You Must Be Happy
“You! Move to the corner of the classroom!” The homeroom teacher barked.
The cold war with my dad hadn’t ended yet, and now another “cold wave” had hit.
“Teacher, I still want to sit with Yin Momo. I’ll move to the corner too.” A deep voice sounded from behind me.
After a noisy shuffle, she had moved beside me. The class erupted into chaos, countless eyes shooting our way.
I didn’t care. I buried my head, fully immersing myself in self-pity, knowing that soon a stepmother would be moving in, starting a “stepmother abuses stepdaughter” saga.
Shortly after my dad’s company went bankrupt, my once-loving parents separated. Mom went to Hainan with another man, and after a few days of sorrow, Dad frequently started dating another woman.
And me? I hid my head in my arms, sneering at myself over and over again.
My sneering was quickly met with a response from Du Xiaoxi. She looked at me and said, “Yin Momo, even if we laugh out loud, the teacher won’t hear us. This spot is great!”
She was my desk mate, with a heavy local accent, always saying “ti ku” instead of “ti ku” (meaning “cry”). I didn’t like her, found her annoying. But she never got angry or upset, always cheerfully following me around. Even after I became the “bad example” due to my family issues clouding my mind, she still did her best to defend me.
The person who truly cared about me turned out to be someone I had never considered a friend. And my dad? He was only concerned with himself. After a series of cold wars, he still brought that woman home.
That Friday afternoon, I waited for him with a bunch of test papers. Seeing the pitifully low scores, he lost his temper, tearing them to shreds in no time. I shot him a glare sharper than a knife and ran out the door.
When I ran away in a fit of pique, the first to find me was Du Xiaoxi. The early autumn weather was a bit cold, and when she found me, I was curled up in a half-demolished house.
She sat close to me, and at that moment, my hardened heart softened. I hugged her and cried loudly. When I was tired of crying, she pulled me out and into a noodle shop, ordering two bowls of hot noodle soup.
The noodles came, but I couldn’t eat. Du Xiaoxi got anxious and said, “Eat up! This noodle soup is so delicious! Every time I go home, my mom makes me a bowl first thing…”
“Kids with moms are all happy,” I murmured, lowering my head to eat the noodles.
Realizing her slip, Du Xiaoxi stuck out her tongue and said, “Let me tell you a secret—she’s my stepmom!” Du Xiaoxi spoke seriously, and I was so shocked I almost dropped my jaw.
In the extracurricular activities that followed, I still sat on the parallel bars daydreaming, and Du Xiaoxi still rambled on. She babbled about how kind her stepmother was and how she cared about her growth. Finally, she shook her sportswear and said, “Look, my mom bought this. Pretty, right? Hey, Momo, you’re getting along well with your mom now, right?” I snorted, “Hmph, she’s not my mom!”
Du Xiaoxi suddenly got excited and grabbed my hand: “Otherwise, do you want your dad to be single for life? Can you guarantee you’ll always be there to take care of him?”
I was stunned; I had never thought about these things. But, it was true that when Dad’s asthma acted up, that woman brewed herbal soup and took care of him.
Under the influence of Du Xiaoxi’s happiness logic, I acquiesced to that woman’s presence. Seeing my change, Dad’s eyes turned red with emotion, and my stepmother’s eyes sparkled with tears of joy.
I got into the best high school in the city, but Du Xiaoxi vanished without a trace.
After much searching, I found her house. A disheveled woman rushed out and, after hearing “Du Xiaoxi,” replied with a “Not here” and slammed the door in my face.
Next door, an old lady sitting in the sun shook her head at me: “Xiaoxi went to work in the south. Her stepmother really isn’t any good!”
In a daze, I suddenly recalled the beautiful life Du Xiaoxi had described, and tears blurred my vision. I managed to type a few words into her long-dormant QQ account: “Du Xiaoxi, you must, must be happy!”
Otherwise, Yin Momo will never forgive you!
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
