Friend

Yixing looks up from the swing that he’s seated on. The sky looks really gloomy and there is apparent threat of rain in the air too. The winds are too breezy to be just normal and delightful, they’re the kind that makes the cold seep through your bones and make you tremble with fear. The kid is not sure if it is because of the weather or if it is because he associates his surroundings to his situation at the moment.

His parents, after years of arguing in front of Yixing’s young innocent eyes, have finally decided to get divorced. That is how Yixing ended up here, in this new place, in this old playground. 

He and his mother moved to Hong Kong where she asked to be reassigned from her company. She thought, the farther from her ex-husband, the better. But she never really thought of it’s implications to his son. Since she works for an international company, she converses with most of the people she works with in English, saving her from learning Cantonese. The same can’t be said for Yixing though.

Yixing has only been in his new school for a week and he already hates it. The place was okay, the teachers are nice but the other kids seem to not have anything nice to say to him at all. It’s not that he understands what they’re saying but he knows he is being isolated and the way they follow him around with their eyes only makes him feel unnerved. He is only seven years old and has neither the energy nor the strength to fight anyone especially if he’s the one going to start it. Also, he knows his mother is going through a lot and he doesn’t want to add up to that.

He finds solace in this old playground near their apartment building. The other kids don’t go here a lot, opting to play in the new one or just staying holed up in their houses with their latest video games. Yixing never really liked those. He wanted to have his body moving, be free, run and hide and just be a kid out in the sun having fun.

It’s only been a week, he thinks, as he watches the clouds grey and taunting.

“Hey!” He hears someone say but he doesn’t look around to acknowledge it because he thinks it’s not him who’s being addressed.

He was going to ignore but then he saw a shadow looming before him. His view of the stormy skies get obscured by it. When he refocuses his eyes to look at the intruder of his calm, his eyes first see a big bright smile; something he doesn’t think he’s seen in months, not even from himself.

“You’re the new kid, right?” The boy asks him with a questioningly enthusiastic tone. Yixing just nods and lowers his head so he can come face to face with the other boy. He belatedly realizes that the kid spoke in Mandarin and not Cantonese.

“Want to play? We’re short of one player.” The boy shows him the basketball he has tucked in between his arms, his big gummy smile still plastered on his face. Yixing wants to decline and go back to his peaceful albeit bleak alone time. But there’s something about the big smile and genuine eyes looking at him that makes him want to nod and say yes.

“I don’t–”

“It’s okay,” the boy raises a placating hand before him, cutting Yixing short, “we’re all new to the game.”

“Okay.” He acquiesces and climbs down his swing. The smile on the other boy’s face grew wider than Yixing ever thought would be possible and his eyes seem to sparkle with something Yixing can only liken to happiness, pure happiness.

“Yay!” The other boy, who, now that Yixing is standing on flat ground notices, is much taller than he is, squeals and immediately hooks his arm around Yixing’s neck.

“I’m Yifan, by the way.” The taller boy smiles and nudges Yixing as they walk forward. He introduces himself as well and he can’t help the blush that slowly crept to his cheeks when Yifan told him that his name was beautiful and it fits him.

“We can go back to your swing later after we play ball. How’s that?” Yifan offers, his smile still as wide as it can ever be. And as Yixing nods to the thought of having someone pushing him on the swingset instead of kicking on the dust with much difficulty, he thinks he just found a friend.

The sky clears out almost instantly as the two boys walk to the neighborhood court hand-in-hand.

It looks like it’s not going to rain today or the days after.