Yixing sat at his desk, placed right against the window, doing homework. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and, so far, April seemed to be pretty nice for Yixing's taste. It was sunny, rather warm, not really rainy. The last fact was very appealing, because it meant, that he could skip his annual "cold-season" and play with his friends as much as he wanted, whenever he felt like it.

The sun was shing brightly casting warm light on his textbooks and warming his right hand, that was furiously writing something on the page. He loved literature. He loved reading books. And writing essays. He always had so much to say, that sometimes teachers scolded him for not being able to stick to just one thought and then let it evolve and lead him. But he didn't care. He knew exactly how good or bad he was, so he rarely needed his teacher's snide remarks.

There was a loud crashing sound from the house next to his, following by a voice. "MOM! He broke another cup! Mom!" It had been almost a month since the new family moved in and, even though his parents already been there to welcome their new neighbors and a few more times for a "social chit-chat" as his mom called it, he was reluctant to go over there. It wasn't his intention to be rude, but he saw no point: his mom said, that their neighbors had a daughter his age and she didn't have a lot of friends, but he was a boy and at this age and with all his friends also boys, suddenly having a girl in friends would be weird. Besides, he was half-sure that his friends would make fun of him. Yet, with all that in mind, just the previous day he went with his parents to a birthday party of Mrs Lang, who had her birthday only a few days before. He was a little bored, although being a very polite boy, he didn't show it, and most of the evening he spent sitting with their daugher watching cartoons and drinking some sweet bubbly drink. They were both quite awkward with each other and apart from introducing themselves, they didn't talk at all. So, when his father walked in the living room, telling him that mom will stay and help cleaning a little bit, Yixing said, that he'll go home with him. He was almost out of the room, when he suddenly remembered, yet again, that he was polite, turned around and, flashing a kind smile, said, "Bye, Tui. I'll see you around." The girl returned the smile and answered him, just before the front door closed and Yixing let out a relived sigh. Don't get him wrong, it wasn't that he desperately wanted to get out of there, because the food was great - for a split second he caught himself thinking, that if Tui's mother will teach her how to cook, someday he'll enjoy Tui's cooking as much as her mother's - and the cartoon was great - yeah, he already saw Monsters, Inc a few times, but he loved it and never missed the chance to watcn it one more time - but he just never really was alone in the room with the girl before. He had no idea what to say or how to behave, whether he should treat her like he treated all his friends or... He felt just so so awkward and couldn't help himself from sighing out in relieve.

Suddenly, Yixing realised that his thoughts weren't anywhere near of 'Oliver Twist', that he was currently reading, and, shaking his head slightly, he looked down at the book again.

"Okay, focus." He mumbled to himself, encoraging his brain to only drift according to the course that he had set.

The same day, when they just finished dinner, there was a knock on the front door. His father went to open the door and a few seconds later came back to the kitchen, followed by Tui and her mother. Mrs Lang had her hands placed on her daughter's shoulders and the girl had a little ginger fur-ball in her hands. The woman nudged her daughter a little bit and, blushing fiercely, Tui looked up at the family.

"We came home yesterday and saw him sitting by out front door. He seems to be just a few weeks old, but the vets said he's older and only looks so, because he's tiny. We would've kept him, but dad's allergic... and we don't know anyone else we could trust him with, so... I thought, maybe, you would keep him? He's nice!" She quickly added. "Except, he broke three cups in less than 24 hours. But he's just a kitten, right? He's ought to be mischivous..."

Tui saw the smile grow on Yixing's parents faces and bashfully lowered her gaze to the kitten, that was trying to claw his way to her shoulder. She was mentally trying to will him to stop his antic. "Come on, baby, behave. If they don't agree to keep you, we'll have to place you in the shelter... So, just be a good boy, huh?" Tui could almost feel his little claws tearing the surface of her skin, drawing a little blood, and knit her eyebrows.

"Well, I think, we don't mind, right?" Mr Zhang turned to look at his wife, as if to aknowlegde their mutual agreement, and saw her smiling soflty and nodding. "So, if Yixing will be willing to help us taking care of this little ginger ball, you can leave him here. Son?"

Yixing tilted his heed to the side in thought and asked,  "Is he my birthday present?"

"Yout birthday is six months away, but if you want him to be your pre..."

"No!" He quickly cut his father off. "Forget I said it!"

"So? Will you keep him?" Tui set the kitten down on the floor and patted his silky fur. Yixing stood up from the chair and sat down on the floor next to her and the kitten.

"Sure," he flashed Tui an adorible smile. 

"Thank you," she blushed a little - she was, after all, just like Yixing, not used to have an attention of an oppisite turned to her - and returned a smile.

Just when she and her mother were walking out of the house, Mrs Zhang touched her mother's elbow lightly.

"Thank you. Really. We thought about buying a per ourselves in hopes, that that'll help Yixing socialize more, so you're really right on time." Tui thought that she liked Mrs Zhang's smile - it was tender, warm, with the sent of care in it. "You can come anytime to play with him. And I wanted to ask... when is her birthday? We'd like to buy her something."

"June 14th and you really don't have to!" Tui answered for her mother. "Although I will really appreciate it."

"It's a deal then," yes, Tui really like that woman's smile.

"Bye. Bye, Yixing!"

"Bye, Tui! Thank you!"

"Anytime," the girl grabbed her mother's hand and they went back to their house, being glad that this little purring ball now had a home.