“Early...”

Early Summer walked into my room before I could finish saying her name, she came closer and closer, reached out her hands to my face and gently touched it. She took another step but stumbled on my toe and fell into my arms, knocking me to the ground.

My heart was beating fast, I noticed she wasn’t wearing pants, because she was almost straddling me and I could see her straight and slender legs. Her eyes were widely open but looked vacant.

“Early Summer...”

I wanted to say something to make this moment less awkward, but Early Summer suddenly got really close to my face and said: “You look delicious.”

Blood erupted from my nose!

Early Summer reached out her hands.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

She touched my body, gently and thoroughly.

I was struggling, my nose bleeding and my body trembling...with joy.

A while later I gave up struggling and lied down still, expectantly.

“OK, do whatever you want to do with my body.”

Yet all of a sudden, Early Summer stopped, she stood up and walked away.

I sat up, embarrassed and confused, “She walked away? She touched all over my body and she just walked away!”

I chased to the doorway, Early Summer glided down the corridor and then the stairs, she seemed so familiar with everything around, and the way she walked made me think she was floating, her body didn’t seem belong to herself.

She was like a ghost, murmuring and wandering in this old house, trying to find her lost memories, it was creepy. Then I figured out what was happening: she was sleepwalking, yes, it had to be sleepwalking. Early Summer passed the corner of the stairs and disappeared in my sight, I caught her shadow on the wall and saw bunny ears on her head out of the corner of my eyes, when I tried to confirm, the shadow was gone, it might just be another illusion.

OK, so that’s it, being a sleepwalker, Early Summer might have scared her roommates, that’s why she would rather not to live in the girl dorm.

So Early Summer was just sleepwalking, no big deal, as long as she does not cause me any trouble, I could pretend that I never knew it.

Elders say that we could not wake the sleepwalkers, otherwise they might go crazy, I did not believe it though. Luckily Early Summer just wandered a short while and then went back to her room, she even remembered to lock the door. She should be back on her bed already.

‘Weird’...I thought to myself, ‘maybe I should ask her about sleepwalking tomorrow. But, it doesn’t seem easy to start the conversation.’

The Second Day...

I made the breakfast, simple stuffs.

Since mother likes Chinese breakfast, I became good at making steamed stuffed buns, noodles, fried eggs, and mother seemed satisfied with my work, so I was pretty confident in my cooking.

And today I made steamed stuffed buns, eggs and Classic congee with pork and century eggs, Early Summer seemed enjoying it, so I got sudden bursts of self-confidence.

“Ah----! I’m stuffed! Shu Yuan, you are a good cook!”

Hearing her passionate praise, I started to think maybe it’s time to get flirty, and she might just start liking me. But mother never taught me how to flirt, according to the TV series, I should say something like “I can always cook for you”.

But my mind turned to the sleepwalking event happened last night.

I cold not help it...

That was me, certainly not the romantic type.

“So, Early Summer, have you ever sleepwalked?”

“Sleepwalk?” Early Summer was surprised, “No. Did you...see me sleepwalking last night?”

“Ah, about that...”

“AHHHHHH....walking around in pajama and being seen by a guy!!!! Really?” Early Summer screamed and buried her face in hands.

There was no way I could continue to hurt this tenant’s feeling, she could leave because of this--- I could not tell the truth for the sake of money!

“No no no, don’t be nervous, I was just curious, ha-ha-ha...because mom said I sleepwalked a lot when I was little.” OK, that was not a lie, at least mother actually said that, although her words never counts.

“Really? You scared me to death.” She touched her chest, trying to calm down her heart “So, I never saw your parents, are they on vacation?”

“Ah, my father is abroad, he is doing a top-secret job so could only do one-way contact. I was with my mom since I was little, so I have vague memories of my father. And my mom just left me for father the day you came.”

“Ah, I have similar stories. So now it’s just us.” She smiled.

That made my heart skip a beat.

“Yes, it is.” My heart was beating as a jungle drum, being alone with a girl of the same age was the dream me and my peers had been longing for. I started to have blossoming illusion again...

“To show my gratitude, let me cook lunch! I’m not good at cooking but I have to treat you. You have bought a lot of food yesterday and I can certainly make a luxury lunch.”

“OK, I’ll do the dishes and then give you a hand.”

“No, if you really want to help, take Weird Unkie(1) for a walk.”

So I took the dog to the backyard, the weather was good, Weird Unkie sniffed around and suddenly stopped in the grass.

I stood there and wait, Weird Unkie looked back at me, and his eyes was so different from usual, no more nasty or deadly, instead they were innocent and pitiful, I could almost hear him begging “Turn around, please, I could not poop with you staring at me, please, please, please...”

That was just disgusting and somehow annoyed me, so I shouted out ”Just Poop!”

I didn’t know that, at that time, Early Summer just left the kitchen and was walking towards the second floor.

Annotation:

(1)Weird Unkie, a cute way of saying Weird Uncle, it’s the dog’s name, implying his nasty personality.