Zitao grunted and shook his head slowly as he looked away. “And no, I wouldn’t even want to model for you. Not ever.”

Kris was left alone inside the coffee shop, embarrassed and vulnerable. He was left speechless with everything Zitao said. Of course, he didn’t really mean everything he said. He’s a tactless speaker. He froze in his seat as he tried to collect what just happened. There’s this feeling in him that really pushed him to say that he needed to fix it. More importantly, this feeling finally made him realize that he was attracted to Zitao.

He stood up, and before heading out, he grabbed the cups of coffee on their table and breathed heavily. Kris walked towards the same direction Zitao headed for and tried to look for him. He asked people around if they saw someone who walked past using a description of Zitao.

After a few minutes looking for him, he finally saw Zitao by the entrance of a park. Zitao looked very sad.

“Zitao!” Kris shouted as he ran to him. “Please let me explain.”

Zitao looked up and saw Kris running towards him. He automatically turned his back against Kris and walked inside the park to get away from Kris.

“Zitao wait!”

“Stop following me Kris.”

“Please just hold up for a second!” Kris stopped running. “Be mature and face me right now.”

Zitao stopped walking and took a few seconds to take a breather. He didn’t know whether to face Kris or not. He thought whether or not he should run and be called a coward, or if he should muster up the courage to talk to him.

“Zitao…” Kris said in a softer tone.

He finally gave in after hearing Kris’ softer side. Zitao turned to Kris and sighed. “What do you want?”

“I didn’t mean to say all those…”

“Ah you didn’t? So what made you say all those things?” Zitao crossed his arms. “Well aside from being a total narcissist.”

Kris wanted to shout right there but he contained himself. “I… just wanted to make friends…”

“And you think this is your way of making friends..? Wow how… unique.”

“No! Just..!” Kris tried to control himself. He sighed and finally added. “I thought you would like me more if I presented myself.”

“How twisted is your mi—”

“Let me speak first, okay?!” Kris finally exploded. “Look, I’ve been trying to make an impression just so you could notice me because I really want to be your friend.”

Zitao just kept quiet as he was looking at his surroundings.

“I was hoping you can change me because it’s the first time I ever l… l… llll…”

“Ch-change..?” Zitao leaned forward in curiosity

“It’s the first time I ever liked someone.”

Zitao was frozen on the spot. He didn’t know what to reply next. He was still caught at what Kris just said and couldn’t move on from it.

“Yes, that’s why I’m saying sorry,” Kris reached out one of his hands and offered Zitao the unfinished cup of coffee that he left behind. “Please give me a second chance. Let’s start out right.”

Zitao blinked and slowly smiled after a few seconds. He walked towards Kris and gave him a warm hug. Kris slowly returned the hug and whispered, “Hurry, your coffee’s getting cold.”

“What?” Zitao said as he pulled away. “Oh, my coffee, right.”

They both took a sip of their coffee and laughed. It’s going to be a start of a great friendship.

Courage definitely is one of those values that are difficult to master as it takes great risks and your own effort to achieve. The same goes for humility. Both depend on the capability and capacity of the person as the results are always uncertain. Too courageous could end in disastrous failure—too humble could end in being abused.

Balance.

Zitao and Kris leaned how to balance their miracles in December and managed to eventually, GRADUALLY fill in the hole they dug themselves. Because of this, they were able to forgive and forget, and star anew; they were able to give love this Christmas.