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

Chapter 22

Mo Xuanyu could not believe what had just happened. Not only he had been permitted to draw pictures with his teacher's children, he had even been praised! That was something he was definitely not used to. It was not like his work had never been appreciated before, but it was at school, he had never been praised outside of the classroom. Nevertheless, it made him extremely happy and when his teacher reached his hand to pat his head again, he did not flinch like the previous time.

He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around everything that had happened in the last few hours. Not only was he not alone in his room right now, hugging his growling and painfully cramping empty stomach, praying the morning would come earlier so he would be able to go eat breakfast. He was allowed to stay at his favourite teacher's house, he had had a delicious dinner and he had even been told to play instead of doing house chores. He wondered if all of this was not just some nice dream. If it was, he did not want to wake up from it.

He had never had so much fun in his life, surely not at home and at school, he tended to try to stay away from other children out of fear that they would get to know he was a bad boy and would abandon him altogether. While keeping his distance, they at least came to him from time to time and were not bothered when he was watching them play and joke around. They would not be so comfortable around him if they knew, he was certain of that.

"Alright, it is getting late, you three should go to bed now."

His teacher was now standing above him, apparently waiting for Mo Xuanyu to get up and follow him to be shown where he should be sleeping. He was still wondering about that. It would be fine wherever his teacher would tell him to lay down, he did not mind the floor in the house or even being shoved outside, it was warm during the night these days and it did not look like it would rain either. And after having such a wonderful evening, he was sure he would be able to fall asleep easily.

His teacher however seemed to have lost his mind when he explained Mo Xuanyu's place: "A-Yu, we do not have any guest rooms so you will have to sleep in A-Yuan's bedroom if you do not mind. A-Yuan would sleep here with A-Yi."

No, that was not right. Why should Mo Xuanyu even sleep in someone's room, A-Yuan's no less? He did not want to oblige his classmate to go to such lengths because of him. He would have liked to protest but he did not dare. He was not supposed to oppose his teachers. What about A-Yuan though? He must be so mad at him now; he could imagine just how infuriating it would be to be told to move out of his room for someone like him.

He glanced at A-Yuan, just to make sure, better face his wrath now than later on. Mo Xuanyu had almost thought they could become friends. How foolish he had been! He should not have gotten ahead of himself, of course A-Yuan would never want to be friends with someone like him, not even talking about the room issue.

However, he was taken aback when A-Yuan was still smiling at him brightly, nodding his head as if there was nothing wrong with the fact that he had been basically chased out of his own room. Mo Xuanyu was thoroughly confused.

"Sleep well, A-Yu," he even wished him good night. Him of all people! This must have been a dream after all. Or A-Yuan was just too good of a child.

Mo Xuanyu nodded his thanks and followed his teacher out of the room, still baffled and not understanding the situation anymore.

He was led to the room he had woken up in before. So he had taken A-Yuan's room away from him even earlier today, well that explained why A-Yuan was not too mad perhaps? Mo Xuanyu did not know. He felt like his mind was getting lazy with sleep, suddenly, he was dead tired and only wished to be allowed to go to rest.

"...changed the bed sheets so you can directly go to sleep. The bathroom is down the hallway, the last door on the right. If you need anything you can call for me, alright?" Mo Xuanyu only now noticed that his teacher had been apparently explaining things to him, and he had not listened. He did not want to make the other repeat himself so he only nodded, he would just figure things out in the morning.

For just a second, he wondered whether he was actually allowed to use the bathroom in the house but he supposed that if his teacher just told him where it was, he could. He bowed a little to show his gratitude which earned him another pat on his head and a smile from his teacher.

"Sleep well, A-Yu."

And his teacher was gone, leaving Mo Xuanyu all alone in an unfamiliar room.

Although Mo Xuanyu would probably be allowed to wash himself, he opted against it, he was too tired and just wanted to go to sleep. Someone had already brought his backpack into the room, Mo Xuanyu had no more energy to marvel at that fact. He changed into his old pyjamas, a discarded ragged T-shirt of his cousin, and looked around. He was searching for a place to lay down, he had thought that there would be a mattress for him or a blanket on the ground, he surely could not use the bed. He did not want to either, it reminded him too much about the time spend with his cousin.

He could not find anything prepared; he looked at the bed again and considered his options. He did not want to anger his teacher be it because he should sleep there or not, he did not know what the adult preferred since he had not been listening to him earlier. He stood in the middle of the room for several minutes before he finally decided that he would not soil the bed, he had not had a bath in more than a day, and he sat down on the ground next to it.

He turned off the lights, laid down and curled into a small ball. The carpet under him was actually softer than his own mattress at home and he felt quite comfortable, he was not too cold or too hot either. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.