Looking at the pictures of this little guy and little Clarice on the wall, a painful but lovely memory was drawn in my mind.
In my sleep, I vaguely heard my aunt's voice, but it quickly disappeared. I rubbed my eyes and woke up dimly in my sleep. Dragging a small step towards the living room, a face I have never seen before appeared in my house. It was a young boy, about ten years old. For a five-year-old girl, this was a very exciting thing to have another child in my home.
“Mummy, who is this little guy?” I asked with a flurried tone which cannot hide my excitement.
“Good morning.Sweetie.She is your dad’s brother’s wife’s cousin’s kid. She got something very important to do. So we have to take care of him for a while. His name is called Chun.’’Mum replied with an unwilling face.
“Haha, finally I have someone to play with me,” I yelled and my voice shook with my emotions.
I took all of my favourite toys out and my private collection which was a very tiny toy house that was full of tiny exquisite furniture, a miniature kitchen, and small tiny vivid people. That was very expensive at that time and no one except me touched it before.
“Hello, Chun Chun. I am Clarice and I am five years and 2 months old. I love pizza. How about you?’’ I introduced myself in a very formal way, acting like a mature adult.
“Ai..Ai..”He replied to me with a strange yell.
“What did you just say?’’I asked with a confusing voice.
“Ah…Ahhh…Ahhhh.’’He started to reply to me in a louder tone and he started crying without any reason.
My mum ran out and picked up Chun Chun, a ten years old but she held him like he was a baby. She said, “Chun Chun is like a very big baby. He cannot understand you very much. He is a special angel.’’
For a four years old kid, I did not understand what my mum was speaking. I was totally shocked by the scene on the screen. My mum was using a pacifier to feed milk to Chun Chun and holding him like a baby in her arms.
‘He isn’t a baby or even an angel.Mummy.He is a super weird freak.”I whispered with a shaking tone because I was afraid that Chun Chun heard that and ate me.
I immediately ran back to my room and peeked out to see my mother taking care of this monster. A monster who could not do anything and needed to rely on my mother's care. That's how I kept peeking in my room, waiting for my mother to come in and pay attention to me.
However, all through the night, my mother's eyes stayed on Chun Chun and did not even glance at me. I deliberately screamed and pretended to be hurt. My mum finally looked at me.
‘My sweetie, because Chun Chun needs special care, I have to devote more time to Chun Chun during this period, I am sorry.’Mom said gently but with a little apology when she bandaged my wounds.
‘Mummy, but…’ My words were interrupted by Chun Chun's cries. I was cut off.
As soon as she heard Chun Chun's cries, she ran out to the living room and picked up Chun Chun while humming and soothing him.
‘Mummy, but I need care too.’ I finished my interrupted speech in a low voice but no one cares about me anymore.
When it was time to go to bed, my mom finally entered my room and she finally remembered me. I immediately picked up my favorite book and prepared to hand it to my mom. But when I turned around, I saw my mom picking up Chun Chun and said “Sweetie, Chun Chun is going to sleep in your room because we don’t have an extra room.’’
When mum didn't get my reply, mum already put Chun Chun, who was sleeping, on my bed and then turned around and left. Looking at the monster next to me, I thought he was a thief who had taken my mother away, but I can't do anything about it.
An hour later, I woke up from my sleep and saw my mother in my room touching Chun Chun.
“Mum, what are you doing here?”I asked and touched her with my small hands.
“Shhh….keep your voice down. Otherwise, you'll wake Chun Chun up because I want to make sure Chun Chun's head is not covered by the quilt.” Mum whispered.
After that, I did not sleep for the whole night. I watched my mom come into my room every hour just to see Chun Chun, and I thought in my heart, "Why is my mom treating Chun Chun so differently from me? It seems like my mom has never cared about me so much. Did I do something wrong?
I kept thinking about this problem and I didn't sleep the whole night.
Time passed slowly, and my aunt still hadn’t come to pick up Chun Chun, my mother couldn’t contact her at all.
One day, my mom had to leave the house for a while because of something, and then she asked me to take care of Chun Chun.
I was only four years old at that time, so of course, I didn't listen to him, I just played with myself and didn't look at Chun Chun.
“Bang.”A loud noise came out of the room. I immediately ran to the room and saw Chun Chun fall off the bed. I was stunned by the sight. My body was very stiff as a stone.
Chun Chun suddenly turned around, then looked at me and smiled at me as if nothing had happened.
“Chun Chun. Are you hurt?”I asked in shock.
“Ai...Ai…”He smiled and responded to me with some meaningless words.
Looking at his smile, I suddenly felt like I was melting. No matter what happened, he was always optimistic and positive, even when he fell out of bed, he was still happy.
Little by little, I began to accept this new family member and even shared my favorite toys with him.
“Chun Chun, do you like it?”
“Ai...Ai” Chun Chun responded to me in his most familiar language.
“Chun Chun, I love you so much.” I said sincerely and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
One time, Chun Chun and I were alone in the house and I fell down. The pain made me cry right away, but there was no adult around me, so I felt very helpless.
When Chun Chun heard my cry, he crawled over to me step by step and I still remember the scene. For a mentally handicapped child, crawling is a very difficult task, but Chun Chun slowly tried to coordinate his arms and legs to crawl towards me.
Ai...Ai," Chun Chun said as he crawled all the way over to me as if telling me not to be afraid, that I was here.
At this moment, when I look at Chun Chun, I feel like I am looking at an angel, an angel who just did not know how to express himself with words.
“Ai…Ai..”Chun Chun kept yelling and he frowned. He glanced at my leg and reached out and touched my wounds.
At that moment, I didn't feel the pain anymore. My wound was healed by Chun Chun's care and love for me.
“Thank you, My angel.’I said with a smile. And Chun Chun replied to me with a bigger sweet smile.
As time passed, my relationship with Chun Chun grew stronger, and I even treat Chun Chun as my best friend, family member, and brother. I learned to take care of Chun Chun's daily needs, I changed his diapers, I felt his food, and I shared my mom's work in taking care of him.
One morning, Chun Chun and I got up very early. I was feeding him congee with pork and century eggs when the doorbell rang.
“DING DONG.DING DONG.”The doorbell kept ringing frequently.
“Coming!Do not rush.”Mum yelled and ran to open the door.
When the door opened, a strange woman appeared in front of the door.
“Oh!You are Shan.”Mom thought for a moment, then said.
“Where have you been in this half-year? I have contacted you more than a hundred times.’Mother questioned in a reproachful tone.
Auntie Shan remained silent like a kid who was blamed by her mum. When confronted by my mother, Auntie Shan did not give a reason for her disappearance.
After a moment of silence, Auntie Shan finally spoke up.
“I am so sorry for my disappearance. I'm here today to pick up Chun Chun. Thank you for taking care of him in the past six months.”
“What? No! Chun Chun is my brother. Why do you have to pick him up?”I screamed as loud as I could and my sound was shaking.
“Kwan. This is Auntie Shan. She is Chun Chun’s mother.”My mum explained to me and stroked my back with my hands to try to calm me down.
“No way.Mum.”I cried while wiping my tears and snot with my hands.
I looked at Chun Chun, whose eyes were looking at Auntie Shan the whole time.
“Ai..Ai” Chun Chun yelled and his voice was full of stimulation and excitement. From the tone of his voice, I knew that he recognized his mum and he felt happy about that.
“Chun Chun, are you going to leave me?”I asked and I was looking forward to him telling me no, even though I knew it was not possible.
Chun Chun's eyes did not glance at me, his gaze only stopped on his mother.
Looking at Chun Chun's determined eyes, I already knew that Chun Chun’s answer in his mind and he
was going back to his home, where he really belonged.
We sent them to the taxi station and in my mind, the last figure of Chun Chun is an angelic boy wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts.
“Thank you and goodbye. My sweet angel”
That was the last thing I said to Chun Chun and I haven’t seen him again until now.
Looking at the photos on the wall again. “Chun Chun, do you remember me?’I am 21 years old now and I still love pizza,’ I said silently to myself, but there was no one to hear me