The sun was still shining brightly onto your face and a soft breeze caressed your fair skin.

"So, do you go to school here? How old are you anyways, you're pretty tall."
"I'm actually 17, I get that a lot though, not only about my height also my voice.. I wonder, is it really that strange?"

You raised an eyebrow as you inspected the young man once more.

"Not really, they're probably just not used to it."

A short silence passed as both of you listened to the distant voices of people strolling through the park.

"How's your little brother?

"What?"

He seemed surprised at your sudden question, while all the while your casual expression didn't waver.

"Your little brother, how is he?" you repeated.
"How do you- wait a second.. You can't be, no, the guy at the airport looked different, didn't he?"

While he seemed to be in a discussion with himself you shot him a sarcastic look.

"Yeah, I was tired and wearing a hoodie, of course I looked different."
"It is you! How did I not notice that?"
"It was probably the hoodie."

You smiled, for the first time in a while.
It's funny, how these little things can make someone smile, maybe some people see these little things as big things, maybe people like him manage to live off of these little moments.

"Hey, this might sound weird since I'm just some strange guy that you met at the airport because he dropped his bag. But, would you like to grab some lunch?"

It was the first time you had done something like this, it wasn't like you. No, normally you would try to avoid any type of human contact and just continue on with your 'normal' routine like most 'normal' people.
But there was something about this guy, something that made you want to change that.
Maybe it was was his never fading smile, or his bright eyes. Or maybe it was just something about the way he acted.
Whatever it was it was definitely having affect on the way you saw things.

"Really?! That would be great! I'm starving, what should we eat?"
"Ehm.. What do you feel like eating?"
"Hmm, oh I know! It's something I haven't eaten in a long time and my friend told me that there's a really cheap place around here that has it!"
"Really? What is it?"
"Italian food!"
 

Well it was certainly something you hadn't eaten in a while.
The place was nice though. It was quite small and had warm lighting giving it a cosy feeling.
You looked over to Chanyeol who was looking through the menu card with that never fading smile of his.
"Shall we sit down somewhere?"
"Oh yeah!"
He seems like a nice guy, someone who would do anything for the person he cares about.
You wonder, does he have the same troubles you have? The same hardships? How does he manage to be that happy?

"Right, about my little brother"
"Hm?"
"Remember? You asked?"
"Oh right, how is he?
"He's alright I guess, poor buddy's been trough a lot."
"Like what?"
"My little brother's adopted"
"Really? What about you?"
"Not me, but sadly my mom died giving birth to me."
"Ah, sorry to hear."
"It's okay, I never knew her anyways."

After another 15 minutes of mindless talking your food was finally here.
It felt nice, being able to have a normal conversations again with someone.
Turns out, Chanyeol will be entering your school next year.
Even though he's a bit younger he'll be in the same class as you.
The food was a nice change from your usual rice with some average side dish.
It had been too long since something had gone different from your usual routine, way too long.

After both of you had finished your food and Chanyeol had engaged in an unnecessarily long conversation with the waiter about the taste of tomatoes, you walked for a bit.

It was turning a bit dark already and Chanyeol and you somehow ended up back at the park.

"Wait a second, why did you decide to go to my crappy school anyways?"
You said as you stopped in your tracks and turned around to face him.
"To be honest, it was because it was the only school around here that I could afford by myself."

It was true what he said, the school was indeed the only place a student living by himself could possibly afford.
You yourself would know that.
You never wanted to ask anything from your mom, ever.
Ever since the passing of your dad your mom had just always seemed so fragile to you.
As if she could shatter into tiny little pieces any second.
It was hard to live by yourself at first, yes, but knowing your mom was better of without you it was worth it.

Yes, you hated the place you were forced to call your home, yes, at first you did run away from it.
But being honest with yourself, you knew that that wasn't the only reason you left.
You left because you didn't want to burden your mother any longer.
You always managed to look right trough her futile attempts to make you think she was fine.
She wasn't, she was anything but fine. Everyday you could see her crumbling apart a little more. Her quiet sobbing at night became more frequent to the point that they were almost daily.
She didn't want you to see, no, anything but that.
Yet no matter what she did you saw right through it.
Those nights when she would think you were sleeping, but in reality you were just quietly listening to her prayers, to her pleads for you to grow up healthy and strong.
Yet in the end you just ended up trying your best to fall asleep, ignoring her silent sobs.

"Baekhyun? Are you okay?"
"Hm?" you snapped out of it and looked back up to meet Chanyeol's concerned face.
"Your face looked pained, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking about some stuff."
Before turning back around you shot one last glance at Chanyeol's face, he still looked pretty confused, couldn't blame the guy, you had always been strangely awkward around others.

"Hey, it's getting late, I'm gonna go home. It was nice meeting you."
"Oh.. Well alright, I'll see you around Baekhyun."
"Yeah, see ya."