Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

“Which one do you like?”

Rainy bit on her thumb. She stood on her toes and pointed to the smallest one in the counter. A smile lit her face like a flower in full bloom.

“Mommy, I want this.”

She thought the smallest cake was the cheapest. It wasn’t easy for her mother to earn money. She couldn’t spend all her mother’s hard-earned money.

“Okay, let’s take this one.” Xia Ruoxin went to the counter and ordered the small cake. However, she didn’t tell her daughter the smallest one was actually the most expensive one, too.

Once they bought the cake, she placed it in her daughter’s hand. Then, she tickled Rainy’s face. “Come. Let’s go home. The house is warmer so it won’t be cold.”

“Okay.” Rainy held her cake tightly. She reached out with a little hand and tugged at the corner of Xia Ruoxin’s blouse. “Mommy, I can walk on my own.”

Xia Ruoxin reached out and squeezed her daughter’s hand as she led Rainy out of the cake house. A tall woman and a small girl; one tall and one short. The child walked as she tried her best to keep up with her mother’s footsteps; whereas, her mother took small steps intentionally to match her daughter’s steps.

From afar, the employees in the cake house smiled as she pointed at the pair of mother and daughter.

The mother was beautiful while the daughter was pretty.

“Seriously?” The other employee didn’t believe his colleague. “How pretty?”

“Very pretty. Especially the little girl. Her eyes were awesome.”

A pity. That employee didn’t get to meet the big and little beauties. They kept lingering on his mind. If it was possible, he also wished he could see the big and little beauties himself.

Xia Ruoxin opened the door to their house. The interior was warm because she had left the heater on. They could wear their thin clothing the whole day when they were at home. In the past, their home had never been this warm before. For the past four years—since she left the Chu family, she had been living in a dark and cold warehouse. After that, they had rented an apartment, but it was still cold inside. Rainy had depended on her useless mother’s body warmth to prevent herself from catching a cold since she was young. Fortunately, they had this house now. Otherwise, she wouldn’t know how she could live through such a freezing winter with her daughter’s low immune system.

She placed the cake on the table, and then she took Rainy’s hand leading her to the bathroom to wash her hands. Finally, she allowed Rainy to eat her cake.

Rainy ate a mouthful of cake in content. The sweet creamy taste almost melted the smile off of her chubby face.

“It is nice?” Xia Ruoxin sat opposite her as she watched her daughter eat.

“Mmm.” Rainy ate another mouth. Then, she pushed the whole cake before Xia Ruoxin.

“Mommy, you eat, too.”

“I have already eaten.” How could Xia Ruoxin eat what was meant for her daughter?

Rainy blinked her eyes. “Mommy, when did you eat the cake?”

“Have you forgotten? I know magic, and I ate some earlier.” Xia Ruoxin lied to her daughter. In fact, she had been lying to her daughter like this ever since Rainy was a little girl. Her daughter was an obedient girl. Whenever she had something nice, she would remember her mother. That was why Xia Ruoxin was always lying to her child either saying she had eaten, played, or drank. That was all to allow her child a piece of mind.

When the cake was finished, Rainy licked the cream off her lips with satisfaction. Perhaps, she was still savoring the after taste.

“Nice?” Xia Ruoxin asked her, laughing.

“Mmm. It’s very good.” Rainy cleared the paper box off the table herself. She jumped down from the stool and threw the rubbish into the trash bin. Then, she grabbed a piece of rag and started to clean the table like an adult.

Xia Ruoxin let her be. She was so young so she should be playing. However, it was good for her to move around. If she didn’t, she would become a fat little imp.

At night, Xia Ruoxin reached out instinctively in her sleep to feel for her daughter. She wondered if Rainy had kicked her blanket away. However, when her hand touched Rainy’s face, she bolted straight up from her sleep.

Rainy was having a fever.