Jeno remembered the days of his summer.

“Jeno, don't forget to water the garden!”

“See you honey,” his parents had beckoned before heading out the door to their carefully arranged date, disguised as they called it an ‘outing’ when it was painfully obvious what it was.

It was summer, Jeno was in his vacation house where he laid most of days in his bed, out on the porch near the pool or even in the hot and humid greenhouse. Most of his days spent were spent on wasted hours being so lethargic in the drugging heat of the weather. Humidity was at it's peak yet his skin portrayed the true dryness of the days, and the salt from the nearby sea had drifted through the air into his house, making it not much better for him. Despite this, he still loved the sun, and also despite trapping himself indoors he’d, still claim to go outside every once in a while when the house was all to himself. He also enjoyed seeing the peaches and apricots fresh out of a summer’s garden, slowly ripen in their fruitbasket  as the days passed by. There wasn't much to love about summer, yet there was everything to love about too.

Jeno was still laying in his small white bed, windows open to let the sea breeze dance through his room. To his right where the window was, a screeching sound accompanied by the bass line notes of a stopping car was heard outside. His room was situated upstairs, overlooking the fence of which the boundary between his own house and the neighbours were established. A charming Mandarin tree was anchored barely in the neighbours’ territory, which hung over Jeno’s side of the fence. Likewise, Jeno’s own beloved apricot and peach trees sat north of the Mandarins within his own territory. These too, hung over the neighbours side of the fence, except, he had no neighbours at this moment which added to the uncanny nature of a sound of a car pulling up in the abandoned driveway. He lifted his head, breaking his own midday sleep and struggled to peer over his open window. He's met with a view of the sky at first, warming up his eyes to the light after he had them shut for over 40 minutes. Then, he glanced down below and discovered the car. A new car, it was, a grand and expensive Mercedes in shining black looking like it was freshly repainted within a few moment of it’s use. Jeno stared at the vehicle in aw, as if it was the only thing he had ever hoped to own, and his admiration for the beauty would only prove itself stronger as he longingly stared at the vehicle for what seemed like much too long. He was absolutely mesmorised. And in fact, so very, as when the owners of the beloved Mercedes had begun to reveal themselves from the car he was only taken aback, almost displeased. He already longed to be a part of them. I want to own that car, he thought, a shameless thought indeed yet a very honest one, in which many lacked to admit.

A woman placed one foot out of the car, followed by the other to reveal the pair of orange summer footwear she wore. Her head ducked beneath the frame of the door and carefully motioned it out, to which Jeno could see she had dark coffee coloured hair. Maybe this is the mother, or the sister. Maybe they even came with friends not a family, he thought, as she continued to reveal her appearance and attire in which he saw that she wore a loose fitting linen dress, with brown buttons running down the centre seam and an elastic cinched waist. Her face was visibly young and looked like she was about 30 or so, Jeno could guess, and not too heavily powdered with makeup but rather a natural and subtle enhancement. Coincidentally that was how he liked makeup on girls, not too overpowering yet enough to bring out their true beauty, without covering their natural face. He brought this to his own attention as she turned to face the other side of the car, motioning her hand as if there was another person in the back.

“Renjun!” he heard her call out, as a young male emerged from the far side of the black Mercedes. Renjun? That must be her son, and she must be a mother, He thought. Renjun. Renjun…

He gazed at the way of his lightness while stepping out of the car, how he was so thin yet somewhat lean, and observed how the billowing white shirt he was wearing behaved as the wind was blowing it against his skin. The slightly sheer material of cotton lawn would occasionally stick to his arm, torso, the top of his pants and his neck where the collar was. What a wonderful view it had looked like to him, and what a comfortable shirt it was, probable that it was no less of an expensive one. Jeno realised how he wanted to wear that shirt, how he wanted it to billow in the wind just like it did for Renjun, and...that shirt specifically. Not the imitators or the duplicates made in mass production factories (despite being an expensive one- at least to his assumption) because maybe it wouldn't ride the wind the same way, maybe it wouldn't look as lovely as it did on him, and for some reason in that moment and moments to come he had wanted to engulf himself in the other boy’s existence. He wanted just the same luxuries he had, and exactly the same...or it just won't be the same.

He...He had to go greet them.

Jeno ushered down the main stairs of his vacation home, feeling the delighted as if he were a kid on Christmas running to his toy under the tree. He remembered feeling the same joy and giddiness as he would in the past, when he was a kid who ripped open his presents revealing the legos he wanted inside. He felt joy and giddiness awaiting for his present outside, as he itches with anticipation as to what reaction would follow. Would they be surprised he bothered to greet them? Or would they be indifferent to his endearment entirely? Or perhaps they already had a gift prepared for all their neighbours...perhaps Jeno needed to give them something as a neighbour.

He averted his direction and guided towards the kitchen, in where he had hurriedly picked up a large paper bag and selected two peaches and an apricot from the fruit basket. He sealed the edges of the bag shut by folding it twice and hurries outside. He felt proud of himself at that time, proud that he was able to prepare such a gift on such a whim, and gave them something that had such a sophisticated symbolism to it - peaches with the idea of longevity and apricots for opportunities...at least he thought.

He scurried outside and into his neighbours driveway, where they had been bringing some things out of the car. Not much, not the whole of their belongings but a small thing or two, like their crossbody bags in which Renjun carried a leather messenger bag that peaked Jenos interest, and his mother carried a black rounded purse with a ‘GG’ at the tip of the flap. Again...this was another reason to long to be like them, in Jeno’s mind. They had items that could prove their self worth and opulence which he could never think to obtain even in another lifetime. He walked over to them, nervously fiddling with the edges of the brown paper bag. His footsteps were quiet because the thought of making them loud could come off as obnoxious, attention seeking or something else. He knew he wasn't of those things, not at all, he was quiet and thoughtful and knew how to appreciate things.

The mother and son was alerted by the sound of his footsteps anyway, as it grinded against the dusty gravel driveway in which the tire tracks of many years of driving on were more than visible. They turned to Jeno, smiling with an air of friendliness. He was satisfied with the purity of their expressions, and felt contented by this alone. He smiled back and nervously looked to the ground, only to meet their eyes again as he looked up. He noticed the way the boy too, Renjun, had his eyes curled into crescent moons as he smiled. He liked that, it was as if his eyes alone had portrayed the kindness he was expecting exactly as he first laid his eyes on him. Jeno wasn't sure when he began to judge some one by their appearance but...nonetheless he was satisfied for a second time. And the third time came as he saw how his dark hair laid on his face, how it slightly curled at the ends and straightened near the crown of his head. It was slightly messy and tousled, as if he were sleeping in the car for the entirety of the ride and still refused to get up when they stopped.

But Jeno was captivated, the same billowy shirt he’d seen from his bedroom window above was right in front of him, and his frame was so small in it you could barely see the shape of his figure. It looked even better up close, softer than what he had imagined and even brighter with the sun glowing outside. It looked very loose and of comfort, much to his liking and increased his ambitions to wearing that shirt. The white shirt was much like the fresh auras of the two, like it was their symbol of longevity and opportunities, and Jeno also thought about the purity it had looked like. They didn't need Jeno’s fruits at all, did they? In fact it seemed like Jeno had forgotten in that moment that they didn't really need anything from him at all, and all the fruits meant now was a token of welcoming them in. They even had their own Mandarin tree already planted in their backyard, for goodness sakes. And the peach and apricot trees that Jeno owned already hung over the side of the fence, to which he and his past neighbours had always agreed to share the fruit. A little taken aback, Jeno was and even a little embarrassed too, to think he was doing that much for their new neighbours when all he did was greet them thus far, and contemplate handing them the pathetic looking bag of fruits. Nonetheless, he smiled kindly through his own shame and they smiled with the same amount kindness.

“Good afternoon, ma'am,”

“Afternoon, young man,” she smiled. Her voice rung smoothly and had somewhat of a deep undertone to it.

“I...I'm guessing you're moving in. I live next door and I couldn't help but notice your arrival. I came to give you some...uh...fruits a-as a welcome,” he couldn't help but laugh at himself half way through his sentence. He didn't know whether he was doing good or bad, and that irked him. “From our garden,” he added.

“Oh how lovely of you! Thank you very much! We'll be sure to enjoy these,”

How friendly, and how genuine it seemed that Jeno didn't even want to think it was an act. It couldn’t have been. He wanted to immerse himself with the thought that it was real, a real reaction and were kind people. He wanted to believe that such wholesome and pure expressions existed in this dead and dry land. It made him happy, and he wished to return that happiness as well. He turned to the right and there stood Renjun, he smiled at the sight of his face and Jeno returned the gesture. He held out his hand, shaking for some reason as he had suddenly became nervous. “Hey, my name's Jeno. What's yours?” he had pretended he didn’t know his name, for what stranger would randomly know someone else's name?

“Hi Jeno, I'm Renjun,” he replied with his toothy grin, taking Jeno’s hand and shaking it like he offered. His hands were so smooth, and so soft unlike the cracked and dried skin of his own which now was another thing to be embarrassed of. He heard a chuckle from the other. “Do you want some hand cream? The air is very dry around here.” Jeno only nodded. He was kind too...so kind, and he didn't want to taint his thinking otherwise. Soon, in Jeno’s mind, the name Renjun would be associated with that of the word ‘kindness’, and that alone. Renjun brings out a small unopened tube of hand cream, scented summer peach blossom and gently grabbed Jeno’s hand. He brought his palm to face upwards and proceeded to squeeze out small amount of the orange tinted cream. Meanwhile all of this, Jeno simply stood in aw with his hand out, staring at the top of his head while the other looked down. He was much, much shorter than him...he found himself grinning to this. Kind gestures after kind gestures...this would soon to become an obsession of his, as he already found his heart beating fast to the action of putting hand cream on for him. He finally massaged the cream into his palms, the scent of peach blossom in the air mimicked a peaceful spring day rather than a sluggish summer holiday. The other looks up, meeting the eyes of his own and smiles again. His face...Jeno realised hadn't even looked at his face until now. He had smooth and pale skin, clearly not from the countryside. Jeno feared a little bit that his skin would soon be tainted by the summer sun, although he realised a tan look wouldn’t...be so bad either. His eyes were brown and large, typical of his ethnicity. The eyelids that folded over his double lid had left a slightly hooded and puffy look, and this, was somewhat of a unique feature. It looked good on him. And his nose, lips, cheeks, eyebrows, all of which had an air of beauty to them had put Jeno in an uneasy situation. Perhaps he had been stuck in a trance, staring for god knows how long and yet he still didn't pull away. He blanked out. He was out of it, just a little. The other’s face was...nice, he guessed. It was good. It was okay. He guessed. He pulled himself away from the gaze and muttered a thank you. It was barely audible, but he supposed it was enough. He did everything to avoid eye contact with the other, not wanting awkward situations to arise. Only when Renjun would coming looking for his eyes again like he had something to say, he would return the eye contact, but not on his own accord and only out of courtesy.

“No problem. You can keep the hand cream,” Renjun said, as he grabbed Jeno’s hand again and places the tube in his palm, closing his fingers on it. “It’s a return for your fruits.” He never failed to smile after every word he said. What was Jeno supposed to do with those actions? What about his own reactions? He failed to have a smooth delivery of words and just stood there flabbergasted, only able to mutter an even quieter thankyou and a slight nod. Renjun chuckled again at his awkward reactions and reached over to pat his head, as if it was some form of endearment to him. What was he supposed to do with that chuckle again? Though it occurred to him that he would probably continue to think about it for the rest of the day.

They said their goodbyes, last thankyous, and finally made their way into their new, extravagant house. Much more extravagant, than the home Jeno stayed in next door.