Three Women in the Cage

I don’t know how long it was, but in a daze, Xinxin heard a knock on the door, and it seemed to be accompanied by a word "Third sister". She suddenly woke up, poked her head out from under the quilt, and sat up.

Looking at the bright sky outside, she was shocked to realize that she had already gone through a long night. She took a deep breath and wondered if she had made it through again. She was a little surprised that she had made it through yesterday's situation. She suddenly felt like she had survived a disaster.

Before she could think about it, there was another knock on the door. Xinxin thought she was dreaming, but she didn't expect it to be real. But who would knock at the door at this time? She didn't dare to open the door rashly, so she held her breath and listened to the noise outside.

Seeing that the door was not opened, the knocking became louder and louder, accompanied by urgent calls of "Third sister, third sister, open the door quickly, I am your second sister..."

Xinxin heard clearly this time that it was her second sister who came back. She didn't expect her to come back at this time. She was shocked and suspicious and quickly got up from the bed, ran towards the door, and opened it from the inside anxiously.

As the door opened, Yaya appeared in front of him, looking exhausted, and excitedly called out "Second sister..."

As if she hadn't seen Yaya for a long time, she warmly welcomed Yaya into the house and walked happily behind her, feeling indescribable joy in her heart!

Arriving at the bedroom, the two sisters sat on the edge of the bed. Yaya took something out of her schoolbag and asked with concern, "How many days have you been back home? What do you eat at home?"

Listening to her sister's concern, she felt a long-lost warmth and her eyes became wet. In order to prevent her sister from seeing her embarrassment, she forced herself to control her emotions and said, "I came back on Friday and have been here for two days. I ate the bread I brought back from school!"

Yaya frowned and said, "Why don't you cook? How can you just eat bread? If you think cooking is troublesome, at least eat it down. How come you are so grown up and still can't take care of yourself..."

Listening to her second sister's complaints, Xinxin knew that she was doing it for her own good and was worried about her health, but she inexplicably wanted to cry. She said somewhat embarrassedly, "I can't eat, I don't want to do it..."

She suffered from mental torture every day and had no appetite to eat. She was even almost driven into a trance, so she had no mind to care about what to eat.

Yaya was shocked and couldn't even eat. She didn't know how serious the problem was. She asked nervously, "Why can't you eat? Do you have a cold? Are you feeling unwell? There should be some cold medicine at home. I'll get it for you!"

As he said that, he was about to get the medicine.

Xinxin grabbed her second sister and said, "It's ready, no need to eat."

Yaya looked at her with suspicion.

Xinxin was hesitant to express her inner fear and cowardice, fearing that her second sister would lecture her, which would be too embarrassing. In order to prevent her from discovering her shameful behavior, Xinxin quickly changed the subject and said, "By the way, why did you come back today? You have to go back to school today. Isn't this a nuisance for you?"

Speaking of this, Yaya said in some confusion, "I didn't want to come back at first, but I was worried about you, so I hurried back to check on you. I wanted to see if you were okay."

Ever since her elder sister Huanhuan went to college, Yaya has been working hard to make up for what she considers a regret, in order to study medicine, which her elder sister regretfully did not choose.

In short, she suddenly became serious and didn't want to waste even her weekends, so she spent all her time in the library. Therefore, she had no plans to go home on weekends from the beginning.

But for some reason last night, perhaps because she sensed Xinxin's call, or perhaps because of the inexplicable blood relationship, she suddenly felt uneasy and felt like there was a voice calling her home. So, to feel at ease, she hurried back early in the morning.

Now that Xinxin seems to be fine, he thinks to himself, "I've been too cautious. My third sister is already this old, not a child anymore. How could anything happen to her..."

Hearing what my second sister said, my heart skipped a beat. I was afraid that she would find something wrong, so I quickly pretended to be calm and said, "What are you worried about? I'm fine, right?"

Seeing Xinxin like this, Yaya finally felt relieved and said, "Well, Third Sister has grown up and knows how to take care of herself. That makes me feel relieved. I may not come back on the weekends. You know, the college entrance examination is coming soon, and I need to save the weekends to practice questions. It's boring to run back and forth like this, and it wastes time and money. Anyway, you can be fine and don't need me to take care of you. Just come back by yourself in the future and take good care of yourself!"

Listening to her second sister's words, Xinxin wanted to give up pretending and tell her loudly, "I'm scared. I don't want to be alone at home. I can't take good care of myself. I want you to come back and be with me. I want you to come back and be with me every weekend..."

For a moment, she wanted her second sister to know her inner fragility, wanted to give up her false disguise, and expose her helplessness and fear!

But she didn't dare do that, because she knew her second sister, like her mother, was strong and stubborn. They wouldn't understand her fear, wouldn't understand her cowardice and inability. If she spoke out loud, she would only get incredulous looks and then shouts of frustration, "How can you be so useless? You're afraid in your own home? Are there wolves, tigers, or leopards? Are there demons or monsters? Is someone trying to eat you?"

They cannot understand Xinxin's fear, they will only criticize her constantly, thinking that Xinxin should be as strong and brave as them, otherwise, they will think that she is the same as Zhang Erfa, the representative of cowardice and the embodiment of incompetence, and their eyes will be full of disgust towards her!

Whenever she thought about being criticized and looked at like that, Xinxin felt suffocated. She didn't want that. She would rather endure the fear in her heart alone than let them know!

Even if we are despairing, we would rather not be looked down upon by others, let alone by our blood relatives. Who wants to be criticized by their loved ones? Who doesn't want to be praised and appreciated by their loved ones?

So, in the end, she did not shout out her inner fear, and pretended to be calm and said to Yaya, "I know, I will take good care of myself, don't worry! I hope you can get into the university of your choice..."

Yaya looked at her sensible third sister and felt very relieved. She touched her head and said, "Okay, I thought you would go to school today too, so I would wait for you to go out together. However, my place is too far away, and I still have to study when I get home. If I wait for you, I may not have time to do the homework in advance. So, I decided not to wait for you and leave first."

As he spoke, he took out a bag of snacks from his schoolbag and stuffed it into Xinxin's pocket, continuing, "Here, I brought these especially for you. Eat them when you're hungry, but they can't be eaten as a meal. You still need to eat, okay? When I leave later, remember to cook for yourself and eat well before going to school!"

Xinxin nodded and said, "I understand..."

After explaining everything to Xinxin, Yaya put on her backpack and prepared to go back to school. Xinxin sent her to the door and watched her walk away with mixed feelings, looking back every step of the way...

Only when she could no longer see Yaya did Xinxin return to the house in a daze, bolted the door from the inside, and then returned to the bedroom in disappointment!

Looking at the bedroom that had returned to its deserted state, I seemed to have an illusion, as if my second sister had never come back and that everything was just my fantasy.

But the bag of snacks placed aside reminded her that her sister had come back to see her just now...

But why did he leave in such a hurry? The time he spent with me was so short, and the warmth that I had finally grasped was gone in an instant!