"This child was always timid—she didn’t dare sleep alone until she was twelve," Tang's mother said with a smile, sharing an embarrassing story about her daughter. "And on the very first night she slept in her own room, she got scared by the swaying curtains… She insisted there was a ghost."
"Mom, why are you bringing that up?" Keke puffed out her cheeks in protest.
"She’s also quite introverted and struggles to talk to others. Sometimes I worry about how she’ll manage in society," Tang's father added with a sigh. "But lately, she’s become much more cheerful. When she comes home, she always talks about how wonderful you all are and how delicious your cooking is."
Ye Shuang glanced at Tang Keke, who had buried her face in her chest out of sheer embarrassment, looking like a little ostrich.
"At first, I thought she might be exaggerating, but then she showed us photos," Tang's father said, turning to Bai Yuyou. "Thank you for being friends with our Keke."
Bai Yuyou shook her head. "It’s Keke… who was willing to be my friend. I’m happy."
Ye Shuang chimed in, "Because of certain circumstances, Yuyou never had the chance to learn many things. So I’m really grateful to Keke as well."
"Hahaha, let’s have a drink."
It was clear how deeply Tang Keke’s parents cared for her, and their genuine joy at seeing their daughter make friends was palpable. Ye Shuang understood that feeling all too well—he had felt the same way when Bai Yuyou first found companionship.
Friendship isn’t about quantity, but about sincerity. Over the years, Ye Shuang had met all kinds of people and made plenty of drinking buddies, but the ones who truly mattered—the ones he could confide in—were few, like Chen Hai and a handful of others.
Friends made during school years, untainted by ulterior motives, often last a lifetime. Though life’s diverging paths might eventually pull people apart, Ye Shuang still hoped Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou would remain close friends forever.
After the meal, Ye Shuang and Tang's father chatted over tea, mostly about everyday life.
Ye Shuang didn’t ask what Tang's father did for a living, and Tang's father didn’t inquire about Ye Shuang’s work either. After all, Ye Shuang was here as Bai Yuyou’s "guardian," not as a prospective son-in-law, so their conversation stayed light.
"Take your friends to your room for a while. I’ll bring up some fruit later," Tang's mother said.
"Okay~~~"
Tang Keke led Bai Yuyou and Ye Shuang to her room—a cozy space decorated in a simple white theme, complete with a princess-style bed that radiated youthful charm.
A desk, gaming consoles, and everything else were neatly arranged.
And then there was the figurine-covered wall.
"Hmm?" Ye Shuang suddenly noticed a pile of folded clothes on the bed, among which a certain oversized white bra stood out conspicuously.
Tactfully, he averted his gaze without comment.
"W-Wait, let me clean up first!" Tang Keke, spotting the clothes—clearly folded and left there by her mother after laundry—panicked and hastily pushed Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou out of the room before scrambling to tidy up.
"Alright, come in now," Tang Keke said once she was done.
Bai Yuyou and Ye Shuang re-entered. With few chairs available, they settled on the carpet, which felt perfectly natural.
"Keke, that…" Bai Yuyou’s eyes lingered on a thick album.
"Oh, that’s my photo album."
"Want to take a look?" Tang Keke pulled the hefty album from the shelf.
"Mm."
Flipping through it, the album chronicled Tang Keke’s life from infancy—starting with a photo of her as a chubby baby sitting in a plastic tub, grinning goofily.
"Keke… was chubby," Bai Yuyou remarked, eyeing the multiple rolls of baby fat on Keke’s belly in the photo.
Blushing, Keke quickly turned the page. Even though it was just baby photos, being seen naked by friends was still embarrassing.
The following pages showed Keke in frilly dresses. Clearly doted on, her parents had bought her countless outfits, and her round, cherubic face made her look utterly adorable.
"Hehe, my dad used to be a photographer, so he loved taking pictures of me," Tang Keke explained sheepishly. "And my maternal grandmother was a fashion designer, so I never ran out of clothes."
Bai Yuyou gazed quietly before murmuring, "How nice…"
She had nothing like this.
She didn’t even know what she looked like as a child.
"Yuyou, do you have a photo album? Show me next time!" Tang Keke said cheerfully before catching herself and waving her hands. "Ah, no no, I didn’t mean it like that—"
Bai Yuyou shook her head. "It’s okay."
"Mm." Tang Keke hesitated to flip further, knowing the girl before her had no photos of her own.
Maybe she should change the subject.
Bai Yuyou lowered her eyes, lost in thought as she studied the pictures.
Then, suddenly, a photo caught her attention—one that stood out starkly from the rest. It wasn’t Tang Keke, but unmistakably Bai Yuyou herself as a child.
"Huh?" Tang Keke noticed it too, realizing Ye Shuang had placed it there.
"I happened to have a photo of Yuyou from back then," Ye Shuang said with a smile. The picture of the little girl, grinning brightly, was one he’d retrieved during a recent trip to his hometown and kept in his wallet ever since.
"Wow, so cute!" Tang Keke leaned in for a closer look. "A natural beauty even as a kid."
"Beauty?"
"It means pretty."
"Oh…" Bai Yuyou stared at the photo, mesmerized. She wondered—why had she been so happy back then? Now, she couldn’t recall a single memory from her childhood.
"I don’t understand…"
"Why…"
Bai Yuyou held the photo. "Why was I happy…?"
Just then, a large hand rested gently on her head. Ye Shuang smiled. "Because photos capture important moments. And most of the time, those worth remembering are the happy ones."
Bai Yuyou seemed to realize something. She pulled out her phone and opened her own photo album—filled mostly with pictures of her and Ye Shuang, along with a few candid shots she’d taken of him.
"…" She pressed the phone to her cheek. "I have an album too… with Ye Shuang."
"Being with Ye Shuang… makes me happy."
"The past doesn’t matter… From now on, I’ll take more photos… with Ye Shuang."