"Of course, hehe. Mom, where's Dad?" I ask as Sam and I sit down together on the sofa. I casually pick up a piece of fruit from the table and pop it into my mouth.
Dad definitely isn't on the first floor. Since I've been home, I haven't seen him—he must be sleeping upstairs.
"Huff... huff..." Mom slightly parts her rosy lips and lets out a soft breath. Then, she slowly draws her legs back and gradually stands up. Her thighs seem numb from squatting, and I notice her whole body tremble slightly as she rises.
Once she's standing straight, Mom presses her legs tightly together and leans against the wall again, not moving forward.
As she leans against the wall, her body straightens against the corner, making her already full chest protrude even more prominently, stretching the front of her loose short-sleeved shirt into a rounded shape.
"Your dad went to a meeting at his office," Mom finally opened her beautiful eyes and gave me a gentle glance.
After saying that, she slightly bent her slender waist, picked up the towel from the sofa, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her face was flushed like a peach, and her large eyes seemed to hold a misty haze, exuding an indescribable charm.
Beads of sweat trickled down Mom's slender neck, flowing onto her fair and delicate collarbone. From there, the sweat slid further down, disappearing into the fullness of her chest.
The cotton short-sleeve shirt was damp with sweat, clinging tightly to the soft skin of her chest. In my line of sight, the pure white shirt now appeared slightly wrinkled, giving me the impression that the mother standing before me was radiating a maternal beauty that I could both see and feel.
Because of the sweat soaking through, the fair skin of her body showed faintly through the thin fabric of her shirt. As my gaze drifted lower, my heart suddenly skipped a beat. Could it be...?
Fortunately, it wasn't what I had feared. Through the white shirt, I could make out a hint of purple color at her chest—it must have been the purple bra she was wearing.
For a moment, I had thought she wasn't wearing a bra again, which startled me. It seemed the memory of that night when Mom wasn't wearing a bra still lingered in my mind, leaving me uneasy.
"Oh, I was wondering why I didn't see Dad," I replied to Mom.
I glanced at her again. The thin short-sleeve shirt was soaked with sweat, making her look as if she were steaming, giving off a fresh, dewy, lotus-like impression. This was what people called aura or charm, I supposed.
I felt that Mom's beauty was more mature than Li Xiaojun's and more elegant than Zhang Min's. That was my honest thought.
Wait, something seemed off about the purple bra under Mom's shirt—it didn't look symmetrical. Suddenly, my heart trembled again.
I noticed that the purple bra visible through her shirt was higher on one side and lower on the other?
I wasn't mistaken. On Mom's shoulders, a purple bra strap was slightly visible from the collar of her white shirt on the right side, but on the left shoulder, no strap was visible. Following the line of her left shoulder downward, I could vaguely see the purple strap imprinted loosely on the sleeve, hanging slackly down her arm.
How could Mom be so careless? Practicing yoga had caused her bra strap to slip. What if Sam saw? Even though Mom now treated Sam like she treated me, deep down, I still felt that Sam was an outsider. Mom really should be more careful.
Besides, with her loose purple bra under her shirt, wasn't she worried that Sam might accidentally touch her chest while guiding her through yoga poses?
Earlier, Sam had held Mom by the stomach. I wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I thought I saw Sam's large, dark hand holding her chest. If Mom's bra wasn't fastened properly, wouldn't Sam have a chance to touch her breasts?
At this thought, I shuddered involuntarily.
"Zihan, are you okay?" Sam seemed to notice me trembling and turned to ask.
"Nothing, it's just that this fruit is too sour," I said, lying on the sofa, pointing to the fruit in my hand and looking at Sam.
"It's fine, I actually like sour things," Sam replied, glancing at Mom wiping her sweat in the corner and then back at me.
"Mhm," I nodded, took another bite of the fruit, and then glanced subtly toward Mom again.
Sam definitely didn't touch the two large breasts on Mom's chest. If he had, given Mom's temper, she would have immediately torn him apart.
Thinking this, I finally felt relieved because Mom is usually really fierce. Only when I get good grades does she become gentle for a while before returning to her strict self.
Looking further down, the gray-blue leggings Mom wore accentuated her tall figure perfectly. Her two long, slender legs were straight and extended all the way to the tight crotch of the gray-blue yoga pants.
The crotch—I saw Mom's crotch. Although her thighs were pressed tightly together, the triangular-shaped crotch area seemed as if it had been dampened by water. Even though I only glanced at it, I noticed that the lowest part of the yoga pants' crotch had a small patch of darker color, distinctly deeper than the gray-blue shade of the rest. This difference was immediately obvious to me.
Was Mom sweating around her thighs? Sam was sweating, so Mom must have been too. When I exercise, the inside of my thighs does tend to sweat more.
Although Mom's clothes were a bit disheveled, it made me think that she must see Sam as her own child, which meant she had accepted him and no longer rejected him for being Black.
This made me feel a bit better, after all, it was because of me that Sam was staying at our house.
I glanced at the simple-minded Sam sitting beside me, grinning widely as he laughed at the TV, and felt somewhat reassured.
Since Mom enjoys practicing yoga and Sam happens to know how to teach it, this was the perfect opportunity to strengthen the mother-son bond between Mom and Sam. In turn, it would help Sam integrate better into our family.
I was overthinking it. If Sam did anything inappropriate, Mom is so fierce that even Dad can't stop her when she gets angry, let alone little Sam. Hehe.
Thinking this, I smiled to myself.
"Oh, I'm exhausted. Mom, I'm going to take a nap," I said after finishing the fruit, watching Mom as she kept wiping her sweat.
I spent the whole afternoon playing with Li Xiaojun, thinking I might get something out of it. I was full of anticipation but returned disappointed. Then, I ran into Mom and Sam doing yoga. Thankfully, nothing happened, but it left me even more mentally drained.
"Hmm," Mom glanced at me gently, her face growing increasingly flushed. Her snow-white forehead was dotted with stray hairs dampened by sweat. Even the way she wiped her sweat seemed to carry an indescribable charm. It seemed practicing yoga really made people look healthier, more elegant, and more beautiful—especially women.
"Sam, do you want to come take a nap with me?"
I turned to Sam and winked at him, hoping he'd come back to the bedroom with me to discuss how to make Li Xiaojun truly become my girlfriend. Then, maybe I could...
Hehe.
"Zihan, you go ahead. I've slept enough. Mom still wants me to teach her yoga, right, Mom?" Sam looked at me, then at Mom standing by the wall, grinning widely.
"...Hmm, Sam, Mom has practiced enough for today. I'm going upstairs to rest too. You can play with Zihan," Mom paused, offering an awkward yet graceful smile.
"Alright, then I'll watch TV in the living room. I've slept enough this afternoon, hehe," Sam remained seated on the sofa, still grinning.
"Fine," I said.
"And Sam, when you're teaching Mom yoga, don't hurt her, or I won't let it slide," I said, still annoyed from eavesdropping outside the window earlier and hearing how much pain Sam had put Mom through.
"Hehe, Zihan, don't worry. How many times has it been already? You still don't trust me? I love Mom even more than you do, hehe. I'll give you a massage when you wake up later," Sam grinned at Mom and said to me with his usual earnestness.
"Hehe, sounds good," I replied, reassured by Sam's words. But this "damn n*gga" couldn't possibly love my mom more than I do.
Thinking about Sam's massage technique, it did hurt a bit, but there was a certain pleasure in the pain—a kind of bittersweet feeling.
I went to the bathroom, and on my way back to the bedroom, I noticed Mom was no longer in the living room. She must have gone upstairs to rest.
Sam was lying on the sofa, playing on his phone, eating fruit, with one leg crossed over the other, looking completely at ease.
Back in my room, I couldn't stop thinking about how close Li Xiaojun and I had come to kissing in the movie theater. It was such a shame.
I lay down on the bed and soon drifted off to sleep.
"Zihan, time to get up for dinner," a deep, rough voice woke me. I opened my eyes to see a familiar, earnest dark face—it was Sam.
"Damn, dinner? Did I sleep that long?" I sat up, rubbing my eyes.
"Yeah, Zihan, hurry up. Dad's back, and he brought a lot of delicious food," Sam said with a wide grin.
I looked at this black friend of mine, studying him again. It felt like just one semester had passed, but Sam had grown even taller—probably close to six feet now. Even though I'd grown to about 5'9", Sam still seemed noticeably taller and more muscular than when he first came to our house last semester. You really have to admire how strong black genetics are in that regard.
"Alright, let's eat. Oh, and Sam, you have to teach me some tips on picking up girls tonight," I said as I got up, smiling.
"No problem," Sam replied, slapping me on the back as we headed to the living room.
Mom and Dad were already sitting in the living room, with the table covered in food.
"Zihan, it's all your favorites. Your dad went all over Linhai to get this tonight," my dad said, looking at me with an affectionate smile.
"Wow, thanks, Dad! I'm going to eat three big bowls tonight!" I said as Sam and I sat down across from my parents.
"Hahaha... Sam, let's eat!" Dad laughed heartily.
I glanced at Mom. Compared to Dad's cheerful laughter, she seemed much calmer, giving off a relaxed vibe. Her face was flushed, her eyes misty, and in the dim evening light, she looked shy and beautiful—a single glance from her could captivate anyone.
With Sam around as the life of the party, we enjoyed the last dinner of the Spring Festival holiday in a cheerful atmosphere.
Tomorrow, Mom and Dad would be heading back to work.
I looked at Dad. Though his hair was still thick, I could see strands of gray mixed in at his temples.
For some reason, seeing Dad laugh like that made a sudden wave of sadness well up inside me, rising all the way to my nose.
Even though the Spring Festival holiday was over, Sam and I still hadn't started school yet.
That night, in my bedroom.
"Sam, quick, tell me what to do. I was so close to kissing her today, but that damn creep ruined it..." Just thinking about that sleazy guy made me want to curse his entire family tree.
"Zihan, when pursuing a girl, you need patience and, more importantly, masculinity. From what you told me, you almost kissed the class monitor in the cinema today, but you let some creep interrupt you and didn't go through with it. That's not how a man acts. You should've kissed her right then and there. It's like a female dog in heat—she doesn't care what other dogs think. The male dog just needs to mount her. Women are the same. If she's into you, you shouldn't have let that chance slip. Sigh, who knows if you'll get another opportunity like that, Zihan? She might think you lack masculinity and won't be as easily swayed again."
Sam spoke to me with a hint of sadness, and it sounded pretty convincing.
"So, there's no other way?" I asked anxiously.
Masculinity? I guess I did back down at that moment...
"It's not that there's no way. You like her, right?" Sam looked at me seriously.
Like her?
Do I really like her?
I don't even know what counts as liking someone. I'm only 16, but I do know that after being at school with Li Xiaojun for so long, whenever I see her, I want to play "grown-up games" with her, just like Sam does with his girlfriend.
"I guess so," I said.
"Then persistence is victory! That's what our great leader said," Sam declared with a righteous air.
"...Yeah, right." I thought Sam would have some better advice.
"Zihan, you need to prove to her that you're not just good at studying—you've got masculinity too. Women love men with masculinity," Sam said.
"Back in South Africa, I was the captain of the school basketball team. My girlfriend was the school beauty, and I still managed to... well, win her over, hehe." Sam grinned, looking earnest.
"...That's because you're awesome. I'm not a basketball captain..." I said, wondering if Sam had just dropped a curse word earlier.
"Take it slow. I'll teach you step by step how to win over the class monitor. I'm so tired—let's sleep for now, Zihan," Sam said, shrugging as he looked at me.
"Alright, goodnight, Sam," I pouted. This guy was probably going to chat with his girlfriend under the covers again.
"Goodnight, my Zihan," Sam blew me a kiss.
This "damn n-word" is being gross again, blowing kisses at me, I grumbled inwardly.
Still, after spending the whole day out with Li Xiaojun, even though I slept for a few hours after getting back and had dinner, I was still a bit tired. Soon, I drifted off to sleep.
Time flew by. Every day, I hung out with Sam at home, and before I knew it, spring semester had begun.
During this time, I noticed that ever since Mom practiced yoga with Sam on the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, I hadn't seen her do yoga again until school started. She didn't even ask Sam for massages anymore and sometimes even nitpicked and scolded him. Of course, Dad and I weren't spared either. I figured it was because Mom was really busy with work.
As for Dad, after coming home from work in the evenings, he'd occasionally ask Sam for a massage. It seemed like Dad had gotten used to the comfort of having Sam around to give him massages.
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