Hello, How Long Has This Been Going On?

’

As it was early summer, the gardenias in the park were bathed in the faint morning light.
The plants themselves were verdant and green as their white flowers bloomed quietly, full of a distinctively mellow fragrance.
The whole park was filled with the warm scent of the gardenias— a scent that was often reminiscent of childhood and home.

Running while being surrounded by such fragrant air, time for Tao Zhiyue seemed to be stretched infinitely.
He was covered in sweat and his thoughts wandered, distracting him to the point where he almost ran into a little girl.

The little girl was about 3 or 4 years old and she was wearing a floral skirt.
With a flushed face, she had been bending over to catch some butterflies that were flying around the flowers on the side of the road.
She was so fascinated by them that she accidentally ended up in the middle of the road.

’

Fortunately, Tao Zhiyue stopped in time.
He let out a sigh of relief and led the little girl to a safe grassland nearby.
Seeing that there were no adults around, he knelt down and asked her softly, “Why are you playing here alone?”

The little girl stared at him blankly at first with her round and pure black eyes.
Then, she smiled happily, making Tao Zhiyue taken aback.

When he was in high school in his previous life, there lived a little girl of the same age downstairs in his house.
She was never afraid of strangers and she often looked at him with a smile like this whenever she met him in the corridor.

Back then, the 16 or 17-year-old Tao Zhiyue had always wanted a younger sister.
He thought that the neighbour’s little girl was very adorable, so he brought her a piece of beautiful candy every day.
The child would always curve her eyes into crescent moons as she smiled and before sweetly talking to him.
Before they parted ways, the little girl would always say ‘see you tomorrow’.