Chapter 60 - 60. Brighter...

Meilin thought she was dreaming, she could hear a pleasant voice in her head...

Because of the gentle and soft movements of Xuan, she was actually feeling more sleepy, she smacked her lips once and then mumbled a "xuaaaaan" once again.

The song was already over but she still didn't wake up, Xuan shook his head once with a what-should-I do-with-you smile on his face....then he sighed.

He had already hardened himself to wake her up so, he softly patted her delicious tomato cheeks,

"Birthday girl.....my cute Linlin, wake up!

Linlin! Wake up ma!"

Ah!

She finally moved a little and slowly her thick lashes fluttered open, she was still out of it but since the first thing she saw was her Xuanxuan, she gave a soft smile, "Good Morning, Xuanxuan."

Her voice was slightly husky as she had just woken up, her hairs were not prim and proper, her eyes misty, her cheeks were slightly pink and she looked, in one word, 'cute'.....in five words, 'insanely fluffy and adorably cute'.

Xuan just wanted to gobble down this steam-bun in one whole bite!!

Xuan couldn't control himself and squeezed her cheeks once, then twice, then thrice but regretfully had to let them go because she was starting to frown, probably because Xuan had a stupid look on his face.

After he let them go, he simply said, "Happy Birthday, xiao Linlin."

Meilin who was already sitting and though still out of it and was in the middle of massaging her cheeks which were softly played with, stiffened slightly.

"eh?", she really had a funny look on her face.

It was like she had to take out a moment to find out what the phrase meant, she thought she heard wrong.

Before today, though her grandparents wished her on this day every year, it was during their breakfast or dinner, which was more of a formal thing and she always casually said her thanks, you could say that at a subconscious level she hated this day.

Well, she was at this age already and hadn't seen her father, she sort of knew that she was unwanted to her parents and though she wasn't sad or anything, as she never wanted to give them meaning and her effort in this life, she was not up to celebrate her birthday.

She was already in this world so she will celebrate her life and live it to it's fullest, but she never felt that she was a part of this world....well, it was before Xuan came, but still, being happy and ecstatic over something like a birthday as many people around her were, was a foreign concept to her.

But since he came, it was like the final piece of the puzzle was found, the missing link came into life and the world became a beautiful and much better place to live in.

Anyway, this day which she treated as normally as possible because of her origin, somehow felt a bit brighter today, a bit merrier too, and she knew, it was only because of the boy who was beside her.

This rather normal day, became special....because he was there to celebrate her birth with her today.

Meilin came online and back-to-earth.

She gave him a bear hug which he gladly accepted, as she said, "xiexie, Xuanxuan. xiexie."

"I've got a surprise for you... let's go", he said as he pulled her up and ran towards his room, with her in tow.

Linlin, who had just woken up and was still a bit fuzzy was dragged to his room which was just beside her own, felt a bit giddy looking at the back of the young boy. The short distance felt a bit longer than usual as the time flew by in slow motion. She felt like a female lead in a shoujo manga well, she read one to get exposure to something new, anyway, it was similar to the feelings of a female lead who was experiencing her first rain with the male lead under a small umbrella, it was dreamy...

Just before entering his room, he stopped and Meilin, who was being dragged and was a bit absent-minded, crashed onto his back.

He was already a head taller than her and his shoulders were broader than before, it wasn't hard to see that he will have a greek-god physique in the future if he ate well.

"Dubuqi. Linlin, are you fine?", he was a bit too excited and now felt sorry watching her red nose and reflex tears.

"hm", she wasn't hurt, it was her skin which was too tender and sensitive ma.

Knowing she was fine, he went behind her and closed her eyes using his hands, Meilin reflexively held his hands because it became dark all of a sudden.

"It's alright, I'm here", she heard him whisper to her ears, his warm breath fell on her ears, she had a sudden itch....it seems, somethings were changing inside her.

Entering the room, they were welcomed with a birthday song sung in unison.

As she opened her eyes when he took his hands off, the view of the whole family came into her view.

Her grandfather, grandma, Uncle Xiao, and Aunty Wang with their son Xiao Limo, Feng Jiajie, everyone was there. The cook had with him, a one-tier Red velvet cake shaped like a crown and they all were wearing cute birthday caps on their heads.

Watching the usually serious people dressed so childishly, even our always-poker-faced-to-the-world Meilin, started giggling.

The atmosphere was merry...this mansion will never go back to those cold ice age days ever again, everyone had this same wish.

Actually, her grandparents were busy and they would not be celebrating it officially till her coming-of-age, so after the cake was cut and they all ate it together, they gave her red-packets and wished her great health and fortune before living the two for an overseas business they had on the same day's night.

Feng Jiajie gave them two tickets to the amusement park and asked them to get a commemorative picture on the merry-go-round. He was really going to enjoy the socially awkward Meilin playing around in a "kid's playground" so much, he had an amused smirk with an evil face.

The others also gave her their prepared gifts and after Meilin graciously accepted them.

Everyone knew that Meilin preferred everything to be simple, so though there wasn't much decorations in the room, still it would still be a bit hard to sleep here.

Meilin didn't want them to work at such a late time, they would have to wake up in the morning to prepare for the day too, so she let them go and asked them to take their rest, she really treated her close ones well.

After putting away her gifts, which she will open at a later time, she decided to go and sleep, she wasn't a night owl and preferred a fixed amount of sleeping time, the foundations of the clockwork Empress didn't come from a day after all.

To get proper rest, the both went to sleep on her bed as his room was not exactly clean....

They both slept facing each other with a smile on their face while holding the other's hand....they were definitely going to get a good sleep.