Prologue

            A typhoon was coming.

            The bench felt cold under his thighs as he dangled and swayed his feet back and forth. The concrete against his back vibrated gently and the wind that blew in gave him goose bumps. He could hear someone crying. A little girl, maybe. He wasn’t sure. The sniffling and bawling echoed around him. At some point, everything was silent. He closed his eyes. There was a voice now. It was whispering something. He couldn’t understand the words but somehow, surprisingly, they made someone laugh. It was a pleasant laugh, he noticed, the kind that usually stuck in your mind for a lingering moment. Because it did and his goose bumps disappeared all at once.

            A click, footsteps, a familiar voice…

            “I hope you feel better. Don’t forget we meet early tomorrow,” a man said as he ushered a little girl outside his office.

            The little girl nodded. She smiled just a bit, quite a shy one it seemed.

He stared at her and watched as her parents took her away. He looked toward the building’s entrance for quite a long time until a hand plopped down on his head and brought his focus back.

“Did you wait long?” the man asked. He took a seat next to the little boy.

The boy shook his head.

“You made her smile.”

“Hm?” the man hummed. “I guess I did.”

“It’s nice,” the little boy retorted.

The man laughed heartily and ruffled his companion’s hair.

“I bet you can do that too,” the man said. “Someday.”

“Really?”

The man nodded enthusiastically, a wrinkled smile playing on his lips. The little boy closed his eyes once more and listened to the afternoon downpour.