Taking Minnie away from home, they walked towards the stairs since the residential area where Zack's parents lived was quite old, unlike the one where Zack lived, which had elevators.
As we walked down the stairs, Minnie slowly followed behind Zack, her head down and fingers tapping on her phone, not paying any attention to where she was stepping.
Suddenly, Zack stopped, and Minnie, who hadn't noticed, bumped into his back.
Minnie felt like she had hit a concrete wall. She let out an "Ouch!" and rubbed her straight nose bridge, complaining, "...What are you doing? Why did you stop suddenly?"
Zack turned back and looked at her, lecturing, "...Don't play with your phone while walking. Watch your step, especially when going downstairs. Don't you worry about twisting your ankle?"
"...If you trip and fall down the stairs, I won't help you," he added.
Minnie wasn't afraid of Zack. She stared at him with her big, sparkling eyes and said, "...Why are you so nagging? You sound just like my mom."
"I'm just worried you might get hurt," Zack replied, feeling a little amused by her reaction.
Kids usually don't like nagging elders, but when they become elders themselves, they subconsciously want to lecture the younger generation. Was this a kind of 'power' they had acquired, and were they addicted to it? Zack had a sudden realization.
"What are you so addicted to?"
Zack glanced at Minnie's phone screen and saw that she had opened WeChat, but he couldn't see the specific content.
"I'm chatting with a friend," Minnie replied obediently and stopped playing with her phone, bouncing along behind Zack as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Chatting with a friend? Isn't it your boyfriend?" Zack said with a half-smile as he led her to the parking area.
"Yes, so what if it's my boyfriend? Unlike you, who still can't find a girlfriend despite your age," Minnie said proudly.
The teenage girl's skin was as soft as water, and she wasn't wearing any makeup. Her straight nose bridge, clear double eyelids, and sparkling eyes gave her a natural beauty that didn't need any embellishment.
Although Minnie's facial features hadn't fully developed yet, and she looked somewhat childish without makeup, Zack felt that her features wouldn't change much in the future. She was a standard beauty in the making.
Seeing her joke about him again, Zack's expression remained unchanged as he took out his phone to make a call.
"Who are you calling?" Minnie asked nervously.
"I'm calling your mom to tell her you're not studying hard at school and you have a boyfriend," Zack said blankly.
Minnie initially thought Zack was joking, but when she saw him dialing the number, she jumped up like a cat with its tail stepped on and exclaimed, "...Zack, don't call! Hey, big brother, dear big brother, I'm sorry, okay? I don't have a boyfriend. I was just chatting with my classmates. Do you want to see?"
If her mother knew she had a "boyfriend," she would kill her.
Although she didn't actually have one, she knew she would still get a beating before the truth came out.
Seeing Minnie give in, Zack smiled and put away his phone. Of course, he was just kidding.
"Behave yourself in the future, or I'll tell your mom to teach you a lesson...And stop calling me by my name. Call me 'big brother,' got it?"
Zack didn't take the phone Minnie offered. He wasn't about to invade her privacy. He was just teasing her.
"You're not a kid anymore, and you still only know how to tell your parents," Minnie muttered under her breath.
Seeing Zack glaring at her again, she quickly added, "...I'll call you big brother from now on, okay? Big brother dear. Aren't you some kind of sister-complex guy? I never noticed before."
Minnie looked at Zack with exaggerated suspicion in her eyes.
"Where did you learn that term?"
Although he asked, Zack knew that kids nowadays had access to the Internet from a young age and understood a lot of things.
Although their bodies hadn't fully developed, kids nowadays couldn't be seen as innocent. They understood a lot.
Especially girls, who matured earlier. Zack suspected that Minnie might secretly watch some strange things at home.
"Get in the car!"
If it were another girl, Zack might pretend to be a gentleman and open the car door for her.
But his cousin Minnie was an exception.
Moreover, she was still young and didn't care about such things. She agilely opened the car door and hopped in.
Once seated in the passenger seat, the little girl immediately started complaining that the seat was too hot and asked Zack to turn on the air conditioning.
Zack wasn't too knowledgeable about cars, but he didn't like SUVs. They were uncomfortable to drive, except for the Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
Older men usually preferred this type of car for family outings.
As Zack thought about buying a car when he returned to the capital for school, he started the engine.
Driving on the way to the mall, Zack noticed Minnie playing with her phone again in the passenger seat. This time, he didn't say anything.
However, Minnie's sitting posture was unladylike. She slumped in the seat and took off her sandals, exposing her straight and snowy legs in front of the car.
Her little feet, wearing white lace ankle socks, wiggled around, causing Zack to lose focus on driving and keep glancing over.
The girl's skin was so delicate and pale that it reflected a creamy glow in the afternoon sunlight.
Zack remembered the softness of her ankle when he grabbed it before leaving and felt a slight stirring in his heart.
He quickly suppressed his thoughts and said to Minnie, "...Put your feet down. They're blocking my rearview mirror."
"Oh!" Minnie replied and put her feet down without arguing.
She suddenly turned her head and said with a tilted head, "...Why were you staring at my legs just now?"
Damn, the little girl was pretty sharp. She noticed that. Maybe it was a woman's nature?
However, Zack remained calm and said, "...I noticed your unladylike sitting posture. Your skirt is so short. You don't want to flash others, do you?"
"What's the big deal? I'm wearing panties. You can check if you don't believe me," Minnie giggled and lifted her plaid skirt.
Zack glanced and saw that she was indeed wearing panties with a cute Pikachu print.
He quickly averted his gaze. Even though she was wearing panties, he couldn't keep staring at certain parts of a girl.
He glanced at Minnie's phone, which was an iPhone.
Although he couldn't see specific wear and tear due to the case, he could tell it was a model from three years ago.
Zack remembered that Minnie had just got this phone when he started college three years ago.
The IOS system had the advantage of remaining smooth even after three or four years.
"Haven't you changed your phone yet?" Zack asked casually.
"I've been wanting to, but my mom said she'll buy me a new one after my high school entrance exam," Minnie immediately opened up and started chatting.
Her family was considered middle-class, but they didn't buy a new phone every year, especially since her parents didn't care much about it.
Moreover, Minnie was still young, and they didn't want her to develop bad habits, so she could only use hand-me-downs from her parents.
"Is it because one of your classmates got a new phone and you're envious?" Zack asked with a smile, recalling his thoughts during middle and high school.
Minnie blushed and stammered, "...A little bit."
"...You know, there's someone in my class that I really hate. Her mom bought her a new phone and she keeps showing off. What's the big deal about a phone?" Minnie grumbled, but it was obvious that she was indeed envious.
This made Zack think that she was just like any other middle school kid!
"Be content. When I was in middle and high school, few people in my class had phones," Thinking back to when he first started high school six years ago, Zack sighed with the tone of someone who's been there, done that.
"So, you're an old fogey now!" Minnie huffed.
Zack chuckled and kept quiet, thinking to himself, 'In a moment, you'll be begging me to call you "Big Brother".'
He felt his phone in his pocket and realized he needed a new one too.
Now that he had money, he couldn't just spend it freely; he needed to keep growing it.
But Zack knew that what he needed to learn next was how to spend money.
Spending money, too, was an art!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。