When Chen Jiahao came to knock on the door, Yu Huan was sitting in the living room eating strawberries that Yu Hezhang had already washed for her.
She was holding the remote control, lazily switching channels without much focus.
Hearing the knock, she stayed slouched on the sofa and didn’t even turn around. “Mom, someone’s knocking.”
“Okay, don’t move. Mom will get it.” Zhang Ya was watering the flowers on the balcony. Hearing this, she put down the watering can and walked toward the door. “Coming!”
She opened the door, and a young woman was standing outside. She looked somewhat familiar, but Zhang Ya couldn’t recall immediately.
Zhang Ya asked in confusion, “You are…?”
The woman wore a proper, polite smile. “Aunt Zhang, I’m Jiahao. I used to live next door to your house.”
With that explanation, Zhang Ya immediately remembered her—the eldest daughter of the Chen family downstairs. She seemed a couple of years older than Fufu and rarely came home.
Even when she did return, she rarely went out, and it was hard to run into her even once a year.
“Oh, Jiahao!” Zhang Ya said warmly. “It’s been so long—I almost didn’t recognize you. You’ve really grown into a fine young lady. As they say, girls change a lot as they grow up.”
“It’s hot outside, come in quickly.”
After bringing her inside, Zhang Ya asked, “Did you come today for something?”
Their family and the Chen family had different beliefs. The Chen family believed a son was necessary to carry on the family line and had always disapproved of Zhang Ya’s decision not to have another child after giving birth to Yu Huan. They often gossiped behind her back, saying she would regret it in the future.
When she was younger, Zhang Ya had a fiery temper and couldn’t stand hearing such things—especially when they called Yu Huan a “worthless girl.” She had argued with the Chen family several times with Yu Hezhang, and the relationship between the two families was not good.
Later, after relocation, the Chen family moved to two floors below the Yu family. Their work schedules didn’t match, so they rarely saw each other, and contact became even less frequent.
However, Zhang Ya had always believed that adult conflicts should not involve children. So when Yu Huan played with Chen Jiahao, she never thought much of it.
But for some reason—perhaps influenced by her parents—after middle school, Chen Jiahao stopped playing with Yu Huan.
If it had been before, when Chen Jiahao came to their house, Zhang Ya would have assumed she came to see her daughter.
But since the two had not interacted for years, Zhang Ya genuinely didn’t know why she had come.
Chen Jiahao smiled and looked toward the curious Yu Huan. “Aunt Zhang, I came to see Little Huan.”
“I thought since I’m finally back home and Little Huan is also here, I’d ask her to go out and have some fun together—catch up a bit.”
“Oh, I see. That’s not something I can decide—you’ll have to ask her yourself.” Zhang Ya smiled. “Fufu, do you remember? This is your Jiahao姐姐. You used to play together a lot when you were kids.”
Yu Huan looked at Chen Jiahao for a moment and barely managed to match the face in front of her with the vaguely remembered image in her mind.
She nodded, then suddenly asked, “Did you used to wear glasses?”
Very few people wore glasses back then, and Chen Jiahao had been the first one she knew who did. It had left a deep impression.
She even remembered crying and insisting she wanted glasses too. Her mother couldn’t persuade her and ended up buying her a pair of sunglasses instead.
To protect her eyes, they had chosen a relatively high-end pair. But teenage Yu Huan loved bright colors, and the grayish sunglasses looked ugly to her, so she never wore them once.
“Yes,” Chen Jiahao nodded. “I had laser surgery after university, so I stopped wearing them.”
Then she asked, “Little Huan, want to go out together?”
As she asked, she had already prepared herself for rejection. She had messaged Yu Huan several times before and never gotten a positive answer. Even coming in person probably wouldn’t change anything.
But after Yu Huan looked at her a few times—so long that Chen Jiahao began to feel uneasy and was about to say “it’s fine if you don’t want to”—Yu Huan suddenly nodded.
“Where to?”
“A new coffee shop opened near the residential community. It’s pretty good. Let’s go there.”
Yu Huan’s expression remained indifferent. Her overly delicate face showed no obvious emotion.
Was she dissatisfied with the place?
Chen Jiahao quickly added, “If you don’t want coffee, there’s also a milk tea shop next to it. That one is good too.”
“Anything is fine.”
Yu Huan finished the last strawberry in her bowl, wiped her hands with a tissue, and stood up.
“Fufu, take an umbrella.” Zhang Ya brought out a sun umbrella. “The sun is too strong. It’s bad for your skin.”
Yu Huan hooked the strap of the umbrella around her finger and left with Chen Jiahao.
The residential building wasn’t tall, and since it was built early, there was no elevator.
Yu Huan walked slowly, taking several minutes just to reach the first floor.
On the way, Chen Jiahao tried to chat.
“When we used to play downstairs, there was a boy from another unit who really liked you. He always came to tease you.”
“I remember once he made you cry, and Zhou Muyang brought people over and beat him up badly. After that, he didn’t dare come near you for a long time.”
“That’s his own fault.”
Yu Huan’s expression darkened. Her large eyes were filled with obvious disgust.
“If I ever see him again, I’ll still hit him.”
There were only two things Yu Huan remembered clearly:
Things she liked and was interested in;
And people who had bullied her.
Clearly, the person Chen Jiahao mentioned belonged to the second category.
She remembered very clearly—the way that boy used to look at her with disgusting, lecherous eyes, and even grabbed her freshly washed hair with dirty hands.
He had pulled so hard that he knocked her to the ground.
Yu Huan, who had never suffered such humiliation before, had reacted a moment too late. Once she realized what had happened, she burst into loud tears and told Zhou Muyang to block him off.
Even while crying, she had grabbed his hair viciously, not caring whether her hands were clean or not.
After pulling him into tears as well, she still wasn’t satisfied and threatened him through sobs:
“If you show up again, I’ll have Zhou Muyang bring people to block you every time, and I’ll pull your hair every time too.”
“If you don’t want to end up bald, you’d better never let me see you again.”
The boy clutched his head and ran off, and after that, Yu Huan never saw him again downstairs.
Hearing this brought back the memory of the few strands of hair she had torn out back then.
“Don’t mention him,” she said coldly. “Just thinking about him makes me feel sick.”
Chen Jiahao gave an awkward laugh and quickly changed the topic, afraid Yu Huan would refuse to go altogether.
The coffee shop wasn’t very crowded. Most of the customers were young girls. Only one staff member was working, and the speakers played a popular emotional pop song.
They chose a seat by the window. Yu Huan didn’t like coffee much and took a while before choosing mocha, while Chen Jiahao ordered the shop’s signature cold brew.
The drinks were soon served.
After taking a sip, Chen Jiahao finally revealed the real reason she had invited Yu Huan out.