My Snake - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

That being said, for the next month, Big Black was the one who kept taking me to find food.

Big Black was the name I gave him.

He didn’t refuse it, though he did say it sounded terrible.

However, whenever I called him, he would respond immediately.

Big Black was incredibly good to me.

Every time he scavenged some food, he always gave me the first bite.

If there wasn’t enough to go around, he would claim he wasn’t hungry and let me have it all.

I knew he was starving, so I would say, “If you don’t eat, I won’t eat either. We can just starve to death together and become two little strips of dried snake meat.”

“Who wants to be a dried snake with you?” Big Black would grumble.

Only then would he reluctantly take the piece of bacon I’d bitten into and start eating.

I questioned him once: “Why aren’t you grossed out by my leftovers? Do you like me or something?”

He made a motion as if he were going to gag. “I forgot. Now that you’ve reminded me, I’m starting to feel it.”

I angrily coiled myself into a circle. “I’m ignoring you!!”

In reality, Big Black never actually spat anything out.

He never looked down on the food I had touched.

He was so kind.

Not like my father.

If I took a single bite of something, my father wouldn’t touch it even if his life depended on it.

That was why he got so angry when he found out I had taken a bite out of every single piece of chocolate in his collection.

Once we were full and satisfied, I lay on the grass, basking in the sun with Big Black.

I thought happily to myself: Dear Daddy, your daughter is living a very happy life right now. I don’t miss you at all.

So sleepy…

I want to go to bed.

I mumbled dizzily, “Big Black, can we stay together forever?”

Big Black didn’t say anything.

With my eyes closed, I flicked my tail, using it to pester him. “Hurry up and answer me.”

“I don’t know.”

There was an indescribable tone in Big Black’s voice.

I opened my eyes indignantly. “I knew it. You don’t like being with me.”

“That’s not it,” Big Black explained, which was rare for him. “I just feel like no one would want to stay with me forever. It’s like my mother said-snakes are cold-blooded and disgusting. She felt the most shameful thing in her life was that she used to be a snake. That’s why, after she became human, she abandoned me without a second thought.”

I wiggled my body and moved closer to Big Black, pressing myself tightly against him.

“But I’m not a human. I’m a snake! I want to stay with you forever. Is that okay?”

Big Black froze.

He turned his head away. After a long silence, he muttered a low, muffled response.

“Okay…”

He quietly hooked his tail around mine, entwining them tightly.

I felt exceptionally safe and at peace.

Drowsiness washed over me. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought I heard Big Black say:

“I’m very happy being with you, Xiao Yu.”