"Why are you crying?" Liam Spencer walked out of the bedroom, scrutinizing Maya Spencer, he asked.
Maya was startled by the man’s voice, quickly raised her head, wiped her tears, forced a smile, and explained, "What kind of birthday is this, without a cake, without music, without a dance, even~~"
She swallowed the words, even Mom isn’t here.
Because the person in front of her was like her, he also didn’t have a mom, so what right did she have to be sentimental? In this family, besides Elia Spencer, who else had a mom?
Although Maya swallowed half of her words, Liam still understood, she missed her mom.
It’s understandable, after all, a girl remembering her mother on her birthday is to be expected.
But he couldn’t solve her problem, so he just said nonchalantly, "Isn’t the birthday just starting? There will be a cake tomorrow."
"No one sings the birthday song!"
Maya raised her head, looking pitifully at the man, as if asking him to sing the birthday song.
This left Liam awkward and speechless. He never sang, not even the birthday song. At least in his memory, he had never sung a birthday song.
He swallowed his saliva and suggested, "Tomorrow, you can ask the Turner siblings to sing the birthday song for you."
Maya watched his awkwardness and said nothing. She did not tell him that on every birthday in the past, at midnight, her mom would sing the birthday song to her and dance with her. She still remembered when her mom said to her while dancing last year.
"I hope Maya won’t grow up to be like me. You must meet a good person, who you love and who loves you."
Maya’s mother was a very sentimental woman, living a self-centered life, putting everything aside for love, even being disowned, which made Maya inherently melancholic and emotional.
As she watched Liam’s back as he turned to leave again, she suddenly called out to him, asking, "Third Brother, can you dance with me?"
When Liam heard the girl’s request, he was stunned but eventually turned around and said, "Okay!"
"Can the gramophone work?"
Then, Maya found the song ’Looking Back Again’ from a pile of vinyl records and placed it on the gramophone; this song was her mother’s favorite.
As the music started, Maya slowly approached Liam, extending her small hand to the man, inviting him to dance.
Liam watched the girl’s gesture, took her small hand, rested it on his shoulder, while his large hand held her waist gently, dancing slowly with her emotions.
Her head was always lowered, leaning against his chest. He could feel that she was crying, secretly crying.
She said she wanted to dance, probably just to use the music to cover her sobs, but the more she listened to the music, the more sentimental she became, thinking about more things.
To hide her emotions, she deliberately said with a smile, "This song was my mom’s favorite, she had such good taste!"
"Yes, very good taste!"
Hearing his acknowledgment, she gently leaned her head against his chest. Although he had said things that upset her today and hadn’t given her a birthday gift, he accompanied her for this dance, and all her grievances vanished.
As the music slowly ended, Maya clung to Liam, crying uncontrollably, making him unwilling to push her away.
Liam took a deep breath, slowly raised his right hand, and gently patted her shoulder. There was no verbal comfort, only physical solace.
Maya felt the man’s comfort and held him tighter, as if he were her only support.
She raised her head, and when she looked at him, he happened to be looking at her too. Their eyes met, and she quickly hid, burying herself in his embrace. She didn’t want to be seen crying by anyone, though she had already cried in front of him.
Liam looked at the girl’s shy demeanor, suddenly lifted both hands, cupped her small face, and wiped the tears off her face.
Seeing her red eyes and ruddy nose, he felt a sense of déjà vu, as if bewitched, and slowly lowered his head, getting closer, until their lips met.
All at once, Maya was stupefied, unable to comprehend what Third Brother was trying to do this time. Did he find her crying annoying and therefore use this tactic to stop her?
However, as she looked into Liam’s eyes, she couldn’t help but swallow.
Everything felt like a dream, yet it was so real.