Prologue.

“It’s snowing, mummy! It’s snowing!” a three-year-old boy exclaimed excitedly in his mother’s arms, as he felt the first snowflake landed on his palm.

“Yes, baby…” His mother her little son’s black hair, a smile gently forming on her face.

A moment ago, he was in shelter with his mother, enjoying the warmth of the hot chocolate his mother prepared specially for him. He took a first sip and an instant gape formed in amazement. It was the first and the best hot chocolate he’d ever tasted. A feeling struck him, for he was going to cherish this time of the year, forever.

The little boy loitered in another pleasant world of his, where he was playing in the snow and sipping the best hot chocolate in the world, awaiting his mother to call out for him. His mother embraced him and brought him outside the home.

The snow rapidly clogged up the road and other surroundings of their house. There was nothing but white everywhere. A snow drift indeed, but of course, the little boy didn’t notice it.

“Mummy, can I play in the snow? Please mummy…. Please…” He pleaded his mother.

“But baby… The snow… It’s falling down constantly and it’s dange…” His mother stopped talking as something caught her eyes. There the boy stood, giving his unintentional Bambi eyes to his mother.

She couldn’t help but to heave a sigh. “Ok…” She heard herself mutter. She crouched down and let her son off her grip. He grinned at her and ran out freely.

Winter is the little boy’s favourite season. But, it was a pity that he couldn’t experience the sight of the wonderful time of year. All he could do was to touch and feel the icy bliss with his fingers.

This boy has been blind since the day he was born. His father… Well, he doesn’t know anything about his father. Neither did he met him before nor he knew that he ‘has’ a dad.

His mother… She is a lovable person who keeps an eye on her little son, almost every second. She always advised Arron to not to look down of his blindness as Arron’s got plenty of talent that’s secreted inside of him. His mother is whom he’s grateful of, more than anything else in the world. But, his mum is quite protective, maybe a tad too protective, that Arron couldn’t experience some things he assumed, the best in the world. But, he always manages to ‘influence’ his mother with those ‘Bambi eyes’, even though he’s blind.

Little Arron scooped up a hand-full of the snow from the ground and started rolling it in his hands.

“Mummy, Look! I made a snow ball!” In a while, Arron called out while waving the ball of packed snow he made, in the air.

“That’s great dear.” Mrs. Yan said, walking towards Arron. She crouched beside him.

“Arron, do you want more hot chocolate?”

“Yes, mummy!” Arron answered cheerfully.

“Ok then. I’ll be right back with the hot chocolate. Stay here and don’t go anywhere, ok?”

“Ok, mummy!” Arron replied fervently. Mrs.Yan walked in the house after a slight ruffle of Arron’s hair and a kiss on his forehead.

Arron happily threw the snowballs out of sight, unaware of the environment around him.

Well, it landed… on…

“Ouch! That hurts!” Arron heard a sweet and cute voice, exclaiming from far opposite of him.

Arron scurried in front, struggling through the thick snow surrounding him. Unfortunately, the snow was too vast and thick, Arron tripped and fell down. His whole body, including his face buried in the snow, causing him to smother. He moved violently to get himself out of the mess but there was no avail. Oh, how regretful he was for persuading his mother to let him play in the snow. His mother was right. It is dangerous all right, especially when he’s blind and all.

The little girl saw Arron struggling and rushed towards him to help. She clutched his arm and pulled him up.

“Hey, are you ok?” she asked him. Boy, Arron certainly recognized that voice.

“I’m sorry. I was the one who threw the snowballs.” Little Arron apologized immediately while brushing off the snowflakes stuck on his sweater and pants.

“No, no. It’s ok. You’re ok, right?”

“Yeah…” Arron grinned.

Silence took over for a long moment. The both of them were looking down awkwardly, trying to figure out the next word to say to each other.

At last, one of them spoke. “Err….Hey, I’m Arron.”

“I’m Hebe. It’s nice to meet you.”

The little girl held out her hands to hand-shake with Arron but he was merely staring at her without blinking. There was a long moment of pause.

“Hey, are you REALLY ok?”

“Erm… Yes. Why?” Arron got confused.

“Aren’t you gonna shake my hand?”

“Oh…” Arron held out his hand and started scrabbling for Hebe's hand.

“Hey, are you SURE you’re ok?”

“Err… I’m… blind.” Arron finally said, feeling a little gauche.

“Oh.” A short pause, again. Hebe was staring at little Arron pitifully.

After a few seconds, “Well… that’s ok.” She gripped Arron’s arm and hand-shook him.

“Will you be my friend?” Hebe asked Arron politely. He got surprised, for the fact that she would say that since most of the children he talks to don’t bother him just because he's blind.

“Sure!” He answered happily.

“You want to build a snowman with me?” She asked him sweetly.

“Err… err… err…” He stuttered, having no idea what does a ‘snowman’ means.

She chuckled, recognizing the reason for Arron’s reaction. “My mummy said that it’s a human made out of snow.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, let’s go.” Little Hebe grabbed Little Arron’s arm and brought him to the favourite spot of hers to build the snowman.

“Ok!”

Well, the hot chocolate, PLUS his little girl friend, he's definitely going to cherish this time of the year, alright.

- - - - -

Hey fellow readers! Does anyone remember us? It's us ratana and brenda, the authors of Love Life At School (/ratana2205) and we're back with another collaboration of a BeBu storyline. Originally, this story was started off by ratana, but it has changed into a collaboration to spice up the story more with our different ideas. Plus, the previous account for this story was deleted by the site admin, therefore we're back in writing it, from square one.

We hope everyone would enjoy reading our writing, and comments are much appreciated. Stay tuned for Chapter 1, which will be written by brenda. Thank you! ^_^

Signing off,
ratana & brenda
24/11/10.