Right Here Waiting For You

Mama Li, who was eavesdropping outside the room, nodded approvingly. “As expected, Yanmo managed to deal with it.”

Otherwise, she might not have been able to convince Tiantian to attend preschool, even if she had tried for three days and three nights.

As for the preschool, all it took was a call. Upon hearing about Tiantian’s affiliation with Li’s Group, the head of school immediately made an apology.

The following morning, at 7:30 A.M., the sunlight was already filtering through the windows, casting a golden glow on the parquet. The blanket had slid to the floor, but the two kiddos were still asleep in bed.

Clad in pajamas with a cartoon motif, Tiantian was clinging to Li Yanmo’s neck in her sleep and had a foot resting on his face.

Waking up to this, Li Yanmo pushed away her foot with a frown. He then took a look at the alarm clock and shouted, “Ning Tiantian! It’s time to get ready for school!”

“Five more minutes!” mumbled Tiantian, as she snuggled closer to his chest.

Li Yanmo’s lips were set in a line. He immediately removed the blanket covering Tiantian but wasn’t prepared for the sight. Her pajamas were hitched up a little, exposing her snow-white legs and her strawberry-motif underwear.

Li Yanmo looked away awkwardly. Since Tiantian hadn’t gotten out of bed, he decided to pinch her nose. “Ning Tiantian, I’m not going to send you to school if you don’t wake up right now!”

“No!”

Tiantian promptly removed her pajamas and put on her preschool uniform, all in the wink of an eye.

Li Yanmo witnessed the entire process. Watching her change, he saw her smooth back and her strawberry underwear. It wasn’t that he wanted to watch; her movement was so swift that he barely had time to look away.

Thinking about how she had no qualms stripping in front of another person, he was suddenly angered by the notion that she might do the same in front of another person.

“You aren’t shy at all, are you?”

Li Yanmo suddenly blurted out.

Tiantian, who was currently putting on her shoes, looked up at him blankly. “What?”

“You’re a lady, for goodness sake. How could you change in front of other people like that? Next time, get changed in the walk-in wardrobe.”

“But you’re not just any other person. You’re my hubby!” retorted Tiantian indignantly. “Besides, I would change only in front of you!” Tiantian had no idea why he had suddenly gotten angry.

Tiantian might have been young, but she was no fool; she knew perfectly well how a lady ought to behave. Only her hubby–her future husband–would be privy to something like this.

Li Yanmo’s mood lightened considerably after Tiantian’s self-righteous attempt at justifying her actions. His mouth was no longer set in a grim line as he told her, “You and your weird logic.”

What’s wrong with her logic?

Ning Tiantian was baffled, once again.

“C’mon, let’s go! It’s time for school!” Seeing that Tiantian was simply staring at him, Li Yanmo took the lead, striding purposefully toward the door.

Tiantian followed soon after, with her school bag on her shoulders. She had a look of worry on her face as she wondered whether things were truly all right, given Inky’s extreme mood swings.

A school bus came to pick them up, so it wasn’t necessary for Mama Li to drop off Tiantian today.

Li Yanmo held Tiantian’s hand as they walked out of the villa district, where the school bus was waiting for them.

The skies were bright and clear, and the summer breeze mildly cooling. Ning Tiantian, with her hair up in a ponytail and a sweet smile on her pretty face, was as happy as a lark. She was elated at being next to Li Yanmo.

The school bus was driven by a fat uncle. Craning her neck to look inside the already-half-occupied bus, and spotting two vacant seats, she dragged Li Yanmo into the bus with her.