Tian emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later, two glasses of milk balanced carefully in his hands.
Umi hadn't moved from the sofa. Hua Lang was still cradled against her chest, though by now the piglet had given up his earlier struggling and simply sagged into her arms, wearing the expression of a creature who had accepted his fate with quiet dignity.
Tian crossed the room and, without a word, extended one of the glasses toward her.
"For me?"
He nodded, a small, almost shy dip of his chin.
"Oh. Thank you."
Umi accepted it gladly, her fingers wrapping around the cool glass as warmth bloomed somewhere in her chest. There was something unexpectedly sweet about the gesture—unguarded, almost childlike.
