Youyou did not answer him directly. He kept his head down, as though he was thinking of something.
Little Yichen immediately said, “Don’t get me wrong… I’m just a little reluctant to let him go, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” The boy nodded silently. “I don’t want him to go, either…” he said truthfully.
Little Yichen’s heart ached at that, and he joined his brother on the swing. He sat down slowly, holding on to the suspension ropes, and fell into deep thought.
After a long silence, Little Yichen asked hesitantly, “What’s that world like?”
What was the world of Gong Fan like?
At the end of the day, Gong Fan was just an ordinary child. It was difficult for him to understand what the dual personality world was like.
He was very curious.
“When I was young, I felt that I wasn’t the only one in this body.” It was an invaluable moment that Youyou opened his heart to Little Yichen. This was also the most important door.
In the past, it had never been opened to Little Yichen, or anyone else, for that matter. Because he felt like an outlier, an abnormal child. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was abnormal, especially not his brother, Little Yichen.
Little Yichen was too dazzling a character. From the day he was born, Little Yichen was destined to be superior to him. At least, the boy had a healthy body, and it made him envious. It was supposed to be blissful not to have to stay in that place drenched in antiseptic and watch on as other people’s children run and jump and play happily, right?
Little Yichen’s smile was like sunshine. When he smiled, his dimples were adorable. Most of all, the boy was authentic and transparent. At least when he smiled, it was with genuine happiness, not forced happiness.
Whereas, at a child’s most innocent age, Youyou had already learned when to pretend to laugh and when to cry. Sometimes, he would force a smile even though he was in a bad mood.
Especially when he was subject to Yun Na’s and Li Qin’s bullying. He’d been so aggrieved, but he’d forced himself to smile and say it didn’t hurt, that he wasn’t afraid, that it didn’t matter.
At some point, he started to realize that there seemed to be another Youyou in his body. Youyou had always believed that this boy was the aggressor, and therefore had always suppressed him. He had not been to his world because he had never known that he had one.
It felt intriguing to have two personalities inhabiting one body.
“The memories of the two of us are interlinked. All that happened when he was this body, I didn’t know. And all that happened when I was this body, he didn’t know. So …”
Youyou’s lips suddenly trembled.
“That’s why I didn’t know about him tossing Yun Na and Li Qin overboard until later. And even then, I didn’t have a complete understanding of it, only a vague feeling that he had something to do with it.”
Little Yichen looked startled.
“He didn’t know right from wrong. All he knew was that he had to get rid of whatever he didn’t like, and carefully protect whatever he liked.” The boy smiled faintly. “But there’s something we share in common. He… loves Mommy, too.”
“…”
“I had my first communication with him when I was six.”
