Chapter - Playing with Lia(Revise)

"...Brother Robert!!!"

A shadow covered my head, blocking the sun and the sudden voice woke up me from my nostalgic memories.

Looking up, I saw a cute face looking at me curiously while holding a pink rabbit in her hands.

"Lia..."

Why is Lia here? And how did she find me?

For the past year, I have never met Lia again because of Mrs. Lilica would always actively avoid me. So I couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Brother Robert, let's play!"

Lia once again said in that same cute and soft voice which would melt anyone's heart.

"..."

Really, why is this girl so cute?

Looking at the girl whose eyes were full of pure innocence, I recalled the dream I had in the morning and all my thoughts about avoiding her and about Mrs. Lilica's possible Interference vanished in smoke.

After being silent for a moment, I nodded.

"Okay!"

Sigh, I am really damned. A cute girl can easily make me lose my cool... But Lia is really cute. There is no doubt about it.

Forget it, I will treat her the same way as I treated my little sister and cousins.

Besides, I had already spent the entire morning feeling depressed over a dream. A little time playing with a cute girl like Lia might not be such a bad idea.

"Really! Let's go."

Lia's face immediately brightened when she heard my answer. She grabbed my hand with one hand, holding her pink rabbit doll tightly with the other.

Wait, wait! At least let me stand up first!

"Alright, alright. What do you want to play?"

"Umm..."

Lia tilted her head, seemingly deep in thought.

Her serious expression was so cute that I couldn't help but want to pinch her face.

Seriously, what was wrong with this girl? How could someone be so adorable just by standing there?

If I had a phone, I would have taken a picture already. Unfortunately, the only thing I had was a pair of eyes, so I could only appreciate this rare sight with them.

"Lia doesn't know. Brother Robert, you decide."

Lia shook her head. She probably never played with someone of her own age. So even though she wanted to play, she didn't know if suitable games to play with her peers.

"Let me decide..."

Now that's a big problem! It's not that I don't know how to with children nor that I don't know any games but that most of the games I know aren't suitable under the current circumstances.

First, the play of lifting up and throwing her in the sky is out of question. My strength is probably okay but my height isn't enough.

Second, casual games like hide and seek, tag, and other similar games are also out of the question. In case someone saw us playing and informed my mother, I will be in hell of a trouble.

Third, board games like Ludo, Chess, etc and Solitaire are also out of question. They require specific equipments which I do not have.

In that case, it seems that's the only way.

"Lia, wait for me. I will bring a few things to play with you."

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"Okay!"

Lia nodded obediently, then stood where she was, hugging her pink rabbit doll.

I looked at her for a moment before turning around and heading towards my own room.

Entering my room, I walked up to the study table and opened the drawer.

Inside, there were couple of plain papers.

I picked them up and left my room, and headed back. When I returned to the backyard, Lia was still standing in the same place, obediently waiting for me.

The moment she noticed me approaching, her eyes immediately brightened with excitement, and she hurried over to see what I had brought.

"Brother Robert, is that paper?" She asked curiously, pointing at the papers tucked beneath my arm.

"It's paper, we're going to use them to play a little game together," I nodded and sat down under the shade of a tree in the corner then I motioned her to sit down as well.

Lia immediately sat beside me, her little legs swinging impatiently as she waited for me to explain what we would be doing.

"Lia, I will teach you something, it's called Origami. You can make it using paper."

"Origami?" Lia repeated the unfamiliar word while tilting her head curiously, seemingly trying to understand what I had just said.

"That's right, it's a little trick that uses ordinary paper to make all sorts of interesting things. I learned it from a book."

I folded the paper in front of Lia and soon made a paper plane in front of her.

"See, it's like this. This is a paper plane. You only need to throw it and it will fly without any Magic, just like this..."

I held the paper plane between my fingers and threw the paper plane toward the open space in front of us, watching it glide forward before slowly descending toward the ground.

The distance wasn't particularly impressive, and the plane eventually landed only a few steps away from where we were sitting, but that wasn't the important part.

What mattered was the little girl sitting beside me, whose mouth had opened slightly while her eyes followed the plane's entire flight.

"Wow! Brother Robert, it really flew!" Lia exclaimed, immediately turning toward me with an expression that made her excitement impossible to hide.

"Of course, it flew, because I wouldn't have called it a paper plane if it couldn't fly through the air."

I answered with a completely serious expression, although I secretly felt rather pleased with myself for managing to impress such an adorable little girl.

"Can Lia try it too?" Lia asked, stretching both hands toward the plane as though I had just shown her some incredible treasure.

"Naturally, but you need to be careful when throwing it, or the plane might crash before it gets the chance to fly properly."

I stood up, retrieved the plane, and returned to my place beneath the tree before handing it over to Lia with an encouraging smile.

She accepted it with both hands, carefully examining the folded paper, probably wondering how a paper could fly without Magic.

"Brother Robert, how do I make it fly like yours?"

Lia's tiny fingers gripped the paper plane tightly and she looked at me, waiting for my instructions.

"First, hold it gently near the middle, then point its nose toward the open space and throw it forward without using too much strength."

I demonstrated the movement slowly, making sure that Lia could see each step clearly before allowing her to try the same thing herself.

Lia nodded seriously, apparently treating my instructions like some important lesson that she absolutely needed to master before doing anything else.

She raised her little arm, aimed toward the empty space ahead, and threw the paper plane with all the strength her small body could manage.

Unfortunately, instead of gliding gracefully through the air like mine had done, her plane immediately tilted sideways and crashed onto the grass.

For several seconds, Lia stared at the fallen plane without saying anything, and I could practically see the disappointment spreading across her adorable little face.

Oh no, this wasn't good, because the last thing I wanted was for her first experience with my game to become a disappointing memory.

"Don't worry, Lia, even my first paper plane probably didn't fly very well, so you only need to practice a little more before succeeding."

I comforted her with a reassuring smile, although the truth was that I couldn't remember making my first paper plane anymore, given how long ago that had been.

"Look here, Lia, one side has become slightly bent, so the plane cannot balance properly while flying through the air."

I picked up the plane and fidget with it as if I was fixing it then handed it to Lia, whose expression had brightened after hearing my words.

"Try throwing it again, but remember to hold it gently and avoid using all your strength when releasing it from your hand."

Lia listened carefully, adjusted her grip, and threw the plane once again, this time managing to send it gliding several feet across the grass.

Although its flight remained somewhat unstable, the plane travelled farther than before, which was enough to make Lia clap her hands excitedly.

"Brother Robert, look! Lia made it fly!" she shouted, turning toward me with such a bright smile that I immediately forgot about every concern troubling me.

"That's right, Lia, you did wonderfully, and I knew you would succeed once you understood how to throw the plane properly."

I praised her sincerely, and the little girl hugged her pink rabbit doll while smiling proudly, as though she had accomplished something truly extraordinary.

Watching her celebrate such a small achievement unexpectedly reminded me of the children I had known during my previous life, including my younger sister and cousins.

For a brief moment, the peaceful scene before me made it surprisingly easy to forget about everything else.

Unfortunately, I couldn't indulge myself in this peace. It's only because this is a blind spot that no one has seen us and that I can play with Lia.

I glanced toward the distant corridors then looked back at Lia who was full of smiles.

I really hope she doesn't lose her smile in this family. I don't wish for her to grow up into the silent girl in the novel.

...