran looked at her surprised to hear that sound come out of her and just then
...boink...
The apple he'd been trying to reach fell out of the tree and hit him squarely on the head and he fell back on the ground as if his soul had left his body and Su Chenxing began to laugh finding it very funny.
Zhao Haoran was mesmerized by the expression on Su Chenxing 's face, he thought he'd never see and then began to laugh along.
**Drip**
Su Chenxing suddenly gasped as she noticed blood dripping from Zhao Haoran's nose. "You're bleeding from your nose and knee" she said slightly panicked.
She grabbed unto his hand and pulled him along "I'll take you to the infirmary" she said while Zhao Haoran was left in wonder, she's not only talking to him now but also holding his hand.
"My God what happened to you?!!" The nurse exclaimed as she examined his injuries. "He climbed a tree and fell of it , he's very very reckless, please attend to his injuries". Checking said as she kept her distance to allow the nurse work freely.
*************(Outside the nurse's office)
"Thank you for taking me to the nurse, I promise I'll be careful next time" Zhao Haoran said ashamed as he held a tissue to his nose, his elbow had a small bandaid there as he only scraped it, same with his knees.
"Next time???" Su Chenxing said with unbelief. "Of course, father said we learn from our mistakes, next time when I climb a tree, I'll be better and won't fall...ow ow ow ow" Zhao Haoran had been saying with self confidence until he felt a pull on his ear.
"That's no what your father meant, stupid" Su Chenxing had grabbed his ear and pulled him down to her height, and Zhao Haoran being taller was forced into a bent position as he tried to make her let go.
"What your father would expect is that you stop such reckless behavior" "okay okay I'm sorry, please let go" Zhao Haoran pleaded as he suddenly missed the quiet Su Chenxing 'She's too fierce and strong' Zhao Haoran wept internally.
Su Chenxing finally let go and began to walk away. Zhao Haoran was left to rub his red ears, left to wonder if he should follow her or not.
Su Chenxing stopped and looked back annoyed "what are you waiting for? We need to find our parents!". With that he finally rushed up to join her, before she began walking again, him following closely behind.
"Oh dear what happened" Zhao Haoran's father chuckled at the sight of his bruised up son. Su Chenxing walked straight to her father and stayed beside him.
"Uhm I fell from a tree, but I swear I'm alright" Zhao Haoran said in a rushed voice even moving around to convince his father it was nothing to worry about.
"Next time be careful, but I see you're now good friends with Chenxing, she needs a friend so you'll be coming here more often, she does need a good friend" Zhao Haoran's father said as he ruffled his son's hair.
He'll be coming here more often?? Zhao Haoran thought in wonder as his mood brightened. He turned too look at Su Chenxing with a wide smile which suddenly disappeared and turned into a pout.
Su Chenxing had picked up another book 'Ways to get rich'. She was like an old lady in a child's body and she wasn't as happy as him at the realization he'll be coming to visit and play with her often.
Over time, Zhao Haoran's reckless behavior rubbed off on Su Chenxing as they became close friends and made two other friends along the way and soon Su Chenxing became the queen of mischief even scaring Zhao Haoran who experienced near death situations with Su Chenxing laughing it off.
'What sort of beast had he awakened?"
(Yes I'm a bad author 😔)