Imperfect Desires

128 Shoe That Didn't Fi

Seeing the way Dylan was being bullied by his elder sister, Xiu was reminded of Jackson and Nora. The only difference was that in her best friend's case, Nora was always at the losing end. Jackson was the youngest and his age was his biggest weapon to manipulate Nora.

Now that she thought about it, she decided to keep Jackson away from books that didn't compliment his age. In the age of playing with toys, he was already getting intense with emotions. Xiu's biggest fear was that she didn't want Jackson to mature too soon. He was a child and deserved to experience being a child.

She had to act like a mature person from a very young age, she didn't want him to go through the same experiences in life. While Xiu was lost in her own thoughts, she felt a pair of eyes glued on her face.

Xiu lifted her eyes and met with brown-colored orbs of a little girl who was looking at her in an adorable way. Asteria used her small hands to get on the chair and touched Xiu's face saying, "You're really pretty." Xiu was still blinking her eyes as she had no idea what to say in response. Asteria touched Xiu's pin that held up her hair in a bun and pulled it out.

Her straight light brown hair cascaded down like a waterfall. "Wow! Your hair reminds me of Rapunzel." Xiu tucked the strands of hair behind her ear and as she saw the happiness in those adorable and pure eyes, she was lost for words again. Xiu never liked people touching her hair but when that little girl did so, Xiu didn't mind at all. "I'm Asteria. My name's meaning is a star. That's why both my uncles call me a little star. I'm six years old."

Xiu looked at her toothy grin and patted her head saying, "Hello, little star! I'm Bai Xiu. Xiu means beauty. That's all there is about me."

"Aww, you're just like your name. A beauty's name is beauty," said Asteria with her childlike innocence. Xiu laughed along with her since this must be the most beautiful or crazy thing she heard today. Xiu looked around and realized that both Dylan and his sister had vanished. She felt a tug at her shoulder and looked at Asteria who said, "Can you tell me a story?"

Xiu picked her up and put her on the table as she started, "Hmm... Story... Okay, let me tell you a new story." Asteria nodded her head excitedly. "So, once upon a time, there was a superstar named Red. In her world of glamor, she often forgot what or who she was. One day, she met a Prince Charming."

"And they fell in love?" Xiu nodded in response.

"Our little star is very intelligent," at her praise Asteria giggled. "Prince Charming gave her a glass slipper just like Cinderella. Red was really happy to get that glass slipper. Even when the glass slipper bit her, made her bleed, hurt her, she stubbornly wore it. Do you know why?"

"Because it was a gift from the Prince Charming. Mommy says that we should never belittle someone's present because it represents their feelings." Xiu smiled at her bitterly and bobbed her head up and down.

"However, one day Red took off the shoe and gave it back to the Prince Charming. She realized that the shoe didn't fit her. After all, she was Red. She wasn't the Cinderella meant for the Prince Charming."

"Red must have been sad," Asteria said sadly.

"She was and that's why she went off to live in a tower. A place no one knew her at all. There she met a knight who wiped her tears. The knight asked her to take his hand..." Xiu looked at her own hand as she thought of Darren unconsciously.

"Did she took his hand?"

Xiu pinched her cheeks and said, "That's up to our little star. You should decide whether she should take that hand or not?"

Asteria's face scrunched up as she thought long and hard before saying, "Red should take the knight's hand. Dazi says that everyone deserves a second chance in life."

As Xiu heard her say 'Dazi', she thought to herself, 'Again Darren? Why are you everywhere these days?' Xiu kissed her cheeks and said, "Aiyo, Asteria is really smart. You're even smarter than your Didi."

"Hehe..." Asteria giggled as she said, "Everyone says that."

"So the moral of the story is... if you don't fit in someone's fairytale. Write your own."

As Xiu was playing around with Asteria, she heard Dylan's voice, "Sis, can you stop saying that?"

She looked towards the stairs and saw Qiu Meihui slapping Dylan's head as she said, "What did I say wrong? You're adopted. Go and ask mom yourself if you don't believe me."

"I'm telling you this trick is old now. I'm not adopted. If anyone is adopted that's you!" Dylan retorted stubbornly.

"Little bro, look at me. I'm a replica of mom. I don't even need a DNA test to prove my identity. What about you?" Xiu could see Dylan was thoroughly pissed off and it amused her a lot.

She had always seen Nora teasing Jackson with the exact same dialogue. She was an only child in both her lives and really didn't know what kind of bond siblings had. For her, this was her reason for envy. She never thought she'd envy Dylan.

Both siblings stopped bickering as they noticed Xiu. "When did your hair grew so long?" The dumb question came from Dylan.

Xiu tied her hair back up and said, "What does that have to do with you?"

"You can answer nicely once in a while," retorted Dylan in exasperation before saying, "Let's go. I packed the drink for you as well."

As Xiu was about to leave, Asteria held her hand and said, "Xiuxiu, come to see little star again."

"I will," replied Xiu.

"Woah! When did you guys become so chummy?" Dylan looked at his niece before looking at Xiu. Poor him, no one bothered to give him a reply.

"Bai Xiu, it was nice meeting you," Qiu Meihui said to Xiu politely and the way she spoke made Xiu really wonder whether Dylan was adopted. If Dylan knew what was running through her mind, he would have puked blood in anger. "Be nice to my little brother. This one is fine but Darren is special."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Xiu in a pleasant tone.Please go to