Silent and lonely world (Dark clouds before sunny weather - Book 1)

Chapter 21

A-Yuan followed after Lan Jingyi who was currently all but dragging Mo Xuanyu into his room. He wanted to remind his younger brother that he should be careful around their new friend – had he not been feeling well until now and had his dad not told them they should be nice to him? – but he found A-Yi's enthusiasm too adorable. Moreover, A-Yu did not seem bothered by the child's attention, if anything, he looked like he was in awe and enjoyed it very much. So A-Yuan concluded that this counted as being nice anyway.

He had already expected that A-Yi would have everything prepared by now, he had been so happy to play with their new friend. And sure enough, the child's room was in a complete disarray, his toys and books all around on the ground, apparently on display. He had to smile seeing how Mo Xuanyu's eyes became wide and his mouth fell slightly agape when A-Yi showed him all his treasures and possessions and asked him to play with him.

It was a bit awkward at first, it almost looked like A-Yu did not know how to play and use the toys which surprised A-Yuan greatly. But once Lan Jingyi showed him, he suddenly could play with them so it was probably just him trying to properly entertain the child. A-Yuan sometimes did it too; he would pretend he did not know how to play some game and would have A-Yi explain the rules to him just to hear the child's adorable babbles. His brother was still small and it was fun to observe how he sometimes twisted the rules to be in his favour, not that A-Yuan or their parents minded at all.

A-Yuan joined the two others playing with A-Yi's collection of toy cars. Mo Xuanyu was indulging his little brother and A-Yuan smiled again. When A-Yi got tired of the car races, they moved to painting. That, A-Yu did not pretend to not know, after all, they did that at school during their Arts classes, and he must have done it at a kindergarten too, just like anyone else.

A-Yuan finished his own picture of his birthday cake, the party still very fresh in his memories, he could not believe that it was already over and he would have to wait a whole year for another birthday. They had so much fun! Then he frowned a little bit, he and all his friends had fun, that was true but he remembered that Mo Xuanyu had not actually joined in on any of the games. He would have to ask his parents if they could play like that just with A-Yu so he would not miss on that only because he had been feeling sick. Since his friend had eaten dinner without any visible discomfort, at least it seemed that he was feeling better now.

He peeked at the picture the other two were drawing. A-Yi had several person-like splotches of colour on the paper and A-Yuan was suspecting that he was trying to draw their family, plus Mo Xuanyu it would seem from the count of people on the paper.

When he turned to see A-Yu's creation, his breath was almost taken away. It was a picture of A-Yuan in the jumping castle from earlier. It was so real-looking and elaborate that A-Yuan did not even hesitate when guessing what was on that paper. It seemed that Mo Xuanyu had a real talent for drawing. A-Yuan secretly wished he could keep that picture.

"A-Yu is so talented!" he exclaimed, immediately regretting the loudness of his voice because Mo Xuanyu flinched a bit, apparently startled.

A-Yuan did not even notice when his parents came inside. Suddenly, his hair was raffled by his dad who was looking at the pictures from above his shoulder.

"He indeed is," he agreed and reached out to also pat A-Yu's head.

A-Yuan was not looking directly at Mo Xuanyu until he felt something was not right. His dad's hand was suspended in the air just a few inches away from his friend's head. But A-Yu's reaction was what surprised him; the boy was frozen stiff, his wide open eyes never leaving the hand in front of him. It almost looked like he was scared of his dad patting his head. But why? It felt good, A-Yuan always liked it. Then again, he supposed, Mo Xuanyu did not quite know his dad so perhaps he just did not like strangers touching him?

He discarded his worried just a second later when his dad finally finished his movement and ruffled A-Yu's hair as well, perhaps a bit gentler than he had done to A-Yuan. That was fine however, they should be nice to him so this was probably just his dad's way of doing it.

After his dad retracted his hand, Mo Xuanyu stayed still for a while longer, his hands shaking a bit under the table for whatever reason. When he lifted his head again, A-Yuan could have sworn his eyes looked suspiciously glassy with tears; but that could not be right, why would his friend cry just because of having his head patted?

His thoughts were interrupted when his dad scurried even closer to the table and looked at the pictures again: "What have you been drawing, children?"

A-Yuan moved his picture a bit so his dad would be able to see it better, he was proud of his creation. A-Yi did the same, loudly explaining what he had drawn.

"This is A-Yi, this is A-Yuan, this is daddy and father," he was pointing to the colourful spots on the paper as he was enumerating each person, "and this is A-Yu."

From the corner of his eye, A-Yuan saw that Mo Xuanyu's head whipped in the direction of the picture and once again, it almost looked like he would cry.

"And what did A-Yu draw?" his dad asked turning to Mo Xuanyu after praising Lan Jingyi's creation.

Mo Xuanyu looked taken aback for a second, he however recovered quickly and stuttered out: "The party." There was a short pause after that and then he added: "It is..."

A-Yu looked startled now, as if he had not meant to say anything more after the word 'party'. He lowered his head, not looking at anyone. His hands, A-Yuan could only see one of them under the table but he could tell that it would also apply to the other one, were now tightly curled into fists. Despite that, the tremors he had seen previously could not have been overlooked.

"What it is, A-Yu?" prompted his dad gently with seemingly unlimited patience.

Mo Xuanyu looked suddenly bothered. Still, he took a deep breath and whispered almost inaudibly: "It is a present for A-Yuan."

A-Yuan could not hold himself back at those words; he was very happy that the picture was really drawn with him in mind. And it was A-Yu's birthday present for him no less!

"Thank you, A-Yu, I love it!"

His enthusiastic and happy half-shout – he was still mindful that loud voice could startle his friend – had earned him a small smile on A-Yu's lips. He was surprised, he had never seen Mo Xuanyu smile before, at school, the boy only even looked down and seemed too skittish. It was good that he could smile like this.

Mo Xuanyu lifted his head a bit, glancing at him between his eyelashes as if he wanted to confirm if A-Yuan really liked his present. A-Yuan beamed at him: "It is really beautiful."

A-Yu's lips parted a bit more, he was apparently satisfied.

A-Yuan's dad ruffled the boy's hair again and added: "See, A-Yuan likes your gift." Then he got up and continued: "Alright, it is getting late, you three should go to bed now."