A Stroll Towards Freedom, and an Unexpected Encounter

I devoured the porridge Chen Si Yi had prepared in the rice cooker. Perhaps it was Serena’s promise to take me out, but even the slightly scorched porridge tasted like a gourmet delicacy in my mouth. Indeed, if one considered it a smoked delicacy, it wasn’t half bad.

‘Seriously, little sister, why do you scorch everything you cook? Not becoming a master of smoked cuisine is truly a waste of your talents!’

It was only thanks to the leftover French dishes from last night’s dinner that my palate found satisfaction, and my spirits were finally lifted.

Returning to Chen Si Yi’s room with Serena, I fired up the computer. In peak form, I secured a five-game winning streak, directly elevating Serena’s gaming account by another minor division. Serena was utterly astonished, her mouth agape, her small hands never ceasing their enthusiastic applause.

“Hahaha! Good, good, this is truly excellent!” Serena, brimming with excitement, clapped her hands and eagerly urged me back to my room. “Hurry and change, Lin Yan-chan! Once you’re ready, we’ll go out for a stroll!”

“Oh, alright,” I assented. Rising from the gaming chair, I gripped the hem of my little dress and scurried toward the room across the hall.

Serena had mentioned that during breakfast that morning, Chen Si Yi had complained bitterly about my sleeping posture. Given my usual restless slumber, it appeared that as soon as I’d drifted off last night, I had rolled over and breached the ‘three-eight line’ Chen Si Yi had drawn. Like a persistent earthworm, I wriggled onto her, my legs even clamping either side of her head. The view beneath my nightgown indelibly etched itself into her deep, inky pupils, a sight she would not soon forget.

Thus, to avert a repeat of last night’s and this morning’s unfortunate events, and to revel in the freedom of running under the sun, I steeled myself. I shed the comfortable little dress and donned a remarkably loose pair of sweatpants paired with a simple white T-shirt.

Once fully prepared, I took a deep breath. Finally, with Serena by my side, I stepped out of the room that had held me captive for nearly a week.

The sky was clear, the air crisp. A gentle breeze swept through. By the community pond, two frogs conversed in cheerful croaks.

As I walked along the sturdy stone path, taking in the familiar sights on either side, I couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion.

This was a small step for the silver-haired little girl, yet a giant leap for Lin Yan-chan.

‘Eh, wait a minute. Why did I just refer to myself as Lin Yan-chan? It’s absolutely nauseating. It’s all Serena’s doing, that turncoat, influencing me with her dubious habits!’

Pulling my thoughts back to the present, I couldn’t help but frown.

Nearly an hour had elapsed since we left the apartment. Yet, in all that time, Serena, whose hand still clasped mine, had not taken a single step beyond the community’s main gate. Instead, she had merely led me on an endless loop within the complex.

‘What is there even to explore here? Chen Si Yi and I have lived in this very complex for over a decade, ever since Dad and Mom remarried.

Not to mention, every single stray cat here is practically an old friend! Even the mother cats’ newborn kittens let me pet them.’

‘Seriously, what’s the point of wandering around this minuscule space? What I crave is freedom, the boundless sky where I can soar without restraint. I didn’t escape the cage of home just to trade it for a larger, community-sized cage!’

“Serena, can’t we go for a stroll outside the complex? It’s incredibly dull just walking around here,” I asked Serena, who was still beside me. As expected, her response was a swift and firm refusal.

“Absolutely not! It’s already generous enough that I’m letting you roam within the complex. What if Si Yi sees us outside? I’d be utterly doomed!”

‘How could she possibly run into us? Chen Si Yi is still in school right now. As a model student, she would never skip class just to keep tabs on me, would she!’

Despite knowing it was impossible, hearing Serena’s insistent words still made me instinctively turn my head and gaze anxiously toward the community entrance.

It was just past noon. The area outside the community gate teemed with people.

As our community was situated close to a bustling commercial street, and nearly every shop just beyond the entrance was a restaurant, white-collar workers from surrounding office buildings would flock there in droves during meal times.

Everywhere I looked outside the gate, uniformed office workers bustled. Even as they hurried to grab a meal, client calls on their phones seemed to ring without a moment’s pause.

‘Ah, perhaps this is the world of adults. To live, to pursue their ideals, endless toil and rushing about are simply inevitable. Surely, one day, amidst that hurried stream of uniformed figures, a tiny member like me will also be found.’

Having inadvertently gazed far into the future, I snapped back to reality, noticing the formidable Chen Si Yi was nowhere to be seen at the entrance. With that, I withdrew my gaze.

However, just as I was about to turn my head away, a strikingly familiar figure once again captured my attention.

Unlike the bustling stream of people passing by, that lone figure stood silently at the community’s access point.

She wore the same school uniform as mine. Her hair, just as it had been during my school days, was neatly tied into a single, efficient ponytail every school morning.

‘Ah, it’s Su Xiao Yu. What is she doing here…’

Gazing at the familiar school uniform and the equally familiar figure, I was momentarily speechless. With my wrist firmly clasped by Serena, I naturally couldn’t break free.

Coincidentally, Serena and I were currently strolling through a heavily shaded area within the complex. Thus, Su Xiao Yu at the entrance had not noticed our presence.

I wanted to shout for help. However, I estimated a distance of one to two hundred meters separated Su Xiao Yu and me. Compounded by the clamor outside the gate, where restaurant owners’ calls to customers echoed ceaselessly, even if I screamed at the top of my lungs, it would undoubtedly be in vain. My cries would merely become background noise to Su Xiao Yu, who stood by the entrance.

Furthermore, I was no longer as frantic and helpless as I had been when I first transformed into a little girl. Having leisurely strolled through the tranquil community for an hour, my thoughts were clear. For reasons I couldn’t quite articulate, I wasn’t eager for Su Xiao Yu to discover my current predicament.

‘No, not my current predicament,

it was simply that I unilaterally wished to avoid facing her.’