requested by anon

You sit down on a park bench with a sigh, wiping your forehead with the back of your hand. The weather outside had been warmer than you’d expected it to be, and you’d managed to break into a light sweat in this weather.

With a sigh, you your jacket and drape it over your shoulders, grateful that there is no longer such a stifling heat on your body.

Suddenly, you feel a slight tug on your leg.

You glance down into the wide brown eyes of a young child with wind-tousled hair and pink-flushed cheeks.

“Hey,” you say, leaning down towards the child, “what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your parents?”

“No. I’m playing hide-and-seek with baba!”

“What’s your name?” you ask, gently lifting up the child and sitting him down on the bench next to you. You’re starting to get worried, since this child seems to have no qualms with talking to strangers and shows no signs of running away anytime soon.

“My name is Lu Yusheng, and I’m four years old!” He holds out four fingers with a wide smile, and he seems to be very proud of himself.

“Nice to meet you, Yusheng,” you reply, and Yusheng scoots closer to you on the bench, his small hands gripping your arm.

“Jiejie, I don’t have a mama,” he says, staring up at you, his doe eyes shimmering with slight tears. “Can you be my mama?”

“I-what?”

“Yusheng! Yusheng!”

A man comes running down the path,